Flower Girl {Editing}

16. Poppy Seeds

August walked into the lunchroom and was met with sharp glares in one direction and sharp snarls in another. She gulped, this was going to be a great day, hint the sarcasm. She sighed and walked towards the food line that was thankfully short. Squeaking sneakers made themselves known and she turned around to see Claude's smiling face. "Hey, I already got you some food since you were taking a little longer."

She told her head, that was really thoughtful of him. "Really, thank you. You didn't have to—" He shrugged. "I didn't, but I wanted to. Come on let me help you." He offered her his arm and she took it and allowed him to guide her to their table. She didn't normally like to be a damsel but for now, she'll let him do this, he seemed happy to help her out since he missed a chance to help her get away from her enemies.

"Hey, new friend!" Sara called, displaying a dazzling smile as she jumped out of her seat, her long strawberry blonde curls bouncing as she ran up and surprisingly gave August a tight hug, being very mindful of her arm and leg. "Hey, girly. What's up?"

"I'm great, come on, I bet you're hungry, we got you some good, I hope you don't mind, Claude ordered you a chicken salad and we got you a smoothie."

"Urgh, that sounds heavenly. Thank you." August squeezed Claude's hand in thanks as she pulled him along with Sara's pulling off her arm. He pulled out her chair and she sat down to join her new friends and her boyfriend and his siblings and a few of the video club members.

Across the cafeteria Cory, Bucky, Benton, and Peter were very displeased with August getting their friends suspended. Cory rolled his eyes, tsking at them. "It's so unfair how that tree humper gets off with a simple detention and Brook and the girls get suspended and get days of detention."

Bucky slammed his fist down on the table and glared at his best friend, his cold electric blue eyes side glared at Cory. "Shut up. That bitch is gonna get what's coming to her."

Benton ran a hand over his short black afro and swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat then cleared it as he spoke up and asked the obvious. "But... why do you guys hate her so much?" The two friends directed their glares at him and the skin on his bones jumped and he cringed waving them off. "I—I'm just asking because... because you guys seem to really hate her and she hasn't really done anything to you guys... I mean, it's more like you two started this mess and now you're losing a fight that you began." Peter gripped his shoulder. "Why don't you stop before you dig your grave any deeper, you already have two feet in your mouth... I don't think you wanna taste a third." He said making Benton look at him from over his shoulder. He shrugged him off. "I'm serious. August hasn't done shit to anyone and yet you guys are using her as target practice for some bullshit vengeance plot. I mean, why the fuck do you even care so much about her? She's just a girl who likes plants."

Bucky's fist tightened and Peter's eyes caught it then saw his expression. "Did you not see what happened to use in art class? That bitch painted us like a fucking Van Go."

Benton scoffed. "You mean Van Gogh, and she didn't start that fight, you did Bucky." He stood, rushing Benton as he fisted a hand in the front of his t-shirt and lifted him from his seat. August and company's eyes snapped over to their table as most of the cafeteria looked at the commotion. "Watch your fucking mouth, Ben." His words were as hard as his eyes and as venomous as a viper.

Benton's jaw twitched as he looked down at his friend, someone who he had befriended from young. He didn't like the colors that painted his character now as a teenager. "You caused your own problems when you began bullying an innocent girl." He shoved Bucky away making him trip over the leg of Cory's chair. He fall back to the floor of the cafeteria, his eyes wide as he looked up at Ben. He turned to Peter. "You're not a monster like him... you should probably find better friends than that." He sucked his teeth and started to walk away as Bucky jumped back to his feet.