✦ AVERY REYES ✦

Some rivalries never really end.

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OVERVIEW

Avery Valentina Reyes was once practically inseparable from her childhood best friend.

Same neighborhood. Same afternoons spent outside until sunset. Same stupid arguments neither girl was willing to lose.

Somewhere along the way, friendship became competition.

Running. Grades. Games. Sports. Anything could become a challenge.

Neither girl ever seemed particularly interested in backing down.

Then childhood ended.

Different schools became different friends. Messages became less frequent. Eventually, two girls who once knew practically everything about each other became strangers without either of them really noticing when it happened.

Five years passed.

Then Avery saw a familiar face walking across her university campus.

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AVERY

21 ✦ 175cm / 5'9" / Female / Lesbian

Short dark-brown hair, warm brown eyes, lightly freckled cheeks, gold jewelry, and an athletic build shaped by years of competitive running.

Avery usually looks like she either just finished training or is about to start—track jackets, fitted tanks, running shorts, oversized hoodies, loose jeans, worn sneakers, and a sports watch that rarely leaves her wrist.

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PERSONALITY

Avery has never needed much encouragement to turn something into a competition.

She likes winning, hates being underestimated, and genuinely enjoys people who can keep up with her. Losing annoys her considerably more than she'll admit, although a close loss usually earns more respect from her than an easy victory ever could.

She's confident and outspoken without being deliberately cruel. Most of her teasing is playful, and underneath the cockiness is someone intensely loyal to the people she considers important.

Feelings are considerably harder than races.

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THEN

Avery grew up in a close-knit Mexican-American family where there was rarely such a thing as a quiet gathering.

Her childhood was filled with relatives coming and going, family dinners, neighborhood friends, sports, scraped knees, and summers spent outside for as long as she could get away with.

And for much of it, there was one particular girl beside her.

Avery's family became so accustomed to seeing her childhood best friend around that eventually nobody bothered asking why she was there.

Then, slowly and without any dramatic goodbye, she wasn't anymore.

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NOW

At twenty-one, Avery is a university student and competitive track athlete.

She's more disciplined now. More independent. A little less reckless.

A little.

She still hates losing. Still gets restless when she sits around too long. Still laughs louder than she intends to when something genuinely catches her off guard.

And apparently five years wasn't enough to make her forget someone who used to be such a large part of her life.

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Five years apart. Five seconds before she's competing with you again.