Yellow

- three -

Karina was glad none of her roommates had tried to follow her. She'd only walked across the street to the small park. Karina always came here when she needed to think. And boy, was there a lot to think about.

She knew she should give Winter a chance, but it was just so hard. When she looked at the girl, she saw the same face that had read her private texts out loud in front of the entire cafeteria. She should be allowed to resent her, right?

But at the same time, the Winter who'd shown up at their door seemed completely different. All four roommates knew something was up, but none of them had any idea what it was.

Karina groaned, sitting down on a bench in the back of the park and bringing her hands up to comb through her hair. She lifted her head, pausing for a moment. A patch of daisies along the edge of the path caught her eye. It was a miracle they were still surviving, considering how close they were getting to winter. Immediately inspired, Karina pulled her sketchbook out of her backpack and held her pencil between her teeth while she flipped to a clean page.

The reason Karina loved drawing was because she could capture the essence of a moment. She enjoyed having to take the time and study her subject matter, to know every curve and line, every highlight and shadow, and every small imperfection. It was how she found beauty in things.

She started off with the curved stem of the daisies, making sure to highlight the glare of the sun against the grass surrounding the flowers. Her pencil scratched against the thick paper, working at an impressive speed. Her hair hung down in front of her face and took her bottom lip in between her teeth in concentration.

Her hand froze when she looked back up, though. Her view of the flowers had been blocked by a small figure. Karina instantly recognized her shirt.

"Winter, what are y-?" Karina's voice trailed off when Winter turned around, holding a handful of flowers. The daisies that Karina had been drawing were now gathered together into Winter's hands. The smaller girl looked more than pleased with herself, and she held up the flowers happily for Karina to see.

"I found them," Winter smiled widely, walking over to Karina and practically shoving the flowers in her face. Karina snapped, shoving Winter's hands out of her face, which caused the flowers to fall to the ground.

"Ouch," Winter mumbled, bending down and picking up each flower individually, holding them up to the sun as if to check if they were alright. Karina crossed her arms and stood in front of the younger girl.

"Why did you pick those?" Karina huffed, slamming her sketchbook shut and tossing it back into her backpack. Winter stood up and hugged the flowers to her chest.

"They were pretty," she smiled, looking down at the daisies and giggling.

"Yeah, well guess what?" Karina asked, not waiting for a response. "You just killed them." The brown eyed girl motioned to the patch of grass where Winter found the flowers.

"What?" Winter whispered, looking concerned. She knelt down next to the patch of grass and patted it gently. "Oh," she muttered, shaking her head.

"Sometimes you just need to admire pretty things from far away," Karina sighed. As if she already wasn't frustrated, this only made things worse.

Winter looked up from the grass for a moment, meeting Karina's eyes. "Like you?" She asked, tilting her head to the side like a confused puppy.

Karina just rolled her eyes. "Goodbye Winter," she muttered, grabbing her bag and storming off down the path before the other girl had a chance to respond. Winter watched Karina walk away until the girl was merely a speck in the distance.