The Flower Garden
"Alright guys, today is the day. Last week you received back your career aptitude tests and today, you will all present your speeches about how the results differ from your chosen career path and how you plan to successfully get qualified to get your dream jobs."
Crap, crap, crappity, crap. I totally forgot to do my damn assignment, I haven't prepared anything at all.
"I will randomly draw your names out of my hat, come up when you are called." The teachers pasty hand shuffles around his baseball cap and comes out with a white rectangle. "First up, Jessica."
My buxom friend stands up, her chest as far out as she can possibly push it and struts up the front of the room. She hasn't really told me what she has chosen to write, but judging from this display, it will be good.
"My fellow classmates. When I grow up, I wish to be a lady of the night. I'm pretty sure I don't need an education for that, but I need to do something to fill my time until I am of legal age, hence why I am here with all you losers. Thank you."
Mr. Banner's chin is on the floor in shock as Jessica walks past him and returns to her seat. Seriously, surely he couldn't be that shocked, we all saw something like that coming.
He shakes his shock away and draws the next name out of the hat. "Lauren."
I don't really like Lauren and I don't expect great things from her speech. See, this class is filled up with two kinds of people, the simple and the ones that don't care… Lauren cares. She rises from her seat, so I tear a piece of paper from my unused book and start making a small list of bullet-points I need to convey in my speech.
"Thank you Lauren. Next is… Eric."
Eric is a conundrum to me, he is clever, and he isn't careless or a smart ass, so his presence is confusing.
He was in the front row already, so he only takes three steps to make his speech. "My parents say I am good for nothing and will accumulate to nothing, so I figure I don't really need to do anything at all, something is a step up from nothing so… whatever."
I don't know whether he is joking or not, but it would explain his presence. I clap anyway, even if it was the truth, it still takes guts to speak publicly.
"Isabella."
Damn! I walk up the front, beaming brightly. "Well, I have always wanted several things out of life, so picking one was hard. Firstly, I wanted the simple life. Living out in the sticks, far away from society's bullshit and the stink of people. But I also want to be a chemist, there is just a raw truth in the makeup of everything. So then, it hit me; I'll do both. I'm going to be a poppy farmer and harvest my own crops, then use my chemistry knowledge to process my product." My smile beams brightly and proudly. "The first step is easy enough, finish my schooling and study chemistry at college. The second step, buy a good property with rich, fertile soil. Simple."
I walk back to my seat, Mr Banner offering me a disparaging look on the way.
"Tyler."
"My uncle is going to give me a job and train me when I leave school… he owns a butchery." He nods, then returns to his seat.
"Jasper."
The Texan walks up the front with his usual limp. "Well, my daddy always said, that if you do what you love, then you will never work a day in your life. So I thought to myself 'what do I love?' The question brought on a whole big list of the things I hate and only a few I love. I then spent hours and hours trying to figure what possible career could involve my list and I finally come up with an answer. I will be a spy, preferably one of the James Bond variety. I'll get to have frequent sex with beautiful women, I'll get to kill people without consequences and I get to drive cool cars and shit. So in order to achieve such a task, I'll first display my marksmanship by shooting as many people as I can, sleeping with as many women as I can and also leading police on wild car chases at high speeds to prove my superior driving ability." His face remains stoic and serious as he nods his head toward the teacher and takes his seat once again.
"Emmett." Mr. Banner sighs.
The bear goes up the front and beams brightly. "Well, I had my whole speech prepared and everything, but Jasper's sounds pretty good."
"You have to present something Emmett, I need to give you a grade for this."
"Alright then." He starts pulling open a scrunched up piece of paper and smooths it out. "I want to be spiderman when I leave school. I plan to achieve this by exposing a large variety of spiders to radiation, then letting them all bite me." He walks back to his seat with a beaming, proud smile.
As much as I'd love to stick around for more amusing speeches, my boredom and impatience take precedence. I sling my bag over my shoulder and start for the door.
"Where are you going Miss Swan?" Mr. Banner asks.
"Anywhere but here."
"You just can't leave whenever you feel like it, go to the office now." Sounding like a broken record.
"Okay." Of course, I have no intention of doing so.
I look to the timetable I wrote on my wrist earlier in the day and see that I only have PE after a free, a complete waste of my time. I head for the car park instead of the cafeteria, I'd rather be home.
I jump in the large bulbous rusted truck and kick it over… or at least try to. A small click is the only sound coming from the beast, it isn't even winding. With a sigh, I jump out, leaving my bag behind and start the monotonous trek home. It's a good thing I'm leaving early.
The moist ground squelches beneath my boots and the sky cries sadly on my hair. Crunching of gravel approaches from behind me, so I move further away from the road. It's not that I think that anyone is out to get me, it's just that I don't trust anyone, especially with my life.
The car approaches, then slows to a crawl beside me. I clutch the handle of my pocketknife with my left hand inside my jacket pocket and brace myself for the lolly-giving fucker that creeps beside young girls.
"Want a lift?" Except the tone doesn't belong to that of a snake, it is rather a familiar one… one I heard not five minutes ago.
"I'm not in the habit of accepting ride's from strangers, but thanks."
"C'mon Bells, we're not strangers, let us give you a lift home." Emmett says.
"You don't even know where I live," I state bluntly.
"Everyone knows where the Chief lives," Alice interjects from the back seat.
"Wrong," I say and swing left around a corner.
"What do you mean 'wrong'?" Alice asks.
"I mean, I visit Charlie frequently, but I don't live there."
"Oh… do you live with your mother?"
"Do you always ask inappropriate questions?" I counter.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to pry." Alice sits back into the seat and slouches her shoulders.
"We're just going to follow you the whole way anyway, so you might as well just get in." Jasper points out.
"Seriously?" He nods in reply. "Okay, so here's the deal. I don't want anyone to know anything about me or where I'm going, so if you all have any hope of getting any further, I'll need some dirt on all of you."
I lean on my right leg and cross my arms and wait.
"Jasper is adopted," Rosalie hollers from the back seat.
I roll my eyes and scoff. "No shit, what else you got."
"We're really century-old vampires," Emmett offers.
"Something believable," I counter.
"Our house doesn't have a legal permit to be built where it is," Edward gives up.
"Edward!" They all scold in unison.
"Good enough." I squish in the backseat of the hatchback with the other three occupants and direct Emmett where to drive.
I lead them through some back roads and finally to my place.
"So what's the story with this place? Is it really yours?" Alice asks in wonder as she inspects the my homestead.
"Yes, my grandparents left this place to me when they passed. They couldn't trust Renee with it, so… yeah."
A silence sweeps over us, so I take the opportunity to address the elephant in my flower garden. "Okay, so as I said before everything you all see here stays with you all. Okay?" They all nod. "I'm not legally emancipated, which is why all of my forms and identification say I live with Charlie, but I actually spend most of my time here."
"Do you mind if we chill here for a while? We can't actually go home until we're supposed to… our mother has the day off." Rosalie asks.
"Fine, but I have shit to do, so don't expect me to be too chatty"
"Need a hand with anything?" Edward asks on behalf of the group.
I contemplate denying the offer, but decide to accept anyway. "Yeah, do you all know what weeds look?" They nod disparagingly. "Right then, follow me."
I lead them all around the back of my house and stop them just before my destination. "I repeat, not a single word or youse will have bigger problems then illegal housing permits." Again, they nod except Emmett who zips his mouth shut. I wave them through some double doors and follow them inside. The lights are on inside, just as they should be and the temperature is considerably warmer than outside.
"Whoa…" Emmett says.
"You're fucking crazy," Rosalie adds.
"Holy fucking shit, you weren't even joking, were you?" Jasper asks.
"Probably." I reply noncommittally. "Alright, pull out anything that doesn't belong."
"Alright, but I just want to know, do you use?" Edward the brave.
"Of course not, I'm no fucking junkie."
"You just have no problem supplying the weak? Do you have any idea how many peoples lives are ruined by this shit? How many people die?" Rosalie snaps at me fiercely.
"Ha! Do I look like I give a flying fuck? If some junkie wants to jab toxic shit in his arm, let him. I'm getting rich out of his stupidity. Are we going to have problems?"
"No, we're not. She's cool, aren't you Rosalie?" She just nods at Alice.
They start gently sifting through my beautiful flower garden, pulling out anything foreign in the process. I however, get my soil sampling kit and test the soil in several spots throughout my greenhouse. All is still good, so I check my timers, they all proving to be good still.
"You guys want something to eat or drink?" They haven't finished, but that matters little, I can finish the rest tomorrow.
"Sure." They all follow me and I lead them inside my house. The decor is all rustic and raw, nearly everything in here has been handmade by my grandparents. I have never felt any need to modernise the house, never will either. It feels homey and bears many great memories for me.
"This place is beautiful Bella, I can see why you like to spend so much time here." Jasper says.
"Thanks," I mumble.
I get them a can of soda each and empty a bag of chips into a ceramic bowl for everyone to munch on.
"I'm still in shock about the crop, I've never seen anything like it." Edward announces.
"It's just a flower garden dude, surely you've seen flowers en masse before."
"It's not the flowers, it's what they become. I've never even seen a marijuana plant before."
"Actually, you have," Jasper counters.
"Where?"
"Haven't you ever wondered why Esme's tomato plants never actually grows tomatoes."
"My life is a lie…" Edwards replies shocked.
"Ha! Your mother is a stoner?" I ask, somewhat amused.
"I just thought the cold weather stunted their growth or something." Edward mumbles in shock.
"No, nothing like that. A family friend of ours is terminal and Esme supplies him for medicinal purposes. She doesn't like to see her friend in pain and suffering, so that is how she helps." Rosalie replies solemnly.
I choose not to respond, the subject is too depressing to linger on to.
"So is that what you call it? Your little flower garden?" Alice asks.
"Yep."
A/N: SO I HOPE YOU WEREN'T HOPING FOR SOME SORT OF LOVE STORY WHERE TRAGEDY STRIKES AND BELLA IS HAULED OFF TO JAIL OR MAYBE BELLA FINALLY SEES THE ERROR OF HER WAYS AND THERE'S A BIG FAT HEA FOR ALL OR SOMETHING. I STATED PREVIOUSLY SOMEWHERE THAT I HAVE GIVEN UP DOING LONG ASS STORIES, I NEVER SEEM TO BE ABLE TO FINISH THEM. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE A LENGTHY ELABORATE STORY, THEN I'M AFRAID YOU WILL HAVE TO WRITE IT YOURSELF :D. MY APOLOGIES REGARDLESS, I JUST DON'T WANT TO LEAVE YOUSE HANGING FOR A STORY THAT MAY NEVER GET FINISHED. SHORT STORIES APPEAR TO SUIT ME BETTER, SO I WILL JUST STICK TO THEM.