The Cinema

When Ava left the detention center, she was still very upset. The sun above her head was blazing. Ava raised her head and covered half of her face with one hand. She could not look directly at the sun. Suddenly she remembered she read somewhere that 'there are two things in the world you cannot look at directly: the heart of a person and the sun.' she thought what a true word.

Sitting in the car, it took Ava a long time to settle her emotions. When she did, she started the car and head towards Beijing No. 4 High School.

The gate of Beijing No. 4 High School.

Sarah had two weeks of summer vacation so, Ava came to pick her up from school. When she reached the school gate she saw Sarah was talking and laughing with another girl. Suddenly Ava's mind flew back to her best friend, they also used to talk and laugh just like that. What a carefree age that was, they didn't have to worry about life, they were so happy.

"Ava, you are here?" Sarah saw Ava and cried out happily.

"Yes, I came to pick you up." Ava felt very tired, she hadn't had a good rest these days and after visiting Jacob today she felt drained both physically and emotionally.

"Ava, this is my good friend Amy Stan." Sarah introduced the girl she was talking to.

"Hello, Miss Green, it's nice to meet you." Amy politely greeted Ava.

"Hello, Amy, nice to meet you too. Where do you live? Come, I'll drop you home." Ava said.

Amy immediately said waving her hands: "No..No Miss Green, I live in a remote area, it won't be convenient for you to drive there, I can take the bus."

"What are you talking about, it's no problem, just get in the car I will take you home," Ava said smiling. She felt better around the girls, being with them was distracting her mind.

"Ava, Let's go to the cinema I want to watch "Star Wars", it's a box office hit." Sarah got into the passenger seat and chirp in.

"All right, let's do that. Amy, do you want to join us to watch the movie?" Ava asked.

"Ah? No... No, Thank you." Amy felt a little embarrassed so she refused.

"Why not, oh, come on, it'll be fun, it's my treat," Ava said with a broad smile.

Zhongguancun Plaza Shopping Center.

Ava and the two girls came to the shopping mall and straightly head toward Imegabox Cinema. As it was the weekend the cinema was crowded with people. They had to stand for half an hour in the line before they could buy tickets. After buying the tickets they stood in the queue to buy popcorn and soda.

"Ava?" A familiar voice came from behind.

Ava turned and found Sam was standing behind her. Sam was wearing a casual light blue shirt with light brown slacks and his usual black frame glasses were on the bridge of his nose. He looked very relaxed.

"Hello! Mr. Evan" Amy stammered nervously.

"Hello! Mr. Evan." Compared to Amy, Sarah's tone was relaxed.

"Sam, what a coincidence. You are here to watch a movie too?" Ava said with a smile.

"Yes, which one are you watching?" Sam said pushing his glasses with his long finger.

"We are here to watch "Star Wars", What about you?"

"Coincidentally, me too," Sam said laughing.

Four people walked into the movie hall together with popcorn and soda in hand, as they were going to watch the same movie then why watch it separately. Ava and Sam were walking at the front and Sarah and Amy behind them.

Amy suddenly pulled Sarah's hand and asked: "Sarah, did your cousin know our Mr. Evan?"

"Yes, surprisingly Mr. Evan was Ava's old neighbor and they were childhood playmates, in fact, I just found out myself recently," Sarah said in a low voice.

"I am a little scared to watch a movie with Mr. Evan," Amy said timidly.

Mr. Evan was their department head, at the school he was always so serious, they have never seen him smiling even once. Everybody was afraid of him including Amy.

"Haha, don't worry, Mr. Evan is really not that scary," Sarah said laughing.

After the movie, Sam politely invited them for dinner. At first, Ava refused but then looking at Sam's sad face she had to agree. So the four of them found a restaurant and got in to eat. Like a gentleman, Sam ordered the dishes after asking for everyone's preferences.

"Sarah, do you want to go to the lady's room?" Amy pulled Sarah's arm and asked.

Sarah knew that Amy had something to tell her so she said, "Yes, I do, let's go together."

Ava smiled looking at Sam's raised eyebrow and said, "That's how they are. They need to stick together, even when they need to go to the toilet."

"Sarah is very popular at school. Many male students from her class like her very much, which also makes many female students jealous of her." Sam added a warm hint in his words.

"Is it?" Ava's eyes become alert but didn't say anything else.

After dinner, the four of them started to wander around the mall. Amy and Sarah were walking at the front hand in hand. When they circled around Amy saw Ava and Sam was talking and laughing happily. She was actually very surprised to see her department head laughing like that, Amy never thought she would be able to see this side of him.

"Sarah, don't you feel that you and I have become the third wheel?" Amy said quietly.

Sarah followed Amy's line of sight and said happily, "Indeed, I think Mr. Evan likes my cousin, what you think?

"Well, looks like it," Amy said hesitating a bit.

"If Mr. Evan becomes my brother-in-law, that will be good for us at school, don't you think?" Sarah said winking at Amy and laughing loudly.

After Ava's break up Sarah was a bit worried about her cousin, she thought Mr. Evan would be perfect for her cousin, good-looking and polite, and looking at them right now she felt very optimistic about that possibility.

After wandering for a while they felt really tired so they decided to bid farewell. Sam, as a gentleman, offered to send Amy home. Ava was relieved and went back to Green Villa with Sarah.