Jan was sitting right beside her scrolling through her phone by the basket ball field. She was constantly googling about Marlon like an obsessive fan. The rehearsal was about to start and Hazel could see Lee warming up with the other dancers in the middle of the field in his dancing attire. He was in his element, all black from head to toe and looking dazzling as always.
Marlon on the other hand was nowhere to be seen. She saw her Lambo parked in the school parking lot in the morning, she saw him around the school hanging out with Rhonda at break time, and then coming back from the parking lot with Tracy Whitman later in the day. But he went AWOL when it was time for their study session.
“Do you think it was his girlfriend that called yesterday?” Jan interrupted her thoughts as she was waving at Lee to let him know she was there.
“I don’t know … maybe … he seemed like the kinda guy who has girlfriends everywhere.”
Jan chuckled, “You got that right … look … he dated Angie Portman last year, you know? Bethany and Rolland Portman’s daughter?” another A-List actors family name thrown around in the mix.
“Really? No, I didn’t know that … I’m not really interested in finding out who he dated or dating actually … I’m thinking about getting him off my schedule, he doesn’t need a tutor, he can do his studies just fine,” Hazel sounded a bit annoyed.
“He’s not showing up and God knows when he’s going to show up, but I have plans with Lee, he’s busy with rehearsals and practice to prepare for his camp … we don’t have time to waste and …” Hazel let out a frustrated breath, “He’s leaving in July, I wish he could stay until after summer is over … what am I going to do in the summer without him?” Hazel’s expression turned sad.
“Awwe …” Jan rubbed her best friends shoulder, “I’m a bit offended that you don’t consider me but … I feel you, babe, we’ll make it the best summer we ever had … are you planning to go to the lake this year? Is your brother coming home? … with Theo?”
With the mention of that name, Hazel’s eyes lit up and a wide smile spread across her face. “Oh right … they are … I don’t know about the lake, but Max said he’d be coming back for the summer with Theo,” she giggled.
“Oh look at that … she’s still smiling just hearing that name … like a mantra … Theooo …. Theooo,” Jan made fun of her.
Hazel nudged her shoulder, “Oh shut up … it’s not like that … I miss them … we haven’t seen each other in almost a year now, I guess spending summer with them would make me feel better … in any case, he has a girlfriend.”
Jan laughed so hard and made people turned their heads their way, she slapped Hazel on the back, “You are soo still hung up on him … I can’t believe you … what if he doesn’t have a girlfriend? Huh? Does that make things different?”
“No … that’s not what I meant,” Hazel realized she didn’t know why she mentioned that Theo has a girlfriend, but now that Jan had brought it to light, she surprised herself. Maybe she does still think of him that way. “I don’t know why I said that … Theo always has a girlfriend, you know that, right?” she smiled simply.
Jan watched Hazel’s expression and didn’t say anything more. It was obvious Theo still holds a soft spot in her best friend’s heart and she couldn’t hide it even if she wanted to. That shy smile at the mention on Theo’s name and the twinkling in her eyes as she remembered what happened between them the year before, they told the truth about how she really feels.
The music blared as the rehearsal began. Lee took his place in the center of the group. His skill had multiplied in the past year. He was so determined to be accepted at the camp and to strive there. The more she watched him, the deeper she observed, it was an obvious choice, he had to leave and do what he really want most. She would have to accept that even though it hurts her so.
Her phone rang, it was an unknown number. She rejected the call and put it on silent mode. It kept blinking with an incoming call from the same number. She was about to turn it off when it finally stopped blinking. And then a text came in.
“It’s me … are we going to do this or what?”
She looked at the text and thought for a moment, then she realized it was probably Marlon.
“Marlon?” she texted back.
“Yeah, baby, who else would it be? Please answer my calls … I know you’re not too busy to do that.”
She furrowed her brows and looked around the room. Sure enough he was standing by the exit door with his phone in one hand and waved at her with another.
“I want to see the rehearsal, can we do it after this?”
“No … we have to do it now, Mr. Edgerton’s order, I’ll meet you outside?”
Hazel let out a sigh, she didn’t want to leave the rehearsal, “Shit … I have to go do that study session thing,” she said to Jan.
“What? Now?”
“Yeah, he’s meeting me outside … can you tell Lee I’ll be back after I’m done?”
“Sure,” Jan smiled, “Ask him if he wants to switch student guide with me,” she winked.
Hazel laughed lightly, “I wish … you should propose that to Mr. Edgerton, for some reason he refused to choose someone else for the job.”
When the exit door swung oped, Marlon can be seen standing outside of it. Lee took a glimpse of him and saw his girlfriend walking out to meet him. He looked back to the seat where she sat before and saw only Jan. Hazel never left a rehearsal before, this was something new.
Marlon had his hands inside his jeans pockets, his head hung low and his hoodie was pulled over it. When he looked up to greet her, his eyes were bloodshot and glassy. She immediately realized he wasn’t sober.
“Your place?” his eyelids were heavy.
“English lab,” she replied still trying to observe him for more clues. “You okay?” she asked.
He smiled widely, “Fantastic … don’t I seem okay?”
“You look high,” she let it hung like a question.
He laughed, “Like a kite, baby,” he put his arm over her shoulder casually like they were best friends. It was awkward for Hazel but people were friendlier when they were not sober. “You want some?” he took out a roll of joint from his pocket like it was a piece of gum.
“Put that back,” she tucked the joint back into his pocket. “People can see it … I don’t want to get suspended for this.”
Marlon didn’t seem to have a care in the world, he can’t seem to stop smiling, “Right, I forgot where we were … so … where are we going?”
Hazel rested her hands on her hips and looked at him, “You’re never going to take this seriously, are you?”
He looked away, he sensed her tension.
“I had to leave a very important rehearsal for this, and you can’t even come here sober to get this over with … I’m not doing this for myself you know? This is mostly for you, Marlon, how are you going to learn anything when you can’t even remember what you said five minutes ago?”
“Right … right … right … I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he rubber his face, “I will try my best to do the session today … thanks for the essay yesterday, by the way, it was really good,” he couldn’t wipe the smirk off his face. “And sorry about …” he pointed to the Sport’s Hall exit door, “Rehearsal thing …”
He pressed his palms together, “Can we get on with it? I promise … I will be sober tomorrow … I was hanging out with Tracy, you know, we trade …” he chuckled.
Hazel didn’t respond, she had no idea what he was talking about.
“Oh, you didn’t know …” he laughed, “Never mind, well … let’s just say we had an exchange in my car just now,” he put his hands back in his pocket and cleared his throat. He could see Hazel didn’t understand what he was trying to tell her. He was a nice girl. Too nice. “Let’s go baby, don’t mind what I just said.”