Dahlia and the Garden of Light - Chapter 9: Chapter 9

Dahlia quickly adapted to her elite private school. The halls were quiet, the classrooms filled with polished wood and soft-spoken teachers, and the students… well, most were the children of diplomats, scientists, and tech moguls. But none of them mattered to Dahlia the way Amy did.
They met on the first day.
Amy had curly auburn hair tied in two wild puffs, a missing front tooth, and a laugh that sounded like a soda can fizzing open.
She dropped her markers, and Dahlia silently helped her pick them up.
“Thanks!” Amy beamed. “Do you wanna use the glitter one? I’ll share.”
Dahlia blinked, then nodded. “Sure. I’m Dahlia.”
“I’m Amy. Wanna sit with me?”
That was all it took.
By the end of the week, they were giggling at the back of the classroom, whispering made-up codes and drawing superheroes on the corners of their notebooks.
At recess, they raced each other across the field, pretending to fly.
“I shoot bubbles that trap villains!” Amy declared, posing dramatically.
Dahlia laughed. “And I grow magic vines that stop evil in its tracks. Call me... Sunbloom!”
Amy gasped. “That’s perfect!”
They became their own secret superhero team — drawing comic strips, assigning each other missions, and rescuing imaginary kittens from trees.