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012, HAPPINESS
Avery sighed as she sat on the soft, yellow sand on the rather quiet beach. She tucks a strand of hair that comes loose from her bun behind her ear. Her AirPods were on full blast, playing none other than Taylor Swift.
She needed a moment of peace. A moment of solemn silence where all she could hear was the waves. And that's exactly what she got.
Earlier in the evening Avery Valentine had let her competitive side show when the group was playing Monopoly. However, after a long time of screams of rage, board flipping, tummy-aching laughter, and banter, Avery felt her social battery die out. It was a strange feeling for her as she hardly ever got like this when she was with her best friends.
Avery didn't necessarily want to snap at anyone but she did. Not one person, but two. After she had excused herself to go 'get something' from her room, Chris followed behind her and questioned her current state — obviously noticing she wasn't herself.
Without realizing it, Avery shrugged him off rather harshly, leaving the boy in shock and confusion. What had he done now, you ask? Well, not every Avery herself could tell you that!
While the girl was leaving the house, Jesse Romano decided to check up on her. Avery thinks to herself whilst sitting on the beach: maybe I was too harsh on him? But Jess had been bothering her that evening, he was getting a little too close for Avery's liking. Therefore, Avery Valentine snapped in his face.
The conversation went something like this:
"Hey, Val! You okay?"
Avery shrugged, "Yup, fine."
"You're lying, what's up?" Jesse went to extend a hand to rub Avery's arm.
"I don't know, Jesse! Can you please just leave me alone? For one night, please! I just need some quiet time to myself, okay? Seriously..."
Jesse fell quiet, shoving his hands into his pockets. "No, yeah. I totally get it. Sorry."
"Jess... I didn't mean—"
"It's cool, Avery. Really."
So yeah. That's pretty much how it went, and here was Avery — present time, hastily wiping the tears off of her cheeks as she breathed in and out over and over, taking in her surroundings.
Avery sifts the salty substance on the ground through her fingers, watching as it falls back to the ground looking like it hadn't been messed with. She wonders if she could be like that one day, if someone picked her up and let her slip through their fingers, could she brush it off and go back to normal, or not?
The sky fades from a bright blue and melts into a soft pink and yellow and the cries of nearby gulls begin to slowly fade out, dominated by the sound of the crashing waves. Avery closes her eyes, inhaling the smell of sea salt.
