After an intense trip to the mall with Rose (who had no idea what was going on but when shopping was concerned, she wasn’t one to complain!), I had everything I needed to get my shit back together and remind both myself and the school (and a certain someone else), of just who Ava Maxwell was:

 Powerful. Confidant. Badass.

Checking the mirror just before I left the house, I had to admit that today, I was smokin’ hot.

I had my hair curled in loose, voluminous waves, wore a black crop top and thin cardigan with gold studs on the shoulders (exposing my belly-button piercing), my ripped Hollister skinny jeans with my favourite pair of Doc Martens.

Oh you thought I’d be wearing pumps? Stilettos maybe? No way José, if I was gonna be stuck in school all day, I was NOT going to be torturing my poor feet!

To top everything off I wore a pair of aviator sunglasses, mascara and ruby-red lip-gloss. I have never felt the urge to become a ‘cake-face’, keeping it simple was the key when it came to makeup.  Having it on gave me that extra boost of confidence, but when it came off, I was still me.

My Mom got in late last night from the operating theatre so she was fast asleep; we haven’t had a real conversation that was longer than a few words/ not an argument, in ages.  I miss her.  But I’m independent.

Poptart scurried out of the house as I opened the front door and shut it behind me. Silly kitty.

Jumping into my car, I revved the engine, turned up Alicia Keys’ Girl on Fire and sang my heart out all the way to school.

She’s just a girl but she’s on fire!
THIS GIRL IS ON FIREEEEEEEEEE!

_______________________________________________________________________

Even before I walked through the doors I was getting cat-calls and wolf-whistles. BOOM Ava is back bitches!

Or so I thought.

Making my way down the hallway to my locker, looking straight ahead and feeling like Olive Penderghast from Easy A when she turned badass, I failed pre-school traffic safety, neglecting to look to left or my right where an incoming football thrown by some retarded jock was on a crash course with my head.

Why today!? Why me!

Squeezing my eyes closed and flinching away, I prepared myself for the dreaded moment of impact… But it never came.

Instead I heard the slam of hands on the lockers behind me, on either side of my head, felt the warmth of a body protecting me and a delicious woody-fruity fragrance playing with all of my senses.  Opening my eyes and looking up to meet a pair of deep blue ones, I have a hard time believing that it’s him.

Dang it! On the day that I was trying to impress him, he comes out of nowhere and saves me from brain damage like a knight in shining armour. But if I’m annoyed, why is my heart fluttering?

No, I can’t let him know how he’s affecting me and putting me of my usual cutting edge. Two can play at this game… even if he doesn’t know he’s playing in the first place!

After the initial shock wore off, I turned on the charm. “Ooh, I didn’t think you were the aggressive type Ryan, slamming me against the lockers and all,” I say, smirking up at him.

His cheeks start to blush adorably and I get the feeling that I’m diving into the deep end. Not good. How the heck did this happen! He’s totally not my type, but he’s hot as hell with that well-toned body and that whole cute innocent lamb thing he’s got going on with his nerdy square-glasses. It makes me want to push him down and have my way with him while he blushes beet-red!

Jumping away from me, he steps back awkwardly  as he says “No, I uh, I was-“

And I feel bad for making him uncomfortable, but at the same time, it was thrilling, and so new to me.

“I’m only joking,” I say laughing and playfully swatting his arm, “Thank you for saving me oh chivalrous knight! However shall I, the damsel in distress, repay yo-“

My teasing mood vanished as I saw a large drop of blood trickle down from a cut on the side of his head. He must’ve taken the blow that I was supposed to receive. AND NOW HE’S BLEEDING.

“Ryan are you ok?!” I asked worriedly, as people had begun to crowd around to see what all the commotion was about.

“What? Yeah I’m fine, just a little dizzy” he said putting his hand to his head, “and bleeding slightly” he added as he saw the blood on his hand.

“We’d better get you to the school nurse to check you’re ok” I said, starting to walk towards the infirmary, but Ryan wasn’t following.

“Ava don’t worry about it, it’s just a scratch, I’ll get cleaned up and put a band-aid on it” he assured me. But turning around he lost his balance a little and had to steady himself on the wall.

“Ryan you’re obviously not ok, let me take you-“

DING DING DING DING DING, I was cut off by the bell, and the crowd around us dispersed as they headed off to first period.

“I’m fine Ava, seriously. You should go, I don’t want to make you late for class” he said, smiling. Geez he really didn’t get it.

“RYAN” I said, grabbing his hands to get his direct attention, “I don’t give a damn about being late to class. My mom’s a doctor so I know that it’s a real possibility that you might have a concussion! You were hit pretty hard and I don’t want to risk you falling unconscious!”

He kind of just stared at me in surprise for a few seconds before he started laughing, “Ok, I’ll come with you. If I die, you won’t be able to pass our literature assignment, right?”

Oh SNAP this boy was a witty one.  “You betcha, partner” I grinned, as I took his hand and pulled him in the direction of the nurse’s office.

“Ok, looks like you’re all clear Mr Haywood,” said our school’s elderly nurse, old Mrs Fitzpatrick. “No signs of a concussion, but Miss Maxwell over here was very right to have been concerned. There have been people who’ve suffered brain damage from being hit in the head and thinking that they only had a bad headache later on.”

“Thank you ma’am” said Ryan, bashfully turning to face me “Thanks Ava.” He said with a small smile. The cutie <3

“Now, I still want you to lie down and rest for a bit, just in case Mr Haywood.” Said Mrs Fitzpatrick as she started gathering up some things.  “Miss Maxwell do you think you could stay with him for this period? I’ve got to go give a talk to the freshmen about sex-ed and contraception!” she continued and waved a banana with a bright red condom in the air.

“Sure thing Mrs Fitzpatrick.” I replied, biting my tongue.  I saw Ryan on the sick-bed with his hand over his mouth and his shoulders shaking.

“Excellent! I’ll write up your excusal notes later.” And she left in a rush, closing the door loudly behind her.

Taking one look at each other, we burst out laughing at how hilarious what just happened was.

“I’m –SURe,  she’s had- lot’s-of –experience!” I manage to get out in between fits of laughter.

“I wonder how many time’s she’s had to do this talk?!” said Ryan as we both remembered the time we were in freshmen year and had been forced to watch this little old lady instruct us on how to put a condom on a banana.

I pulled open a draw behind me and sure enough it was full of condoms of every colour of the rainbow.

Looking over my shoulder and then at me, Ryan and I simultaneously exploded into hysterics.

“AHAHAHAHAHA! “

After settling down, we spent the rest of the time talking about random things, like how his favourite colour is green because his Grandparents had a small ranch that he visited every summer as a kid, and green reminded him of the fields he played in. He said that everyone, particularly his parents, loved his older brother Bradley who was the poster child for excellence in every area and was currently at Harvard on a scholarship and his new girlfriend was the President of the Delta Phi Nu sorority club. (A/N not a real sorority). He told me how he used to play the violin when he was 7 but that Bradley was learning the piano, the clarinet and the cello, all much more impressive than him, so he quit and instead, taught himself how to play the ukulele! I didn’t think that Ryan was the type to be jealous of anyone, and I was right; “I love my brother and I’m happy for him with all of his achievements and stuff, I don’t envy what he’s accomplished but I kinda wish that someone would notice me instead of him sometimes…”

We were silent for a few moments, him on the bed resting up against the wall, and me hugging my knees to my chest on the chair next to it.

“I know how you feel in a way, “ I said softly, “like I said before, my mom’s a doctor which means she’s not often at home and when she is, she’s either sleeping or cranky as hell and loses her temper with me easily. It’s usually just me and Poptart.”

“Poptart? You must be really lonely if you’re making friends with your food” said Ryan, smiling mischievously.

“Har-Har, very funny wise guy. Poptart’s my cat, you should come over sometime and I’ll introduce you.” I replied.

Realising it sounded like I just asked him out, I quickly added “You know , to work on our assignment for American Lit. Mrs Jones told me you were a genius with working with the language, but I’ll be the judge of that!”

He smiled while looking down slightly; giving me goosebumps at how exquisite his lashes were,  and turned to me to say “Yeah we need to meet up to work on that. If it’s ok with you, do you mind coming over to my house this weekend?”

“Sure, but why? GASP! Are you grounded for breaking your curfew of 7:00pm?! Ryan I knew you couldn’t be all good, but you are heading off the rails!” I said teasingly, covering my mouth in mock horror.

“Now who’s the wise guy?” he said while laughing, “No, my parents are gone for the weekend and I’m the honorary house sitter coz they get really paranoid about leaving the house empty for long periods of time since we were robbed once.  And for your information, my curfew is 1am not 7pm!”

“Good to know! Hoping I’ll sneak into your room at midnight are you?” I say smirking at him while he rolled his eyes,

“Just so you know, if the police catch you, I won’t be bailing you out of jail!” he said, yet at the same time he was blushing adorably.

Ryan Haywood was getting more and more interesting every day.

It’s like I didn’t have to be the bad girl or the good girl when I was with him; I was just Ava, and he was just Ryan.
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Comment below if you want more of Ryan's POV!
Cerise xx