Polaroid

Chapter 5

the days went fast when ainsley had something to look forward to.

on friday dreyson was having everybody over, including ainsley, to (re)watch pretty little liars. and ainsley could stay at his house the whole weekend. she had packed a bag of clothes and makeup that tuesday, when he invited her. she couldn’t hold in her excitement. ainsley felt like eli, smiling so much.

at lunch she smiled and laughed with everyone else. nobody mentioned her differences once. and eli loved her hair. anne said she was jealous of her height. dreyson said she reminded him of a character from a book called eleanor & park. ainsley didn’t know how to take this, so she just smiled. he explained it was because of her hair.

ainsley had grown up hating her hair. she hated it. it was big, and curly, and frizzy, and she could never tame it. she had never had a ponytail, or a bun. she just had a mass of hair. she never imagined people actually liking her hair, thinking its pretty. but here they are. 7 other people that think her hair is pretty.

it was hard keeping up with the conversations at the table. there always plenty going on, and everyone seemed to just be talking to the wind. when ainsley focused hard enough, she could almost hear each conversation individually. andy was complaining about meat being in his salad. ron was talking about football practice the night before. dreyson was talking about some show called supernatural, and how important some people named sam and dean were to society. isaac was pretending to be a girl craving a pumpkin spice latte. sam was talking about some trick he learned on his skateboard. anne was talking about the benefits of her razr.

and ainsley and eli were silent. she didn’t notice him grinning at her for a few minutes, until she turned to say something to him. he laughed. “never sat at a full table before, have you?” ainsley shook her head. “it’s a bit overwhelming.”

“you just gotta start talking about something, and people will listen.”

“but nobody’s ever done that to me.”

“that’s even more depressing than always being free. just try it. talk about the school. about your schedule. anything.”

ainsley took a deep breath and leaned in closer, over her hamburger. “i have gym first period, and it really sucks.” anne responded almost immediately. “i had it first last year, you get used to it after a while.” ainsley smiled. “i don’t think i ever will.” anne laughed. dreyson asked what she was laughing about, then he talked to ainsley. “i’ve always had gym seventh period. isn’t that weird? every year. even since middle school.” anne scoffed. “i know you’ve had it every year in high school, but i don’t believe the middle school bit.” dreyson’s eyes widened and his voice got higher. “it’s true! i’ll show you my schedule on friday.” anne gave him a look. “come on…” dreyson whined, and ainsley laughed.

“is he always like that?” she asked anne. “he’s never changed.” it took a minute for ainsley to realize that ron was talking to her. “have you ever been to a football game?” ainsley shook her head. “i haven’t.” ron looked more shocked than dreyson when she told him she had never seen pretty little liars. “there’s one next saturday, wanna come?” ainsley nodded vigorously. “of course.” ron did a little dance. “i told you!” he punched sam in the shoulder. “what! she just doesn’t seem the type.” ainsley spoke up loud enough. “wait wait wait, were you guys actually talking about me?” ron raised his hands in surrender. “i was just saying that i wasn’t sure if you would like to come, i didn’t mean to like offend you…” he trailed off, eyes shut tight.

ainsley laughed. “you can open your eyes, i’m not going to hurt you.” ron exhaled and put his hands down. “you just seem like you could like, do major damage.” eli laughed. “don’t laugh at me!” ron says, throwing a piece of pizza crust at eli. “i can’t help it. you’re ridiculous.”

as usual, lunch ended too soon, and ainsley was left feeling happy.