Frenemies ✔

Chapter 14

Two weeks later...

"You are the ships and the river," I said.

"I love you, Estella," My classmate from drama class, Brent Sanders, told me. His role in the play was Pip.

I smiled at him. "I am glad."

He held his big hand in mine and we walked off the stage. The huge, red curtains closed behind us. The audience began to clap. I heard some people whistling, too. A bunch of teens who played their roles, including me, came running quickly to the center stage before the curtain rose slowly. I joined hands with the line of actors and we all bowed together. I bowed deeply, a couple of my iron-curled curls, that were hanging by the sides of my face, tumbled over my shoulders. We all straightened ourselves and, still holding hands, we lifted our arms up.

The audience sprung up to their feet and went wild. Even more whistles and hoots were heard. I smiled broadly as I stared at them. The red curtain came down for the last time. I turned to my fellow classmates.

"Y'all were fantastic tonight," I said to them.

"Thank you, Ava," Leah Turner replied. She played the role of Sarah Pocket. "But you were really good tonight, too. You were great, really."

I smiled warmly at her. "Thanks."

Brent came up to me. He placed his hand on my shoulder. "I couldn't agree more. You were awesome tonight, Avalon."

I turned to face him. "Thanks, Brent. You did great, too. I felt so shaky, though."

He shook his head. "I couldn't tell, though. You did an awesome job. Keep it up."

I smiled and nodded.

He walked away to congratulate another actor.

"Avalon!" I saw Mr. Zhao walking towards me. He grabbed my shoulders and hugged me quite firmly. He released me and gave me two air kisses. "Great job, Ava! Tonight's recital went spectacularly!"

"I'm glad it did, Mr. Zhao. I was seriously praying that it would go well," I replied.

"It did! It sure did! And I think both you and Brent did such an amazing job tonight! Keep it up, Ava!"

That's exactly what Brent said, I thought.

But I simply responded by thanking him. He went to congratulate the other actors. Before anybody else could bombard me by more congratulating, I sprinted out into the auditorium. I pushed past several, elated parents coming over to congratulate their kids.

"Hey, Avalon!" A familiar voice called.

I turned to face the voice. It was Karina, and she was there behind gripping the handles of Grandma's wheelchair. I dashed towards them both.

"Avalon, you did wonderfully," Karina smiled.

I hugged her. "Thank you, Karina. I'm glad you were able to come tonight."

"Anything for my friend," she returned.

"Oh, by the way, I made you these. It is a recipe my grandmama used to make." She handed me a small box. The box had little decorations of nesting dolls. I lifted the flap open and it looked like small cookies of some sort. "It is Tula gingerbread. My grandmama used to make it for me before I went to sleep every night," Karina explained.

They did look delicious. I was ready to eat one now.

"Oh, thank you, Karina. They look yummy," I replied, hugging her again. Both of us released each other. I knelt down beside Grandma's wheelchair. "Hi, Grandma."