when you need it most

Hazel couldn’t figure it out why she fancied Lex because it wasn’t like he was nice to her or anything. In fact sometimes he was the complete opposite, bordering on rude. It still didn’t stop her from texting him back though and sometimes she found herself waiting for him to reply. It was totally cringe. It should have been the other way round. He should have been waiting for her to reply, yet she was the one opening her messages every half hour just to see if she’d missed a notification.

Eventually though she worked up the courage to ask Lex if he wanted to go out for lunch at the Grill. Surprisingly he said yes. Maybe the whole bad boy thing was just an act and he actually did like her, but pretending he didn’t because that made him seem cool. It did though, let's be honest.

Being late was probably part of this super cool personality he had adapted, but Hazel wasn’t over the moon with that. She was there five minutes before they were due to meet. Her parents had drilled into her the importance of being on time, but now they were on Lex time. Ten minutes behind everyone else. She sat perched in the booth, patiently waiting for Lex’s arrival. Finally, he wandered inside, slowly, like he wasn’t already late. “Yo.” It didn’t sound as cool when she said it, but whatever, “Yeah… it’s kinda old looking, but it’s the best we have in Mystic Falls.” And the food was decent.

Mountain Dew was an interesting choice of drink to order with lunch. Meanwhile Hazel opted for a hot dog and fries, carefully eating it so she didn’t spill any sauce down her new top. She came away from the meal stain free and Lex had even been kind enough to offer her sweets. They were a little too sour for her liking, but she chomped down on them anyway.

Okay, Lex one thousand percent liked Hazel because he played for their meal and even hung around afterwards to play pool with her. Did he let her win at pool? Or maybe he was just really bad at it.

As they stepped out the Grill she realised she didn’t want their thing to end. She was way too scared to call it a date even if it was totally giving off date vibes. Hazel kept talking to Lex in the hopes he wouldn’t draw the day to a close. There were times she was wondering if he was even listening to her as she rambled on about her parents and Bo and Uncle Kit and Uncle Frank. She was part way through telling the story about when she came home drunk from a party, when a gross looking man appeared in front of them, asking for their money.

“Um…” Before Hazel could say anything more Lex spoke up. She broke into a smile at his little joke but it quickly disappeared from her face when the man asked for their phones. There was no way she could hand her phone over the man. It was her life. Without her phone she would actually die. “Oh my…” She gasped as Lex sent his leg flying into the man’s crotch, causing the stranger to double over in pain.

Oh no. It was happening, her lie was coming back to bite her on the bum. “Whaaaaaaat... Did I say that?” Now she was panicking, not because this man was trying to get to his feet to steal their belongings but because Lex was asking her to set the man on fire. “I can’t just set people on fire… it’s… I can only set fire to objects.” She’d been rumbled through, just like her dad saw through her lies when she stumbled through the front door drunk. “Okay so I may have lied about being a Fire Nation homie.” The man was trying to get to his feet, muttering to himself. Hazel rushed over, swinging her foot harshly into his stomach before he could get up before she turned back to Lex, “I’m a banshee… which I know is super boring, but I wanted you to think I could do something with my powers.” Her parents were right, nothing good came of lying.


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Oh gosh, why did she lie? She would never lie ever ever again! “I—” What could she say? She panicked when he asked about her powers so she just lied so he didn’t think she was a freak who predicted death. There was no time for them to stand there and discuss what happened. The man was climbing to his feet, ready to rob them of their prized possessions aka their cell phones. She couldn’t let him take it though, she hadn’t backed up her iCloud for over two weeks and all her photos would be gone forever.

Wait, she had all that training with Uncle Frank for situations like this. All she had to do was swing her fist super hard into this man’s stomach then knee him in the face. This was her fight or flight moment. The moment of truth and she was about to do it but Lex grabbed hold of her hand, anchoring her to the ground. Oh no, the man was storming towards them. They were gonna die or worse lose their phones. She flinched as he grabbed onto Lex’s wrist, but the man crumbled to the floor, his body jerking weirdly. “Lex! What have you done?” The man was still alive though, since Hazel didn’t have a burning desire to let out a scream.

Hazel followed Lex’s command, running down the alleyway, out onto the street, then down another street, then another one until they came to a halt. She took a deep breath in, her hand still locked with Lex’s. Nervously she pulled her hand away, worried that her palm was going to be all sweaty and gross, even though she was barely out of breath from their little run.

Lex had totally saved her life, but if he hadn’t stepped forward she was soooo ready to beat that man up. “Sorry I lied… I didn’t wanna tell you I was a banshee because it’s weird and creepy, so I just said I could set fire to things because that’s what my mom can do and it’s pretty cool.” Except when she was setting fire to a cupboard in the living room to prove to her daughter she was a psychic. That was pretty terrifying. “Thanks for saving us back there.” Again, if Lex hadn't pulled through then Hazel would have saved the day with her fighting skills.

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