HAZEL FINE SINGS ALONG (WATTYS 2022 Winner!)

Chapter 39: This Whole Time

Hazel thought her life was all out of surprises. She should've known better. But this, this, she never saw this coming.

"You knew who I was? The whole time?"

Nick's head hung low. "Yes."

"What? How? Why?"

"Let me explain."

Hazel put the glass of grass down on the counter carefully. Really, she wanted to throw it and mar the white walls. "No ... I think I should go."

"Please, Hazel. Stay. At least long enough for me to explain."

Hazel considered her options. She wanted to go, but she wanted to understand her life, too. And clearly, she didn't. "Only because I have no other way to get back to the hotel."

"Fair enough."

Nick walked out from behind the counter and led her into the living room. He sat on a mid-century modern couch covered in a buttery dark leather. Hazel sat in one of the matching chairs across from it in a lighter tone, wishing she knew where to put her hands, her feet, her thoughts.

He knew. They knew. They knew the whole time.

"The scout recognized you," Nick said. "At that coffee house."

"He did? How?"

"He's very good at faces."

Hazel thought back to the brief conversation she'd had months ago with the guy in his mid-thirties who'd praise her performance and handed her a card. It had felt like validation, like divine intervention, because she'd been thinking of applying to the Sing Along for months, but something had been holding her back. And then there he was, a real scout, inviting her to participate after she'd given her all at the open mic night.

But even that was a sham. It didn't have anything to do with her performance, and the universe wasn't looking out for her. Instead, someone had seen an opportunity to profit off her infamy once again.

"So, I was asked to audition from the show because he knew I was Harper?"

Nick rested his hands flat on his knees. "I wouldn't say that exactly. He was curious. He said you were fantastic, and he was also shocked at where you were."

Hazel's throat felt tight. "You had this conversation?"

"We did."

"And what did you think?"

"I didn't know what to think. I wasn't sure it was you. And people the scouts invite don't always end up submitting tapes."

"I did submit a tape, though."

"You did. And you were great, just like he said."

Hazel had worked on that tape for a week, take after take in her hotel room at night after her shifts, every minute of every day off, until she got it right. Then she'd waited weeks after that to hear anything, convinced it wasn't going to happen. When she'd gotten the call with the invitation to the general auditions, she'd been relieved and disappointed. But she still had a shot, she reasoned. Contestants made it out of the general auditions all the time.

"Once you got my tape, you knew it was me?"

"We investigated."

"Like Bella."

"Pardon?"

"That's how this came out. Bella hired an investigator to look into my past."

"You used your real name."