“Oh, it’s you,” he muttered, disappointedly. He stepped away from her, almost falling off the porch. 

The girl rolled her eyes at him.“What are you doing here, Michel?” she asked.

“I’m here to deliver flowers, Carllie,” he says. Carllie grinned.

“Aw! Does the famous Michel have a crush on me?” she asked teasingly. 

Michel looked at her disgust in his eyes.“Why in the world would I ever like you?” he snapped.

“Oh, please everyone likes me, Michel! Did you know that your little sister Laure wanted to be me? She says that I’m really sweet and that I was so kind to drive her to your mothers flower shop, while you were on track practice! She said, if there is anyone she admires in school, it’s me!” Carllie bragged, leaning on the door. Michel couldn’t believe what Carllie was saying, that he lost it and started yelling at her. 

“My sister does not want to be anything like you, Carllie! And the world doesn’t revolve around you! And maybe if you stop spreading lies, maybe people would actually like you. But, for now everyone who you think are your friends, are probably just there, because they sympathize with you!” 

Carllie stood on the door shocked, tears building up in her eyes.“You can’t just talk about my life like that, as if you know me! I may be spreading some lies, but what I said about your sister is true!” Carllie yelled back. 

Michel sighed. “Whatever, Carllie. Here take your flowers, but I’m telling you I don’t want to hear a rumor saying that I delivered this for you,” Michel tosses the flowers to Carllie, who was too far to catch it, that it fell on the ground. “And, stay away from my sister, you hear?” And with that he left.

“What happened to you?” Carllie mumbled, tears going down her cheeks. 

Michel stopped, turned around and walked towards Carllie, going up the steps and stepping on the chrysanthemums. “You wanna know what happened? You happened Carllie, because of you, Harley broke up with me,” he replied, giving Carllie one last glance, before leaving. Michel got in his car and drove off. 

When Michel disappeared, Carllie fell on her knees and started crying quietly, burying her face in her hands. 

“Carllie, what are you doing?” a soft voice asked.

 Carllie turned around and saw her grandmother. She jerked up and held her grandmother's hand.“Grandma, you shouldn’t be up,” Carllie says. 

Her grandmother shook her head, and stroke Carllie’s cheek.“Don’t worry about me. Why are you crying, Lily?” 

Carllie gave a small laugh, when her grandmother used her mothers name. “It-it’s nothing, grandma. Let’s put you back to bed,” Carllie reassured her. Carllie went behind her grandmother, to pull her wheelchair, but stopped when her grandmother mumbled something.

“Chrysanthemums?” Her grandmother stared at flowers on the ground, before slowly standing up from her wheelchair, attempting to grab them, but Carllie was fast enough to put her back.“Are those chrysanthemums, Lily?” her grandmother asked. Carllie looked behind and slowly nodded her head.

 “Oh, how lovely! Those were my favorite flowers, when I was little. Can we bring it inside?”

 Carllie looked at her grandmother, and for once she was smiling. Carllie felt a warm feeling in her heart, but soon deflated when she remembered, who it came from. “Um…” Carllie hesitated. Looking back and forth to the flowers and to her grandmother. She wanted to say no, but seeing her grandmother happy, she was left with no choice. “Sure, grandma,” she reply smiling at her. 

Her grandmother lifted to her hands to try and reach for the flower, but her hand fell softly on her lap. 

Carllie picked up the flowers, and turned to her grandmother. “So, where, do you—grandma?” Carllie dropped the flowers and shook her grandmother gently, calling her name. “Grandma? Grandma!?” 

Tears started clouding her eyes, but she didn’t care, she called the ambulance, gave them the address, and called her parents. Ten minutes later, the ambulance arrived. Her parents helped them lift her grandmother inside the ambulance. Carllie tried to follow, but was blocked by her father.

“Stay here, Carllie. I want you to guard Charles while were gone,” he says

“No! I want to see grandma!” she yelled. Her father shook his head, and got on the ambulance. Her mother hugged her, from the back. 

“We’ll be back as soon as we can, okay?” her mother muttered in her ear, joining her father on the ambulance. 

Carllie’s eyes stayed fixed on the ambulance, until she felt a hand holding hers. She looked on her left, and saw her younger brother Charles.

“Will grandma be okay?” Charles ask. Getting no response he glance quickly at his sister who was crying hard. Charles wrapped his arms around Carllie and guided her inside the house. The caretakers started to rush towards the two, to help them, but Charles waved them away. He led Carllie to her room and help her lay down. “She’ll be fine Carllie,” he whispered. 

Carllie wiped her tears and looked at Charles.“I don’t know what I’ll ever do without you, Charles. I’m the oldest, but you treat me as if I’m the youngest,” she mumbled. 

Charles laughed a little, bid her goodbye and left. Carllie stared at the ceiling, contemplating whether she should call her so-called friends. Carllie kept staring at the ceiling, until her eyes felt heavy. Then before she can close her eyes, her phone started ringing. Carllie groaned and lazily picked up her phone. She looked at the id number and saw Laure’s. Carllie pressed the phone to her ears. 

“Hi, Laure, what’s up?” she ask.

“Are you okay? I heard about what happened to your grandma, Charles. told me. Wanna talk about it?” she ask. 

Carllie smiled. At least on person is truly my friend, she thought as she poured out everything to Laure. 

When Michel reached his mothers flower shop, he was furious at Laure. His mother tending to some flowers looked at him, worriedly, when he aggressively opened the door. 

“Michel? What’s wrong?” she ask, grabbing his arm. 

Michel gently pulled away. “I’m fine mom. Where’s Laure?” he ask.

“In her room, why?” Michel didn’t bother to answer, he bolted up to her room and barged in. Laure jumped from her bed and stared at her brother. 

“Ever heard of knocking, Michel?” she ask, looking at him annoyingly. 

Michel ignore her question. “What did I tell you about talking to Carllie?” he ask. 

Laure stuck her tongue out at him. “You don’t get to decide who I get to be friends with, Michel. It’s my life not yours,” she replied firmly. 

Michel groaned at Laure. “Carllie is a terrible person, Laure. I just don’t want to see you getting hurt, all right,” Michel says. 

Carllie looked at him, disbelief in her eyes. “Carllie is the most wonderful person I have ever met, Michel. Do you even know what she’s going through, right now?” she ask. Michel shook his head and mumbled an ‘I don’t care’. “Her grandmother is in the hospital, Michel,” 

Michel looked at Laure, whose eyes were filled with sadness. Michel remembered Carllie’s grandmother as his own. She took care of the four of them when they were little. She treated Michel and his little sister as if they were her grandchildren.

“Is she okay?” he ask in a low voice. 

Laure shook her head. “I don’t know. Carllie started crying really bad, in the middle of our conversation, so I ended it,” Michel didn’t know why, but hearing Carllie crying, felt as if someone stabbed him the in heart. Laure stared at her brother intensely. “I also found out, how you blamed her for your break up with Harley,” 

“She is the reason why, Laure,” Michel says. 

“No she’s not, Michel! Ever since you dated Harley you were never the boy we knew. It’s always Harley this and Harley that! When, you were little, you always had Carllie’s back. But, now? I don’t even know…” Carllie trailed off, tears streaming down her cheeks. 

Michel sat next to her, and wrapped his arms around her. “Carllie needed you back in sophomore year. She was bullied and taunted. And, yet she kept a smile around her face. I knew her act wasn’t going to last very long. And I tried…I tried so hard, to protect her from others, but how can I when my own brother are one of those people?” she mumbled. 

“I’m sorry Laure,” he muttered. 

Laure pushed him and stood up, away from her bed. She wiped her tears, using her sleeves and looked at Michel. “You shouldn't be saying sorry to me. That apology belongs to Carllie, Michel, not me,” 

Michel stood up. “How can I if she won’t even talk to me?” 

“You won’t talk to her, Michel. If you just go up to her and apologize, maybe…maybe your friendship can be healed. If not, then I don’t know. Remember, Carllie doesn’t make the first move,”

“I promise I’ll apologize to her. But, I can’t promise that she’ll forgive me,” 

Laure nodded. Michel gave Laure one more hug and left her room. He then went to his room, and laid on his bed, pulled out his phone and looked for Carllie’s contact number. Last time he talked to her was a year ago. Michel’s finger paused on the screen, wondering if he should text her. After a few minutes Michel decided to just apologize in person tomorrow. 

The next day, Michel sprinted through the hallway looking for Carllie, but after minutes of searching, he gave up and went to his class. For the next few days, Carllie avoided Michel. She always waited for him, to leave before appearing. Coming after the bell rings, so he can’t talk to her, ignoring him, cutting him off when he wants to talk. Michel had enough. He knew he wasn’t going to get anywhere with this, so he asked for help. The only person, who is willing to help him.

“You said, you were going to apologize. Not me,” Laure says laying on her bed. Michel groaned. 

“I know! But I can’t get a word out, if she keeps blocking me,” he complained.

“Just leave a note in her locker. You don’t have talk, and neither does she,” 

Michel looked at his sister, who stuck out her tongue. “A note? Really Laure? I’m not some sort of poetic person!” Laure sat up.

“It doesn’t have to be a poem. Just put the reasons why you want to be friends again,” 

“Friends? Why in the world do you think she would want to be my friend?” he ask.

“Carllie, is forgiving, Michel. Just be reasonable. Don’t mention Harley and be honest to her,” Laure says.

 Michel stared at Laure, nodded and left. Michel sat on his chair pulled out a piece of paper and stared at it. What the heck do I even say? Michel thought. He took a deep breath and started writing. After, a few minutes, words came to his mind, and the supposed to be poem was finished. He folded it and went downstairs. His mom, the owner of the flower shop was locking the door, when she saw Michel.

“Are you okay, Michel?” she ask. 

He nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine mom. Do we have any roses?” he ask.

 His mom smiled and urged him to follow her. She opens a door decorated with red spirals. Inside was buckets of roses: red, yellow, white, and blue. Michel smiled. His mom noticed.

“Why do you want the flowers for, Michel?” she ask.

Michel turned to his mom, a sad smiled forming up. He then explained to his mom, about his situation with Carllie. His mom hugged him, after he was finished and he was crying. “It’s okay, Michel. I’m sure Carllie will forgive you,” she reassured. Michel let go of his mom, and went to pick up a few roses. He went to his room, and wrapped the four different colored roses together, and tucked the piece of paper inside the bouquet of roses. He set in on his table and went to bed.

Carllie came an hour late for school. She visited her grandmother from the hospital, whose conditions were getting a lot better. She slowly walked to her locked, only to find, roses taped to it. Knowing where the flowers come from she decided to ignore it, but curiosity got the better of her, that she took the roses, and admired it for a while. As she looked at it, she noticed that a letter was stuck to it. She pulled it out, and read it. 

Carllie,

 I know you hate me. I do too. But, I’m not writing this, because I think it’s the right thing. I know it’s the right thing. I blamed you for everything, because I believed the lies that Harley told me and I am such an idiot, that I let that happened, and everything bad that happened in my life. My break up with Harley, my bad grade, and everything else. I don’t expect you to forgive me, but know that I’m really sorry, Lily.

-Michel

A tear fell from Carllie’s eyes. As she read the letter over and over again. For years, she waited for her childhood friend to apologize to her. And this was the day. She carefully put the rose in her locker and made her way to class. Ms. Zimmer the physics teacher, didn’t scold her when she came in late. She knew what Carllie was going through. Carllie sat down on her seat, in front of Michel. Michel took this opportunity, he tapped Carllie in the back, who turned around for once. Michel swiftly gave her a note and continued listening to Ms. Zimmer. Carllie opened the note, and her poker face, instantly turned in to a happy one.

Carllie, 

Wanna hang out today? Also, I sent your grandmother some chrysanthemums, hope she’ll like it.  There the best ones in our shop! Again sorry about what happened at the past twelve months. I promise to always listen to my number one bff. P.S. Thank Laure too, ‘cause she’s the one who forced me

-Michel

Carllie couldn’t stop smiling, she turned around and saw Michel looking at her. She smiled and nodded. Michel then too smiled. Maybe Laure’s right. Maybe the old Michel was still there, Carllie thought as the scene kept replaying in her head.