Vitality (Vitality Series #1)

Chapter 35 Don't Fear the Reaper pt.9

Ava's eyes opened groggily to the sun burning red through the black paper in the windows, reminding her so much of her idea of Layton and the way her heart burned at the moment.

She rolled onto her back, eyeing the mess from all her tests, half never even used. There wasn't going to be any more games.

As Ava moved sluggishly to get ready for class, her body ached all over, and she was exhausted. She slipped on her black-and-white stripe shirt that came down her shoulders, now ribbed in the back and cropped to give her some more air (even though it showed the bandaged bite on her back shoulder), worn black high-waist jeans, red suspenders, and heavy black boots left open at the ankles because she was lazy.

Knowing she wasn't coming back home tonight, she left a letter for Layton on the bed: out all night studying, see ya tomorrow.

Ava ran a hand through her hair as she looked down at it, pulling the strands over one shoulder only for random pieces on top to fall back over unruly anyway. She sighed, grabbing her flannel and leather jacket and hit the road to school.

In Psychology class, Ella was surprised and quite happy to see her.

"I thought you dropped out for sure," Ella said, taking her seat next to Ava. "I haven't seen you in while. Where have you been?"

"Chasing a different life," Ava replied. Her eyes were on the professor, indifferent to everything else around her.

Ella eyed her speculatively, but didn't badger, knowing from Ava's tone she was not into conversation, and gracefully obliged her needs. She only added tentatively, "Well, you know where I am if you ever need to talk."

That was the only time Ava's gaze moved from the professor as it flickered to the floor momentarily, remembering the last time she was at Aunt Anne's.

Professor Green had abandoned dyeing his hair yellow, and it was white now. He was showing the class a video of kids playing basketball, in which he told everyone to count how many passes the team in white made. By the end of the video, he asked them whether they had seen the moonwalking bear, and there was a great shuffle of confusion throughout the classroom. He played it again, and to almost everyone's surprise, a bear did in fact moonwalk past the screen while they were watching, and just about everyone had missed it.

"Since we focus on what we are told to, we are counting, and we always miss the moonwalking bear," he explained. Ava's eyes were sharply on Professor Green, assessing him, absorbing him. His lecture reminded Ava of how she'd been so focused on her feelings for Layton that she'd been oblivious to the beast stirring deep within him. Professor Green held her stare for a moment, sort of a knowing look as he continued, "This is selective attention. When focusing so hard on something, people can become blind to everything else. Even when they're staring right at it." He knew that she was finally standing at the door to his world.

What that world was, and what it meant for her, was still as unclear as the rest of her thoughts. She'd been mostly autocratic, digging and gaining knowledge, but not yet fully acknowledging the meaning until she felt she'd hit the core of it.

In her Anthropology class, Ava was surprised to find that the only person left in the class that she remotely knew was Marion. Dahlila had dropped the class early on, and now the rest of The Elite as well. The pleasure she derived from the thought that she might have driven them off was short-lived when she began to feel like a plague.

She watched Professor Putnik as closely as Green. At the end of the class, Putnik asked her to wait, and finally Ava's heart seemed to take on some form of life. But she'd only wanted to discuss the assignment that Ava and Marion would be pairing up on later on in the day; it was a slap back to reality.