It's been 10 years since Avery Zara has seen or heard from her childhood best friend, but now, fate has brought them together again. However, there is just one problem, Beckett refuses to remember the memories he's worked so hard to forget all these...
I actually went home that day with a something genuine to think about. "Who was this extremely audacious, but yet out of his mind, boy? Why did he talk to me? What does he want? Did I look funny to him?" Dozens of questions rolled through my mind that never seemed to wander astray. I thought about what our next encounter would be like. Perhaps this is what it feels like to make a friend.
I walked onto the bus the next morning and there he was. Sitting in the same spot that I never would've thought of, before now, to give notice to. I looked over to my usual spot and then back to the empty spot next to the strange boy. With the bus driver, once again, becoming impatient with me, I quickly made the decision to sit in the closest seat available, which just happened to be next to him. I took a seat secretly hoping he wouldn't take notice.
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I uttered under my breath, "Dang-it." He looked at me with a confused yet surprised expression.
"You wanted to sit here?"
I nodded my head. He put on a blank expression. Honestly, I was nervous that he would tell me to go find another seat. Instead, he just agreed with my seating choice and went back to reading his book. I slowly looked at him not knowing what to think.
...
Once we arrived at the school, my classmates must've thought I was a hockey puck or something because I was just being pushed back and forth ricocheting off them like gliding on the ice.
Today felt like a special day, I felt conscientious of my surroundings. When Fiona whispered something to Jake I was the first to take notice, when a pencil rolled off a desk I quickly turned my head, and when the teacher asked a question I hastily raised my hand. This was a new feeling I had never experienced before, being active as if I held a life.
And then the dreaded time came. The one that gave me so much grief yesterday, lunch time. The tripping, the throwing, and now the teasing; they were all there. Numerous kids coming up to my face and asked what was wrong with me.
"Avery, why are you even here?"
"Do you know how to talk?"
"What are you worth, Avery?"
But the one who was worst of all...Thomas: a round boy with dark hair and arms that reminded me of sausages. I don't know why I was the "chosen one", but I was, and there's was nothing I could do about it. He called me small rather frequently and said I was the perfect size for a pincushion (whatever that meant). I tried not to pay much attention to it, but it was hard to when he kept staring and throwing things at me. I decided not to tell anyone about my newfound bully.
Two days past and I finally got the courage to ask the strange boy his name. He let out a soft chuckle until he replied:
"I'm Beckett, and you are?"
Softly, I said, "Avery."
"Avery, nice to meet you."
A couple moments past when I asked him, "Why did you want to talk to me?"
"I don't know. You seemed lonely so I thought it would be nice to give you some company."
I just nodded taking in what he just said. I returned home and began to really think about this "Beckett" character again.
Some time past, and Beckett and I have really gotten closer. We went bowling for the first time, played "Carnival Games" on the Wii, we ate at Burger King and he let me pick which toy I wanted from our kids meals. He also had a passion for airplanes. In fact, he would make me a paper airplane everyday and give it to me on the bus in the mornings. I was different when I was with him, I was lively. I slowly became more enthusiastic wherever I went. The only thing I thought was strange was that he never ate lunch in the cafeteria. I thought of reasons why, but I figured it was none of my business.
I never told him about Thomas or the others. It was a sad subject, and I didn't want to have a negative conversation with him. What if he thought I was pathetic or something? I wasn't about to risk the most important friendship I've ever had in my life for something as petty as that.
One day, Thomas was picking on me in the lunch room again. As usual, I sucked it up and didn't give much attention to him. Then, in the corner of my eye, for the first time, I see Beckett standing there in the entrance way.
