Blooming Love

2nd hour, French class

//Authors note: I know the Hanahaki is like a Japanese thing. But I changed it to fit my story. NO HATE PLEASE!

The ball flew across the soccer field, spinning wildly as young boys chased after it grinning widely. Shouting back and forth to others as they practiced-

"Miss. Withers, if you are done daydreaming may you please come back down to earth and read the next line?" Came the harsh tone of Lauren's French teacher, Madam Gomez. Blinking the black-haired girl turned her attention away from the soccer team playing outside and looked upfront and kept mute for a minute as she read the sentence on the board, which read: The lilies and roses are beautiful in the spring.

"Les lys et les roses sont beaux au printemps." Her words came out fluently and easily making the teacher nod with admiration at her star student before returning back to board. Lauren let out a sigh of relief as she sank back against her seat. The teen didn't understand why they were learning about some stupid flowers.

"Now we all know that France is seen as the Country of Love, Paris to be the City of Love? As much as everyone is incredible lovers, many held damaged hearts and this led to a disease that is so rare nowadays. This sickness has never been seen in other countries so far and in medical records... No one has had this disease in 73 years."

This got many students' attention including Lauren's. As the woman had wished to become a doctor when she finished college. Many became curious as they had never heard of this information before today.

"This disease is called Hanahaki. Now out of every 10 people in France, only 3 found true love. Another 3 went to people who were not craving love romantically but they wanted touch. Now the last 4 people... were those who held one-sided love. I'm sure all of you have experienced this feeling or you will one day. One-sided love is when you head over heels for another but they hold no feelings for you. This became so common that a disease was awoken. Those who loved someone so deeply with no return of affection began to have a condition where flowers began to blossom in their lungs- Let me finish Micah." Madam Gomez snapped at the class clown who went to make a joke.

"Slowly you will begin to get chest pains seeing the one you love. Then the coughing starts and within days you will be coughing up flower petals. Within weeks the petals turn to huge flowers and bloody petals. The Stems will wrap around your lungs and tighten at the thought of them-"

Lauren's mind began wandering about this topic. The thought of him... Anthony... She had had a crush on the boy for a while now. As images of him with another girl flew through her mind, Lauren's chest began to tighten and a harsh cough interrupted the speech. At the sound of her raspy coughing, the entire classroom's heads whipped around to her making Lauren freeze before wrinkling her nose and shrugging. "I'm coming down with a cold don't hate on me.." She said with a lazy grin. Thankfully they turned back to the teacher as Lauren looked down at her hand... Laying peacefully in the palm of her hand was a lone daisy petal.

"Ultimately there are two outcomes if the love isn't returned, You could get surgery and live. But lose all feelings for that special one or... end up dying a horrible death. "

Lauren's heart stopped as she took in Madam Gomez's words. Death echoing in her head as she stared at the flower petal in her hand. The loud shrill ringing of the bell pulled her out of her daze and stand, stuffing the petal into her pocket. Looking up her green eyes met with a pair of shiny blue ones, Jason. The boy had the same black hair as her but his eyes were bright blue and not to mention he was the most talkative of the two.

"Sooo~ You were staring at Prince Charming again weren't you?" He teased making Lauren's cheeks flare bright red and lightly push the boy away. "Come on Lauren, why not just confess already? The entire school knows you love him~"

Turning her face away from her best friend, Lauren rolled her eyes and shook her head. "It won't go wel-" For the second time that day, Lauren began coughing, this time it wasn't just one small cough though. This coughing attack racked through her body leaving her trembling and falling into Jason's arms who caught her barely. Covering her mouth as tears pricked at her eyes threatening to run down her bright red cheeks.

"Lauren? Hey-HEY! Get the nurse!" He shouted making two other students scramble out of the room to find the old woman. Cradling Lauren in his arms, Jason tried to calm his friend to no avail. Her hacking only became worse. As he moved her hair out of her face, Jason froze.

The teen was beautiful. Lauren was gorgeous...Her short black hair framing her doll-like features. Her green eyes were lost in another world as her pale skin was flushed a light red. Dripping down her chin was a thin line of blood that soaked into his football jersey. But what made his heart freeze was seeing the handful of lilies in her hands, petals falling down to the ground like cherry blossoms. The world around him spun before it all went black.