Leave What Was Found

16: And Suddenly

Emmet drove around for hours until Avery felt better. They finally pulled over at a cliff and leaned against the bike as they looked out at the view.

"I hate my life," she muttered.

"Don't we all?" Emmet asked.

"Yeah, but I liked my life at one point, why did it have to get so hard?" she complained.

"What happened?" he asked, nudging his shoulder with hers.

Avery sighed. "Girl drama over boy drama which has nothing to do with my drama but still has something to do with me somehow."

Emmet chuckled and Avery glared at him. "Okay, look, I know it's not funny, but you have to admit going to school at Hartfield is better than the alternative."

"The alternative being what exactly?" she asked.

"Jail?"

Avery rolled her eyes. "I suppose," she said, agreeing half-heartedly.

Emmet squeezed her hand. "No one said losing your dad would be easy." He looked over at her. "I mean when my dad died, my mom bought me an xbox, new skateboard, and whatever else I wanted. Then it was like I zoned out. I never think about it, and honestly I just feel numb now."

Avery nodded understandingly. The corner of her lips turned down. "I wonder when I'll be able to just move on from it. I feel like it messed everything up."

Emmet's eyebrow furrowed and he pressed his lips in line. "Come on, I'll buy you ice cream before I take you back," Emmet finally offered.

Avery smiled and let Emmet distract her for a while. However, when she got back to campus, Merriwether was searching through her room. Avery raced over and found Chelsey standing in the hall.

"What is going on?" she asked.

Chelsey nervously glanced into Avery's room where Merriwether was. "Julian told Merriwether you had weed in your room," she whispered.

Avery's jaw dropped. "You're kidding, right?"

Chelsey shook her head. "Julian came looking for Merriwether and now she is searching your room. But there is nothing to worry about. You don't have weed in your room, right?"

Avery groaned, she knew there was a small amount of weed in her sock drawer. She was going to be in so much trouble. Merriwether came out a few minutes later and sure enough, she found the weed.

"Care to explain these, Miss Davidson?" she said holding up the package.

Avery stared at her boots, this was not happening. Why did Julian snitch on her? Was yelling at him in the parking lot really worth doing this to her?

"Meet me in Headmaster Davidson's office in ten minutes," she said sternly.

Avery felt sick to her stomach.

"Where's Julian?" She asked Chelsey.

"Probably still downstairs, why?"

"I'm going to kill him," she muttered.

Avery practically ran down the stairs and into the first floor main area where sure enough, Julian was sitting on the couch. He had a coy on his face as he watched Avery storm over to him.

"Did Merriwether find anything interesting?" he asked with a cocky look on his face.

She glared at him. "Why would you tell her to search my room?" she asked.

He shrugged. "If you're not going to listen to me, then I figured getting you in trouble might help you on the path of sobriety. "

"You know I could go to jail, right?" Avery asked angrily. "My social worker has been looking for a reason to lock me up since the day we met. If she finds out I'll be kicked out of here and in prison by tomorrow."