Far And Away.

The sun shone brightly through her sheer black curtains and Flora only groaned and turned over. Her weekend of freedom had come to an end and it was now back to the grind of school, school work and avoiding certain cheerleaders who liked to make Flora feel like a nothing. She knew if she didn’t get up soon her mother would do it for her and so with a grunt and a groan, Flora sat up in her bed and ran a hand through her thick brown hair. It was wavy today-something that would change as soon as she showered and ran a straightener through it. Flora wasn’t obsessed with looks like some girls, but she felt like looking pretty today.

Sighing and shooing her cat Mr. Sprinkles-she was five when they got him-out of her way, soon enough Flora was walking across her room, through her doorway and entering her own bathroom. The good thing about living in a new condo building was that before things were built Flora and her mother got to have a say in how their home looked. The first thing on Flora’s list was her writing window, which had a black and purple cushioned seat and over looked the back of their building and the tree lined woods beyond that. Second on her list was her very own bathroom, complete with shower and deep bath tub. When her father left them, Flora had felt lost and hopeless and only being ten didn’t help as she never really understood why. But the great thing was that she and her mother had been able to get a fresh start in Cincinnati and they were closer than ever.

Hair straightened, minimal makeup applied and now Flora was tugging a black Alkaline Trio shirt over her head and looking down at her converse clad feet. She wasn’t punk, but she wasn’t preppy either-Flora was just herself and she liked it that way. If she could change anything, anything at all, it would be the fact that she was too skinny. Her arms were chicken thin, gangly and hung at her sides when she walked. Flora wasn’t too tall-5’9-but she was tall enough to seem awkward. Clumsiness was a way of life for Flora, as she realized once she made it down stairs and almost fell face first in to her seat at the kitchen table because she tripped over her own shoelace.

Mom was gone-a note saying she was meeting with a client early that morning-and so Flora indulged herself in two bowls of Cap N’ Crunch and then she was searching around for her bookbag. As she slung the bag over her shoulder and moved towards the front door, Flora took in a deep breath. Please, please don’t let him be outside waiting for the bus. Andy Biersack-asshole extraordinaire-had just moved in with his family across the hall and their first meeting had been less than pleasant. She couldn’t pin point it, but there was just something so arrogant about Andy-like he didn’t really care what people thought but he wanted people to care about how he felt. Well buddy you can’t have things both ways-sorry bout it.


“Thank God…” Flora muttered as she exited her condo, locking the door behind her, and saw that the kid with the long black hair, lip ring and devastating blue eyes was nowhere in sight.


After deciding to just hoof it to school, Flora finally made it to her locker and groaned in aggravation. The school she went to was very small, but more and more people were moving in to the area and so while the school stayed the same size-the population was growing. With the beginning of the school year all of the seniors had been informed that they were going to be assigned locker partners and so here she was, watching her locker-mate and boyfriend making out. Constance Moore-bane of Flora’s existence and of course the girls would end up sharing a locker. They had been best friends in elementary and middle school, but then Constance had grown boobs and with that she had also grown a new set of friends-which did not include Flora.

This was a morning routine for Flora-Constance and Frankie were always making out and it usually took Flora a few tries to get them to move. She began pushing and finally Constance sighed, dislodged her lips and moved to the side slightly.


“You guys are gross-no one wants to see that…” Flora muttered under her breath as she grabbed for her Trig book and made sure that her homework was somewhere in the pages. Constance rolled her eyes as she pushed Frankie away and glared at the slightly taller girl.

“No one wants to see your face. Fuck off…” Flora only rolled her eyes at the weak comeback and continued to stuff things into her bag.


The bell rang and Flora sighed-time for another day of Hell. It was Hell in the fact that nothing seemed to be going Flora’s way. First period went by okay, except she ended up being late because there was such a long line in the girl’s room. Then in her second period English class-her favorite class-Flora ended up getting the crappy copy of Wuthering Heights with the spine barely holding the pages in. Flora loved to read though and a beaten up book usually meant that it was well loved. Third period math was okay, if you considered having paper balls thrown at the back of your hair okay. Lunch sucked, but high school lunch was always terrible unless you had a horde of followers running around willing to do your bidding.

Now Flora was sitting in her final period-Second Level Biology. There weren’t a lot of people in this class and it was mostly because it was a voluntary class and not many people wanted to take an extra science. Flora saw herself as a writer, but she had a knack for science and this class was keeping her GPA at a cozy 3.8. She wanted to get in to Ohio State and her grades had to be near perfect for her to do so and because of that Flora was in a lot of AP classes and extra classes like this one. The bell rang, signaling the beginning of class and Flora sighed-her lab partner was gone…again. Trina was a nice girl, but she had a lot of family problems and now Flora was regretting taking the girl on as a partner. Just as Flora was about to raise her hand and get Ms. Davids attention, the door to the class room popped open.

Flora groaned as she noticed who was walking in to her class and she tried to get as low in her seat as possible. His black hair was down by his shoulders, straight with some of it laying across one deep blue eye. A leather jacket was slung over one shoulder and she noticed that Andy’s boots clicked against the tile as he walked towards the teacher’s desk. Flora watched as he handed Ms. Davids a piece of paper and then turned to face the class. He glanced at her, his brow furrowing and Flora only rolled her eyes. Then she realized that she was, of course, the only one without a lab partner and she gulped.

Shit.


“Class! Class…this is Andy and he’s going to be joining us for the rest of the year. Well Andy, it looks like Flora needs a partner since hers has disappeared again. Now…Tommy, will you pass out the miscroscopes?” Flora sank even further in her seat and tried to just pretend like she wasn’t there.

“Well, if this isn’t a funny turn of events…” She heard someone comment from above her and as Flora looked up she felt her breathing stop. Andy was standing beside her, his long black hair hanging in his face and he had placed his books on the table beside her.

“You have a sad sense of humor if you think any of this is comical…” Flora grumbled as she sat up and pulled her worksheet towards her. Great-their first day together and they had to share a microscope and identify micro biological organisms. She laughed and then held a hand in front of her mouth as Flora tried to not look at the rebel sitting beside her.

“Well apparently you think it’s pretty funny…since you’re laughing…” Andy said, cocking one eyebrow as he began to focus the scope before him.

“What’s funny is I doubt you have any idea how to even use that thing.” She raised her own eyebrow and Andy gave her the strangest smirk. It was lopsided, only one side of his face going up and Flora was now just noticing the ring that had been run through his lip.

Get it together chick!


“Actually I was in AP Bio in my last school…” He said sullenly and Flora only rolled her eyes. Her mother had told her about Andy and his schools. Yes, schools-plural-as in he had been to more than one in the past two years.

“Which one? Reject school number one? Or number twenty one?” She asked as Flora began to fill out their worksheet and she noticed that Andy had stiffened.

“No wonder you’re such a loner…”

“What does that mean?” She asked and Andy said nothing as he stuck his eye down near the scope and began filling out their worksheet.

“It means you are a complete bitch with a complex when it comes to guys…” He finally answered her and Flora felt like she had been punched. Did he really just say that to her?

“This is going to be a really, really long year…” She sighed as Flora ran a hand through her hair and shut her eyes.

“You have no idea.” Andy only smirked as he went back to work and the two of them stayed like that for the rest of the period.


Fate was a twisted bitch and she was only going to get worse…

Notes