Flowergirl

✿✽❀~ fourteen ~❀✽✿

~

"Hey, Mum, guess what I got on my essay?"

It was after school on Friday and Mum was out back in the garden, tending to her flowers that were unsurprisingly beginning to look really good. Juliet had known what she was doing when she helped fix up the garden. She had really done Mum a favour because even though they denied it, we all knew that the flower garden was absolute bull dust before Juliet showed up. Mum loved flowers, but on my life, she had no idea what she was doing back there.

Her face scrunched up as she squinted at me, trying to keep the sun out of her eyes. "Well are you gonna tell me?" she asked, "I'm slowly going blind."

The paper felt hot in my hands. It was the first piece of work I had turned in in a long while that I was at least semi-proud of. And this was also a big feat because both Mum and I knew that I was rubbish at writing. My strengths lied more in the Maths & Science area, and so whenever I had to write an essay, it would turn out bodgy at best. This one had just spilled out onto the paper though. I had had so much to say that it was hard to stay within the one-page limit Ms. Sehmi had given us.

I grinned and turned the paper over so Mum could see. "Eighty-six, Mum! I got higher distinction!"

"Yes!" She jumped up and gave me a muddy hug that I gladly accepted. "I'm so proud of you, Miles," she said. I had a feeling that she was more proud because of the content than the actual score, but I kept that to myself. Either way, it felt good to make her proud.

"So Ms. Sehmi liked it?" she asked.

I laughed. "Honestly I just think she got tired of having to grade so many essays from the whole lot of us that she started throwing out random numbers."

Mum rolled her eyes. "Miles, just accept your score and own it. You got higher distinction all on your own, and I'm sure she wouldn't have given it to you if you didn't deserve it."

I looked down, smiling at my hands. "Yeah, you're right," I said.

With a pleased look on her face, she took off her gardening gloves and put a hand on my back. "Come on, let's go inside, I picked up some pastries for us on the way back from work," she said. "I got to leave early today."

"And you decided to garden with your free time?" I asked.

She shrugged. "I'm going to be working all night, Miles. After I have this snack, I probably won't get to talk to you till dawn. I just wanted to do something relaxing beforehand."

I held open the door for her. "Then be a regular adult and get drunk or something."

She rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, I'll be doing lots of that when I go to Stacy's tomorrow."

I shook my head, feigning dismay. "Mum, I think she's a bad influence on you," I joked.

Mum laughed. "Miles, that's already been established, but she's the only one who's been able to put up with me for fifteen years, so there's really no getting rid of her now."

I sat down at the kitchen table and Mum brought out the macaroons she had bought, setting them between us. I smiled as I grabbed a green one, eating the whole thing in one bite.

"Jesus, Miles, relax. The food's not going to run away," Mum said.

I just gave her a big, toothy, macaroony smile and she winced, making a face and reaching over to smack my arm. I laughed, swallowing the bite and taking a sip of my water. I set it down and looked over at her. "Uh, Mum?"