Joey Avery appears to have everything. Happiness. Loving parents. A life all mapped out. But it's all a lie. An entire life based on a lie. First of all, she's a her, not a him, though it gets people confused all the time, since her name is typicall...
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We meet up with Cole near the locker rooms, where Kayla is waiting as well.
Kayla and I met a few years back, we were in the same foster home in our hometown for about six months. They ended up adopting her and they put me back in the system. I wasn't at my best back then; I had a hard time adjusting to these constant changes and I made some bad decisions that I am not proud of. I stole, I refused to go to the therapy that was prescribed by the judge, I completely let go of myself, thinking I was bound to be like him, so I just threw my future away. I was so convinced that I would end up like him. The Sanders family showed me that I wasn't like him, they gave me love, treated me like their own daughter, their own sister.
I stayed in contact with Kayla the best I could, but at some point, I just had to let go. She was rubbing her perfect new life in my face, always telling me about the activities they would do, the things they got her, and I was there, in a youth center thinking about ending my life. I had to think about myself for once. So, I shut her out, and that's how it all started. I realized that it was so much easier to push everyone away than to admit that I am not fine, that I probably never will be and to let people help me, be there and support me.
I walk up to her as Kyle and Xander discuss a little farther away, probably talking about this weird encounter.
"Hey," I catch her attention, making her eyes leave her screen.
"Hey."
"Thanks for not saying anything about the foster home and our past."
"He didn't seem to know, so I figured that if you wanted him to know, you would tell him."
"Don't get me wrong, I want to. He deserves to know. But I can't get myself to tell him, I don't want him to look at me differently," I admit.
She chuckles, "It's sure that when someone looks at you the way he does, you most certainly don't want him to stop."
"What do you mean?" I interrogate her, completely lost.
"Oh, come on, Jo, don't tell me you haven't noticed. That boy clearly has a thing for you, but it's true that you've never been the best at seeing this type of thing, I mean, about the whole understanding others' feelings and expressing yours."
"Does he really?" I look back into Xander's direction, meeting his gaze a quarter of second.
She shakes her head up and down with no hesitation. "I can't tell precisely what is going on in his head, but there's most definitely something going on, I say that without a doubt. I'm really glad we came across each other, you are so lost without me, but now, we're together again."
"What do you mean we're together again?"
"Well... Actually, I'm transferring here, the courses are better than anywhere else, Cole is here, and you're here too. What do you think?"
I think a little, but I already have an answer in mind, "I think it would be great."
Kayla is the only real friend I have ever had and trusted entirely. Maybe it's because we're practically the same. Coming from similar family, having similar mental issues and panic attacks. We understand each other, and I couldn't be happier to have her back in my life now that I feel ready and not totally lost. She's my sister at heart. It'll be good not to hang out with boys all the time.
