I'm Fine

Chapter Seven - Bryson

January 

"That concludes this week's student council meeting. I will be having my interviews with the two candidates later this week, so we should have a new student council president picked out before we meet on Friday!" Mr. McKinley stated as he grabbed his papers and shoved them messily into a folder.

I guess Mr. McKinley still hasn't realized that once you say the words 'that concludes' you will likely see most of the students jump up from their chairs, grab their things, and leave.

This usually hinders them from hearing the last thing he said, which generally isn't too important, except for today's news. This bit of news was significant for two specific girls I know very well, Avery and Ava Grace.

I still was in shock that Ava Grace nominated herself during the last meeting. She's a brilliant and proactive girl, but she's so shy and quiet. It took her almost a whole year to finally talk to me.

I just can't imagine her standing in front of about twenty students talking and discussing different projects to do for the school. The only reason she even joined the student council last year was because Avery bugged her so much to do it. I hoped Avery was still okay with running against someone this year.

I hastily made my way to Avery as she finished her conversation with Mr. McKinley; they probably were picking out a time to do their interview.

"Thank you, sir, I will see you then." She finished as I began to get closer. Suddenly, she spun on her heels towards me.

"Hey!" She sighed through a forced smile.

"You okay, hun?" I asked as I reached down for her hands. She responded by meeting me halfway, clasping our fingers together.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a little stressed about the interview." She replied calmly.

"You're going to kill it! Just do what you did last year." I reminded her.

"Last year, I wasn't so worried because I was only running against myself." She began to whine.

"Yeah, but you're tough to beat." I tried to joke. She caught on to my attempt and replied with a pity laugh.

"So, are we still on for tonight?" I changed the subject, hoping to keep her mind off anything stressful.

"Yeah, about that, I can't hang out tonight." She commented as she dropped her eyes to the ground.

"Why not?" I asked as I released her hand in annoyance.

"My parents kind of don't want company tonight." She quietly remarked as she turned her body away from mine, knowing full well that I was not going to like that answer.

"You mean they don't want my company." I hissed.

Her parents had never liked me, even when we were just friends. They assumed that I never truly was a friend and that all I cared about was getting with her, but that wasn't true, and I still don't know how to show them otherwise.

"No, Bryson, you know they like you..." She tried to start. I cut her off with a loud, cold laugh.

"Hilarious." I mocked.

"Bryson, can we not do this now." She begged as she looked around the room to see if anyone was listening to our conversation.

"Well, we can go somewhere else then." I stated, trying to save the situation. The look on her face told a different story, though.

"I was kind of hoping just to be alone tonight, you know, work on my notes for the interview, maybe search for a few more scholarships." She tried to make it sound innocent, but deep down, I was furious.