Chapter 7

As she opened the front door to her house, Avery's mind went to the batch of cookies her maman had made yesterday afternoon. There was still a lot left considering Avery had only had one of them after dinner. Normally when her maman makes cookies, they'd be finished within the next 24 hours.

She silently closed the door and carefully took off her shoes by the welcome mat. She wondered to herself if she should call for her parents like she usually does when she returns home from school and she silently prayed that her mother wasn't at home.

Before she could finish making her decision, she heard footsteps coming down the stairs. She tensed as she was already on her way to the kitchen. If it was her mother she could pretend like she was just getting some orange juice from the fridge. Of course, orange juice! Her mom would love that. She'd go on saying orange juice has the right vitamins to treat her cold. Speaking of which, Avery's body seemed to betray her right then and there as she sneezed violently.

"Avery, c'est toi?" {Is it you?}

Avery's shoulders relaxed as she heard her father's voice. When he finished his descent down the stairs, she smiled at him.

"Oui, papa. It's just me," she responded to him. "Is maman home?"

Mr Toussaint gave his daughter a knowing look. "Non, what is it that you want? The cookies?"

Avery chuckled nervously, "Would you tell maman if I said yes?"

"Ah, I would not. Mais ta mère, well she hid them from you." {But your mother,}

"Where?" Avery pouted. Her father pointed to a cupboard that could be seen through the opening in the wall of the kitchen that created their breakfast bar.

"L'arrière," he said, telling her that the cookies were hidden at the back of the cupboard. {The back}

"Merci, papa," she kissed her father, preparing to run into the kitchen and raid the cookie jar. Before she ran off she hesitated, remembering Carson. {Thanks, dad}

"Papa... there's a party at this guy's house that's happening on Saturday. Carson asked me if I wanted to go and I said I'd ask. So, can I go?"

"Une fête?" {A party?}

"Oui, je sais. But everything will be fine, I'd be going with Carson." {Yes, I know}

"Who is 'this guy'?" her father asked her.

"His name is Kaden Aldridge, he's Carson's friend," Avery responded. In truth, she didn't even know who Kaden Aldridge was, but her father didn't know that. Plus, Carson was friends with, well, everybody.

"Ah, Carson's friend. C'est un homme bon. Sure, you can go. I'll tell your maman when she gets home," her father smiled, secretly happy his daughter was going out and being an eighteen year old. {That's a good man}

Avery smiled back at him before heading towards the kitchen.

Her maman was good at lots of things, but probably the only thing she wasn't good at was hiding stuff. When Avery opened the cupboard her father had directed her to, she spotted the lid of the cookie jar behind some containers of seasonings.

Her face broke out into a grin. Jackpot.