Chapter 1

"Rose, it's time to go."

"Ok." Rose said softly as she looked down at her mother's grave. Thirteen years, Rose thought. Where have the years gone? I miss you so much, mom. Rose turned and followed her husband of five years to the car. Rose visited her mother's grave every year. Sometimes she would wonder if her mother died for no reason. Claudia had her life taken by Rose's abusive step-father, John, when she was only 10 years old. She still had nightmares from it.

Rose joined Tom in the car and they were off. They headed back into West City to go shopping. Rose wanted to get a new outfit to wear to a party they were going to at Bulma's that night.

"Rose, is it nessecary that you buy an outfit?" Tom asked. Rose knew why he was asking. With both of them still being in college, they couldn't afford to splurge that often.

"I know exactlly what I want. I saw it a couple of weeks ago while I was shopping. Besides, you know I never really do anything like this." Rose tried to reason.

"I know. But what's so important that you HAVE to have this outfit?"

"You know we haven't seen everyone since our wedding. I want to look really nice."

"Ok. Let's go see this precious outfit of yours." Tom smiled as they walked into the mall. Rose went straight to the store that had the outfit. When they walked to the spot it was in, they found a woman standing there. She turned and said,

"Tom! Rose! It's been such a long time!"

"Julia? How have you been?" Tom asked.

"I've been great. You both look great!" It reallly surprised Rose that Julia acknowledged both of them. She and Julia weren't the best of friends in high school. Julia was with Tom when Rose started going there thier senior year.

"You look great, too, Julia. What are you doing these days?" Rose asked.

"Well, I work in the mall across town in my mother's beautitian shop."

"And you shop here?"

"I'm geting tired of the clothes, so I decided to try here. I married about a year ago. Rocky, come here. This is Tom and his wife, Rose. Guys, this is my husband, Rocky."

"Rocky! From the Science Club, right?" Tom asked. Rose remembered seeing him in the hallway every once in a while. He was tall with short brown hair and green eyes.

"Yeah, that's right. I'm surprised you remembered me." Rocky said.

"Of course I do! We were friends our freshman and sphomore years. Those were fun times."

"That they were. I remember seeing you, Rose. You were a very quiet person." Rocky said, turning his attention to her.

"I had enough attention on me as it was. I didn't need anymore." Rose said.

"About that," Julia said, "I'm sorry about all that happened then. Now that we're older, I see how stupid it was." This surprised Rose. She couldn't believe Julia was saying it. And Rose could tell Julia meant every single word of it.

"It's ok. That's the past. Anyway, in your hand, you hold the exact pair of jeans I came here to buy."

"Really? I was thinking about buying a pair myself."

"I know the cutest top to go with it." Rose said as she grabbed a pair of the jeans in her in her size. Both girls walked to the shirts, leaving the guys to talk amongst themselves.

"What are you doing these days? Oh, this really is a cute shirt." Julia commented as Rose showed her the shirt.

"Well, I'm in my last year of college. Tom still has another four."

"What are you studying?"

"Elementary level teaching."

"Really? What about Tom?"

"He's studying to become a doctor. Oh, look. You would look good in thid brown color." Rose said, grabbing the same style of shirt, only in brown.

"This red would look good on you. You looked so beautiful in that prom dress, Rose. I was actually a little jealous. If it weren't for that accident, you and Tom would have gotten prom king and queen." Julia said as they went to try on their outfits.

"No way. You would have won had I been there or not." Rose said as they walked into their changing stalls. They walked out a few minutes later to praise each other on how they looked.

"You look great!" Rose heard from their right. Both girls looked over to see their husbands looking at them.

"And to think they were worst enimes in high school." Rocky said, walking up to Julia and smiling.

"I know. And to think I was in the middle of it." Tom said with a smile.

"It was all your fault. Rose saod jokingly. They all laughed and then Rose and Julia went to get changed. Rose and Tom went to pay for the clothes, and then walked back over to Julia and Rocky.

"Hey, here's my number. Maybe we can get together for lunch sometime and have lunch." Julia said.

"Sure. Well, me and Tom need to get going. It was really nice to see you again and not argue about anything."

"Amen to that, sister." Julia said, smiling. The couples said their good-byes and then Rose and Tom were off.

"It's nice to se her settled down. I didn't really see her asone to settle down so quickly."

"Love happens faster than you think."

"I know. We figured that one out." Rose said as they drove out of the parking lot.