Far And Away.

For an entire week Flora walked around and ignored Andy. She was lost in her own sadness over losing Bret and she had been even more devastated as she walked past his house and saw a new family moving in. Flora called his phone until finally it went straight to a message saying that the number had been disconnected. Her mother tried to make her feel better, but nothing worked-not even coffee ice cream with Oreos, which was her favorite treat ever. Suddenly the fall had ended, Halloween had come and gone and Flora was looking forward to Thanksgiving break, which started tomorrow. As she walked into school for the last time in a week, Flora smiled to herself.

For whatever reason-Constance, Frankie and their group of assholes had completely left Flora alone. She didn't know why-she had been there usual target for the past three years, but all of a sudden things had changed. They weren't nice to her or anything, but the couple stayed clear of her locker, didn't shout at her in the hallways nor did they try and pick fights with her. They simply ignored her and that was fine with Flora. The tired girl finally turned the corner to get to her locker and her eyes grew wide as she took in the scene before her. Now it all made sense as to why Frankie and Constance had been leaving her alone-they had been torturing Andy for the past week.

When Flora had punched Andy in the face, she had caught his left eye and thus left a huge black mark going across his nose and his eye socket. He had been walking around with a blackeye for the past week and Flora had been too angry at him to notice-he was being tortured. It somehow had gotten out that he had been punched-by a girl-and so now Andy was pushed up against his own locker, Frankie in front of him while two of his goons held Andy's shoulders in place. Flora felt her stomach sink-she had caused this... she had done this and then she had just ignored it because she was mad at Andy.

It wasn't his fault that Bret broke up with her-it was her own. Flora had been so caught up in her blossoming feelings for Andy, that she had completely pushed Bret aside. When they were together all she could talk about was Andy-at the time it was how much she hated him, but then it began to turn in to other things. Now, as she stood there and watched Andy get suckerpunched in the stomach, Flora knew that her feelings for him were real and that Bret had been right. Just as Frankie was about to land another punch, Flora ran forward and placed herself between Frankie and Andy. Frankie stopped-he hated Flora but she knew he would never hit a girl...he would just laugh as his girlfriend did it for him.


"Stop it!" Flora shouted and the busy hallway seemed to come to a stop. Frankie just looked at her, wide eyed and shocked. He had never expected the small girl to speak out for someone who she seemed to hate, but here she was.

"Flora...don't." Andy groaned but Flora ignored him and stood her ground. She had one hand on his chest and she could feel him struggling to breathe. They needed to get out of here and they needed to do it now.

"What are you doing loser?" Constance spoke out, coming from around Frankie and the blonde girl looked pissed. It wasn't often that the meek losers of this school stood up to them and the last thing Constance expected was for it to be Flora.

"I'm telling your monkey of a man to back the fuck off and leave him alone. You guys are really fucking pathetic-beating Andy up simply because he got punched in that face? What's next...you gonna take him out back and lynch him for simply breathing the wrong way? Get out of my way!" Flora was shouting as she moved to get Andy to use her as a brace and the two of them began to walk down the hallway.

"You're going to regret this Walsh..." Constance said through gritted teeth as the two freaks began to walk down the hall towards the front doors. Flora stopped, turning around as her eyes locked with the blonde's.

"Maybe, but right now I don't give a shit." Flora said as she glared at the group and then took a groaning Andy out through the front doors of the school.


Flora was expecting someone to come running after her and Andy-administration was really getting on people for being out of bounds during school hours, but no one seemed to care. They quickly walked down the sidewalk, stopping by the small park that was beside their condo building. It was cold out, the wind whipping her in the face but Flora didn't care. Quickly she got Andy settled on a swing and watched as he held his stomach with one hand and kept himself up right with the other. She settled on the swing beside him and tried to avoid his gaze, but those blue eyes were beckoning her to look at him. Finally Flora gave in and as her eyes met his, something inside of her seemed to wake up.


"Why did you do that?" He asked her finally and Flora said nothing as she tucked her hair behind her ear and looked down at her scuffed sneakers.

"Because it's my fault they were giving you so much shit." Flora said as she swung back and forth slowly. Andy wheezed and as she looked up, Flora noticed that it was because he was trying to laugh. Why was he laughing at her?

"Your fault? It's not your fault Flora..." Andy said and Flora only cocked her head in confusion.

"But...but I punched you! I gave you that black eye!" She said and Andy just continued to wheeze out his laughter at her.

"So? They aren't giving me shit because you hit me...they're giving me shit because I threatened Frankie." Now Flora was even more confused.

"Why would you do that?" Flora asked and Andy only smiled as he looked at her and then reached out. His hand was resting against her cheek now, his thumb trailing over the soft skin of her lip and he smiled.

"Because I love you Flora...I love you so much that it hurts and I didn't want to see them pick at you anymore."


Flora just sat there silently, staring at him and trying to think of what she should say next.

Notes