The Garden
It was a clear blue afternoon in early spring. Warmth was slow in coming, and your breath formed clouds against the chilly air as you carefully made your way through the bushes behind Canterlot High.
Recess wasn’t going to last too long, so you wanted to be quick, but at the same time, moving too fast and carelessly might cause your jacket to get torn by protruding branches, or potentially get leaves caught somewhere in your clothing and lead people to ask questions about where you had been.
And really, considering where you were headed, you really didn’t want anyone to ask any questions.
You bit your lip, rubbing your hands against each other. You weren’t particularly fond of the cold, but the thought of what was about to come filled you with a pleasant, warming feeling of anticipation.
Carefully, you stretched out your hand, pushing another thick, leaf-filled branch out of the way, and feeling a smile form on your face as your eyes caught a first glimpse of what you had come to consider your secret hideaway, hidden in the vegetation behind your school.
Greeting your eyes was a… really neatly made garden, right in the middle of a small, forest-like areal. Contrary to what one might expect from a place like this, neatly cut grass was covering the ground, and plants and flowers of all sorts were neatly arranged, making for a truly magnificent play of colors in the dim light shining through the trees.
Instinctively, you felt your body relax, letting your school bag slide off your shoulder and dropping it next to where you had entered this little haven of flora.
You had come here every day since you had discovered it by accident last Friday. You didn’t know who was responsible for all this - as far as you were aware, there was no gardening club or anything comparable at your school, so you had presumed that maybe a group of friends had built this up to serve as their meeting spot, but at least thus far, you hadn’t ever seen anyone here, neither were there any traces of people coming here on a regular basis.
Regardless, you figured as long as nobody would claim this garden as their own, it was okay for you to come here during your breaks - after all, you weren’t doing any harm and leaving no traces. And by all means, this was the perfect spot to relax and unwind if there had ever been any.
Giving a low sigh and feeling yourself relax, you slowly walked over to what appeared to be the center of the garden -a nice arrangement of light blue flowers sitting in a rock-arrangement of sorts, with a bunch of taller, reddish flowers on top- and sat down, leaning against the stone, making sure to not crush any of the flowers with your back.
Closing your eyes, you took a deep breath. The air in here was, quite frankly, incredible. The wet, earthly smell of a rain shower the previous night paired up with the refreshing, sweet scent of the flowers behind you, creating a mixture that made you want to stay here forever, and never leave.
For a brief moment, you contemplated bringing your friends here next time, but knowing this school, the news about this ‘new hotspot’ would spread like a wildfire, and soon enough your secret hideout wouldn’t be so secret anymore.
Besides, it seemed like whoever had put the time and effort into creating all this appreciated their privacy, and while you didn’t see you being here as trespassing, bringing others here might overstep the boundaries of the unwritten agreement you had with this mysterious stranger.
You exhaled slowly, letting your head sink back against the stone structure behind you, and closed your eyes. The ambient sound of the forest, with branches creaking and birds twittering, almost made you forget about the long, stressful day of school that was still ahead of you.
And really, if you kept your eyes shut for long enough, you could almost… almost feel yourself drift…
Your ears perked up as you heard the sound of steps in the distance - leaves rustling, and smaller branches breaking under feet that were coming closer.
Quickly, you opened your eyes again and straightened yourself up. It took a few moments until you had managed to get back to your feet, but when you finally were standing upright again and turned around, it was just in time to see that somebody had joined you in your now not so secret anymore hideout.
It was a girl, roughly your age, albeit a little shorter than you. Her long, slightly messy green hair was hanging loosely down all sides of her head, and the striped brown and ocher sweater, in combination with the plain blue jeans, made her look like one of the tree huggers you knew from biology class.
She looked… vaguely familiar, but you really couldn’t put your finger on where you had seen her before.
You looked over to her, watching her staring back at you with a look that made it seem like you had just committed a first-degree murder, and opened your mouth to say something, but she cut ahead of you.
“W-what are you doing here!?” she blurted out, her brown eyes wide, her body seeming stiff in shock.
“I, uh…” you stuttered awkwardly, tripping over your words, struggling to explain yourself, “S-sorry, is this your place?”
“It’s… how… how did you get here!?” she asked, seeming to be at a loss of words, “How did you even find this place?”
“I… sorta just… stumbled into it.” You explained truthfully, “Sorry if I’m not supposed to be in here.” you muttered an excuse, but then found your glance drifting around the neatly arranged plants. “Did you create all this?”
Still looking stricken with surprise, the girl stiffly nodded her head, but remained silent, leading you to think again.
You.. you were sure you’d seen her before! But where!? Hell, you remembered that face, and that sweatshirt rang a bell too. There even was a name associated with this mysterious girl saved somewhere in the depths of your mind, but while it was literally on the tip of your tongue, you still failed to produce it.
Meanwhile, the apparent owner of the garden had finally regained her composure, seeming to think for a second, before her features hardened, and she shook her head. “I’m sorry, but… you gotta go.” she said curtly, pointing behind herself, “You’re not allowed to be here.”
Given the integrity of things, including the fact that she was quite obviously a student like you, it seemed apparent that, if you weren’t allowed to be here, neither was she, and even if she would, she’d have no authority to just kick you out like this without calling a teacher first.
However, you didn’t want to start trouble, and based on the look on her face, it really did seem like you had intruded into something that was very close to her heart, so leaving without any questions asked seemed like the most tactful option.
Hesitantly, you turned around, walking into her direction to pick up your backpack and be on your merry way.
However, you couldn’t shake this lingering feeling of discomfort caused by not knowing who was standing in front of you. Heck, you were positive that you had seen her before somewhere, so why couldn’t your stupid brain produce a clear image, or at least a name?
You screwed up your face, biting your tongue. You were going to leave, sure, but you knew that you wouldn’t be able to find rest until you had found out the name of this girl.
Slowly bending down to pick up your backpack, the watchful eyes of your evictor never leaving you, you closed your eyes, kicking your brain into a higher gear.
You had seen her… not in person, but on a… a photo. A photo in a… a magazine, perhaps? The school newspaper? Seeing how she appeared to be involved in gardening, that seemed like a valid theory, but…
No. You had seen her picture in a… a book!
Your eyes shot open as it finally became clear to you.
The yearbook!
Yes, of course!
You two had been in the same course back in… freshman year! You had gone through your old things a little while ago, and had found the book from that year.
That was the reason why you seemed to remember her. Hidden in the back of your yearbook, you had found a photo of the two of you during a… science fair, if you remembered correctly. You had been working on a project together, and had scored third place; the picture had shown the two of you presenting a small ribbon in front of your project.
You couldn’t tell why you didn’t seem to have seen her in school since, and frankly didn’t bother to think about in this second, as the second most pressing memory related to her came to your mind. Having gone through the book of the same year, you had searched for a photo of your partner, only to find that her photo had a placeholder in its place, and a not pictured-annotation next to it.
Back then you had to look twice to make sure you were looking at the right person, but double checking with your own picture revealed the name of your science partner to be the same as that of the girl that didn’t have a photo taken of her. A name that now echoed through your mind like a gong going off.
“Wallflower Blush.” You said quietly as you raised your head, turning to look at her, backpack already over your back and ready to leave.
The green-haired girl’s eyes widened, and her formerly annoyed expression broke into one of genuine surprise.
“How… how do you…” she stuttered dumbfounded, her tense shoulders dropping, “How do you know my name?”
“We, uh…” you stuttered to explain, a little surprised yourself about her sudden reaction, “We used to be in a project together in freshman year. That baking soda volcano, remember?”
Wallflower just stared back at you in silence for a few moments, looking like she had just seen a ghost.
“You… you remember me?” she finally spoke up, visibly confused, her eyes still saucer-sized. “You remember my name!?”
“W-well… yeah.” You said, shrugging, “Why shouldn’t I?”
It was a genuine question. Admittedly, she wasn’t the most remarkable character you had seen at Canterlot High, but while you could have sworn that you’d never seen her on school premises in recent years, and the memory of the science fair was beginning to blur in your mind, it was still there, and you were sure the confusion about the photo-thing wouldn’t let you forget her for a while.
However, you cocked an eyebrow as second thoughts began to pop up in your mind. You… you had gotten her name right… right?
“Your…” you said hesitantly, “Your name is Wallflower Blush, right?”
The timid girl in front of you, never taking her eyes off you, drew in a shaky breath, and you could have sworn you saw her eyes tearing up.
“Could you…” she whispered softly, her voice barely audible, despite the quiet ambience around you, “Could you say that again?”
“What, Wallflower Blush?” you asked, cocking an eyebrow, getting more confused by the second, “That… that is your name, right? Uh, sorry if I got that wrong. I have a terrible memory when it comes to names.”
But the girl in question remained silent again, slowly nodding her head, her eyes seeming to get increasingly moist with every second that passed.
You opened your mouth, wanting to ask if she was okay, when you heard her give a muffled sob, followed by… something unexpected.
Before you knew what was happening, you felt her arms wrap around you, pulling you into a tight hug, followed by her head resting on your shoulder.
Your body stiffened in surprise, and more out of reflex than anything else, you raised your hand, patting her back where it touched her long, messy hair. You could hear her sob again, before she whispered a soft “Thank you.” into your ear.
“Y-you’re welcome?” You replied a bit awkwardly, finding yourself gently caressing her back. Her hair, while looking somewhat undone and messy, felt incredibly soft to the touch, and if you wouldn’t know better you’d be thinking you were caressing a puppy or a kitten.
Moreover… you took a deep breath, trying hard not to appear too creepy… she smelled incredibly good. Contrary to most other girls in your class, it didn’t seem like she had taken a bath in perfume this morning, neither did she smell like lotion or makeup like a lot of other girls you knew.
No, the best word to describe her scent was… natural. An earthly tone seemed to surround her like an aura - she smelled of earth, so to speak, in the best possible way. You were sure you could detect some flowers and a subtle hint of fresh grass on her as well, although that might have just as well been caused by your surroundings.
You found yourself almost tempted to take another sniff from her pleasant musk, until it occurred to you that standing here and sniffing her like a drug-sniffing dog might come off as a little creepy.
More importantly, while you no doubt found yourself enjoying her embrace, you still were clueless as to why she had suddenly hugged you, and appeared to be shedding tears of hopefully joy and not sadness onto your shoulder in this second.
The contact was starting to get a little awkward, and you found yourself tempted to pull back, but couldn’t get yourself to break the spontaneous hug just like that. It just felt… really nice.
Instead, it was Wallflower who pulled back after a few more intimate moments, and took a slow step back from you. You inconspicuously let your hands slide through her velvety hair, then let them drop loosely to your side as the green-haired girl drifted back from you.
Her freckled face blushing lightly, she crossed her hands in front of her belt buckle, looking to the side slightly embarrassed. “S-sorry…” she said awkwardly, “I, uh… I don’t know what…” she bit her lip, “Sorry.”
“It’s, uh… it’s alright.” you replied, a bit cluelessly as to how to react properly.
“I just…” Wallflower said softly, wiping a sleeve over her face for a second, before her hands reached out and got a hold of yours, holding them up between the two of you. Her pretty brown eyes seeked contact with yours, and you could feel your heart get a little weightless as she slowly, tentatively said, “You have no idea what it means to me that you…” she swallowed, “That you remember my name. I just…” she closed her eyes, nodding softly, “I… I really needed to hear that.”
“... Alright.” You replied softly, trying hard not to sound too stupid. You… weren’t really the smoothest of smooth-talkers.
It occurred to you only now how… amazingly smooth her hands were. There was no way of denying that she had done a good bit of work on the garden around you, as her hands showed a few rough marks from gardening, but nonetheless, they were so incredibly soft, it made you want to close your eyes with bliss.
“W-would you, uh…” Wallflower said, sounding more than just a bit flustered as she pulled her hands back from yours, blushing again.
You raised an eyebrow, watching her slightly embarrassed look go to the side, her pretty freckles seeming to light up together with her blush.
“W-would you like to… maybe… take a small…” she swallowed nervously, the blush on her face deepening, “A small tour? I, uh… I have a few more things in mind that I’d like to add and... i-if you want to hear it...”
You thought for a second, but then shrugged. Recess wasn’t going to be over for another twenty minutes or so, and from the look of anxiety and barely held-back excitement gleaming in her pretty brown eyes, it seemed like saying no now wasn’t really an option - not that you wanted to do that, anyway.
So, giving another brief shrug, you nodded your head, and replied with a curt, “Sure. Why not?”
“Yesss.” Wallflower said triumphantly, her shyness again forgotten for the moment as she reached out for your hand, and pulled it towards herself, apparently without really thinking about it.
Realizing what she was doing, she gave you a sheepish grin, her cheeks assuming a light shade of red again as she said, “Just… come with me, okay?”
By now, you couldn’t help but to smile at her cute, slightly awkward behavior, and gave her another brief, confirming nod.
Without another moment of hesitation, Wallflower turned around again, gently pulling you after herself as she led you through her little haven, explaining to you the various plants she had assembled here and their respective meaning, as well as letting you in on all the plans she had to make this place even more magnificent than it already was.
You could feel a smile form on your face.
This… was going to be a nice recess.