The time I saw Avalie, I was sitting in my high school lunch room in my graduation gown on the last day of school. I was waiting for the bell to ring so I could go line up in my home room. Then, she walked in, wearing cut off shorts, black heels with spikes on them, a graduation cap, and an oversized Beatles shirt. At the time, I really thought nothing of it. She was a girl, standing by the door to our lunch room that I had never seen before. I went to a huge school, so there were a lot of graduates that I had never met before. The only reason I remember what she was wearing was because she looked around the full room and when her eyes landed on me, she smiled and began coming over to me. The cafeteria was packed with all the popular people, the only group I could even think of her in. Some people just look the part, and Avalie was definitely one of those people. Before I knew it, Avalie was sitting next to me with my black rimmed glasses on her face. She smiled at me with a sort of determined look that you only see from a lion stalking its prey.
She smiled and said, "My name is Avalie. I moved here from Ottawa last week with my mom after my dad left us. I'm an only child. What's your name?"
I nearly choked. People didn't just come up to me and start up a conversation, especially not beautiful popular girls that wore Beatles t-shirts.
Finally, I found my voice and spoke, "Kyran."
Avalie snorted a quiet laugh, "You got a better one?"
"My full name is Kyran Hurricane Oliver." I replied, not surprised she didn't like my name. Even I didn't like it. Who the hell has the name 'Kyran'? At least my foster parents let me changed my middle name to something better than 'William'.
She smiled, showing her perfect teeth. I always liked it when people had perfect teeth. It helped me concentrate on what they were saying and not on what they might have stuck in their crooked smile.
"That's a cool middle name, Hurricane. You got any plans this summer? I don't prefer to hang out with the people who are going to be drinking and partying all summer long. That sort of thing gets tiring for me after the graduation party. I'm looking for someone to hang out with. Everyone is saying that you're my guy for having no plans all summer."
At this, I laugh. Of course everyone who knew my name would say that. With no friends and being an only child, I had no plans for the entire summer. My idea of a fun summer was reading and learning how to make some sort of new dish. Last year, my summer was spent perfecting sushi and miso soup and I read a grand total of 100 fiction books and 50 non-fiction books.
"No, I don't have any plans," I say whilst still chuckling lightly.
"Lovely!" Avalie says, pulling out a pen and grabbing my hand, "So, this is my number. Call me tomorrow, no earlier than 3:00pm because I'm going to someone's party tonight and I'm getting hammered. I assume that I won't see you there, but that's okay. Just call me, okay?"
"Yeah, okay. I'm going out for dinner with my... uh... parents tonight. Graduation dinner." I tense up when I say 'parents'. I hate saying that they're my real parents. I love them, but I still remember my father picking my up after he got home from work and my mother tucking me in at night after reading me a chapter from a book.
"Shit, that sucks. Anyways, I'll talk to you tomorrow, doll face." Avalie stands up, hands me back my glasses, adjusts her cap, and then struts out of the cafeteria. A few people stare at me in surprise, but I don't care.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Avalie was unconventionally beautiful. She had a pixie cut of cinnamon hair with blue eyes that would have looked ice cold on anyone else but looked inviting on her. Freckles scattered her face. One day in July when we were at my elementary school, I counted all the ones on her face and I got up to 83 before we got caught in a warm summer downpour. That happened a lot in Vancouver. But, Avalie never minded. Sometimes she would drag me out to the middle of the field and sit on my shoulders looking up at the sky. That was no trouble, her only being 5'5". I was nearly a foot taller than her, at 6'3". It was wonderful the way she was able to sit on my shoulders and throw her hands up in the rain and stare up at the sky. She always said that the sky looked like it was falling when it rained. Once, I peered up and she was right. The drops of water coming down from the clouds gave the illusion of the sky falling, and it was amazing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I see Avalie again at the graduation ceremony, and again after the cake. She was leaving in a limo with a bunch of people and she had her torso sticking out of the roof window. I smiled to myself while my foster parents shook their heads. I think that they were both disappointed and glad that I didn't do those types of things. Glad, because they didn't have to worry about me getting into trouble, but disappointed because I think they wanted me to have friends and go out with people my own age and have some normal teenager fun.
We went out to Earls for dinner and they let me have a glass of wine. It was nice, and it made me feel all warm inside. After we got back to our home, we watched an episode of House on Netflix and the new episode of Amazing Race, Canada we had recorded the other night. My foster went to bed at 10:00pm, but I sat on the couch and watched the final episode of How I Met Your Mother again. It was the most horrible ending that they could have chosen, but I thought that if I watched it enough times I would learn to like it. I suppose that Einstein was right, insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, but I liked it that way. At least I could always depend on that last episode to make me not like the directors and screenplay writers. It was comforting to have something stay the same when it feels like everything in the world is constantly changing and leaving me behind in the dust. I finally went to bed after watching a couple more shows,
In the morning when I get up, my foster parents have already left. There's no point in doing anything today, so I sit in my bed until 12:45, rereading the biography of Steve Jobs. Then, I eat pretty much all the food in the kitchen, have a shower, and begin reading a new book. Finally, it's 3:00 so I pick up my phone and call the number on the piece of paper Avalie gave me. It rings 4 times and then Avalie picks up the phone.
"Hello? Is this the handsome, super tall Hurricane I met in the lunch room yesterday?" She says.
"Yes, this is Kyran. But I think that you're confusing me with someone else. I'm not super tall and handsome. The adjectives tall and handsome are only a matter of perspective, and from yours anyone is tall." I smile against my phone and try to stifle a laugh.
Avalie laughs in a beautiful way and says, "Well, smart ass, meet me at your elementary school in 30 minutes. I'm bored and it's a nice day." And then she hangs up the phone before I even get a chance to ask her how she knows what school I went to.
Still confused, I show up at my old elementary school in 20 minutes and see Avalie lying down on top of the monkey bars, staring up at the clouds.
YOU ARE READING
Consigned to Oblivion
Teen FictionKyran Hurricane Oliver was put up for foster care after his father died and his mother abandoned him when he was nine years old. He was adopted as an only child and had a good childhood, if you cut out all the people thinking that his mother killed...
