| 34 |

| 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐀𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐜𝐞 |

"Oh come on, I didn't know you wanted to play!" Dad bangs on my bedroom door.

"The heck—" My eyes widen in disbelief. "I told you seven times!" I yell.

"I didn't listen." Dad calls back.

"You dragged me from the couch as if were a dead body."

"I just wanted to play with Castle."

"You betrayed me."

"I'm sorry. Please open the door." Dad continues his knocking from the other side. "I'll play with you right now." He offers.

"Suck it," I demand.

His voice gets serious when he speaks. "You can't tell me to suck it, Holly. I'm your father."

"Alright then just go do whatever you'd be doing right now."

"Can you just open the door so I can see you?"

"No."

"Open the door, Holly."

"I'll call Mom!"

"You do not get to pull the mom card." His voice gets deadly serious this time.

Huffing out a breath, I drag myself off my desk chair and open the door. "Yes?"

He shoots me a tiny glare before his eyes soften. "I'm sorry I ignored you."

Deciding not to drag this out, I give him a tired nod. "It's alright."

"Castle was waiting so he could say bye to you."

"He left?" My eyes widen.

Dad nods. "He wanted to give you something."

"What?" I demand.

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out something. "He left you this."

My forehead crinkles in confusion as I hold out my hand. Dad drops whatever it is on my palm.

It's a small stone carved into the shape of a lotus flower. It's barely bigger than one inch. I look at the delicate carvings and the detailed painting of this flower.

My eyebrows furrow in confusion. "A lotus? Why would he give me a lotus?"

"Exactly my thought." Dad narrows his eyes, his protective side coming out as he gazes at the stone. "Is that...is that his way of giving you flowers?"

For a long moment, no one says anything.

"Holly." Dad gasps in horror. "Are you...blushing?"

My head snaps up to his. "What? No. Don't be ridiculous."

Dad continues staring at my face and I really hope he stops, because there's no doubt that I can feel my face getting warm. For what? A fucking stone.

I close my fingers, hiding the Lotus from Dad's eyes. "It's a stone, Dad. He most likely wanted to give me a rock but then didn't want to make himself look mean, that's why he chose a pretty rock."

Dad continues giving me his skeptical look. His eyes keep darting between my face and my closed fist.

"You and Castle...there's nothing going on between you both, right?" He asks.

"Don't worry. I won't snatch your Castle away from you. You don't have to be jealous of me."

He narrows his eyes at me.

"No." I sigh. "There's nothing going on."

He gives me another suspicious look before finally nodding. "I'll be down with your mom."

When he leaves, I close the door of my room and bring up my hand, uncurling my fingers. I skim my finger over the carved petals. Walking over to my desk, I seat myself on the chair.

I pull out my phone.

Me: what's the lotus for?

His reply comes in ten seconds.

Castle: just a small gift

Me: a gift?

Me: for what?

Castle: idk

Me: sure there isn't any other secret meaning or msg I should look for?

Castle: it's just a stone holly

Me: could be something more

Castle: whatever you think

I'm not really ashamed to admit that I've spent nearly twenty minutes just staring at the stone lotus, toying with it between my fingers.

It's a gift from Castle. For what? And why a Lotus?

The questions keep rising in my head, but I don't ask Castle. I don't want him to think that I'm looking for some greater meaning behind this Lotus. Although, I am.

Maybe I should search it up.

I quickly pull out my phone and look it up.

My eyes glue onto two words that are highlighted in bold text: Strength and Resilience.

My eyes drop to the lotus on my desk.

Strength and Resilience.

For some reason, to my horror, a feeling of excitement and happiness shoots up my body straight to my face, making my mouth break into a grin.

He saw a Lotus and it reminded him of me. Why is that causing such a stupid grin on my face? What's wrong with me?

It's just a Lotus. It's not even a real one. It's fucking rock.

But still. He got me one, that's what matters.

A giddy feeling takes over me and the goofy grin is still on my face. I snap out of it, confused.

Is there something wrong with me? Why am I acting like this?

｡☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆｡

The next day at school, I'm nearly buzzing in my place, my eyes on the lookout for one particular dark-haired boy.

Riley's busy checking out her nails beside me.

"You know, if you crane your neck even an inch higher, it's gonna snap off your shoulders and hang off." She states, without looking up from her nails.

That instantly has me not craning my neck. I look at her. "What are you talking about?" I act oblivious.

She glances at me through her lashes. "Seriously?"

"What?"

"I wasn't born yesterday, Holly. You're obviously looking for British Boy."

I bite my lip. "Yeah..." I admit as if I were a child stealing candy.

"You're still not gonna admit that you have a crush on him?" She places a hand on her waist.

"I don't know," I reply. Because I seriously don't.

"What's that?" Riley asks, eyeing my hand.

I lift my hand to show her the tiny lotus that I've been holding onto.

Riley scrutinizes the lotus. She obviously doesn't see the big thing about the tiny painted stone because a frown appears on her forehead.

"Uh...is there a diamond inside?" She asks, hopefully.

I shake my head. "I mean, I don't think so. I'm not gonna break the stone to find out."

Riley looks at me in confusion, clearly not being able to grasp something. "Are...cheap looking flower stones new in fashion?"

A smile tips my lips up. "Nope."

"Just being curious, no judgments, alright?" She clears out. "But why do you have that out of nowhere?"

I contemplate in my head if I should tell her or not.

After a while, I decide. It's Riley. It's alright to trust her. She might be the biggest bitch to other people but she's a completely loyal person to me.

"Castle gave it to me," I say.

"Oh." She blinks.

"Oh?" I ask. "That's it?"

She shrugs, leaning against the wall. "Just wanted to know why you've been holding onto it like it's your luckiest charm."

I look at the Lotus in my palm, feeling my shoulders sag. "Am I being pathetic acting this way?"

She furrows her eyebrows. "Absolutely not. Why?"

"Because I've never acted this way." I exasperate.

A smirk lifts the corner of her lips. "Just admit it. You have a crush on him."

"Maybe," I mumble.

"Can't you kiss him and see if there are sparks or fireworks and that bullshit?"

I shake my head. "Can't do."

"I'm just saying. Maybe get laid with British Boy and see if you're still up for spending your time on him." She grins.

I sigh at her.

｡☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆｡

When I get out of my fifth class of the day, I see Castle walking down the hallway and around the corner.

Before I know it, my feet are automatically stepping ahead, quickening to catch up to him.

I round the corner and spot him near his locker.

Looking around, there's no one risky here, so I make my way toward him.

Putting on an easy smile, I stop behind him. "I was hoping for a rose this morning."

He slightly jumps at my voice before turning around and facing me.

"Rose?" He furrows his eyebrows.

I put my hand in my pocket and pull out the Lotus, showing it to him before putting it back into my pocket. "I like white roses," I tell him.

He raises an eyebrow. "Any secret meaning or message I should look for behind that?"

My smile widens when I realize he's quoting my text from yesterday.

So I quote him back.

"It's just a white rose, Castle."

He puts the final book in his bag before shutting his locker and facing me.

I can never get used to the way how his features align perfectly making him look so...perfect. Blue eyes, dark brown hair, narrow face, sharp cheekbones.

I open my mouth to say something but right before I can, a voice interrupts.

"Holly. Finally. I was looking everywhere for you."

I turn my head around and come face to face with my English teacher. "Jules?"

"Mrs. Julie." She corrects, pushing up her too- glasses on the bridge of her nose.

She looks at Castle.

Castle respectfully nods his head. "Good morning, Mrs. Julie."

"Good morning." She replies to him before looking back at me. "You. Come with me."

I furrow my eyebrows. "What did I do now?"

"Surprisingly? Nothing yet." She responds. "Follow me to the staff room."

Saying that she turns around without another word and starts walking.

Castle and I share confused glances.

"What did you do now, Holly?" He mutters to me.

"Nothing." I frown.

I break away from him and follow Mrs. Julie.

｡☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆｡

I stare at the many sheets of paper that Jules slides across the table towards me.

I know for a fact what those papers are. But I still refuse to acknowledge it. It can't be.

"What is that?" I ask, my voice tight.

She pushes up her glasses. My heart beats faster in my chest.

"Your test results." She replies.

My body stiffens.

I stare at the papers. An unexpected fear creeps over my spine. Oh fuck.

"Aren't you gonna take a look?" Jules asks when I make no move to reach for it.

I gulp, slowly. "I'm—I'm not sure I'm ready to look yet."

She smiles the slightest. "Scared?"

I nod. "Yup."

She shrugs. "At the end of the day, you only get how much you've worked for."

I still don't move to pick those papers up.

"Want me to tell your grades for you?" She offers.

"No!" I stop her immediately.

She raises an eyebrow at me.

Taking a deep breath, I force myself to move my hands and reach forward. I pick the many sheets of paper in my hands, not ready to turn them around and take a look at the grades yet.

Oh God. What if I fail?

A lot of things will happen actually if I fail. Most of them which I've already made apparent to everyone.

For some reason, one question hits hard the most; How will I face Castle if I fail?

Dad was right that day. Castle gave up his time to come to help me study. I cannot fail him and his efforts.

"Holly?"

I snap my head up when I realize I've zoned out. "Hmm?"

"The next class is gonna start in two minutes."

"Right." I nod, slowly.

She watches me, expectedly.

I give her a nod. "I'll head out."

Saying that, I walk out of the staff room, the papers clutched tightly enough in my hands for them to crease.

Standing outside the staff room, I bring the papers in front of my face.

Finally, I bring out the courage to turn them around.

★・・・・・・★

Well, will you look at that? Castle made Holly BLUSH by giving her a rock.

What would you do if Castle gave you a rock?

Today is 17TH April and it's my mom's birthday
And guess what??
Tomorrow is mine :)
On 18th April ❤️

Words: 1,800

Date of publishing: 17th April 2023