These Things Happen

[Kadence McAvoy]

Sophomore year of high school was fast approaching. Her freshman year had gone by in a blur, with Hayden's passing, she wasn't sure she even attended school like she was supposed to. Most of her memories came from the guidance office and the family doctor. School hadn't meant much to her then and she wasn't sure if that would change now that she had made it to the 'acceptance' stage of her grief. That's what the counselor had told her, that she was finally getting better. But Kadence didn't feel better, she still felt the empty pit in her stomach and the hole in her chest. But Hayden would have wanted her to focus on school, to get involved and make friends.

She had friends.

By default, being Hayden's baby sister meant that she fell into the popular category. Her parents were well-known and well-liked through the school system and their community. With a war hero of a son, their status only seemed to be boosted. Kadi didn't know if she fit in with Hayden's crowd though. And this was the year that she figured she would be finding out. 

Setting out for some supply shopping as well as peeking around at new clothes to start off a new year, she kept Hayden's thoughts with her. He swore that the most important thing to have for classes was a pack of pencils and a pack of pens. Always black, never red or blue. He had always been the supply hog, but he'd kept it such a well-kept secret that no one would have truly known what a nerd he was. She rounded a the corner of the aisle to look at the notebooks and her bag caught on one of the racks, pulling the supplies down and scattering to the floor. 

Kadence huffed and let her bag drop to the floor as well. For a moment all she could do was stare at the contents on the ground.

[Nicholas Darwin]

Summer usually brought with it all kinds of experiences. But for Nicholas, it usually made him feel restless. Not because of the lack of having anything to do - or people to hang with, but simply because he missed football. He missed the feeling of the uniform against his skin and the smell of wet grass in the morning. 

Walking through the store with a couple of friends looking for supplies, Nick's attention fell mainly to his phone, looking through various news sites for any information about the scouts and their trip towards Glenhaven. He knew they would come - he just didn't know when.

The sound of items crashing towards the floor snapped Nick's attention from his phone. Craning his neck upwards, he looked over the shelf to see the source of the sound. His brows furrowed gently at the sight of none other than Hayden's baby sister - Kadence McAvoy. She was a few years younger and seemed to be a bit on the off site, though in some ways, the young girl reminded Nick of her older brother - and not only in looks. There was a few quirks here and there that left no doubt that the two had come from the same family.

Telling his friends to go off without him, Nicholas jogged around the shelf and bent down to pick up one of the items that had fallen. He inspected it with a certain kind of amusement. "What did this poor pen ever do to deserve such violence?" He looked up, offering the younger girl a toothy grin. "You should apologize. You hurt his feelings." He held the pink pen with pink, glittery fur around its top towards her. "He's crying. On the inside."

[Kadence McAvoy]

Kadence was annoyed by her clumsiness, it was just like her to bump into something, next thing she knew she'd probably trip over her own feet. What made it worse was the familiar voice that came with the approaching footsteps. If she hadn't already been embarrassed, she was definitely embarrassed now. Looking at him as he picked up one of the pens that had scattered, she felt her face flush. Nick was the most popular guy in school now that Hayden was gone. He had been one of Hayden's best friends, someone that he took care of just as much as he'd taken care of her. The countless times she'd seen Nick at their house playing football or video games, she should have been used to him by now, and she was. But that didn't mean his attractiveness had worn off on her.

With a dramatic roll of her eyes, Kadi laughed and crossed her arms tight around her frame. "The pen had it coming, it got in my way," Kneeling down, she gathered up the rest of the items and did her best to replace them on the display. Her nerves only fed into her butterfingers and she juggled the supplies, a few slipping out of her grasp. "Jeez, I can not handle this today," She groaned and finally set everything up and backed away.

Kadence turned back to the older boy and cleared her throat, "What're you doin' here, Nicky?" The nickname was something she'd always found herself calling him. It had started when she was younger and developed a preteen crush on him. After that it was all history, she was one of the only people that had ever called him that to his face.

[Nicholas Darwin]

He had to laugh at that; It was funny, though it didn't seem as if the girl had meant it that way. He wondered briefly if he should have asked about her brother. Or about how she was doing, but he quickly decided against it. There was little point in digging around in her personal life. He'd been hurt over Hayden's death too, but he couldn't even begin to imagine how much it had hurt her.

Looking at her, Nick's goofy expression fell and grew somber. "It's okay, Kadie," he said, "It's just a pen," he added with a reassuring smile.

She offered him a question then, at which Nicholas simply shrugged. "A few friends wanted to get a few things for school," he started, jerking his thumb over his shoulder. "So I tagged along." In fact, now that he thought about it, he couldn't see his friends anywhere. Maybe they'd left? Oh well, he hadn't exactly had loads of fun shopping for school supplies anyways.

"I take it you're doing the same, though, I'm not sure this is how you shop," he said, his goofy grin right back where it belonged. "You're not supposed to knock the supplies on the floor." He wanted her to feel a little less bad about it.

[Kadence McAvoy]

Kadence could only nod and chew on her lip. All the while trying not to focus on the way the smile lit up his face. He had always been attractive and she would always be too young for him to even notice her. Hayden had picked on her for the silly crush for years, always hinting at it when they were around each other, but never blatantly enough for Nick to catch on. She hoped. The fact that he could have any girl he wanted contributed to his ignorance, she was sure, so she just kept her thoughts to herself and tried her hardest to find guys a little more in her league. Not that there were any that sparked her interest.

She cracked a small smile as he attempted to get her to relax. He was right, it was just a pen, it could have happened to anyone. But with it being in front of him, she knew she wouldn't be able to play it off so smoothly. All he had to do was smile and flash those pearly whites at her and she'd probably knock something else over, or worse, trip, hit him, etc. With a deep breath she huffed and laughed, "Yeah, I know. They all just kind of jumped out at me. I can't help my school supply popularity, they all want me."

Flipping her hair back with another laugh she shook her head and placed the palm of her hand to her forehead, "Ugh, that was lame." She peeked up at him and cleared her throat, "So how've you been? I've been meaning to come to practice to watch you guys play. Team lookin' good to ya?"

[Nicholas Darwin]

Raising his eyes in both surprise and amusement, Nicholas issued a low chuckle. Well, he had to give it to her. She was quite witty, though, that hardly came as a surprise. It wasn't as if it was the first time he'd met her. No, her wit seemed to far surpass his own - just like it always had.

"No worries," he assured her. "I think it sounded more cute than lame." After all, she had managed to amuse him. He might have been easily amused, but it was still something he could easily enough respect her for. Her next question brought forth a casual shrug. "Oh you know, same old," he began, offering her somewhat of a smile. There was little going on in his life except for football, therefore there was very little to tell. "Yeah, but all the seniors have gone off to college, so we'll see what the new year will bring."

In a way, Nick was actually looking forward to all the scrubs coming straight from elementary school, hoping to catch a ride to the top by being on the football team. They'd quickly come to find out the social hierarchy wouldn't be quite what they'd likely have in mind.

"And you?" he asked, sticking his hands into his pockets as he rocked back on his heels. "I've been waiting for you to join the cheerleading squad. Maybe distract and kill off some of my competition," he quickly added with a grin.