Huntington Avenue | ✓ [PV REWRITE]

Part II: Chapter 22

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Chapter 22 | ❝ Oh, God, Harper—your eye- ❞

Thursday, December 20th, 2018 - 8:22 a.m.

"OH, MY GOSH, Kelsey! You're back!" Autumn cheered as she and Phoebe sprinted towards their best friend with blonde hair. "Are you okay? We were so worried about you!"

Kelsey was about to respond, but her two friends barreled into her with an "oof" to give her a bear hug. The blonde girl wrapped her arms gratefully around her two friends who were all smiles and laughs at the sight of the girl who had been absent for two days. Autumn and Phoebe were filled with relief since Kelsey was never one to ditch school. She was too determined to succeed, which made the situation even more unusual.

"I'm doing better now. Thank you, both," Kelsey replied honestly. She truly was feeling better than she was before.

"Were you sick?" Phoebe asked quietly in regard to her privacy.

Kelsey shook her head as she slowly broke apart from the embrace they shared. "No, I wasn't sick. My mental health was not good after a little...dispute I had with Zach on Monday, so I decided to put that first and stay home," she explained to hide most details. "Hopefully it'll be resolved really soon, but I'm doing good."

"Glad to hear it!" exclaimed Autumn, her red hair vibrant against her pale skin. "Did you want to talk about it at all? None of us really know what happened, I don't think, but we'd be willing to listen."

"Yeah, not to alarm you, but I noticed Zach not acting like himself the past couple days. We didn't know why," Phoebe noted shyly.

Kelsey felt a dreaded pang in her chest at the discovery. "Oh, alright. I was hoping to talk to him sometime today."

"We haven't seen him yet," Autumn informed her. "If we do, though, I'll text you."

"Oh, thank you," she responded with a bit of confusion. "He's usually here by now...," Kelsey thought to herself in silence.

Phoebe frowned at Kelsey's sudden change in mood. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Huh?" Kelsey inquired before Phoebe's question registered. "Oh, yeah. I'm okay. Thank you, Phoebe."

"Of course." The girl's tightly curled hair bounced as she rocked back and forth on her heels.

"I've got to go and get to my class," Kelsey excused herself politely. "My teacher hates it when people are late."

"Oh, alright. See you later!" Autumn kindly dismissed.

"Bye, Kelsey! Glad you're feeling better!" Phoebe was second to do so.

"Thank you!"

Kelsey raced off to her locker with her backpack smacking her spine with each of her quick strides. Autumn and Phoebe sauntered off towards their own lockers after giving Kelsey a friendly smile and wave each. The blonde was in quite a hurry for multiple reasons. True, her AP English did not appreciate tardiness in the classroom, but Kelsey was also concerned about Zach's appearance—or lack of one.