Chapter 1
The cool September breeze flitted against May's downturned face as she sat on the edge of the hill that faced the football field.
She sighed and daintily removed a stray crispy brown leaf that fell gently on her bangs. She wordlessly and defeatedly opened her hand and let the next breeze release it from her grip, almost as if it had already done enough by removing Drew's presence from her.
It had been a week since the confession, and despite what she expected would happen after all their time in friendship together, it hadn't happened. Her best friend opened the door in their friendship last Thursday, and had walked out wordlessly.
A cold manner from someone who only ever had the schoolwide reputation for being romantic and warm. She didn't understand the silence, but kept it only to herself. It was already enough watching him pull out of his driveway earlier than their usual time to drive to school together just as she brushed her hair after waking up for school.
She couldn't believe the scene unfolding in front of her eyes.
She watched as her green-haired best friend flicked his hair in that perfect angle of 54 degrees, oh so smoothly, yet oh so arrogantly. That arrogant flick of the wrist and the glossy green strands falling smoothly that she cringed at, but loved watching him do it… just secretly. She would never admit it in a million years unless it was in her secret locked journal under her mattress.
From her comfort place from the hill overlooking the football field, May watched in solitude and silence. She was relieved she was alone this afternoon, and no one bothered to notice her simmering in her own forlorn soup of an atmosphere under the shadow of this oak tree.
The green-haired heartthrob made and locked his eye contact with the naïve freshman girl who approached him, bold yet blushy, gutsy and gushy like an excited, cherry syrup-filled, sugar-dusted gummy bear. May had to admit she was quite cute, and had the aura of a typical new baby cheerleader at Petalburg High School.
Most likely, if May had to guess, it was a proposal to a homecoming date from one of the girls from the class below hers. May could not help but feel understanding, pity, jealousy, and sadness, all mixed into one symbolic bitter lollipop as she watched the next victim of Mr. Womanizer of Petalburg get her feelings shot down in the suavest way possible.
Another one.
She reminisced the days when Drew would be so open with his affection towards her. In middle school, she had thought it embarrassing and just a cheesy joke between two friends when Drew would crouch down on one knee and "fake propose" her with one of his fresh red roses from his parents' flower shop. Yet, now her heart strangely throbbed in a wistful and painful manner. If only she could be that girl now, because Drew had reached into his crossbody bag and pulled out a familiar flower to this fanatic freshman girl.
Another rose that was originally meant for her.
Her stomach churned as she watched that love interest do his usual routine of walking one and a half steps in front of the victim, pivot his lanky neck and face sideways, and raise a thumb and finger of his left hand in a farewell. That was now his new hand routine. Oh, and with an arrogant smirk, that smirk.
Another smirk that was only for the audience of one to see and receive, with her being the said special one.
She walked down to her car in the parking lot of Petalburg High School, fighting back tears. She missed her best friend walking next to her doing their after school routine like the way they used to. The way Drew would walk so close to her sometimes that their shoulders would rub, and she could get a soft whiff of the intoxicating scent of his cologne that was always mixed with the light dash of rose essence.
She missed it all. She really, really missed all of their memories together.
The junior opened up the door, swiftly got in, turned on the ignition, and bucked herself in record time as if her heart was a ticking time bomb that would shatter if her tears fell. She pulled out of her parking space with a shaky breath, and drove off of the campus in her beat-up gray car and picked up her phone in her right hand.
Time to call her other best friend.