The Hopeless Romantic ✔️

Chapter thirty one.

After the weekend, I opened the door to my house and felt relief. I had let all of that go and I was back to being the person I was. It felt great because although it hurt, I was slowly moving on from that section of my life. It was the past, it was gone.

I walked up to the bus stop and waited for the bus. Prom was coming up and I already had a dress picked out and Gwen and I were going to go together. It would be a fun night before we graduated and headed off into the big wide world.

The bus pulled up in front of me and I happily stepped on and went to where Gwen was sitting. "So," Gwen said as the bus went down our street, "how was your talk with Jace?"

I turned to her with a confused expression. "You mean, Jace O'Connors?" I asked her.

She nodded. "Yeah, who else?"

I laughed. "Gwen, you are so funny! What makes you think I have the guts to talk to Jace O'Connors? You know I don't speak to him, I barely even know him."

She frowned and I could tell she was getting really confused. "Avery, Jace was-" She stopped as I raised my eyebrows at her, "oh, right. How stupid of me."

It felt nice to go back to my normal life. Being afraid to talk to guys, basically being allergic to them. And it wasn't my fault, that was just how I was. "Yeah, you must've had a dream or something. Possibly a nightmare."

She giggled, knowing that this was what I needed to go back to normal. The bus went around the corner and stopped off at the next bus stop. Two very familiar faces walked on and nodded to the bus driver. I was suddenly having deja vu, but, I shook it out of my mind and focussed on the trees outside.

Jace was wearing his eyebrow piercing with a white T-shirt and navy jeans. I wondered why he looked more attractive than ever and, usually, I would give myself the satisfaction of admitting that. But, I couldn't because he was just the popular boy who hadn't even set his eyes on me and he wouldn't. I ignored the thought, knowing it was what I was thinking that first day on the bus when he walked in with Seth. He had a killer smile and a new girlfriend every week, I remembered thinking and I brushed it out of my mind.

Seth and Jace casually walked on and went to the back of the bus. When Jace brushed past me, he smirked and I blushed like it was at the very beginning. I didn't think much of it, it literally felt like the start of school back in September when I was sitting next to Gwen as the two most popular guys came onto the bus.

"You're not babysitting this afternoon, are you?" I asked Gwen, who shut off her phone as the bus continued.

She shook her head, smiling. "Nope and I am really happy. I can't stand my siblings right now, they are a pain in my butt and I can't deal with that especially since I have choir practice after schools."

"Wait, what?" I questioned, "I thought choir practice was every Monday and Wednesday at lunch."

She shrugged, her beautiful blond hair falling over her shoulders. "They changed it to after school. I don't know why, but, I don't have to babysit so I'm happy."

I ran my fingers through my hair in disbelief. "So that means you won't be on the bus." A statement, not a question.

"No," she gave me an apologetic look, "I won't. But, it's only every Monday and Wednesday. For the other days, I can bus with you."

I sighed, not believing any of this. "Okay." I said and in the back of my mind, I really hoped I wouldn't be late this time.

*

The final bell rang for the day and I said goodbye to Gwen, who rushed off to the music room. I sighed with relief because I wasn't late and I wasn't planning on it. I was trying to prevent everything that happened on the first day because I remembered it so clearly. That was how we began, that was how it all started.