Flowers, Corpse Flowers, or Oleanders?

Oleanders?

Once again, this story is a delightful break from my heavier stories. Again, its all plotted, I just need to write the chapters. I finished a chapter on my main story early, so you might get an extra chapter here!

tw // none!

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They don't get to stay at the library for very long, as... well, it doesn't close, but Carmel starts packing up. Since she doesn't fancy sitting in an empty library, Lily does the same.

"Is it closing time?" she asks, wishing she had remembered to bring her phone. Carmel gives her a strange look, like she's asking a weird question.

Organizing her schoolbooks into a neat pile, she answers, "No, but we're supposed to leave anyway." Lily finds it a bit weird she hasn't chosen to take out even a single book, but to each their own she supposes.

Maybe there just isn't a lot of time for casual reading. She hopes that isn't the case.

"How come?"

A lot like the way she had earlier when talking about Lily's roommate, Carmel looks confused. Her hands still briefly in their movements. "I don't... I don't really know, actually," she mumbles. "We just do, I guess."

They leave the library quickly after, the air a bit stilted around them.

Lily finds herself unusually hung up on the words, a question lying on her tongue that eats away at her. Eventually, it bothers her enough to prompt her into asking.

She speaks after a second of hesitation. "Hey, Carrie?" The girl in question turns her head.

"What..." she pauses, considering her words carefully. "What do you think about Zentonl?" she decides on. "Do you think I'll be happy here?"

There's a certain air around the question that implies more than is said. The air seems to chill around them. It takes a minute for Carmel to reply, but when she does her words are heavy and laced with something strange.

"I know you will be," she says. Lily's brain catches on the way that last part is said. You will be. She rubs her hands along her arms, hoping the movement will warm her up a tad.

Conversation drops after that. They walk in silence until they reach her dorm section, where Carmel opens the door for her and Lily steps inside.

Before she can leave, Lily blurts, "How can you know that for sure?"

This time, the question is answered immediately. "Because I know I am." For some reason, the words remind her of a hint slid under the table, or a caution.

Eye contact is made and held for a moment longer than normal. Then it ends. "I have to get back to my dorm now," Carmel says.

Lily tilts her head in a silent question and Carmel supplies, "West wing, room seven."

"Alexandra's your roommate?"

She nods. "Yeah. She helped me a lot when I first transferred. Then she-" Carmel cuts off. For a split-second, frustration clouds her features. "She also runs an after-school club at the library."

Lily is confused and a bit frustrated herself by the sudden cut. Instead of voicing that, she smiles one of her best smiles and forces it to be genuine.

"Oh, cool. I'll make sure to check it out. Thanks for today, Rainbow. I had fun." The smile she gets in return has the same warmth, if not the same enthusiasm.

"Me too. Bye, Nancy."

She repeats the sentiment and gives her a little wave, then nudges the door shut with her foot. Shifting her books in her arms, she looks around the empty room. It can't be that late already, can it?

Time flies when you're having fun, I guess.

Lily retires to her room, dropping her book on her desk then grabbing her phone to check the time. Opening it, she finds it actually isn't that late, only seven p.m.

There are no texts from her mother, either. Lily closes her phone and just because she's seemingly unable to stop indulging in her own paranoia, fishes an old book from her bag.

It's a favourite of hers. One about murders happening at a creepy old boarding school. Right now, it reminds her a bit of her own situation, just with a lot more blatantly nasty people.

Carmel isn't nasty and neither is Alexa, but they're both a tad mysterious and she can't get a read on them and that's certainly something.

Unsure of the rules regarding lights after hours, Lily leaves them off but opens the curtains. Her room has a window, which is cool.

Not a lot of light comes through, but there's enough for her to read her book without strain.

Eventually, the light fades enough that she can read no longer. She puts her book away and goes to bed, though that really just means she gets into bed and scrolls through her phone for a few hours.

As the internet is blocked, she spends most of her time reading stories she's download onto her phone and badly doodling the main characters.

Sometime around hour one and a half, the door pushes open. Lily jolts, fumbling with her phone and getting quickly out of bed. Not even turning on the light, her roommate plops down on the bed nearest to the window.

"Hey?" she says. "You're my roommate, right? My name's Lily. What's your name?"

The roommate in question turns to look at her. It's too dark to be sure, but she thinks she's being stared at. It's a bit unnerving.

However, Lily also has a read on her. Be careful with this one. Very careful. Stay cautious. While the feeling is so much vaguer than it would normally be, it's still something.

The real thing question is what that means compared to everything else.

"Noree," the girl answers. Lily blinks herself back into focus. "Cool. Nice to meet you, Noree."

She doesn't get another response. Despite how obviously uninterested the other girl seems, she continues, "If you were worried about not being able to show me around, don't worry about it. Rainbow showed me around a bit."

That seems to catch Noree's attention. "Rainbow," she repeats the name flatly. Despite this, the words are tinged with exasperation.

"A nickname," Lily explains, then gets back on topic, "So, uh, how come you weren't around? You get detention?"

Noree doesn't say anything. "Fair enough," she hums quietly. "Well, then, maybe you can answer a question for me." Lily's voice lowers on the words, speaking like a secret even if it really isn't.

When there isn't any immediate protest, Lily takes that as her cue to keep talking.

"Is the library usually so empty? No, wait, that's a dumb question- why is breaking the no-wandering-off rule worthy of expulsion? Did something happen?"

For the third time, she isn't responded too. Growing frustrated, she continues, "Actually, when does the library close? How come nobody talks during class even a little bit? Why is everyone so blank?"

The last question would have no meaning to anybody that wasn't her and her weird intuition. She says it anyway because it's not right.

Lily's always had an incredible sense for people. An unnatural gut-feeling with one hundred percent accuracy, one might say. Some kind of ability regarding auras, another might say. But with Zentonl... it's different.

For everyone she's met, in place of that usual sense, there's just blankness. People aren't supposed to be blank. And for some reason, Noree is the only one who's normal.

Even Carmel isn't normal, despite her honest sincerity. It's just Noree.

Her whirring thoughts come to a halt when the other girl says, voice even, "I would be more cautious if I were you." Dark eyes bare into her own green ones. She's definitely being jumpy, but the words sound a bit threatening.

"You may be right about this place," Noree continues. "But knock on enough doors and sooner or later, someone is going to answer."