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Chapter Nine
Ava
Ava and Jack hadn’t been able to enjoy the pool or anything outside due to the rainy weather, nearly lasting the whole week. They entered the Seashell room where computers hummed, a place she referred to asthe command center,on their way upstairs to get Jack’s summer work packet, courtesy of the school system they’d left behind. She wasn’t thrilled to push schoolwork on Jack, but he might as well get it over with so they could enjoy upcoming sunny days seaside and in the pool. Before leaving for Italy, Connie, her mother, had drilled into her head how important it was for Jack to do the summer work. She mentioned something called summer slide.
Samir stretched his back and waved.
Leroy scrubbed his face before calling, “Hey, what’s up, Jackman?”
“Nothing much.” Jack trotted over to his desk. “What are you working on?”
“Fixing some glitches,” Leroy replied.
“Rain should stop soon.” Wesley slouched against his chair, staring at the droplets running down the window, signifying his lack of energy. The whole room seemed lethargic.
Ava followed his gaze out the floor-to-ceiling windows that faced the ocean, mesmerized by the drizzle. Even dreary days weren’t so dreary ocean-side. Jack, happy-go-lucky kid he was, didn’t seem affected by the early afternoon darkness. However, this room’s sluggish energy tanked when she declared, “Not sure what’s going on in here, but you all seem lost in the sauce.”
“I need a break. I will make tea,” said Samir, rising from his ergonomically correct chair.
“Grab me a soda, will yuh?” Leroy called after him. He looked at Jack. “You want one?”
“Nah, I don’t drink that stuff.”
“Good for you, Jackman.” Leroy mussed his hair, making Jack grin.
“Let’s all take a break.” Wesley clicked his mouse a few times before getting up. “We need an activity to wake us up.”
By the time Samir returned with hot tea and a cola, the boys had decided a game similar to Pictionary would brighten everyone’s mood. They’d invited her and Jack to join, and Jack was so dang excited about it, she agreed.
Everyone moved to the big-screen television in another room and took out their phones. She downloaded the app while someone cast the game onto the screen.
Once everyone took a seat, Wesley said, “The game will prompt you what to draw. Just use your finger and do your best. We all guess what the drawn picture is.”
Outnumbered by artists and programmers, Ava glanced at Jack, who didn’t seem intimidated. He didn’t know better. She contemplated the word on her screen. She could draw this.
Thankfully, Leroy’s drawing came up first. Everyone guessed, laughed, and made jokes. Then Samir’s filled the screen, an easy one that everyone guessed.
Wesley’s drawing puzzled her. She guessed wildly, resulting in being razzed by the gang. She didn’t mind that so much. These geeks, who were very different from the boys in the army, had grown on her. She found their bantering familiar, something she responded to naturally, giving as much flack as she got.
“You’re going down, Tank Top!” She snipped at Leroy, the large Samoan who notoriously wore tank tops and had the loudest laugh in the room.
Jack and Harry each took their turn.
Though she found the game frustrating at times, she cringed when her drawing appeared, knowing it’d been harder to draw with her finger than she’d expected. In the center of the screen, she’d drawn a squat oval.
Jack giggled. “It looks like a turd.”
When Leroy barked out a gusty laugh, Jack’s face brightened with glee.
“C’mon, Jack!” she reprimanded. “Look at the whole picture.” She’d enclosed the oval in another oval and made squiggly lines around it as waves.
“A turd in a toilet bowl!” Jack blurted, heady on everyone’s laughter.
Harry smirked. “Your ten-year-old can draw better than you, Baxter.”
She did not find it funny. The picture made complete sense in her mind.
Wesley smothered his laughter, seeming to sense her rising ire.
