crashing down | all american¹

mother knows best

Evelyn stepped foot into the girl's locker room, heading straight towards her assigned locker. Her duffle bag was in hand as she turned the dial of the locker and cleared her belongings out. Her arm was broken and wouldn't be healed until the end of the track season so she cleared her things out seeing as she wouldn't be using it until her senior year.

"First Veronica and now you. Should I break a limb, too?" Destiny startled her friend watching her clear her locker out. "I officially hate you guys."

"You scared me!" she shrieked, placing her hand over her heart. "And, no, you shouldn't break any of your limbs. You're our best sprinter and with me, out for the season...the teams gonna need their second-best runner."

"You're so full of yourself," she playfully scoffed. "How are you doing? I heard about what happened at Liv's cotillion...Do you need someone to talk to?"

"I'm fine," she shrugged, slinging her bag over her shoulder. "I've been talking to Ms. Bailey, the school counselor and she's pretty great. My parents and brothers haven't stopped hovering over me. I wasn't even the one who got shot...all I got was a broken arm and they're just—"

"Worried about you," Destiny raised her eyebrow. "You might not have been the one to get shot but you were still there. They're allowed to be worried, Evie."

"Yeah, I know," she sighed. "I will see you in class tomorrow. Bye, Destiny."

Evelyn made her way over to the football field, promising Asher that she'd watch his practice after she was done clearing her locker out. As she made her way up to the bleachers planning to sit alone, her attention was intercepted when Asher's mom waved her over.

"Evelyn!" Gwen called out, waving her hand at the girl.

"Gwen, hi," she smiled as she sat down beside the woman. "How's he doing?"

The older woman hummed lightly as she looked out at the field. "Definitely improved since last season."

"Yeah, he's pretty great," she agreed, keeping her eye on her boyfriend.

"How's your arm?" Gwen asked, looking down at her bright pink cast.

"Mmm, it'll heal," she responded. "I'm out for the season. But, I'll be...fine."

"And you're doing okay? Since the incident?" she continued. "When Asher told me what happened...I was so worried."

Evelyn smiled, happy that she was getting along with her boyfriend's mom. "I'm getting there. Thank you."

Her smile faltered as she watched Asher and JJ get into a heated conversation on the field. Her attention moving off of her boyfriend and onto her brother noticing the way he was clutching onto his chest, panic arose inside of her as she saw him struggling to catch his breath.

"Have you noticed anything different with Asher?" Gwen wondered.

"Um, he's been having some mood swings but, I don't know, maybe he's just stressed," Evelyn shrugged. "You've been watching practice for the past couple of days, right?"

She nodded. "Yes, why?"

"My brother, he used to have severe asthma when he was like, 8. But, it kind of went away as he got older," she explained. "I saw him clutch his chest a couple of minutes ago. Did you see him doing that earlier? Or have you noticed him struggling to catch his breath?"

"I'm sorry, I haven't been paying much attention to anyone besides Asher," Gwen quickly denied.

☆☆☆

"Liv, we're gonna wake your parents up!"

Evelyn angrily snatched her phone back from her best friend as they sat restlessly on the couch at the Baker house. Evelyn's parents had to go out of town for a prior engagement that they weren't able to get out of and she didn't want to be home alone.