The rest of the week passed by without a hitch, and before anyone knew it, the weekend arrived, leaving everyone with all the time in the world.
Which meant that Cody really had no excuse to not go over to Hazel's and hang out with her brother. And boy, he was dreading it (Eight years of distancing himself from everyone took a toll on what used to be his extroverted behavior).
That was the first thought on his mind when he woke up on Saturday, and it did not help motivate him to get out of bed. He might have stayed under his comforter if his mom didn't storm in (without knocking, sheesh).
"Young man, get out of bed. It's unhealthy to stay under your covers like this."
Cody only buried his head in his pillow, hoping his dear mother would get the point.
She didn't.
"Come on, there's so much stuff you can do once you get up. Go out and enjoy the sun..." She opened the curtains to let the sunlight flood in, but that only made Cody jerk the blankets over himself even more.
Mrs. Gray gave up. "Hazel called and asked for you. So get up."
Cody grunted, his pillow muffling the noise.
He had always figured he had gotten his naturally rough ways of handling things from someone in his family, but he didn't know who. At least, not until his dear, sensible mother tore the covers from him and yanked him off the bed. The next thing he knew, he was lying face-first on the carpet.
"You wouldn't want that poor girl to realize how insufferable it is to handle you, would you?" Mrs. Gray asked, sounding unusually cheerful.
Cody knew by now that she wasn't going to leave until he did what she wanted him to do, so he relented and sat up. His mom had the phone in her hands already, so he took it and put it to his ear. "What do you want."
"Good morning to you, too?"
"Why do you have my home phone?" Cody questioned monotonously.
"Well, when I was about to leave the other day, your mom thought it wouldn't be the last she'd see of me, so she gave it to me."
Cody glared at his mother, who only shrugged. "So why'd you call?"
"Could you come over? Hector's growing really impatient. We ought to get started before he ends up becoming upset and shutting himself in his room."
Cody thought about saying no. He'd much rather to back to his warm, blissful bed, but he knew that would only leave him facing the wrath of his surprisingly frightening mother. "Fine," he reluctantly agreed. "What are we doing today?"
"Hector wants to bake cookies. Didn't you say something about your grandma's original recipe the other day?"
"Do you remember everything I tell you?"
Hazel either failed to notice or ignored the annoyed tone of his voice. "Kind of. Just bring the recipe over, okay? Great. Bye."
She hung up. Sighing in exasperation, Cody got up off the floor, handing the phone back to his mother. "Mom, where's Grandma Mildred's cookbook?"
Cody couldn't help but stare at the page he had flipped the cookbook to when he waited for someone to answer the door. I can't read this...old woman writing! To him, the yellowed pages only consisted of scribbled cursive that was in no way legible. How were he and Hazel going to make cookies if he couldn't even read what his late grandmother wrote?
Colin swung the door open and smiled. "Oh hey, it's that gay one."
"'That gay one'?" In Cody's defense, being unceremoniously forced out of bed left him a little forgetful.
"Yeah, how's your boyfriend?"
"'Boyfriend'?" Cody was a little slow that morning. "Uh, he's great. He's...got good skill."
"That's nice. So I heard you're going to make cookies with my daughter?" Colin stepped aside to let Cody in. "She's in the kitchen."
As if on cue, Hazel suddenly rushed from the adjacent kitchen, wearing a stained apron with her hair tied up into a messy ponytail. "There you are!" she shouted impatiently, taking Cody's hand and dragging him back with her. "It's about time you showed up!"
Oh god, she was touching him. He didn't like being touched. Come on, Cody, you can be civil—"Get your dirty hands away!" ...Dammit.
Hazel complied and put her hands on her hips, glaring at him in frustration. "My hands aren't as dirty as you think they are, considering I couldn't exactly do anything without your recipe."
"You mean Grandma Mildred's recipe."
"Whatever!" Hazel gestured to Hector, who Cody just noticed was sitting on the counter, swinging his legs casually. "You took way too long to come here, just look at my poor brother!"
Hector looked up at Cody with huge, heartbroken eyes that looked about ready to have tears come out of them.
"Hector, sad expressions and alligator tears don't exactly make me feel guilty," Cody stated.
Hector dropped the façade and scowled at the floor. "You still took too long."
"I told you it wouldn't work on him," Hazel told him.
"Look, do you want your cookies or not?" Cody deadpanned, holding up the cookbook with his finger between the pages that the chocolate chip cookie recipe was on. "You can either complain about how I wasn't in any hurry, or we can start making them and not waste anymore time."
"Yes, please," Hector said earnestly, his chagrin disappearing.
"Fine," Hazel agreed, approaching the counter where she had laid out all the supplies and ingredients she assumed she would need. "So what's the first step?"
Cody opened the cookbook and squinted at the handwriting, once again attempting to decipher it. "Uh..."
"...Cody?" Hazel prodded.
"I know what this says! What, do you think I'm illiterate? I can read just fine!" Cody snapped quickly. No, but really, I can't.
Hector peered over Cody's shoulder. "That looks like the handwriting people used back in the sixteenth century. No offense to your grandma, but I can't tell what that says."
"She greatly values your opinion while she sits on her cooking show throne in the afterlife," Cody responded dryly, not taking his eyes off of the page. "Uh... Let's just make our own cookies. It's boring following Grandma's anyway."
"I don't think that's a good idea," Hazel commented hesitantly. "Face it, you can't read her handwriting, can you?"
"...It's...not the most legible handwriting I've ever seen," Cody managed to admit. "Whatever, what exactly could go wrong?"
"For starters, how about the possibility of starting a house fire? You know, the reason why I asked you to bring the recipe over in the first place is that I'm completely useless without anything to follow," Hazel informed him flatly.
"Nobody said anything about you having to follow my grandma's recipe in particular. Don't you have a cookbook?"
"I think so, but I don't know where Dad put them. He prefers to make his own unrecorded recipes," Hazel explained.
"We should make our own unique chocolate chip cookies!" Hector piped up eagerly.
"That was something I had suggested thirty seconds ago," Cody pointed out wryly.
"I still have a hunch that this is going to end in disaster..." Hazel disagreed. Seeing the looks her brother and friend (Were they friends? She wasn't really clear on that) were giving her, she gave in, "But I can tell neither of you are going to change your mind just because I'm voicing my distinct opinion, so..."
"Great!" Hector intervened excitedly, hopping off of his perch on the counter. He quickly grabbed the bag of flour and dumped the entirety of its contents into the mixing bowl, taking the other two aback.
"And I'm pretty sure you shouldn't have done that." Hazel eyed the flour that had missed the bowl and scattered onto the floor warily.
"Hey, we're making our own recipe, remember?" Hector reminded her.
Cody took Hazel's side this time. "That doesn't exactly mean we can fuck around and just throw everything together."
"Oh." Hector blinked. "But... I already put all the flour in, so... I guess we'll just have to live with that. Besides, this means we'll have a bigger batch of cookies, doesn't it?"
"Oh, sure," Cody deadpanned, not looking all too pleased by Hector's dismissive attitude, "while we're at it, why don't you dump all the baking soda in too?"
Hector did so, though a good portion of the baking soda spilled onto the floor alongside the leftover flour.
"That wasn't meant to be taken seriously!" Cody groaned in dismay.
"Nobody told you to quip about the cookies," Hazel argued.
Judging from the look on his face, he wasn't too happy to hear her point that out. Nonetheless, he dropped it. "Whatever, these cookies are just going to have to be doomed to their fate." He looked around. "Where are the chocolate chips?"
Hazel's eyes widened. "I..."
"...You don't have chocolate chips, do you?" Cody looked even more impassive than he did before.
"They...may have slipped my mind," Hazel sheepishly admitted.
Cody was sincerely regretting his decision to get out of bed that morning. That thought must have shown on his face, because he heard Hazel quickly add, "We'll go to the market and buy some!"
"That is trouble we could've avoided if you had just used your head, so as compensation, you give me the remaining chocolate chips to take home once we're done," Cody proposed.
"Deal," Hazel accepted. Note to self: whenever he upsets you, bribe him with chocolate.
"Do you think the Whole Foods brand is good?" Hazel asked, holding up a bag of chocolate chips in the aisle at the supermarket. Once the words came out, she immediately wished she could take them back.
Cody looked about ready to explode, or more accurately, smack that bag right out of her hands. "Are you insane?! We are not buying these grainy pieces of shit! They're chalky and bland! All Whole Foods wants to do is rip their customers off and let them learn how crappy their chocolate is the hard way! Also, have you seen the appearance of their chocolate chips?! They look like the dump a hobo would take right by the toilet! Not in the toilet, but right beside it! Those fuckers have terrible aim!"
Hazel had wondered if it was possible for Cody to get worked up to the point of completely flipping, and now she had her answer. Putting the bag back where it belonged, she said exasperatedly, "Okay, okay, we won't buy these. It's just that they're the most affordable, that's all."
"There's a reason why they're cheap, Hazel!"
"He's very passionate about his chocolate," Hector remarked. He had tagged along with Cody and Hazel to the market. "I'm not too sure how to feel about that."
"Do you want good cookies or not? I'm trying to make up for the negative turn they've taken when you dumped all that flour and baking soda together into one bowl," Cody irritably growled.
"Fine." Hazel scanned the prices and, once she stumbled across one that was particularly high, grabbed the brand it was referring to, not bothering to do anything more but to glance at it. "So what you're saying is that the more expensive it is, the better the quality? How about this one?"
Cody stared at the bag, took it, and chucked it over the shelf. In the next aisle over, a man was heard yelping, "Ow!"
Meanwhile, Cody crossed his arms disapprovingly. "Really? You're willing to buy something that costs $6.95? Be more careful with your wallet, will you?"
Hazel looked totally fed up. "Just a second ago, you were telling me not to buy anything cheap like Whole Foods!"
"Yeah, but I didn't say anything about throwing away your money for Barry Callebaut," Cody countered. "I mean, it's a good brand, but they're too pricey."
"Well then, considering you're the expert here, why don't you pick out our chocolate chips?!" Hazel snapped.
Cody rolled his eyes. "Trust me, I would've done that a long time ago if I didn't care about your need to improve your speculation on the quality of chocolate. So you'll be the one picking them out."
Hazel made a frustrated noise, and Hector put a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, sis, I'll help you." Taking a Ghiradelli's bag off the top shelf, he showed it to Cody. "How about this one?"
Cody took no second glance at it and quickly took it from Hector's hands. "Yeah, we'll take these."
"W-What?!" Hazel stuttered. "Are you kidding me?!"
"What?" Cody asked in annoyance. "It's a 12-ounce bag that causes $4.59, which is a perfect deal. Plus, it's Ghiradelli's, so it gets an automatic win."
Hazel began to express her irritation again, when suddenly, from the end of the aisle, a familiar voice sounded, "Cody? Hazel? What are you doing here?"
Panicking, Hazel grabbed Hector's hand. "Come on, Hector, we've been spotted."
"What—" Before Hector could question further, Hazel pulled him out of the aisle way and presumably out of the store.
Meanwhile, Cody had thrown his Ghiradelli's chocolate chips over the shelves again. The same man from before was heard exclaiming, "Ow! Seriously, where are all these bags of chocolate chips coming from?! Sandra, could you hurry up and decide which flavor of ice cream you want before even more of these wretched things come?!"
"Did... Did you just chuck a bag of chocolate chips over to the next aisle?" Spencer asked confusedly as he and Zander approached Cody.
Realizing it would be an obvious lie if he said no, Cody nodded. "Yeah. It's fun. Want to try it?" He held out a Scharffen Berger brand.
Zander shrugged. "Sure, why not—" He reached for the bag, but his brother held him back.
"Actually, that might not be such a good idea unless if you want to get yourself kicked out," Spencer warned. "Anyway, where'd Hazel go? She just dashed off once we saw you guys. And who was that guy she was with?"
"Uh..." This wasn't one of Cody's brightest days.
"Yeah, she looked like she was in a hurry for something," Zander added.
Cody silently thanked the heavens when Florence suddenly appeared and walked over. "There you guys are! Spencer, you forgot your straw." She was wearing a Starbucks uniform and handed Spencer a thin, black straw.
"Oh, right. Thanks." Spencer accepted it. Cody just now noticed that he was holding onto an ice cold latte, complete with whipped cream on top.
"Did you seriously come here just to give my inattentive brother his missing straw?" Zander wondered.
Florence glared. "Look, you guys were the last customers before my break, okay? I figured I'd might as well spend the time. Hey, Cody." She briefly nodded in Cody's direction.
"You got the job?" Cody asked in return.
"That's right, motherfucker," Florence smirked triumphantly while Zander rolled his eyes. "And Zander said I would totally bomb my interview. Anyway, what's up with Hazel? I just passed by her in front of the checkout place, and she looked like she was in a rush. She had this boy with her too, what's up with that?"
Cody turned from thanking the heavens to cursing them.
"Yeah, what's up?" Zander pressed on.
Cody failed to think up a decent, moderate explanation without going into the story about the existence of Hector Campbell and his absurd bucket list. Instead, without thinking, he uttered the first thing that came to his mind, "She's pregnant and suddenly got cramps."
The other three gaped, hoping that they didn't hear correctly. Not that Cody blamed them for reacting like that. "...Come again?" Zander finally spoke up. "Did you just say...she's pregnant? As in she's eating for two? As in she's carrying a fetus inside of her?"
"That's kind of what pregnant means, wise guy," Florence snarked before turning to Cody again. "But wait, what? How is this... What happened? How do you know about this? And just to let you know, that doesn't exactly answer the question on who that boy was."
"That was her doctor," Cody improvised. Before anyone could denounce that, he added, "I know he looks like a fourteen year old, but trust me, he's much older than he looks. He's simply a midget with a baby face, that's all."
"...Who's the father?" That was all poor, speechless Spencer could force out.
Shit. How was he going to answer that? Hazel obviously (and rather unsurprisingly, Cody had to add) had no significant other, and even if she did, she certainly didn't seem like the type who would oh-so-carelessly mess around in bed. But then again, I could say the same about Anton, yet he had drunk sex. Cody considered saying some random guy's name, but that would evidently leave some bad blood between him and said guy, and he didn't need that in his life right now. As a result, with a tight look on his face while he was internally screaming at himself, he bit out, "I am."
"What?!" Zander and Florence roared in unison, while Spencer looked about ready to faint. Needless to say, nearby shoppers were beginning to look their way.
"It was an accident!" Cody scrambled to defend himself, wanting to crawl into a hole and die.
"Yeah, well, all teenage pregnancies are typically accidents, Cody!" Zander retorted. "What happened? How did this even..."
"We..." Cody, seriously, stop talking before you fuck this up even more. "We share a mutual friend..." Stop talking, Cody! "And, by coincidence, we both attended—well, in my case, I was forced to..." Shut the fuck up, already! "Someone spiked the drinks and we all got drunk..." I give up. You'll just have to learn this the hard way. "And we just...you know," he finished lamely.
"...That sounds suspiciously similar to Anton and Bo's one night stand," Zander remarked.
Yeah, that's probably because I was sort of basing this ridiculous excuse off of his fucking experience, Cody thought bitterly.
"Yeah, it does—wait." Florence slowly turned to Zander with wide eyes. "...What?"
"You...didn't know?" Zander inquired awkwardly.
"Well, I knew Bo lost her virginity at prom last year after someone spiked the punch, but... Anton?!" Florence now had the same expression as Spencer, who had to grab the shelf to steady himself.
Cody was glad that the subject of the conversation was no longer focused on him. "What are you guys doing here anyway? I mean, Florence has her job, but..."
"Oh," Spencer chuckled humorlessly. "Funny story, actually."
We were all at home—me and Zander were watching TV, while our mom was in the kitchen washing the dishes, when Dad suddenly came downstairs. He looked a little unhappy, and since he was just on the phone with our grandpa, it didn't take long to figure out what was going on.
Spencer, Cody looks a little bored, and so does Emmanuelle, so quit this narrative. Just tell him that our great-aunt Hilda is coming over for dinner tomorrow night and we were forced to buy a chicken.
Aw, come on! How come Cody can tell people about that Sara girl licking his leg while I can't tell people about our prickly relative?
That probably has something to do with the fact that your audience is currently preoccupied with other issues. Cody has his future child, while Emmanuelle is probably looking at the clock, wondering when she can get back to work.
"Please stop bringing up Hazel's pregnancy," Cody flatlined. "It's a sensitive topic." Mostly because it's not real.
"Right. But have you told Jack about it?" Spencer asked.
"We found out today, and considering I haven't talked to him since yesterday, no," Cody dryly replied. "Why would I even tell him about this?"
Zander shrugged. "I don't know, you told us. And considering you have some kind of man-crush on him, I figured—"
Cody grabbed another random bag of chocolate chips off of the shelf, and held it out dangerously at Zander. "Continue and face the potential wrath chocolate chips can incur."
"That's...not very menacing." Zander raised an eyebrow.
"I set a girl's shirt on fire once by using only a beaker in chemistry class and my signature glare. You sure about that?" Cody shot back.
"Why'd you do that, you pervert?" Florence snorted.
"Oh yeah, I remember that," Zander mused. "Okay, fine, I'll stop. But he's going to find out eventually, you know that?"
Then, a perplexed Spencer asked the one thing any normal person would ask in such a situation. "How... How did you set a girl's shirt on fire using a beaker and your glare?!"
"It's a bit of a long story. I'll tell you sometime at school. Anyway, could you go and fetch the chocolate chips I threw over to the next aisle over?"
Spencer pointed at himself. "...Me? Why? You're perfectly capable of getting them yourself. Or just grab a new bag off the shelf."
"Yeah, but my hands are limp and my feet are sore," Cody flatly stated. "...Ouch. See?" He was clearly not bothering to put in his acting chops.
"Uh... Okay?" Spencer questioned. Being the pushover he usually was, he agreed, albeit a little hesitantly, "Fine, I'll get them for you."
"I'm pretty sure there's something waiting for you once you go into the next aisle." Zander was savvier than his brother when it came to Cody's trolling.
"No, no, let him get the bag," Florence smirked. She knew what Cody was trying to do, and she supported him all the way. "Let him learn the true art of weaseling out of trouble."
'Weaseling out of trouble'...? Spencer thought to himself as he journeyed to the next aisle does she mean by that? He looked ahead and saw a man rubbing his head while scowling at a bag of chocolate chips. Beside him, a woman, presumably his wife or girlfriend, was soothing him. Spencer decided that he had been the victim of Cody's tosses. Walking over, he piped up, "Um, sorry to bother you, but...could I have those chocolate chips? I'm sorry, my friend—"
The man stiffened and glared intensely at Spencer. "Oh, so you're the goddamn teenager who was throwing things at me?!"
Spencer's eyes widened as the reason why Cody wanted him to retrieve the bag suddenly dawned on him. "No, you're—"
"How dare you chuck these things at me over the aisle way! You troublesome teenagers never think of anything else but your own amusement!" the man yelled. "Take your dumb chocolate chips!" He shoved the bag into Spencer's hands. "I'm going home!"
He stormed away with his wife at his heels, leaving a stunned Spencer alone in the aisle. Snapping back to reality, he went back to where his friends and brother were. Florence was gone, so he assumed her work break was over. Not that he was focused on that. "Why would you do that to me?" he stiffly asked Cody.
"What are you talking about?" Cody played dumb. His face was straight, but a sadistic glint in his eyes betrayed his intention.
"Ugh... Never mind." Spencer was no longer in the mood for games. "I got your chocolate chips, by the way."
Cody took the bag Spencer held out. "Thanks, man." He went off to the checkout area.
Zander eyed his brother cautiously. "Dude, are you okay?"
Spencer breathed in heavily, then forced a smile. "Just...splendid."
"You what?!" Hazel screeched, halting in her steps. "You told them I was pregnant?!"
"You told them I was a midget doctor?!" Hector looked rather unhappy as well, but lightened up right afterwards. "Yay! I love medicine!"
Hazel, completely ignoring her brother, continued yelling, "Why would you say that?! That is the most humiliating thing you could've possibly said! Do you even understand the trouble that will follow after this?!"
"Look, I sort of panicked," Cody breathed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "It was the only explanation I could think of."
"I can't believe you! I'd rather you have told the truth than tell people I'm going to have a baby! If word traces back to my dad, he's going to kill me without letting me explain that it's a total misunderstanding and that I'm still a virgin!"
"You think I liked lying and telling them we were becoming teenage parents?!" Cody quipped, losing his cool. "I could've straight up told them the truth, but I figured you were desperate to keep it a secret! I was trying to save your skin!" Heaving a somber sigh, he spoke more placidly, "If you want, I can call and tell them what's really going on. They're going to realize that it's a lie sooner or later. It's up to you."
"...What if, by the time Monday comes, the whole school knows?" Hazel bit her lip.
"Zander and Spencer know better than to go around spreading that, and I'm sure Florence does too," Cody assured. "And even if our school's gossipers find out since they're just that good at snooping, then it'll at least take them a few days, maybe even weeks. By then, we'll possibly have gotten rid of this lie."
"...Okay," Hazel relented reluctantly.
Hector had sat down by the curb and played with the leaves that flowed alongside the gutter out of boredom, and once he heard the conclusion of this serious conversation, he jumped up. "Are you guys finally done?" Not waiting for a reply, he continued, "Good. Now come on, we have cookies to make!"
Seizing the bag of chocolate chips from Cody, he sprinted off. Or at least, tried to run as fast as he can.
Cody looked at Hazel. "He doesn't exercise much, does he?"
"He's bedridden half the time, what do you expect?"
"Done!" Hector proudly took off his oven mitts after setting the tray of cookies down on the countertop. "Don't these look absolutely tasty?"
Cody and Hazel both took one look at the cookies then looked up to gawk at each other. "Hector..." the latter trailed off. "I'm sorry, but as tasty as they seem to you, in truth, they're probably a little...inedible."
"What?" Hector frowned obliviously. "What do you mean?"
"What she means is that these cookies are fucking burnt," Cody flatlined bluntly, holding up a completely charred cookie. "Black's my favorite color and all, but I don't appreciate seeing my cookies this way."
"But..." Hector picked one up, staring at it with a blank look on his face. "...I thought cookies were supposed to look like this once they're done..."
"That explains why you kept on insisting to keep them in the oven despite me and Cody insisting that they were taking far too long..." Hazel murmured, more to herself than to anyone else.
"Did you seriously isolate him to the point where he can't even tell what a proper cookie looks like?!" Cody accused irritably, setting the cookie back down onto the foil. He wasn't exactly very grateful for his beloved Ghiradelli's chocolate chips becoming ruined.
"Hey, don't go pushing the blame onto me!" Hazel fumed. "It's not my fault you couldn't read your grandma's stupid recipe page!"
"You were the one who told me to bring it over!"
"You were the one who brought it up the other day in the first place!"
As they squabbled, Hector, having caught on by now that this was something he was going to have to endure whenever Cody came over, nonchalantly bit into his charred cookie. "Hey!" he piped up. "These are good!"
Hazel quirked an eyebrow. "For real?"
Cody picked another cookie up and bit into it. He immediately ceased chewing and spat it out into the garbage can. "It sure is," he agreed, though the greenish color of his skin claimed otherwise.
"Are you serious?" Hazel asked disbelievingly.
"No, of course I'm not!" Cody exploded. "How could you do this to Ghiradelli's, you monster?!"
As he continued to vent, Hector leaned over and whispered to his sister, "He was always crazy but I think I broke him."
"You don't say?" Hazel shot back caustically. "Anyway, what are we going to with that?" She gestured towards the mixing bowl that was still partially filled with dough. "It'd be a waste of ingredients if we throw it out."
"Who the fuck cares, it's kind of hard to turn it back to its original contents, so I see no point," Cody groused, not ranting anymore but still not too pleased.
Hazel glared for a bit until she faltered. "Yeah, but..."
"We could get Dad to make pizza," Hector volunteered.
"You and I both know Dad's useless when it comes to the oven," Hazel dismissed that notion.
While they were conversing, Cody silently dumped out the remaining dough and proceeded to flatten it with the rolling pin, then began to fold the sides inwards.
"Well, it's either that or throw it out like you said." Hector shrugged. "Come on, even if Dad burns the pizza, at least we made use of the dough. I burnt our cookies, remember?"
"That was more of you not understanding how to bake. If possible, I'd like to not burn anything ever again. It leaves a disgusting stench." Hazel scrunched up her nose.
Cody quietly put the flattened dough into the freezer.
"You like barbecue, don't you?" Hector pointed out. "Barbecue leaves that smell all the time."
"That's different! During barbecue, it smells good. But burning cookies just...gives off a smell that warns you to be careful or else the house will burn down."
"Hey, maybe we should make pizza," Hector volunteered.
"We can't even make simple chocolate chip cookies together, how in the world do you think we're going to succeed with pizza?" Hazel exasperatedly sighed.
"Come on, it looks easy enough." Hector went over to the mixing bowl and looked into it. He did a double take once he realized that the dough was gone, and he picked it up and held it upside down, making sure his eyes weren't failing him. "Where did the dough go?" he finally pondered.
Cody, by now, was casually leaning against the counter and playing on his phone. "I ate it."
"Are you kidding me?!" Hazel exclaimed.
"Actually, I am. Don't be nuts, I'm not that desperate to eat something that'll get rid of the burning taste in my mouth. I put it in your fridge."
"Why?" Hector inquired.
"So it can harden to the point where I can knock it up everywhere and it still wouldn't break." Pausing, he looked at the siblings, who were now shooting him funny looks. "I'm sorry, I sound like I'm talking about porn. What I mean is that I'm making a dough frisbee."
"What the heck is a dough frisbee?" Hazel eyeballed him like he was insane.
"It's pretty self-explanatory, really."
"Yes, but do you seriously expect that thing to function like an actual frisbee?" Hazel scoffed. "It's still going to be dough, and I doubt this'll work."
"It's working." An hour and a half later, Hazel gaped at the makeshift frisbee Cody had just tossed as a demonstration. "It's...actually working."
"Told you." Cody's face was as deadpan as usual, but Hazel detected a hint of smugness in his voice. Turning to Hector, he directed, "Go. Fetch."
As if he were a dog, Hector complied happily, "Yes, sir!" and ran over to the frisbee. He picked it up and tossed it back to Cody, who effortlessly caught it. He held it out to Hazel. "Wanna try?"
Hazel blinked, not expecting that. "Me?"
Cody rolled his eyes. "Who else?"
"I don't know, the ghost behind me?"
"Just because you find my eyes mesmerizing doesn't mean they possess the ability to see supernatural beings, idiot."
Hazel was mildly surprised, having expected him to say something about how ghosts didn't exist. She decided to take the frisbee from Cody, and Hector waved his arms, anticipating her throw. She took a deep breath and tossed as hard as she could...
...leaving it to fly a few feet over Hector's head and go over the fence separating their house from their neighbor's.
Hazel didn't even need to look to know that Cody was shooting her a thousand daggers right now. Hector, however, took her honest mistake well.
"It's okay! I'll go get it!" He peered over the rickety wooden fence, which really wasn't that high, and shouted, "It fell into the pool!"
"Oh, great." Cody scowled. "Now it's all soggy. I blame you, Titless."
Hazel flushed. "Shut up! Just go get it!"
"Why me? Why not you?"
Hazel ignored him and turned back to Hector. "Hector, is it in the deep end?"
"Uh, yeah, I think that's the deep end!" Hector called back, not turning around to glance at her. "It's floating right in the middle of it, too! So someone's going to have to actually go in and get it!"
Hazel somewhat nervously looked at Cody. "Yeah, I think it's best if you go get it."
Cody glared at her in suspicion. "Excuse me, but is there something wrong with the deep end of the pool?"
Hazel's cheeks tinted pink, and she mumbled something inaudible.
"What was that?"
"I said, I can't swim," Hazel snapped, obviously quite embarrassed about this fact. "I don't even know how to float. So I can't go into the pool to get it. Okay?"
She prepared herself for Cody to begin...well, not laughing, since she had caught on to the fact that he was incapable of having any form of laughter—but grilling her on that. But instead, all he said was, "Yeah, sure. Fine by me." She stared at him, not having even considered his satisfaction with her answer. She knew he noticed her being caught off guard, but he didn't acknowledge it. Instead, he went over to the fence, stopped beside Hector, and looked down at the pool on the other side.
"Where's the frisbee?" he asked, not seeing it anywhere.
"Oh, it sunk to the bottom when you guys were talking," Hector explained casually. "So do you think you could swim down there and get it?"
"Uh, yeah." Yup, that dough is definitely totaled. He hopped over the fence and landed onto the neighbor's yard, only to have his foot slip and and his entire body falling forward into the pool.
"Hazel, he fell in!" Hector called out brilliantly.
Hazel groaned and went over to peer into the pool. "Cody, are you okay?"
Resurfacing, Cody recovered quickly. "This pool is like sixteen feet deep and the dough is right down at the bottom."
"Then go get it!" Hazel ordered impatiently.
Cody muttered something inaudible before taking a deep breath and going back down under. Thirty seconds later, he came up again, holding the soggy piece of crap as far away from him as possible, looking absolutely disgusted. Getting out of the pool, he dropped it into Hector's hands, causing the younger boy to whimper.
Hazel huffed, taking it from her brother. "Can't you see he doesn't like to feel sogginess—oh my god." Her eyes widened. "This feels like..."
"Gooey miracles with a touch of a thousand jellyfish," supplied Cody rather acidly.
"...Right." Not that I really know what that means... "Anyway, yours." She handed Hector the mess again.
"Whyyyyyyy?!" Hector whined. "I hate holding this as much as you do!"
"You're the one who let it go over the fence!"
"You're the one who threw it!"
Watching the siblings playfully argue, Cody suddenly felt a wave of nostalgia overcome him. His mind abruptly wandered off, becoming unaware of his surroundings.
"Carrie!" Seven-year-old Cody shouted cheerfully towards his older sister, who stood on the other side of the yard. "Catch!" He tossed a frisbee made out of frozen, hardened dough at her (It was a concept she had thought up after chemistry class that day), only to have misaimed and have it land in their backyard pool.
"Oh, fuck." Carrie scowled, watching the frisbee gradually soak up water and sink.
Cody put a hand to his mouth. "Oh my god, Carrie, I'm sorry—"
"It's fine," Carrie cut him off. "I can just make another one. But we still have to find a way to get it out of the pool."
"We could get the pool skimmer," Cody suggested.
"Don't be stupid, that thing only works with things like bugs and leaves. You know, things that are floating and not sticking to the bottom of the pool," Carrie sighed. "I guess I have no choice but to—"
She was interrupted by a splashing noise, and once she realized that her brother had leaped into the water, she irritatedly exclaimed, "Cody!"
Cody resurfaced seconds later, holding onto a piece of dough that was as soaked as him. He grinned impishly. "Got it."
"You moron!" Carrie moaned, helping him out of the pool. "What's Mom and Dad going to say once they get home from work?"
"It's just chlorine. I can wash it out easily." Cody shrugged and gave the now soiled frisbee to Carrie. "Hold this."
"Gross," Carrie said disgustedly, dangling the soggy dough from between her fingers. "Why?"
"...You were the one who failed to catch it."
"Sure, I could've ran right over and fell into the pool with it." Carrie rolled her eyes. "But never mind. Come on, let's get you cleaned up."
Cody was jerked out of his memory when he suddenly felt something whack him in the back of the head. He turned around to face a seething man, while his amused wife stood at the doorway of the screen door.
"You blasted teenagers are ruining my day! First, I had to deal with that boy who threw chocolate chips at me, and now this?!" the man rambled. "Get out of here!"
"Now, Tom—" his wife tried to reason, but Cody wasn't staying any longer. He heaved himself over the fence again, falling face-first right onto Hazel's grass. He scrambled up and hurried into the house. This Tom person glared at Hazel and Hector, who both quickly followed Cody's footsteps.
Once they all got inside, Colin was there, staring at all of them funnily. "What's going on?"
"...We played with a frisbee," Hector lamely offered, holding up the ruined dough uselessly.
"...That's a frisbee?" Colin uttered in pure disbelief.
Hazel nodded. "We made it out of dough."
"Yeah. I made it out of dough," Cody chimed in.
"I see. So...why are you wet then?" Colin asked, failing to understand the connection between a frisbee and water.
Cody looked down at himself, explaining, "I trusted the water, so I entered your neighbor's pool."
"...You trusted the water?" Hazel deadpanned.
"If I don't trust it, the pool would be upset. I don't want to upset the pool. Unlike you," Cody shot back. "The pool always protects me from danger."
"...Anyway," Colin started, attempting to ease the awkward tension in the room. "Why don't you go dry yourself? And Hector, if you want, I could teach you some basic cooking skills. I saw those cookies on the counter."
"So... Are you okay?"
Cody gave Hazel a side glance as he dried his hair with one of the extra towels in the house. "What do you mean?"
"You had this glazed look on your face back there. For a second, you seemed like you were drifting off into this dreamland or something. What's wrong?" Hazel asked, actually appearing concerned.
Shit, she caught me. "When was this?" This didn't mean he had to admit that he knew what she was talking about though. He silently hoped that she didn't mean what he thought she meant.
"When me and Hector were arguing about whose fault it was that our 'frisbee' fell into the pool."
"It must have been your imagination." Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck— "I mean, I wasn't really paying attention to your banter with Hector, but just because I wasn't looking at you doesn't mean I was off in some weird state."
Hazel frowned. "You didn't seem like you were just staring off into space though."
"Hazel, I'm not in the mood for carrying on a conversation about my various expressions." Cody's tone indicated that he was concluding this topic. "You worry about your brother. Don't snoop around in my personal life." Great, now his defensive behavior was beginning to kick in.
"Why not? You snooped around in mine," Hazel argued.
"Are you still upset about that?"
"...No," Hazel admitted. "I'm actually a little grateful for it."
Cody didn't respond, nor did he look back at her.
"...Thank you, by the way."
That caused him to gape at her with wide eyes. "What?"
Hazel breathed in deeply, then proceeded to talk, only a little tentatively, "Thank you for deciding to help me with this. Thank you for...for putting up with the two of us. And I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I judged you from the day I first met you. I was wrong about you when I said you were an insensitive jerk. And even though a tiny part of me is still considering that you are...you've kind of showed me that you have another side."
"...Are you always like this?" Cody asked unemotionally.
Hazel frowned. "What?"
"You know, being awkward when you're trying to act all solemn."
Hazel furrowed her eyebrows. "You know, it's an attitude like that that makes me question how I feel about you."
"Oh, just hurry up and profess your love for me, Titless. It's best to get it off your chest before you lose control of yourself and jump me."
In the end, Hector came in with a fresh batch of (unburnt) chocolate chip cookies, courtesy of his dad showing him how brown they were supposed to be, only to spot his sister attempting to claw at Cody, though the latter simply kept himself out of her reach by shoving a moist towel in her face.
Before school on Monday, Jack found himself being rather unmoved when he heard Spencer stumble over his words about what happened on Saturday at the store—well, it was more about Cody's "confession" that Hazel was pregnant with his child. Jack didn't need to know about being mistakenly yelled at by a stranger.
"Spencer," Jack cut him off just as he was about to launch into how baffled he was over Cody's uncharacteristic recklessness, "do you seriously believe that's true?"
Spencer frowned. "Isn't it safe to assume it is? We know how Cody's like, why would he lie and say that he's becoming a teenage parent? He would be throwing away both his and Hazel's dignity by doing that, and we all know how prideful he is." It's also the reason why there's a 99% chance that he would kill me if he found out I told you about this...
"On the other hand, even if it were true, he probably wouldn't have admitted it right away either," Jack pointed out.
"Telling the harsh truth seems more likely than lying, if you ask me."
"Whatever you say," Jack dismissed, still not buying this revelation.
A few minutes later, the bell rang, signifying the start of first period. As Spencer shot Jack one last look, trying to persuade him to see that he was justified in believing the existence of the fetus inside of Hazel's womb, Mrs. Beemer stood up from her desk.
"Okay, first things first, I've just received word from the principal that a new student will be joining the class from now on. This was on rather short notice, so I didn't find out until early this morning." Under her breath, she mumbled, "I'm going to run out of empty desks at this rate if students are going to be joining the class every few weeks," though all the students heard her anyway due to her naturally loud voice, causing Jack to roll his eyes in mild annoyance. In a louder tone, she looked towards the door. "You can come in now!"
The door to the classroom opened, and one brunette boy with shockingly green eyes came in. He wore sophisticated-looking clothing, a long-sleeved button-up shirt with a vest to go along with it, navy blue jeans, and a pair of ankle-high black boots. Resting on top of his combed locks was a fedora that tilted sideways slightly, the only sign of a casual personality from his otherwise formal outfit.
Turning towards the class, he smiled charismatically, which was a huge difference from Jack's own introduction on his first day of school. "Hello, everyone. My name is Malcolm Baxter. I just recently transferred from Phoenix Prep School." His sharp eyes scanned throughout the room, as if looking for something. As his smile grew, he concluded, "I hope I will grow acquainted with all of you."
A couple people reviewed, asking me "who's Phoenix" lol. In case you still don't remember, Phoenix is that private all-boys school I brought up briefly like three chapters ago. You know, the one that was spamming Zander and Spencer with their pesky emails.
Aaaaaahhhhhhh Cody in this chapter. I noticed that I never really did write a chapter that featured his train of thought, so I decided to try it out. I made sure to convey his hidden dorkiness :3
If any of you are fans of the anime Free!, you probably noticed the reference I made when Cody told Colin that he trusted the water. It's kind of hard not to compare Cody to Haruka when they're both introverts who look so similar...
I'm pretty sure American schools don't introduce their new students the way Mrs. Beemer does. When I'm writing about the transfer of new students, I'm thinking of school animes. Sorry about that. Let's just pretend this is something Mrs. Beemer likes to do.
Replies:
SkyHighFan: Geez, whatever I say just goes in one ear and out the other, doesn't it? Never mind. I would be lying if I said your review didn't make me supremely irritated, but now that I've waited over a week to calm down, I'm going to drop this.
duncundog: I'm tempted to write shirtless!Cody again because...Cody (*whispers* Hazel liked the view). And you finished PG in three days? That's actually rather fast. If I were a reader, it would probably take me around a week, haha. And I never really double-checked for comma errors, cringe. There's supposed to be a comma before the word "too," am I right? I used to put a comma there, but then I stopped. I forgot why I did.
Sol's Darkness: Now that...is freaky o.o But rather convenient, because then my point can come across easier. But yeah, it's great that you're not around her too much. If you were, it wouldn't be very healthy for your mentality. I think junior is third year because that's when the AP/IB classes really begin. Those are the classes that are college-level and show the colleges that you are capable of their courses. That icicle was honestly just there for a filler, and I also wanted to have one of the Guardians show up before Jack forgets his identity.
feathered moon wings: Ohmygod I'm sorry. You see, I'm surrounded by friends who are...rather explicit with innuendo, and I've grown so used to it that I sometimes forget that the content is dirty in the first place. Again, sorry, I'll try to remember to put warnings next time. And also, Cody's mom was probably thinking, "OH MY GOD CODY'S WITH A GIRL CODY'S WITH A GIRL HE'S FINALLY GETTING A LIFE I HAVE TO CALL HUGH AND TELL HIM THIS."
Lil Angel 927: Yup, you're the only one wondering. Or at least, the only one saying that you're wondering. You want a hint? Hm... I have to make sure this isn't a dead giveaway. Okay! "The Chinese are famous / for their wonderful silk / When we're talking about Cody's marigolds though / Hazel's (fill in the rest and you will be on the right path~)" And no, I don't watch the Winter Olympics (or any Olympics in general, really). My favorite band... Fall Out Boy's been invading my personal life lately. North genuinely thought Jack would appreciate his creative gift. Also, the play will step in soon.
ReganRocks: Anton probably just forgot to unfriend him on Facebook lol. Blurred Lines is a... I'm honestly very conflicted about that song. It's really controversial and I don't condone what it's about...but on the other hand it's SO DAMN CATCHY (though I stopped listening to it after a while). Haha, Zander could totally rap Macklemore! Speaking of rap, how about Jack rapping Baby Got Back? I LIKE BIG BUTTS AND I CANNOT LIE. I think Cody would troll Spencer to death lol.
Awesomalicious: I am here to confirm that Jack's brain freeze lasted the rest of the school day. Also, Zander simply stole his phone from his pocket. Technically, Cody did tell Hazel the truth. He said he's an only child, which is true. It's his way of loopholing his way out of answering Hazel's question, because if you ask me, a part of Cody still doesn't want to openly tell people that he had a sister who killed herself. I don't think he believes she understands either. She lost her mom, yes, but did she die from her own hand? No, she didn't. And losing a sibling like Hector is also different, since Hazel does already half-expect him to die soon. Carrie just...killed herself and let poor, oblivious Cody discover her. And...you're asking me what a dildo is? WHAT. NO. WHY DO I HAVE TO BE THE ONE TO TELL YOU. NO FAIR. Um. Read backwards at your own risk—sinep ekaf as a esu uoy gniht a s'tI.
Faliara: No, he doesn't get amnesia from hitting his head or anything. It's something that's gradual and it'll get really complicated and I know I'm going to screw this up.
Review!