To Tear them Apart

7

I wake up with someone poking my face. I groan opening my eyes and see Maxine standing awfully close to my face.
"What are you doing?" I ask her.
"Making sure your okay. Last night was a little intense." She says backing away from me. I nod and climb out of bed and put on one of Maxine's shirts and Khaleesi's shorts. Bernard jumps from my bed and goes to his doggie bed on the floor. I smile at him and lean down to pet him.
"Do you wanna talk about it?" Maxine asks genuinely.
"I mean I don't know how much we can talk about it. No one has ever had a vision like this before. And I think I have an idea about the girl he mentioned. The one he didn't recognize." I says slowly.
"Really? Who?" She asks sitting on the couch and patting the spot next to her. I smile and sit.
"I think it's a girl in one of my classes. I'll know more after I talk to her."
"How do you think you would know? It's not like she'll say she's the girl with us."
"Yeah but maybe she knows something. I don't know."
"Help me find a cute shirt for classes today then," Maxine says. I roll my eyes and grab my phone from the side table. I open my messages to text Liam to see if he's okay. He responds instantly saying that he's feeling better and already wants to get out of the medical wing. We text for a couple minutes before he has to talk the principal about what happened. Then, I text Floriana if she can still meet up for breakfast.
"Which shirt should I wear? The pink one or the black one?" Maxine asks me.
"Uhhh... the pink one. That way, you can wear your pink skirt and heels and look like Barbie." I tell without looking up from my phone.
"You didn't even look at the shirts." She complains. I roll my eyes again and look at the two shirts. The pink one was a flowy crop top and the black one was long tank top.
"I still think the pink one. Now get the pink skirt and live the Barbie life." I tell her. I look at at the foot of my bed and see Bernard staring at me.
"Alright bud. Let me get dressed and I'll take you on a quick walk."Bernard jumps out of bed and stretches.
We go outside and Bernard immediately runs to a tree and does his business. I chuckle a little and follow him. Bernard and I take a quick walk around school.
When we get back to the dorm, I see that Floriana texted me about talking.
Floriana 🌸: Good morning! Yeah I can still talk. Let's meet up at the track
I smile at my phone and reply.
Phoenix: cool! see ya soon
Floriana 🌸: :)
"Ooooo. Who ya texting?" Aer asks teasingly walking in the dorm with Khaleesi.
"Where were you two?" I ask ignoring the question they asked.
"We took Echo for a walk." Khaleesi responds. I nod and look back down at my phone.
"Oooo. You're blushing! Your texting a girl aren't you? Barely a week into classes starting and your crushing on a girl. Who is she? Is she cute? Does she have the same powers as you?" Aer says quickly.
"Your boyfriend is fine by the way. Not that you asked though. I'm not crushing on her. I just met her yesterday. She does not have the same powers as me. She's an Earth elementalist," I say.
"Really? What's her name?" Khaleesi asks.
"Her name is Floriana. She has red hair, freckles, a little on the shorter side," I tell him. Khaleesi nods and thinks for a second.
"Are those my shorts?" He asks. I look down at the shorts.
"Yes they are your shorts, but do you know her?"
"I think I do. She's in a couple of my classes. What was she doing in the fire building?"
"She's in one of my classes," I explain. I look down at my phone checking the time.
"So are you going on a date with her?" Aer asks.
"No it's not a date. I just wanted to talk to her," I tell my friends. Khaleesi and Aer look at me a look. "Look, I know you might think I like her, but I don't. Okay? So don't you two give me that look."
"Well, do you want us to go with you?" Khaleesi asks and I look at him with a smile.
"Thanks but that might scare her even more. I can't scare her away from me that quickly." I joke.
"HA! So you do like her!" Aer half's yells. We all look at them and Maxine whacks the back of their head. I grab all my school stuff and walk to the door.
"So Imma head out. See you gays laters."

~~~~

"Good Morning!" Floriana says enthusiastically when she sees me. I wave to her and she starts walking toward me. When we close enough, she gave me a hug. My heart starts to beat a little faster and my face burns a little. God, maybe I do have a crush on her.
"I heard your brother was in the medicine wing last night. Is he okay?" She asks as we pull away.
"Yeah. He's not bad," I tell her. I look at wanting to tell her about what Liam said last night, debating whether I should actually go through with saying it. "But I don't want to talk about it now."
"Okay! What were you thinking of talking about then?"
"I don't know. I was thinking of maybe getting breakfast and talk about whatever."
"That sounds good to me. I'm starving," Floriana laughs. "Let me grab my stuff and we can go." I nod and follow her to her friends.
They watch us walk up to them and I wave. They look at me nervously and wave back. Floriana smiles and tells them we're gonna get food and grabs her stuff. We leave her friends staring at us in a little surprise. I can't stop thinking if I should tell her about the vision Liam saw. I really want to, but I don't want to scare her. She'd probably run for the hills if I told her.
We made it to the dining hall to get our breakfast before we made it back outside and sat at a table under a tree.
"I've always liked this table," she says looking at the tree. I follow her gaze and the tree is one of the ones that Khaleesi helped plant last year. He wouldn't stop talking about it.
"It's a Blue Jacaranda tree. They're native South-Central America. They're a lot prettier in the spring. When the flowers on them bloom, they're like a violet color." Floriana tells me happily. Then she looks at me a little panicked. "Sorry. I just get really excited when I talk about the things I like."
I look at her and smile. "It's okay. It was nice to listen to someone that actually has something interesting to say. When my brother talks to me, he just sounds annoying." She laughs and her eyes crinkle. She is so pretty.
Yeah. I'm not gonna tell her about the vision, I think. She stops laughing after a couple seconds and looks at me.
"So. What does THE Princess do when she has free time?" She asks me and taking a bite of her scrambled eggs. I shrug a little.
"Uhh... Well, I take my dog Bernard for a lot of walks to a little field near the castle and we'll play fetch for a bit. Then we'll lay down and I'll read in the grass. That's my favorite thing to do when I can actually do things."
"Sounds like a lot of fun. Do your brothers go with you?"
"Sometimes. Liam's so busy with being the heir, you know. And Amias doesn't like to read. So, when I lay down to read, he gets bored really easily and bothers me," I tell her and she's still smiling.
"That's so funny."
"Yeah, I keep telling him he should read Percy Jackson since he likes mythology but he won't listen."
"So you like Percy Jackson, huh?" I smile and blush a little.
"Yeah. It's my comfort series. They're just such good books. The whole universe is really good."
"I haven't read them yet. My sisters love them though."
"I don't know if this friendship is gonna work. You're gonna have to read them in order for me to like you again," I joke, laughing. She looks a little panicked for a second like she can't tell whether or not I'm joking.
"I am joking. I'm not gonna end this friendship because you haven't read a book," I rush out. Floriana sighs with relief and smiles. I smile at her. We continue to talk for the rest of breakfast until it's time for first period.
I walk Floriana to her building and watch her walk inside. I turn around with a smile on my face and make my way toward my own class.