Secrets in Rosewood {2}

Chapter 9: Picture This

Avery's at school walking the halls with Emily because she showed her a text from A saying that A owns Emily. Avery says, "Hanna's right. No one owns you, Em. This bitch is just trying to scare you." Emily says, "Well, it's working. Did you find out why your brother broke into my garage?" Avery says, "No, he's not talking to me... or anybody. He won't even return calls from his best friend." Emily says, "What's going on with him?" Avery sighs and says, "I have no idea. My parents, they keep turning to me thinking I'm going to have the answers." Avery then sees Jason and Emily follows her gaze and says, "What's he doing here?" Jason smiles and waves at Avery and she softly smiles at him. Avery says, "He counsels kids on substance abuse." Emily says, "Why is he waving at you?" Avery says, "'Cause he had dinner at my house the other night." Emily says, "Did something happen at this dinner you didn't tell us about?" Avery says, "No. Can we just drop the Jason subject?" Emily sees Avery's uncomfortable and says, "Yeah." Later, Avery's in the cafeteria with the rest of the girls and Spencer says, "She's getting tested to see if she qualifies for a prosthetic cornea transplant." Avery says, "In English please." Spencer says, "They're going to see if they can replace the damaged part of her eyes." Hanna says, "What are we talking about?" Avery says, "Jenna." Hanna looks over at Jenna and says, "They're taking out her eyeballs?" Spencer says, "No, it's not the whole eyeball. It's just the flap over the pupil." Emily says, "Could we not talk about eye flaps while we're eating, please?" Avery says, "They really think that this can work?" Spencer says, "I don't know. Toby says she still needs to take more tests to see if she qualifies, but... it's possible." Hanna says, "Wait, so if Jenna gets her sight back does that mean that we're off the hook for..." Spencer says, "No. I mean, guilt-wise, maybe but if you break somebody's leg with a baseball bat even if that leg heals you could still be charged with assault." Emily says, "She wouldn't come after us. She still thinks we have Ali's tape." Spencer says, "But we don't. And that'll be much easier for her to figure out if she can see." Avery says, "But guys, maybe if she can see again, we can stop all this whispering. She'll lose her taste for revenge." Spencer says, "Yeah, or things could get worse." Emily says, "It's already so bad. How can it get worse?" Spencer says, "Well, for one, she will be able to aim a gun." Hanna says, "Look, Spencer's right. Jenna's scary enough with four senses. Can you imagine what she's going to do to us with all five?" Later, Avery's on her bed doing homework when she gets a call from Emily and Avery says, "You think that "A" was outside?" Emily says, "Somebody is watching us. I don't know how, but they are. Avery, what am I supposed to do? We can't play cards forever. If those lab results get out, I will be permanently screwed. I will never get to swim on a team again." Avery says, "You're playing poker. Bluff." Emily says, "That's easy for you to say. It's not your relationship "A" is kicking around." Avery says, "I think I've had a couple of pretty good kicks along the way." Emily says, "I'm sorry. Yes. Of course, you have. This is awful. " Avery says, "Hey... how's your stomach?" Emily says, "It's the least of my problems." Avery says, "Yeah, well, if you end up back in the hospital then "A" really wins." Emily says, "I-I got to go." Avery says, "Well, call me... later, tomorrow, whenever. Okay?" Emily says, "Yeah, I will. Thanks." Emily hangs up and Avery sighs feeling really bad for Emily.

The next day, Emily's in Avery's room pacing, and she says, "Quinn told Samara what she saw. I know it." Avery says, "What could she have told her?" Emily says, "I must have looked like I was giving Zoe my number." Avery says, "Em, you were giving Zoe your number." Emily says, "I'm better bluffing at cards." Avery says, "Look, you have to call Samara." Emily says, "She's called twice already. I'm afraid to pick up." Avery says, "Okay, so call her back. Look, if Quinn really did tell her something you're only making it worse by not talking to her." Emily says, "I'm sorry I came over so early. Were you up?" Avery says, "Yeah. I was cramming some last-minute homework. Em, just please talk to Samara." Emily sighs and nods. Later, Avery grabs her purse and puts her books in there because ever since Emily told her that A is watching them, she's going to go to the library to study. Avery walks downstairs and is surprised to Jason. Jason smiles at her and says, "Hey. Your dad let me in. He said you'd be down in a minute." Avery says, "What are you doing here?" Jason says, "Uh, I wanted to give you this." Jason hands Avery a card and Avery reads it, "'Nico Stamos. Cramer Hill Youth Center?'" Jason says, "Yeah, I met him at a counseling seminar earlier today. I figured if Mike was open to it, he might be able to help--" Avery cuts Jason off and says, "Wait, what did you tell him about Mike?" Jason says, "Not much. Why?" Avery says, "I'm just not sure that my parents want the whole world--" Jason cuts her off and says, "I didn't, tell him about the police. I figured..." Avery says, "Um, thanks." Jason says, "I did tell him that you were worried about him, though." Avery nods and says, "Thanks." Jason rubs Avery's arm and looks at her with a look only Ezra looks at her with and she says, "Um, I have to get going. But, um, we can talk some other time, right?" Jason nods and says, "Sure." Avery walks out the door with Jason and gets into her car and drives away with a sigh. Later, Avery leaves the library, but just as she turns on her car it doesn't start and she groans and says, "Are you kidding me?" Avery then calls the tow truck company to tow her car and Avery's left with walking home until a car stops next to her and she turns to see Jason. Jason says, "Hey, where are you going?" Avery looks at Jason and says, "Home. My car stopped working." Jason says, "Need a ride?" Avery says, "Yeah, that'd be great." Avery walks around the car and gets into the passenger seat and as Jason drives, he says, "How was your day?" Avery says, "Pretty boring. I was tutoring a classmate and all he wanted do was stare at me." Jason smiles and says, "I mean, I can't exactly blame him." Avery softly smiles and she says, "So, how was your day?" Jason says, "It was okay. I had to buy a padlock for my shed. Somebody broke in today." Avery says, "Really?" Jason says, "Yeah!" Avery says, "Well... it couldn't have been Mike. He hasn't left his bedroom since Thursday." Jason says, "I didn't go there. Listen, I'm glad I saw you. I was hoping we could talk. Look, I hope I didn't step out of bounds earlier. I really was trying to help." Avery says, "No, you didn't. I just have a lot going on right now." Jason says, "The truth is, I do care about your brother, but... I also still care about you. Avery, I still love you." Avery slightly widens her eyes and says, "Wow, um...I'm actually with someone." Jason nods and says, "Oh. He's a lucky guy." Jason pulls up in front of Avery's house and Avery softly says, "Yeah, he is." Avery takes off her seatbelt and opens her door and she looks at Jason and says, "Thanks for the ride." Jason nods and softly says, "Yeah." Avery leaves Jason's car and walks inside her house.