Bloody Blossoms

Love and disaster.

I could almost pass out from the sweet smell of the flowers. Or was it from seeing her? No way to tell.
As soon as I started moving forward I heard a bloodcurdling scream.
"AHHHHHHHHHH!"

I yawn as my alarm clock sounds. I struggle to turn it off as I lurched up.
"Shit..."
I hear my mom yelling as my eyes widen when I see the time.
6:40!! I'm gonna be late!
I run over to my neatly piled clothes and rip the pile up, trying to find a decent looking shirt to go with my cargo pants.
Just then, my mom stormed in.
"Why aren't you downstairs eating?! What have you been doing all night!? You look like a disaster!" She yells in fury.
I grunt, "Mom... I'll be down in a second!"
"You better!" She replies, and rushes downstairs in anger.
I try to put on my shirt, but it gets caught in my nose ring. All the while, time is ticking. I mutter some colorful words under my breath as I see that it's now 6:47.
I go to my bathroom, looking at my frizzy hair and under eye bags. I brush my teeth quickly and put an elastic head band on my head, leaving my bangs out.
I put on my glasses, almost shattering them after I drop them.
I have to be at the bus in 5 minutes...
My mom yelped while yelling at me to hurry up and eat my food. I ignored her and slurped up my cereal in an instant.
I grabbed my book bag from the front door and made it just in time for the bus to arrive. I pant while I enter the bus. Just as I was gonna sit down, I see 2 scary looking guys— they looked like twins...? In my seat.
"Uh excuse me... that's my seat."
They look up at me. They stop chuckling to themselves and look me dead in the eyes. As they open their mouth to speak, the bus lurches foward and I topple over.
Just as I was about to hit the ground, one of the guys grabbed my arm. He pointed to the seat next to them. They cram themselves in as I sit in the seat closest to the aisle.
I open my bookbag, crumpled tests scattered everywhere in them, but it's visible that all of the questions were wrong on them.
I whip out my book, not caring that the 2 guys were staring at me. I start to read, but then 1 of them taps my shoulder.
"Ey, I'm Antonio. Sorry about sitting in your seat, we just-"
The other guy elbowed him in the back before he could say anything. I examined the other one, noticing all of his tattoos.
"I'm Lorenzo." He started to say, but I ignored him and continued to read.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, princess..." Antonio whispered in my ear as Lorenzo was looking out the window.
"What? Read?"
"No. Ignore Lorenzo. You don't know how much trouble he can cause for you..." Antonio trailed off as his last words were said.
I looked around, confused, and put my book back into my bag. The school was right around the corner, and I was glad that I could get away from these weirdos.
The bus came to a fast and sudden halt at the school.
"Ugh, this bus driver sucks" I muttered to myself.
I put my book bag around my shoulders and started to get up. Alisha eyed me.
Not again.
She pushed me into an empty seat, gripping my collar, slamming me against the bus wall.
"Who the hell said you could sit with those guys? They are WAY out of your league!"
I winced and tried to get her off of me, but she dug her nails deep into my skin.
"You stay away from them or I swear I'm gonna-"
She was interrupted by an arm pushing her against the seat by her neck.
"You stay the fuck away from her." Lorenzo stated, looking calm like he's done this a million times.
Alisha looked shocked and squirmed to get off the bus when he released his grip off of her.
I looked up to thank him, but he was already walking off the bus.

She was sitting in class, tapping her pencil against the hard surface of the table. Just as the teacher walked into the class, looking petrified, Antonio walked in behind her.
"Today class... we're gonna learn about the..."
She kept glancing over to Antonio as he smirked at her.
"Today we'll examine how civilizations progressed."
Ugh. This is my least favorite subject.

I nearly fell asleep, but as soon as the lecture ended I stood right up and got out of the class.
I wanted to skip. Classes on Mondays were always so boring. As soon as I started walking down the hall, toward the exit, I heard a familiar voice.
"What are you doing?"
Not again.
I turned around to see Mr. Garret, the dean, staring at me.
"I was-"
A figure appeared behind him.
"I don't think she needs to explain that to you, bud" Antonio stated, "Wouldn't you agree, Lorenzo?"
"Of course." A voice said behind me.
I whipped around to see Lorenzo. His gaze met mine for a moment before he looked back over at the dean.
"I advise you leave her alone, or this'll get a bit..." Antonio leaned in to whisper in his ear, "messy."
Mr. Garret squirmed and backed away, like he knew who they were. He managed to get out "Apologies..." before running off.
"I never got your name." Lorenzo said.
"Uhh... Serenity."
I don't know why I told them my real name. I felt comfortable around them, and that was the most concerning thing about this day.