But I Love You

Chapter Four

6 MONTHS LATER

Avery ran through the huge building’s hall as the last bell of the day rang. School was finished for the semester and she could go home! Avery pushed her way through all the kids until she stumbled into the dorms hallway. It was still empty here, so she could walk like a normal person to her room. As she tried to open her door, Avery thought of what she would do when she got home. She couldn’t decide who she would see first or what she would do first.

“Oh my goodness! Keely open the freaking door!!” Avery yelled at the wood blocking her way in.

“No! You’re not allowed to leave me!!” Keely, her roommate, mumbled from the other side of the door.

“You’re leaving for holidays too!!”

Sometimes Keely was a pain in the back side, but you had to love her.  Keely creaked open the door and looked out like a four year old who was in trouble from their parent.

“Open the god damn door!! I want to go home!!”

“Just promise to come back.”

“Of course I’ll come back.”

“Good!” Keely threw the door open and Avery flew in.

Keely had waist length brown hair and hazel eyes. Her skin was a deep tan and when she stood next to Avery’s pale form, she looked five times darker. Keely was a couple of inches taller than Avery and studied ballet, so her posture was perfect. Avery went straight to her closet and pulled out her half full suitcase. She just needed to add the last essentials and then she would be all set to go home. Avery pulled out a sweater to wear on the plane. Her brother, Danny had given it to her and it was about three sizes to big but it smelt like home so Avery didn’t mind. She hardly wore it as to keep the smell of home fresh. Kinda weird.

“Is that your boyfriends?” Keely asked from her bed across the room.

“No, it’s my brothers.”

“Do you have a boyfriend?”

“In the six months I have roomed with you, you never thought to ask this before?”

“No I didn’t. I respect your privacy.”

Truth be told, Avery and Keely only knew what they needed to know about each other. It was fine for them and kept their conversations full of surprise.

“No I don’t have a boyfriend. What about you?”

‘Nope. I’m single and ready to mingle.”

“Interesting,” Avery said. Honestly, she didn’t really care. Keely went about her business and Avery went about hers.

“Get me pictures of any cute boys from your home town if you can. Preferably single,” Keely said as an afterthought, after giving Avery a goodbye hug.

“No promises, but I will try.”

On the plane, Avery started to worry. She was so nervous of what everyone would think of her now. She had changed a lot over the past six months. Her braces had come off, so her teeth were dead straight, her skin had cleared up of all its pimples and her body had found a slim shape to reside in. The only thing Avery would say had stayed the same was the colour of her hair; she had loved the red so much that she had kept it in. Avery patted down her hair nervously. She even dressed differently now. Whereas before he would wear really strange clothing choses, she now wore the more normal selection of clothing. Maintaining her quirky look had been hard and she realized she preferred her new look better. Her jeans and brothers jumper sat nicely on her. The nervous plane ride ended. Avery stumbled off the plane. She couldn’t believe that she was finally home! It all looked the same but Avery knew better than to assume everything was the same. Avery craned her neck looking for Sarah. Her family blended in with the crowd too much; Sarah would be a ton easier to spot. And Avery was right. She soon found Sarah standing on a chair, looking at every person who walked past her. Sarah and Avery had not been able to video chat while Avery was away; they only had phone calls which just weren’t the same. Avery ran as quickly as she possibly could towards her best friend. Sarah saw her coming and jumped off the chair basically on top of Avery, bringing her arms around her at the same time. They nearly fell over in a bundle, but managed to keep balance. Avery could hear Sarah sobbing into her shoulder and that nearly brought her to tears herself. Avery did burst into tears when her whole family surrounded her in a giant bear hug. She could barely breathe but she didn’t care. She had her family back.

Once they were all back home and were used to Avery being around, Sarah dragged her up to her room.

“I have some things to tell you,” Sarah began.

“I only want to know about the important things Sarah,” Avery cut in.

“Alright then,” Sarah sighed. She appeared to have been about to give Avery a rundown of absolutely everything that had happened over the past six months.  “Okay, here goes. Tilly dumped Max for some reason, so now he’s single. Ani is still single and is getting hotter, I swear. I can see why you like him. Oh andmeandTroyaredating.”

The last part was mumbled and Avery couldn’t understand it.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Me and Troy are dating.”

Avery screamed. “why didn’t you tell me you crazy loon?!?!? I’m sooo happy right now!!!!”

“Well this is the reaction I wanted.”

Avery crushed Sarah into another hug.

Sarah looked at her phone.

“Come on the boys have a game soon and I promised Troy I would go."

“Ew! Do I have to go watch him get all sweaty?”

“Ani is going to be there.”

“And we have a winner! What time does the game start?”

Sarah laughed. “You are way too easy to convince."

Avery gave her a big, goofy smile.

The two girls took off walking to the field, talking the whole way. They arrived at half time because Avery insisted on getting an ice-cream and a smoothie. The soccer team was having a talk with their coach when the girls did arrive. The boys all looked very muddy. Somehow this made Avery see Ani as even more attractive than when she left.