| SAFE PLACES |
avalon banks
levi unwillingly drove us all to school the next morning. the sky is dark and gloomy. everything's damp from the rain last night and my thin moccasins get soaked immediately when i step up onto the school's sidewalk. sighing, i tug my pack on one shoulder and walk behind the twins, who follow where all the other students are going.
the school has so many windows and doors, it's hard to tell which is which and what is what. how was anyone supposed to find anything here? out by the main doors, there's a stand that holds school maps on display and i roll my eyes. what kind of school has maps like this, just sitting out for everyday students to find their way around? obviously a privileged one. even though i hate it and am ashamed by it, i snatch one of the maps and shove it into my book bag.
"i'm down this hall," mallory squeals excitedly and i huff and puff like a pouty toddler. she's obviously more excited about this than all of us put together and not that's saying a lot.
"where's your first?" henry says, falling back to walk beside me since chad already fell in line with some guy. it didn't surprise me. i give henry my schedule and he scans it quickly. "we're just a couple doors apart from each other. stand by the lockers beside your class afterwards and i'll meet up with you for next period." henry gives me a small brotherly smile before walking into his own classroom.
quickly, i speed down the hall, making sure i'm not late to my own first period, which is english. the perfect subject to have first thing at seven-thirty in the morning.
walking through the large door, most of the class desks are filled, so i shuffle into the first desk at the very middle of the room. i catch a book title the great gatsby on the board. i've already done the whole great gatsby section of eleventh grade, so i sigh of relief. seconds later, a plump woman rushes into the room, red faced and out of breath. her graying hair frays around her face and i feel bad for her.
"okay you idiotic pests before i start, i'd like to know who actually did their homework last night." absolutely no hands in the room went up and a few students look around and laugh nervously. "that's what i thought. all of you have no excuses except for miss banks." eyes travel around the room, spotting me and i sink down in my desk, rubbing at my forehead to hide my eyes. "and she's actually ahead of you all brainless toads. yes, miss banks, i did my research on you and your old school." i couldn't blush any redder than i already am at this point.
after a few agonizing minutes, mrs osborne, the name of which i just learned, leaves me alone. i adjust myself in my desk and begin writing the notes that mrs osborne is telling us. i catch every detail up until the last one, when a hand taps on my shoulder.
"you needn't be shy, this school's harmless." i turn to meet forest green eyes and i try to smile nicely. "i'm forest, by the way." the shaggy brown headed boy shrugs and gives me a half smile.
"avalon," i whisper over my shoulder. immediately i feel stupid for not saying hello or my name's so and so.
"pretty name," i look further over my shoulder and forest's cheeks have turned a slight shade of light pink. my heart flutters at the small attention i'm getting, even when i know it shouldn't.
"thanks, your's too," i blush madly, like a little girl. we both laugh lightly.
"what's your next class?" forest asks, and i hand him my schedule without hesitation. at the thought of making a friend in my very first period gives me a little bit of happiness. it's better than having no friends all day.
"homeroom, we don't have together. crafts, we have together," he looks up at me through his lashes and flashes an embarrassed smile before continuing. "lunch, you can sit with me if you'd like, unless you have other plans?" i shake my head no, but wish i hadn't. i'd planned to sit with henry, so maybe henry can sit with me and forest. "next library aid, wow, you already have enough of the credits needed to do that kind of thing just to waste time? impressive. chemistry, my room is next to yours that period. finally. . . computer lab? okay. that's something i didn't know we had." i watch dazedly as his smile widens and shows off his pearly white teeth.
as soon as my schedule is back in my hands, the abnormally loud bell goes off and everyone jumps out of their seats while mrs osborne shouts homework assignments no one's going to complete.
after packing my bag, i stand and forest follows suit. but when i look over at him again, i'm face to face with his chest. i jump back and look up at his face. "sorry, i'm tall." he shrugs his backpack on one shoulder and we both walk out of the classroom.
"do you ever have kids run away from you because they're scared?" i ask the weirdest question, but forest answers me seriously, like it wasn't weird at all.
"my niece runs away from me every time i go over to my sister's. breaks my heart. she told vee, my sister, that she was scared i was going to step on her." forest looks genuinely disappointed.
"i'm sorry," i say, trying my best to not laugh, and i'm proud of myself when i don't actually burst.
"lon! we have homeroom, thank god. i already have a test to study for. mallory texted me saying she was going to skip school, doesn't surprise me. oh! and by the way, chad got sent to the office, we need to swing by there to make sure -- " henry looks up from his phone and his eyes widen, jaw dropping. forest blushes awkwardly, looking down at henry and me. henry looks at me, eyes still wide, brows raised in accusation.
"henry, this is forest. forest, this is my elder brother henry." henry awkwardly raises his hand for a shake and forest shakes it gladly.
"nice to meet you henry. i don't want to be late for gym. i'll see you in crafts avalon." he walks away, waving at me. i smile and blush looking down at my shoes.
"i don't see how he can be late to any class with a set of legs like that!" henry says dazedly, as we watch forest walk all the way down the hall and out of sight. "how is that human?" henry raises on of his legs, examining it. henry's taller than me, i only come up to his shoulder. but henry only comes up to forest's shoulder.
"i don't know." i shake my head. "by the way, how did chad get into trouble?"
"remember that boy he walked away with as soon as we walked in the school?" i do, but i don't remember exactly what he looked like. "yeah, they gave their teacher an asthma attack."
✩
walking into crafts class, i'm one of the first few people there. the teacher sits by his desk, doodling in a sketch pad, most likely because class doesn't start for another few minutes. i take a seat at one of the back tables, where no one's at. tossing my bag on the table, i take one of the barstool chairs and sit. propping my chin on my hand, i stifle a yawn. back in rhode island, school started an hour later, and i'm still tired from traveling.
a few moments before the bell rang, tall forest was ducking his head through the doorway, smiling and laughing with another girl. she has violent orange hair with piercings all over her face, her right eyebrow has a chunk missing and i straighten myself, slightly intimidated.
"hey," forest says, sitting down at the table with me. he looks much taller in these chairs that he did in mrs. osborne's class. the girl with piercings sits down on the other side of me and smiles brightly. "this is gale. gale, this is the newbie -- "
gale cuts forest off. "avalon. your brothers are in my homeroom. chad and henry?"
"yeah," i say sheepishly.
"henry seems nice and all, but i think chad is more my kind of guy. i'm the class clown, along with tate, guess your brother's going to have to step it up in order to earn the title senior year."
"gale," forest chides and gale rolls her eyes.
i sit, chewing on the inside of my cheek not knowing what to say. how awkward.
✩
at lunch, gale ditched, so it was just me and forest walking into the suffocating cafeteria. i took a deep breath, following forest closely behind. he looked down at me over his shoulder and i could tell he knows how nervous i am.
"don't worry about stares. this school's so small minded, people think it's weird when people move here." he says once we're in line for food. when we reach the front, we have to scan our school id, but i had to explain that i didn't have one yet.
with our trays, we go to the back corner of the cafeteria and sit at one of the empty circular tables. i twist my juice open and take a swig. "am i too quiet?" i ask forest, immediately feeling stupid for asking something random as usual.
"maybe. you make me a tad anxious. but that's not necessarily a bad thing?" forest takes a bite of his grilled cheese, watching my reaction hesitantly.
"anxious?" i look down at my sandwich with sad eyes. "i don't mean to. i'm just bad at words." i give him a half smile. "i'm even awkward around my siblings, if that makes you feel any better." i take a bite of a french fry and swallow painfully.
"the whole school should know how awkward you are by now!" chad says, coming up behind me and ruffling my ponytail. i grab my hair and shoot chad a sad attempt of a mean glare.
"hey, henry right?" forest says, then takes a drink of his juice.
"no i'm chad. the cooler twin." chad sits a seat away from me, leaving an open spot, and a boy with long greasy black hair sits beside me. "this is tate, my new bud." so this was the tate gale was talking about in crafts earlier.
"hello sweet thing," tate says, giving me this weird look and i shrink back. forest visibly scoots closer to me. "oh what's good forest? found yourself a new girlfriend? what happened to the last one again?" tate laughed annoyingly and forest looked down at his food, not saying a word. i felt bed, but also wondered what he meant. maybe that'd be a question for a later time if we're still even friends.
"chad, where's henry?" i ask, my eyes flicker to tate and he licks his lips at me. i almost puke.
"how the fuck should i know? i don't care." chad snags my tray and begins to eat all my food. tate grabs forest's and does the same.
"you should be nicer to him, you know. he loves you." i blush, feeling awkward that forest and tate have to hear me lecture my brother.
a tickling feeling starts at my knee, and i look down to see tate's dirty finger drawing circles on my knee. i knock his hand away and give him a crazy look. no sooner than i look away, his hand is back, creeping up my thigh. i grab his wrist under the table and shove it away. forest and chad have a weird conversation, so they don't see what's going on.
"quit," i hiss through my teeth, and tate laughs lowly, which sends ugly shivers all over.
"don't you want me baby? you're awfully too pretty to be with forest here." at his name, forest looks at tate, then at his hand hovering over my thigh. he gasps so quietly that i'm the only one to notice. forest looks at my face, and notices that i look sick.
"tate, stop being a fucking creep," i scoot backwards, but it was too far and i fall on my backside with a groan. tears well up in the corners of my eyes when people turn to see what all the commotion is about. i look around embarrassed, noticing that a few girls were laughing, some people had pitying looks, and i want to cry further.
forest offers me his hand, but i decline it and shuffle up on my feet, wavering a bit. "jesus, i was just playing around with her. can the bitch not take a joke?" one hot, embarrassing tear falls down my puffy cheek.
"avalon wait!" forest shouts as i walk quickly towards the cafeteria doors. all i want is to escape out of my skin. my leg, the one tate touched feels like it's numb and i hastily jog up the nearest stairwell.
thinking about the way people looked at me and those girls laughing, more hot tears dampen my cheeks and i rush towards the first door i see. everyone's at lunch, so i don't worry about running into a classroom in session.
closing the large, dark wooden door, i slide down onto the floor and bury my burning face into my hands. i try not to cry so loudly, but the room is silent, and my choked noises bounce off the walls.
"hello?" i rub at my eyes furiously when i hear shoes clicking against the linoleum tiles. the rubbing makes my eyes feel more swollen, but i look up and meet pitch black eyes. feeling even more embarrassed, i shuffle back onto my feet, and lean back against the wall. the room is lined with great big shelves that are covered in endless books. the library. "are you alright?"
the man comes closer, handing me a handkerchief. i wipe at my eyes and then hand the man his cloth back. "i'm mr. ciprano, and you are?" i glance quickly at the man, he has curly, and i mean really curly platinum blonde hair. tangled in his hair are metal-frame, circular glasses. his raven colored eyes are slightly larger than normal and there's not a blemish on his face. i look down at his pristine light blue church shirt, is what i call them, and black slacks.
"avalon," i whisper dazedly, and mr. ciprano notices, so he laughs softly, and it sends a warm feeling to my stomach.
"banks is it? you're quite early for my aid class, mind telling me what happened?" his hands are folded behind his back, which makes the shirt tighten around his chest and i gulp.
then i nod, and we walk back towards his office.
✩
MY BABY MR CIPRANO. he's so adorable and fluffy in my head it's not even funny. i've never been so excited for a character in all my life. anyways, hope you liked this chapter. the crafts class scene is way shorter than i wanted it to be, but i'm too lazy to write dialogue so there you have it.
xoxox wavy