Competition between Friends

Chapter 1 – Memories

Authors note.

Hey this is a joint fan fiction, the story idea was Adventuremaker16's and I put it down on paper filling in the cracks of the story. So credit goes to both of us. Enjoy the tale.

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The beep of the alarm clock blared through the room, causing the girl beside it to groan in annoyance, why did school have to start so early? Her mass of red hair flowed around her as she leaned over and slammed her hand on top of the alarm turning it off. She rolled back onto her back and opened her eyes to stare at the ceiling trying to push away the wave of sleepiness.

"Bloom you better get up, or you are going to be late for your first lesson with Griselda" Flora spoke softly as she climbed out of bed and made her way towards the two's on-suite bathroom to get ready for the day ahead.

"Ok ok I'm getting up" Bloom grumbled from her bed at the nature fairies words.

"You better be out of that bed by the time I get back"

"Or what?" Bloom challenged her head still under the covers

"Or you will regret it" Flora whispered into Blooms ear causing the girl to jump.

Flora laughed and once again made her way towards the on-suite to wash up for the day, Bloom grumbled in response and settling back into the covers, she led in bed listening to the sound of the shower going. After ten minutes the shower stopped and Bloom took that as her cue to get out of bed and to get ready for the day. While she waited for the on-suite to become free Bloom got her clothes ready to change into after her shower.

Just then the bathroom door opened and Flora walked out wrapped in a towel, and noticed that Bloom was indeed out of bed and getting ready for the day ahead, causing a smile to appear on her face. "The shower is free if you want to grab a quick one," Flora spoke as she sat on her bed and began to dry her legs with the end of the towel.

"Thanks Flora, if I'm longer than fifteen minutes will you knock on the door and let me know please?" Bloom asked as she grabbed her towel and made her way over to the on-suite.

"Of course I will Bloom" Flora replied with a smile as she continued with her task.

Bloom made her way into the bathroom and undressed before turning on the shower and stepping into the hot shower of the water. Gasping slightly as the water trickled through her fiery red hair and down her back releasing all her stress from her limbs. She rested her head against the tiles of the wall the coldness a complete opposite to the hot water, with little effort she grabbed her bottle of shampoo and washed her hair. A knock at the door startled the fairy and a voice called through the door, "Bloom it's been fifteen minutes"

"Thank you Flora, I will be out in a minute"

"You're welcome sweetie"

Bloom smiled turning off the shower and drying herself with her towel before leaving the shower and heading back into her dorm room, Flora was now sat at her desk dressed and ready for the day ahead. "Did you enjoy your shower?" the nature fairy asked softly.

"I did thank you Flora" Bloom replied as she started to dry her skin and to get dressed, she couldn't be bothered to do her makeup by hand so she used a quick spell to get everything looking right.

Finally happy with the way she looked Bloom stood and started to make her way out of the room closely followed by her nature loving friend, meeting the other girls in the lounge waiting for them. "At last Bloom, what took so long? We have been waiting forever." Stella moaned as she put her magazine down.

"Sorry Stella, but this is coming from you, most of the time it is you we are waiting for" Bloom replied causing Stella to huff lightly.

"Anyway, why are you late this morning?" Tecna asked a little concerned for her friend. Bloom sighed and hugged her body with her arms.

"I had a dream…"

"A nightmare?" Flora asked softly as she sat down on a spare seat.

"No just a dream that brought back a lot of memories" Bloom noticed the prying looks of the girls, "and no I don't want to talk about it now, maybe later" She replied satisfying the girls.

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It was now lunch time and all of the girls was sat outside on the grass enjoying the day's warm weather, and the suns ray's. The conversation varied from fashion and what the girls had planned for the weekend, but soon enough it was time for class again and the girls walked towards the greenhouse for their herb lesson, one which Stella detested and Flora loved.

Stella was sat next to Bloom throughout the lesson and she could not figure out how to start a conversation so she just spoke. "Bloom, are you okay? And don't lie to me." she asked softly. Bloom sighed softly.

"It's nothing Stella?"

"Bloom don't lie to me, I can see something is bothering you, and if you don't want to tell me please talk to one of the other girls or someone, please you are my friend and I hate seeing you like this." Stella begged softly.

"Fine I will talk to someone happy?" Bloom answered trying to get off the topic.

"No I won't be happy until you have spoken to someone, but it's a start." Stella replied smiling softly.

Bloom couldn't help but smile at how much her friend cared for her, she was happy she agreed to come to Alfea and experience this whole new world.

Flora was sat at the front of the class but had still heard what her two friends had just discussed thanks to her vine plants that surrounded the greenhouse, a smile grew on her face as she continued to copy the work that was on the board. Flora knew that Bloom was hiding something from the group, numerous times the red headed fairy had woken her in the night by her sleep talking, and though she was worried for her friend, she never brought it up hoping that eventually Bloom would talk about it without any prompts.

Soon enough the class ended and so did the school day, the girls gladly made their way back to their dorm room and crashed on the couch sighing gladly that the day was over. "I am so glad that the day is over I really need to rest" Stella moaned as she dragged her tired legs through corridor after corridor until they reached their dorm room.

"Stella, it was only classes' not some trek around the world." Musa replied.

"I think I would prefer the trek, I mean imagine how many shops you will pass." Stella's comment caused the group to sigh with smiles on their faces.

Hours passed and the girls had retired to their own rooms for the night, Stella reading her fashion magazines on her bed, Musa listening to her music player while Tecna surfed the web, Layla was servicing one of her many boards while Bloom and Flora was sat on their respective beds.

Bloom was just simply sat there, she stole a glance at Flora once and again watching as she wrote in her notepad, no-one knew what was in that note pad apart from Helia and he wasn't talking. Bloom knew she had to talk to someone about her dreams, and she knew deep down that Flora was the best option, she would never judge, and was always the one for good advice and just someone to listen to your daily rants. She never turned anyone away.

Bloom took one deep breath before talking, "Flora, can we talk?" The nature fairy turned around to face Bloom a smile on her face.

"Of course we can." Flora replied as she put her notepad away and walking over to sit next to her friend. "What do you want to talk about hun?"

Now that Flora was ready for Bloom to talk, Bloom didn't know what to say and how to start. "I don't know what to say" Bloom sighed softly as she started at the ground. Flora smiled softly.

"Well how about you start with your dreams" Flora suggested softly causing Bloom to look at her in shock.

"How do you know…" but before Bloom could continue Flora explained.

"Bloom you talk in your sleep, I never mentioned it before because I didn't want to intrude, but now it seems that those dreams are affecting you. We just want to help Bloom, don't push us away."

Bloom looked at the nature fairy in shock, she talked in her sleep? "Well what have you heard?" Bloom asked slightly concerned at just how much Flora had heard.

"I only hear what you say out loud, just simple words mostly."

"Oh"

"Bloom do you want to talk about it?"

The dragon flame fairy sighed, "It's a long story"

"We have time"

"Back when I lived on earth, I was one of those kids that was a loner, I had no friends, spent the entire school day by myself while being teased by the popular kids. When I was twelve my parents decided to send me to summer camp to get me some confidence and hopefully some friends."

"So what happened at camp?" Flora asked softly as she placed a hand on her friends shoulder.

Bloom took a deep breath before continuing, "Well I went to camp and ended up sharing a cabin with a bunch of the popular kids. It was just like being back at school again. I done numerous activities, swimming, arts and crafts, and martial arts. I was pretty good. About a week in I met this boy called Spencer and we became close friends, we done everything together, activities and eating lunch." Bloom couldn't help but laugh lightly at the memory.

Flora smiled which encouraged the fairy to continue "But summer soon ended and we returned home and I never really saw him again, we kept in contact through email but it's not the same. As soon as I got back home the teasing started again and I became the person I was before I went."

"I'm so sorry to hear that Bloom, but the past is the past, he was a good friend of yours"

"He was more than just a friend, he was my first crush." The nature fairy's eyes widened in shock

"You loved him"

"Yes I did"

The nature fairy did not know what to say, it all made sense now, it hurt her so much that she knew her friend was hurting and there was nothing to do to ease her pain. After all emotional pain is harder to heal than physical. Without saying a word Flora pulled Bloom into a hug allowing her to let everything out on to her shoulder. "I'm so sorry Bloom, love can be harsh, but we learn from it" Flora whispered as she gently stroked her hair.

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The rest of the girls was sat in the living room watching the television, their eyes were on the screen but their minds were on their two friends in the room. Stella was happy that Bloom was finally talking to someone about what was on her mind, even if it wasn't her.

But it seemed like it had been hours since the two of them started to talk in the bedroom, time just went so slowly and painfully, but deep down they had a feeling that things were about to get worse.

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The wind blew slightly causing his hair to tickle his face as it blew against it, with a heavy sigh he leaned on the railings of the balcony. "I will be there soon, you won't be alone for much longer." He whispered to himself. With a smile on his face he looked down at the photograph in his hands, it was his favourite one. He couldn't control himself as tears began to fall down his face, his eyes focusing on the picture in his hair.

He watched the picture in silence as a tear rolled down the red hair on the photograph, "soon we will see each other again"