Page 12 of Poetry of Flowers

with my youth.

Children grow up.

Now their happiness

pours from an empty cup.

ChapterThree

MATILDA

“What was all that about?” I asked Kayden as he drove the three of us to our school. Dad drives by Remy’s school, so he always took him there. Usually, it was only Kayden and me, but now Faith was here too.

I didn’t mind, she was a lovely girl. I loved her like a sister, even though she hated me because I was taking her brother away from her.

It was right after my mother died, she was little and didn’t understand why Kayden spent so much time with me back then. Until this day, I’m still questioning why he stayed with me, why he stays with me every night to make sure I sleep.

Pushing my friends or my family away was like building my own little hell, sometimes I felt like I was punishing myself with those actions.

“Nothing,” Kayden answered as he took the road on the left so that he didn’t have to drive over the bridge. He always did this for me, and I appreciated it.

I hated this bridge.

“Kayden,” I said, and he looked over to me before his eyes turned to the road again. His green eyes always did something to me, as we got older, the butterflies danced their part more wildly in my stomach.

It was a comforting but also a scary feeling. If I had known what it meant, I would have felt way more relaxed about those feelings.

“It was just about Faith taking my clothes and me being pissed off about it. Dad made a big deal out of nothing, like always,” he mumbles as he drove onto our school’s parking lot.

Our school. The place where I was a nobody. Being a nobody kind of held its own version of perfection for me. No one asked me how I felt, no one looked at me for too long or made me feel uncomfortable.

The bullying usually only happened during P.E. or after school, but it had gotten less at the end of last year. I knew that this was my best friends’ doing, but I didn’t know if I was supposed to be thankful for it. I didn’t like that they were so nice to me. Pity was always one of the things I hated most in the world, especially when it was a teacher showing pity towards my situation. I just wanted everyone to act normal around me.

“Tillie?”

I blinked away the tears that had built up in my eyes and looked to the side, seeing Kayden eyeing me.

I had drifted off into my thoughts again. I hated myself for that, I hated that I made everything about myself in my mind as I did in the real world.

“I’m sorry,” I said as I loosened my seat belt and put on a smile. I turned to look at Kayden’s sister. She was gorgeous with her dark brown hair straightened and a blue headband behind her bangs. She had the same eyes as her brother’s, green like the forest.

“You excited about your first day, Dino?” It’s a nickname I gave her as a child because she kept carrying that green stuffed dinosaur around everywhere.

Maybe I should have given her a cuter name, but it was the only thing that had come to mind around this time, and we had kept it our thing.

“What if I don’t make any friends?” she asked, sounding a bit shyer than usual.

“Didn’t you say Marie was in the same class?” Kayden asked.

“Yeah, but Kaylee will also be there, and they always shut me out of their talks during breaks, I don’t want that anymore.” Faith looked outside the window, eyeing the other new kids walking to the front door.

Kayden turned in his seat to face his sister. “You are going to find new friends; you don’t search for new people. If they are meant to be, you cross paths, and it just develops, stop being so scared all the time, Faith.”

“Thanks, Kayden.” Her anxious expression slowly turned into a small smile.

He nods with the exact same smile they both share. “No need to thank me, that’s what older siblings are for, aren’t they?” he winked at me with the grin that always made me shake my head with laughter.

“Now get out of the car, both of you. I promised we’d meet Theo and Autumn before first period starts,” he reminded us as we stepped out of the car.

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