Zinnia And Me

Day 4

Danny and I decide to go look for Christmas trees. It seemed a little early, but Danny said it was best to get one now instead of waiting 4 days before Christmas Day.
It was just me and him. Mom had to help out at the children's hospital while Liam, again is out doing business that nobody knows about.

"How about this tree?" I asked Danny, pointing to a small little tree, although it was close to my height.
Danny nods. "It's alright. Try looking for a bigger size."
I go back further to look for the bigger trees. Our goal is to find something not too big, but not too small, and after we find a tree, Danny and I were going to look at some decorations to decorate the tree with.

"Find anything yet?" Danny asked?"
I shake my head.
"Most of these trees are too tall, and the ones your looking at are too short."
Danny sighs. He's kind of picky when it comes to finding the right size of something.
"Where are those medium sized trees?" He says to himself.

I keep searching for the perfect tree when a snowball hits me on the back of my neck.
I turn around to see a familiar girl standing behind the tree. It's Zinnia.
She sticks her tongue out at me while sticking her fingers in her ears. I couldn't help but laugh.
She runs up to me and gives me a hug.

"Hello Zach," She says, giving me a hug.
I hug her right back.
"Hello Zinnia the flower," I say.
She giggles.
Zinnia was actually named after the flower Zinnia. The Zinnia flower is actually in the sunflower tribe and is apart of the daisy family. I learned all of this in the 4th grade when doing a science project.
Zinnia had an older sister who was named Camellia, a Japanese flower and she also had a younger brother named Aster, which is in the Asteraceae family. Zinnia's mother is an artist and draws anything flower related, that's why she named her kids after flowers.

Funny thing is, Aster knows he's named after a flower, and doesn't mind it at all. All of his friends think that being named after a flower is girly, and when they asked what his name stood for, he told them that his name was just a rare name and there was nothing special about it. Just a regular, everyday normal name.

Zinnia perks up.
"Look at this," She says, and she shows me a little necklace with a small Christmas tree that's the color of red.
"Cool!" I say. "Is that a gift from a cousin?"
She shakes her head.
"No, it's from Gary."
My eyes widen.
Gary and I have a bit of a rivalry. I don't know why, but he hates me. He likes Zinnia, but never did like me. We used to be best friends until I told him I liked Zinnia.

I tried to smile.
"He's also talking about taking me to the dance," Zinnia explains. "Isn't that cool?"
My heart sinks.
"Yeah," I say. "That's cool."
She smiles.
"Well, I gotta go, see you later."

She walks off with her father, and her father waved at me. I waved back and went to go find Danny.
Danny is looking at the prices of trees and doesn't approve.
"Hey, Zach. You okay?" Danny asked.
I nod. I don't want to tell him that Zinnia is going to the dance with someone I really don't like.

"Alright then, might as well go to the mall and get one of those plastic trees," Danny says.
"That sounds like a good idea," I say, trying to perk up a little.

                              *********
The mall was crowded.
And Danny hated it.
He didn't really like being crowded around people, especially in a big mall. The shoppers were showing their holiday spirits by running around trying to find something nice to give to the family, and kids trying to persuade their parents into buying the latest Call of Duty games. The little girls squeal as they see the cute little dolls sitting in the window as they smile back at them saying, "Take me home."

Danny and I were able to get away from the crowd by hiding away in a nearby fashion shop that was pretty much for teens, but we didn't really care because Danny was getting ready to suffer from anxiety.
"Now we have to wait for the crowd to die down. Why did I plan to come to the mall today?" Danny says,
I was going to answer him, but Danny tells me it's a rhetorical question. I decide not to say anything after that.

We end up going deeper into Galaxy Star just to keep an eye on the crowd. They sold things for teens, and they were always opened on the holidays.
Danny focuses on the crowd, watching women fighting over a doll house that their daughters wanted or the men fighting over the brand new flat screen TV's. This is how it usually goes at OakTree mall.

Danny sighs.
"Animals," he mutters under his breath.
We move out from behind the sweaters and dresses. Hollie's Holidays store was right across the mall, and me and Danny were trying to escape the crowd without getting trampled over.

As the crowd dies down, Danny and I get ready to leave. I heard giggling coming from the other side, and it sounded similar. I peeked from behind the sweaters and suddenly see Zinnia. Not only that, but she's with Gary. Gary is smiling at her, adjusting the glow in the dark angle bracelet on her wrist. I hear him whisper, Merry Christmas, when the idiot knows that Christmas is only a week away.

My heart pounds faster, and I can't take my eyes off the scene. Then something happens that made my heart drop.
Gary leans in close to Zinnia, and he kisses him. She likes it, and lets him kiss her on the lips. My jaw dropped. My friend, kissing some one that I hated. I wanted to cry, but I couldn't do that. I hold back my tears, find Danny and scoot quickly out the store.

To get my mind off of things, Danny and I were able to find a beautiful white Christmas tree. The cool thing about it was that it was sparkly and it glowed in the dark. We brought some decorations to go along with the tree. Danny and I plan on setting the tree up tonight. At least it's better than having to see Gary kiss Zinnia.