BFDI Prequels | A BFDI Fanfic

Chapter 22: Passings

She didn't make it on time.

Which Flower had entirely predicted, but deep down still held out hope that she could race the 30-minute journey in a tenth of that time. And as with most things that have had too much hope placed on them, it was all the more breaking when that thing did not turn out in the way hoped to be. Even when catastrophe could be seen coming from a mile away.

By the time she had arrived in the parking lot of the red-bricked building, the streets were all too quiet. Not a single car roamed the potholed roads; the doors free of any visitors. She checked the time. It was only 9:15.

That's strange, Flower thought, usually there would still be a few others late.

And then, as if her wish had been granted, a single car stopped right next to her. Or rather, a large truck. A large truck with letters printed on that spelt out "Squeaky's Squeak Truck: Floor Waxing Done Right". Which she found even stranger because her school never got their floors waxed. And if they were, she would definitely remember a name as loud as Squeaky's Squeak Truck.

Seeing as floor waxing had nothing to do with what she was late for, Flower quickly gathered her belongings from the empty seat next to her and got out of the car. As soon as she did, someone stepped out of the squeak truck—a rubber duck. Which made the company either the most well-named or worst-named company she could think of.

"Are you a student here or something?" Rubber Duck asked in a very rubber ducky voice.

She found it odd that somebody would ask that on the grounds of a high school, but Flower was running late anyway and thought a couple of extra minutes of absence wouldn't hurt anyone.

"Yes I am," she responded, "can I help you?"

Rubber Duck looked at her like she had responded in a foreign language. Slightly amused but mostly confused.

"Did-did I say something wrong?" she added after an uncomfortable length of silence.

"No, no! There's nothing wrong. I just found it a little strange there would be students at the school today, that's all."

Flower's mouth went dry. "What do you mean?"

Rubber Duck now looked at her like she had swallowed a sword. A little more amused, a lot more confused. "Well if you couldn't tell, I'm here to wax the gymnasium floors. Did you not receive a notice from the school recently?"

Flower's mind flashed a memory of that morning when she had been sorting through the mountain of spam and junk e-mails. Could she have... no, of course not. She must have not gotten it, right? Right?

Forcing a smile, she answered, "Yeah, I guess I didn't. Thanks for the help, Mr... uh..."

"Call me Squeaky."

"Oh, okay. Thanks, Mr. Squeaky!"

She waved goodbye to the yellow object, who had gone back to his truck to grab what she assumed to be waxing equipment. Then, she got back into her car, threw all her schoolwork back on the seat they were moments ago and put on some Spoiled Lemon. The sound of Starfruit singing about wanting to go to a party soon filled the small vehicle. Which, as Flower recently learned from an internet post, was actually a metaphor for the intense desire of object nature to feel belonging and a sense of being needed. Deep stuff.

So as she drummed her fingers against the dashboard of the car, Flower began to think about what she could spend this newfound spare day on. Her mind instantly went to the shopping trip at the mall she'd been waiting for almost a week to go on. But then, a rumbling from inside her reminded her that she had not yet eaten much of anything that morning (the fruit bar fell out of her bag when she was dragging Bud out of the house).