Author's Note: Here's 31 of my 100 theme challege! Sorry about not posting: my Word Pad wouldn't let me save any of my stories that I've been doing, but here's one I finished! Also, please post in the poll about the song titles! Enjoy, and happy reading!
Chapter One: That One Flower
Haylie Anderson always loved sunflowers.
Maybe it was because the flower (like herself) had her personality:
Sunny, upbeat, and never frowning.
Of course, this was another one of her crazy antics: while girls prefered roses (white or red), or daises, she prefered the sunflower.
Once, she had her boyfriend, Ryan Evans, stop at a sunflower patch, and the small blonde got out, and started to run towards the flower patch with Ryan shaking his head and trying not to blush.
"Why can't you be like all other girls and accept a rose or a daisy?" Ryan asked, when she got back, and she was carrying a flower.
"Because drama-boy, I like to be different." was her reply.
Indeed, she did, and her antic of choosing sunflowers over roses and daises proved just that.
When the college was hosting a Flower Day (which was like the one they had back at the high school), they were giving out flowers, and Greg, one of Haylie and Ryan's new friends, was running the booth.
He beckoned her over, and Haylie smiled at him.
"Hey, Greg. What's up?" she asked, and Greg returned her smile.
"Don't tell anyone this--especially Ryan, he'd have my head--but, he's giving you a flower that you can't see here." Greg informed her, and Haylie raised an eyebrow.
Ryan was always doing stuff like this, so this didn't surprise her one bit.
"Oh, well...okay." Haylie explained, and Greg nodded.
"Remember, don't tell anyone."
Haylie quickly nodded, and headed off to her next class, thinking about it.
Of course, Ryan knew about her thoughts on Flower Day: she hate-loved it, depending on the situation. She loved it because now, she always got a flower, thanks to Ryan, and she hated it, because she always sees other girls not getting anything, not even a daisy.
"It's just a way for all the popular girls to get flowers from their boyfriends. It's just an excuse." she heard one girl tell her friend, and Haylie's insides flipped.
That's how she felt not so long ago: she always thought it was a popularity contest, untill Ryan gave her those seven roses.
"Yeah, I heard one girl got seven roses from her boyfriend because she got a dying flower one year from her ex-boyfriend. Unreal!" the second girl replied, and Haylie knew they were talking about her.
By the end of the day, she felt bad about the whole flower-giving and flower-getting.
When she got home, Ryan was sitting on the couch, reading something for Mr. Russo's class, and when he looked up, he grinned.
"Hey! I finally got your surprise from Greg. He dropped it off before he went back to his next class this morning."
He pulled out a bonquet of sunflowers, tied together with a pink ribbon, and Haylie just stood there, motionless.
"Ryan, don't give me that. Send it back." Haylie said, and the grin vanished from Ryan's face.
"Why? Don't you like it?" Ryan asked, and Haylie shook her head, walking over to the couch, and sitting down next to him.
"It's sweet, but..." Haylie trailed off, and Ryan nodded.
"But what?"
"I overheard some girls talking about me, and then I realized I became the thing I despite most on Flower Day: a girl who gets a flower, or flowers from her boyfriend." Haylie explained, and Ryan looked at her.
"Maybe so, but I got you these because I knew you liked them. I never wanted anyone to think differently of you because you got a bonquet from me. Besides, those girls are just jealous, and maybe at the time, that's what you were too, even though Connor gave you a dying flower, and you were jealous because other girls got prettier flowers than you did."
"I was not jealous, Ryan! Before I had Connor as boyfriend, I was one of those girls who didn't get a flower because I wasn't popular enough! That's why I feel terrible about this whole thing!" Haylie exclaimed, and before long, she was crying.
"And your upset about that?" Ryan asked, and Haylie wiped a tear from her cheek, and she nodded.
"Well, yeah. I mean, how would you like it if you didn't get a single flower on Flower Day? It's awful!" Haylie replied, and Ryan looked at her.
"It may be awful, but don't let those girls get you down. Just be happy that your always getting something." Ryan explained, giving her the sunflowers, and giving her a kiss on the cheek before standing up, and collecting his things.
When he was out of the room, Haylie looked at the sunflowers again, and she smiled for the first time that day.
She completely forgot about the events that happened that day, and it was all because of the sunflowers.