*~Ambition and Love Wearing Boxing Gloves~*

~ F I F T E E N ~

Avoidance

"Okay, so you said I could tell you anything? I thought that meant you wouldn't freak out, so please swallow your shock and freakin' talk to me!" Y/n yelled into her phone, leaving Michael yet another voicemail.

She shoved her phone in her pocket and went downstairs, grabbing her bag off the chair at the kitchen table.
Next to her, was her Uncle Scott.

"Uncle, Scott... what are you doing here?" She asked, awkwardly swinging her bag over her shoulder.
He put down his phone that he was staring at distantly. Literally.

He refused to get reading glasses, so instead he leaned far away from his phone and read topical articles.

"I'm not going in for a few more hours." He shrugged. "Thought I'd take you to school."
Y/n sighed and tried not to make her discomfort apparent.

"It's fine, uh I'll just ride my skateboard."
She gestured over to her board by the door, and her uncle shook his head.

"Oh please, I'll take you." He stood up, his burly arms crossed over his chest.
Even the man-hair on his arms were as ginger as the hair on his head. Which was very.

"Uh... yah okay. Sure."
She nodded awkwardly, but she did not thank him.

The two of them walked outside, and Y/n moseyed over to her Uncle Barry's lame little blue Ford Focus. But not one of the shiny new ones, like... the 2002 one with the angry looking headlights and the antenna on top of the car.

As lame as it was, it was still better than-
"Nope, we're taking the squad car."

Y/n's hand laid on the door handle, and her head dropped with a sigh.
"Do we have to?"

He scoffed and opened the driver's door.
"Would you just get in the car?"

He snapped and pointed inside, making her flinch with rage.
She immediately simmered down with images flashing through her brain; images of a dented car flying into the woods.

She let her feet drag her to the other door, while her dad rolled his eyes, mumbling something about, "Kids used to think squad cars were cool. Freakin' new..."

They sat in silence while the car rolled out of the driveway and down the street.
It went at the exact, perfect speed out of the neighborhood and down the road, as well as all the cars around it.

"So I haven't seen much of you lately." He said, still keep his eyes fixed on the road.
Why can't we just listen to the radio? Y/n thought, fiddling with her book-bag strap.

She glanced out the window at all the surrounding cars, going unreasonably slow.
"Sure, I guess." She mumbled.

In this stupid vehicle, she felt like everyone was watching them in there.
In this case it was not exactly paranoia, she was probably right.

"You're out late and gone early... makes me wonder where you are all the time." He nodded, pulling onto the busy street that led to Middle Borough High.

"I could say the same about you." She mumbled quietly.
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing." She sighed, sinking lower in her seat.

Now she wasn't wondering, every single kid getting off a bus out out of a car or walking into school, was staring at the squad car pulling up to the door.
Y/n could only imagine what they were saying as they watched her.

He stopped in front of the entrance and unlocked the doors to the car.
"Get out." He mumbled gruffly.

Y/n groaned and opened the door, swinging her legs out and hauling her bag up.
He rolled down the window as she shut the door.

"Have a good day." He said briefly.
Before Y/n could even think a response, let alone say it, Uncle Scott was zooming out of the parking lot, and off school grounds.

She didn't know what he was looking for from that exchange, but whatever it was left her feeling angry and embarrassed.
Especially while kids' curious expressions turned to smirks and snickers.

New words started to waft around the courtyard/ sidewalk area.
Criminal.

A couple kids started making their way closer to her while she walked towards the entrance door, and the anger boiling in her ears made her clench her fists.

When she did, the kids approaching her stumbled away.
Instead of feeling bad for using her telepathic, telekinetic... whatever... powers on kids; she pretended they backed off by themselves.

Snickering turned to frightened murmurs while she walked faster into the building.
Kids inside were subtly watching, staring at her with fright.

One particular kid was standing there with wide eyes, watching her.
Y/n caught sight of him, and opened her mouth to yell at the boy in the red hoodie.

Before she could get a word out, he was walking off to the stairs.
Her suspicions/fears were confirmed... the one person she could count on was avoiding her.

She almost prayed for a Zoloft right about now.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Michael and Jeremy were sitting at lunch, and Jer was searching the cafeteria for his girlfriend.
"I don't see her anywhere, you think she's with Y/n?"

Michael was staring into space with a thoughtful expression.
"I don't know." He mumbled.

Jer's eyebrows furrowed.
"Haven't you seen her today?"

"No! No, I haven't." He sighed, fixing his glasses.
"Dude, what's wrong?"

He shook his head and rested it in his hands, exhaling and pushing his hair back with his hands.

"With Christine... was it weird? When you got to know her?"
Jeremy put down his chip bag and frowned.
"What?"

"Well like," Michael sighed. "You just, you just liked her so much. And had such an idea of what she was going to be like... what it'd be like, to you know, be with her. And then all that crazy shit happened and you don't know what to think now."

Jeremy stared at his friend skeptically.
"That's... not what it was like... at all."

He squinted, pushing his glasses up again with his finger.
"Okay..."

Jeremy smiled, leaning on his hand and recalling the previous year.
"I didn't picture what it would be like with her, I never thought I'd get to be with Christine. So when I did, yah it was weird."

He looked at his friend, with a relaxed, wistful expression.
"But not because of the Squip. Because I'd never thought I'd have the chance to."

Michael looked down at Jeremy, slowly smiling.
"You sound like a sage, old man."

Jeremy brushed off his shoulders, and smiled at the tiny girl bouncing over to their table.
"Okay, so I thought I was going explode in Engli-"

She was cut off by Jeremy leaning over the table and kissing her.
When he plopped back down in his seat, she wore a giddy smile.

"What was that for?" She giggled.
He shrugged. "You're just unreal."
She giggled more, and Michael watched the two with fascination.

"Christine, can you do anything with your mind?"
The mood ended abruptly and the two giddy kids stared at Michael with confusion.

He sighed. "Nevermind."