Chapter Text
(Hazel’s POV)
Thirteen bowls of Time Loops in and Hazel was getting nowhere. If anything, things had gotten worse since it seemed like she’d caused Jenkins to fall even harder for her. Clearly acting more confident wasn’t working, she needed a new tactic. “How can I let Jenkins know I don’t have a crush on him, without hurting his feelings?” Hazel pondered for a moment, then gasped, “I got it!” and rushed back into the hallway.
This will definitely work, I’ve seen it in plenty of manga. I’ll just say I like-like some other person and he should give up, then I’ll be done with time-looping and things will just move on. Easy-peasy, I can’t believe I didn’t think of this sooner.
Hazel walked up to Jenkins, doing her best to sound very clear and serious. “Sorry Jenkins, I can’t go around with you. I have a crush on someone else.” She emphasized the last two words especially. The boy looked disappointed, which made sense, but then asked a simple question. “Oh, who is it?”
Oh shoot- duh! Of course he’d ask that, otherwise I could easily be lying. Just say someone’s name, Hazel!
“Uhhh… Dev.”
It only took a heartbeat for Hazel to register the name tumbling out of her mouth but it was already too late. She could’ve said anybody’s name, ANYBODY, and yet that was the first one that her brain leapt to! The girl knew she should be bolting, grabbing that stupid Time Loops cereal hiding around the corner and trying again, but somehow the premise of her words made her feel dizzy. Jenkins looked startled too- he wasn’t looking at her anymore though. He was looking past her, behind her. Hazel knew there were other students in the hallway, oh no, some of them must’ve heard too. They were watching for sure, this was so much worse than the previous loops! The worst thing though would be if- Hazel turned completely around, the same direction as Jenkins.
Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. Of course, OF COURSE, perfectly in earshot, was Dev Dimmadome. He must have whipped around from the back of his drone because his ever-present sunglasses were hanging sloppily off one ear, exposing his blue eyes. Eyes that were laser-focused locked onto Hazel. She immediately turned back around, but her legs wouldn’t move any further. That cereal had to be defective, each time loop was more disastrous than the last, now it must be messing with her reaction time, or something! What now?! I need to get out of here, just move, Hazel, come on-
Too late again. Dev was right next to her, lying down on the drone at her precise eye level. “What did you just say?” His tone was inscrutable, she couldn’t tell if he was shocked, confused, flattered, or horrified. With his eyes visible like this, usually Hazel could get a decent read on Dev’s emotions. He had very expressive eyes, they were such a pretty colour. But all that Hazel processed was they were round as saucers and he was way. too. close. Not a chance he was going anywhere until he got an answer. She desperately tried to think of a response, a hard thing to do when it feels like your entire face is on fire and your heart is slamming into your ribcage. And was she shaking? When did that start, she wasn’t scared! Wait, no- yes she was, this was terrifying! Can’t move, can’t explain myself, this is sooo bad. Maybe I could convince him that he misheard, there’s other kids with “ev” in their names, that might work! Oh no, but then he’ll just tell those kids and I might have the same problem as with Jenkins. Come on, stop staring at me like that…
(Dev’s POV)
Somebody finally answered his question. “Uhhh, Hazel was saying she can’t go around with me because she has a crush on someone else.” Dev broke eye contact to whirl around and face the other boy, shades immediately back in place. “Is that so?” Jenkins took a quick step back, nodding compliantly. “Y-yes, she said it was you! To which I say- I accept my rejection, not a problem at all!”
Dev sneered as the nerd moved further away, still jabbering at him. “I-I know you two are like friends and stuff so it totally makes sense especially since you’re like a really cool guy and I promise I won’t bother Hazel again with my feel-” Dev cut him off, standing up with arms crossed and moving the drone in close. “Oh-ho, you bet you’re not, Gerbil. Because I’m not going to tolerate anybody pestering my friend, you got that?” He felt satisfied by the frantic nodding and rapid retreat that followed. He had made up the crush thing to embarrass Hazel, certain that she didn’t have such a crush, but he hadn’t considered the possibility that the nerd might actually like-like her. It was annoying that it hadn’t gone as expected.
At least Dev had gotten him to leave quickly- she was definitely trying to get him to back off, admitting she liked someone else was a reasonable excuse to turn him away. Clever, really. Dev had almost been disappointed that she’d found a solution so immediately, able to hear their entire conversation from his locker. But then she named him as her crush?! It was like he got switched to auto-pilot. The next thing he knew, he was at Hazel’s side, sunglasses eagerly removed so he could try to understand what was going on in her head. Speaking of-
Dev scanned the hallway. The other kids who’d been present had cleared out, wisely so, clearly they respected his status enough to not interfere. Hazel was in the same spot, frozen like a buffering computer. Yikes. Do crushes stress her out that bad? Maybe I shouldn’t have- eh, no, I’m sure it’s fine. We should talk though, that’s what a friend would do. We’re… still friends, right? I did call her my friend just now, so…
He smoothly brought the drone over to Hazel, pulling his shades down to look properly at her. “Well, I guess that’s that,” he tried for a smile, motioning the direction that Jenkins had fled, “That unrequited crush isn’t gonna bother you now, that’s for sure.” Dev chanced getting just a smidge closer, reaching a hand out but not quite making contact, uncertain of how disassociated the girl was. She’d been worryingly quiet and still since he initially rushed over. “Um… so, Hazel. I feel like that we maybe have some things we need to talk about. I know our friendship has been a little rocky lately so this could be a good opportunity to really get everything out in the open and-”