Kat"s POV
"Hi girls! Hot chocolate coming through!" Sammy's mom exclaims.
"Thank you, mommy," Sammy perks up. "And it even has marshmallows!" Sammy could not hold her excitement.
"Thank you, Mrs...?" I barely whispered.
"Please, call me Shirley," she gently comforted. She placed some cookies on a plate and placed then on the center of the table. "Take you're time, no rush. Also," she continued, "I let your mother know you are here. I see her at the deli and we shop together." She continued to explain as she saw the alertness in my eyes, "you're mother and I have know each other since you guys have moved here."
"Thank you for your kindness," I say softly.
"Please stop by anytime, both Sammy and I would love the company in the shop.
I nodded my head to let her know I understood. They continued to chat together drinking their hot chocolate.
I looked around me at the shop and saw many flowers. Some planted in various sized pots, while others were trimmed and in canisters ready to be placed in a vase for an arrangement. From inside I could clearly see the bouquet that had caught my eye earlier. It was even more beautiful up close. It was a simple arrangement that held an emotional connection for me. The flower arrangement had small sized yellow sunflowers with white daisies spread intermittently, a few sprigs of baby's breath, and some green foliage for body. The memory it triggered was of Aracele and I playing in her family's back yard. Her mom used to love gardening and had a small section of the yard filled with sunflowers and daisies growing rampant and wild, which was how her mother liked them. But shortly after the accident they had moved, taking all the happy and painful memories of her with them. Seeing the flowers brought a calmness to my mind. The calmness allowed me to relax and finish the hot chocolate, savoring every last drop.
I looked at Sammy and asked her if she went to school at Oakley Academy as well, to which she replied that she did not. Sammy goes to the local school in town. She also does not participate in any extracurricular activities so she can help her mom in the shop, which she enjoys doing. Sammy wants to run the shop when she is old enough so that her mother does not have to work so hard. She studies hard in learning all about each individual flower and how to mange a business through her mother.
We continued talking a bit more, and then I decided it was time I get back to my family. Shirley sent me home with some cookies that Sammy had made the previous night with her.
I reached home and found mother to have dinner ready with the table all set. Father was even home a little earlier than normal. I ran to mother and hugged her for a good five minutes. Father and Kendall came over and we all hugged. No words needed to be said. We all understood. We ate the food in silence but the atmosphere felt lighter. I looked at father, mother, and Kendall with a smile on my face. We all knew this was a turning point. Nothing on the outside had changed, but deep inside my heart there was light again.
School continued to be the same if not worse but my glimmer of hope was my walks home. I would stop by Sammy and Shirleys shop after school to hang out with Sammy. Sometimes I would even help out with small tasks, like watering their flowers in the nursery. It became one of my favorite things to do. When we weren't busy at home on the weekends, mother and Kendall would join me sometimes to visit with Shirley and Sammy. We all became great friends.
If only school could be this simple. How did it ever get from bad to worse? Well it all began on a grey cloudy day. We had a few months left of classes and there were many projects that were due soon, not only that but end of the year festivities was approaching and that required a lot of help and was obligatory to attend.
I was putting my books in my bag when I saw a small white rose at the bottom. I did not want to ruin the flower so I picked it up and held it in my hand while I placed the books inside the bag. I did not think anything of it because ever since I began at Oakley Academy, someone had been putting a rose in my bag. At first, I did not of know of the rose until long after I got home to do some homework. Once I saw it I immediately threw it away because my first though was someone was pulling a prank on me, but the rose kept showing up day after day. To make matters more difficult, the location of the rose would change, sometime it would be in my bag, other times in my coat or in my desk, having me find it at random times. Since I was not at a good point back then to care about the rose, it held little meaning to me. Whenever I found it I would through it away. All I saw was pain when I found it. It remind me of my sadness all over again, making me angrier and angrier. I tried to see who put it in my bag so I could confront them but I never did find out. Eventually I gave up and did not care. I only started collecting them recently because they began to bring me joy rather than sadness. But until recently I had forgotten about the rose. Now whenever I found the rose I would try and be gentle with it, taking care to not ruin the delicate petals. I never brought the rose out in the open until today.
What a grave mistake that was.