In Bloom

Chapter 1: Forget-Me-Not

Today was going to be the worst day of her life. She had known this day was coming, a month at least. But it felt so short, and the time she had before seemed so long.

Her dearest, and only, friend, Chloe, was engaged and leaving the academy. Amity had known her ever since her enrollment. Chloe was a year older than her, but it you could never tell just by looking at them.

The only reason Amity had been able to stand it at this ridiculous school for so long was because of Chloe. Late night sleepovers, at Amity's request, and dreadfully early morning tea parties, for Chloe.

Chloe was the picture of perfection. She had beauty that rivaled the most gorgeous of the noble born ladies. She was sharp as a tack, always keeping up with Amity's witty comments, and taught Amity the etiquete that Amity had continuously flunked.

But it was still early morning, Chloe wasn't gone yet so Amity needed to use every last, vital second she was given. She threw her sheets off without her usual counting and dashed through all of her morning tasks with more eagerness than ever before.

Finally, she hurried down to the dinning hall. Amity screened the hall for the blue hat her friend had been gifted by her fiancée.

Amity distinctly remembered the day Chloe had been given it. Chloe had returned from another outing from her interested noble, grinning from ear to ear. Chloe's hands hid something behind her back as she greeted Amity.

Amity had been reading a book at the time, one that Chloe had lent her. The book was a classic romance, a young noble woman whose house had very little money and thus wanted her to marry as fast as she could. This dilemma ended up having her engaged to a cruel and ugly, older man. Luckily for the young woman, the oddly young Duke takes an interest in her. It was a book filled with both mystery and etiquete, both of which Amity was not a fan of. But she would read whatever Chloe recommended to her.

When Amity had looked up and noticed Chloe's blush of excitement she had felt an immediate sting of pain. It was the wrong thing to feel, she knew that then and now, but she did.

So Amity had plastered a matching smile on her face, grin and bear it. "So, how was it?" She asked, already knowing the answer.

Chloe's face had lit up even more, quickly revealing the box she had been hiding before. A white box with bundles of forget-me-nots patterned on it. A deep azure bow tied it all together in perfection. Inside was the hat that Chloe wore now, in all of its friend stealing glory.

The hat still looked as soft and dainty as ever on Chloe. It framed her delicately combed hazelnut hair, her glowing complexion and her faint, but ever present smile.

"Chloe!" Amity called out, catching her attention. When Amity reached her she noticed two Chloe had two plates in front of her, accompanying twin cups of tea.

Amity sat down with a playful sigh, "And I thought that I could finally get up before you." Chloe responded with her own childish grin. "When do you get up anyway? At the break of dawn?" Amity questioned as she pulled apart the fluffy, crusted croissants that seemed to be calling her name.

Chloe laughed as she replied, "You'll never know." Amity groaned, despite Chloe's grace and intellect she had adapted the same smart mouth as Amity herself.

As both of them ate they chatted about the different rumors going about the school. If gossip in a normal school is supposed to get around fast, word in an all girls school gets around at the speed of light.

The truth of the matter tends to be lost in the chain so pretty much everything ends up conjecture or flat out lies. That doesn't stop most rumors, especially the most intriguing ones.