"Ava, what are you doing?" Maureen asked seeing Ava drinking from a small bottle in the girls bathroom.
"Nothing Maureen. What are you doing out here?" she asked closing the bottle and putting it back in her bookbag.
"What are you drinking?" she asked walking closer to her as Ava put a piece of gum in her mouth.
"Nothing. I have to get back to class." she said trying to push past her.
"I may only be in 10th grade, but I'm not stupid. You're drinking vodka, right?" she said stopping Ava in her tracks.
"Maureen, how do you...?" she started asking before Maureen cut her off.
"My uncle drinks vodka. He thinks no one could smell it, but we can." she said looking over at her.
"You're not gonna tell Roger, are you?" Ava asked looking over at her.
"No, but I think you should. He loves you. He wouldn't like you doing this to yourself." she said looking over at her.
"I'm fine Maureen. Don't worry about it." she said looking over at her before leaving the bathroom. Maureen was really worried about Ava. She didn't know whether to tell Roger or let Ava. She did her business and went back to class.
"Hey Baby." Roger smiled leaning down to kiss her as she pulled away. "What's the matter Ava?" he asked looking down at her.
"I think I'm coming down with something. I don't want you to catch it. One of us has to sound great tomorrow night." she said covering up.
"Maybe you should take tomorrow night off if you're not feeling well." he suggested looking down at her.
"Nah, I'm OK. I just need to rest tonight." she said looking up at him.
"OK. Do you want me to drop you off right after school today?" he asked looking down at her.
"Um yeah, I think that might be best." she said looking up at him.
"OK Baby." he said putting his arms around her as they began to walk home. When Ava got home she went straight to her room and reached under her bed.she had been taking her mother's vodka and hiding it. She started drinking from the bottle until it was half empty. She closed the bottle and laid down in her bed and fell asleep. Roger was worried about her, so he went back to her house to check on her before Ms. Parker returned home from work. Ava had been acting strange lately. When he went upstairs, he entered the bedroom and saw Ava's body strewn across the bed. When he leaned down to straighten her out he smelled the alcohol. "Ava. Ava, wake up." he said taking her face in his hands. When she did not respond, he called 911. "Yeah, um... my girlfriend is passed out. I thin she might have alcohol poisoning." he said into the phone. The operator assured him that an ambulance was on the way and everything was gonna be fine. As he waited for the ambulance he began searching her room. He looked under he bed and found numerous bottles of vodka under it. Just as the ambulance arrived, Ms. Parker pulled into the driveway.
"Avalon. Avalon are you here?" she called out as she entered the house.
"Up here Ms. Parker." Roger yelled from Ava's bedroom.
"Roger, what happened?" she asked rushing up the stairs.
"I don't know. I dropped Ava off a little while ago because she said she wasn't feeling good and then I came by to check on her and I found her like this. She won't wake up." he cried looking over at his love. His beautiful Ava.
"What are those?" she asked looking over at the vodka bottles laying on the floor next to the bed.
"I found them under her bed. She's been drinking. I don't know how much or for how long. Oh man, how did I not see this?" he asked himself as the paramedics put Ava onto the gurney.
"What's her name?" the female paramedic asked looking up at them.
"Avalon. Avalon Donnelly." Roger said looking over at them as they began to bring her out.
"How did this happen? Did you know about this Roger?" Ms. Parker asked crying with him.
"I knew she drank when she was out on tour with Mr. Donnelly, but I made her promise me that she wouldn't do it again. And she did. She told me she wouldn't. I swear, I didn't know she was still drinking." he cried as they followed the paramedics out of the house. Ms. Parker rode in the ambulance as Roger followed them closely in his car. When they got to the hospital, the paramedics brought Ava to the back to be examined. Ms. Parker and Roger had to wait outside.
"Roger, how long has this been going on?" Ms. Parker asked looking up at Roger with tears in her eyes.
"I don't know. She's been weird since she got back from the tour. I mean I knew she drank on the tour, but she promised me she wouldn't do it again. How did I let this happen? I should have seen it." he said running his fingers through his hair as tears streamed down his face.
"Roger, this is not your fault. You didn't know. I can't believe Frank exposed her to that. He's her father. I never imagined he would be this irresponsible. She's only 16 years old. I can't believe this is happening." she said looking up at him.
"But I should have done something. She's been weird, but she just kept telling me she was coming down with something or that she was tired. I had no idea this is what she was hiding." he said sitting in the chair with his head in his hands crying.
"Mrs. Donnelly?" the doctor called out as Ms. Parker rushed over to them.
"Yes." she said as she and Roger went to him.
"How is she? Is she OK?" Roger asked standing next to Ms. Parker.
"She had alcohol poisoning. We administered medication to absorb the alcohol. Did either of you know she was drinking?" he asked looking up at Roger.
"She started drinking this summer when she went away with her dad, but when she came back she hid it pretty well." Roger answered looking over at him.
"Are you her boyfriend, um.. Roger?" he asked looking down at the chart.
"Yeah I am. I found her." he said running his fingers through his hair.
"She's been asking for you." he said looking down at Ms. Parker.
"Can I see her?" he asked looking over at her.
"Yeah, go ahead. Just tell her I'm here and I'm not mad at her, OK?" Ms. Parker said leaning up to hug Roger as she wiped her eyes.
"OK. Thank you Ms. Parker." he said quietly before following the doctor back to where Ava was. "Ava." he called out rushing to her bedside. She was wearing a hospital gown. She looked so pale under the lights.
"Roger. I'm sorry. I don't know what..." she started before breaking down.
"What were you thinking? How long have you been doing this?" he asked looking up at her as he sat in the chair next to her bed.
"Since I got back this summer." she cried looking over at him as he grabbed her hand.
"How could you be so stupid Ava?" he asked looking up at her.
"What?" she asked looking down at him.
"You could have killed yourself." he said standing up.
"I wasn't trying to hurt myself Roger. I just drank too much. I'm fine." she said looking over at him.
"And I'm supposed to feel better that you almost drank yourself to death on purpose?" he asked looking down at her.
"I'm sorry I scared you Roger. I didn't mean to." she said looking up at him.
"Yeah well, you almost died Ava. I don't think you realize how serious this is. I almost lost you Ava. You're the love of my life and you almost died." he cried looking down at her.
"Roger, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do this. I'll stop, OK? I promise I'll stop. No more drinking." she cried looking up at him as he sat back down next to her.
"You promised you wouldn't drink when you got back from the tour, yet here we are." he said looking over at her.
"I'm sorry Roger. It's just, when I was with my dad, everyone was having so much fun and we were all drinking and stuff and I liked it. And then when I came home and promised you I wouldn't drink anymore, I wasn't gonna. But then I saw my moms vodka in the kitchen and I couldn't help it. I started drinking it." she cried looking over at him.
"Have you been drinking in school?" he asked looking over at her.
"A little. Maybe I went overboard today. But I'm OK, I mean my grades are fine and we're fine, right?" she asked looking up at him.
"Are we OK? I mean, Ava you barely let me near you these days and we haven't had sex since last week. You don't talk to me anymore." he cried taking her hand.
"I'm sorry Roger. I'm so sorry. I've must been going through a lot lately. I mean, when I was on tour with my dad, he dumped me off with Josie while he partied, so I partied too to spend some time with him. And even then he had Josie hang out with me. I shouldn't have gone. I knew he was gonna do that to me. He always did." she cried as he leaned up to hold her in his arms.
"I love you Ava. You don't have to do anything to make me love you. I already do. I just need you to be you. That's who I fell in love with. My rock chick." he cried as they held each other.
"I know Roger. I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry. Do you hate me?" she cried looking up at him.
"I told you before Ava. I could never hate you. I love you so much." he said caressing her face.
"Does my mom hate me?" she asked looking up at him.
"Of course not. She's worried about you. She loves you more than anything." he whispered holding her close to him again.
"Can I see her? Please. I need to talk to her." she cried looking up at him.
"OK Baby, I'll go get her. I love you Ava." he said kissing her head.
"I love you too Roger." she said looking up at him before he left the room to get Ms. Parker.
"She wants to see you." Roger said quietly as he entered the waiting area.
"Is she OK? Did she say anything?" she asked looking over at him as he sat in the chair.
"You should go in and talk to her." he said resting his elbows on his legs as he buried his face in his hands.
"Is she OK Roger? Talk to me." she asked sitting next to him.
"You really should talk to her Ms. Parker. She needs to talk to you." he said looking up at her.
"Roger, she loves you you know. I don't think she meant to hurt herself." she said looking down at her.
"I love her so much Ms. Parker. If anything happened to her..." he started before breaking down.
"I know Roger." she said holding him in her arms.
"I wanna marry her Ms. Parker. I know we're too young now, but I wanna marry her one day. I just can't stand the thought of anything happening to her." he said looking over at her.
"I know sweetie. She's my little girl. When I get my hands on Frank, I'm gonna kill him for what he did to her." she said caressing his hair.
"Me too." he cried holding on to her tight.
"We'll get her through this Roger. I promise you that. We love her and we'll get her through this." she said kissing his head as he cried.