The patch of white daisies drink in the water as she sprinkles it over them.

“Thirsty, huh?” says June. She gives the flowers one last bit of water before plopping down next to them, side-eyeing the perennials. She didn’t expect them to actually grow back when they had planted them together last year, but the pure white flower was insistent.

“Puh-ren-ee-uls,” she had read, placing the seeds into her basket with a shrug. Her new friend smiled brightly at her.

Although she despised them, she couldn’t get rid of them. They always were her favorite.

— — — — —

“You’re kinda weird for that,” Rose says teasingly, glancing down at the Newbury Comics bag June is swinging alongside her as she walks. Inside of it is a ‘The Smiths’ CD that she will definitely be playing in her car before school. She always sits in the school parking lot thirty minutes early, eating breakfast and listening to whatever songs were burned onto the CDs she stole from her parents. Now she has her very own. “That’s divorced dad music.”

June laughs. “Girl,” she says, passing a judgemental glance at Rose’s bag.

Rose turns red, but quickly recovers with an exaggerated eye roll. “Whatever,” She says.

The two of them burst out laughing.

This is the first time they are seeing each other one-on-one. They had mutual friends, but only really spoke through Instagram DMs and weren’t entirely sure how well they would get along in person. At first, both girls were worried, but that feeling vanished as fast as it came when they realized how much they were enjoying their outing together.A blur of color flashes in Rose’s peripheral. “A florist! You have a garden, right? It’s nice out- let’s plant something together. I love daisies.” She grabs June’s hand and drags her into the small mom ‘n’ pop shop that was tucked away, easy to miss.

Since when was there a florist at this mall? June wonders.

— — — — —

“Hm, I guess that means I’m stuck with you guys forever.” June lay back, her curls intertwining themselves with the grass. She squints at the sun and turns her head sideways towards her garden. If her eyes can’t take in the sun, she might as well admire her beautiful, blue hydrangeas. A plump bumblebee settles itself onto one of the thousands of petals and June anticipates the pollination, watching closely. But, for whatever reason, the bee decides that her precious blue hydrangeas weren’t good enough and ascends. “Out of the hundreds of flowers on that bush, none of them are good enough for you?” She addresses the bee in fake offense. With a smile, she excitedly follows the creature with her eyes wondering which one of her plants the bee will deem ideal. It’s none other than those damn daisies. Something inside her aches.

— — — — —

“Hey,” June waves a hand in front of Rose’s face. She’s ogling at her phone, a picture of her new boyfriend, Lucas’s face plastered on the screen. The former sighs, realizing she might need to try a bit harder if she wants to break her friend from her trance. She snatches Rose’s phone out of her hand.

“Hey!” She yelled.

June turns off the device, handing it back to her. “We were just with him. Haven’t you had enough of seeing his face today?”Rose grumbles. “Ugh, you don’t get it. I mean, he’s so sweet- I just can’t get enough of him.”

June’s eyes meet the grass they’re sitting on and she picks at the individual strands.

“Sweet? You have to tell him to be nice to me whenever we all hang out. He can barely get himself to look in my direction.”

“He’s sweet to me, June. I wish you could just be happy for me.”

“I am happy for you, I’m just… Worried I guess.”

“What is there to worry about?”

June now has two fistfuls of grass. “I just don’t want you to forget about me.”

Rose’s eyes soften. “Aww, Junie.” She turns toward their now, fully grown daisies and picks one, placing it behind June’s ear. “I could never forget about you.”

— — — — —

June picks up her garden shears that lay on the ground. She never bothers putting her tools away in the shed. Why put them away when she would just be using them again? With delicate hands, she snips off each and every one of the wilted white petals. She had learned from her mother that snipping the dead flowers off a bush helps the rest of them flourish, but daisies are stand-alone flowers, not bushes. She just wants her daisies to be perfect. She won’t allow there to be a single petal that isn’t pure white. They must be perfect.

“Shit,” June hisses, realizing her mistake. She had cut an entire flower off its stem. The sad-looking flower sits pathetically on the ground. 

What a shame.

— — — — —

“Hey, I know this week has been hectic with graduation and stuff, but it would mean a lot to me if you showed up today- just for like five minutes so you can have some cake,” June says nervously to Rose over the phone. She doesn’t know why she’s so nervous. They’re best friends after all. Today is the day she finally turns into an adult. The big one-eight. Everything is perfect.

Her friends had decorated her backyard with a garden theme in mind. From the pink flower napkins to the intricate frosting flowers on the cake. The fact her friends have done so much for her big day warms her heart. There is only one thing missing; Rose. Her high school grad party happens to fall on the same day.

“Yeah! I’ll see what I can do. I think the party ends at five, so I can probably shoot over.

You aren’t having cake until six right?”

June lets out a sigh of relief. What has she been so worried about? Of course Rose would do her best to see her on her birthday. “Alright! Keep me updated,” she says.

~

It’s six-thirty. She must be running late. Again, June is nervous. She looks between her two other friends and they look at her expectantly. “Is she coming?” June’s friends were also friends of Rose’s so the four of them always hang out together. The two others seem shocked that she hadn’t already shown up. Rose is the type of person to come earlier than anticipated. If she says she’ll be somewhere at 1:30, expect her to arrive at 1:15.

“Uhhhh hold on let me text her real quick! Haha I bet some of her family members are taking a while to leave,” She fumbles with her cellphone. “You coming?” She types.

“I’m with Lucas tonight.”

Oh. “She’s busy.” June says. She doesn’t answer the text. Instead, she stares at the white faux flowers of the cake.

Her friends exchange odd looks and begin to sing happy birthday.