She had finished out the rest of the day with Rita from a distance. She went through the motions of the rest of the day, thinking over what Cam had told her. She was so heartbroken she was afraid that if she spoke she might start crying instead and she didn't want to look dumb in front of the bigger girls. She had come to love the girls and Rita that she didn't want to make them unhappy. So she made up her mind that it was time for her to leave.
The girls were getting ready to swim back to the moon pool. "wait!" Ava said, "I forgot to say good bye to Rita. I'll be right back."
"Okay hurry though" Lyla shouted after her.
"I will" Ava's voice echoed down the stairwell. Ava found Rita in her living room and ran into her almost at a full run. She was out of breath from running up all the stairs. She threw her arms around Rita in a hug. "I forgot to say bye to you!" Ava said. Rita smiled, thinking she was going to be seeing Ava again in a few hours.
"well we can't have that now can we." She said jokingly as she hugged Ava back.
Ava pulled back from Rita and looked her in the eyes. "I love you." She said, her voice suddenly small. Rita choked up, she loved Ava too but couldn't make the words come out. Instead she just hugged her tight and kissed her forehead. She watched as Ava ran back down the hall to leave for the moon pool. She smiled when she was alone, realizing that she hadn't been this happy in a long time, she loved the girls all the girls. But she held a special spot in her heart for Ava. Perhaps she knew the other girls would leave her soon and couldn't get as close to them, but she had plans to ask Ava to stay with her and for this to be their home. She had secretly been decorating a room just for Ava so she could have her own space in her new house.
But when Ava left, she was disheartened. She had wanted Rita to tell her she loved her too and for Cam to be wrong. But when she didn't say anything she knew Cam had been right and that Rita didn't want her. She swam back with the older girls to the moon pool. They all joked and laughed before falling asleep. But unlike every other night, when Ava left she didn't swim back to Rita's. She swam out into the ocean trying to get as far away as she could. She wanted to leave behind all the hurt she felt, she wanted to put as much distance as she could between her and the other family who couldn't love her.