Floating

Chapter 9

The following day, as Jenny and Ava walked into school, Jenny waved at Evan, who smiled back at both her and Ava from his usual spot with his gaggle of friends while holding onto a pair of crutches.

"Ouch. Wonder what happened there."

"Flying bike," muttered Ava under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Ah. Heard he fell. Off his bike."

Jenny turned to look at Ava, her strange tone surprising her a bit, but she chalked it up to her friend's growing crush. "Mhm. Sure." She grinned.

"Oh, shut up," Ava saw her friend's expression and elbowed her.

In her Art 2 class, Ava grabbed a canvas and sat in her usual corner of the classroom, the back right corner of the room, closest to the door, at the table where no one else sat.

She preferred to focus on her work when she could, and art was one of the more peaceful periods of the day, with most of the students bent over their own work. It was never completely silent, but in general, conversations were carried out in hushed voices.

Evan tended to sit in the middle of the classroom, where the conversations were more prevalent and where fewer of the students ever completed any artwork.

About fifteen minutes into the start of class, he got up, grabbing his crutches and attempting to carry his canvas while hopping on his crutches in her direction. Ava watched bemusedly as Evan tried several different methods of balancing the canvas and using the crutches.

After half a minute of watching him silently struggle and realizing he wasn't going to give up, she walked over to his workstation instead, figuring doing so was both less obvious and perhaps less painful for him. She picked up his canvas without a word and took it over to her table. She wasn't going to carry on a conversation with him in the middle of the room.

Evan smiled gratefully, then picked up his crutches properly and hobbled over to her corner. His movement caused some hushed whispering and confused glances in Ava's direction, but no one raised their voice.

Evan said in a low voice, "Thanks."

"You really shouldn't go around throwing bikes up in the air and people onto the floor."

"Yeah. Planning on sticking to making toilet paper fly." He winced as he leaned his crutches against the paint-splattered table and climbed up onto the stool next to her.

"Broken or sprained?" Ava asked, glancing down at his ankle.

"Sprained. Means I won't be swimming for a couple of weeks." He leaned against the table as he pulled a white envelope out of his pocket. "I just wanted to give you the money." He handed it to Ava.

"But I didn't even tell you how much." Opening the flap and peering inside, she gaped at the three hundred-dollar bills.

"This is way too much." Pulling out two of the bills, she attempted to hand it back to Evan, but he shook his head and gently pushed her hands back.

"Consider it a donation. And maybe compensation for a frosting-covered shirt."

Ava winced at the reminder, then, already hearing Jenny's voice of excitement and plans for how Key Club could use three hundred dollars, she closed the envelope back up and put it in a pocket deep inside her backpack.

"Thank you."

"My pleasure." His eyes twinkled, then he began to stand up. "I'll let you get back to your painting. It's beautiful, by the way. Reminds me of Oregon in the summer." His eyes gazed at her landscape, lost in memory, before returning to his crutches. As he reached a hand out towards his crutches, Ava touched his arm.

"No, please stay," Ava said quickly. "If you'd like, I mean," she added, with a pointed look at the crutches leaning against the table.

Evan beamed as he sat back down. "Don't worry, I won't bother you. I'll just be Pablo Picasso over here, minding my own business." He motioned to his canvas with a grandiose flourish, a painting of a red blob Ava figured was supposed to be an apple.

Ava rolled her eyes but returned to her painting with a slight smile on her face.

Ava had to calm Jenny down after showing her the hundred dollar bills during their walk home. As soon as Jenny had opened the envelope, she had shrieked loudly in excitement.

"What? Who gave you this? Is this all for Key Club? Wow, they must be rich. Was it actually one of the football players? Which one of them? I can't imagine any of them being so generous, to be honest," followed by a small gasp, "Oh no, you didn't terrify a football player, did you? That's not going to go well. Although I am impressed..." Jenny continued on in this fashion for a couple blocks before Ava could interrupt.

"Jenny. Jenny! Breathe. No, I didn't terrify a football player. Those guys are huge."

Jenny nodded in agreement.

"So who was it?"

Ava scrunched her nose before replying, "Evan. He handed it to me in art class."

Jenny gasped loudly. "Well, clearly, he likes you." She was practically bouncing as they walked, her curls exaggerating the movement even more so. "Also, technically, you did terrify a football player then."

"I didn't terrify him."

"So you admit it! He likes you!"

Ava couldn't help but laugh a bit at her friend's logic. Jenny grinned.

"Well, we're going to have to find something good to spend it on then," she stated emphatically.

"I'm sure you'll think of something brilliant," Ava replied with a smile.

Jenny tapped the envelope against her chin thoughtfully. "I've got a few ideas..."