SYDNEY, APRIL 9

The ninth of April was categorized as many days in Avery's head. The first day of press. Exactly two days before the premiere of season two of Heartbreak High. But perhaps most importantly, it was her 23rd birthday. Was sitting in her ready room being swarmed by makeup artists and hairstylists for two hours making sure she was camera ready the ideal way to spend her birthday? No, but it was the day she was having.

She had woken up at six to the sound of the fire alarm in her flat, Emilie and Hannah bickering in the kitchen as neither made any move to turn it off. Emilie was waving around one of her bunny slippers to disperse the smoke that was wafting from the pancakes on the stove, Hannah lecturing her on why even though it was Avery's birthday, they couldn't have mimosas for breakfast with interviews occurring later that morning. Emilie loudly called her a buzzkill with a pout, both turning in Avery's direction as she repeatedly slammed the broom handle into the smoke detector to silence it.

"Happy birthday?" Hannah said warily. 

"What the hell is this?" Avery wondered as she slowly sat down on a barstool at the counter.

Emilie had already popped opened a bottle of champagne, insisting that one mimosa wouldn't derail the entire day of interviews. Avery wasn't fully opposed to the idea at the moment, still clad in her silk blue pyjama set and slightly pissed off. But Hannah slid a coffee her way in her favorite glass, which she took a sip of with a grateful smile. Hints of vanilla and cinnamon touched her tongue as well as the bitterness of the cold brew, jolting her even more alert after her rude awakening.

The pancakes were still smoking on the stove with the burner turned off, all three looking defeated. Bowls of blueberries and chocolate chips sat on the counter beside the batter, all now cast aside.

"We were trying to make pancakes." Emilie gestured towards the mess. "And failed epically."

Avery nodded slowly, taking another sip of coffee. "Yep."

Hannah had gone into damage control mode, abandoning the cooking endeavor to put the leftover batter in a container in the fridge for later. Beside Avery, Emilie had sat in the other stool as she dug into her overnight oats that had been likely been made in the case that their breakfast plan had gone sideways. While she didn't have the best execution, her heart was always in the right place.

"Goals for today!" Hannah clapped her hands together. "Avery, no substantial spoilers. Em, please try not to derail the interview by arguing with whoever you're paired up with again."

"Okay that was once, and Fallon totally had it coming! She was being so fucking rude for no reason. I love her, but she was pissing me off!" Emilie tried to justify her actions from the first season's press tour.

Avery had to agree. One of their former cast mates had been extra bitchy in the full group interview they did to promote season one when their group was a bit smaller, and it had only been a matter of time before someone gave her a piece of their mind. They all thought it was residual bitterness for only being written in for one season, while other storylines were left wide open in case of a surprise renewal.

"Oh! And we have dinner plans at 7, so be ready for that." Hannah announced, pointing at Avery.

"Guys, I told you I didn't want to do anything major tonight." She groaned, opening the fridge for omelet ingredients.

"Too bad!" Emilie jumped back into the conversation, sticking her tongue out.

Avery turned to flip both middle fingers after setting the food on the counter, Hannah throwing a croissant her way while Emilie shook her head in dismay.

But somehow the three had managed to eat and be ready for the day less than two hours later, Avery putting her foot on the gas pedal as she drove like her life depended on it to get to the media building in time. In a sense it did, knowing Shannon would rage if she was any less than fifteen minutes early for hair and makeup. She'd tried her hardest to teach her that being early was being on time, and being on time was late. But Avery had never taken it to heart, not until that Tuesday where she drove like a maniac through traffic as surely enough, We Are The People blasted through her car speakers much to Emilie's chagrin. She couldn't avoid tradition.

The first two rounds of interviews went smoothly, as it was just Avery by herself. One was her and an interviewer discussing all things life and acting, the next she was surrounded by puppies while answering rapid fire questions. She always loved animals growing up, despite her tragic experience with a pet fish, and Mason's allergy to fur keeping the Forrester family from ever adopting a pet that either girl thought was cute.

But the third interview was a bit more painful, adding in Tyler Garrison and Luke Parsons into the mix. Avery dearly loved Tyler, who played her on screen brother, practically ambushing him in a hug as it was the first time she'd seen him since they wrapped filming. He had immediately moved to England to film another movie for Netflix, and had barely been back in town since. "A scheduling conflict" he claimed to Luke had kept Tyler from cast festivities last week, but the engagement announcement that his now fiancé sent to the Forrester-Rhodes-Yardley residence told the full story.

"Happy birthday, Forrester. You're getting old like the rest of us now." Tyler had teased, ruffling her hair.

He was a whopping two years older than she, but still Avery laughed and would go on to pester him for spoilers about his movie that would be coming out soon. Diplomatically he claimed his lips were sealed, but she knew that if she annoyed him enough over the course of the next week, he'd either blab about the entire plot or give her passes to the screening. She wouldn't mind either way.

Avery's chair was sandwiched in between those of the two men, taking her seat as Luke tried to grab her attention before the interviewer came in to chat with the three.

"Can we talk about, you know?" He asked, looking slightly agitated.

She glared his way. "If it's about anything other than the show, not now."

"Then when?"

"You have the worst timing of anyone I know." Avery pursed her lips together tightly. "After the premiere, don't make this more awkward than it already is. Please."

She was saved by Shannon's timeliness after the interview concluded, rescuing her from what was sure to be a horribly awkward conversation. Shannon had always been overprotective of her, the favoritism when it came to the girl being apparent compared to her other clients. She had lived next to the Forresters when Avery was young, babysitting her and Natalie before she had left for college. They'd stayed in touch, Shannon becoming the older sister that Avery didn't have. The two had been through many roles, styling mishaps, and brand deals together since Avery decided to pursue acting full time at seventeen. On occasion she would joke that managing Avery was a full time job in and of itself, but she wouldn't trade it for anything.

They'd found a restaurant a block away, sitting on the patio as Shannon nervously placed two small boxes on the table in front of Avery. She frowned deeply in confusion, Shannon never having been much of a gift giver even when they were younger and weren't on a professional basis. But her phone rang before she could ask what was going on, Shannon gesturing for her to pick it up.

There was no way in hell.

"Jack?" Avery answered in disbelief, forgetting she never blocked him since he hadn't tried to argue when she ended things.

Shannon rolled her eyes across the table, flipping through the menu as she listened in not so covertly. Considering each time they would go out for lunch she rotated between the same three dishes, it wasn't convincing in the slightest. Why Jack decided to reach out now was beyond her, but she knew Emilie had shit luck with exes reaching out on her birthday, and wondered if the phenomenon was a universal thing after all.

"Please don't hang up on me." He pleaded.

"Fine."

That was a promise that Avery wasn't sure that she'd be able to keep.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry for how bad I fucked things up. My sister sent me your video, and spent an hour on the phone laughing at me. I realize how shitty I was to you, and I didn't even want to go on the show in that way, I just wanted to get my brand out there for exposure. You know? But yeah, I wanted to say sorry over the phone and I've got an apology video going up soon too so I can get people off my back. Congrats on your show and happy birthday, by the way."

"Thank you?" Avery was dumbfounded, doubting he was being genuine but she wasn't sure if she even cared all those months later. "Goodbye, Jack."

She set her phone back down on the table gingerly, shaking her head as she looked at her equally confused manager. Shannon just stared at her blankly.

"Please tell me that wasn't the Jack I think it was."

Avery slumped in her seat, thankful for the fresh air outside instead of being stuck inside the restaurant. She felt ill as she stared at the plate in front of her, appetite suppressed as she was suddenly overwhelmed with everything going on. Hundreds of questions circled through her head, trying to figure out why now? What changed?

She winced. "Well, I'd be lying then. He says he's posting an apology video? I'm guessing it'll be a trainwreck if you want to watch it together later."

"I'll pass. You should open your presents." Shannon winked, gesturing towards the two boxes to change the subject.

With raised eyebrows Avery reached for the smaller of the two boxes, unwrapping the baby pink ribbon that was tied in a bow around it. Setting it aside, she removed the lid with a gasp. There was only one thing inside, a small card with a picture of an ultrasound on the front. Written in gold loopy lettering to be Shannon's was "So excited to meet you, Auntie Avery!"

"What!" Avery's eyes flew open wide. "Shannon!"

Shannon sat across from the redhead looking rather sheepish, taking a sip from her glass of water before speaking. Avery had never seen her at a loss for words before, both women choked up and on the verge of tears.

"You've been in my life forever, and I'm so proud of you and everything you've accomplished. I understand if you don't want the responsibility since you're still young, but I would love for you to be Baby Wiley's aunt. Godmother, if you will. You know neither Tom or I have any siblings, and I mean you've basically been my little sister forever. I was going to ask in Melbourne, but we were both so busy."

Avery beamed. "Do you have a name picked out?"

"Georgia."

"She's going to be the cutest ever." Avery clasped her hands together, smiling widely. "I'd love that. I'd love to. Honorary Auntie Avery, that has a nice ring to it!"

"Oh, I'm so glad! Tom will be thrilled too. You should open the other box too." Shannon urged.

One of the items that she had taken from set was her character Izzy's charm bracelet, Avery having fallen in love with it after having lost her own childhood charm bracelet while moving from home to Sydney to film the first season. They'd let her keep it shockingly enough, Avery adding on every now and then when a new piece caught her eye. Hannah had mentioned the bracelets and now charm necklaces were back in the trend cycle, applauding her for being ahead of the fashion curve for once instead of lagging months behind.

"A race car? You didn't!" Avery couldn't help but giggle at the new charm. "It's so cute, I love it."

"I thought you would." Shannon smirked knowingly. "I might also have something else up my sleeve, you'll see later."

With only fifteen minutes until her final interview of the day, Avery's makeup touchups had just been finished. It was the first time in hours that she was able to be alone with nothing else but her thoughts, though she wasn't sure if that was a good thing at the moment. As if it knew how bad of timing it was, a video call rang through on her phone. Not recognizing the number, she said a silent prayer that her number hadn't been leaked again (Thanks, Tyler!) or that her interview hadn't been moved to video as she clicked accept.

But a familiar face appeared on screen, and she felt the tension rush out of her shoulders. Avery moved to prop her phone up against the mirror in front of her, turning the volume up quickly as she settled back into her seat. The lighting inside was bright compared to the still dark sky outside, brain trying to figure out how early it was there in England.

"Avery!"

"Oscar?" Her eyebrows were still knit together in confusion.

His face was ecstatic, holding the phone far above his head as Lando tried to grab it from him. There wasn't much of a height difference between the two, but enough for his teammate to struggle to reach the phone when overhead. For a second she wondered if that was why she didn't know who was calling, but Oscar using Lando's phone made no sense when she knew that his own worked just fine.

"I don't think I have a twin?" He replied cheekily.

"Did you get a new phone?" She was still trying to figure out why she didn't recognize the number.

"Nah. He's using my phone, hurry up! Ouch, mate! Happy birthday, Avery!" She saw Lando jumping in the background, trying to reach for his phone from Oscar. "Get away from me, I'm trying to talk! Sorry about him, I forgot to plug my phone in last night and it's almost dead. Didn't want you thinking I hung up on you."

"So you stole Lando's phone?" Avery deadpanned.

"Well, maybe."

Oscar reached up to scratch the back of his neck. For a second he looked almost ashamed, glancing out of the frame of the camera to shake his head at Lando. His lips moved in what may have been an apology, but she couldn't tell. She thought it was all quite ridiculous, but appreciated the extra effort that she believed was highly unnecessary.

"Maybe?" She bit her bottom lip to keep from laughing out loud. "Just to wish me a happy birthday?"

"Yep? Happy birthday! I can't believe Lando said it first, that fucker." Oscar groaned, his teammate laughing in the background.

"Thank you, Oscar." She was grinning like an idiot then, but his smile wasn't much smaller than her's. "I'm so sorry I missed your birthday on Saturday, I really didn't know."

It was a little embarrassing how she found out, Hannah having put on the race in Suzuka on while taking a break from grilling Avery and Emilie with rapid fire questions that they were sure to get during interviews the next week. One of the commentators made an offhand remark about a birthday cake that McLaren gave him at the circuit, and joked about whether or not he had an eventful night out after qualifying the day before— not that his qualifying round gave him much more to celebrate, they added. She had texted Oscar as soon as she knew, but Avery couldn't help but feel bad being a day late.

"I never mentioned it." He looked unbothered. "You never talked about your birthday either though, I only knew when I saw one of Emilie's posts that you reshared."

"One? There's multiple?" Avery was appalled as he confirmed on the other line. "Oh, that's awful. Hannah must still logged in because I haven't seen them yet, she kind of took it over a while back."

She watched as Shannon poked her head through the door to her ready room, pointing to her watch. Avery nodded, turning quickly back towards her phone. In the background at the McLaren Training Center, she could hear Lando complaining about getting his phone back once more. It was hard for her to stifle a laugh as she watched Oscar shaking his head at his teammate, voice garbled as he covered the speaker to yell back.

"Hey, I'm going to be late for my next interview." Avery apologized as his attention turned back to her. "I should probably go since Shannon's here. It was really good to hear from you, Oscar. Maybe I'll text you later?"

"Yep, sounds good. Happy birthday, Avery." He let her be the one to hang up as he waved goodbye.

Avery sat and stared at her reflection in the mirror, shaking her head as her cheeks were still flushed a bright pink hue. She brushed a rogue strand of hair over her shoulder, inhaling slowly to regain her composure. One more interview to go stood in the way between her and dinner with her best friends, already imagining how filling them in on how her day had went would go. She could practically hear their voices in her head, trying to gauge how their reactions would play out later. Relieved, outraged, ecstatic.

"Everything alright?" Shannon raised her eyebrows.

But Avery just nodded as the two headed down the hallway towards the last round of interviews for the day. "Couldn't be better."

Avery Forrester on Heartbreak High, Social Media Virality, and the Power of Marketing

ELLE AUSTRALIA: Hello! How are you?

AVERY FORRESTER: Good, good! And you?

EA: Very well, thank you. We are so excited to have you here today to talk about life, Heartbreak High, everything you're up to as of late, future plans and the sort.

AF: Terrific! I'm so thrilled to be here, thank you for having me.

EA: Of course. What we have seen so far to expect from season two of Heartbreak High looks to be an arc of empowerment for Izzy Gallagher. Stepping into her own as a leader, going for what she wants both academically and in her personal life, advocating for herself and her classmates. I know I'm eager to see it—

AF: Me too! It was great, reading the differences in her character growth between seasons. I feel as though a lot of her storyline in season one was centered in the love triangle, and now it's less of that and more of her pursuing her future and realizing her full potential.

Oh, I am so so sorry for interrupting you. That was very unprofessional of me, I just got really excited to talk about Izzy and the show.

EA: [Interviewer laughs] It happens to the best of us, I've been there myself. When you went through the audition process and even over the course of filming the last two seasons, did you see a lot of yourself in Izzy?

AF: Yeah, I think I do have a few similarities to Izzy. Family means a lot to me, we're a bit scattered right now in our ventures but weekly calls and visits when we can are nice. I also shockingly have grown to like running a lot. Well really only while filming, I'm not a frequent runner these days. In season one actually, I had a stress fracture in the flashback episodes where Izzy is with Callum. Luke, who plays Callum, was such a sweetie that day, carrying me around when I couldn't walk well after each take because my foot was in so much pain.

Also I, like Izzy, prefer to keep things and people I love more private. She kind of felt like her world imploded in season one after the map and her personal life was exposed for her classmates to know. I'm not the biggest fan of the internet, not on social media much so I can relate to Isabelle. I like being able to see what people are up to, but I also like texting or calling to know. Sure, being on those platforms has given me cool opportunities recently, but posting for everyone to see and give their opinion isn't exactly something I enjoy. There's a lot of negativity out there, so I protect my peace in ways that I can control.

I love my friends and family and I feel that some moments are more special kept within those circles. In past relationships I've preferred to keep things quiet, and I like that one Taylor Swift lyric that goes "romance is not dead if you keep it just yours", there are some exceptions obviously [laughs awkwardly]. But I find it more special when it's two people, not two people plus the eyes and opinions of the world.

EA: Speaking of social media, you posted a video that went viral in March. Your ex had gone on Love Island in December while you were still together, and you ended the relationship. What made you decide to make that video, months later?

AF: [Nods, looks apprehensive] My best friend, flatmate, and castmate Emilie [Rhodes] had actually made a similar video in December after we found out and saw him on television for the first time, and I think that also blew up but we forgot about it. "POV: your best friend's now ex-boyfriend went on Love Island while they were still together." She had filmed her reactions, as well as mine and our other flatmate Hannah's [Yardley] while we watched the episodes for the first time.

They had been trying to get me to post on Tiktok for a while before March, as well as my friends from the show [Heartbreak High] with behind the scenes content since Bryn [Chapman] and I always had out our cameras or phones just to capture moments to look back on. There had been many ideas thrown around for video ideas, I mean the sky's the limit really! But I had always been entertained by the get-ready-with-me genre, and that was my most interesting and uh spoiler free story I had in my arsenal back then.

EA: It was your first and still is the only video you've posted on that platform. Did you expect it to get as much attention as it did?

AF: Absolutely not, none of us did. I don't like having notifications on apps like those, they honestly stress me out horribly. But when I reopened the app two days later, I had no idea what was going on.

EA: I'm assuming then that you don't plan on growing your presence on social media?

AF: Yeah— [laughs again] not if I can help it! If anything maybe for some fun behind the scenes pictures from filming this past season, but other than that I can't see myself doing too much else with it. Hannah wants me to be more present online so I understand the context of her quotes without having to show me videos or memes, but we'll see.

EA: We did see that your ex apologized earlier today, a quite lengthy video as well. How did you respond to that?

AF: Yep. We chatted before he posted that earlier, and he truly did seem apologetic. I think we're both in different places right now, and are continuing to move on. Wishing Jack the best, honestly.

EA: Earlier you mentioned posting on social media has given you cool opportunities, and we recently saw your energy drink collaboration in March with Celsius, who plan on expanding here this year. Walk us through how that came to be.

AF: It's rather funny actually, I thought the initial message was fake. [nods emphatically] But then I was like oh shit— this is real! Wait, am I allowed to swear? [unintelligible response] It was a lovely experience honestly. I finished my degree in marketing last spring while filming this season, so it was cool to see all of the pieces come together over the weekend on all fronts: my contributions, those of the Ferrari drivers that they sponsor, as well as the Celsius marketing team. The trip to Melbourne was a glorious time, and I'm so fortunate to have been given that opportunity. So thank you to them for sliding into my DMs! [laughs] Got to reconnect with an old friend, meet some new friends. Lots of interesting people there.

EA: Any standouts in particular?

AF: Well, [nervous chuckles] I have to say I did meet one person who did not seem to be much of a fan of Australian accents! Nameless, of course. But I also met some really cool people during my time there. There was one person, also nameless, that I hope I'll continue to talk to because I really enjoy our chats. Hopefully they think I'm cool too, otherwise that would be really awkward for me to say now and have it go out to the world!

But it was nice to also catch up with Ben Bradshaw as always, he's such an amazing guy. Great friend over the years. Excited to see his upcoming projects.

EA: Do you think Formula One will be a continued interest for you? I feel like that may be more on the fence than your energy drink obsession, we saw your sister Natalie post a throwback from a few years ago of you with a case of them.

AF: Oh, of course she did. But yeah, I'd say so. Natalie got me into the sport originally, she's studying engineering so she was really able to break it down and explain it so me since her brain works differently than mine in that sense. Seeing it live in person was a lot cooler than on screen so I was spoiled, but I'll likely watch a few more races throughout the season. With upcoming projects my schedule's very up in the air at the moment, so no more traveling to them.

EA: Are there any hints you're able to share about what you're working on next?

AF: You know as much as I do, really. A lot of my projects still in the early stages of development, so what's been said in press releases is really all there is to share. You'll know when I do!

EA: We look forward to seeing what you're up to in the future! Best of luck, and thanks again for stopping by to talk. Season two of Heartbreak High premieres on April 11, streaming on Netflix. Be sure to tune in and catch Avery Forrester as Isabelle Gallagher!

Delaney's Rambles!

I am so sorry this took forever and a day to get this chapter out, I got sucked into the latest season of Love Island USA and basically abandoned this app! On a brighter note, this chapter effectively closed the door on two guys in Avery's life, SHE'S FREE! Well, for the most part.

Also this chapter just felt messy and disorganized, but after staring at it for almost 2 weeks I don't think I'd ever be fully happy with it so this is the best I could do without fully starting over. Sorry :/

I'm expecting about two more chapters before about a two week time jump, but it's for good reason to keep the plot moving I promise. We'll also get to see the full craziness of the Forrester family, which I am so excited to write soon.