~1 week later~
"AVA?" he shouted down the phone,
"what?" I asked tiredly,
"oh, thank god!" he sighed,
"what was it?"
"I had a dream and we were all happy and then I woke up in the dream and you were gone and then I woke up again and thought you were gone so I called and you weren't." he said in a single breath,
"that was lots of words in little time..." I said confused,
"okay goodnight then..."
"wait! I'm awake now..." I said as it was six in the morning and the call made me lively,
"oh... well it's two in the morning in Jersey and" he yawned, "I'm tired."
"you're no fun..." I smiled to myself,
"face time?"
"no!" I said loudly and sat up,
"why not?" he said to me,
"because I'm as reflective as a mirror and am in desperate need of a hair wash," I countered,
"I've seen you at your worst before..."
"still... I need to leave you with a great image of me before I get to Jersey..."
"don't worry babe... you always have a great image..." he said to me in a deep voice,
I shook my head, blushed and then laughed down the phone at his remarks.
"my brother got here last week, so I've got lots of catching up to do." I said to him as I changed the subject before I turned into a tomato,
"he's going to New York, isn't he?" Grayson said,
"yeah... how did you know that?"
"I talk to him quite a lot, you know," Grayson casually said down the phone,
"well, I learn something new every day..." I said as I was stunned at the fact that Grayson knew about his move and I didn't.
"shut up!" a voice shouted from the other room,
"I guess I've got to go now... I'll talk to you later," I said in a whisper,
"I'll text you when I wake up..." he whispered back and made me laugh,
"bye babe..." I finished.
I hung up the phone and then put my head on the pillow before falling into a deep sleep.
When I did wake up, the mail had been delivered and I had been expecting something that I had Ethan mail down over to me. It was the letter from YouTube. The letter was sitting in the pile of mail and I opened it with one messy cut.
It was my first YouTube pay check.
I picked up my phone and facetimed Grayson, which turned out to be Ethan who had picked up Gray's phone.
"can you get Gray for me please." I said happily,
"he's in the shower right now." Ethan said as he sat down on his bed,
"damn it..." I said with my brows furrowed,
"what's up?"
"I got my first YouTube pay check!" I said excitedly,
"congrats!" he nodded and then a voice came from the side of the room and Ethan's attention was drawn away,
"why are you answering my phone!" Grayson said loudly and then he took the phone off of Ethan,
"hey babe." I grinned,
"why are you so happy?" he asked me whilst smiling with his wet hair dripping onto his nose,
"I got my first pay check!"
"from?"
"YouTube!"
"wow! I'm so proud of you!"
honestly, the amount was not a bad thing to receive.
---
I received a text around ten in the morning but it wasn't Grayson, it was my mum,
Mum: hey sweets... just got off the plane, can you come and pick us up?
I sighed and then got out of bed before throwing on a pair of jeans and then shoving on a t-shirt that Grayson had left here because it was comfy and was lying on the floor so I picked it up first. I grabbed my dad's car keys (Josh had filled the tank up) and then I drove over to the airport.
I decided the airport was pretty much a second home for me because I had spent lots of time there, more than I had imagined I would have to.
My parents walked out from the arrivals doors and then jammed all of their luggage into the boot of my dad's Mercedes and then my mum shouted shotgun and hopped in the front seat as my dad sluggishly got into the back seat.
"hi sweetheart," she said as she leant over and kissed me on the cheek,
"how was wherever you went?"
"boring... lots of meetings. Your dad did the same pretty much."
"it's pretty handy that you both landed at similar times..." I said feeling a bit suspicious,
"oh... is it?"
"I don't think it is..." my dad said in the end,
"alright." I said and then pulled out of the parking space.
Over the next two weeks, I had my head in a book day in, day out and was surviving on very little hours of sleep each night. Thankfully, my parents stayed out of my hair and left me to do whatever I needed to do. On the day of the exam, I made sure I was wearing comfy clothes as I headed over to the school. I was one of the only people doing my history exam and lots of other people were in there doing maths and science.
I sat in my assigned seat before the timer started and I dashed through the paper to answer every single question. The second part of the test involved writing an essay on the events of the Crimean war in parts of Russia.
After nearly three hours of sitting in an exam hall, I met my old history teacher in the hallway because he wanted to see how I was doing,
"Ava!" he said as he saw me leaving the hall,
"hi sir." I said as walked over to him,
"how do you think it went?" he asked me with a puzzled look on his face,
"it was pretty difficult but I guess I just have to wait and see," I shrugged,
"well, it's a good thing you didn't find it too difficult." He nodded,
"I guess so."
"what are you doing at the moment then?" he asked with the same look,
"oh, I work at AGS Architects in LA." I nodded,
"wow, that's a pretty big business..."
"it pays the bills..."
"I hear that you've got yourself tangled in some fame?" he said with a laugh,
"something like that," I scratched my head.
"my wife is a photographer..." he started,
great... he wanted to talk to me so I could promote his wife's business.
"... she heard about you and was wondering if you would take some photos for her portfolio... she'll pay." He said as he handed me her business card,
"I'll think about it... I'm off to America in a few days so I don't know."
"she's free later on..." he suggested.
"maybe." I said before walking off and waving goodbye.
I headed out of the school and then all of a sudden, a woman popped out of a car with a camera,
"Ava!" she shouted and I looked at her with my eyes narrowed,
"hello?" I asked because I was trying to recognise her,
"it's Lucy!" she said and then ran over to hug me, "the camera was just a joke but I guess it wasn't funny." She shrugged,
"sorry... I've just been hassled by the history teacher about his photographer wife," I sighed,
"ah..." she said to me, "wanna' go and get a McDonald's?"
"sure." I said and then got in her car,
"hey Zack..." I said as she sat in the front seat,
"hey Ava..." he said and then Lucy drove us all to McDonald's for come catching up.