Leave What Was Found

17: Drawn Lines

Fun was exactly what they did. Chelsey and Avery spent the break doing all the fun things they could think of. Chelsey had a car, so they spent a lot of time in the town, shopping, eating at nice restaurants, and were essentially spending all the money Chelsey's parents gave her. Chelsey had considered it compensation for them not inviting her to the Maldives.

Avery even dyed her hair again, it was a much lighter blonde now. Her hair stylist, Carly had called it platinum. Avery planned on dying it another color soon. For now, she just enjoyed the way the platinum colored hair looked. It was almost silver with the way it shined.

Break was ending today though and most kids were returning to the school. Brady had already come back and taken Chelsey from Avery. He claimed they needed to make up for lost time, so Avery was by herself today. She was anxiously skimming her father's notebooks on her bed as she waited for Nikki to come back.

They had talked for a little bit on the phone and she did not seem too bitter about what happened, but still, Avery could sense the slight tension in her voice.

For now, she flipped through the pages of her father's notebook. There were drawings and random sketches on some pages that Avery found funny. He had attempted to draw the people in his class on one page and had given them all nicknames. On another, he had drawn very basic flowers and wrote "To: Grace" on the top of the page. A tiny heart in blue and the initials GC had been drawn underneath, which she was assuming was her mother's doing.

It was cute, in a way, Avery was traveling back in time and was able to see what their life was like. One conversation in the margins caught her eye in particular. It was clear now that the blue pen was her mother and her father was clearly the black pen.

What are we doing after the game?

hmmm, what do you have in mind?

The Falls?

It's going to be so cold, we can't do it there.

I checked the weather, it won't be.

Idk, it feels kind of sleezy to have our first time there.

It's tradition, we have to write our initials up there.

That was strange to Avery. It was the second mention of the so-called Falls in her father's notebook. She wondered where it was and what it had to do with their first time. All she did know was her parents may or may not have put their initials there. When Avery heard the door open, she looked up at Nikki and the girls stood awkwardly for a moment before Nikki came over and hugged her.

"I'm sorry about our dumb fight," she said.

"Well don't apologize yet, because I need to tell you something," Avery said carefully.

"Okay, what?" Nikki asked, stepping back.

"I am friends with Chelsey and I know you two don't get along but really that has nothing to do with me, so you can't take it personally if I hang out with her," Avery explained.

Nikki frowned, but then she slowly started to nod. "find whatever, you can be friends with her, but I'm still gonna hate her."

Avery thought it was strange Nikki felt the need to give her permission to be friends with other people but she let it slide for now.

"How was your break?" Avery asked her.

"Oh, it was great, I love seeing my family."

Nikki went on to talk about how big her little brothers were getting and how her parents surprised her with presents and how they all played football together. It was hard to listen to if Avery was being honest. Sure, she and Chelsey had their fun, but it was painful to listen to story after story about the kind of familial things she would never get to be a part of.