Finding My Feet

Chapter Three

"Avery says she'll see you at Starbucks at four today," Sage tells me through the video chat.
"Honey, turn that off, we're trying to unpack," my mom tells me as she carries a small box into our new house.
"I don't even know what she looks like," I respond to Sage.
"She knows what you look like, I sent her a photo," Sage smiles at me. "She just asks that you sit in the booth in the corner with the red light?"
I nod as I sadly watch the screen crackle.
"It seems like I'm breaking up," I sigh. "I'll speak to you after the encounter. Have fun without me."
"I won't," she replies before my screen goes black.
I put my phone onto my thighs before lifting a box onto my lap and then wheeling through our new front door.
It's been four months and three weeks since I managed to paralyze myself and we have finally moved. It was a much smaller house than what we had but big nonetheless.
I silently wished that I had siblings so I wouldn't of had to move this junk on my own.
I stopped outside the door that would be my room and shoved it open with my feet. It had an ensuite bathroom and sliding doors leading to the back yard as well as a walk in cupboard. I smiled, much better than my old room.
"The delivery guy says the furniture will only be here at around six," my mom stood in my doorway. "So keep yourself busy till then."
"Can someone drop me off at tree avenue? I'm meeting up with someone," I asked.
"I'll ask dad to take you, at what time?" She sighs.
"I have to be there at four," I inform her.
"I hope you're not meeting up with Reegan. Because then you can stay right where you are," she raises her eyebrows.
"No, Sage's friend, Avery, is meeting me there. So I can at least know someone," I open the sliding door. "There will be no Reegan in my life, mom. He hurt me too much."
My mom crosses the room, giving me a sympathetic look.
"I know, honey, I know," she says. "He was a real jackass. You'll find someone that's twice the man he was."
"The problem is that though he hurt me, I still want to be with him. And it's been a few months now and I'm still hurting from leaving him," a frown settles on my face.
My mom nods, understandingly, putting her hand around my shoulder.
"This is a new start, I swear it's gonna get better," she assures me.
"He's in the same school, mom," I murmur.
"Why didn't you tell me this before?" She looks shocked.
"I thought you knew," I shrugged. "Its the only high school around here."
"Well shit," she looks out the sliding door before walking back to the bedroom door. "I'll go tell your father to take you."
She leaves and I decide to change. I wheel myself to one of the boxes before taking out a pair of ripped black jeans and a grey sweater with a pink heart on the middle. I lock my wheelchair into place before taking ten minutes just to get my current pants off. I throw them into the box before taking even more time to get the jeans on. I'm almost sweating once I'm done. I quickly pull the sweater over my undershirt and unlock the wheelchair.
I then proceed to wheel myself to the box of shoes and put on black combat boots. I run my fingers through my long straight hair, trying to get it to settle down.
I really hope this Avery is nice. And I really hope that snarky bitch Kelly didn't say anything bad about me to her.
"Ready to go?" My dads voice came from the doorway.
"Uh yeah, what's the time?" I ask.
"Almost half past three," he says checking his watch. "We need to find this place first."
I nodded, wheeling myself out of my room and to the car. My dad helped me into the passenger seat before putting the wheelchair into the boot.
We then proceeded to drive around, looking for the Starbucks.
Once we found it, it was three minutes to four. I silently cursed at myself for not thinking to leave earlier.
My dad got the wheelchair and helped me into it before pushing me up the ramp and into Starbucks.
"Thanks dad, I'll call you when I'm done," I said before bidding goodbye and finding the correct booth.
I placed an order and continued waiting for Avery. Soon a very energetic girl slid into the booth in front of me.
"I'm so sorry I'm late. My cat decided to have her kittens like right when I was about to leave. So we had to rush her to the vet and by then basically all the kittens came out. So we paid vet bills for nothing. It was quite drastic. I'm Avery by the way. The kittens are adorable, with their cute pink noses. Have you ordered? Hey, waiter!" She said all in one breath.
I giggled at how hyper she is.
"I'm Amber. And yes, I have ordered. They haven't brought it yet though," I sighed.
"This place always has shit service. So damn slow, but it's the only Starbucks around here that makes their things amazingly," she turned to the waiter and ordered her drink. "By the way, I heard you're coming to our school. Basically everyone knows."
"Really?" I groaned.
"Yeah. Kelly Ferner has been bitching about you but no one cares because she's so young and literally the worst freshman ever since I've been there. Bad grades, bad rep, basically no social life," she tells me
The waiter finally shows up with our drinks and Avery flips her hazel colored hair over her shoulder as she takes a sip.
"I don't see why she gets guys though," I stir my drink, my appetite vanishing.
"She drugs them. Like the whole school knows. This guy, Sage's brother, exposed everything she did. Literally everything, the amount of guys she's slept with, there's some video going around of her literally taking ecstasy and then putting some pill into someone's drink, people also say that she's hooking up with her brother but I'm not sure if that's true," she scowls.
"Yeah, I know Reegan," I sigh. "We dated for two years and I broke up with him because of that mangy dog."
"Oh, I'm so sorry," she gives me a sympathetic smile. "I'm sure it wasn't really his fault though, literally everyone will tell you it's all her."
I shrug, taking a long sip of my drink to avoid talking.
"Anyway," she smiles. "How did this happen?"
She gestures towards my wheelchair, then looks at me expectantly.
"Car accident. My fault though. I drove through a red light in the rain. But in my defense, I was pissed. I had find out about Reegan and her," I glared at the table. "Doctors offered rehabilitation but I refused. I had a once in a lifetime dance competition and then this happened. So there's no point."
"You can't give up though, there's tons more things in life besides dancing. Wouldn't you want to walk down the aisle? Or be able to carry your child around? Go swimming?" She asks.
I guess she had a point.

Avery Wells