Chapter 9

Carson pulled up to Avery's house at eight o' clock on the dot, just like he had promised her. Avery felt her hands tremble and she stuffed them in the back pockets of her shorts to get her mind off of them. She instead decided to focus on what a beautiful night it was, it was peaceful and quiet.

Tonight was a full moon and the milky white sphere was only partially covered by light wisps of clouds. The light from the moon created a ring of colours, hues of orange and blue that reflected onto the clouds and made a beautiful outline.

"-very," someone called out to her. Avery's head snapped to the direction of the sound to find Carson patiently waiting for her. He was leaned against his car wearing a white button-up shirt that defined his muscles which he gained from football.

The right football. Not what the Americans called 'soccer'. American football was just a fancy way of saying rugby. Avery wrinkled her face in annoyance as she got lost in her thoughts. It's like America decided to call rugby 'football' so they obviously couldn't call football 'football' because they had already dubbed rugby that name, so they went ahead and called it 'soccer'. It was so confusing and unnecessary. In French, football was football, and French was her first language. It was frustrating to learn that certain places called football 'football' or football 'soccer'. How could she ever know which one was which?

Carson was the type of person who dressed to impress, he dressed almost always formally for every occasion. Even for something as insignificant as school. With that, his chivalry and his good looks, there was no wonder why he had so many girls chasing after him. He maybe even had a few guys.

Snapping out of her thoughts, Avery walked towards the car and got in hesitantly.

"How are you feeling?" Carson asked her, he turned to face her in the car while putting his hand on the back of her seat. He gave her a reassuring smile.

"I'll be fine, let's just go," she responded to him, sending him a smile of her own. Carson pursed his lips in thought before twisting to the steering wheel and placing the key in the ignition. Soon, they were on their way.

Avery had no doubt in her mind that she would hate this experience. As they stood on the lawn of the large house, she could feel the bass of the loud music vibrating in her organs. Red cups and drunk teenagers seemed to be everywhere. Couldn't Kaden have been the person to break the stereotype and just use blue cups? Maybe green? The trope of having red cups at a party was so overdone.

It had been less than a minute and Avery just wanted to run back home, but when Carson asked her if she was ready to go in she just smiled and nodded, looping their arms together. A surge of confidence ran through her as she walked in with her best friend, but it left as quickly as it came.

"I know it seems a bit overwhelming, Aves," Carson reassured her, his voice raising to combat the volume of their surroundings. "You'll get used to it after a while. Let me introduce you to Kaden...if we can find him."

Kaden Aldridge wasn't hard to find. He stood with a group of three other people, one of which Avery recognised as Alex Rivers. She didn't recognise the others, but she felt intimidated by all four of them. Her reflexes kicked in and she slightly stepped behind Carson, wishing she could be invisible as they seemed to watch her and Carson as they both got closer to their group.

Carson confidently strode over to them, gracefully making his way through the crowd of different sweaty bodies. Avery could feel herself going through sensory overload as she followed him.

"Hey, Aldridge!" Carson called out to him. Kaden smiled. He put down his beer bottle and swung himself off of the counter which he was previously seated on. Avery watched awkwardly as Carson and Kaden gave each other some weird 'bro handshake' and embrace.

"Yo," Kaden said, dragging out the ending. He shouted out over the music, to whoever could hear, "Hey everyone! Number Five is here!"

The crowd of teenagers cheered and some even raised their cups and bottles, celebrating the arrival of Carson 'Number Five' Armani. Saying Avery felt out of place would be an understatement. As she watched Carson shake hands with and hug all the people who came up to greet him, she was reminded once more that this was not her scene. Carson, when he was 'Number Five', was so different from the Carson she knew when they were alone. He was more outgoing and seemed to be in his element.

Avery sighed, looking for somewhere silent she could sit and ride out the party. Carson may have been with her now, but give it a moment and he would be whisked away from her side. While he was chatting with some friends, he made eye contact with her and sent her an apologetic smile. "I'll come to find you later," he mouthed to her. Looks like that moment was now.