A week later, Piyumi was handed back a maths test with a bright red 62% sprawled on the front and she smiled.

When Piyumi had left the house that day, she didn’t expect to end up at a graveyard of all places. Nevertheless, that was exactly where she had found herself as she followed her friends out of the bus and stared up at the large sign that read “SUMMERVALE BOTANICAL CEMETERY” for all to see. This is where Hunter wanted to take them today? For a picnic no less?

“Hey, Piyumi! You coming?” 

Hunter’s voice snapped Piyumi out of her reverie. She ran to catch up with her friends, who had already made their way into the cemetery. 

“Oh, don’t be too hard on her, Hunter,” Waliyha said, resting a folded-up picnic rug comfortably against her hip. “It probably took her a really long time to read that sign. We should be proud, in fact.” 

Piyumi balled her fists and gave Waliyha the stink eye. “Oh, I reckon you’re gonna be real proud of what I’m about to do next. And look, we’re already in a cemetery! Thanks for saving me the trip, Hunter!” 

Waliyha’s eyes widened. It took Piyumi a fraction of a second to realise what she had said. 

"Shit, Hunter, I’m so, so sorry,” she apologised hurriedly to the boy beside her. While she didn’t know the exact reason why Hunter had brought them here, she did know that sarcastically thanking him for doing so was probably not the most tactful thing to say. “Oh God, I am so incredibly sorry.” 

Hunter looked at her with an unreadable expression, and it felt like someone had sent her heart plummeting to the deepest, darkest depths of her body. This was it, wasn’t it? Two months of solid friendship, and she had gone ahead and ruined it because her idiot self couldn’t watch her idiotic mouth before it idiotically spoke. Her hands began to tremble. 

But then the corner of Hunter’s mouth gave the slightest twinge, and he burst into a fit of laughter. 

“Dude, what the hell?!” Pure unadulterated relief flooded her veins as Piyumi slapped her friend on the arm. “You scared me half-to-death! Oh my God, I did it again.” 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Hunter held up his hands in surrender, still giggling as Piyumi gave him another swat for good measure. “You get me all the time with your jokes, so I just couldn’t pass up this chance to get you back.” 

Piyumi’s cheeks puffed with a pout as she looked away indignantly. She picked at the fraying threads hanging off of the skirt of the pastel yellow sundress she had made out of an old tablecloth after she had heard that they were having a picnic. 

“I really am sorry, though,” she sniffled once before swallowing hard. “Could you find it in yourself to forgive me? I mean, I don’t think I’d be able to if I was you, and oh my God you hate me-”

“Ah, no! It’s really okay! I’m honestly not upset, Piyumi. I know that you didn’t…mean…” 

Hunter trailed off when he noticed that the guilty expression on Piyumi’s face was slowly sliding off to be replaced by something more triumphant.

“You may have pulled a fast one on me, boy,” she said with a rather evil smile. “But let’s not forget that I’m the motherfucking master.” 

“I…You…” Hunter flailed. He turned to Waliyha for help, but she just blinked back at him innocently. A defeated shadow fell over his face. “Demons, the both of you,” he muttered, picking up the pace as if putting distance between them would be enough to escape from their combined tyranny. 

Piyumi and Waliyha exchanged a glance. They chuckled softly before breaking into a jog to keep up with their friend. 

Summervale Botanical Cemetery lived up to its name in two ways, the first being that it was very obviously a cemetery with its plots that held lines and lines of graves and headstones, and the second being that it was well and truly botanical. Piyumi was bombarded with bright bursts of colour from every angle, courtesy of the perfectly manicured flowers peppering the area and the lush, verdant trees that offered sanctuary from the unrelenting sun. She even spotted a babbling brook at one point as they walked, the water wheel placed in it spraying up a light shower as it trundled. She hadn’t realised until then that cemeteries could even look this nice, as if there was some sort of unspoken rule that a person’s final resting place had to reflect the solemn, unsightly nature of death. It struck her that she was incredibly lucky in that sense. Although, with the way her father was going, she figured she probably would’ve found out sooner rather than later. 

“Here we are,” Hunter said, suddenly coming to a stop. “Guys, I want you to meet someone.” 

He stepped aside. There, on a slight incline, was a headstone nestled between blades of grass. The name engraved on it was bookended by wilting daisies resting in small vases jutting from the stone. 

“Keith Watson,” Waliyha read. “Is this…?” 

Hunter crouched down to replace the limp flowers with the fresh ones he pulled out from the picnic basket he had been carrying. “You guys know that I moved in with my mum recently, but I never really explained why,” he began quietly after a moment. “After my parents’ divorce, I used to live with my dad and his job as a documentarian meant that we were constantly on the move. Asia, Europe, Africa, you name it. Everyday, I’d wake up in a new city, a new place for Dad and I to explore. It was amazing. Until it wasn’t.”

Hunter’s fingers traced the divets in the stone that formed his father’s name. “About six months ago, Dad was killed. He was stabbed in New York, right in front of my eyes. ‘A random attack’, the police said.” 

Hunter gave a disbelieving scoff. “Incredible, isn’t it? Forty-five years of life dismissed by three measly words. Half my heart, gone…because of circumstance.” 

While Waliyha dropped down beside Hunter and placed her head against his shoulder in a gesture of comfort, Piyumi found herself frozen. She couldn’t move but it seemed like her friends were getting further and further out of reach. She was sure that whatever solace she could offer would be an ugly pantomime of the real, genuine thing. Ugly and gangly and uncomfortable. 

“After losing Dad, I thought I’d never be okay again,” Hunter sighed, interlacing Waliyha’s fingers with his own. “But now…I have friends. For the first time in my life, I actually have friends.”

He looked over his shoulder, right at Piyumi. 

“I have you.” 

The smile on Hunter’s face was soft and a little uncertain but it had the force of a thousand suns. The ice rooting Piyumi in place began to thaw. She put one foot ahead of the other, slowly at first and then faster and faster until she was right there on the ground with him, her hand in his free one. 

It dawned on her that it didn’t matter that she was having trouble with this new part of her life because she now had the chance to learn. To learn how to navigate this confusing, harrowing, wonderful thing that somehow left her reeling and impossibly warm all at once. Being somebody’s someone, understanding how to belong — she would learn it all. One day at a time.

And that was why, when the picnic rug had been spread out and the feasting began, Piyumi sent Mylene a text apologising that she would not be able to help out that night. She grinned at her friends as the sun embarked on its descent over the horizon, her phone switched off and completely forgotten. 

“...So with Mum gone for the night, she said she’d closed up shop and that I could invite you two over for a sleepover!” Hunter said brightly to Piyumi and Waliyha as they made their way to the school gate, backpacks slung over their shoulders. “What do you guys say? Are you free?” 

"A whole milk bar to ourselves?” Piyumi whistled. “How could I possibly say no to that?” 

“What about the maths homework I know for a fact is accumulating dust at the bottom of your school bag?” Waliyha elbowed Piyumi in the side. “Don’t think for a second that I’ll let you copy mine. I’d hate to let the stink of failure contaminate my work.” 

Disgust wrinkled Piyumi’s brow. “Huh? I don’t remember making a deal with the spawn of Satan.” 

“Speaking from experience, are we?” 

“Forget it, you’re both uninvited,” Hunter groaned as he rubbed at his temples. “This is why we’re banned from half the restaurants in town.” 

Piyumi and Waliyha could only glare at each other for a second longer before they devolved into a fit of giggles. 

“Seriously though, Piyumi,” Waliya said once she finally had a handle on herself. “If you bring your maths homework along, I could help you with it, if you’d like.” 

Piyumi’s chest felt like it was glowing. “Yeah,” she smiled. “I’d like that.” 

A sudden ring drew the trio’s attention to Piyumi’s phone. Excusing herself for a moment, the redhead walked over to the side and pressed a thumb against the bright green icon flashing on her screen. 

“Mylene?”

The person on the other end of the line didn’t answer. Piyumi thought she could hear ragged breathing, but it was so faint, she wasn’t entirely sure she wasn’t imagining it. 

“Um, Mylene? You there?” 

An audible sigh filtered through the phone this time. 

“Perera,” Mylene’s voice had its usual monotone drone, but there was something simmering underneath it that Piyumi couldn’t quite place. “We need to talk.”

Piyumi felt her stomach plummet. ”I know,” she said nervously. “I’m sorry I’ve been blowing you off so much recently. I’ve just been….” 

Her eyes flickered over towards her friends. They were laughing amongst themselves, a playful smirk on Waliyha’s face and Hunter’s cheeks a dusty pink.

“...Busy.” 

There was a long silence before Mylene spoke again. 

“I need you for a job tonight.” 

“Mylene, I-” 

“This is non-negotiable, Perera. I…I need you to be there. I’m sorry.” 

Piyumi stiffened. Damn. While having free reign of a milk bar sounded pretty sweet, it was clear that she wouldn’t be able to get out of this one. There was a part of her that did feel bad about flaking on Mylene so much, though. She had been receiving her usual weekly payments as if she hadn’t been absent for the better part of three months. The least she could do was agree to this much. 

And so, with that in mind, Piyumi whispered, “okay.”