If Tomorrow Never Comes | On Hold

2

Avery pulled up into the busy parking lot of her school. The engine of her car roaring loudly and forcing people to look her way, not that she cared. She did notice the way certain guys admired the beauty that was her GT and she smiled slightly.

She parked in the closest parking spot she could find and reached into the back seat to grab her black Jan-sport backpack. Avery perched her sunglasses on her head and lowered the visor in front of her, her honey brown eyes sporting dark circles under them.

"You've got this," she said to herself, "just nine more months in this place." With her pep talk done and over with, Avery turned off her car and opened the door, putting on the smile everyone knew her for.

She dusted off her black distressed skinny jeans and fixed her white off the shoulder cropped t-shirt before slinging her bag over her shoulder. The warm September air that blew through Savannah, Georgia was her favorite thing.

She could witness the changing of the seasons without having to freeze to death. The trees surrounding Huntington High School had already begun to shift from their vibrant greens to beautiful yellows and she took a minute to take in the atmosphere.

She heard them before she saw them. Turning around to look at the schools entrance, her sights zeroed in on Maddy and Kelsey each waving an arm in the air and calling her name. She had told herself that morning before leaving the house that she wouldn't let her emotions get the best of her, but as her two best friends barreled their way through the students walking into the school her feet began moving towards them, tears welling in her eyes.

She realized that to everyone else it must have looked like a sappy teen movie where the best friends reunite with an overdramatic hug after spending a summer apart. But these weren't just her friends, they were her family and she had missed them every day they'd been gone.

Madison Kingston, Maddy for short, sported a big smile on her face. Her straight platinum blonde hair was blowing behind her with the wind, her tan skin glowing with the rays of the sun and her nearly golden eyes sparkling. She wore a beautiful blush pink summer dress with strappy sandals that slapped against the concrete.

Kelsey Buchanan was the complete opposite of Maddy, with pitch black hair that was tied up into a messy bun on the top of her head and the rarest color blue eyes that seemed almost grey. Her European ancestry was prominent in the high cheekbones of her face, freckles dotted all over her pale skin, although hers now also had a sun kissed undertone. Her red flannel was tied around the waist of her white skinny jeans, her black tube top hugging her curves.

"Avery!" Maddy screeched as she and Kelsey wrapped Avery up in a bone crushing hug. The trio laughed, Avery's sounding more of a strangled sob as she hugged her friends back. They separated and looked at each other for a few seconds before bursting out into a fit of giggles and linking their arms together, making their way back across the lot and towards the building towering over them.

"I've missed you guys so much," Avery sniffled as she glanced between the two girls flanking her sides. They both sent warm smiles her way, resting their heads on her shoulders for a second. "How was vacation?"

Maddy proceeded to tell her about her California getaway, not forgetting to talk about the cute surfer boys she saw while staying at her uncles house on the beach. Kelsey's family decided to send her to backpack through Europe with her brother, although she said she never wanted to go on vacation with her brother again, complaining about how he had a lot of game with the ladies.

"How was yours?" Kelsey asked as they stepped through the front doors and into the main hallway. Students littered the entire space, friends reuniting for the first time in three months, girls gossiping, some of the boys from the football team were throwing a ball across the entire length of the hall. Avery took a deep breath in and dragged her friends down to where her locker was located.