Conflict: a serious disagreement or argument, typically a protracted one.

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"Treat yourself to saving lives!"

"That's two cat ears coming right up."

"I can try it, but I'm not guaranteeing a middle finger."

"Of course I'll braid your hair."

The water dropped down my pipes as I placed my baseball cap onto my head, then stood up and stretched my hands.

God, I had never met this many people in my life.

It was hard to ignore that everyone preferred Mrs. Liu to professionally style their hair, but I'd proven my worth after one brave girl gave me the lead to her locks.

The hustle had definitely calmed down, and now we were beginning to draw in more students ourselves.

I nervously glanced around for anyone who looked interested, and my eyes fell upon a soft pink head of hair, like mink.

Walking to the person, I realised that the girl held a woeful glance towards a guy. He was surrounded by flocks of girls who all had beach waves inserted into their image. Seated in her wheelchair, she was absorbed in an isolated world of hesitance, and I wondered if my interference would be granted.

I gently tapped the girl's shoulder, and her head snapped to me in offence. For a mere minute, the panic of rejection flounced to me, trying to streak my path.

"Hi," I blew out the candle of my insecurity, "Are you interested in getting your hair styled?"

"Erm... No thanks," She met my eyes and then found it necessary to add, "Sorry."

"Are you sure?" I brushed off her first answer and realised she was wistfully looking back at the boy, "Don't you think they all look a little boring?"

She bit her lip and I noticed a hand move to run through her hair, "Boring seems to work for them."

I chuckled and shook my head, "Nope, that's confidence."

The girl gazed at the stall, which motivated me to continue, "I'm not the best hair stylist, but your hair is beautiful and I can be determined."

There was a brief silence before her wheelchair was manoeuvred to face me, rather than the boy.

"Sure, why not?"

I grinned and directed her to our stall, "That's the spirit."

As we proceeded to where Sadia was thrusting a red cap at someone, she met my eyes shyly, "I'm Hayley."

"I'm Ava." My smile was oddly genuine, it had been a long time since I'd bothered to introduce myself to someone who had actually cared.

"How do Dutch braids sound?" I asked, moving away the chair that had seated my last client.

"I don't really know the names of any braids." Hayley admitted in embarrassment.

"Don't worry, they're like these," I reached for the hat on my head, and allowed her to observe my scruffy work, "Only I can assure you that your will be much neater."

"Go for it," She shot me a small smile, "How much?"

"Five pounds sound good?" I asked, eyeing my best friend who was squabbling with a boy about the pricing of the glitter on his face, "You can keep the hoops."

"That's fine." She reached into her purse and passed me the money, to which I stored in my small cash box; it was in need of an expansion.

"Alright, here we go." I murmured to myself and then parted Hayley's hair nimbly, feeling her tense at the contact.

"So," As my hands began sectioning her hair, I attempted to break the ice, "How's your day been?"

"Not very eventful so far," She confessed, "I'm here to watch the sport competitions."

"You and I both," I sighed, "I'm hoping to get the chance to see the race, what about you?"

"Well...the second tennis match is where my priorities are," Her laugh was glittered in a fond nervousness, "But I won't make much of a difference."

"Hey," I reached for a thin red hairtie, "I'm sure you're more refreshing than plenty of clones who all act and look the same."

"You're sure?" She echoed in doubt, stroking the end of her braid.

"Yes," Nodding my head I secured the other half of her hair, "And you don't need anyone else to show you how to appreciate yourself."

"These look great!" Hayley gasped, looking up at her phone as her face crinkled into a smile. Her expression faltered when she looked back down at herself, "But I'm dif-"

"Don't." I placed a hand on her shoulder reassuringly, "I saw that doubt creep into you, and it's wrong. We're all different in various ways, that doesn't make us abnormal."

"Wow Ava," after a minute of contemplation she replied, "You should be a motivational speaker."

I snorted whilst clipping small, red hoops into Hayley's hair, "I'm not good with words."

"Really?" She sarcastically retorted, "And I'm not in a wheelchair."

"Fine," I rolled my eyes in good humour, "I'll take the compliment, thanks."

As I secured the last hoop, the girl asked, "So, who taught you how to braid hair?"

I bit my lip in thought, and then broke into a smirk, "I've always been interested in styling hair, but let's just say a little girl showed off her talent."

"Oh? You have a little sister?"

"Nope," I shook my head and asked, "Do you know Davis?"

Uttering his name was already making my cheeks match the theme of today.

"Who doesn't?" She chuckled, "He's in my Music class."

"Well he's got a little sister, and she's the most fiesty and amusing diva ever. To be honest, her skills with managing hair are quite impressive."

Hayley analysed my red face for a second, and I hated myself for suddenly babbling on about something related to him.

"So, that's why you care about the race?" She giggled and I burnt even more.

"Something like that."

"Well Ava, you'll be interested in knowing that it starts in ten minutes."

I froze, and then checked my own phone in disbelief, "Oh crap."

"Are you coming?"

I bit my lip hesitantly, my heart was suddenly jolting in anticipation and fright, my palms clammy, and my eyes wide.

"Really?" I registered her sceptical tone, "You're going to doubt yourself after boosting my confidence?"

"You're right."

I frantically stood up, initiating stamina to my feet whilst stretching my arms outwards. My knuckles made a subtle clicking noise, and my joints snapped awake. Sliding the ruby tinted glasses onto my face, I placed the baseball cap away from covering the crown of my head. Squinting towards the sunlight, my fingernails dug into my palms as I stepped towards commotion.

"What have I got to lose?"

~

"This isn't right," I gritted my teeth, "At all."

Something was wrong, and the feeling was recooperating in my stomach, churning in negative angst.

"What is he holding back?" Ken was more angry than concerned, scowling at Davis, whose figure had been outrun by three boys already.

His pace was only a few steps behind each of them, but there was nothing preventing him from striding forward and taking the lead.

"The tension is rising." The commentator was feeble, because she too was astounded.

My nails had indented the flesh on my hands severely, and deep red marks were a reflection of my daze.

"There's only two minutes left." Hayley bit her lip and gazed back at me in concern.

There was a hush from the crowd, none of us were expecting Woody to grasp the win. They all echoed silence, it was an overwhelming disappointment. This wasn't the same for me though, I was worried.

Davis needed a push, and I wanted him to know that he could make it.

I chewed on my lip for a split second, and in spur of the moment I mustered up the emotions that had absorbed me since last night. I turned them into courage.

Amongst the sea of faces who shared my vision and the same muteness, something struck a chord in my voice.

"You've got this Davis!"

I winced at my abrupt yell, and the shift of eyes that turned to me were ghastly. In order to ignore them, I returned my vision to the boy in my mind, who had paused for a faint second. Then, he ran.

Just like in the past when he had plucked my attention, the speed of his body struck the track. He had overtaken almost all competition in unmeasurable time, and before I could lower my eyes, Davis was already challenging his prior competition.

It was only after he had surged past the finish line did I realise that I'd triggered dozens of people to cheer for him.

"He done it..." I looked back at the people around me, and then at Ken and Hayley, "He won!"

"Thanks to your lovely yell." My friend placed a hand on my shoulder as he beamed, "Let's go congratulate him."

"Ah, I'm gonna start making my way to the tennis court, I can't be late." Hayley began to dismiss herself.

Only, she never got a chance to maneuvere her wheelchair around the masses of crowds. Neither Ken or I got around to making our way through the human obstacles to congratulate Davis. In fact, nobody got around to proceeding to the next part of their chained events.

All because of the deafening sound of a mic, screeching through our synapses in everlasting pain.

As I clutched my ears in utter shock, my eyes rose to a hostile figure whose menacing glare was centered right at me. Woody. His eyes held a brutal, taunting mist, engulfed in mockery. His sinister smile was disheartening, brimming with spite.

I felt fear.

Once again, the melodramatic feeling in my body struck.

"That was a nice cheer you had, Ava." He turned and motioned bluntly to me, "This is Ava by the way, for the majority of you guys who didn't know."

Ken's low muttering and Davis's attempts to seize the mic slipped from my attention.

What Woody wanted to say, he would.

Hell, I was here to hear it.

"You know, something is different about Ava."

I pulled away from Ken's attempt to comfort my disgusted surprise, detaching myself from the engulfing crowd of spectators.

Why the hell did he know?

"We all know Davis here," This time we turned to the equally startled champion, "Well, he's devoted to Ava. It's a shame really, because I can list the amount of girls who actually care about this dummy."

Woody now pointed towards the group of girls who had performed a dance to kick-start this entire event. "Madeleine here has already asked him out twice."

Was Woody trying to make me feel like crap by comparing us?

An amused frown sketched itself onto my face, "If you're trying to bring out my flaws, I've already acknowledged them."

Little did I know, I'd played into his hands.

"Ah!" He pointed at me in feigned shock, "So you admit that you have issues? This boy tells you how much he loves you, and do you know what she does guys?"

The crowd were enthralled, but there was nothing more I longed for than to run into a toilet cubicle and hide. Only now, I stood my ground.

"Ava ignores him, she simply dismissed Davis's emotions."

"Cut the crap, it's not like you care." Woody simply shrugged Davis off of him, because nobody intruded his words.

"Maybe, just maybe, it's because she's got a disease."

It was at that moment that the negative connotations connected to that word were revealed. That last syllable had the crowd erupted in murmurs of doubt, staring at every inch of me as if I was a contaminated pest. People who were familiar with me in lessons were now gasping with feeble pity. Hayley's face was insulted; she couldn't hide her disability, but I had the option of never introducing mine.

All of them were wrong.

"Yeah?" I raised my eyes to the demons of doubt, "So what? I didn't realise having Cystic Fibrosis would suddenly make you all hold an opinion of me."

"So, aren't you just harmful to all of us?"

"Am I?" I was furious now, seething with anger towards this incompetent fool, "The way I see it, you're more harmful to us."

Woody scornfully laughed, "You-"

"For once in your life, why don't you focus on yourself?" I cut him off in infuriation.

"What sort of spiteful satisfaction do you get from revealing our personal information? You can't possibly apprehend all that happens behind the curtains; regarding both Davis and I." My knees were trembling, but my voice didn't falter, "So what? I have issues, yes. But who doesn't?"

I defiantly glared at the heap of people who were numbed with a prevention of embracing their individuality.

Challenging them to prove me wrong was satisfying, and Woody was the first to grudgily accept his defeat by swearing insults at me and stomping away from the track.

As expected, their care was like false hope. It only existed when necessary, and deteriorated into hurting you.

One by one, each person disappeared. The masses hustled together to move to the next event, whilst some wandered on their own, and others had actual jobs to do.

They had all cleared, until I was left staring at a pair of brown eyes that could possibly flash into a different expression. A pair of lips that might snatch away the smile I loved so much. A body that had the ability to make or break me.

His.

A/N: *claps hands*

LOOK AT ME UPDATING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK YAY!

I hope you enjoyed this, I wanted to project Ava's development of character, and this scenario builds to the next one...

Enjoy!

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Baii for now xx