The Avery Shaw Experiment - By Kelly Oram Page 0,16

problems—but even the medicine couldn’t fix everything.

Avery didn’t handle change well, and meeting strangers was almost impossible. That my friends were all seniors and the most popular kids in school had to be making this scarier for her too. Then there was the fact that we were both the main focus of everyone in the cafeteria right now because I’d caused a scene. I kicked myself for that one, but it was too late now. I couldn’t undo it, so instead I tried to help her come back from freak-out mode.

She seemed to do better when all she could see was my eyes, so I grabbed her cheeks and pulled her face close to mine. “Remember what we talked about with the whole breathing thing? You’ve got to do it, Aves.” I prompted her by taking a deep breath, and eventually she copied the action. After a few more I smiled at her. “You good now?” It was the same thing I’d asked her in the shower, and I think we were both remembering that, because her cheeks turned pink as she nodded.

I sat her down at the table next to me and tucked her safely into my side. She shook a little as she clung to me, but she didn’t lose it. I was proud of her for regaining control of herself. For a second there I didn’t think she was going to make it.

I was going to have to be very careful about this transition, but there was no way I could leave her to deal with Aiden and Mindy on her own. That would get her pulled from school in a matter of days.

“Well done, Aves,” I whispered as I planted a kiss on the side of her head. “Hardest part’s over now.”

I stuck a tater tot in front of her face until she rolled her eyes at me and ate it. Not that I was a fan of feeding people or anything, I was just stalling as I figured out the best way to proceed with my friends.

“Have you really been through so many girls at this school that you’re stealing them from the geeks now?” my best friend Owen Jackson teased.

“Nah, Avery’s cool. We’ve been like this”—I crossed my fingers—“since before she was born. Really. I used to read picture books to her while she was still in her mom’s stomach.”

A couple of the girls gave us pouty little “Aww’s,” and I knew we would be fine. The guys would be a little trickier, but nothing I couldn’t handle.

“Didn’t I just take her picture for the science club before break?”

I cringed inwardly. That was the one thing my friends might not be able to swallow about Avery. I’d been hoping they wouldn’t realize that until they knew her better. I’d forgotten that Mark was the photographer for the yearbook staff.

I plastered a wicked smile on my face and said, “Well, yes, but we’re going to forgive her that one nerdy offense because Avery looks really hot in the shower.”

Avery choked on the food in her mouth and started coughing. I hoped I hadn’t just stopped her heart permanently, but I needed the guys to see her as dating potential and science club president was pretty much the opposite of that.

“No way, dude! You guys showered together?”

“It was the highlight of my winter break.”

“Grayson!” Aves finally shrieked. “Shut up! We did not shower together!”

“We most certainly did. Were we not in the shower at the same time?”

“That’s not the same thing!”

“Was there not nakedness involved?”

She slapped her hands over her flaming face, completely mortified. I squeezed her to me even tighter, praying she’d forgive me eventually. I’d reached her limit and needed to pull back, but that was okay because every guy at that table was now looking at her differently. In fact, maybe I’d done too good of a job because some of their looks were starting to piss me off.

I sighed, trying to sound repentant and yet not at the same time. “All right, so we didn’t actually shower together. My jerk-off little brother, who’s been her best friend for nearly seventeen years, bailed on her out of the blue for Mindy the Psycho Perez. Our moms were going crazy, so Avery jumped in the shower to hide from them. I just happened to be in there at the time. Aves was fully clothed, sadly, and had her eyes closed the whole time, so she missed out on seeing all my good stuff. I