𝑊𝐴𝑁𝑇 𝑇𝐻𝐼𝑆 (locke and key gabe)

2 rewritten

"Morning mom,"

Avery practically fell into the seat beside Bode, rubbing her eyes groggily.

"Hey Ave, did you sleep okay?" Nina asked, flipping pancakes in an unboxed frying pan.

Avery nodded. In truth, she had barely slept. Her bed was uncomfortable, and springs poked though the thin mattress and dug in to her aching back. It should have been a night of tossing and turning, but Avery had spent most of it sat texting the boy from the caves.

"Do we have to go to school today?" Kinsey asked, piling bacon onto her plate. "Can't we at least have a few days to...settle in or something?"

Nina sighed, adding the cooked pancake to her stack. "I know you don't want to go," she said, pouring more batter into the pan, "And I know starting a new school might suck, but it also might not."

Tyler snorted, looking up from his tea, "Stellar pep-talk, mom."

Pep talks had always been Rendell's thing. He gave the best advice, and always found words to motivate them in the bleakest of situations. She knew her mom was trying, but it just made Avery long for her dad even more.

"I'll have to write that one down." Kinsey said with a dramatic roll of her eyes.

Nina brought the plate stacked with pancakes over to the table, and took a seat beside Bode. "Are you all sorted- do you need anything? Tyler what's happening with that hockey thing?"

Tyler shrugged.

"I've sorted all the permission slips mom, including the hockey try-outs." Kinsey said dryly, stacking pancakes onto her plate. "I forged your signature."

Nina sighed, "Just ask me next time, okay?"

Before Kinsey could respond, Duncan strode into the kitchen, already dressed and wide-awake. "I'm heading to work," He said cheerfully, snatching a strip of bacon from Bode's plate. "I'll be back tonight,"

"Bye Uncle Dunc!" Bode said, taking two more pieces of bacon from the large plate at the centre of the table, replacing the piece Duncan had taken.

He ruffled Avery's hair on his way out, and she managed a small smile at that.

Avery wondered what her dad would say if he saw her now. She was so different from when she'd last seen him. Three months had changed her a lot. She'd gotten thinner, and not the kind of thinner she'd always wanted to be- she was stick thin, and her bones jutted out over pale skin, her ribcage sharp and visible on her stomach. Her face had thinned too, she was all sharp lines and shadowed skin, so different from the old curves of her cheeks and softness of her smile.

When Rendell had died, when the house had burned, the family had stayed with friends of Nina's, in a cramped and bustling home for three months. Avery had hardly left the room she had stayed in, and she had hardly eaten. It was as though without Rendell, she was an empty shell, void of happiness, and all other things that made her, well...her.

She'd dyed her hair since then, back to blonde that she found always suited her more than brunette, she'd cut it to shoulder length too.

She wondered what he'd think if he saw her; stick thin and on the verge of tears. A new school. A new life. Everything was changing so quickly and she missed what was the one constant in her life- her dad.

The lighter suddenly felt heavier in the pocket of her jeans. Avery battled the urge to reach for it, and finished powdering her face instead. She looked...pretty. Her eyes were lined with dark shadow that made them appear an even brighter blue, her lashes were long and dark and her cheeks were rosy. She might have thought she was beautiful if it weren't for her sombre expression and glassy eyes.