The lavender scent

Lillian Grey was standing inside Giselle's room. She even did not take a glance at the surrounding as her eyes fixed only on Giselle, who seems to be exhausted from dragging Lillian Grey away from the wall of memories.

"It is only a couple of pictures, why do you have to haul me from seeing it?"

Lillian Grey spoke as she sighed, averting her vision from the listless girl to her room.

The first thing she noticed is the familiar lavender scent.

Lillian Grey's memory went back to the time when she was resting all alone in her classroom. At that time, she sensed a person approaching her, the mild fragrance of lavender scent lured Lillian Grey, she felt relaxed. Not paying much attention to it, Lillian Grey continued to rest, thinking that it doesn't concern her. She only relished the moment and focused on napping. Regardless, the owner of the fragrance spoke.

Lillian Grey lifted her head to meet Giselle, for the first time in her life, so close and near.

…

Unknowingly, Lillian Grey smiled at the refreshing memory, her eyes, and including her heart somehow yearned for the lavender scent. She returned her vision to the bed and found the owner.

Giselle propped herself out of bed. She saw Lillian Grey already staring at her. Flinched from her piercing gaze, Giselle moved away from the bed.

"So, this is my room," Giselle distracted herself from getting drawn into Lillian Grey.

Giselle requested Lillian to take a seat while she brings something for her to drink.

Sensing the sudden fatigue and thirst, Lillian Grey allowed.

Giselle left the room, closing the door.

Only after her departure, Lillian Grey breathed. She was holding in her breath for a long time that she starts to feel suffocated. Her thirst also seems to calm down from the absence of the lavender scent owner.

Turning around 360 degrees, Lillian Grey took a full look at Giselle's room.

The light blue color walls gave off a refreshing look to the room. Giselle's bed was near the left side closer to the wall, neatly arranged with peach-colored sheets and matching pillows. In front of the bed, which is the immediate left side of the room had a six-foot-tall, lean bookshelf.

A variety of books arranged including little dolls, key chains, and a stack of notebooks, her study books also residing in the bookshelf. To the right side of the room, there was a closet, a study table, and a wall-mounted guitar case.

At first, Lillian Grey thought that Giselle plays the instrument. She walked over to check out the guitar, but to her surprise, it was a dressing table. When Lillian opened the guitar case, the moving side had a mirror attached in the shape of the guitar case while the mounted surface had cute little compartments with all of Giselle's skincare products, makeups, etc.

It looked so creative and stylish at the same time.

"Wow, I thought why she would hang guitar on the wall!"

The guitar case had a mixture of mint green and white color combination along with designs on its sides.

"Oh, I love the color," Lillian Grey commented.

The study table had a few books on it, still open. It looks like Giselle was studying until Lillian Grey's arrival. Along with it were a few family portraits and a small pot plant.

"Haha- just when you think you could stop me from seeing your childhood pictures!" Lillian smirked while looking at the photo frames.

Naturally, her eyes landed in front of the pictures.

Seeing the Math book on the table, Lillian Grey hissed.

Just from thinking about Math itself made Lillian Grey lose all of her hope. If it were in the past, she wouldn't care too much about it. But, now, after getting acquainted with Mr. Seth, Lillian Grey had to work hard to pass and secure a decent score, or else, Seth would destroy her like a mosquito. She knew that coming over to Giselle's place is strictly to study.

'Ugh- just thinking about it spoils my mood.' – Lillian sighed.

Despite her hate, she went over to the study table and took a seat. She went through Giselle's notes.

It looked like she practiced answering many sample problems. Lillian flipped through the previous pages to find Giselle solving, her handwriting looked neat, but still, it was messy in some pages.

'Looks like she had trouble with the trigonometry, how lame!' – Lillian smirked.

Instantly, she heard her mind voice go, 'You are lamer than her, you suck!'

Mocked by her mind voice, Lillian Grey jolted from her seat. Her eyes landed on a whiteboard. The board held a few messages on it.

'FINALS NEXT WEEK – STUDY WELL'

'Prepare well for your final exams, sweetie.' – Love, Dad.

It appears to be like a Message board. The first one is from Giselle because of the capitalization. She was motivating herself to study well.

The second message is from her father to prepare well for her upcoming exams.

Lillian Grey smiled from reading the messages.

'Such a sweet family.' – Lillian thought.

Not only these, but there was also another message on the board, but present around the border edge with tiny font size, so small that one can hardly notice.

Lillian Grey leaned closer to the board and squinted her eyes hard for a few seconds to recognize the characters.

Out loud, she tried to whisper the words.

'L- Is it L?'

"Iilly- nah- L- Lilly?'

"Me!" she gulped.

After confirming that it is her name, her curiosity rose to read it entirely.

Struggling for a while, finally, Lillian Grey decoded the tiny texts.

"Lilly's present!!!"

The message along with three exclamation marks, reading it out loud, Lillian Grey's expression changed. Her lips naturally curled up playfully.

'Is she planning to give me a gift?' – She wondered.

It is only two words, but, Lillian Grey's mind went far ahead in imagining things. Day-dreaming on own, Lillian Grey kept staring at those words repeatedly. She did not notice the sound of the door getting swung open.

"Mom gave me some snacks as well. You can eat if you are hungry-"Giselle said while entering.

Startled by the voice, Lillian Grey shot her body away from the whiteboard. Landing on the study table chair, Lillian welcomed Giselle with a loud clap.

"Hey! Welcome back!" She greeted so loud that Giselle's focus only directed towards Lillian Grey.

Not knowing what went a few seconds before her entrance, Giselle got distracted by Lillian Grey's massive salute. She responded with a nod and placed the tray of snacks along with water on her study table.

Gathering the notebooks, Giselle faced Lillian Grey and said, "Shall we start then?"

"Sure," Lillian replied, still holding a big grin on her face.