Leave What Was Found

41: Upwards

Avery's stint in the hospital had spread like wildfire. There were already rumors circulating around the school that she was a criminal when she first got here, and then around her and Julian after the winter break. Somehow though, Avery didn't really care anymore when it came to the latest gossip about her.

Most of their words just felt like a bee buzzing in her ears anyway. A couple days had passed since the accident, and Avery had started to hate the way her hair looked. It had turned a strange shade of dishwater gray after so much hair dye and the pink was long gone anyway. She was over it and just wanted it fixed.

"Are you sure you can drive yourself?" Chelsey asked, looking up at Avery from her magazine.

The two of them, plus Brady and Julian were in the girls' dorm after a long day of classes.

"Yes," Avery said, rolling her eyes. "It's just a cast," she mumbled, waving her dumb neon green cast in the air.

Chelsey shrugged and went back to her magazine. Julian however looked up at Avery with questioning eyes. Avery stared right back at him until he finally looked away.

"All right, see you soon," Julian finally said, still looking a little skeptical.

Avery then nodded and waved goodbye. She grabbed her keys and made it halfway down the hall when she froze in her tracks.

Suddenly, the thought of getting in the car had become utterly terrifying. Considering what had happened with Grace, she couldn't get herself to take another step forward. The last time she had been in the car, Uncle Mark was driving and Julian held her hand the whole time. She felt a sudden surge of panic at the thought of driving herself.

Avery couldn't go back to her room though, she was too proud to admit to Julian and Chelsey that they were right about her new fear of cars.

She was about to camp out in the common room when she heard a door open. Avery turned around and saw Julian coming out of her room. He noticed her panic stricken face at once.

"How'd you know?" she mumbled as he made his way over to her.

"Lucky guess," he replied as he hugged her comfortingly.

"Will you drive me?" she whispered against his chest.

"Of course," he replied.

They took her car and Avery still felt sick the whole drive there and kept her eyes shut for most of it. To be fair though it wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. Probably because Julian was a good driver and held her hand the whole time. When they arrived and Avery finally opened her eyes, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Are you okay?" Julian asked her.

She nodded, although her mouth felt dry and she was still a little shaky. Avery was taking deep breaths to try to calm her racing heart when she noticed something peeking out of the sun visor. She pulled it out and stared at it.

Her eyes began to water a bit. It was a photo of her and her father. Avery had not sat in the passenger side since long before her father's passing, she had forgotten the photo was even there. It was from a month before the spontaneous road trip. Her father had taken her to a basketball game. Avery was in a Celtics jersey much too big for her that was matching with her father's and they both had big goofy grins on their faces.

She smiled. "He'd be so mad if he saw how terrible the Celtics are playing right now."

Julian managed a small smile. "Oh for sure, I think he'd find a way to sneak into their training facility to show them a thing or two."

Avery laughed. "He'd fight Brad Stevens for the head coach job."

Julian looked over at her. "I know you've probably heard this a million times by now, but your dad would want you to be happy, that's all he ever really wanted for you."