enough for you ⇒ the summer i turned pretty

THIRTY!

avalon was in the passenger seat reading a book while jere drove. conrad was in the backseat observing avalon. every few seconds she would shiver. conrad's immediate instinct was to give her his hoodie.

he handed it to her without saying a word. she looked back at him with confusion, but she was grateful that he noticed. she felt like she was about to turn into an ice cube.

she threw on the hoodie which represented brown university.

the rest of the car ride consisted of very terrible singing from the three. when avalon put "free fallin'" by tom petty on the radio, there was no going back.

the car ride went surprisingly fast. they had made it to brown university. jere and avalon wished conrad good luck on his final and proceeded to figure out what they'd do in the meantime.

"so, what's the plan? what do you want to do?" she wondered.

"i could show you around finch. it's not too far from here. i know you're still deciding where to go for college. maybe that could be another option." jere suggested. that was where he had been attending college.

"yeah, yeah sure." she smiled in agreement.

the two made it to finch. he showed her around the campus and they eventually ended up in the campus store. jere bought her a finch hoodie and she now had another hoodie to add to her collection. he took a picture of her holding it up.

"there's one more place i want to check out!" she clapped her hands together and started frolicking over to the volleyball court.

her and belly had both grew up playing volleyball. that was one of their many shared interests. that was until avalon got kicked off of her team from being distracted. when her father and brother got booted by fiona right before her freshman year of high school, she couldn't keep it together. everything she loved doing could no longer make her happy. she locked herself in her room for awhile. but, every summer she would come out of her shell. when she was with her chosen family, nothing else mattered.

throughout high school she had contemplated on joining the team once again, but she never did. earlier this year she had been going through hell once again with everything going on. she didn't even walk for her graduation or have a party. she felt like there was no need for either of them since she didn't have the only people that she wanted there to celebrate with her.

even her own mom wasn't worried about her daughter's graduation. so, avalon didn't make a big deal out of it.

but now, all she wanted was to get out on that court and play. she may not have had a typical high school experience and graduation, but she could at least have volleyball again.

"wow, look at all those championships." she was amazed, looking around the court.

"you really miss playing, huh?" jere asked.

"yeah, i guess so."

"avie." he tilted his head.

"yeah. i really do." she sighed. "volleyball was something i was really good at... the only thing i was good at, really."

"alright, that's a lie. you're good at a lot more than just volleyball, av." he smiled at her, his eyes looking her up and down. "and if you really wanted to, you could play here."

"you know what? when i get home i'm gonna ask my coach if there's any way i can join the team again." she nodded her head at her decision.