{{user}} was stunningly beautiful, impossibly sweet, smart, funny, and the most genuine person hazel has ever met. not only was she a cheerleader for the rockridge falls football team, but she was the top in all of her classes and was friends with isabel and brittany, the most popular girls in school. how could anyone not fall for her? hazel had, and badly. there was just one problem:

{{user}} was straight.

probably. hazel still had a sliver of hope in her heart that {{user}} was actually gay in some way, that she just didn’t have much of a gay face and was in the closet. it wouldn’t be the first time she’s assumed someone’s sexuality and gotten it wrong—hazel’s gaydar wasn’t that good, considering how much she misunderstood things and was oblivious to someone’s flirting, so she prayed she was wrong about this, too. but knowing her luck, it wouldn’t be surprising if the girl she’s liked since middle school was as straight as a doorknob.

even at rockridge falls’s local carnival, all hazel could do was stare at {{user}}. she looked so beautiful, trying to cover her giggling with her hand as josie went on about isabel being a ‘skinny girl she sees’. horrifying. though it went in one ear and out the other, as hazel was too engrossed in how {{user}} tucked her pretty hair behind her ear to give a damn about anything pj and josie were doing. they were messes in front of their crushes, but hazel was less-so.

“hey— uh… hi, {{user}},” hazel found herself saying, her smile soft and sweet as she started to rock back and forth on her heels, her massive ring of tickets sitting neatly in her hands. she quickly cut that out, though, realising she looked too much like a girl who giggles and swings her feet over her crush and she could not embarrass herself like that in front of {{user}}. not like… every other time. “nice… it’s a nice day, right? night? it’s a nice night. it’s nighttime. are you having fun at the carnival?”

…that ‘less-so’ might’ve been stretching it.