Spring's Unexpected Love

Chapter 7 (Ximena)

Wednesdays were the worst. Most of the clubs at school met on Wednesdays which meant I had to spend the entire lunch period alone.

"You should join the drama club," Elaine told me for what felt like the hundredth time since the start of the school year. "I think you'd like it."

"No thanks," I said, "I'd rather not make a fool of myself on stage."

"Are you sure you'll be okay alone?" Mercy asked. She was a part of the newspaper club that had a weekly paper containing all of the latest happenings at our school. Since nothing interesting ever happened at our school, the paper was generally overlooked, but that didn't stop Mercy and the rest of her team from working hard to produce something every week. I wished more students would read the paper; some of the articles were actually interesting.

"I'll be fine," I assured my friends, "We go through this every week."

They both exchanged worried glances, "Are you sure?" Elaine asked, "Because—"

"You're gonna be late to your drama club meeting," I interrupted, "Don't worry about me; I'll just take a walk outside or something."

"Okay, fine!" Elaine said, pulling me in for a quick hug, "I wish you'd find a club you like as well." That was highly unlikely, I wasn't really good at anything enough to join a club for it.

"You're... squeezing... the life... outta me...!" I grunted as Mercy joined in on the hug.

I gasped dramatically for air when they released me, holding back a grin. I loved my friends to pieces. "Okay, you guys should seriously go!"

I watched as my friends left, suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of loneliness. I couldn't even hang out with Luka since he was a part of several clubs. He would rotate between each one, only spending a few minutes in one place before moving on to the next.

I roamed through the school halls, glancing at the bulletin boards covered in fliers and notices. I stopped in front of one, scanning each flier one by one. Maybe joining a club was a good idea. I needed something to pass the time on Wednesdays, and it would look good on my transcript- at least, that's what the teachers always said.

Music club... I couldn't play an instrument for the life of me.

Art club... I'd seen preschoolers with better art skills than me.

Debate club... I had zero confidence in my public speaking skills.

Culinary club... I once tried cooking an egg and ended up nearly setting the house on fire.

I sighed in frustration. I wouldn't be able to do anything in any of those clubs. I was about to give up and wallow in despair when I noticed a green piece of paper sticking out from under one of the fliers. Curious, I lifted the flier to find another flier hidden underneath.

"Gardening club," I read aloud, "Room twenty-five." Since when did our school have a gardening club?

Gardening... that was something I was good at. I loved all kinds of plants and found gardening relaxing. I smiled to myself; perhaps I had finally found the club that was right for me.

Room twenty-five was in a dark corner of the school, tucked away from the rest of the classrooms. I had never seen it before and wasn't even sure if it was currently being used as a classroom.