Purple Violet Flowers: Book One

Chapter 16

Sunflower narrowed her eyes to the side, she beside her friends. Alongside her were Jesse and Aqua. She turned her head to the other girls. We were all reunited. 
I told Dia about how we've all become friends again. But she didn't take it too lightly. The last thing she told me was to watch out and be careful. 
I don't know why, but maybe she just wanted to warn me about something coming? Dia was always strange, but that's what I liked about her.
Not to mention, the first time I came here I said I didn't want any friends, but I guess I just ruined that for myself. What were my first intentions, anyway? 
That's right, I've come to become a proper woman like my mother had asked me. That won't be too hard. 
Or maybe it will be hard. It's hard to please her, so why do I even try? It'll be the same thing all over again. 
An ominous figure skittered across a dark alleyway. It startled Sunflower. She looked at the alleyway to see nothing there.
"Eh? Are you alright?" Jesse asked her. "Er- yeah, I'm just getting the chills." Sunflower says anxiously. 
"I've got the chills for two days now. Do you perhaps think it is gonna snow soon." Lavender says as she looks at the sky.
"It certainly has been getting colder." Kate zipped her sweater up.
"It doesn't snow here, but this year it'd cool if it did." Erlen sighs. 
"We must provide body warmth." Jesse hugged Sunflower.
"What gave you the idea to hug her?" Aqua murmured, giving Jesse a dirty look.
"She seemed cold." Jesse stuck out her tongue.
"I'm not that cold, but I still enjoy this." Sunflower pointed out.
"In that case, why don't I join you two?" Lavender squeezed the two of them.
Sunflower winced, but soon smiled. She enjoyed this. She loved the embraces of her friends.
"Come on Lavender. The one you should be warming up is me." Elisa muttered.
"Aw. A jealous Tootsie roll." Lavender patted the Elisa's head.
"Do you need to warm up?" Erlen asked Gabby.
"Only my hands, but I could easily hold yours for warmth." Gabby held her hand, smiling.
"I don't mind." Erlen smiled slightly while Kate put her arm around Louise. "Where do you think we should go eat?" Kate asked Louise.
"I kinda wanna go for parfaits, but I think we should wait." Louise pointed out, looking at the buildings that were in the distance.
"Why should we wait?" Kate questioned her. "I kinda want us all to eat somewhere together." Louise muttered.
Kate grinned. "Hey! Did you hear that? Louise wants to eat somewhere with everyone." Kate called out with a playful smile.
"Kate!" Louise frowned. "Not a bad idea. I didn't have a chance to eat breakfast today." Lavender held onto her stomach. 
"That's your own fault for not paying attention to the time." Elisa sighed. 
"Where would we go?" Sunflower asked them. "Let's go to the sweet shop. We haven't gone there in a while." Lavender suggested.
"Sure, count me in." Aqua nodded.
The nine girls walked to the sweet shop, but midway there Jesse and Erlen slipped on a weird substance. 
"Are you two alright?" Gabby asked the two girls anxiously. "That stings a lot." Jesse had one closed, rubbing on her hip.
"Who the hell put this oily stuff here?" Erlen rubbed her fingers on the greasy cement.
Sunflower bent down looking at the substance. "It looks red and oily when you look at it close up." Sunflower examined it.
"That scares me- I'm getting up!" Jesse got up staying 3cm away from the oily stuff.
"My hand feels numb now." Erlen looked at her hands. "Maybe we should wash your hands. We don't know what this stuff is" Gabby frowned.
"My hip feels numb too." Jesse rubbed on her hip. "I heard that if someone rubs on your hip the pain'll go away." Sunflower pointed out.
"A-And who said that?" Lavender had sweat going down her face. 
"Ah, someone." Sunflower smiled. "I can fight the pain." Jesse stood straight, her leg was wobbly. 
"I think we should wash my hands and check out Jesse's hip." Erlen says as she held onto her wrist, squeezing it.
"The only way we can check her hip is if we take off her pants." Kate pointed out.
"No way! I'm checking myself. I don't need anyone to help me with this!" Jesse stepped away from the group, a flustered look on her face.
"Well, you're gonna have to take a picture of your hip so we know how it looks. How else are we supposed to help you if you can't show us this one thing." Elisa scoffed.
Jesse had light pink blush on her face. "Well..." She murmured. "Just do it." Gabby sighed.
"It's starting to hurt, but if anyone is gonna see my hip I want Aqua and Sunflower to check it." Jesse looked away, feeling embarrassed.
"Let's go to that bathroom." Aqua pointed to the public bathroom.
"As long as they don't look at me." Jesse glared at Aqua. "Let's do it. This is starting to hurt like hell." Erlen mumbled, trying not to show her pain as she walked to the bathroom.
Jesse walked slowly, Aqua shivered before narrowing her eyes to the girl. "Can't you walk any faster? I'm getting the creeps."
"Yeah, okay. If you want me to go faster, magically heal my hip dirtface." Jesse glared at Aqua.
"Call me dirtface one more time I dare you!" Aqua glared at her back.
Jesse grumpily looked ahead, Sunflower sighed as the atmosphere became intense with rage and hatred.
Once they arrived Aqua tugged on Jesse's shirt. "What are you doing! Don't strip me!" Jesse yelled at Aqua.
"We have to! We didn't come here for nothing." Aqua had a cold stare.
"Well, don't take off my shirt, like what- are you trying to seduce me?" Jesse turned her head sharply to Aqua.
"Of course I ain't! Don't be stupid!" Aqua looked at her angrily.
"It sure seems like it." Jesse rolled her eyes.
Aqua and Jesse continued to squabble. "I swear, those two used to get along perfectly, but now they're like two birds fighting over a worm." Gabby sighed.
"I can see what you mean." Sunflower closed her eyes clearly irritated. "Do you think water will help?" Erlen asked Gabby.
"We can try water. If it stings more than we'll have to call for help."
Gabby and Erlen's conversation drifted away as Sunflower stomped her foot on the ground.
Aqua and Jesse got startled, they both turned their head towards Sunflower.
"You get your pants off and stop fighting." Sunflower glared at the two girls.
"Okay." The two girls spoke in unison. Jesse slipped off her pants while Aqua stood perfectly still stiff as a rock.
"Now let me check your hip." Sunflower sat on her knees on the cold pebbly ground.
She moved Jesse's leg aggressively to the side before examining her hip.
Her hip was red and it looked swollen.
"How bad is it?" Jesse whimpered. "Looks pretty bad. It's all red and swollen." Sunflower rubbed on the outer area.
This kinda reminds me of something. Back at the mansion. It looks exactly them same but it couldn't be right? Only me and Lottie knew about that.. 
"Does it hurt if I rub it like this?" Sunflower asked her with a low gaze.
Jesse winced. "Yeah, it hurts a bit."
"What about this?" Sunflower pressed down on the swollen part. "Ow!" Jesse screeched pulling her leg away.
"I'm sorry. We might have to put that cream stuff on it." Sunflower got up, dusting off her shirt dress.
"How's Erlen?" Sunflower turned her head to the two girls. "Her hand is getting worse. We might have to consider getting her some first aid." Gabby frowned as she held Erlen's other hand.
"Jesse's hip was worse than I had expected. If there's a convenience store nearby, we could get some gauges and cream." Sunflower walked out of the bathroom she turned her head to the side
"Is there a convenience store nearby?" She turned her head to Kate. 
"Well, yeah, but does this refer to Jesse and Erlen?" Kate asked worriedly.
"Yeah, the red oily stuff made their wounds swollen." Sunflower sighed.
"I'll go with you." Lavender raised her hand. "I may as well go since Lavender is" Elisa says before standing beside Sunflower.
"We'll be back." Sunflower nodded to Kate. "Wait- do you have money on you?" Louise asked the three girls. "Of course we do." Elisa narrowed her eyes to Sunflower.
"Ah- whoops. I forgot." Louise chuckles nervously. "Let's hurry." Sunflower rushes the girls as she goes walking.
"You must have a bad sense of direction. The convenience store is that way." Lavender pointed to the left.
"Oh, sorry." Sunflower murmured an apology before walking to the left.
As they were walking there was an awkward silence, Lavender cleared her throat before she began to speak. "Hey, Cherry Pie, did you know Elisa used to be a pianist." Lavender chuckled while ending the sentence with a grin.
"Oh really? That seems fun." Sunflower turned her head to the blonde. "I mean- I did compose music, but I didn't really publish it, I kind of did but that was for Lavender's music. I also competed in competitions and events." Elisa explained.
"Lavender's music?" Sunflower turned her head to the purple girl.
"You see, I used to be.. Somewhat of a singer in my old school back in New Collins City. I was in a group with four girls, apparently we split up and I decided to roll out at Pigeon Ocean." Lavender smiled.
"Doesn't it trouble you that you're far apart from them?" Sunflower asked her.
"Hehe, of course not, silly. I hated them and they hated me." Lavender chuckled.
"They were real devils I tell you. Devils." Elisa crossed her arms.
That's right, I barely know what they've been through. It doesn't hurt to ask though once in a while.
"Looks like we're almost there." Lavender pointed ahead. Sunflower rushed towards the convenience store.
She went to the medical isle before looking at the items.
"What do you think we'll need?" Lavender crouched down. "Most likely a gauge." Sunflower looked at the bandages.
"What cream?" Elisa looked at the choices.
"Uh, what are the choices?" Sunflower stood beside Elisa.
"I'm not sure how severe it is but we might need the burn cream or the plain cream." Elisa grabbed the two bottles.
"Let's use-, let's just get both." Sunflower suggested. Elisa nodded and grabbed the two bottles.
"Sunflower. Should I get two large gauges or two medium?" Lavender showed her the gauges.
"Let's get four large gauges just in case." Sunflower held the cream and gauges.
"Let's get Band-Aids too." Elisa grabbed a pack of Band-Aids. "Should we get Tylenol?" Lavender muttered as she grabbed the pills.
"Get whatever you think we need, I'll grab drinks for everyone." Sunflower says before waking to the fridges.
Lavender and Elisa nodded. Sunflower went on over to the fridge, grabbing random drinks. She didn't know which one to pick.
Ginger ale, tea? Kate might like it.
Sunflower was fascinated by these odd drinks. Iced tea?
She decided to focus on the main objective and grab random drinks.
She went to the counter and put them beside the register. Lavender and Elisa grabbed several medical supplies.
"Is this all?" The cashier asked. Sunflower nodded, grabbing the money and putting it on the counter.
The three girls headed out of the convenience store.
Lavender and Elisa held the bags. "Sunflower, what are these? Charcoal Lemonade? Pickle Juice?" Lavender was shocked as she carried the bags.
"I didn't know which ones to pick plus I'm worried." Sunflower sighed.
"I'm definitely giving the pickle juice to Erlen." Lavender snickered.
"You devil." Elisa muttered. "Let's hurry back before it hurts too much for them." Sunflower quickened her pace. 
I don't want anything to happen to my Jesse- and of course Erlen. I don't know what I'm saying, I'm just worried for those idiots.
"Cherry Pie, aren't you going a little too fast honey?" Lavender panted trying to keep up. Elisa was behind her.
"Sorry, I just want to know if they'll be alright." Sunflower sighed as she slowed down.
"I wanna hurry, so we should go faster." Elisa walked faster. "I see that you two are desperate, we mine as well run." Lavender stretched her arms before she started to run.
Sunflower and Elisa began to run alongside Lavender.
"We're here!" Lavender called out as Kate and Louise were in sight.
"Thank the stars! Come quick, its starting to hurt them." Kate opened the bathroom door.
"Are they here?" Jesse groaned as she held onto her leg. "They're here." Louise says worriedly.
"We got the medical supplies, they're in these bags." Elisa dropped three bags on the ground.
"Thank you, if you hadn't been here Sunflower, Erlen and Jesse would've suffered more." Aqua chuckled.
"Well, I'm here now. Let's make sure their wounds are treated." Sunflower started to dig in the bags, she took out a few gauges placing them on the floor.
She became impatient and emptied the three bags, the supplies scattering around.
"Take all you need. As long as it helps them."
"Here, take this bone head." Aqua threw two gauges at Jesse's face. "You never change do you?" Jesse growled angrily looking at Aqua with an irritated look.
"It's who I am." Aqua scoffed.
"Back in the day Aqua was very annoying. Constantly sending notes, embarrassing me in front of the whole school, it was utter chaos. Especially since she kept calling me Jelly whenever she was in charge of attendance. It was a literal hell house." Jesse shot a look at Aqua.
"Hey! Don't call me annoying! I was only trying to be your friend!" Aqua protested.
"Your way of making friends is weird, you should've done something else instead of pestering me all the time." Jesse scowled.
"Isn't this going a bit too far-." Louise was cut off by Aqua.
"Maybe it's because you were the only person I wanted to be friends with! The girls and boys in our class were only with me because I was good at sports, I tried my hardest to get your attention, but you ignored every advantage." Aqua glared at her sharply.
"I was the wrong person, you didn't have to befriend me, should've stayed put or we both wouldn't be in this mess." Jesse stood straight, clearly wincing.
"So what? It's my fault? You just could've told me to stop." Aqua stared her.
"I did, several times, but your scatterbrain didn't listen to me. You were Ignorant."
"You were the only person I wanted to be friends with, doesn't that mean anything to you?" Aqua's eyes had a pleading pained look. 
"No, of course it doesn't." Jesse glared at her coldly.
"That's going too far don't you th-." Louise was cut off by Aqua once again.
"You truly mean, you know that? Here I only wanted to be your friend, but you shut me out each chance. It wasn't fair to shut me out- like, you basically made things worse for the two of us dumbass. If you didn't like me then why be my friend now? If you don't care about me, why act now? You do things last minute and it irritates me, if that's how you truly feel say it again. I dare you!" Aqua's eyes were blazing with fury.
Jesse didn't hesitate. "I hate you. I never liked you, always showing off and competing with me. I'm sick of it." Jesse raised her voice, gazing at Aqua with cold eyes. 
A gasp was heard from Gabby and Louise. Aqua was silent for a few seconds, a disturbed look on her face.  She looked at Jesse with pure hatred.
"You idiot!" Aqua walked towards her, her fist clenched. "Stop!" Erlen pulled her back.
"Go ahead and punch me, I'm not afraid of you!" Jesse was being held back by Kate.
"Stop fighting!" Kate raised her voice, trying her best to keep her grip on the squirming girl. Gabby had an angry face. "This gets me mad! Kate stop stealing my pudding!"
Sunflower was clearly surprised, they fought, but never like this.
"This is getting out of hand." Lavender grabbed Sunflower's wrist, she had a busy look. 
"Elisa, Cherry Pie, let's go outside. Erlen and Kate are dealing with this." Lavender brought the two girls outside.
Elisa crossed her arms in a big huff. "They all gotta sort out their problems. We can't really deal with them because it's not our responsibility." Elisa huffed.
"We gotta do something about it don't we?" Sunflower says, curious. 
Lavender puts her hand on her shoulder. "I wouldn't bother, I know how you feel though. The urge to stop them, but we gotta make do." Lavender sighed, looking at the ground. 
"Even I feel that way, but they gotta stop acting like kids." Elisa had an irritated look. 
"We should just see what happens, but does anyone else feel that devilish aura? It's bothering me a lot that I'm kinda scared of it." Lavender shuddered.
Elisa nodded slightly. "I felt it for a few days. It's like been getting at me, it's like there's a psychotic person after us, they'll probably lock us in a cage or something." Elisa sighed as she looked at the ground with her arm crossed.
Lavender gave Elisa a disturbed look while Sunflower had a confused gaze. 
"Elisa, that answer seems oddly specific." Lavender chuckles nervously.
"I think we should get everyone else, you're starting to scare me." Sunflower shifted to the bathroom door.
Lavender and Elisa nodded. Elisa turned the door knob. Once they opened the door Aqua and Jesse had a great distance.
Jesse looked distraught with a grumpy face while Aqua was crossing her arms with a look of anger.
"Everyone, grab the bags and let's head out." Kate huffed.
"I guess." Jesse muttered as she reached for the same bag Aqua was trying to grab.
"Get away!" Jesse hissed. "Make me, you big baby!" Aqua clenched her fist.
"Keep your distance away from each other." Kate pushed the two girls away.
The nine girls all walked out of the bathroom.
Sunflower took a long sigh. "Let's not argue and take things slow, besides we.."
She could sense a cold hard stare.
"All need.." Sunflower stopped dead in her tracks.
"Sunflower?" Jesse looked at her.
Footsteps were heard from behind. The eight girls turned their heads while Sunflower remained.
"I've finally found you."
Sunflower froze in place.
It couldn't be...