Page 3 of Reaching Avery
The middle school was in a different location, and the set-up was different. The high school had various buildings scattered throughout the ground, so to a newcomer, it was confusing at first.
On my first day of freshmen year, I’d accidentally gone into the performing arts auditorium instead of the math building, and that was when I’d realized I wanted to do theater. I hadn’t had the courage to tell anyone about it until the following year, though.
Theater was still the plan for senior year too. It was freeing to me. Although it wasn’t something I wanted to pursue after school, I enjoyed it nonetheless.
“Mavy!” Sarah exclaimed, running toward me. She was short with brown hair and wore neon pink glasses. She was also a theater kid, but she lived and breathed it unlike me. “It’s so weird not having Bas, Evan, and Chris here isn’t it?”
I inwardly cringed at the mention of Chris.
He, Bas, and Evan had been part of our group last year. But they were all graduated and off to new things now. Evan and Chris were in New York. The only one that had stayed semi-close to home was Bas. He was attending a college like two hours away that had a great deaf program. He had Meniere’s Disease and had gradually lost his hearing over the years, and toward the end of senior year, he’d lost the majority of it.
“Yeah,” I answered, scratching at the side of my face before forcing my hand down. I tended to fidget sometimes. “It’s weird not having Noah too.”
Noah had been a new student last year, and he’d stood out like a sore thumb: aqua-blue hair, a lip piercing, and a mostly all-black wardrobe. The guy had also carried around a gruesome cartoon zombie backpack.
I’d had a major crush on him, but he’d only had eyes for Bas, so I moved on. Last I heard, they were still together.
Sarah’s bottom lip trembled and she looped arms with me. “At leastwe’restill here.”
I patted her hand and smiled as we progressed toward the main building.
Then, her eyes got big and she turned to me. “You’re still doing theater, right? Oh my god, please say yes. I’ll cry if you say no. I won’t have, like, any friends in there if you don’t.”
Not exactly true. She was friends with the whole drama department. But I guess I knew what she meant. Likerealfriends, not just acquaintances.
“No worries,” I reassured her. “I’ll be there.”
She grinned and her nose crinkled in an adorable way.
If I were straight, I probably would’ve made a move on her. She was nerdy, short, and carried a few extra pounds, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t beautiful. Honestly, it made her more so to me. Even when it came to guys, I was hardly ever attracted to what most people consideredbeautifulorsexy.The preppy dudes did nothing for me, neither did the athletes. It was why I think I’d had such a massive crush on Noah, and then later Chris.
Chris was a bit out there in the sense that he wore makeup and even shopped in the women’s department for some of his shirts and jackets.
Stop thinking about him.
“Oh, there are my parents. I wanted them to meet the new history teacher,” Sarah said, releasing her hold on my arm and turning to me. “I’ll see ya on Monday, ‘kay?”
I watched her hurry toward them before going inside the building.
Schedules were to be picked up from the counselor’s office, so I went that way. The counselor was an older woman with the smallest eyes I’d ever seen, but every time I walked through her door, those eyes grew a few sizes. Like a ‘better to see you with, my dear’ type thing.
What is she, the big, bad wolf?I shook the thought away.
After she asked about my summer—how it went, was I excited for school to start, blah—she gave me my schedule, and I left her office. I looked at my classes as I walked down the hall, scanning the list to make sure I was in every course I requested. AP Biology, Drama, check and check.
Smack.
I’d collided with someone as I rounded the corner, nearly sending them to the tile floor, but upon reflex, I reached and grabbed them.
“Sorry!” I said.
“Watch where you’re going,” he snapped, looking up at me with a scowl.
For a moment, all I saw were his pale blue eyes. Eyes that were lined with black liner and surrounded by long, dark lashes. Then, I saw the rest of him.
He wore red skinny jeans, a black baggy T-shirt, and worn-out Converse shoes. His slender frame was long, but he was shorter than my six foot height. Shoulder-length, kind of choppy, black hair fell a bit into his face.
I couldn’t take my eyes off him.
