Ava in Wonderland

Chapter 1

Ava, born and raised in a world she never felt she belonged to, was not just wealthy, but downright aristocratic. Her parents were determined, successful business people. And yet, she felt like the odd one. Her mother was never the one she ran to with life's problems. Instead, she ran to books and sunk into them to forget life's woes. Further separating her from the family, Ava didn't care for the lavish lifestyle and elegant parties most teenagers would boast about. Not happening very often, just the few rare occasions when her parents were both home. Even when they were there, everything was about business. If they weren't directly working on their laptops, they were socializing to promote the companies. Ava was merely a trophy to them. Someone to hand the business lifestyle down to, but she feared ever telling them she wasn't interested as it would crush their spirits and drive them even further apart. So she pretended to be the perfect child around her family. Every day after school, she dove into her reading. A peaceful but lonely hobby that eventually drove her mad. Her favorite book was Alice in Wonderland, the story of fantasy that she so badly yearned for. Everything changed when she met Aiden.

Keeping to himself, Aiden was the quiet, geeky kid at school. That was until he was partnered with Ava in her favorite class, Biology. Any kind of science was welcomed by Ava because she believed everything had to have a clear reason behind it, supported by facts and evidence. Aiden also favored science classes as there always was some kind of theory that needed testing. He was always the one to go above and beyond to prove some far-fetched theory. Conspiracies were his favorite type of theories, as they were the most difficult to prove. Any kind of fantasy book was Aiden's muse, as he had a crazed imagination to feed. Parents were an unknown for Aiden as his were drug addicts who could not care less about him. When they were around, they would just bash Aiden on getting a job so they could whisk away his money to feed their drug habit. School was a peaceful escape for Aiden as he had no worries there, just books and knowledge to keep his mind distracted from all of the abnormalities at home. 

Being lab partners, Aiden and Ava had to dissect an adult pig and describe their findings with a detailed report. Their dissection took the entire class period as they were paying great attention to every detail. Once they were finally finished, Ava tucked her short brown hair behind her ear and looked into Aiden's sparkly brown eyes. "So, I guess us perfectionists will have to write our report outside of school. I'm just relieved someone is just as meticulous as I am." She smiled a cheerful smile.

Proudly, Aiden smiled back at her. "Yes, we do. Wanna meet up after school today? I can come to your house? I'll even bring coffee. Everyone loves coffee right?" He raised an eyebrow as he asked, leaving Ava to wonder if inviting him to her home would be a good idea. After all, maybe he didn't know how stuck up and rich her family was, and that's why he was being so nice to her. 

Thoroughly, she thought for a moment. She was tired of being alone, and someone had finally approached her, open to get together after school. Hell, even coffee was being offered! How could anyone resist that? "Alright, I don't see why not. I will email you my address, and I will see you after school. Oh, I love caramel lattes, by the way. Thank you!" Flashing her brightest smile, she grabbed her backpack and made her way to her final class.

***

A hour has passed since Ava had gotten home and she was impatiently waiting for Aiden to show up. A knock on the door was the last thing she expected to hear as she thought he would leave her to do the report, like everyone else in school would. Shaking her head as she thought about how she already judged someone she didn't know, just as everyone at school did to her, she answered the door. Holding two cups of coffee in his hands, Aiden was sweating but he had a smug grin on his face. "Caramel latte with 2 extra shots of espresso. We're going to need it for this report." 

Ava grabbed one of the coffees and led Aiden inside, into her room. He set his backpack on the floor next to her bed, and went to examine her bookshelf. Smiling, he said, "Alice in Wonderland! This is seriously such a good book! Could you imagine if it were real? If somewhere, in this dump of a town, there was a rabbit hole, or some other phenomenon that could transport us to a whole new world?!" His excitement was refreshing for Ava to see, it made her feel so whole, like someone understood the way she felt when she read a book! 

"Exactly! I think of the same thing! Could you imagine going into a world like that? It would be marvelous! I would give anything to be able to go on some kind of adventure into a whole new world!" Frustratingly, she gazed into the woods through her bedroom window. "Too bad those kinds of worlds only exist in books." Looking down, she got lost in her own imaginative thoughts. 

"Well, who said we can't have an adventure like that? You're looking at the biggest believer of conspiracies and magic alive! Those woods are as old as time! There has got to be some kind of odd world out there for us to explore!" Pure excitement and joy filled his eyes. 

Mouth agape. Ava stared into his eyes with disbelief and anguish. "I just don't see how that's even remotely possible. There's no scientific reasoning behind it! No evidence!"