Chapter Five: Gardening Troubles

(The Mall Rats)

***

Valerie had just finished her routine of getting ready for work and grabbed her sketchbook to work on some designs when a knock came on her door and she heard her mom ask, " Valerie? ¿Puedo entrar, mija?"

"Uh, yeah, sure, Mom," Valerie answered, setting aside her sketchbook as her mom entered, smiling.

"Hey, Valerie," her mom said. Noticing the sketchbook, she asked, "Were you doing some... makeup designs, mija?"

"Uh, yeah, I was gonna work on some before I leave for my shift" Valerie admitted. She frowned suspiciously. "Why are you asking me, Mom?"

Her mom bit her lip, before she sighed and apologised, "I'm sorry, Valerie. For last night and... and how I've treated your dream. Your father was right, we should be supportive of what you and Camila do, no matter what. I just... I just want what's best for you and for Cami. You are the most important things to me, and I worry that what you chose won't work out for you."

Valerie looked down as her mom continued, "But that doesn't matter. We came here to America to provide you both with opportunities we never had, and... and this is why. So, if you really want to pursue this, that you want to go to Purdue, to film school... then we'll make sure you do, with paying for it. Like I said last night."

Valerie looked up, a look of shock on her face. "Really? I thought you were kidding."

"Yes, really," her mom affirmed, smiling, as she opened her arms for a hug. Valerie hesitated, but feel into it, holding her mom as she gently stroked her curls and murmured, "I'll try, Valerie. I'll try to do better and support you. You and Cami."

"You saying you and Papi will make sure I get into Purdue is a good first step," Valerie muttered, a ghost of a smile on her face, at hearing that. But not truly there, because as nice as this was, if her parents learned about her sexuality...

She knew it wouldn't end in hugs.

"Okay, I need to head to work now," Valerie said as she pulled back.

"Of course. Have a good day at work, mija," her mom told her.

"I'll try," Valerie replied as she got off her bed and put her feet into mint-green Converse. As she laced them up her mom left, and the minute she did, Valerie eyed the door before snagging her sketchbook and pencil and pen. Not to bring into her work—she couldn't endure the humiliation or questions if Robin or Steve saw her makeup designs—but to just have in her car, as a reminder that even if her gay ass could drive another wedge between herself and her parents if she ever had the courage to tell them, at least in the matter of her career, that divide seemed to have a bridge built on it.

Valerie hoped it would keep being built.

Heading down the stairs, Valerie waved to her sister, wearing gloves, dirt-smeared shorts and shirt and a sunhat—getting ready to tend to her garden, probably. Cami returned it as Annie bolted across, nearly making Valerie trip over the kitten as she froze, her pupils blown out before she zoomed up the stairs, yowling her tiny head off.

"What's up with Annie?" she asked.

Cami shrugged. "Don't know. She refuses to go outside—which I'm all too happy about."

"Ah," Valerie said, eyeing the speck of black bolting down the hallway of the second level. She hoped the little menace wouldn't knock over her makeup.

"I have to go. See you around, Cami. Adiós," Valerie farewelled.

"¡Adiós!" Cami farewelled back as she now walked to the backyard as Valerie left the house, going into her car and tossing her sketchbook in the passenger seat, making the familiar drive to Starcourt. Expecting it to be just like any shift.

Oh, how wrong she was.

***

Cami hummed as she pruned her roses back, noting how big and healthy they were.

"You're growing so well!" she complimented as she snipped one last leaf back, gently stroking the deep red petals. She liked to think they perked up at her words, growing just a bit more better with her kind words, as she gave one last stroke of the velvety petals before she set the pruners down and grabbed the bag of mulch, packing a bit more in around the rose bush, and then around the lavender next to it, humming again as she inhaled the sweet scents of the rose and lavender, as around her, her garden thrived.

One of the greatest things Cami loved about her house was the chance for a garden exactly like this. Due to their apartment in New York, they had no space for a proper garden, and the only garden Cami had was the one in her room. But the house in Hawkins provided a chance Cami eagerly took, as the instant after the Upside Down was over, Cami set to work on bringing the dying garden behind the house to life, no matter how long it took or how hard it was.

And she succeeded.

Now, along with a vegetable and herb garden her mom used for her dishes that Cami took pride in tending to, Cami had a flower garden that was bursting to life with roses, lavendesr, dahlias, sunflowers, coneflowers—that had been a gorgeous discovery to learn that the plant was native to Indiana—violets, goldenrod and hibiscus, along with some big-leafed plants and a trellis where climbing hydrangea climbed across it and the wall of the house facing the backyard, while foxglove provided support for it. Cami was even nurturing an orange tree to life, watching it steadily grow, determined to have it grow in Indiana. It was a virtual Eden in the Martinéz backyard, and Cami was determined to show it to El when it was safe for her and she could introduce her to her parents and Valerie as a friend she made in high school, to perhaps stoke a love of gardening in her friend—especially when the last time she tried for the Party, Mike had almost killed her dahlias while Max and Alistair had nearly killed her violets and goldenrod, respectively, Lucas had mixed up the soil for the lavenders and the hydrangeas, and  Dustin had nearly crushed her beans and Cami had nearly murdered them all with a trowel and the chancla. 

Safe to say, they were banned from ever helping her garden again and Cami now held a flickering hope that El had a green thumb.

Standing up, she headed over to the hydrangeas, stroking dirt-streaked fingers across the violets and the dark green, leafy plants, breathing in the smell of flowers, fertiliser and dirt as she kneeled before the trellis and greeted, "Buenos días, Juanita. How are you going this fine morning?"

A summer breeze rustled the drooping heads of the hydrangea, and Cami curled a finger around a vine as she checked the soil, making sure it wasn't too dry or that there wasn't too much phosphorus, also checking the petals weren't red—a common sign of there being too much phosphorus levels in the soil.

Greeted with healthy blue petals, Cami grabbed the soil for it and gave a small top up before standing and moving to the tall sunflowers, their faces turned to the sun. Cami wiped the sweat from her brow, feeling it build up as the summer sun beat down on her as she crouched before the sunflowers and greeted, "Hola! How are we growing today? Are we getting that lovely sun?"

The sunflowers only waved.

"Well, don't worry, you're gonna get some lovely fertiliser as well to balance things out," Cami assured as she reached for the fertiliser, only to come up empty.

"Huh. Must have run out when I was doing the roses," Cami noted, turning back to the sunflowers and grinning. "Wait here one sec! I'll grab some more from the shed."

Standing up, Cami made the short jog to the shed, opening it up and breathing in relief at how instantly cooler it was inside. Moving to the bags of fertiliser and mulch, Cami sifted through them until she found a bag, making a mental note she needed to get some more from Blackburns. Hefting it up, Cami was about to turn around and get back to the sunflowers when she heard a noise. From the fertiliser.

Frowning, Cami set the bag down and grabbed a trowel, calling out, "Hello? Who's there?"

Nothing except that noise, now accompanied by more noises—tearing. And the sound of something eating.

A prickle of fear chilled Cami as she raised up the trowel, picked up a bag of mulch, and—

A rat squeaked, fertiliser staining its teeth as more spilled out from the hole it made.

Cami dropped the bag and stumbled back, the trowel slipping out of her fingers and clattering onto the floor of the shed. The rat squeaked before it darted out of the shed through whatever hole it made, leaving behind the fertiliser as Cami stared after it, shock pounding through her, in time with her heartbeat.

Confusion soon replaced the shock.

"¿Qué diablos?" Cami whispered as she pulled the mulch bag up to stare at the bag still weeping fertiliser. Why had the rat tried to eat it? Was it sick or something? Something shivered in Cami at that as she put down the mulch bag, picked up the bag she'd picked out and headed back out, eyeing the shed, understanding now why Annie was going ballistic earlier, if she was sensing that sick rat. Cami made a note to keep her inside from now on, so she didn't get whatever disease that rat had. If it could pass it on to other animals or even people.

Hopefully someone catches it before it can spread it to other animals and take it to the vet, Cami thought as she spread fertiliser over the sunflowers. That someone else can find it and that whatever disease it had could be cured. That it was a normal disease.

She hoped it was just that.

***

Cami sighed in relief as she entered her cool, air-conditioned house, taking her sunhat off and then her gloves as she headed to the sink, ready to get a cool glass of water.

She'd just finished off gardening, moving onto the herbs and vegetables after the flowers had been tended to. She hadn't seen that weird rat again, nor any sign of any other rats like it in the shed or around the flowers, vegetables and herbs. Still, she double-checked and triple-checked for upturned soil or teeth marks in the leaves, stalks, petals, stems and vegetables—one couldn't be too careful.

But now, Cami was done, and after she got a glass of water and changed out of her gardening clothes into a proper outfit, she was going to spend the rest of her day singing and songwriting. Maybe plotting some other ways to get Alistair and Will together, especially with the progress she'd been seeing...

"Cami! ¡Uno de tus amigos está hablando por teléfono para ti!" her mom shouted out from the living room.

"Coming, Mami!" Cami shouted back as she jogged over to the phone, smiling at her mom before she took the phone and greeted, "Hello."

"Hey," Max's voice responded back, and behind her Cami heard El greet, "Hi, Cami."

"Hi!" Cami greeted, smiling before she asked, "What re you doing?"

"We're going to the mall. I'm proving to El there's more to life than stupid boys," Max told her, and Cami could hear the eye-roll in her friend's voice.

Cami sighed. "What did they do this time?"

"What didn't they do?" Max responded, as again Cami could hear the eye-roll. "So. You coming?"

"To where?"

"The mall! With us."

Cami blinked. She hadn't expected that, and she was almost tempted to say no, but... she did want to spend at least one day with Max and El without the boys around—because Max was right, there was more to life than boys. And she would be lying that she hadn't been wishing for a chance to spend more time with El, and this was a perfect opportunity.

Besides, she guessed she could take a break from being a wingwoman for today.

"Okay. Just let me get changed—I spent the morning gardening," Cami explained. "Where should I meet you?"

"The bus stop," Max answered. 

"Okay. See you then."

"See you."

Max hung up and Cami heard her mom ask, "What are you and your friends doing, mija?"

"We're going to Starcourt," Cami answered as she moved up the stairs and into her room, pausing to grab Annie off her bed and hold her.

"I'm not letting that sick rat get you, el cielo, okay?" she murmured as Annie mewed, pressing a kiss to her head. Annie mewed louder, batting at her arms. Cami released her, stroking her back before she got ready to get changed and head to Starcourt, to indeed show El there was more to life than boys and maybe have a fun day together with just the three of them.

And definitely try to forget the weird rat.

***

Cami, you shouldn't forget the weird rat sweetie...

This chapter was fun to write! And yeah, Valerie and Sofia had a proper talk and hug. It's fixed some things and Valerie hopes it does, but she knows she shouldn't expect this forever—especially if she came out. Still, I liked writing it. And yeah, your shift's not gonna be normal—and so is your life after that shift...

I loved writing Cami being a gardening queen! She's such a green thumb, and her plants love her a lot. And yes, the Party is banned from ever helping her garden again 😂

Yes, Cami did indeed have an encounter with a Flayed rat! It didn't end with her being Flayed, fortunately, but she's wary of it—especially regarding Annie (who sensed the Flayed rat and went crazy from it) And she's only going to get more worried about her kitten/family when she realised what "disease" it had...

And the girl trio is forming! I'm gonna love writing Cami, Max and El interacting in the mall, you have no idea. The power they will have 😌

Next chapter should be soon, and be back with Valerie!

Spanish translations:

¿Puedo entrar, mija?: Can i come in, daughter?

Adiòs: Bye

Hola: Hey

Buenos días: Good morning

¿Qué diablos?: What the hell?

¡Uno de tus amigos está hablando por teléfono para ti!: One of your friends is on the phone for you!

El cielo: Sweetie

Please read, comment and vote!

GhostWriterGirl out!