Angel Full of Flowers

❁ 9 ❁

Sakura was an abhorrent person.

I guess it's true what they say: never meet your heroes. Sakura had been someone I'd admired for a long time. She was a young and prominent POC actress who played pivotal roles. And I knew that many young girls looked up to her because of that. But her true colors shined through today. I assumed it was due to the fact that she had grown up in the show business industry. However, that was no excuse.

I decided it would be a good idea to pick flowers from the garden to arrange as a bouquet for Angel. I placed them in a vase I brought from home to put souvenirs in—a strange family custom. I placed it on his table and waited for him to come back from the party.

After a few hours passed by, Magnolia kicked the door open, making me spring up from my seat. She was carrying a mountain of gifts.

"Just throw them anywhere," Angel said as he closed the door behind him. It seemed like there was no end to the number of things he was given.

Magnolia gave her regards to Angel and left. He sighed as he pulled off his wig and plopped down on his bed.

"What's this?" He asked as he motioned his head towards the vase.

I smiled. "Flowers!"

"Let me guess, you got them from the garden?"

I gave an uncertain nod.

He laughed. "They'll scold you if anyone finds out that you picked flowers from their illustrious garden."

My smile turned into a frown. "Oh no! I-I'll take them back!"

Chuckling he said, "It's fine. Well, that's if no one saw you."

I let out a groan. Why was it that when I tried being nice, it backfired? At least Angel found it amusing. I could watch him laugh all day. Ah! What am I saying?!

Angel got up and stared out the window, up at the stars. That night, they seemed to shine the brightest.

"Thanks," Angel said without moving to look away, "for the flowers. It's the first time anyone's ever given me any."

"That's a joke, right?" I snickered. There was no way no one had ever given him flowers before.

He smiled. "Yeah, I lied."

I sighed. "I knew it." And we both continued to silently stare at the stars together.

°°°

Time, yet again, eluded me. I had been at the academy for about a month now and it was beginning to feel like a second home to me. My diabolical plan to expose Angel had gone completely out the window. It was a thing of the past, I suppose.

What was new to me was that each year, during the fall, the school held a sports festival for those who wanted to sign up and try something new. Walking into the main hall, I found a few girls standing by a bulletin board where I assumed you could sign up to participate. Iris and Tulip both turned around to greet me.

"Camellia, you must be great at basketball right? Given your height, I would bet a hundred bucks you were!" Tulip beamed.

Iris nodded in agreement. "I would love to see you play!"

I didn't have the courage to tell them that I didn't have an athletic bone in my body. I gave them a nervous chuckle. "Y-Yeah, but I don't think I'll be signing up this time around."

Tulip gave me a pat on the back. "Oh, don't worry about being shy!"

"Yeah, we already signed you up anyway!"