My Flower

Chapter 2

"Lydia, we have to volunteer for church Friday night." My mother reminded me for the millionth time. She's very Christian. She told me the story almost every night when I went to bed (when I was like eight or so) about how she relied on Jesus after the divorce.
"He was there... I felt it..." Every. Single. Night.

I sighed. "Oh... that might not work."
"Excuse me?"
"I have plans Friday night."
"With whom?" She said dramatically.
"A friend."
"Specifically? If that friend isn't Jesus..."
"Why would I go to Six Flags with Jesus? No, it's Dalia."
"Dalia Wayne?"
"No, Dalia Frankenstein," I said sarcastically. "Yes, Dalia Wayne."
She put her hands on her hips. "Cut the attitude or you'll go to your dad's."
"Dad's?" It startled me why she'd bring him up.
"Never mind. I... I..."
"No. Why would you send me to Dad's?" I hissed.
"Lydia, stop."
"No. Tell me."
She stepped toward me. "I said stop."
I flinched. I had never seen that side of her.

I hadn't talked to my mom until Friday at 5:30, when I told her goodbye. "I'll see you around 10, and no, I'm not going to anything dangerous."
She sighed. "Tell Dalia I said hi."
"D-dal..." I tried to remember. "Yes. Dalia, the person I'm going to the amusement park with. I'll tell her you said hey."
"Thanks. Be safe, baby." She kisses my forehead.
I cringed, but then smiled.

I almost blew that. I thought as I walked to my Nissan parked outside.
I couldn't help but feel nervous as I pulled up in the Six Flags parking lot.
A text pinged on my phone. Mila.
"Meet me at Frank's Shoppe. It's right next to the entrance."
"Ok." I texted back.
I took a deep breath and pulled myself out of the car.
"Frank's shop." I whispered to myself as I headed to the entrance.

As I walked into the snack shop, Mila's face caught my eye.
"So glad you could make it!" She came over to me.
"Yep!" I admitted awkwardly.
"Do you wanna go on rides? Or walk around?"
"Either one."
"I choose... rides!" I saw excitement flash in her eyes.
I smiled.
I loved roller coasters. I still do, actually. But I didn't want to go on the one she had in mind.
She pointed to the tallest, fastest ride in the park.
"That sounds like fun!" I lied.
"I know, right," we started walking towards it. " The first time I went on it, I was eleven and man, was I scared out of my mind."
"Haha. Yeah." The idea of me plummeting down a 400 ft drop made my stomach fill up with rocks.
"You okay?"
"Yeah. I remember coming here when I was young and I did the gypsy. I think I wanna do it again." I snickered.
"I believe that those actually work. Laugh all you want." She put her hands up like she was guilty.
"No!" I laughed. "I believe in it, too. Even though my mother, who's super Christian, said that it knows things about you because it's the devil."
Mila laughed so hard she snorted. That made us laugh harder.
We walked over to the gypsy, who was charging way too much.
"Seriously? $4.00?" Someone in front said.
I groaned. "It used to be two dollars!" I whined.
Mila shrugged. We waited.
Once it got to our turn I realized that the gypsy was different.
We exchanged glances.
I slid my money into the machine. I anticipated the good news it would give me. A small paper came out of the tray.
It read:
1. You love the one you see
2. You are keeping a deep, deep secret that you need to tell people who are close to you.
Weird.
"What's yours say?" I asked Mila.
She showed me her card. It said:
1. You flourish whilst being with the one you love.
2. Your secret is safe with the one with you.

"What do these even mean?" I laughed. We both shook it off, but we swore by them, so we kept them.
After a few light conversations, I decided to ask a personal question.
"Mila, can I ask you something?"
Her beautiful face turned to me. "Sure."
"Why did you and your boyfriend break up?"
"He was starting to be a jerk and I kinda lost interest."
We walked all the way to the Ferris wheel. We talked about everything under the sun that night.
At the peak of the Ferris wheel, Mila screamed while laughing, she let go. I did the same and it resulted in us laughing so hard, making fun of each other's screams.

"So I'll see you soon? Monday?" Mila asked.
"Yeah! Maybe we can go to the mall or something," I suggested.
"Yes!" She leaned over and hugged me. "Bye, Lydia."

Why would someone like Mila Byers want to hang out with someone like me?