Petal

“Hey Arthur, you're gonna come to the arcade tonight?” Arthur’s friends called out to him as he stumbled out his classroom door, struggling to put on his backpack.

He turned away from them and started rapidly walking down the hall, as fast as he could without getting in trouble with a passing teacher.

“Sorry guys! I have plans! Maybe Saturday!” He called over his shoulder just before getting out of earshot. He faced forward just in time to narrowly dodge someone coming the other way. “Sorry!” He called out to them, not even stopping to see who it was.

Finally, the hall cleared in front of him and he grinned. He was excited for this afternoon, He had made plans to hang out with Petal.

Petal was a girl he’d met about a month before, they went to the same school but had none of the same classes, they had just happened to run into each other while at the supermarket. That had been the most random day of his life, and they had hung out almost every day since then, always doing something different and random.

He’d kept it hidden from his pals because he hadn’t wanted them to tease him about having a girlfriend. She was NOT his girlfriend, and he didn’t have any feelings like that for her, she was just so much fun to be around he’d started to wonder if he was addicted to her personality.

He ran out of the school and down the street to the corner of the block, where he and Petal met every day. As usual, she was standing there waiting for him, her hands impatiently on her hips, her foot tapping rapidly. The girl seemed allergic to staying still.

When he finally got to her, he stumbled to a stop and leaned on his knees, panting heavily.

Petal began to gesture wildly in the air. “What took you so long?! School ended like 15 minutes ago!”

Still out of breath, his laugh in response was more of a wheeze than anything. He pushed himself upright as he caught his breath. “It’s only been five minutes! Besides, Mr. Arlile held us until his stupid slideshow was over!” he protested.

She glared at the school. “I really don't like Mr. Arlile.”

Arthur laughed again. “That’s only because he keeps you from having fun by forcing you to wait for me. You’ve never even met him!”

She didn’t respond, only gave the school another glare then whipped her head around and walked off, forcing Arthur to run to catch up to her.

“So what are we doing today?” He asked her once he was walking beside her. He never knew what the plan was, but she always came up with something fun.

She must have still had some residual anger because the look she gave him was almost a glare. “Why don’t you come up with something?” She asked. “It’s always me.”

His mind went blank and he almost stopped walking. The thought of him coming up with something hadn’t crossed his mind. He never even considered that he could come up with something as fun as what she thought of, and he said so to her.

A mischievous grin broke out on her face, her petty anger forgotten. “That’s true, What I had thought of is much more fun than anything you could think of.”

“What is it?” He eagerly asked.

She proudly stuck her nose in the air and said. “We’re gonna do a fashion show.”

This time he did stop walking. She took a couple of steps before looking back at him. “What with that face?” She asked.

He had grimaced as soon as she’d said fashion. “We’re playing dress-up?” Why are we doing that? That’s so girly.”

She looked at him like he was an idiot. “Ummm… I’m a girl, duh.”

“Can’t we do something else? Like maybe we could go draw on rocks or something like yesterday.”

She turned and began walking again. “I never do the same thing twice in a row. I’m going to go do this, you don’t have to come.

He groaned, that’s true, he was more just along for the ride than anything. She did what she wanted to. After several seconds, he ran to catch up to her. “Fine, I'll go.” He groaned. He’d been wrong about having fun before.

They used their school-provided bus passes to take the bus to the mall. He’d been to the mall before with his mom, but before he’d always just slunk in the back, not wanting to be there so ignoring the world around him. But with Petal it was completely different, they went from store to store looking at everything from furniture to glasses, talking to the workers, and examining all the back shelves of the stores where no one goes. He’d never thought being at the mall could be so much fun.

As they approached the massive clothing store in the middle of the mall, his anxiety began to grow. But she just passed by it without even glancing at it, and he breathed a mental sigh of relief, thinking that she’d forgotten.

Then she stopped at the thrift store just past it and waved at it like she was a ringleader at a circus. “This will be our fashion show canvas.”

He glanced between the glittering clothing store and the thrift store filled with old hand-me-downs with confusion.

“Why here?” He asked, not able to hold back his curiosity. “Why not there?” He pointed back at the other store behind him.

She brushed it off with a wave. “They have all the same clothes. It’s too boring.”

He looked at the store windows with at least five different outfits just on display there, not sure what she meant by her statement. But he didn’t have a chance to ask as she barged into the thrift store, once again forcing him to rush to reach her side. Next thing he knew he was in a dressing room with a leather vest, cowboy boots, a massive cowboy hat, and a set of chaps. He reluctantly crawled into the outfit and forced himself to step out of the dressing room. AS soon as he stepped out, he was greeted with “Howdy Partner!” He turned to look at Petal and his jaw dropped. She was wearing bell bottom jeans, a flashy button-up, and an afro wig that she’d found somewhere. Arthur burst out laughing. He laughed so hard tears started to well in his eyes while she grinned foolishly at him. Finally, he straightened up and pointed finger guns at her. “Jazzay,” he said before they both burst into giggles.

Having completely forgotten his embarrassment, he rushed around the store, grabbing clothes items here and there, dressing up as super spies, or old ladies, somewhere Petal even found an astronaut costume that fit her, though it was too small for Arthur.

after an hour or so of this, the staff told them that if they weren’t going to buy anything they needed to leave. They’d had their fun though, so they left with their faces flushed with laughter and their eyes sparkling.

As they walked out of the mall, Petal turned to Arthur and said, “I gotta go home, but how was dress-up?” She asked, her eyes glittering knowingly.

Arthur’s face immediately turned red as recalled his complaints that morning. He wouldn’t meet her eyes as he said gruffly. “Well, at least you don’t ever do the same thing twice in a row.”

She threw her head back and let out a clear, pearly laugh. “That’s true, wouldn’t want to put you through that torture again.” Then she turned and started walking back to the bus station with Arthur following.

When they reached Petals bus stop she stood up to get off but Arthur grabbed her arm. “Same time tomorrow?”

She looked at him, then winked. “Always.” Then he let her go and she got off. As the bus drove towards his home, he leaned his head against the window and watched the buildings go by as he thought about how surprisingly fun dress-up was.