Seeing Blind (Rough Draft)

Chapter Fifteen

 Avery stared into the pool the next night, trying to conjure up the courage to walk in, without Ambrose around. What if she drowned and he wasn't here to pull her out? She didn't want to drown again.

She had to listen to him tonight, get over her fears once and for all. But telling herself was different than actually accomplishing it.

"You're early."

Avery turned at the voice and smiled. "You're on time."

"Ollie didn't need me to work overtime today. Guess we both caught a break."

"Guess so."

He set his backpack on the concrete next to her. "Are you okay?" He asked. "You have these dark circles under your eyes."

She didn't sleep last night. His theory of those three boys wanting her dead kept replaying in her mind. She couldn't tell her father, he was already running himself to an early grave with two jobs and worrying that she wouldn't make any friends, this new information would just break him.

It was slowly tearing her in two and it hadn't even been forty-eight hours yet. They didn't even know if it was the truth.

"There've been a lot of loud noises happening in the middle of the night that's been keeping me awake. Someone should get that under control."

"I'll tell the town council right away."

"There's a town council?"

"No, Avery." Ambrose chuckled.

"Oh." A pause. "There should be a town council."

"I'll get right on that after all of my other numerous responsibilities."

He did have a lot, didn't he? And Avery didn't help with her constant complaining.

"New suit?"

"What?" She looked down at herself. "Oh, no." She was wearing a baby blue suit she hadn't worn in three years. She was surprised she could still fit into it, well, barely.

"It exposes a lot. More than the usual bikini." Ambrose dropped into the pool. "Ready?"

"It's an old suit. It doesn't really fit anymore."

"I can see that."

Avery tentatively got into the pool. "What are you teaching me tonight?"

"You always seem to change the subject on me, why?"

She shrugged nonchalantly. "I just feel like it, I guess."

Ambrose shook his head and sighed. "Today's lesson is about trust. You first have to trust me before I teach you anything else."

"Yeah, and how are you-"

Ambrose flung water at Avery, her face and part of her chest getting soaked. "Water fight."

Water fight. "A water fight? How old are we Ambrose?"

"Seventeen and sixteen. But do you know how you know you can trust someone?"

She sighed dramatically. "How?"

"By having fun with them."

She used to have fun with her friends from St. George all the time, mostly getting into trouble, but she laughed and smiled and felt joy inside. She hasn't felt joy or really laughed or smiled since moving to Greenwich.

Were they still her friends?

"Come on, splash me," Ambrose told her. "Have some fun, unless you don't know how too. All you do is mope."