I was relieved that June’s weirdness wasn’t because Leanne was harassing her. If June didn’t want to make another move on her brother’s best friend, or even talk through these feelings ever again, I could respect that. But I had to agree with Gia—I kind of shipped Juniper and Leanne. That would be anadorablecouple.
16
IT’S A BET
Over the next week, my time was so packed between Lilybuds and getting ready for the Bloom that I really appreciated Mom’s calls every two days reminding me to get enough sleep and not neglect my social media content. Also, she reminded me to check in with Dad and my sister, which I did. Nilusha and I texted a few times, too—she helped me decide which shots from the Lily photo shoot I should use for the store’s marketing. Shar and I went to prayers again on Friday night while Gia and June worked at the store. But it was all fine—I loved being so busy.
Dr.Johnston’s new antihistamine was working like a dream, so I managed to make a small-scale floral sculpture honoring my destroyed suede boots using a combination of chicken wire, flowerpots, and red marigolds. Not perfect, but I was getting the hang of floral sculpture. Just like with fashion design, I found myself drawn to monochromatic, muted color schemes in floral design. Simple and minimalistic. Lots of focal flowers with little filler. It was in contrast to Rowan and Juniper, whose tastes ran more to vibrant and colorful, with lots of different flowers in busy configurations. I liked their designs, too, but mine were moreme.
On Wednesday night, June, Rowan, Gia, and I were working on a larger piece as practice for the Bloom. I wasn’t necessarily sold on the design—we were basically doing a large living sculpture of a tree.
“You say I’m self-centered, and yet you decide to make a sculpture of your name,” I teased Rowan as I wrapped the trunk with brown moss. He knew I was kidding. Rowan and I had found an unlikely alliance lately, even though we hadn’t really seen much of each other since the photo shoot at the nursery since we’d both worked so much. We texted daily, though, mostly about flowers and the Bloom. I’d been worried that this meeting would be weird—because of thatmomentat the nursery. After he took that photo of me, we got caught up in staring at each other a touch too long. But whatever. It was probably just because of that perfect hazy summer night. Now we were back to being slightly snarky friends.
Which was good, because I was in no way looking to start crushing on Plant-Boy right now. That wasn’t part of the Plan.
He shrugged. “It’s not a specific tree. It’s more stylized.”
I stood back. “I’m just not feeling this for the competition. A living sculpture of a tree looks too much like a...tree.”
“The judges will love it, though,” June said. “The theme this year is ‘Things in a garden.’”
Only in Bakewell would they have a garden sculpture contest with the theme of things in a garden.
I peered at the bulbous head of the sculpture. “What if we only used white flowers, like those impatiens you showed me?”
“We’re not going to win with only one type of flower,” Rowan said.
“Well, I don’t think we’ll win with a tree. Or with flower vomit,” I said.
Rowan gave me a pointed look. “I came in second with my ‘flower vomit,’ as you call it. This is the kind of thing the judges will expect—trust me.”
I sighed. “Iknowthis is what they expect. I want to do something theywon’texpect.” I smiled because I didn’t want him to think I was being precious again. “Humor me. What else is in a garden? Other than trees.”
June looked around. “Um...us?”
“Furniture?” Gia offered. She’d barely paid attention before this, focused on texting someone. Probably Cameron.
I bit my lip. There had to be an angle I was missing here. I inspected the garden. Hose reel? Garden shears? “This is the dumbest theme in the world,” I said. “Why don’t we just make a freaking flower?”
Rowan raised a brow. “That’s kind of the point. It’s a flower sculpture competition.”
I grinned, an idea coming to me. “Wait.I’m brilliant. Not flowers, butflower! We’re supposed to make large living statues; why can’t we make a statue of a huge flower? Covered with flowers? It’s a little meta, but the whole garden theme is meta.”
Rowan stopped looking suspicious and stared out into the open patch of grass in front of the workbench. I knew what he was doing—he was imagining a large floral sculpture of a flower. He was constructing it in his mind to determine if it was feasible. He probably saw something full and lush and filled with many colors. His eyes glazed over a bit as his attention stayed focused on the images in his head. He rubbed his jaw in thought. I was mesmerized watching him imagine it. I couldn’t look away from his face.
Finally, a small smile appeared. “You know? I think that might be awesome.”
I shook my head. “I don’tthinkit will be awesome; Iknowit will be. You and me together? We can make this spectacular enough to win.”
I’d been really focused on the store for the last week. The Lily launch had gone really well. Store traffic and total sales were up over last year, and the Lily merchandise was flying off the shelves. We’d had to order new stock twice since that first delivery.
But I hadn’t lost sight of whyelseI was here. My Bloom entry was as important as my work in the store. Ineededit to be showstopping. I needed to wow Christopher Chan so I would get into FIT.
“Let’s sketch some ideas,” I said. “I’ll draw up a flower sculpture that’s unique and modern with an urban edge but will still appeal to the judges.”
“Yes!” Gia said. “Tahira is amazeballs. She’ll make something fabulous; I promise.”
Rowan put his hands up. “Hold on, hold on. Okay, I agree the flower idea is a good one, but I know what kind of flower you’ll design. It will be all bare and all white or something. Let me design something, too. A flower but with actual colors.”
