A Flower Speaks A Thousand Words

Blue Salvia

CHAPTER 3 – Blue Salvia

It hadn't been hard to find the girl with honey blonde hair and sparkling brown eyes called Laura Hollis. As it turned out, the young girl was quite active online. Though Carmilla rather avoided the internet, it proved itself useful enough when she needed it to be. She had simply looked Laura up and found some social media accounts on the most popular networks. When she was scrolling through some of the information on one of the accounts, she had come across a picture tagged in a place called Silas. It was the same word she'd seen on someone's hoodie when she first met Laura in the Champs de Mars. She had done quick search and planned her route to Silas High School, located in Styria.

All she had to do now was walk out of this room and her new life could begin. She'd never had trouble with leaving her old life behind before, so why was it a million times harder this time?
She was standing by the large floor to ceiling window in her hotel suite for the last time, her backpack filled with her most precious belongings. She had planned on taking everything at once but that would have slowed her down. Guillaume had offered to send her box full of books to her new address once she was settled, along with another box of stuff she would have otherwise had to leave behind. She was very grateful for the friend she would now leave behind to move to a new place, and start a new life.

She let her eyes travel over the sunrise that painted the sky a beautiful pallet of orange and pink once more before turning around, grabbing her leather jacket of the couch, and making her way to the door. The map to Silas was tucked into the back pocket of her pants, and her supply of "soy milk" was packed away for the road. She was ready to go.

--

"Laura! Hey Laura, wait up!" Kirsch jogged up to her to match her pace as she walked towards her school building. She had been dreading going back to school after Paris but she had to pull herself through. She would be back with her friends LaFontaine, Perry and Danny. And now, maybe even Kirsch. He seemed nice enough after what happened on the bus, she just never thought of him as anything other than just one of those guys.

"Morning!" He smiled as he caught up with her and fell into her step. She looked up to him and returned the greeting, her left hand holding the strap of her backpack in place, the other held the anchor around her neck clutched tightly to her chest. His smile was very bright and he seemed to be genuinely happy, which was a nice change in atmosphere around her. This weekend had been dull. Trying to find a mystery girl online with no image or name was hard. Even with the new technology she and every most other teens in western culture possessed nowadays. Try to google "dark haired beauty" without having all the pictures be of Laura Prepon, then you'll see how hard it is.
"Morning, Kirsch." She gave him a small smile.
He bumped his elbow softly into her shoulder. It would have been shoulder to shoulder if he wasn't that enormously tall. "Ready for today?"
Laura shrugged in response. "As ready as I'll ever be, I suppose."
Kirsch stopped her a few meters in front of the main entrance steps.
"Hey little L, if those guys bother you, I'm here to help. I'm totally doing this out of the bro-ness of my heart, okay? You're a better bro than those people ever have been to me. I thought were my friends."
Okay, so he wasn't the smartest with words, but his heart was in the right place. Laura learned that over the weekend when Kirsch had added her on a few social media platforms and asked how she was doing and wasn't taking her dismissive answers.
"I'm sorry they're such jerks, Kirsch." Laura sent an apologetic look his way but he showed a crooked smile in response with a shrug.
"Don't apologize, it's not your fault they act that way."

They walked into the building together and separated. He had some other friends who weren't total jerks to say hello to, and she had her three redheaded friends waiting for her by their lockers. LaFontaine spotted her first.
"There she is! Our little française. How was Paris?" They asked with a bright smile as she reached them. When her three friends had gone to Paris last year, they had all enjoyed themselves a bit too much. Danny had gushed all about the buildings and monuments they saw that she'd read about while Perry admired the city for keeping the streets clean. They'd stayed at a different hotel than Laura had and never left the city center so Perry never saw how bad of the outer ring of Paris actually was. LaFontaine had ranted on and on about the Catacombs and how there were bones upon bones upon bones just stacked deep underground. How millions of people were buried there and how she'd touched an actual skull while no one was looking – it was forbidden but they just couldn't help themselves.
Laura shrugged, "It was okay." She avoided their eyes as she opened her locker and started putting her books in. She was sure they wouldn't be pleased with her answer, but it was the only thing she could say without giving too much away of how bad the teasing had become, but also of how good it was meeting the stranger.
"Okay? Okay?? Laura, you were in the city of love! It had to be more than just 'okay'." LaFontaine said first, followed suit by Danny who closed her locker and leaned against it, crossing her arms while she spoke.
"Yeah, what about all the monuments? The beautiful view from atop the Eiffel Tower? All of the history packed there. Wasn't it nice?"
"Well, yeah but..." Laura sighed as she faced Danny, her hands flying to her necklace to play with the anchor, "I liked the sights and the history. That was all really great but I am glad to be back home. There's not much love in the city of love when you don't have someone to share it with." She trailed off the last bit as she turned her attention back to her locker. She didn't really want to say anything about the dark haired stranger yet. She had decided over the weekend not to mention her encounter with her to them. She figured she could keep the woman to herself, at least for a little while. Otherwise there would be questions. Questions she couldn't really answer and she wasn't sure she was ready for that.

Danny narrowed her eyes at Laura and studied her for a moment. "What did they do this time?" Laura should have known Danny wouldn't waste much time to hear her out. Not a week passed by without those guys trying something, her three friends knew that as well.
"Well, it was the usual." Laura started, "It just got to me a bit because I didn't have you guys by my side. But then in the bus on the way back, I had enough. Right when I thought Jason was actually going to try something, Kirsch stands up and holds him back." Laura actually got a bit more enthusiastic when she thought about the encounter, being proud of herself for finally standing up for herself.
"Woah woah, wait. Kirsch? You mean that guy that is convinced he's going to join a fraternity when – or rather if - he gets into university. The one that uses the word 'bro' way too much?" Danny was in defense mode now. Laura knew Danny was not fond of the entire group of guys that were in Laura's class but this seemed rather personal.
"Well, yeah. But he's so much more than that. He's really cool actually." Danny scoffed in return and crossed her arms. What happened between those two?
"I'm glad he helped you Laura. More people should stand up to bullies like that." Perry said as she closed her locker. "We should get to class though. Come on sweetie." She turned to LaF and slipped her hand into theirs before tugging on it so that LaF would follow. They quickly shut their locker and waved at Danny and Laura as Perry dragged them along.