If Tomorrow Never Comes | On Hold

3

Avery sat absentmindedly staring at the trees swaying with the wind outside the window of her homeroom. The entire classroom was buzzing with energy as her peers awaited the arrival of Mr. Johnson.

"Do you think he's still engaged?"

"I hope not, I wouldn't mind sucking his-"

"Ew, shut up Kenzie!"

The entire conversation made her roll her eyes and glance around, seeing the same faces she always does talking to the same people they always do.

"Morning everybody," Mr. Johnson strode into the room with a smile on his face, his grey button down hugging his extremely built physique and the sleeves were rolled up to his elbows putting his muscular arms on show.

Avery practically heard all the girls in the room swooning at the sight of him. His dirty blonde hair was slicked back and his blue eyes shone with youthfulness, being that he was barely twenty-six years old. All eyes were on him as he walked to his desk and set down his books as well as his bag. With that he turned around and aimed his pearly whites at the students sitting in his room.

"Welcome to your last year of high school!" He clapped his hands together and several people cheered. "I'm Mr. Johnson as all of you already know, and today will be pretty simple. I'll be doing a roll call, and when you hear your name please come up to grab your class schedules and handbooks from my desk," he pointed at a stack of sealed envelopes that sat neatly in the center.

As he began calling off names alphabetically, Avery turned around to face Maddy and Kelsey who sat behind her to mingle as they waited for their names to be called.

"Aiden Keller," Mr. Johnson said but no one moved. He called out the name several times before continuing down the list. Avery perked up once her teacher reached the L's and patiently waited for her name to be called.

"Avery Mitchell," he said and she stood up and walked towards the front of the class. Mr. Johnson greeted her with a toothy grin as she neared his desk and she sent him one back. "How're you doing, Avery?" he asked as she finally stood in front of him. She shrugged.

"I've been better," she smiled sadly and he nodded. He picked up the envelope with her name on it, and just as she was about to grab it the door to the room opened. Avery's eyes went wide as she stared at those emotionless green orbs she had seen earlier that morning, his face was still carved into a hard unwavering scowl and his jaw ticked as if he was clenching it.

"Aiden Keller, I'm assuming?" Mr. Johnson questioned and the boy nodded. His name echoed in Avery's head as he walked towards the teachers desk, his eyes glanced at Avery for a second before they rolled and he instead looked at the teacher.

"Oh I'm sorry Avery, here you go," he said as he offered her the envelope once again, "if you or your dad need anything at all, let me know. You have a support system here," he said with sorrowful eyes.

Avery stiffly nodded her head and forced a smile onto her face, robotically reaching to take the documents out of his hand and mumbling a thank you. She glanced to the side and saw Aiden watching her, his eyes calculating and swirling in hues of vibrant greens and muted blues. Avery quickly turned around and walked to her seat, ignoring the questioning glances of her friends as she leaned forward and laid her head against the table.

↠↠↠↞↞↞

As soon as the bell had rung signaling the end of homeroom, Aiden had disappeared as quickly as he did when she'd first seen him in the hallway that morning but for some reason her mind continued to drift to thoughts of his menacing glare. The next two classes passed by in a blur. Avery kept to herself since neither Maddy or Kelsey shared any classes with her until after lunch, she sent smiles to those who greeted her and only spoke when spoken to during her English and Chemistry classes.