My Mother and Ava Summerfield

Three

"Hey man," Holden says walking up behind me.

"Hey, you waiting for a ride too?"

"Yeah."

Fletch pulls up in front of us. "See you tomorrow," I say as I climb into the passenger's seat of my brothers car.

"So, how was it?" He asks putting the car into gear and driving away from the school.

"Hm? oh, yeah it was good." I say trying to find a way to explain all that happened today. I feel my phone vibrate against the seat. It's a text from Cherry: My school doesn't start for another week. Wanna grab a coffee?

I text back: yeah, Cafe City @ 3:30?

"Fletcher, can you drop me off at Cafe City?" I ask my brother.

"Yeah, you going to see Cherry?"

"Yeah, her school hasn't started yet."

"Okay, text me when you want me to pick you up."

"Thanks." Fletcher pulls out onto the highway taking a right and driving in the opposite direction of our house.

I get another text from Cherry: Okay, see you there :)

Cherry is waiting on the front steps of the coffee shop. Her now bright blue hair is pulled back from her face and she is wearing a pink tank top and shorts. "Hey," I say.

"Hey, how are you?" She says walking towards me giving me a big hug. After my summer growth spurt, she only comes up to the middle of my arm."I'm good. The first day of school was today. It was good and confusing. How are you? I haven't seen you all summer?"

"Yeah, I went to spend the summer with my grandmother in Maryland. Let's go inside."I follow her up the steps and through the heavy glass doors. We find a small table in one of the back corner and each order a tall coffee.

"Are you ready for school to start?" I ask as we wait for our drinks.

"Ugh, no. I have to dye my hair back to a 'natural color' and the dress code is super strict." I laugh a little. I don't remember the last time I saw Cherry's hair a natural color and she broke dress code almost everyday at our middle school.

"Thanks," I say to the waitress when she set our drinks on the table in front of us. Cherry immediately pours cream and sugar into it making the color of the rain after it runs over the dirt. "Why are you going then? You don't seem like the catholic type."

"My grandmother is getting old and my mom wants her to come live with us and the only way she will do that is if my mom agrees to send me to a 'good catholic school'" she says making quotation marks with her fingers. She stirs her coffee and take a small sip, but make a disgusted face and adds yet another packet of sugar. "They also have this rule that we have to go by our God-given names." Cherry rolls her ice blue eyes. Another small laugh escapes me. She reaches across the table and slaps my arm.

I haven't called Cherry her real name since sixth grade. When Henry and I met her in sixth grade she had shining red hair so we called her Cherry and the name just stuck. "I can't imagine you going by Robin."

"Me either."

The conversation falls away and we each sip on our coffee. "Have you talked to Henry lately?" I ask.

"Umm, yeah." She says taking another gulp of coffee, but I have known her long enough to know that she is hiding something.

I squint my eyes and lean farther across the table. "What is it?"

"Oh, nothing."

I chuckle as I watch her suppress a grin. "Cherry, tell me," I say in a whiny voice. I see her break.

"Okay, fine. Henry and I are... dating," she giggles. Finally. Henry and Cherry had been in like since seventh grade. Neither one had had the guts to say anything. I had never heard a confession from either party, but it was obvious. Cherry dives into details about how when they said goodbye that confessed their feelings to each other.

"I am really happy for you," I say. I swish the last bit of coffee around in the bottom of my cup.

"Oh, Jayden, I'm sorry. How was your day?"

I spill out the details of the strangeness of my first day of high school. I tell her about Holden, the origami boy and about Ava the girl who I'm not sure is cute or creepy. Cherry listens and nods her head as I talk and gesture.

"Hm." She says when I finish. I open my mouth to say more, but her phone buzzes, vibrating the whole table. "Sorry," she says answering the phone. "Yes... no...but...okay...okay" She hangs up her phone and looks at me apologetically. "Sorry, that was my grandmother. I have to go."She gathers her bag and leaves money on the table for the coffee. She gives me another hug. Then she is gone.

I pull out my phone and text my brother to come get me. The waitress walks over to me. "Breakup huh?"

It takes me a minute to realize what she is talking about. "Oh, no, we're just friends," I say. I put the money for my coffee on the table and walk outside to wait for Fletcher.