Once she was done looking at the display for the Art Club, Avery looked around at some of the nearby booths to see if any of them would spark her interest. Some of the clubs, like the Sports Club, were eliminated just because of her... oddity. She certainly didn't want to throw a ball or something hard enough for people to notice that it was strange. And, with her inability to control it all the time, that meant that it was better to play safe than be sorry about it later.
Surprisingly, a club did stick out to her across the aisle between some of the different booths. So, she made her way over to the booth to get some more information, hoping that they wouldn't have anything that would make her quirk too noticeable. Again, most of the people managed to avoid tripping over her as she crossed the traffic, though it helped that there weren't all that many people assembled together in the gymnasium at the moment. It seemed that, by now, her size wasn't all that novel, as she did notice people didn't seem to stare for as long, if at all. Not that she minded, of course.
Upon seeing that most of the club members attending the booth were busy doing various tasks, like stringing up some decorations or talking to potential members, Avery walked up to the main table of the booth and grabbed some of the papers, not sure what was what due to the fact that the table was level with her nose. Then she proceeded to flip through the brochure she had grabbed, placing the flier back on the table. The brochure outlined several of the events that the club had, as well as the fact that all kinds of supplies for camping or backpacking were available for rent to new students until they got there own. In the end, she decided, perhaps against her better judgment, to join the club, walking over to one of the members with a clipboard and tugging on his pant leg to get his attention.
The member, a blonde boy with blue eyes and a sticker on his shirt that said “Hi! My name is Mark!” seemed a bit surprised to see her, though he didn't react like Jessica had. “I-I would like to sign up,” Avery said, pointing to the clipboard that he was holding. His initial surprise seemed to fade away, being replaced with a huge grin as he held the board out to her so that she could scrawl her name on the list.
“Always glad to welcome someone new!” he said, giving her a thumbs up. “Just so you know, we have club meetings every second Monday of the month so that we can go over club business, but all that information, as well as the schedule for events, is on the back of that brochure you've got there. The rest of the info you need will be given at the first club meeting, which is held in the Lodge building on the other half of the campus near where the trails start. Can't wait to see ya there!”
Avery nodded in response before heading away, Mark turning to talk to another individual that approached the booth. Figuring that two clubs was enough, if not pushing it altogether, she decided to return to her father, who had been looking at the Engineering Club's display booth with mild interest. Really, it wasn't all that surprising that he would be interested considering he was a mechanical engineer himself. In fact, he was the head of research at the plant back home, which is one of the reasons he never had to worry about whether or not he would be able to support Avery, though the child support checks he got from his wife didn't hurt either.
“Ready to go, kiddo?” he asked, smiling as his daughter nodded. Truth be told, he had hoped that she would have taken an interest in the field of engineering like he had done, but he also understood that mathematics were terrifying for her with her dyscalculia and that her interests rested elsewhere. At first, he hadn't been able to believe that his daughter would have such an issue with math, and therefore science, but he was glad that he had grown to accept it. Pressure from him was the last thing that she needed.
“So, what clubs did you sign up for?” he continued as they exited the gymnasium. He was fairly certain that she had signed up for the Art Club, as that was the one that she was most excited about being a part of once she got accepted to the College, but apart from that he had no idea. He hoped that she had joined at least two, as it would be a great step-up from how she had been back home.
“Uhm, the Art Club and the Outdoors Club,” she said, smiling with anticipation of the things she would get to do. The voice of doubt that seemed to have taken up residence once her mother had left whispered that it was all a mistake, but Avery refused to let It have any influence, silencing it for the time being. It was a time to be happy, and she wanted to enjoy it while it lasted.
“Outdoors Club?” he asked, honestly a tad surprised. Having grown up in the city for most of her life, it did seem a bit odd that she would be interested in anything to do with the outdoors, especially considering the fact that they had never been camping or anything like that. “When did you get interested in the outdoors?”
“When we moved from the city,” Avery responded, a faint blush tinging her cheeks. “I used to walk through the woods and stuff during the summer. I always thought it was fun and... relaxing, I guess.”
“You should have said something then,” Mr. Thomspon answered, a bemused smile on his own face. “We could have gone camping or something anytime.” He left out the fact that the reason they never had was because his wife hated being away from civilization for more than five minutes. He supposed that he had assumed Avery to be the same way.
Before Avery could respond, the two of them ran into a very tall girl with blonde hair partially covering her face. “Sorry about that, miss,” Mr. Thompson said after catching his balance and keeping from from falling. By virtue of the fact that Avery hadn't physically run into the other girl and had been holding onto her father's hand, she had no trouble keeping herself from falling. “Are you okay? We really should have been watching where we were going.”