High Tide

Chapter 14 [The Journal]

Chapter 14

The Journal

Avery was getting really good on a surfboard, if she did say so herself.

That weekend was a good one for surfers, so Avery spent most of her waking hours with the guys out in the ocean. It was nice to hang out with Jamie and Stefan again; since they were seniors and she and Brandon were only in the freshman class, they didn't get many opportunities to see each other at school.

Asher and Elijah were nowhere to be seen all weekend, but that wasn't too surprising. Elijah was hanging out with the popular crowd and barely said two words to any of them since the start of the semester. Asher was... well... Asher.

Avery figured he was with Sienna or something, but then on Monday everyone was talking about how he'd ended things with her last Friday and that Sienna was absolutely devastated about the whole thing. Apparently she wasn't even at school, which was confirmed in biology when Avery saw no sign of her.

"She's always been a bit of a drama queen," Lily shrugged as they made their way to lunch on Tuesday. The big story of the week among freshman students was still the Asher/Sienna break-up. Honestly, you'd think they were discussing a dramatic episode of Keeping up with the Kardashians. "It's just what they do; they started going out last year and they've been breaking up and making up ever since."

"I heard Asher's done with her for good," Kelsey said. "Apparently there's this other girl he's into," she added with a triumphant grin, as if this piece of gossip was supposed to be the most exciting thing in the world.

Avery didn't say anything; while she did consider herself friends with Asher on some level – after all, he was one of the first people she'd met in this town – she didn't really know Sienna, having never had an opportunity to even talk to her these last couple months. She didn't feel right talking about something that had nothing to do with her.

The gossip had a way of spreading around like wildfire at this school; it was really exhausting and Avery wanted no part of it, especially considering she was still on the receiving end of some pretty nasty stuff herself.

Fortunately, they didn't have to talk about Asher and Sienna much longer.

"Hey! You guys tried out for volleyball right?" said a girl a few years above their grade level – she was either a junior or a senior. "Coach posted the results a couple minutes ago. You can check online or you can go see the list in the gym."

"Come on, let's check it out!" Kelsey beamed.

Avery had to admit, as she watched Lily grab her phone out of her purse and got onto the school website, she was feeling pretty nervous. She was initially very confident about her performance during tryouts... but now she wasn't so sure. What if her spike wasn't good enough? What if she didn't have enough experience under her belt unlike that girl that went to volleyball camp?

"Alright, JV!" Lily cheered when she found her name on the list.

"Can you see my name?" Kelsey asked.

"I'm looking, I'm looking, calm your tits," Lily said, waving her hand dismissively. "Kelsey Gordon... Yeah, you got JV too! Johnson... Johnson..." she added, pursing her lips as she went down the list. "Avery Johnson! Yeah, you got in too! Not gonna lie, I didn't have any doubt there."

Avery let out a breath she wasn't aware she'd been keeping in.

It was like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She spent the rest of the afternoon with a smile on her face, looking forward to practice tomorrow. She didn't even care that it was at six in the morning, or that being on the junior varsity team, she probably wouldn't be looking at a whole lot of playing time – if any – this season.