Three

I continued to show Avery most of the sights to see in Athens, like the still standing arcade, which now has a fully equipped bar open after late hours. We went to the movie theater, and I kept in mind the movies that are playing.

"Is that a bookstore?" she asks, pointing to a small strip across from the theater. We run across and sure enough, it's an old used bookstore, that smells like dusty, moldy paper.

Avery doesn't seem to mind the smell, a small smile on her face as she runs her fingers over the spines. I follow behind her, stealing glances every chance I get. I can feel myself getting anxious, my heart starting to beat fast.

It's probably this stuffy store, I can barely breath in it.

I poke Avery and mutter to her I'll wait outside, scurrying out of the store and gasping in a breath of fresh air. It smells so much nicer.

Avery walks out a few seconds later, and I instantly feel guilty for making her leave so soon. It looked like she was enjoying herself, the smile on her face said it all. In the past couple hours, I've spent with her, I've rarely seen her smile, except when I steal glances at her from time to time.

"Not a fan of books, huh?" she asks. I can tell she is forcing a joking tone.

"It's not that, it was just really warm in there for me, I was starting to overheat." I smile and walk ahead of her.

"Well, why don't we go somewhere we can cool down?" she says, looking around at the shops on the street. We're almost at the corner of State St, where I remembered the old Dairy Queen still is.

"I have the perfect place," I say and grab her hand, tugging her further down the street. Her face lights up a little when the shop comes into view, and I'm glad to see there isn't a ling out the ass, as usual.

A lot of people in town came here, especially with their kids, because of the nostalgic design of the building. It has kept its old architect, with the service window up front, and kitchen behind. They still even have the old school, wooden picnic tables, with the beach umbrellas.

I order two scoops of double chocolate fudge, and Reese's peanut butter cup. Avery shocks me, and orders almost the same amount, her second scoop a little smaller, with a mixture of cookie dough and mint chocolate chip.

"I have never seen those two ever touch before," I say, giving her ice cream cone a weird look.

She giggles and admires it. "It's an odd combination, but surprisingly it works out."

I check my phone and see we only have an hour before her curfew. This is probably my last chance to really talk to her, before we start another week of school tomorrow.

Since the moment I saw her, I wanted to know her name. Now that I do, I want to know everything about her. I'm not sure why, but I don't really care either. I haven't had an interested conversation with someone in what feels like forever, and although it doesn't seem like there is much to her, underneath is a whole other story.

I ask about where she grew up before, and she seems a little more comfortable talking about that. Any mention of her parents, and she seems to get jittery. She tells me she grew up in Cleveland, but moved to Athens because it's cheaper.

She tells me about all the places she went to there, like how she once visited the Rock n' Roll hall of fame with the dance class she was a part of. There is also a deep dished pizza restaurant, that has cheese pizza's like I'd never believe.

I let her ramble on, perfectly contempt just listening to her talk about her old life, and all the wonders she experienced. She looks so much happier than she did before, with a lot more expression to her face than I first saw.

Usually when I listen to a girl ramble, I easily get bored and my mind drifts off to other things, so I just nod and smile at them.

With Avery, I'm hooked on every word, consistently asking questions to know more. I can listen to her talk for hours, her voice a soothing melody to my ears. My heart stutters every time she talks about a special or memorable moment, and that cute small smile spreads on her lips.

Cute?

Where the hell did that come from?

I blink my eyes a couple times and try to focus back on Avery, still lost in her ramblings about her old school and friends. It seems she had a better time at her old school, she was more open with making friends and more involved in class.

What changed? Why is she the way she is now?

I can understand being shy and closed off when you first arrive at a new school, and know absolutely nobody. But she moved here last year, and has attended Ohio Valley long enough to at least make one friend.

Maybe nobody has been determined as me. But again, I can understand any normal person wouldn't keep pushing someone who clearly doesn't want to be friends with anyone.

I'm not normal. I see something in her, that for some reason I connect with.

Maybe because we've both been through shit we didn't deserve, forced to live life a certain way, who knows. All I know is I get a good feeling when I'm around her, and a bad one all the same.

I want to know why.

"We should probably get going, sorry I talked your ear off," she says, taking out her phone.

I shake my head. "Not at all, I was intrigued the entire time."

She looks at me doubtfully. "Really? My life before isn't all that interesting."

"It is to me, like I said, you interest me."

"But why?"

The words are on the tip of my tongue, but I still hesitate, taken back by her blunt question.

"I don't know, you just do. Is that such a bad thing?"

She frowns but shrugs her shoulders. "I suppose not, unless you're a serial killer who plans on murdering me eventually." Her face is so serious, my heart stops beating for a solid 3 seconds – until she bursts into a fit of giggles, sending my heart flying again.

"Don't do that," I mutter and start cleaning up the table.

We continue small talk as we walk back to the bus stop. She asks me questions this time, avoiding my disappearance and asking stuff about my father and our life together, before I left. I tell her he's a mechanic, and if she ever needs help, he is the guy to go to. I tell her about Scott and Tammy, how I've known them since we we're kids.

"They sound like great friends," she says, giving me a sad smile.

"You can meet them, if you like."

She bites her lip. "I'm not sure, I don't think they would like me."

"What makes you say that?" I frown.

"Because nobody likes me," she whispers, dropping her head. Something in me overcomes my senses, and I step towards her, wrapping my arms around her small body, and engulfing her.

I feel her tense, not reacting at first, then she melts into the hug after a few seconds. I don't know what drove me to hug her, but it seems like she might have needed it. I hug her for a few more seconds, running a comforting hand down her back, my fingertips grazing her long dark hair, itching to run through it.

"I like you, Avery. That's at least one person," I say, pulling back to grin widely at her.

She returns it with a half-smile. "Thanks, Aiden. I like you too."

The bus pulls up to the curb, cutting off our conversation. I can feel the exhaustion from both of us settle over when we crash into the seats, so I whip out my phone and emergency headphones I keep in my back pocket, handing one to Avery. We share them and listen to whatever music is on my Spotify, enjoying the ride is silence.

Like in the bookstore, I steal glances at her, watching her facial expressions change when she thinks no one is looking, lost deep in thought. I see a sad expression fall on her face, and it grows the closer we get to my place.

When my street comes into view, she hands me back the headphone, but doesn't get up. "My house is along this route, so I'm just going to stay on it. I'll see you at school tomorrow," she says, and gives me a small wave as I step off.

I wave back, leaving my hand raised until the bus disappears around the corner. I shove my hands in my pocket and walk towards the house, thinking about everything from tonight.

I keep thinking about it, more specifically Avery, as I get ready for bed, even though it's barely 9 o'clock. I don't have the energy or effort to do anything, besides lie in bed, and think about Avery. She has clouded my mind since the moment I saw her, and now that I've actually met her, I thought it would calm my mind.

It's just made it worse.

I know something is up, I can't say good or bad, but there has to be a reason she changed so drastically from before to now. I spoke to a lot of people in juvie, and I can't say the conversations we had were great, but they were still interesting in their own way. A lot of people still spoke with passion, especially about the life they had planned after they got out.

I saw the spark of light in their eyes whenever they spoke about it, or about their kids or other family on the outside, more specifically the kids I was locked up with, who had barely lived life, and didn't know what to expect when their sentence was up.

It's the same look Avery had, when she spoke about her life before she moved to Athens. About her school, her friends, and her passion for dance. I think about when she mentioned she was in a dance class, both in school and outside of school hours.

That alone tells me how much she loves it, she said ballet more specifically, but she has a love and passion for all types of dance styles. Though she also said she didn't have very many friends, just a few close ones, it's still more than she does now. And the way she talked about them and their time together, it's completely different than the way she acts with people at Ohio Valley.

Something happened, and it changed her for the worse.

What could possibly happen, to change someone like that?