My Love, Avery Lopez

Chapter 3/ BREAK

It was dark and in the dead of night. Everybody was sleeping. AJ knew nobody would be up. And luckily for her, her messy aunt would be somewhere on the road since she had been a truck driver for most of her life. AJ jumped out of her bedroom window of her trailer. She snuck through the carpark towards her motorcycle. A glass bottle made a noise in the distance, startling her into the shadows. A drunk neighbor made his way past her towards his home not even bothering to look AJ's way. AJ ran towards her bike again and pushed it quietly as to not wake anybody. And once she got on the road, she turned it on and made her way to her destination.

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Chris never went to sleep that night. A guard walked past his bunkbed. That would be the last round for the night, he hoped. He needed to make sure nobody knew what he was about to do. By the time they would actually find him and inform his father, he would already be long gone. Chris stayed silent until he heard the door close behind the guard. He turned around to check if he was gone before making his move. Sure enough, the guard had left. Chris got up and changed out of his shirt. He checked his bag and grabbed his flashlight. Tonight was the night, no mistakes.

He grabbed his bag and quietly made his way to the door. Opening it slightly, he peeked to make sure no one was around. When he realized the coast was clear, he made a break towards his exit. Foot steps were soon heard in the distance, so he hid behind a pillar, making sure not to be seen. The man had walked away never noticing that one of the cadets was not in bed and was in fact about to break out. Chris ran into the bathroom and closed it softly as to not bring any attention. Throughout this entire time, spotlights were making it way around the school keeping a gleaming eye over the premises.

Chris pulled a thick rope out of his bag. He had stolen one during drills and kept it hidden away for this precise moment. He tied the rope around the top of the urinal closest to the window and threw it out of the window above. This was it. He threw his bag out of the window and waited for the light to pass by. He pulled on a jacket and gloves to make sure he didn't get burned in the process of his escape. Once this happened, he hurriedly made his way out of the window and slid down the rope. However, he didn't knot the rope tight enough. And because of that, he fell to the ground about halfway into his climb down almost drawing attention to himself. Luckily for him, nobody noticed.

Chris jumped up almost immediately after his fall and made his way out of the school. He never noticed that he left the light flashlight in the grass but took the rope with him.

This was it. Freedom. Freedom from that place.

There was a junkyard situated near the military school. Chris made his way over there and ran through the lot looking for his transportation. And there she was. Standing away from him, arms on her hips and looking completely nervous in the opposite direction. This was his forever. She was his forever.

AJ finally turned around and noticed him standing in the distance. They both made there way to each other but AJ pushed him in anger. "Are you an idiot?! Do you know how nervous I was waiting for you?!" She yelled quietly.

"I'm sorry, babe. I didn't mean to." Chris said before moving back towards her. However, she pushed him back again. Chris just looked at her in disbelief. But of course she couldn't stay away from him, so she jumped on him and kissed him with every fiber of her being. They continued for only a little while before she pulled away. "I'm so happy your here, Chris. You make me so happy."

"Babe, don't worry about anything ok. My parents thought they could separate us by putting me in that stupid school. But all that did was made me love you more." AJ kissed him again but this time Chris broke it.

"Nobody knows you came, right?"

"No, of course not. My mother's asleep. And Piluca is on the road working. By the time they realize I'm gone, River will be at school anyways." AJ answered before Chris kissed her again. Once they separated, they hurriedly made their way to the bike and out of the junkyard.

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Piluca had a long hard days work. Being a truck driver wasn't easy. Of course it had its moments, but other times, like right now, it was tiring. Piluca wanted nothing more than to sleep and never be woken up. She walked into the trailer and made her way through the house. She looked around to see AJ had left her clothes in the living room again. She picked them up before making her way towards AJ's room. "AJ! AJ!" She opened the door and walked in looking at what appeared to be AJ sleeping in bed.

"AJ, your 17 years old. You think you can learn to put your dirty clothes in the hamper?" Piluca ranted. However, AJ made no movement towards her. Piluca shouted AJ's name but never got a reaction. She finally tugged on the blanket, only to see AJ's pillows stacked up together. Piluca was in shock. Where the heck was that girl? Little did she know, AJ was on her way out of Los Angeles, California.

Piluca stormed out of AJ's bedroom, waking Avery, AJ's mother, up. "Your daughter is not here. She had the nerve to stuff pillows under her blanket and sneak off into the night!" Piluca shouted in anger. Avery looked at Piluca in shock. She was utterly speechless, she knew her daughter was rebellious but to go this far was pushing it.

"Where could she have gone?" Avery asked. Piluca paced back and forth trying to think but stopped abruptly. Her best friend, Neil Franklin, lived right next door in the carpark. River was his granddaughter and also AJ's best friend. Of course, she would know where AJ was.

Piluca stormed out of the trailer, with Avery following, and walked to Neil's trailer. She banged on the door until Neil stumbled to the door in his pajamas, half asleep. "Piluca?! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"AJ is missing." Neil gasped in shock while Avery nodded her head.

"And I think River knows about it."

"River?"

"Yes! You know she'd do anything for AJ."

"I guess. But Piluca, she's asleep."

"Well, she won't be in a few seconds." Piluca stomped past Neil into River's bedroom. She shook her bed, startling River awake. River pops up from her slumber completely scared at the sight of the three adults in front of her. "River, where is AJ?" Piluca asked menacingly. River looked confused and bewildered at Piluca.

"River, please. Tell Piluca where AJ is. Tell her the truth." River looked at the again and lied, "I don't know where AJ is." Piluca growled at her answer. She then rushed over to River and grabbed her by her hair, pulling it hard. River yelped in pain before squirming trying to fight Piluca off.

"You better tell me where AJ is right now, or half of your head will be bald!" Piluca yelled at her.

"She promised me not to tell you!"

"Well I promise you if don't you will need to see a barber by the time I'm through with you!"

"River just tell us, please?" Avery asked.

"She said that she was going to break Chris out of military school and then find a way to Las Vegas so they could get married!" Piluca immediately let go of her in shock.

"Las Vegas?! With who?"

"Chris Bennett."

"CHRIS BENNETT?!" Piluca stormed out the trailer and over to her truck with Neil and Avery following her. "Piluca! Where are you going?!"

"I'm going to Las Vegas!"

"What?! But you just got home. You could put yourself in danger."

"That girl is gonna be in danger when I find her."

"Piluca!"

"Avery! There are more important things to worry about. Like your daughter getting married." Piluca stormed over to her truck and entered. Avery ran over a climbed on to the rig. "Piluca, you can't just go by yourself." Avery said.

"Then get in the truck, Avery!" Avery immediately realizes what Piluca wants and jumps down to rush to the other side of the truck to pursue the runaway couple.