Present

Avery dashed out of her room and ran down the hallway with eyes set on the door and her hand clutching her leather bomber jacket.

She couldn't afford to be late again, she thought, hopping on one leg as she slipped on one black converse after the other. She quickly threw her ball cap on and grabbed her keys off the kitchen counter before flying out of the front door. Strands of hair hit the sides of her cheeks as the wind violently blew in her face, making her huff in annoyance. In a hurry, she hopped onto her skateboard and picked up speed down her neighborhood side street and onto Hollywood boulevard.

The street was busy as usual and Avery tried her best to swerve quickly to avoid running into pedestrians on the crowded sidewalks. She looked up momentarily, noticing the clouds light shade of gray, and silently prayed it wouldn't rain by the time she got off of work. She wasn't really dressed for that kind of a day though now that she thinks about it, she wouldn't mind being all curled up with a nice book accompanied by the faint sound of raindrops.

Picking up speed down the busy street, she passed magazine stand after magazine stand filled with flashes of tabloids and exposee's making her roll her eyes in annoyance. She began riding even faster, as if the speed would make them all disappear somehow. If there's anything she hated most about California, it was everyone's blatant obsession with fame, fortune and lives outside of their own. She found that to be absolutely exhausting, though she understood how a false sense of fulfillment could still be fulfilling. It's always easier to focus energy into something that doesn't make you have to look at yourself in the mirror, isn't it?

Approaching the cafe shop, Avery kicked up her board, hoisted it under her arm, and pushed through the front doors. The shop bell rang through her ears as the smell of roasting coffee beans filled her nostrils, making her breathe out a pleasant sigh.

"Avery baby, you know I hate it when you're late," her manager, Nina said while shaking her head.

"I know, I'm sorry" Avery apologized sincerely. "...But you love me anyways, right Ninabean?" she asked playfully, blowing a kiss and chuckling lightly. Nina grinned, pretending to catch it and put it in her pocket as she rolled her eyes.

Even though Nina was her manager, Avery has always seen her as a friend more than anything. Nina and Avery met a few years back when Avery had just begun boarding school and Nina was her best friend's older sister. Despite the two having a bit of a dramatic falling out last year, Nina and Avery still remained close.

Avery made her way behind the counter as she pulled her short brown hair back into a tight ponytail, all the while exchanging a few words and smiles with customers.

"Cover yoself," Jabari fake scolded, throwing an apron at Avery, making it accidentally land across her entire face. She snorted, pulling it off and sticking out her tongue with a smile.

"What, you don't like my corduroy pants, huh?" She retorted, spinning to show off her light brown bootleg bottoms.

"They look like my grandmother's carpet, but go off sis," he cackled, earning a round of giggles from nearby customers.

Avery looked around the shop with eyes feigning shock and outrage. "Margaret, you don't agree with him, do you?" she probed, turning to the 70 something old women sitting in her usual spot, cappuccino in hand.

"I plead the fifth," she said, sipping on her mug with a gleam in her eye. Another round of laughter went around the shop and Avery simply shook her head, biting back a giggle herself.

"Looks like I can't trust a single one of you! I'll remember this the next time you ask for a free extra shot of espresso in your drinks," she teased.

Working at Backyard Brew was probably Avery's favorite thing about Los Angeles. Amongst all the chaos of surface-level connections and pretentious entitlement permeating down every boulevard, it was a place she could call safe. She didn't have to pretend to be anyone but herself here, and that was rare. She couldn't say the same in many other places.

While writing a customer's order down on a paper cup, an alt-rock song blasted through the speakers making Nina and Avery find each other's eyes and grin widely.

"Uh.....uh, LA LA LA LA LA!" They sang, startling a few customers out of their conversations and reading material.

"Sorry, Margaret!" Nina apologized, stifling another laugh. The old woman just shook her head, bringing her attention back to the newspaper in her lap.

Nina continued to sing every word as she turned around and began steaming milk beside Avery. The bell to the coffee shop chimed as Avery ducked to grab more coffee sleeves, still belting "uh LA LA" over and over.

"So I was thinking about this earlier--when do you hear back about the gymnastics scholarship?" Nina asked, making Avery halt her movements and freeze. She quickly popped back up from behind the counter as the realization hit.

"Oh shit, today."

---

Avery's mother committed suicide her first day of 8th grade. She can still recall the memory of being pulled out of her Geography class to meet her grieving father outside, head in his hands leaning against the car door. She does not think she will ever forget the look on his face that afternoon.

Death had never really processed as a part of reality before then. She remembers staring up at the moon that night. Praying in an empty room from an even emptier soul. She cried herself to sleep and awoke to do the same the next day.

She wondered how everyone did it. How they went on after being made to suffer so horribly. She wondered, perhaps even more, about the dead, and how they no longer lived and breathed. She wondered how on earth she was expected to continue living and breathing herself.

Avery's father grew distant that summer. He began slowly working more and more hours, creating greater distance between the two. How stretched and strained every conversation began, full of small talk and desperate attempts to fill the empty space when things grew quiet. He sent her off to boarding school when she entered 9th grade for reasons she has yet to understand. Nowadays she sees him at home twice a week if she's lucky.

Avery stopped briefly in front of her front door, tucking in her white blouse into her pants and running her fingers through her hair a few times. She ditched the converse and leather jacket before leaving Backyard Brew, hiding them in her bag in an attempt to avoid an argument with her father about not maintaining their image.

She opened the door and shut it behind her quietly. Though he is not home often, when he is he's usually working. She sure as hell didn't want to disturb him if he was.

Avery could hear the faint murmur of voices coming from their living room. She tried to quietly slip off her shoes so she could get to her room without the sound of her heels clicking the ground, but successfully failed as she nearly lost her balance and caught her weight on the nearest table in the foyer.

"Avery? Is that you?" She heard her father ask from the other room. She breathed out a heavy sigh, and hung her head in defeat.

"Yes father, it's me." She murmured so quietly she was surprised that he even heard her.

"Please, come in! Gentleman, you all know my daughter, Avery."

She gave a small nod to the group of businessmen before bringing her attention back to her Father. She'd never seen any of them before in her life, but that was normal. It seemed unfamiliar, surface level networks were what kept her Father afloat these day.

"Did you need something?" She asked politely. The only thing on her mind right about now was returning to her room to squeeze in a quick nap before practice in a few hours.

"Yes! A letter in the mail came for you," he exclaimed, handing over a giant envelope with Avery's name neatly written at the center of it.

Avery jumped and squealed in excitement before grabbing the envelope from his hands and ripping it open.

"I'm so excited, I think--" She began in a whirlwind of anticipation and eagerness before her Father cut her off quickly.

"Avery, sweetie--could you open that in your room please? We have a lot of things to discuss." He said awkwardly, eyes distant.

"Oh...um, yeah. Sure." She responded, trying to hide the disappointment in her tone. Leave it to her Father to make her feel like a guest in her own home.

Quickly scurrying down the hall, she got to her room and closed the door behind her quietly before ripping the rest of the envelope open to read the first line.

"Dear Avery Mason, Congratulations! We have selected you as our 2020 Scholarship Recipient to represent Dynamic Gymnastics Elite at the 12-week long Inspire International Academy in London this Summer."

"Yes!" Avery squealed, quickly covering her mouth in fear of being too loud. She jumped on her bed, reaching for her phone on the bedside table and began dialing Nina's phone number.

"Hello?"

"Nina! I did it! I got in!" Avery exclaimed excitedly into the phone, eliciting a scream from Nina on the other side.

"Oh my god! OH MY GOD! I'm so proud of you Avery!!! You're going to be training with the best of the best! Olympians! Champions!"

"I know, I'm completely freaking out!" Avery babbled rolling over onto her stomach. "This could be just the thing I need to really make it on the U.S. team this year."

"Exactly! Well, let's be real, if you really wanted to, you could've made it a long time ago with the snap of your daddy's fingers." Nina joked, holding back a snicker.

Avery rolled her eyes, letting out a huff of air. "But that's not how I want to do things, nor how I want to live my life for that matter." Avery responded.

"Well that's because you're a good person and I'm not," Nina snorted. "Anyways, when do you leave for London?"

Avery chuckled, shuffling through the pile of welcome papers to find the acceptance letter. "This says May 28th."

"That's literally a week from today," Nina answered shocked.

"Yeah..." Avery acknowledged, staring off into space as she processed the news. She wasn't sure what to expect, but she sure hoped it was nothing but growth and new beginnings.

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Author's note: hi guys! please tell me what you think, I appreciate any and all comments!! Xoxoxo