Chapter Text
Emmy enjoyed tending to the plants she carefully maintained, hands gently brushing the soul to flatten the soul she previously placed her new seeds into. The fenced off area was like her own private bubble, a place to dance with her mismatched gloves and carrots, a space to be free and untouched. People saw Emmy bend down to talk to the plants as if she were a mad woman, giggles and snickering trailing behind her ever since the new kids came this morning.
Her eyes studied around, a blonde girl with gum blowing in and out her mouth, some boy in a dress with too sharp eyes, Alice, who was finally back, Davey, with that.. Gator, a girl stimming her fingers along the edge of her dress, a random kid with thin eyes that felt far too tight, an.. Odder kid shoving goo into his mouth, a stuck up blonde boy by the looks of it and.. Austin.
Emmy didn’t notice Austin all too much, he never cared much for her plants, the occasional compliment and the time she used some of her flowers for his big sisters wedding. The purple brush of hair that stayed swaying at the top made her giggle. The day they did that was by far one of her personal favourites. Memories of Alice yelling at Davey and Austin to stop messing with the purple paint, while Kevin and her watched in giggles. Sure, that day also ended in Austin breaking his arm, but it was fun to Emmy nonetheless. It was safe to say Emmy sometimes enjoyed her classmates' brief company.
..Until she spotted that kid in blue talking to the ponytailed hair girl, watching as her stimming fingers transformed into excited flaps at the sides of her arms, then how she sprinted to Miss. Lovelett to discuss.. Plays? That girl never struck Emmy as a.. Theatre type. Yet, her attention quickly shifted back onto the boy running around like there was no time left on the line. Quick to go to Austin.
Emmy sighed as she stood up and brushed the dirt off her overalls, her mismatched gloves quickly being yanked off. A soft smile braced her lips as she stared down at her work on the vegetables, maybe she could give some to the new lunch lady for her to give to everyone.. Everyone deserved to see how much effort she put in after all. Emmy giggled to herself, twisting her body around to leave the patch.
CRACK-!
…
A sharp silence filled the air as everyone turned to look at the loud crunching noise that echoed through the front of the school. Sharp eyes, soft eyes, broken eyes, gentle ones, all of them landing on Emmy.
Everything felt fuzzy.
It was warm at first. Then Emmy’s mind rang like static, cotton against cotton, sandpaper brushing against her hair, fabrics against teeth. The blood trapped inside her body ran to the back of her eyes, vision fading. Her head spun as she raised a careful hand to her eye. Something warm slid onto that hand, Emmy unsure if it was her tears or blood pouring from her eye. It felt as if someone had stabbed her with a blunt stick, or a mop, or a claw. The eyes increased, so did the panic. Lovelett’s voice messed into one massive blur as Austin stuttered something out. Emmy didn’t care. She couldn’t care.
Tears fell from both her eyes as she ran past everyone, screaming words her mind couldn’t grasp, words left spilt as she collapsed somewhere.
Somewhere..
..Which so happened to be her flower patch. The one made up of red flowers mixing with the blue. Emmy’s knees gave out as she fell. Quiet sobs filled the air as she lifted her knees against her eyes. Dirt rubbed into her face as she hugged her knees. Emmy pulled out one of the flowers, beginning to stare down at the petals softly picking them off. It felt wrong. Emmy knew it was wrong to hurt what she loved so much, but the pain racked through her body enough to make her unable to care. The crushed up petals mixed into the rocky soil, the bruise along her eye worsening, the feeling of blinking feeling like too much. She knew she should go to the nurse, thats what their actual principal always told them to do. Emmy hated the room, the smoke filled her lungs, the room felt too empty, the beeping from the x-ray rang in her ears on occasion. It was safe to say, everything about that room made Emmy’s skin crawl like the bugs she carefully led to her soil patches.
Emmy sighed as she pushed herself up, dropping the, now empty, stem. Her legs dreadfully carried her towards the door, before-
“Emmy!” A breath pushed out, the playground door being swung open, Emmy jolting back and tightening her grip around herself, the boy ahead of her staring with concerned eyes, before they dissipated into understanding. “..Can- Can we talk?” Austin awkwardly brushed his hand against the back of his neck, Emmy unravelled from her little ball of fear, noticing his empty hands and shameful demeanour.
Guilty eyes faded into her tearful ones, a slow nod forming from Emmy as she took a seat back in the middle of her flower patch, where no flowers laid. Austin ran over, sitting with his knees raised, but just half way up, his eyes looking everywhere except for Emmy herself. “..Can you talk- Please-?” Emmy sniffled, unsure of why she was just waiting. The flowers brushed carefully along her legs, like little cats rubbing against the edges of her ankles, the feeling making her body tense up.
“Right! Talk-” Austin awkwardly squeaked, his body somehow more tense than hers. His hands fidgeted around in his lap as he tried to look for the words, “Okay, well, first– This Carla girl and his friend said that they’d help me impress.. Impress Alice!” His cheeks began to flush bright red as he rambled on, his sitting position changing the more he spoke. “And– So I threw it, it was also to break the window to help them but..” He winced, looking over at her eye.
Emmy sighed, hands beginning to loosen. “You still hurt me, Austin.” She sighed, her eyes lazy as they stared at the ground.
“Well, that shouldn’t have happened!” Austin rushed out, standing up and rummaging through his pockets. “I genuinely thought I had that shot!” He took out a set of bandages and numbing cream, placing it at the edge of Emmy’s flowerbed. “..Turns out your eye chose to be my target.” He lightly chuckled, sitting back down.
“..Thanks.” Emmy muttered, taking the items with a slight hint of gratitude as she kept looking down, before turning to look up at Austin again, that dumb boy with his weird hair and the messily scribbled on fake tattoos. Then with the bandages in her hands she had no idea how to use. She bit the inside of her lips as she held both the objects out to Austin with shakily hurt hands. “Can- Can you sort it..?”
“..Sure.”