Floating

Chapter 7

"Ava! Are you okay? What happened?" Jenny shouted as she ran towards Ava. "Sorry, I couldn't find you, and then I figured maybe you went home, and so I started cleaning the table up."

"I'm fine, don't worry about it. Thanks, Jenny."

"What happened?" Jenny asked again. "It looked like the cupcakes just exploded or something."

Ava had to think of a convincing story quickly. Unused to lying to her friend, she shrugged and simply said, "Stray football hit the table."

Jenny pursed her lips, trying to recall a football game and where a frosting-covered football might have gone.

Ava added, "I was able to catch up to the guy before he could take off. He's going to cover the costs."

Jenny nodded in appreciation, momentarily forgetting about the missing frosting-covered football. Then, looking at Ava's clothes, she remarked, "Okay, time to go home. I'm going to go get Ben to finish cleaning up, and then we'll walk you home. You just wait here." She pointed to a nearby bench, and Ava obediently sat.

Jenny ran off, back to the table. Ava could hear Jenny's loud voice shouting at someone, then she was back, sitting on the bench next to Ava.

"Come on, up we go," Jenny linked her arm in Ava's and steered her home.

The entire walk home, Ava could sense Jenny's curiosity over what happened, but she didn't press her for details. When they got to Ava's house, Ava rang the doorbell, not wanting to cover the inside of her backpack in frosting as well. They could hear Ava's mom rushing down the stairs, as Ava normally didn't ring the doorbell.

"Ava, what happened? Is that frosting? Come in, come in." She ushered Jenny and Ava inside.

"Just an incident with the cupcakes at school, Mom. I'll be fine."

Ava's mom frowned, but turned to Jenny instead. "Thanks for taking her home, sweetheart." Knowing her parents' policies, she said, "Here, I'll walk you back home."

"Thanks, Mrs. Young." Jenny turned to Ava and motioned Call me later? around Ava's mom, who was bustling about to gather her purse and keys. Ava nodded, then headed upstairs to change and shower before anyone could ask her any questions she couldn't answer.