Salty Licorice

Chapter 12

Liz's POV

I'm sitting at the gym and Avery was off playing volleyball with some of the girls from her team while I'm slacking off with Marisa and Emily. Luckily the gym teacher isn't being overbearing today and forcing us to 'participate'.

"Are you going to the game tonight?" I ask them.

"The football game? Yes we are," Emily smiles at me.

"We are?" Marisa groaned, still looking at her book.

"Yes we are," Emily rolls her eyes. "Avery even wants to go, and she's not even a fan of football."

"Well I have to go, yearbook photos of the game," I confessed. "So at least I won't be alone." I smiled at Marisa who glanced at me before quickly going back to her book. I'm pretty sure there's slight coloration on her cheeks but it's hard to tell from her darker complexion.

Avery comes jogging up to us interrupting me from observing Marisa. Avery is slightly out of breath from running around all period, but she still manages a smile at me.

"What are you guys talking about?" She asks with pure curiosity.

"The game tonight," I explained.

"Oh, so you're going too?" She asks with this childlike excitement.

"I'm taking photos so I have to be there," I shrug slightly.

"Oh so you won't be in the stands then," Avery mumbles, seeming slightly disappointed. "But you're still going so that's nice."

Before I could respond the teacher told us to go and get changed, so Emily, Avery and I all walked over to the locker room. I went to change quickly before Avery got back from using the restroom while Emily was taking her time chatting with some cheerleader in the locker room she knows in her underwear. She apparently isn't shy around anyone, which I find hard to understand.

I leave the locker room to wait next to Marisa, peeking at her book to see what she was reading. I notice her look at me with a raised brow in a silent question.

"What are you reading?" I ask, getting on my toes to peek at the book's pages.

"A book." She deadpans, leaving me with no answers.

Before I can ask again Avery is stumbling out in a slight rush. Grabbing Marisa by the shoulder of her jacket and my hand pulling us out of the gym towards the lunchroom.

"What did you do?" Marisa rolls her eyes, still catching her steps from Avery's grip.

"It's not what I did, it's what she won't stop doing. How many times do you have to say no until they figure out you're not interested?" Avery whines while pushing open the cafeteria doors.

We walk in letting the cafeteria aroma surround us, mostly a mixture of body spray, perfumes, floor cleaner, and most of all gross cafeteria food.

"She's not going to stop, you know that right?" Marisa asks with amusement as we pass between lunch tables.

"Who?" I ask, feeling slightly left out.

"No one you need to worry about Bunny," Marisa almost coos, putting her free hand on my head.

"Okay?" I look at them weirdly before shaking my head and walk over two tables to where Leo and Danny are.

I sit down and glance over at their table seeing the two talking earnestly yet not raising their voices. The second Emily waltzes over to them they both quiet down really quick. She sits down across from Avery, and Avery is just looking at Marisa who's ignoring the entire interaction.