Flower Girl {Rewriting}

18. Buckwheat Honey

August laid in bed, the clock announcing that it was now 6:02 am. Sleep came to her, but the memory of her Brook and Blaire woke her up, and she couldn't force herself back to sleep. August worried her bottom lip, tears welling up in her eyes. August did not feel like moving from the bed at all. She wanted to bury herself in the covers and avoid the world for a day. As much as she was cautious about going to school.... she would be able to see her friends, but even that didn't feel enough to enthuse her to move. She wondered how Rachel was doing.

A knock brought her out of her thoughts, and she answered. The door cracked open softly, and her mom popped her head in. "Hey, flower girl."

She smiled. "Her mom."

Asora rose her brows at the face of her daughter. "Is something wrong? Are you in pain?"

August shook her head. "I just don't feel the best."

Asora nodded and stepped inside. "Do you feel up to going to school?" Auggie bit her lip again.

"I don't know." Her voice cracked, and her mom came to her side, throwing her wrapping around her and hugging her close.

They sat like this for a moment then get mom kissed her forehead and smiled.

"If you don't wanna go, then tell me okay." Asora said.

"Okay mom." August muttered before her mom left. It had been a few weeks since she spoke, to Rachel. They hadn't been able to catch each other at the greenhouse. August reached out for her cell that lay charging on the nightstand and searched Rachel's number.

》》》》》

Entering the school almost felt like that climactic moment in a movie or TV show when the antagonist gets ready to confront the protagonist in a dramatic display of gusto. The eyes of the minute amount of students at school this bright and early were all looking in her direction. She adjusted her bag on her shoulder, inhaled calmly and exhaled lightly, and then proceeded to walk down the hallway to her locker.

August had caught a ride with her mother since she had to be at her wholesalers early to pick up some new flower orders for her shop, the busy season for flowers was coming soon, and her mom had to get there at 7:10 am to catch the doors open or she could get the worse of the batch. Usually, Claude would pick her up, but today she felt like leaving the house with her mom before changing her mind and staying home all day. She knew Claude and his siblings wouldn't be at school this early, and of the few students who tend to flock in before the regular school hours would be lurking around the halls, they moved as if someone had only cranked up their gears twice to make it seem like they were dragging themselves instead of bustling.

August knew Quincy and the triplets wouldn't be there either, or maybe they were all outside in the schoolyard waiting for the clocks to move faster. She opened her locker and put her textbooks for her later classes inside, being mindful not to strain her arm since the dull ache was still dancing on her wound. She'd probably text them to find out if they were here. She shut her locker and jumped two feet away. Her notebook fell to the ground as she scrambled to not end up like her book, hands a jumble as she grabbed for purchase at the line of lockers. A large hand reached out for her, and she winced, her screams stuck in her throat as her eyes met the hard brown eyes of Bucky Rogers. Wasn't... wasn't he supposed to be in the hospital? "What—what'd ya want?" She demanded, her vocal cords trembling as she failed to read him.