The flower stood there, in the vase, mocking her.
Of course, being a flower it wasn’t really mocking her, but it felt like such a slap in the face after all.
He’d been, after all, the pursuer… The one who started the “cute yet slightly creepy” notes on her windshield.
“You look great in that pink shirt today”
“Hope that Zoology test wasn’t so hard… Did you remember the anterior and posterior sides of the bones?”
“You look funny looking around for me… I’m shy, that’s why you haven’t met me… Actually, you have met me… But I can’t really tell you the things I can tell you this way face to face…But you look freaked… So I’ll stop now”
The last one almost sent her running for the hills.
The next day came the flower… A fake one. The note with it said: “I know I said I’d stop… But I wanted to give you this, and though I know you don’t like them fake, I want this one to last until I’m brave enough to give you a real one”
She tried, hard, but her illusions were triggered. She looked at more people in the eyes, trying to see if she could read them… to see if any boys gave a special twinkle, meaning he was the one... or if any girl gave her a knowing / jealous look, to indicate that they knew who it was.
The next week after the notes, her car broke down, and while it was in the shop, she had to take the bus.
Of course, Murphy rules all, so on this one day, when she decided to wear one of her skirts to school… it rained. Worse, it poured, the kind of rain that, in a city like hers, breaks the power supply and pretty much collapses everything.
She hated waiting… specially waiting for rain to stop, cause a part of her almost never wanted it to stop raining. So, she looked around, and stifled a laugh to all those naïve people who thought standing close to the edge of the ceiling and looking up to the sky were gonna make the rain stop. Like they didn’t know just how strong nature was… They were studying their work, they should know… But then again, these were the kind of people who littered, in Biology, for god’s sakes.
She decided to leave, cause at least in the bus stop, it wouldn’t be as hot and as crowded as her school was.
She went out, and started walking. In less than five minutes, she was soaked, her skirt clinging to her legs, making it hard for her to walk as fast as she was used to. The funny thing is, she had an umbrella in her bag, but she didn’t like to use umbrellas, they seemed like a betrayal to her… To shield oneself form the great offering of water from the skies… she just couldn’t do it.
One guy from her school came on as she was making her way to the bus stop. He looked shocked to see her dripping water, and motioned to put his umbrella on her and walk with her.

-Thanks, but as you can see, I’m already wet beyond salvation…By the way, if you’re going to class, there’s none, power is out in the school.
She looked at him, who just nodded and kept walking with her, keeping her under his umbrella.
When they got to the street, he held her back as she was about to cross without looking both ways.
In the bus stop, he just closed his umbrella and waited until she sat to sit in another bench, close, yet far from her, and buried his face in a book.
She looked at him a couple times, trying to speak, but she couldn’t.
When her bus came, she said “Bye” and left.
He had to be, yet when he looked up, she saw that it was him, but he wasn’t anymore.
The next day, she searched and searched, but he was nowhere to be found.