Ava’s POV
I woke up the next morning and freaked out. This isn’t my room! I thought then I sighed in relief when I remembered I was in Cameron’s room. I smelled smoke and went down the stairs as fast as I could without hurting myself. I burst out laughing when I saw Cameron holding the fire extinguisher, both him, Cooper and the stove were covered in the white foam from the fire extinguisher. Cameron saw me and smiled sheepishly at me.
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA what happened?” I asked, between giggles.
“I um tried to make breakfast, and it burst into flames.” Cameron said, looking down at the floor, his cheeks a light pink.
“Why are you guys covered in the white foam?” I asked, trying to keep a straight face. I was not successful.
“Well, somehow, Cooper’s shirt caught on fire so I tried to put that out.” Cameron said, still looking at the floor.
“And he sprayed me for way longer than necessary, so I grabbed the extinguisher and sprayed him.” Cooper said.
“Yeah, because you were still screaming like a little girl!” Cameron said.
“Guys!” I yelled, interrupting their argument.
“Yeah?” Cameron asked
“Go get cleaned up, I’ll take care of this mess and make breakfast that isn’t burnt or covered in foam.” I said.
“Are you sure? It’s our mess.” Cooper said.
“Yes, go.” I shooed them out of the kitchen and started cleaning up. After I cleaned up the mess, I looked for ingredients to make breakfast. I ended up making eggs, bacon and hash browns.
“Something smells amazing!” Cooper said, coming into the kitchen. He reached for the bacon, but I slapped his hand with the spatula. Cooper snatched his hand back and looked at me in mock sadness.
“Paws off until Cam gets here. Speaking of, where is he?” I asked.
“He’s getting dressed, he’ll be down in a minute. Can I please just have one tiny piece of bacon? Pretty please?” He said, looking at me with puppy dog eyes I shook my head and he kept begging me until Cam came down a minute later.
“Please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please?” Cooper said, bouncing up and down in his chair and annoying the heck out of me. I was sitting at the table with my hands in my hair, I was seriously contemplating strangling Cooper.
“Cooper, stop being annoying.” Cameron said, smacking Cooper in the back of his head
“THANK YOU!” I cried throwing my hands in the air. “You guys can eat now.” I said and Cameron got three plates out of the cupboard, I looked over and Cooper was munching on some bacon.
“Hey! Leave some for the rest of us!” I said and grabbed the plate from him, smiling.
“Aww, but it’s so good!” He said, looking sad. I just shook my head at him, chuckling. Everyone got their food and started eating.
“This is amazing, Aves! Where did you learn to cook like this?” Cameron said, looking at me.
“My uh mom taught me. Before she, you know, left.” I said, the counter suddenly became really interesting.
“Oh,” Cameron said, looking down. Cooper was eating, looking anywhere but at me.
“It’s fine, she left five years ago. I don’t need her, neither does my dad.” I told them. We finished eating and Audrey texted me.
You need a ride? Were you safe? –Auds
Audrey! Nothing like that happened. And yeah, I need a ride. –Aves
Mr. Hunky isn’t driving you? –Auds
Don’t you think it would look weird if people saw a teacher giving a student a ride to school? –Aves
True. What’s the address? –Auds
I gave her the address and she told me she would pick me up in 15 minutes.
“Cam? My friend is coming to pick me up.” I told him.
“We could give you a ride, Aves.” Cameron said.
“Yeah, but don’t you think it would be weird to see a teacher giving a student a ride?” I asked.
“Darn, you’re too logical sometimes, Aves.” Cameron said, grinning at me. A few minutes later a car horn beeped and I gave Cameron a hug without thinking. We both stiffened and I pulled away.
“I-I’m sorry, Cameron.” I said when I realized what I had done.
“No, Aves, wait!” Cameron said.
“I-I have to go.” I said and limped out of his house as fast as I could and rushed into Audrey’s car, out of breath.
“What happened to you, Aves?” Audrey asked when I got in the car.
“I hugged Mr. Ross.” I said
“Ooh! You like him don’t you?” she asked when she pulled out of his driveway.
“I-yeah” I said, looking down at my hands.
Cameron’s POV
I watched as she ran out of the house, running a hand down my face. I totally screwed that one up.
“Wow. That was um, interesting” Cooper said awkwardly. I just nodded.
“What happened?” I asked
“She hugged you, you both stiffened, she pulled away and ran out of the house.” He replied sarcastically, I just gave him a flat look and he stopped talking.
“Let’s go. We don’t want to be late.” I said and we made our way to the car.
Ava’s POV
We were talking and Audrey was singing to the radio, most likely trying to cheer me up, when she drove down a residential area. She was driving past an area where she had the right of way, and the other cars had to stop. I guess the garbage truck didn’t see us and he rolled through the stop sign, smashing into us. The car spun and I looked over at Audrey. Her hands were on the steering wheel, her knuckles turning white from gripping so hard. The car stopped and I looked over at her.
“Auds?” I asked gently, she was still in the same position she was in while the car was spinning.
“Are you ok?” she asked, her voice trembling.
“I’m absolutely fine. Are you?” I asked
“Yeah…yeah…just, shocked.” She said. I looked behind us and saw that we were in the middle of the street. The car was facing the wrong direction.
“Audrey, honey, I need you to focus, okay?” she nodded. “Can the car still move?” I asked, she turned the key and the engine roared to life. “We need to move the car. Can you do that?” I asked. She nodded and moved it to the side of the road. We got out and there were some people were standing there, the driver of the garbage truck included.
“Are you ok?” the driver asked. We nodded, both of us in shock. I took out my phone.
“Who are you calling?” Audrey asked.
“My dad. He’ll know what to do.” I said and called him with shaky fingers. “Daddy?” I said when he answered.
”Hey, Aves. What’s up?”
“Daddy, we were in an accident. We’re both okay, but we don’t know what to do.” I said, trying not to cry, that’s how freaked out I was.
“Okay, first I need you to calm down. I’m going to get some people out there. I’ll be there soon” he said and I told him where we were. I went over to Audrey.
“Auds? You want to sit down?” I asked when I noticed she was shaking.
“How can you be so calm, Aves?” she asked incredulously.
“I have no Idea, because I’m freaking out inside.” I said and she gave a small giggle. I guided her to the curb and we sat down. A few minutes later, a police car showed up along with a police officer on a motor cycle. My dad got out and rushed over to us, pulling us into a hug. When we saw him, we both started crying.
“Shhh. You’re okay.” He said soothingly. “Who was driving?” he asked
“I-I w-was” Audrey said, still crying.
“Are you okay?” he asked, rubbing her back soothingly. Audrey’s parents were hardly ever around, so my dad was kind of a parental figure in her life.
“I’m fine. Nothing hurts.” She said.
“Have you looked at the damage yet?” he said we both shook our heads. We went over to the car and me and Audrey gasped in sync. It would have been funny, if we weren’t the ones involved in the accident. The car had a huge dent in it on the driver’s side, but in the back. The antenna was bent and the step to get in was falling off and the side view mirror was pushed in. The officers came over and questioned us, and it was finally over about an hour later.
“Do you feel up to going to school?” my dad asked and we both shook our heads “Okay, I’ll call the school.” he said as we got in the police car. He drove us to my house and me and Audrey got out and went to my room.
“You want to change?” I asked, she nodded her head and I threw her some sweats and a t-shirt.
Cameron’s POV
The first three periods passed in a blur, as they usually do. When 4th period came, I started to get excited, I was going to see Ava! The bell rang and she didn’t show. I kept hoping she would walk in the door at any minute, until the bell rang. I started to get mad, her and Audrey were probably ditching my class. I would have to ask Cooper if they showed for his class.
She didn’t.
”What do you mean she didn’t show?” I asked when school ended.
“I mean, her and Audrey were absent, therefore, they didn’t show.” He said and I rolled my eyes.
“I’m going to her house.” I said and got up.
“I guess I’m going, too” Cooper said.
“Why would you come?” I asked confused.
“You’re my ride, duh” he said and I nodded, feeling like a complete idiot.
I knocked at her door, and she answered.
“Cameron? What are you doing here? Oh, come in.” She said, shocked that I was here.
“I wanna know why you didn’t show for school. Were you ditching? Because the hug this morning, I actually didn’t mind.” I admitted, walking into her house.
“I- no. I was honestly planning on coming today.” She said and Audrey came to the door.
“Then why didn’t you?” I asked, confused.
“We were in an accident” Audrey said.
“What? Are you okay?”
“We’re fine, Cameron.” Ava said
“What happened?” I asked, worried “And who was driving?” I asked
“A garbage truck ran a stop sign and hit us.” Ava said “Audrey was driving” she said and I looked at them.
“Are you sure you aren’t hurt?” I asked.
“No, we aren’t hurt, just a little shook up.” Ava said.
“Where’s the car?” I asked
“Hopefully getting fixed. It could still drive, but it got towed away.” Audrey said.
How are we going to get to school tomorrow, Aves?” she asked Ava.
“I have no idea; maybe my dad can give us a ride? I’ll ask when he gets home from work.” Ava said, shrugging her shoulders
“I can give you guys a ride.” I said, hoping they’d say yes.
They looked at each other; Audrey was giving Ava a smug look for reasons unknown to me.
“Yeah, that would be great, thanks Cameron.” Ava said, giving me a beautiful smile. I got this weird fluttering in my stomach, what was that? I completely forgot Cooper was there until he talked.
“Cameron, we have to go.” He said, and he was right. We had to get back to the school and finish our work. We said goodbye to them and I told them I’d be here tomorrow morning at 7.
Ava’s POV
“He so likes you, Aves.” Audrey said.
“What? That’s crazy. There’s no way he likes me!” I said.
“Yeah, he does. You wanna know how I can tell?” She asked, I rolled my eyes and nodded, humoring her. “He lets you call him Cameron, he calls you Aves, he offered to give us a ride to school tomorrow, and he let you stay over at his house yesterday.” She told me, counting off the reasons on her fingers.
“Okay, let’s say hypothetically Cameron likes me. Why would he? There’s nothing special about me. I’d get why he would like you, your funny, and pretty and outgoing, and I’m just…..plain.” I told her, shrugging.
“Why do you always doubt yourself, Aves? You don’t seem to understand how pretty and funny and awesome you are!” She said. I have my reasons as to why I have awful self-confidence. Well, one reason at least: Amelia, my mother. A year or so before she left, she started drinking. The alcohol must have done something to her mind, because before that, she was a wonderful mom. Anyways, She started abusing me - verbally, she never laid a hand on me. She would tell me that I’m stupid, or that I’m ugly and no one would ever like me, things like that. I didn’t believe her at first, but after a while? I dunno, I guess I just started to. The thing was, she never said these things to me when my dad, or anyone was around. No one knew, not even Audrey.
“I don’t know, Audrey. I guess I just have low self-esteem.” I said shrugging.
“Well stop it. There’s no reason for you to doubt yourself. I’m willing to bet that you two will end up dating. You two look adorable together!” She squealed.
“I highly doubt it, Auds” I said, sighing.
“Just wait, Aves. And when it happens, I’m gonna slap you upside the head.” She said, grinning.
That night, Audrey slept over, and we stayed up until one giggling about random stuff.
“Girls! Go to bed! Now” my dad yelled grumpily from his room. This just sent us into another fit of giggles.
“Okay, Okay” I said, trying to calm myself down. “He’s right, we have school tomorrow.”
”Okay, goodnight Aves.” Audrey said, still giggling.
“Night, Auds” I said, drifting off to sleep.
Beep beep BEep BEep BEEP BEEP
“Turn it off!” Audrey whined into the pillow “I’m trying to sleep!” she mumbled
“We have to get up…..maybe just five more minutes.” I yawned, pushing the snooze button.
“Girls! Get up!” My dad said. I cracked open one eye and saw that it was 6:54.
“Audrey! We have five minutes until Cameron gets here!” I shrieked and chucked a pillow at her head. Her head popped up and I almost laughed if I wasn’t so panicked about getting ready on time. Her hair looked a bird’s nest and she looked really disoriented. She was lying on her stomach, her hands under the pillow and she was looking around quickly.
“What?!!” She screeched “Oh my gosh! We’re gonna be late!” She squealed and scrambled out of bed, falling in the process. After a couple of minutes, I was ready and Audrey almost was. The doorbell rang and I limped quickly down the stairs and opened the door.
“Hey, Aves. You look exhausted. Are you ok?” Cameron asked, concern evident in his eyes.
“I’m fine, we just stayed up late last night.” I said, yawning.
“Audrey is here?” He asked and I nodded.
“She’s almost done, we literally just woke up five minutes ago.” I said. At that moment, Audrey came running down the stairs, tripping and falling, landing on her butt.
“Are you ok?” I asked, trying to keep a straight face. I looked over at Cam and saw him doing the same. Audrey has always been clumsy, but it’s worse when she’s in a hurry.
“I’m fine” She said rubbing her bottom and glaring at me.
We got in the car and saw Cooper sitting in the front seat.
“Hey, Ava, hey Audrey. How’s it going?” He asked, grinning widely.
“Tired” We both said at the same time.
“How’s the ankle, Ava? Any idea of when you’re gonna be back in PE?” He asked.
“It still hurts. I hope I’ll be back soon.” I told him.
“Did you ice it last night?” he asked
“No” I mumbled, looking down.
“Ava” He said, sighing.
“What are you, my dad?” I asked, smiling.
“Never mind” he said, chuckling as Cameron started the car. We drove to school in a comfortable silence. Cam kept looking at me in the mirror, his expression was unreadable. We finally got to school and Audrey and I got out quickly, hoping no one would notice.
“Ava, can I talk to you?” Cameron asked, nervously.
“Yeah” I said and stopped.
“In my classroom?” he asked I nodded and we walked to his room. He unlocked the door and then locked it once we were in.
“Aves….I….I like you…..In a way I shouldn’t.” He told me, looking everywhere but me. My heart stopped in my chest. He likes me? “And I know you probably don’t feel the same way, and I’m okay with that, I’ll wait for you.” He really liked me? He kept rambling
“Cam! Stop talking for a minute!” I said, smiling.
“Y-yeah?” he asked, nervously
“Cam, I like you too” I said and he grinned so wide I thought his face would split. He picked me up and swung me around, then put me down gently.
“You do?” he asked and I nodded and then the bell rang
“I have to go, Cam.” I said and he hugged me.
“Bye Aves. See you fourth?” he asked and I nodded. I skipped away, down the hall feeling happier than I’d been in a long time.
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Hey, guys! I really liked this chapter. Oh and the car crash? That was exactly what happened to me, but I hadn’t been in the car with anyone.
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