Where Life Takes Us

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

W A D E

"I don't even want to go though," I groaned, trying to convince my cousin, Joey, to change his mind.

          Joey guffawed and straightened his tie. "Oh, come on, Wade! This is the last time I'll ever be able to attend one of the biggest dances of the year. You should be lucky that you're even going to the dance because there weren't enough tickets for everyone this year, and besides, I'm sure there'll be some hot girls there."

Joey and I were in Grandpa and I's bedroom, getting prepared in our tuxedos for the night's Valentine's Day dance. I didn't have a date for the dance, but it's not like the dance required for everyone to admit a date to attend. To be fair, I was against the idea of attending, especially since I had chosen not to attend even the year before it when I was still a freshman. Although, I finally did give in to Joey's pleads since it was true that it was the last year for him to attend because he would be graduating that year, and off to college.

I hadn't been quite attentive to Joey at the time and it wasn't because I felt overly dressed up in my the only person that kept rebounding through the walls of my mind was Avery. I wished I could've just forgotten about her, even for that one night, but I couldn't get the look on her face out of my mind just last week, out of my mind.

...

"I'll catch up with you guys later!" I hollered out to my friends, as I watched them disappear into the sea of people in the crowded school halls.

I had just gotten out of my writing class and to be honest, I wasn't in the mood to spend some time with my friends. I couldn't get over the fact that I was partnered up with Avery, out of all people. That was just my luck.

I thought that I would be able to apologize to Avery and I would forget about it. All I really wanted was to make the guilt vanish from my chest, but it was hard when I kept crossing paths with Avery Mitchell.

My backpack was planted onto the ground as I shoved my books inside of it from my locker. I heaved it up onto my left shoulder and shut my locker, until I started weaving my way through the crowds of students.

I never had a problem with crowded spaces, but the air around me was beginning to choke me up while I was surrounded by my fellow peers. Instantly, I could feel someone's shoulder brush against me and the absence of an apology from that person kept me from spewing out profanities.

Glancing behind me to see who that person was, I wasn't paying attention until I collided into another student again. With my patience running thin, I was about ready to snap when I realized that I was face-to-face with Avery Mitchell. I knew that she wasn't looking forward to seeing me by the way her eyes suddenly widened.

"Sorry," I apologized, stopping in my tracks. "I wasn't watching where I was going."

Her eyes flitted up at me for a second, but they diverted away from me afterwards. Avery bit her bottom lip, before giving me a response. "It's fine."

Avery sent me a halfhearted smile, as she proceeded to walk past me. I couldn't help but watch Avery from far away where she was headed down the hallway with the rest of the students.

Clenching my jaw, I couldn't help but notice the way Avery still looked at me with uneasiness in her eyes. I knew from the way Avery looked at me after reading my letter that she had forgiven me, but there was a part of me that thought she was still seeing me as the intimidating and rude jock that everyone was seeing me as.