Popping Bubbles, Chapter 1

by Red in Hogwarts or Forks...you pick

Avery Crawford was a very interesting person, probably the best definition of the word there ever was at Roseburn Middle School, though that's not saying much. Roseburn was never known for having creative students.

Avery was a vegetarian, swimmer and figure skater. She collected foreign currencies, spoke fluent French and loved calamari. Every day, if it was rain, sun, snow, hail, earthquake, whatever--Avery wore a dazzling smile as others might wear sneakers. It never came off her face.

Avery was interesting, outgoing and original.

Polar opposite from her best friend, Laura Biltmore.

Laura was frail and shy and nearly always sick, due to her delicate lungs. You see, Laura had to celebrate her first birthday in the children's hospital because she had pnemonia**, which slightly--but permently--damaged her still-developing lungs.

On top of this, Laura was just naturally shy. In kindergarten, the teacher actually sent her to the nurse to have her vocal cords tested, because she never said anything during class.

Avery was her voice, insted. They did EVERYTHING together, and the teacher knew better than to purposely put them in seperate groups or different seats. Avery never said 'I'; she always said 'we.'.

"May we go to the water fountain?"

"We want the red paper."

Laura mainly counted on Avery, who had a bunch of patience, even at that age. Laura spoke of course, but Avery was the only one to ever really hear her voice.

And on the particualar day where where this story begins to unfold, Avery Crawford was doing just that.

***

"You know, we could make a killing in this neighborhood if we babysat."

Avery was hanging upside down from the monkey bars on her old playset. It was a sunny September afternoon, and she and Laura were eating Oreos and lemonade in her backyard.

"I guess so," Laura replied reluctantly. She took an Oreo. "But NOT Isabelle Hanes."

"Who, in their right mind, would EVER willingly agree to babysit that brat?" Avery swung down from the monkey bars, smiling, and took a sip of lemonade.

Isabelle Hanes was the six-year-old that lived across the street from Avery. Her father was actually the founder of the Hanes underwear company, so she was a very rich and spoiled little girl. When she didn't get her way. she'd been known to scream so loud that the police came on a child abuse call more than once.

D'ya think there's a...a heaven?" Avery asked suddenly, looking up at the sky. It wasn't the first time she'd asked a deep question like that outta the blue, so Laura wasn't all that surprised.

"I don't know, Aves. Leave that to the Pope or someone to figure out." Laura ate another Oreo.

"But if you had to guess.." Avery pressed, resuming her position on the monkey bars.

At this, Laura actually laughed. "Where're thirteen," she said, looking at her best friend reapprovingly. "We're not gonna be dying anytime soon, so why worry about it now?"

While Avery often though about things such as beyond, Laura preferred to stick with the facts and reality. If there was one thing Laura hated in the entire universe, it was change. Laura hated change.

Avery was quiet for a minute, looking at the sky as if she could get the answer from it. Her eyes seemed to pierce the air and she looked very hard at the blueness that seemingly had no end.

"Well, Laura," she said softly, "You never know."

Laura pretended not to hear.