Leave What Was Found

12: Party Harder

Avery woke up to knocking at the door. She groaned and threw her pillow at Nikki who grudgingly got up and answered the door. Normally, Nikki would be up first, bouncing around the room full of energy but they were both tired from the long week of school they had endured. Thanksgiving break was just around the corner and things were piling up left and right. Teachers were assigning projects and last minute exams as well. Avery and Nikki were using the party tonight as a distraction from the growing pile of work.

"Uh, Avery?" Nikki said, somewhat nervously. "It's for you."

Avery sat up and rubbed her tired eyes. "Who is it?" she asked.

"Emmet," he said, announcing himself. He brushed past Nikki and tackled her into a hug.

"Hey, dude, I missed you," she said, hugging him back. "How did you get on campus?"

"The security here sucks," he said, shrugging his shoulders as he sat up on the bed.

"Avery," Nikki said nervously. "Visitors have to sign in at the office."

Emmet chuckled at her. "You're a real stickler for the rules, huh?"

Nikki looked embarrassed and mumbled something about going to get ready in the bathroom. When she was gone, Emmet gave Avery a pointed look.

"You know I heard a funny rumor that Avery Davidson hooked up with Archer McLain," he said with a teasing smile.

Avery rolled her eyes. "It's no big deal and how did you find out anyway?"

"Archer and I go way back, he throws some awesome parties," he explained. "Besides when I saw the picture on Instagram of you two at the dance, I mean my jaw dropped."

Avery smiled. She had forgotten about all the pictures she and Archer had taken. There were a few strips of photos on her desk from the photo booth machine as well.

"I love the new hair, although I have to admit I liked your crazy hair colors better," he said as he pulled up Archer's instagram to show her the photos.

Nikki who had just sat back down on her bed looked over at Avery with questioning eyes. "Crazy hair colors?" she asked with a raise of her eyebrow.

Avery looked up from Emmet's phone and shrugged. "My dad didn't care about appearances and what not, so I tried out some colors, neon yellow, blue, red, and green but that was definitely a mistake."

"When I met Avery her hair was gray and when I last saw her before she was arrested, it was purple," Emmet added.

Nikki took a moment to absorb all of that. Avery guessed she had forgotten about Avery's stint in handcuffs.

"My social worker made me dye it black," she explained to Nikki who now seemed to be giving her a signal of some sort.

Avery furrowed her eyebrows trying to figure out what Nikki was trying to tell her. Eventually, Nikki pointed to a photo of her and Cole on her desk and Avery got the message. She nodded and turned to Emmet.

"How do you feel about having a date to a party?" 

"I'd say you better not disappoint," Emmet said.

"Oh trust me, he's cute," Avery said, pointing to the picture of Cole on Nikki's desk.

Emmet glanced over at it. "What's he like?" he asked.

"Only the best person ever," Nikki said immediately. "He's cute and smart, he plays basketball but also has a near perfect GPA, he's really funny too."

"You had me at cute and smart," Emmet said smiling.

"All right, well let me finish getting changed, and then we can introduce you," Nikki said happily.