a field of yellow flowers [petekey]

three-sunflower

sunflower. scientific name: helianthus. helianthus or sunflowers L. is a genus of plants comprising about 70 species in the family asteraceae. 

/

the next day, school was terrible. it was boring notes and boring powerpoints. i was looking forward to creative writing, just so i wouldn't be so terribly angry when Mom picked me up later in the day.

i walked into creative writing and saw that we had a substitute teacher. fabulous. in this class, a sub essentially means there's a free period, which is terrible. everyone goes off and talks with their friends, and i'm left sitting at my desk and staring at a blank journal page, racking my brain for something to write so i'm not so bored. i didn't care that i didn't have friends; i just cared that i couldn't have friends.

/

"hey, mikey! my birthday party is on saturday, and i was wondering if you'd be able to go!" patrick said to him at school. it was fifth grade, and people had just started to grow out of the 'intive-everyone-to-your-party" phase, so mikey did feel a little honored. however, after he thought about it for a minute, he sadly replied,

"no."

patrick's face fell. "why not?" mikey began to grow angry. why was it his business why he couldn't leave the house, why he couldn't have any sleepovers or parties, why he has never seen a friend outside of school before.

"i just can't, okay? why do you care so much if i'm even at your dumb party?" mikey spat. as soon as the words came out of his mouth, he knew they were mean. patrick's eyes filled with tears, but he didn't let a single drop of water fall to his cheek.

"hey, patrick, i'm sorry, i didn't me-"

"if you didn't mean it, you wouldn't have said it."

"no, i j-"

"just stop. if you didn't want to come to my party, you could have just flat-out said it."

the trouble is, mikey really wanted to go to his party. after that, though, he wasn't invited to many other parties, and he surely wasn't invited to any of patrick's parties.

/

today, i was trying to sketch some of the flowers in my botany book on the last page of my journal when i felt a tap on my shoulder. i looked up and saw pete standing next to me. he smiled and sat down in his seat.

"oh, hi," i said, putting my pencil in my book to save my spot.

"what are you drawing?" pete asked, scooting his chair closer to my journal to see my drawings. i tried to close the cover, but he stuck his hand in.

"hey, be careful, they're not very good," i said quietly. i don't draw to impress people, but i know they aren't very good drawings.

"uh, you're right," pete said, "they're not very good. they're very great! are you taking sketching or something?"

"oh, uh, thanks," i said quickly, feeling my cheeks turn a little pink. nobody has ever said my drawings were good. well, nobody has ever seen them before, but still. "i taught myself, i guess. i don't have much to do at my house. i really like flowers and plants; i want to be a botanist when i'm older. god, it sound so nerdy."

"no, it's not; that's awesome," pete said, smiling. i looked over at him. suddenly, he reached his hands out towards my face.

"wait, what the fuck?"

"no, hold still," he said as he pushed up my glasses at the bridge, poking my nose a little in the process. "sorry, that was driving me nuts. you should really get your glasses adjusted." he pulled his hands back and smiled.