The Girl who Fought to Provide

Chapter 9

Monday rolled around too soon, me and Grayson spent our Sunday finishing the little things off in our house and doing grocery shopping for the following week.

Now pulling up into the student parking lot, I park where I always do. Hopping out and grabbing my bags. I say my goodbyes to Grayson since his friends were already waiting near our car.

Walking up the stairs with my earphones in, I aimlessly walk the school hallways, sidestepping students all the way to my locker. Throwing my gym bag into my locker and grabbing a couple of textbooks, I make my way to AP English, wishing specific people aren't going to show up today.

To my luck they did.

Oh goody.

"Good morning Ava." Mr. F said without looking up from his papers.

"Morning." I said back quietly, "Am I able to change seats?" I asked in the same tone.

"I'm afraid you can't, no one likes sitting next to them or they cause a big ruckus about the person they have to sit with, you're the first they've never complained about." Mr. F said, "Well, Kenna has complained but the rest haven't. I take it they like you." He carried on, scratching his head.

"I can see why no one likes sitting with them." I muttered under my breath, making my way to my seat in front of Zade.

"Hey." Zade said, a small smile gracing his handsome face.

I stared at his mouth longer than intended but how could you not, his teeth were whiter then anyone's I've ever seen, the two dimples I never noticed were prominent on his cheeks, even though it was a small smile it made him just that more handsome, imagine if he did a full-blown smile.

I stared at him and then back to his friends, taking my seat and putting my earphones back in, I ignored their presence and left as soon as the bell rung.

"Ava." Zade called out.

"Ava." His voice got louder, as he ran catching up to me.

"Ava. Stop." He whispered, his arms worming themselves around my small frame.

I stood still in his strong arms.

"Can we talk please?" He begged, turning me to face him with his eyes pleading with mine.

"No." I said bluntly, pushing his arms off of my body and walking to my next class, everyone stared at me and for the first time, I glared back.

∞

"What is the matter with you? You haven't smiled once since you entered the school doors this morning." Nadia said, sitting down next to me.

"The fact that you know I haven't smiled since then worries me." I winked, chuckling at the realization that crossed her face.

"I don't stalk you or anything." She said, hands up as if in surrender.

"I was kidding." I laughed.

"Are you going to the soccer game after school?" She asked, blushing as she realized Silas and Zade were staring our way.

"Yeah, my brothers playing, are you going?" I asked, shaking my head at Kenna's glare she's directing at me, like always.

"Yeah, you should come sit with me and Emma." Nadia offered a smile.

"Cool, sounds like a plan." I returned the same smile.

"Does Kenna always glare at people she doesn't know?" I asked, putting my attention on the game the rest of the class was playing.

"Not as much as she does at you, Emma has a theory that she thinks Kenna hates you because Zade doesn't pay as much attention to her then he does to you." She said waving her small hands around as she spoke.

"He doesn't pay attention to me." I mumbled.

"That's what you think." She stared at me blankly, "My brother likes you." She nodded.

"Your brother?" I asked confused.

"Zade's my brother." She said, shrugging.

This has to be a joke. I thought.

"He's my cousin but we consider each other siblings." She continued.

My mouth sitting in the shape of an O, I finally closed my mouth after five minutes.

"Hey, I also want to thank you for finding our sister Beau, she's been asking for you, Grace doesn't really pay attention to Beau." She said, her eyes sparkling with appreciation.

"Wait, you aren't joking?" I asked nervously, waiting for the punch line.

"Nope." She laughed. It was a proper laugh that you couldn't help but laugh along to.

Zade's face softened at the sound of his sisters' laugh, staring at her like it was the first time she's laughed properly in a while.

"My dad and his Dad are brothers, but he passed away when Zade was 10." She explained.

"Oh, makes sense." I said, understanding.

"Me and Beau have different mothers, Grace is Beau's mother. Grace had Beau at the mall on Saturday and left Beau by herself." She rolled her eyes at the name Grace. "My mother passed away when I was 10 years old too." Her voice shaky.

            

Squeezing her hand in comfort, I smiled at her, letting her know she didn't have to keep talking about it if she didn't want to.

I was attempted to question her if she knew about the Underground but I decided against it. She might not know anything about it and I wasn't going to be the one to tell her.

We soon went our separate ways after exchanging numbers, promising her I'd sit with her and Emma at the soccer game later this afternoon.

"Hey, we're going to have a warm-up and things before the game so I won't be coming home with you." Grayson said as I neared our car.

"Okay, will I see you before you start playing?" I asked softly.

"Probably not, I'll be on the field or something." He smiled.

"Want me to give you your 'go get em' speech now?" I winked, making him and his friends laugh.

"No, thanks big sis." He kissed my cheek, leaving with his friends.

I don't know how our mum did this, they grow up so fast. I thought, smiling sadly at his retreating back.