Immature Mistakes | mj.q✓

Five

Ava deliberately tried to avoid walking home with her sister. She knew they would probably get into an argument if they walked home together. She wondered if walking alone would be showing some kind of weakness – that she was afraid her sister would once again get into a fight with her and perhaps defeat her.

Her sister Evelyn was currently standing by the entrance stairs, waiting to see Yaowen exit the building with his friends. He hadn't been her crush for long, it had probably only been a week, but she was slowly getting enthralled by his "bad boy" personality.

It didn't take long before the crew of now six boys walked out of the building. They were deep in conversation with their bags over their shoulders. Evelyn tried to secretly scan the group for Yaowen, but instead, her eyes landed on someone else in the group.

'Oh my,' Evelyn said to herself and subconsciously. This could have been her first time actually paying attention to Chengxin. They may have walked past each other in corridors, but she had never paid any attention to him.

When he slightly turned to her, she felt a heat in her cheeks. But he didn't notice her presence, instead he simply looked forward once again.

She wished her best friend was there so she could tell him about her new crush. She quickly took her cellphone out of her backpack then typed a message to her best friend Sarah: goodbye to my crush on Yaowen, I think I'm into someone else now. Yaowen was kinda a bit too cocky for my liking anyway.

Evelyn looked around and spotted her sister already walking towards the exit gate.

'Hey!' she shouted. 'Ava! Wait up!' Evelyn started to rush towards her.

Ava rolled her eyes internally and took a deep breath, then continued to walk.

'I said wait up!' Evelyn repeated and raced towards her. She finally reached her, then grabbing unto her shoulders, turned her around. She looked at the tissue in Ava's nose as a result of her nosebleed and laughed. 'You look so stupid with that. Anyway, how could you leave when my best friend isn't here? You know we're supposed to walk together.'

'Why should we walk together when you always walk with your best friend? I'm not an option Evelyn, and I certainly don't enjoy walking with you.' Ava spat. 'And I'm gonna remove this tissue before I get home, I don't want dad thinking you're stronger than me or something.'

'I just need company,' Evelyn insisted. 'Besides, if you don't walk with me, I'll tell dad I totally gave you a nosebleed during lunch. And you already know what that means...'

'Ugh!' Ava groaned. 'Fine, fine. Just don't talk.' she continued to walk.

'Why? You're scared I'll hurt your oversensitive heart?' She smirked then turned around, wanting to catch a glimpse of Chengxin again. But he had disappeared from her sight. Instead, she noticed Jiaqi standing by the entrance and looking at his phone. 'Look at him, he's probably waiting for his parents right now. He used to be such a strong guy, now he has to wait for his parents to pick him up? Laaame.'

'Can we not talk about Jiaqi? I know where this story goes whenever you start that.' Ava continued to walk towards the gate without looking back.

'Fine, fine. We all have crushes we're embarrassed of. But not as bad as yours. Ha!' Evelyn laughed.

...

The two girls approached their small home, one that was lined up with many other small houses in the neighborhood. It wasn't pretty, even as compared to the other houses on the block. The other houses had at least had some flower pots outside, or a green lawn. Some had a fresh new coat of paint, but theirs was plain and frowzled. The car parts laying in the front lawn with overgrown grass simply made it worse.