A/N: Hey! Update for Epic Fail, coming through! I wonder if anyone actually reads these things, anyway. Do you? Yes, yes, I think you do. Maybe. Possibly. Probably. Not. Not? Okay, now I've just confused myself….. Anyway, thanks sooo much for your reviews! Y'all make me feel so special inside! ;D Anyway, in two reviews, we will have 17 reviews! Woo-hoo! (17 is my Volleyball number =) ) 17th reviewer gets a special prize!
I don't own PJO.
Lilah's P.O.V.
The day of the contest came much too quickly. It had only been a week since Ray-Ray, Adam, and I signed up, and somehow I'd managed to keep my little flower alive, but barely.
I'd decided to grow a Foxglove plant for the contest. It was a light shade of violet, and was about 7 inches tall. I was actually pretty proud of that little plant, considering my not-so-pleasant history with growing things. I was excited, mostly because I wasn't even sure if a Foxglove was even supposed to grow that tall.
I'd carefully planted that plant in a light green pot with a black cursive L on it, standing for Lilah. I watered and weeded , spending lots of time on my plant.
I'm not sure exactly how the weeds kept growing; But then again, I was planting, so, I guess that's just my luck.
I found the Foxglove seed in the very back of the skinny gardening closet in the hall near my room. A long time ago, my dad had thought I would enjoy planting all kinds of things. Flowers, trees, bushes, you name it, my dad had all of the supplies to grow it in the closet. We called it the planting closet, but I always tried my best to stay away from it.
/F/L/A/S/H/B/A/C/K-O/N/E/W/E/E/K/
When Ray-Ray, Adam, and I got home last week, we headed straight for it, they, excitedly, me, reluctantly. Plants are not my specialty, obviously.
Adam grabbed a stool and Ray-Ray pulled the dirty, dingy string attached to a tiny light bulb in order to literally shed some light on the situation. I got on the stool and found myself face to face with the very top shelf, where we keep all the seeds. I pushed away cans of water-holding crystals and Insto-Fertilizer! To a brown basket filled to the brim with seed packets and boxes. I sifted through them. Sunflowers, Begonias, Tulips. No, no, and no.
"Um…how about…..Daisies?" I called down. Ray-Ray wrinkled her nose.
"No, too girly." She replied.
"Uh…Roses? Petunias? Poppies?" I asked.
"No, no, and what-ies?" Adam called back.
I smiled a bit and leafed through the rest. Nothing sounded good. The closest thing I found that I even remotely considered was a pack of orange Tiger Lilies.
"Hey! Tiger Lilies!" I'd announced. Ray-Ray had clapped her hands and Adam said "Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner!" Then I pulled out the packet, only to find it completely empty. My face fell, and I dropped it.
"Never mind. Scratch that." I said, feeling disappointed.
There were a bunch of random, assorted seeds at the bottom of the basket, and a couple shredded unidentifiable packets, but those obviously wouldn't work.
I was about to give up, and I began to put the seed packets I'd taken out back in the basket, when in the process, my elbow hit a packet of Daffodil seeds. The packet slid across the shelf to the very back. It hit the back wall, then promptly slid down the slot of empty space between the back wall and the shelf, and all. The. Way. To. The. Bottom. Of. The. Closet.
See, a few years ago, Ray-Ray was staying the night and Adam was over. Suddenly, a noise came from the closet. At the time, we weren't scaredy-cats and when I went to inspect the closet, I opened the door and a giant dog with red eyes growled at me. I slammed the door, screamed, than ran to my room. Very heroic.
Now, I cried "Nooo!", reaching out theatrically.
"What? What?" Ray-Ray demanded. "What happened?"
"A pack of Daffodils slid down." I said.
"Down where?" Adam inquired.
"Down…to the bottom of the closet." I said gravely. I hopped of the stool and pushed it towards Adam. "Take this." I said.
I bent down in order to go into the closet. Ray-Ray grabbed my arm, stopping me.
"Don't go in there." Her eyes widened in fear.
"I have to." I said evenly. I wished I could turn around and run into my room. I wished I didn't have to go in there. That's where the psycho dog came from. But I couldn't. I had to go down and retrieve the daffodil seeds. They were my dad's favorite, and he looked forward to planting a pack every year. He would be needing them before long.
"If you don't make it out….know that I'll miss you. You're my best friend." Ray-Ray said, pulling me into a hug.
"Hey! What about me?" Adam cried.
We both looked at him. "Your like…our sidekick. Ya know, Catwoman and Wonder Woman, best friends forever, and Robin, the little tag-along." Ray-Ray said.
"Robin?" He protested. "He's lame! Plus, he's Batman's sidekick."
"Well, Batman and Catwoman broke up and Catwoman got custody of the little kid, Robin."
"That doesn't even make sense!"
By now I'd had enough. I slid out of Ray-Ray's embrace and got down on my knees, crawling into the closet. I pushed past giant watering cans, bags of potting soil, big clay pots, and giant tubs of weed-killer.
I slid past the obstacles towards the back of the closet. My body disappeared from sight. I was entirely in the bottom of the closet. It was dark and dank. I reached my hand out, feeling around. Eventually, my hand made contact with the base board. I pulled myself closer to find a seed packet lodged in between the wall and baseboard.
I quickly reached out and snatched it up. I was about to crawl back out of the creepy closet when another seed packet lodged in the base board caught my eye.
I curiously reach out and grabbed it, too. FOXGLOVE, I barely made out the plant name in the dark. "Huh." It sounded cool. I almost knew it was my plant.
/E/N/D/O/F/F/L/A/S/H/B/A/C/K/
I was supposed to meet Ray-Ray and Adam at our usual spot, with my plant, before the big contest. I tied my hair up in a high ponytail with a big red ribbon, grabbed my plant, slipped on my pair of white Keds, which I used for 'dirty work', and headed downstairs.
At the bottom of the stairs, I remembered the big fight about a week ago. I shuddered, recalling Randy's serious, hateful look and my dad's furious tone and expression. I hadn't seen Randy since, and on the scarce times I saw my dad, I didn't have the courage to ask him where he was.
On the night of the fight, I'd laid in my bed and wondered what I could've possibly done wrong to anger my friend. Then realization hit me, and I knew Randy wasn't my friend. He never was. My only human best friends were Ray-Ray and Adam.
And for some reason, I didn't even tell them about the fight. Or that my dad was practically M.I.A. I'm not sure why I didn't, and I knew I should, but I couldn't ever find the right moment to tell them.
I sauntered into the kitchen and poured myself a glass of Apple Juice. I stood in silence, gulping the juice down, staring at the framed picture of a cross-stitched chicken pulling loaves of bread out of the oven. I polished of my juice and put it in the dish washer.
I slipped on my jean jacket and pushed the back sliding door open. I stepped out, the slightly-chilly wind softly blowing my ponytail to the side. I closed the door and pulled my jacket tighter.
Stiffly, I walked across the green grass to the horse stables. The door creaked as I pushed it open. I scanned the horses, noting that Topher, my dad's horse, was gone. So was Makayla. Baby Cakes was gone, too, leaving only Ginger and Xavier. Puzzled I patted Ginger. "What's going on, girl?" I asked her.
She snorted, as if she understood me and was trying to answer. With a sigh, I saddled her up, gave her a small sugar cube, and led her outside, out to the long dirt-and-rocks driveway.
I swung my leg over her flank, than pulled myself up straight. "C'mon, girl. Let's go see Adam and Ray-Ray." I flicked the reins, and we were off.
I pushed her hard, not wanting to repeat the time I met that snake. I carefully clutched the small green pot to my chest and Ginger barreled down the long, deserted, dusty road.
We galloped and galloped, for a mile or so, before I allowed the horse to slow down. I sat on guard as we passed the spot where the snake tried to kill me.
"Just keep going. Just keep going." I soothed. I'm still not quite sure who I was soothing- Me or Ginger.
We reached the market without incident. I slipped off of Ginger and tied her to a post, giving her a carrot to munch on. I clutched the Foxglove and weaved around people, trying to get to the far side of the market.
I hurried along, ignoring greetings, compliments, and advertisements from my vendor-friends. I pushed through a few more people and was relived to see that Ray-Ray and Adam were sitting on a log, chatting animatedly.
"Hey guys. Sorry I'm late." I flopped down next to them on the log.
"Let me see it. How's it looking?" Adam said with a smile, his arms outstretched. I handed him the Foxglove.
"She's doing good." I answered, swelling with pride. I had managed not to kill it.
Yet.
"Did I miss anything?" I asked Ray-Ray. She shook her head.
"Nope. Robin here just was telling me about his lame-o adventures in the Batcave."
Adam handed the plant back to me and groaned. "Quit calling me Robin! He's so lame! Unlike what I was telling you about, which was really how I totally made creamed corn out of my brothers in the Farm Games." He said. The Farm Games was a series of events that have to do with farming that Adam and his two older brothers, Ricky and Ron, competed in. Adam's parents created them to help their sons with the farming. They also had a 'Princess Show' for Adam's younger sister, Amy, who was 5. She just showed off all her skills for her parents.
"Cool." I smiled at him. I knew he loved to beat his older brothers at anything and everything: Farming, Kickball, and even Checkers. The only thing he was terrible at (and therefore beaten by his brothers) was academics. He was clever, but not smart. He was also Dyslexic, like me.
Ray-Ray rolled her eyes and stood up. "Let's go win us a competition!" She said, taking the Foxglove from me. Together we all got up and made out way over to the "playing court", a small empty lot where kids played some sports during the market, where the competition would be held.
The moment we signed in, I knew we were in trouble. My little 7 inch Foxglove was nothing compared to the massive displays of flowers around the court. Murphy was rotating his big pot of Daises around, so that the painted-on bow on the pot was facing the front. Ruby was re-arranging a giant spray of assorted, beautiful flowers in a crystal vase.
Adam and Ray-Ray followed my gaze.
"Holy shit." Adam muttered, scanning the area. Then he glanced at the tiny pot in my hand.
"Oh…wow." For once, Ray-Ray was at loss for words.
I scrambled around for something to say. "Well, um, at least I didn't kill it! I mean, I actually grew something! That's a victory in itself!" I smiled, nudging them in a pitiful attempt to lift their spirits. Adam chuckled and Ray-Ray managed a small smile, that, thankfully, reached her eyes.
Together, we walked around the brilliant displays to a small empty space on the side. A very low stool was set up in out space, but it was big enough to serve as a table for my plant. I set my pot down and turned away. I rubbed my eyes and waited for the contest to begin.
I watched as Spud, an all-brown, very old beagle, trot by. He was Mrs. Kiskos' dog, and everyone at the market knew him. He was the 'market dog', and everybody treated him nicely.
I turned my attention to the only place where I wouldn't see the plants that put my hard work to shame: The ground in front of my. I watched a ladybug scuttle by. I shuddered; I hated ladybugs.
Suddenly, I felt hot breath on the back of my calf. I whirled around to see Spud nibbling on my Foxglove plant. He had eaten two of the big bells at the bottom. "No! Shoo! I don't need you making me look worse!" I swatted him away.
Ray-Ray wrinkled her forehead in concern. "How much did he eat? How bad is it?" She asked.
"Only two of the bell-shaped petals at the very bottom. If we turn it just so, we should be fine." I assured her.
Adam let out a sigh of relief. "Good." We all turned back towards the center of the court, where Mrs. Kiskos was slowly making her way, not thinking much of it. Big mistake.
Everyone knew I couldn't grow a weed if my life depended on it. I was notorious for my loathing of all things flowery, and my inability to grow anything. So imagine everyone's faces when Mrs. Kiskos called my name, asking me to come forward and show everyone my creation.
Benson, a guy who sold chickens, had just finished showing off his giant Chrysanthemum display, and Adam, Ray-Ray, and I knew that comparing his large plant to mine, we would be the laughingstock of the market. But it was to late to back out now.
I grabbed my plant and slowly trudged to the middle of the court, where everyone was anxiously watching. Slowly, I carefully held out my little Foxglove flower.
Upon seeing it, I felt myself smile, despite it's size. I had grown something. Successfully. Of course, I heard a few snickers and uncomfortable coughs from the crowd, but then, to my amazement, Murphy began to clap. Then Ruby. Then Benson. Soon, everyone was clapping. I smiled and held it into the air like a sports trophy. I'd done it. I knew I hadn't won, but, I'd grown something. By myself.
Mrs. Kiskos knew my reputation as well, and after politely clapping, she asked me to tell everyone what I'd grown.
"I've grown a Foxglove." I announced proudly. More clapping. Mrs. Kiskos gave a small chuckle
"A poisonous plant. Sort of ironic, huh?" She asked me with a nudge. It was ironic because some people joked that I had a poison touch- every plant I touch, I kill.
I managed a small laugh. I hadn't known that Foxglove was poisonous. "Um, yeah." I looked at my plant, trying to replace the small seed of doubt growing in my stomach with a burst of pride.
But, right after I had laid my eyes on it, it began to turn a dusty brown color. Then it shrunk, starting at the top. Then, one by one, the little bell-shaped petals fell off.
Yes, my prized flower had wilted once I looked at it.
The clapping slowly died down as everyone watched it. Soon, there was no clapping at all, and the snickers turned to all-out laughs.
Humiliated, I dropped the pot as if it were on fire. It dropped to the ground and shattered at my feet. I ran over to my friends, who were waiting for me.
"Let's get outta here." Adam said, slinging his arm over my shoulders.
"Yeah, screw 'em." Ray-Ray said as we began to walk away.
Then, a shout stopped us dead in our tracks.
"Spud! Spud! Somebody help him!"
We all whirled around to see a cluster of people gathering around something on the ground. "Spud! My baby!" Mrs. Kiskos cried, shoving her way through the crowd with her bony, elderly hands.
The crowd broke and Adam, Ray-Ray and I saw Mrs. Kiskos bend down and lovingly stroke her beloved dog, who was lying on the ground.
Then, with a final breath, Spud closed his eyes.
"No!" Mrs. Kiskos cried, tears streaming down her wrinkled, withered face. She threw herself over the dog's limp body. "Why?"
Ray-Ray, Adam, and I stared. Finally, Ray-Ray whispered what we were all thinking: "Poisonous."
A/N: Ta-da! So, what do you think? Yes, poor Lilah had a terrible day: Her prized plant wilted when she looked at it, She didn't win the big competition, and she should really learn to read the warnings on plant seed packets- She killed Spud, a beloved dog, with her poisonous plant. And yes, they are pretty, but Foxglove can actually kill some animals and small children, if ingested. Yes, I actually did some research for this chapter! That's probably why it was the longest so far, and I think personally, the best.
Poor Lilah- At least it didn't catch fire!
MY PLAYLIST FOR THIS CHAPTER:
1. Heavy in Your Arms- Florence + The Machine
2. Uh Oh- Junior Doctor
3. Tonight Tonight- Hot Chelle Rae
4. The Show Goes On- Lupe Fiasco
5. Hello Hello- Elton John and Lady GaGa
Well, until next time!
Read on and Rock out,
NinjaNakkiOfCabin11