The Vortex

4

She was getting closer to me and her speed was not decreasing, not good.

"Fuck-" the words escaped her mouth as she crashed right into me.

"Did something happen? What are you going all flash for?" I said while keeping my hands on her shoulders to keep her on her balance.

"I-..the-..proj-" she tried to form words, taking deep breaths in between.

Avery was always so energetic, if she wasn't my best friend I would've been annoyed. I mean, who shouts at the top of their lungs and come running at full speed to their friend at 9:00 in the morning.

Her persona and mine are way too different, right now the day has only started and I want to go back to my bed, but, I am very sure that Ave has a million things to do before she goes back to bed.

"Woah, wait before you start talking again, here, drink this." I said while handing her the bottle of water my mom had put in my backpack.

She took it from my hands and gulped down on it, she emptied the plastic bottle in less than a minute.

She amazes me.

She tossed the bottle back at me and wiped her face before looking at me.
Her face held a cheeky smirk.

She threw her arms around me and hugged me, swinging both of us side-to-side in the process. "Congratulations!!"

I raised my eyebrows in question and pulled away from the hug to look at her. I was confused of this behaviour.

"Congratulations?? What for?" I asked.

"Remember that photography project we were working on?" She threw a question back at me.

"Yeah, what about it?" I was beginning to piece two and two together.

"I compiled it and sent it to the competition a week ago, apparently they liked our work very much." She said, smirking. I knew there was more to this information.

"And?" I let the question hang in the air.

"We won 2nd prize Cam!" She exclaimed barely able to control her excitement.

"Yesssss!! What is it?" I asked while stopping myself from jumping in the middle of the school ground and embarass myself.

"Not much but we will have a fun evening...the town fair, we have got coupons for almost all the attractions there so it will probably be free for us if we go." She smiled and explained.

I wasn't much for outings and human interaction, but I just couldn't pass on this opportunity I'd be stupid if I did.

We talked about our plans for the fair and began to walk in the direction of our class. As we entered the hallway, the testosterone was high in the environment mixed with the  unnecessary amount of perfume.

"Oh god it's like entering a dungeon of hormones." She squinted her eyes in disgust.

"Couldn't agree more-" I was cut off mid- sentence by a large hand suddenly landing on my shoulder and a body appearing between me and Ave.

"Hellooo ladies, miss me?" The boy smiled at us pulling us in for a hug.

Mason.

"Ugh let me go you idiot, what kind of shitty Cologne have you bought?" Ave said while pushing at Mason's chest to get away from him.

"He doesn't have a Cologne Ave." I state while getting away from him myself and smiled looking over at him.

"See Ave, she knows me better-"

"That's just his normal stink" I cut him off taking my revenge for before.

Ave and I high fived each other and burst into laughter as Mason's mouth hung open.

"Okay first of all ouch" he put his hand on his chest in a fake reaction of getting hurt which only caused us to laugh more.

"And second of all, girls beg me for getting my "stink" on them." He smirked and air-quoted the word stink.

"Oh my god stop, not in the morning please..also you just described yourself as a man-whore, which by the way isn't incorrect." Avery said while looking as if she was thinking about her theory.

Mason chuckled and punched Avery in the arm softly and Avery punched back, though it didn't affect Mason as he was a track runner and was very muscular.

These two were the only ones that made my day a little better at school, our little banters and digs at each other were childish, but they were something I looked forward to everyday.

As this punching session was going on between the two people I call my friends, I saw the guy who entered after me at school, his hoodie was up and it looked like he was looking over at us but turned back the moment my eyes flicked into his direction.

Weird.

"Cam?" Mason called.

"Yeah?" I answered while peering my eyes away from the hoodie guy.

"Its biology first, we should get to class." He states.

"Yeah let's go" I said, I noticed the punching session had expired now.

Mason and I had our biology class together while Avery had calculus in the 1st period.

We said bye to Avery and walked towards the bio lab, girls eying me as I walked beside Mason. He winked at some girls and they winked back.

We finally walked into the bio lab,seeting ourselves into the chairs. Our professor was yet to come.

We had free time so I decided to just chat with Mason for a while before the professor arrives.

"So are you okay now?" I asked him, he took a leave of 1 week from school because he pulled some of his muscles trying to exercise at home.

"Yeah, kind of I guess, though it still pains when I put to much pressure on my muscles so I'm taking a break from track for a while" He said this in one breath, as if he had prepared what to say before and looked away.

"What about you? Ave told me about the competition, congrats man you always had a skill for photography since we were little." he said masking his words with enthusiasm. I knew he was avoiding talking about himself but I didn't know why.

I decided to play along nonetheless.

"Thanks, we have coupons for the fair,  would u come with us?" I asked while putting on a fake pout so he'd agree.

"I would love to, but I have some work that day though I'll try my best." He chuckled at my expression.

"Okay, but say this to Ave when she asks you. I will hope you make it out alive." I said while faking a prayer.

"Yes ma'am, thank you" he smiled.

I smiled at him, and maybe just for a moment or maybe it was a play of light, but I saw his eyes flicker to my lips before coming back to meet my eyes again.

I was robbed of the time to react to this as I saw the hoodie guy enter the class and seat himself on the seat in the farthest corner.

"Do you know him? I heard he's new here." Mason asked me pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Huh? N-no I don't think so, I just saw him in the hallway" I said looking over at the guy again.

It felt like I knew him.

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Heyy guyys, hope y'all are doing fine ❤️

Let me know what you think about Mason and Avery.

Also, what is the deal with Mason? 🤔

And who is this hoodie guy??!

Besties we have a long way to go 😏😉

Take care all of you <3