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Ava followed her fellow classmates into the high school auditorium. There had been announcements all week over the loudspeakers about this assembly. The whole school was meant to attend. So after her second period teacher had called attendance, she had led the class down to the auditorium.
Upon entering, most of the class split up as people found their friends. Ava on the other hand clung to her backpack straps as she tried to silently squeeze past people running past, or standing in the aisle. Her eyes scanned the many aisles as she walked, trying to find the nearest empty seat to her. One on the end to make it easier for her to get in and out without causing a fuss.
Finally, she spotted a few open seats on the end of one of the aisles. She breathed out a soft sigh of relief and hurried to sit down before some group of kids try to take it. Ava debated on which of the seats to take. She could sit in the very end seat, but then risk the possibility of having to share an armrest with someone. The thought made her stick her tongue out. Ava decided to sit one seat in, leaving two empty seats on either side of her.
One of the people sat next to the empty seat gave her a strange look as she placed her backpack on it.
Ava shrugged and smiled at him awkwardly, “Saving it for a friend,” she says but the guy has already turned away from her.
Avas smile fell and she leaned back into the seat, slumping down. She looked up at the stage where some of the teachers had began to gather. Then cast her eyes around the room again. Kids were all sitting together, some sitting in their chairs on their knees so they could talk to the people a row behind her. Pieces of paper were being flung every once in a while across the room. Shrieks and giggles were heard through the chattering of the students.
Ava scoffed silently and turned back to face the teachers on stage, arms crossed across her chest. But when she turned to face forward again suddenly someone’s head was blocking her view.
She leaned forward, and gently tapped on the shoulder of the person in front of her, “Excuse me,” Ava said quietly. The person in front of her didn’t seem to feel her tap or hear her. So she tried again, this time tapping a bit harder and speaking up, “Excuse me,” she repeated.
The person in front of her turned, and her expression turned into one of annoyance. Odin Arrow. It just had to be him, didn’t it. The annoying boy she’d been forced to sit by on the bus. Who even heard of assigned seating on a school bus? The new bus driver had done it to “ensure peace and quiet” for the bus rides. That was an utter failure though, as separating teens from their friends just made them shout across the bus to them. And, Odin spent most of the bus ride either quietly drawing in his notebooks, or teasing Ava. He was awful.
When Odin noticed it was Ava who had tapped him, a grin slid on his face. “W-well if it i-isn’t the little f-firefly f-from the bus.”
“Shut up, Odin!” Ava said she could feel her face lighting up a twinge, “And move your big head, I can’t see the stage with it in the way.”
“A-are you sure its’ b-because my heads in the w-way and you’re n-not just sh-short?” Odin retorted.
“It wouldn’t matter anyway, because no matter what your head is in the way!” Ava replied looking at unimpressed with Odin’s jab at her height. As if she hadn’t heard that one before.
“Wh-what do y-you want me t-to d-do about i-it?” Odin asked now mirroring her unimpressed expression.
“I don’t know, move it? Slouch down?”
“D-do you r-really w-want to see the p-principal give his s-speech about d-drugs and alcohol that b-bad? I-I’ve seen it t-twice already, and I-I can promise y-you it’s not that e-exciting.”
“It’s probably a lot more exciting than the back of your dirty head. When was the last time you showered?” Ava asked as a small grin worked it’s way onto her face. Take that!
Odin glared down at her, but it was apparent she’d embarrassed him, if that blush on his face had anything to say about it. Score one for Ava.
Then without warning Odin turned back around, grabbed his over the shoulder backpack and walked out of his aisle and into hers. Odin sat down in the empty seat next to hers, and tossed his backpack on the floor by his feet. Effectively making impossible for Ava to leave if she had wanted to. Odin dug in his backpack and pulled out his notebook, then mumbled a small, “H-happy now?” before leaning back and slumping down in his seat.
It was Ava’s turn to let out a small stutter of surprise, “W-what are you doing?” She stammered out.
Before Odin could answer, the Principal tapped on the microphone and called for the room to quiet down. Ava sat back and crossed her arms in a huff.
Odin leaned over and whispered, “Y-you wanted me to m-move, so I d-did.”
Ava whispered back harshly, “I didn’t mean move next to me!”
“Y-you don’t seem t-to have a p-problem with i-it on the b-bus,” Odin retorted quietly.
“I don’t have a choice on the bus. I’m stuck sitting next to your smelliness the whole ride home,” Ava refused to continue the conversation, so she stared at the principal listening to him drone on.
A few minutes of silence between the two of them passed. The principal stepped away from the mic as a video started to play on the projector.
Ava heard, “H-hey,” whispered from next to her, she turned to look at Odin and gave him a questioning look, “D-do I really s-smell that bad?” he asked as he refused to make eye contact with her.
Ava sighed and rolled her eyes before shaking her head, “No. You don’t smell bad. But, it’s not exactly a secret that you smoke you know. Anyone with a nose can smell it on you. It...doesn’t smell all that bad though. Sort of...flowery? With a hint of pine and other stuff,” Ava whispered in response.
Odin stared at her a few seconds before cracking a grin, “W-what do you just s-sit there and s-smell me the w-whole way h-home? Pr-pretty creepy, Ava.”
“N-no!” she said a little too loudly. Some students near by turned and glared, and a teacher standing in the aisle shushed her. Ava felt her face light up in a blush and she lowered her voice again, “No I do not smell you! Your smell sort of just wafts over to me.”
Ava looked away from him, completely embarrassed now. She tried her best to focus on the video but the subpar acting was making it hard to do so. And the soft sound of pencil against paper drew her attention back over to Odin. She peeked over his shoulder and watched him doodle.
“What are you drawing?” She whispered.
Odin jumped, and quickly shut the cover of his notebook, “I’m just drawing some trees," he paused as he looked over at Ava with narrowed eyes, "Practicing for art class,” he said but even in the dim light Ava could see a blush crawling up his neck.
Ava grinned at him now. Two for Ava.
“You’re not drawing trees. You’re lying. What are you really drawing?” She asked, genuinely curious by how distraught he seemed to be.
“Nothing, I swear. Just some trees,” he insisted.
“It didn’t look like trees. In fact it looked a lot like a girl. Does Odin have a girlfriend?” She teased him.
Odin looked at her, then slumped further down in his chair leaning his head against the back of it. He truly looked like he was done with this whole situation. Silently, he opened the notebook up, and handed it over to her. Odin refused to look at her as he did though, eyes trained straight up on the ceiling.
Ava tried to push the notebook back, saying she was just teasing him and he didn’t really have to show her. But, Odin seemed insistent on showing her what he’d been working on. Ava took the notebook from him, and looked down at the paper nervously.
On the top of the page her name was written, but it looked like it had been traced over multiple times with different types of writing utensils and varying colors. Below that were various sketches that looked vaguely like her. The sketches weren’t the best pieces of artwork she’d ever seen, but she didn’t really think that was the point of them. And dancing, doodled around the little Ava drawings were what looked like little bugs.
“Th-they’re f-fireflies,” Odin whispered quietly before taking his notebook back, and shutting it. He bent over and shoved it into his backpack. Which he then picked up from the ground. Without another word he got out of his seat.
“Wait,” Ava whisper yelled, “Where are you going?”
Odin didn’t reply, instead he continued leaving.
Ava grabbed her backpack and followed after him. A teacher stopped the two of them before they got very far though.
“Where do you two think you’re going?” he asked.
“I’m not feeling well,” Odin answered.
“I’m just going to escort him to the nurses’ office,” Ava piped up. Odin looked back at her and rolled his eyes.
“Fine, just head straight to the nurses office and no detours,” the teacher responded before letting them pass.
Odin exited the auditorium with Ava following close behind. And without a beat, promptly made his way to the exit of the school.
“Where are you going?” Ava questioned.
“Why are you f-following me?” Odin fired back.
“Why did you leave so suddenly?”
Odin didn’t respond, instead he sighed and stopped at the outdoor eating area. He sat down at one of the tables, and put his bag on the table. He dug through it a while, and then pulled out what looked like a pipe.
Ava ignored his motions and instead, decided to focus on the matter at hand. She sat down at the table, and waited quietly for him to say anything for an answer. When a few minutes passed though, it was apparent she wasn’t going to be getting one.
“Why were you drawing pictures of me in your notebook?” Ava asked, and then immediately turned her attention to fiddling with her backpack zipper.
“Because I didn’t think someone could possibly be that short in real life, so I had to draw it out to make sure,” Odin said as he blew smoke out from his pipe.
“If you’re just going to be rude then I don’t care and I’ll just go back inside. The movie might be boring but it’s a hell of a lot better than being made fun of!” Ava’s face was burning, yet again, she grabbed her backpack from the table and stumbled out her seat. She didn’t know what she was expecting from this asshole. Ava felt her eyes sting with unshed tears, but she pushed them back. She wasn’t going to cry, goddamit body, she was angry not sad!
“W-wait! Ava, wait,” Odin’s voice shouted at her retreating back. Was that regret in his voice?
Ava stopped walking, but she refused to turn back around and face him. He could say whatever it was he wanted to her back for all she cared.
“I w-wasn’t being honest. The t-truth is…” he paused but it didn’t sound like he was going to continue.
Ava turned around a little to look at him. He had his face in his hands, and from here even she could see that he was blushing hardcore. “The truth is?” She encouraged.
“The t-truth is I think it’s kind of c-cute how sh-short you are,” he said it fast, and it was almost too quiet for her to hear. Almost.
Ava stared at Odin, probably gaping like an idiot, as she processed what this meant. He thought she was cute? Mean Odin who always poked fun at her on the bus. Well, that wasn't true entirely. He wasn't always mean to her. Actually, most of the time he wasn't really even mean. He mostly just teased her, and usually if he noticed she wasn't firing back at him he'd stop. Had he actually been teasing her because...he thought she was cute? Ava felt her face burning bright. Someone actually thought she was cute.
Slowly, Ava took a few steps back to the table Odin sat at. Both of them were now avoiding looking at the other. As she sat back down on the bench across from him, she thought about why she would join in on the teasing on the bus. It hit her all at once. Ava glanced over at Odin, and then looked away immediately. Hardly anyone else at this stupid school paid her any attention. Hardly anyone else at this stupid school could even make her laugh, so much as smile. But Odin paid attention to her, sometimes with the teasing or sometimes by borrowing her a pencil to help her fling a piece of paper into Maggies giant ponytail. And yah, they made fun of each other at times, but it was all in good fun usually and it made her grin and...Holy shit she had a crush on Odin Arrow.
"Uhh..." Ava said as she tried to form words with this new realization.
"It's fine, I kn-know it's w-weird," Odin mumbled around his now lit smoking pipe, "Wh-what with m-me being the o-oldest Junior a-and you being a F-freshman."
Ava shook her head and said, "No! That's...That wasn't...I'm just wondering something," she said as she looked at him now.
Odin raised his eyebrows in a question.
"Why Firefly? Like, why do you call me that sometimes?" She asked.
Odin grinned and reached over to poke her bright red cheek, "B-because your f-face lights up w-when you get e-excited or e-embarrassed," He shrugged and pulled his finger away.
"I see," She said slowly and then grinned, "Wanna ditch the rest of the day and go get some burgers? I'm kind of starving."
Odin looked at her seriously as he puffed on his pipe. He blew out the smoke, then glanced at the school, "I-I should b-be responsible and m-make you go b-back in there. S-school is v-very important."
Ava's grin dropped a little, and she crossed her arms across her chest in a pout, "But it's so boring in there!"
"I-I didn't say I-I would make y-you. I said I sh-should," Odin replied now grinning slightly. He put out his pipe, stuffed it into his backpack and then pulled out a set of car keys, "Wh-where to?"
Ava's grin came back and grew into a small smile, "I know just the place!" She said.
She hopped off the bench and began walking off towards the parking lot; Odin trailing behind her twirling his car keys on his finger.