Peony

“Why are you crying, Odi?” Axel asks me. It’s the first day of school and I finally get to move up to the secondary school to be with the boys. Only, instead of it being the best day ever, it’s the worst.

“There’s a boy in my class. He isn’t very nice.”

“What did he do?” Kaiden growls. Zie pulls me into a hug. We’re standing in the middle of the canteen and everyone is staring but the boys don’t seem to care.

“Nothing. He just...it’s nothing. I’m fine now. I just didn’t realise how hard it was going to be moving to a new school and having to make new friends.”

“You don’t need new friends. You have us,” Axel insists.

“Yeah but I’m two years below the three of you. You’ll be gone one day and I’ll be stuck here on my own. I need someone to talk to.”

“That’s ages away. Don’t worry about it.”

“She kind of has a point though, doesn’t she?” Zie says softly. “She’s not in our classes. So she needs someone to sit with and talk to. At the very least for when she gets set projects and things.”

“Okay,” Axel begrudgingly admits. “Let me think on it, and I’ll pick a few options.”

I want to slap him for trying to dictate to my friends, but Kaiden catches my eye and smirks. It’s just the way Axel is and it’s easier to just go along with him. Let him think he’s in charge and do what I want in secret.

I dream of being brave enough to really stand up to Axel one day, but as he tucks me under his arm and leads me away to a table with the other third years, I know that today is not that day.