Avalon Bombshell

Episode 5: The House of Gates

Ava's Invitation

First day of Junior year crept
with the speed of a
particularly distractable tortoise:

Math (bleagh)
English (OK)
History (bearable)
Chemistry (dear god!)
Lunch (Huzzah!)
Study Hall (yawn...)
Tech Lab & finally
Theatre

Brinkworth: a teakettle about to
Explode!

whistlingwhistlingwhistling
with rage

at the
'Rapscallions!' who had
graffitied her precious wall.

To top it all off,
said 'rapscallions' used
a form of spray paint impossible
to wipe away.

So Cape Christopher High
now had the permanent likeness of
Molly Frolic, Mutant Extraordinaire
splattered across its facade.

(An improvement,
I thought.)

It felt like a grand beautiful secret
just between the three of us,
Ava, Pea, and I -

I smiled every time I saw it.

But up till the end of the day,
I hadn't seen
so much as a whisper of
Ava or Pea.

At the last bell
I rolled over to my locker:
low hung on the wall

(where I could
easily reach it
from my wheelchair)

I swung open the battered door &
started throwing books
willy nilly back into my backpack.

"Hey Mattie.
How was your summer?"
Avalon Gates said.

I nearly jumped
straight outta
my frikken wheelchair -

books,
papers,
folders -
scattered!

"Oh crap - sorry man!"

Ava immediately fell
to the floor, scooped
everything deftly up
in one slender arm,
& handed it all back to me.

sheepish,
I took it.

"Nah. It's fine.
Don't worry about it.
At all. I jump easy."

I finally looked up
from the floor
to spy

Avalon Gates leaning
against a wall: radiant
red hair spilling
over her well-loved
bomber jacket.

The color of her eyes,
visible now -
like clouds in a rainstorm

but warmer,
somehow.

She smiled at me.
"So, wassup?"

"Nuthin' really.
My summer was
pretty good."

(and by 'pretty good'
I meant I'd thought
about her

almost
non-stop the whole
frikken time.)

"How 'bout
yours?"

"Oh. You know,
the usual."

I saw Pea standing solidly in the center of the hall: kids rushing past her. Her arms were folded. She was glaring.

(at me,
probably.)

"So hey -"

Ava leaned forward,
touching me lightly
on the shoulder

- and it was as if
all the choirs of heaven
sang out at once -

"on Friday

Pea's coming over
to my place to watch

the season premiere of
Tales After The Bomb.

I was wondering -
do you wanna come
over too?"