Far And Away.

The next morning Flora woke up feeling exhausted. She hadn't gotten a wink of sleep. Flora tossed, and turned all night long. She was honestly terrified of what today may bring. A lot of harassing was in store, that's for sure. But with Andy-Flora had no idea what was going to happen.

She hoisted herself out of bed, and walked to her closet. She pulled a pair of jeans, and an Alkaline Trio shirt out of it. Then, she walked into her bathroom and turned the shower on.
As she waited for the water to heat up, she looked at herself in the mirror. She had bags underneath her eyes and her skin looked pale, and tired.

Flora shook her head at herself, and hopped in the shower. She washed away all of the grime from a restless sleep, and washed her hair with her duo of mint shampoo and conditioner. She stayed in the shower for a good twenty minutes, thinking.

Should she be nicer to Andy? Was he going to be nicer to her?

These thoughts flew through Flora's mind all morning long, until she found herself walking down to the bus stop. She prayed Andy wouldn't be there but- unlike yesterday- he was standing by the big red stop sign, headphones in ears. She slipped her phone out of her pocket, and popped her own ear buds in. She noticed that Andy kept sneaking glances over at her.

Finally, the bus stopped in front of them. Andy gestured for her to get on before him, causing Flora to roll her eyes- guess she wasn't being nice today.

She sat down in the last seat, threw her bag on the floor, and leaned against the window. All of the sudden, the weight shifted on the seat. Flora took her ear bud out, hoping it wasn't who she thought it was.

Much to her dismay, it was the back haired- blue eyed devil. "Hey." He said, a small smirk on his lips.

"Hey." Flora said, looking down at her lap. She went through her playlist, settling on a Mayday Parade song. She noticed Andy's eyes looking at her phone. "Looking at something?"

"Who is Mayday Parade?" He asked, wrinkling his nose.

"They're like a pop punk band." She muttered.

"I see." He said.

"Your really not into pop punk are you?" Flora chuckled.

"Not really." He laughed.

"Well what are you listening too?" She raised an eyebrow. He pressed the home button on his iPod, and tilted the screen towards her- AFI.

"Good band." Flora mused.

"They are." Andy nodded, thankful they were having a conversation that didn't consist of them throwing insults at each other. "Listen, I'm really sorry for what I said yesterday."

"I know.." Flora looked up at him, and he nodded. "My mom told me."

"I get it if you don't want to forgive me." He sighed. Flora stared at him for a moment- was she really about to do this?

She huffed loudly, "I do forgive you, Andy. I was being a bitch. I shouldn't have made fun of you.."

"Trust me, I've gotten worse." Andy chuckled. Flora's eyes widened at his words.

"People b-bully you?" She asked.

"Yeah," Andy laughed breathily, "In every school I've been in. Part of the reason I acted out."

"Wow, you just look so intimidating, I assumed people left you alone." Flora admitted.

"Nah, I wish honestly." He bit his lip ring.

"Me too." Flora said, lapsing into a silence, until the bus parked right outside of the school. The people around her all stood up, and walked off. Her, and Andy did the same. They parted ways to go to their lockers, and of course, Constance was there, kissing Frankie.

"Seriously, Constance? Are we gonna do this again?" Flora groaned, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Nope," Frankie smiled, wickedly, and shoved Flora against the lockers. "Your going to fuck off, and let me kiss my girlfriend."

"I-" Flora was cut off.

"Hey, get the fuck off of her!" She heard a deep voice yell. It was Andy, of course. He ripped Frankie off of Flora, and shoved him against the locker next to her. "If you ever touch her again, you have me to deal with, got it?"

A crowd had surrounded them now as Frankie just laughed, "I'm not afraid of some emo freak, and his bitch girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend," Andy rolled his eyes, "And she is definitely not a bitch."

Andy let go of the guy, and moved to Flora. "Thanks." She whispered, breathlessly.

"No problem, you didn't deserve that." The group around them dissipated, leaving Flora to collect her things from her locker.

"I'm used to it." She sighed, walking next to Andy.

"Well it's not going to happen anymore." Andy smiled.

Flora looked up at him, creasing her eyebrows. Did he think she needed him?

"Andy, I'm not a child, I can handle myself." She said.

"I know, I just want to protect you. I want to be your friend." He looked down at her, worriedly.

"It's hard for me to let people in after my dad." She shook her head.

"I'm not going to hurt you." Andy said, as they stopped outside of Flora's class.

"I know." She huffed, "It just might take some time."

"I've got a lot." Andy leaned against the wall.

Flora shook her head, laughing, "Alright, I'll see you later Andy."

Andy grinned, and walked to his class. The bell rang signaling he was going to be late-again-but he could care less. All he cared about was the first friend he'd made in the past three days.

Notes