“Nice to meet you both,” she said. “I hate to be rude, but if I don’t ride The Beast in the next five minutes, I’m going to die.”

“Nothing,” she said. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Gram added. “Oh, I don’t know maybe the voodoo mind magic going on five minutes ago?” I said.”

“I don’t know what I’m doing in the next five minutes and she has the next ten years figured out. I’ll worry about making it out of ninth grade alive. Then I’ll think about a career path.”

“I hate you,” I declared.“You don’t.”“I do.”“Okay, maybe whoever this new Ava is does but she’s a bitch and I don’t give a fuck if she hates me. The old Ava doesn’t hate me and she’s in there somewhere, I saw her five minutes ago and that’s who I'm keeping safe.”

“I am running a bit late. But all right, if I’m going to be late, I should be at least thirty minutes late. There’s something small-minded about running just five minutes late, don’t you think?”

“I’ve never once thought about how I was going to die,” she said. “I can’t think about it. I don’t even know how I’m going to live.”