Forever And Never

"Hurry up!" Raven called from the middle of the hallway, glancing back at me as I walked casually towards her, anything but eager to reach the destination we were both headed towards. At the end of the hallway in Branch Wood which held various rooms for meetings, another small room was held which contained dozens of PO boxes, similar to those which are used at Postal offices. While that was nothing to be afraid of, it was the fact that both my and Raven's report cards waited for us in Ramsey's and in Maribelle's boxes. Since I'd promised to Ramsey I'd make all A's before school had started, a promise I had to uphold if I wanted to remain at Elle Point, the envelope held more meaning than just a review of my grades so far.
"You're so slow," Raven sighed once I finally caught up to her and we reached the door, second to last on the left, next to the printing room. I ignored her comment and opened the door for us, walking past her and into the small room of metal boxes, all numbered and locked. While Maribelle’s was number 153, Ramsey's was number 281 and after scanning the rows I found the small box near the corner on the left wall. Pulling out the key from the pocket of my jeans, I opened the box to find a few various letters and notification’s waiting for Ramsey, including a single white letter with the Elle Point school seal on the corner, the words 'To the Guardian of Nicolette M. Stevens' with the PO box number below and the other location information. Disregarding the other mail in the box, thinking Ramsey would just get angry if I touched it, I pulled out the envelope and observed is carefully for a few seconds, stalling as much as I could.
"Are you kidding me? " Raven exclaimed loudly from where she stood in front of Maribelle's box a few feet away, having already torn open her envelope to see her grades. "A 93 in Algebra?" She glanced over at me as she scoffed, "Where's the justice?" I laughed lightly, amazed that she could get so upset over an A-, then glanced back down at my own envelope, turning it over slowly to open it.
I tore the top carefully, then pulled out the single yellow folded paper, carefully opening it up to view my list of classes and my averages in each one a few inches next to it. Raven, bored with her own scores already, walked over and stood on my left, glancing over my shoulder to look at the paper in my hands while asking, "How'd you do? "
"Well…" I answered carefully, "Not too bad, actually… better than I thought I would do. " She focused more on the paper and my grades for each class her eyes scanning over each number as she read them out loud, "94, 98, 90, 91, 96, 93, 90… Wow you really did do well! " She pulled away and smiled at me saying, "You were worried for nothing after all," as she walked back towards Maribelle's box. Still filled with excitement from getting all A's as I'd promised Ramsey I would do, I watched as Raven closed the PO box and took the key from the lock. "I’m going to show Maribelle my grades, she's in a meeting on the second floor right now anyways," she announced suddenly and raced towards the door, opening it and preparing to leave down the hallway before I stopped her.
"Wait, hold on a minute," I called after her as I quickly closed Ramsey's box and pulled the key from the lock, making it to the door frame in time to stop her from running to find Maribelle. "Ramsey's out on an appointment right now, I'll just go with you since I have nothing else to do."
"Maribelle will get mad," She explained quickly, her excitement about showing her grades hindering her ability to speak at a normal rate, "If it's just me then she won't get as mad, so just stay here; I’ll be right back I promise!" Before I could try and argue Raven was gone, walking quickly down the hallway and turning left for the doors that led to the main room, leaving me alone.
Sighing with defeat, I closed the door to the room of PO boxes and glanced around the hallway, realizing I'd never had a chance to explore the mansion very much. I knew where things were, such as the dining area or the nursing wing, but had never explored enough to realize certain areas of the huge mansion. At the end the hallway, left of where I stood, was a pair of white French doors each propped open to the outside where a huge garden waited. Fascinated by the discovery that Branch Wood had a garden, I walked forward down the hallway and towards the open doors, stepping though them and down onto a concrete patio, intent on exploring before I noticed a person sitting alone on a concrete bench left of the doors.
"Oh..." I murmured awkwardly, stepping back past the threshold of the double doors to walk back down the hallway and find Raven, only to be spotted before I was able to make my get away. "Nicolette?" I heard them call and after a second I apprehensively peeked past the door frame to see Nate leaning forward with a curious expression on his face, glancing up at my face when I appeared once again. I hadn't seen him much since our dance at the Yearly ball a few weeks before, and running into him so suddenly was surprising.
"Sorry, I was just looking around... I didn't know anyone was out here..." I spoke softly, the somber quiet of the large garden intimidating enough for me to feel self conscious about the volume of my voice. I wanted to leave, feeling bad for intruding on the quiet area but he answered, "It's fine; this is a public place." When I frowned lightly to myself, still feeling ashamed of interrupting his solitude he continued: "I was just here to sit and relax, you can join me if you want." His smile seemed genuine, and had I not noticed it I would have turned down his offer, thinking he was only being polite for my sake.
"Alright..." I answered with a coy smile, slipping past the door frame and stepping back onto the concrete patio and towards the long bench resting against the outside wall of the institute. Nate moved from the middle of the bench to the left, making room for me to sit next to him on his right. I took my seat and smiled at him slightly before looking ahead at the garden for the first time, as discovering Nate had put that on hold.
My eyes scanned slowly across the mass of plants and flowers in front of me, observing the many walkways throughout the large area all paved with concrete, almost making a sort of labyrinth beginning about five feet in front of where the two of us sat. From what I could see, there were countless variations of plants and flowers mixed together and growing out in every direction.
"This garden has been around since the late 1870's," Nate stated as he watched me admire the scene before us, grinning to himself when I gave him a surprised look at how old it was. He looked away from me for a second then added on, "It's been renovated a lot over the years, but a few of these plants have been here since the original garden was built."
"It's really beautiful," I commented as I glanced at the garden before letting my eyes return to him, glad that I had decided to explore Branch Wood because I'd been able to find a refuge amongst the huge mansion if I ever needed one. It seemed like a quiet enough place to escape to, like Nate had been doing, and held a certain peace that the busy main room and eating area didn’t always hold.
"What brings you here anyways? " he asked, glancing over at me curiously before noticing the envelope and the yellow folded piece of paper in my hands, something I’d forgotten about with the discovery of the garden. "Oh, I was getting my report card for school, " I answered with a shy grin, holding up the envelope in my hand. He nodded in reply to my answer and glanced back out at the garden asking after a few seconds, "And your grades were good? " I nodded with an awkward laugh, glancing away from him after a few seconds when he smiled and reply and looked back out at the garden before us, silence coming between us again.
Nate and I sat quietly on the bench admiring the garden for a few minutes, a comfortable quiet between us as I admired the collection of plants to the right of me. "Hey, I'll be right back," He voiced suddenly catching me off guard as he stood from the concrete bench and walked forward into the rows of plants, turning left and disappearing out of sight. I laughed at his spontaneous decision to get up and leaned back against the wall behind me, waiting patiently for him to surface once again.
A minute or so later, I turned my focus from the left where a long black railing ran alongside the garden back to the entrance into the rows where Nate had disappeared into to see him walking back towards me, returning from the depth of the maze. "Here you go," He smiled once he was standing in front of me, holding out a single white rose in his hand and offering it to me. I glanced at it then felt my face fall, completely out of my control, and stared down at the big, fully bloomed rose in his extended hand, instantly recalling the white roses August had given me. Once a few days after we'd began dating when he had met me at my locker before school to tell me he was leaving for a few days, and again the night of our one month anniversary when my life had changed forever.
"Nicolette?" Nate questioned after a long stretch of silence between us, his eyes clouded with worry as he stared down at me with the gift in his hand still waiting to be taken. After looking up at him and then back to the infamous rose, I let my eyes fall down to my lap where I held the envelope and paper in my hands awkwardly and murmured, "Roses... White roses..."
I received a more confused look from Nate and after another long silence settled between us and lasted for a matter of minutes, he slowly brought his hand back to his side and sat back down next to me in his original spot. He held the rose in his hands uncomfortably for a moment, then looked back up at me and leaned forward waiting for me to properly explain why I had failed to accept his gift.
"Roses... August gave me white roses..." I admitted timidly, feeling ashamed for not taking his rose only because I had received the exact same kind from the boy who had bitten me and turned me into a vampire. Out of the corner of my peripheral vision, I watched as he nodded lightly and looked back down at the flower in his hands before glancing out towards the garden in front of us.
"August did come here a lot; I'd always find him sitting here or walking through the garden by himself sometimes when I would come out," he spoke as he continued to glance away from me and out into the garden, his crystal blue eyes looking out over the vast garden. I shifted where I sat, internally regretting having come out here and having to be reminded on the flowers I'd received which, at the time, had been gifts but were now the opposite.
"I'm sorry I brought it up," Nate said with a shrug after another long pause between us, looking out into the garden, then down at the white rose in his hands, and finally at where I sat to the right of him. He smiled at me weakly and though he was polite about it I sensed that he was still a little offended that I hadn't accepted the present from him. "You don't have to apologize," I replied quickly as I glanced over to him and brought my hands up, hoping that he would just forget this ever happened and not be angry at me for rejecting the rose.
"Nicolette! " I heard suddenly from behind me and turned, remembering that Raven had said she'd meet me at the room with the PO boxes so that we could leave for the apartment after she told Maribelle about her grades. I glanced at Nate for a second, then stood from the bench and walked over to the propped open French doors, spotting Raven in the hallway just leaving the room with the boxes. She glanced around, confused to not find me there, then spotted me in the doorway and ran over excitedly calling, "There you are!" with a victorious grin.
"Exploring the garden?" She asked as she reached the threshold and glanced out over the garden behind me, smiling until she noticed Nate still sitting on the bench to the left, watching the two of us. "Oh, hi Nate, " She called and gave a quick wave, then turned to me again asking, "Are you ready to leave now? " I stuttered awkwardly for a second as I glanced from Raven to Nate, unsure whether or not I should try and fix what had happened between him and me or just leave it alone for now, then finally answered, "Yea I’m ready when you are." She nodded with a big smile and turned back around to walk down the hallway, ready to leave back for the main room of Branch Wood so we could exit the front door and drive to the apartment.
I stepped from the concrete patio to the tiles of the hallway to leave before glancing back at Nate, who still sat on the bench looking over at me with a mixed expression. I smiled at him weakly hoping it would dismiss all that had happened and he mirrored a similar smile, turning away after a few seconds to look out over the garden, the rejected white rose still in his hands.