Buttercup | r. tozier

↠ jasmine jeong

The Next Day

The morning breezes blew themselves as they struck my face lightly. The air around the city was cold, and yet relaxing to be felt. I was riding my bicycle as the misty hazes began to fade in the presence of sunlight. Upon seeing the pharmacy to my right, I slowed down before I got off and propped my bike beside the window.

I looked around to see if Beverly was already waiting for me. My head went in many directions, searching for any sign of her. I gave up a minute later, and went on to sit on my bicycle seat. Not long, I saw a redhead riding her bike towards me.

"Hey, Jaz!" she shouted. "Sorry if I made you wait for a while."

"It's alright, Beverly," I responded in a clear voice as I walked closer to her. "Have you got all your stuff ready for the quarry?"

"Yup," chirped Beverly when I glanced at her hair for a second, noticing a difference at it.

"Your hair...did you cut it!?" I asked her in surprise.

"I actually did it," she replied with a smile.

"Where?"

"At home," Beverly said, "I am just so bored with long hair, so I cut it."

"Well, you actually look pretty with your haircut," I complimented Beverly on her new hair.

"Aww, thanks Jaz," she beamed as we left the pharmacy with our bicycles.

Several Minutes Later

While riding, we talked about many different topics, like our hobbies, our favorite food, our favorite movies, our favorite subjects at school, make-up and beauty trends, my greatest fear, and some jokes. After running out of good conversation topics when we entered a more secluded area, I asked her out of curiosity.

"What is your greatest fear?"

There was no response for the next. Beverly's face turned sad.

"People had told me I am nothing, but a slut," she told me quietly as we continued to ride on the forest path, "Greta, Henry, even my daddy, said that..."

My heart became heavy upon listening to her answer. I pondered on why she deserved to be called that, and I had not found even a single reason why.

"Why?" I sorrowfully asked, "Why do they call you that?"

"I don't know," Beverly muttered, "But they suck ass. My daddy, though, is the worst out of them."

I didn't know what to say for the next few minutes, thinking of a response to comfort her. It was not until we could see the light blue sky that overlooked the rocky heights and the cerulean waters.

I went on to hug her and softly spoke, "But you got me and the losers." Her face brightened once more when I mentioned our guy friends.

In the meantime, I could hear them arguing over who would jump first. They spit saliva to the waters, trying to outcompete each other.

"Oh my god, that was so terrible. I win," Richie proudly declared to the other boys.

"Won!?" Eddie questioned, definitely upset over it.

"Yeah."

"Did you see my loogie?"

As the boys continued to ramble on who won the spitting contest, Beverly whispered to me as I put my backpack and picnic hamper in the front basket of my bicycle.

"Jaz, how about we dive first?"

"No way, Beverly. I'm scared," I shouted in a whisper.

"Come on, Jaz, it's going to be fun."