A Crystal Rose

“Jemma!”

Jemma turned around. A boy ran towards her, a flower in hand. She sighed but smiled.

“Hello.”

He came up to her panting. He held up the flower.

“Can... can you turn... turn it...”

He was doubled over panting.

“Yes.”

He nodded. She took the flower from him. It was a Lily of the Valley. She smiled. She pulled off one of her gloves and watched as the flower crystalized. The white flowers turned to diamond-like crystals, and the leaves and stem turned to emerald-like ones. She handed the delicate flower back to the boy, careful not to touch him with her ungloved hand.

“Thanks.”

He then turned and ran back down the hall.

“You’re welcome. I guess.”

She gave a small chuckle and continued to walk to class. As she walked, she thought about the first time she had turned a flower.

Her childhood friend Johnson had asked her to do it. He had just started dating one of the popular girls. He thought it would be cool if he gave her a flower that wouldn’t wilt. He knew what she could do and asked her to turn a rose into crystal. She thought about it and decided to try. There were imperfections, but he had been so happy with it that she felt like she was on cloud 9. His girlfriend had been so happy with it that she had told everyone about it. So, all the boys started asking her to crystalize flowers for their girlfriends. Even with her new popularity, she had almost no friends. Johnson was still her best friend, but he didn’t talk to her at school. His girlfriend didn’t like it when they talked.

Jemma pulled herself out of her memories. She entered her first class and quickly zoned out. She was pulled from her daydream by a boy with another flower. This one was a marigold. She quickly turned it into a flower with topaz petals and an emerald stem. She continued through her day, until she hit lunch.

***

As soon as she entered the lunchroom, she knew something was wrong. Johnson wasn’t sitting at the couples’ table with his girlfriend. He was back at the table with all his athlete friends. His girlfriend was on the opposite side of the room with her cheerleaders. Her makeup was running down her face and Johnson was picking at his food, but not really eating.

***

Bzzt

Jemma picked up her phone.

Hey. You busy tonight?

She gave a small smirk.

Johnson, you know me. I’m never busy.

Wanna meet at the diner?

Sure. I’ll be there in 10.

Jemma stood up from her bed and grabbed her jacket and gloves. She ran down the stairs, shouted to her parents that she was going out, and ran out the door. She jumped on her bike and rode down to the diner. He was already sitting at a table in a corner. She went over and joined him. He had already ordered a milkshake and was sitting there stirring it. He didn’t look up as she sat down.

“What happened?”

He looked up.

 “We both decided that it wasn’t worth it to keep pretending”

“Pretending? You loved her.”

“I thought I did.”

She cocked her head in confusion. He gave a small smile.

“You were right. She never really loved me. I was her pretty boy.”

Jemma bit her lip, fighting back a told you so. He looked back down.

“You can say it.”

“I won’t. You loved her. There's nothing wrong with that. Everyone makes mistakes.”

He looked surprised.

“Really? No ‘told you so’?”

“Oh, I really want to, but I won’t.”

They both laughed. They sat there chatting until it was dark outside. It was just like old times. Jemma looked out the window.

“Oh! I should be getting home.”

She got up and started to leave. Johnson stood to.

“Did you ride your bike?”

“Yes. What else would I ride?”

He looked out to the dark city.

“let me drive you home.”

“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.”

“No. Let me drive you home.”

She was surprised. He usually wasn’t this stubborn.

“Alright, but what will we do with my bike?”

“We can throw it in the back. It’ll be fine.”

She shrugged. They then spend the next 5 minutes wrestling the bike into Johnson's car. They stood there panting.

“Was that really worth it?”

He chuckled.

“Let’s get going.”

They chatted the whole way to Jemma's house. They then spent another 5 minutes wrestling the bike back out of the car.

“Thanks. See you tomorrow?”

“Yeah. See you.”

He waited until she got in the house before driving away. Jemma felt her heart flutter as he drove away. Don’t be stupid. She thought. He’s your friend. She sighed.

***

It had been a bad morning. Her mother had been shouting at Jemma, again. Something about getting home late, and not telling her where she'd gone. It was a load of bs, as usual. Jemma had told her exactly where she had gone, and she was back before curfew, even if it was a little later than usual. Her mother had probably been too drunk to remember what she’d said. Of course, her father was sitting in the corner ignoring the shouting. Jemma shouted something back at her mother and ran out the door, grabbing her school bag, slamming the door behind her. She hopped on her bike and pedaled hard. The wind stung her eyes as tears leaked out of them. By the time she got to school her eyes were dry, but bloodshot. She slowly walked to her first class. She paused for a minute to crystalize a peony, but quickly walked away. She walked quickly passed by the group of jocks. Johnson was with them. He paused as Jemma walked quickly passed. He quickly excused himself and walked after her. He quickly caught up with her.

“You okay?”

She didn’t respond and speed up.

“Jemma...”

He caught up again. He grabbed her arm gently. She pulled away.

“I’m fine.”

They both stood there in the middle of the hall for a moment, before Jemma half-ran, half-walked away. He stared after her but left her alone.

***

Jemma wheeled her bike away from the school quickly. Johnson ran to catch up to her.

“Will you talk to me now?”

She looked up. She stopped walking.

“It was nothing.”

“It wasn’t nothing. You were crying. You don’t cry.”

She looked down.

“It’s nothing you need to worry about.”

“But I am worrying. Jemma, you’re my best friend. You can talk to me.”

She didn’t look him in the eye.

“Later.”

Was all she said before hopping on her bike and pedaling away.

***

Johnson was laying on his bed scrolling on his phone, when the call came through. It was Jemma. He was slightly confused. Jemma didn’t like to call people.

“Hey, what’s-”

He stopped abruptly and sat up straight, when he heard sobbing on the other end. He could hear distant shouting.

“Open this door! Now! You good for nothin’-”

“Jemma what the hell is happening?”

She didn’t answer. The sobbing and shouting continued.

“Let me in you ungrateful-”

He couldn’t sit her and listen to this any longer.

“I’m coming.”

“No.”

He froze. It had been the first thing she had said.

“Just... just st-stay on the line p-please.”

Was all she managed through sobs. The shouting was still in the background.

“Who are you talking to?! I bet you they don’t know what you did. Because I covered you! Murderer!”

At the last word, the sobs stopped. Jemma seemed to have stopped breathing. Johnson heard someone stomping away. As soon as they were gone, crying started one the line again. He couldn’t keep it in anymore.

“What the hell? What are they talking about? Murderer? What the hell?”

He heard several deep breaths from the line. Jemma’s voice was shaky when she spoke.

“Johnson, do you... do you remember Peter?”

He sat there for a moment. Of course, he did. Peter was, well, had been Jemma’s baby brother.

“Yes.”

“There’s something nobody knows about his death.”

She voice was becoming shakier by the second. She seemed to be holding back sobs. There was a long pause. He finally asked.

“What?”

She broke into sobs again.

“I killed him! I killed him!”

He sat there in shock.

“No, you didn’t. He died of natural causes.”

“The rumors. They're true. I killed my own brother.”

Johnson was silent.

“I didn’t mean too. I just wanted to hold him. I didn’t mean too. It's all my fault. It's all my fault”

She kept repeating the phrase until it devolved into sobs. He didn’t know how to respond. The rumors he had spent years refuting were true.

“Jemma... it was an accident. You didn’t mean too. You were 5. You couldn’t control it. I know you’ve lived believing it was your fault for a long time, but it’s not. You can’t blame yourself for something you couldn’t control.”

“Every time I do it. Every time I turn one of those stupid flowers. All I can think of is him.”

She wasn’t listening.

“Jemma you need to calm down.”

He heard several shaky deep breaths on the other line. She was starting to calm down a little but was clearly still crying.

“I shouldn’t be telling you this. I'm sorry. I shouldn’t...”

“Jemma, you’ve clearly lived with this for a long time. You needed to get it off your chest. Like I said earlier, you always talk to me.”

They sat there in silence for a moment, before Jemma spoke quietly,

“Johnson... you can’t tell anyone. Please. You have to promise you won’t tell.”

“Jemma. I’m not going to tell anyone. I promise.”

For the first time, the crying truly stopped. They sat there, mostly in silence, occasionally talking, for several hours. When they finally said goodbye and went to sleep, Jemma felt as if a weight had been taken off her chest. She slept peacefully for the first time in a long time that night.

***

Jemma noticed a change in Johnson after that night. He began to hang out with her more at school. He slowly stopped talking to his athlete friends and they slowly shunned him. He didn’t seem to care. He stood up to the kids who had pushed her around for years, and they slowly began to leave her alone. People still asked her to crystalize flowers, though every one reminded her of Peter. She did it out of the kindness of her heart. Though Johnson hadn’t told her, he had told the school about Jemma’s mom. She was quickly pulled from the house and placed in a temporary home, seeing as she was about to graduate. Life was almost perfect. Until, one day Johnson came up to her with a rose in his hand. She deflated a little bit.

Don’t be dumb he’s your friend.

“Did you meet someone new?"

He shook his head. She was confused.

“No. It’s actually someone I’ve known for a long time.”

She gave a small hm, before taking the flower and beginning to crystalize it.

“What’s she like?”

He thought for a moment.

“Well... She’s very nice, pretty, generous...”

She handed it back to him while he was still talking. He didn’t take it.

“She's also one of the bravest people I know. She does things every day that cause her pain, but she pushes through to make others happy.”

He pushed it back into her hand. She looked up at him surprised.

“No…”

He smiled.

“Yes.”

He bent down and kissed her.

“You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do that.”

“You don't know how long I've waited.”

They laughed. They walked to class together, holding hands.