Life Saver

Sal's

AN
Context for later in the story
Z=Kenzie's nickname
V= Avery's nickname
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Avery's POV
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"Avery please stay after class". I was putting my stuff away slowly after everyone had left class, I walked up to Miss. Paulson's desk. "Yes, Miss" I said nervously. She smiled at me softly making my stomach flip "There is no reason for you to be nervous, I was just wondering what the nurse said about your wrist." I slowly let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. "Oh... umm... she said that it was sprained and it would take a bit for it to heal. It is already starting to feel better so no need to worry." I said, shuffling from foot to foot nervously. "Well I'm sorry about that but I'm glad it feels better. I wanted to ask you what happened. I didn't see all of it but I did see Trevor and his friends laughing at you while you were on the ground. Did they trip you on purpose?" I knew that if I told her the truth that Trevor would just make my life worse than it already was. Plus it's not anything I couldn't handle I had been through much worse than he could ever do to me. "No Miss I am just clumsy, plus who doesn't giggle a little when you see someone fall?" I replied hoping it was a good enough excuse to have her not be suspicious. "I suppose you are right, but you can always talk to me. I know I am new here but I hope to earn you and your classmates trusts." I smiled at her, and I could tell that she was a genuinely good person. "Well Miss. Paulson you have done enough in one day to earn my trust and I am sure my classmates will follow suit... I did not have breakfast today and I'm rather hungry so is that all you needed?" She smiled at me and said " Oh... Yes you are free to go have a good rest of your day Avery." I smiled back and said " You too Miss Paulson, see you tomorrow."

I then started walking away. I was almost out of the door, but I could not resist looking back behind me. I was glad I did because I saw her looking down at some papers with the cutest concentration face I had ever seen. God Avery get your shit together you can't be crushing on a teacher. I smiled once more and headed down to lunch to sit with my only friend.

When I got to the lunchroom I went into the pizza line. It's about the only thing that is edible here. I was glad that I qualified for free lunch, I did not want to have to use my hard earned money on shitty food. I would much rather use it to put clothing on me and my little sisters back, because lord knows that dad would never buy us anything. After grabbing my lunch I went to sit down at one of the tables to wait for Kenzie. After a few minutes I felt a slap on my back and a body sit down into the seat next to mine. "Hey bitch it's been forever since I've seen you, watcha been up too?" I looked over at Kenzie and smiled as I pulled her into a huge hug. "Z...what's up god I've missed you." She held me tighter and said " I missed you too V." I pulled away and smiled from ear to ear. She smiled back and said "Soo... How's the first day back in school going for you?" My smile dimmed a bit and I said "Pretty shitty Trevor's on his bullshit again. He made me trip and sprain my wrist. But then the pretty new theater teacher took me to the nurses office which was nice." Kenzie face then got red with rage and she said "Dude fuck Trevor he's a stupid stuck up daddy's boy with no brain. Why don't you just kick his ass, you're hella strong?" I then gently pushed her and replied "Dude he is so not worth it. Plus if I even touched one of his pretty little privlaged hairs on his head he would go crying to Daddy, and get me suspended, or even worse expelled." She then nodded "I guess you're right, I wouldn't want you expelled how else would I see your stupid ass." I laughed and pushed her a little "If anyone is stupid here it's you dumbo." I said jokingly. She gasped as loud as she could manage and glared at me. " How dare you, ohh you're gonna get it now." She then started tickling my sides. As I was laughing someone walked up behind us "Hey lesbos we don't want to see that nasty shit while we're eating can you stop." I tensed up and immediately knew that it was Trevor. Kenzie stood up stalking towards Trevor "The fucks your problem dude she has done nothing to you, how about you go find one off your stupid jock friends to stroke your ego somemore dickhead." I stood up and pulled Kenzie's arm "Come on Z he's not worth your time." She huffed and looked back at me. I gave her a pleading look, and she sighed "Fine, but you better watch your ass pretty boy." We turned around and grabbed our trays to throw away. As we were walking down to the trash Kenzie asked "Hey you were talking about the pretty teacher that brought you to the nurse's office. Has someone got a crush?" I blushed and she giggled at me "No I don't have a crush, plus nothing could even happen with us if I did." She nudged me with her shoulder "Well you never know you are 18, plus it's your senior year anything could happen." I smiled back at her "She's probably straight anyways." Then bell for 6th period rung. "Anyways I will see you tomorrow?" She smiled hugged me and said "Yeah V I'll facetime you after work?" I pulled away "Yeah see you." I waved and headed to my last period excited for the end of school.

As the bell rang for the end of class I walked out of school as fast as I could. I was happy to go to work it was my favorite place to be. I work at a small burger joint called Sal's, Sal is the only thing close to a parental figure in my life since mom had passed. I walked into the back of the building and put my stuff in my locker, putting on an apron and heading into the kitchen. I saw Sal cooking up a few burgers on the grill she looked over at me and grinned like a fool. "Ahhh...Avery my little ladybug come give me a hug." I ran over to Sal and was engulfed in a huge bone-crushing hug. "How was your first day of school hun?" I pulled away and said "It was good, they have a new theater teacher." She smiled at me and said "Well that's good, I remember you saying that the old dude did not know what he was doing, and should never have been working there in the first place." I laughed and replied "You remembered that, I mean it's still true, the new teacher seems to know what she is doing and she is very passionate." She looked back over to the burgers and flipped a few of them and replied "Well that's good hun, hey what happened to your wrist I just noticed the splint."I looked down at the black splint honestly I had forgotten about it until now. "Ohh I was walking down the hallway and I tripped and fell, you know how clumsy I can be." She let out a hearty laugh and said " Ah yes I do, well we got a few new costumers coming in do you want to go take their orders for me?" I looked out the window and saw a couple sat at the tables. "Sure thing Sal." I grabbed my pad of paper and headed to the couple sat at the back booth. It was a couple who looked to be in their late 30s. I smiled introducing myself before beginning to take their orders.

By the end of my shift I had made a few tips, and my feet were hurting. I said goodbye to Sal and grabbed my stuff from the locker room. By the time my shift was over it was almost dark outside, stupid daylight savings. I was walking to the bus stop when I saw a car pull up beside me. I was scared and first but when they rolled down their window I sighed in relief.

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Sorry for the cliffhanger. The next chapter is in the writing. Thanks for reading my story. I know not many are reading but I'm happy at least a few of you are. Any suggestions are welcome. As always thanks for visiting my little corner of the internet -S