Shout

Chapter One - Angel

Beep beep beep.

I groaned, twisting in my sheets to slam the alarm clock for the umpteenth time. I really needed to start sleeping earlier. I slowly sat in my bed and stretched my arms above my head. The yellow stream of light trailed in from the window behind my bed letting me know I should probably be getting out of bed.

I swung my legs off the bed and walked groggily into the bathroom to change. I gazed at my tired looking face in the mirror. My brunette hair looked matted and in need of a trim. My hazel eyes, now rimmed with red, only added to the average state of my looks. I quickly showered before putting a bit of foundation, blush, and mascara on. I tugged some ripped jeans and a cream colored, off the shoulder, cropped top sweater.

I ran down the stairs to fill a takeout mug with coffee and ran outside to meet my best friend. She was waiting in her car to pick me up as usual. I hopped into the car and turned down the unbelievably loud music she was blasting. She immediately stopped the embarrassing dance that she was in the middle of to pout at me.

"No touching the radio in my car," Avery snapped, but rather than adjusting the volume, she checked her phone briefly and then placed it back on her dashboard. Avery's blonde hair tumbled in perfect waves and her bright blue eyes dazzled as they always did as she clipped her phone back on the stand. Avery was gorgeous and she knew it. She didn't mess around. She said what she felt, with no filter and had no delusions of her being plain. Her beauty matched her personality perfectly, both untamed and wildly beautiful.

"My head hurts," I complained as I opened my thermos and took a long swig of coffee.

"How are we feeling today otherwise?" She asked, trying to appear nonchalant, but I knew she worried about how I was getting on.

"We're doing great, Avery. And you, my love?" I asked sweetly, reaching to pinch her cheeks.

She swatted my hand away before turning out of my driveway to make our way to school, "You know what I mean."

I did know what she meant. I also knew that I wasn't going to be talking about it anytime soon. So, I gave her the same answer that she'd received countless times before, "I'm doing fine."

Without missing a beat, she blurted, "I don't believe you."

This has been the bulk of our conversations the last couple weeks. I had cried and I had grieved, but it didn't make sense to keep bringing this up to Avery. What else could I say? I still cried at night, I still couldn't sleep, I still felt incomplete and broken.

"Don't I seem fine to you?" I turned to look at her unconvinced face.

"I think you seem Olivia fine. You don't seem fine-fine and no one would expect you to be. You only broke up two weeks ago." Avery was right. It had been a short period of time, and though I was sure that time was a great healer, I didn't know if I could ever get over the hurdle of trusting someone again.

I grimaced as I thought back to the horrific event, "thanks for the reminder."

"I'm sorry, okay? I just want to make sure you're processing things properly. It's not healthy to bottle things up so tightly. It leads to wrinkles." Avery stated matter-of-factly. I had a hard time believing that she believed what she was saying as Avery was the least vain person I'd ever met in my life. For someone so beautiful, she certainly put in very minimal time flaunting it.

"I think wrinkles are cute." I teased.

She wrinkled her nose in response, "your face will thank me when you're forty and looking flawless. Can we grab coffee today?" Avery asked fully aware of the answer she was about to receive. She had asked the same question every morning for two weeks, claiming solidarity with my decision to veto the coffee shop. Much to my disappointment, Jitters would forever be off limits.