Disclaimer – I don't own Rose or Titanic or anything else that I don't own! I guess I could say I own Marianne and the plot... yay!
Anyway, the main reason I wrote this is because I'm going back to school tomorrow and that randomly put this in my mind. This is for all the people that have to go back to school this week or next!
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"Rose! We're going to get into trouble again!" Marianne whimpered as she slowly pulled on her stockings, slippers and winter coat. It was just before midnight and the dorm was silent except for the rustling of clothes and occasional squeak of ancient floorboard.
"Well, we will if you wake Angela up. She's the biggest snitch in the whole school!" She replied, whispering, as she lit a candle. The light illuminated her face immediately, the sparkle in her eyes apparent. They crept across the room as silently as possible until they reached the oak door.
Rose tapped Marianne on the shoulder. She jumped. "Shhhhh!" Rose pointed behind her toward a bed, where a shape could vaguely be seen on their stomach, limbs in various positions, and face pressed against the pillow. Marianne burst into a fit of giggles, which was silenced when she shoved her fist into her mouth. Angela let out a very unladylike grunt.
They fell through the door and quickly closed it. Rose blew out the candle and let her eyes become accustomed to the dark. As Marianne's giggles grew fainter, the silence grew more apparent and nerve wracking. 'Which teacher would be patrolling the corridors tonight? Not... Madam Roswell?' Marianne glanced at Rose who though through the dark still looked fearless and relaxed.
"Come on, this way" Rose captured the nervous girl's hand and led her through a corridor, down the stairs, through another corridor... until they got to a small door. Rose gave in one push and it opened silently, the girls crept into the room. "The kitchen! Rose, what are we doing in the kitchen!?" Marianne gasped, "Raiding the cupboards?" She added hopefully.
"No! But you can if you want..." Marianne dashed off to the nearest cupboard. "Not too much though!" She rolled her eyes as Marianne pulled out a large tin of biscuits, and grinned like a young child at Christmas time. Rose ushered her friend toward her. "The back doors over there, I think... come on!" She dashed through the kitchen, dodging utensils and skipping past spotless countertops. Marianne walked behind her, munching forbidden biscuits.
"This one!" exclaimed Rose suddenly, after minutes of prancing around the room in pure excitement of the rebellion that coursed through the girls veins. "Rose, the doors locked and I'm not knocking it down. Madam Roswell might hear us!" the younger girl squeaked at the thought of the terrifying headmistress.
"I'm not scared of that... vulgar woman! Anyway, we won't be heard if we use the key!" Rose stated slyly, as she pulled at the 'pendant' around her neck, and presented the brass key to Marianne.
"You really do think of everything don't you?" asked Marianne, though it was more of a statement than a question. She had been on one of Rose's crazy adventure things before, and thuraly enjoyed them. Rose was a great friend to Marianne. When Marianne first arrived at 'Roswell's Academy for Inspiring Young Ladies' in September, no-one would look twice at her. Not because they were unkind (although some were) but because they already had friendship groups. Rose had been unintended ally at the height of popularity, friends with 'airheads', she had called them. When Marianne had been added into the same dorm, they got talking and realized they had a lot in common. Their friendship had been a god send for both of them.
"I have to, if my mother finds out I've been sneaking out of bed again, she'll go mad!" she stuck her nose in the air, straightened her back and sucked in her cheeks. "Rose! My good friend, Madam Roswell informed me of your disgracefulness! You are a young lady and must start acting like one." Rose recited her last scolding in a perfect impression of her mother. Marianne giggled again.
"You may laugh, but it wasn't funny! Now come on," she opened the door and they walked through the threshold. The night was cool and refreshing against the girl's warm cheeks. They walked down the marble steps and across the crisp grass until they came to an oak tree. They sat against the smooth bark and were silent for a few moments.
"Ok, that one there is the big dipper. My dad showed it me last summer before we moved to Philadelphia." Stated Marianne, before munching another biscuit and pointing toward the star filled sky. It was warm for mid April, and the inky sky was full of what seemed to be little sparkling silver dots.
"Yes, the stars are rather breath-taking, aren't they?" Rose breathed, "I'm looking for Orion..." her sparkling blue eyes scanned the sky for a few moments. "There! See how the stars link up to make his strong torso? He was a hunter, I think..." she drifted off in thought, and brought her knees to her chin.
"Get you, Rose! Looking for men! It's usually the other way round!" giggled Marianne, studying Orion. "Ugh! Don't even talk to me about men, Mari. My mother's always talking about what my husband needs to be like. I wouldn't be surprised if she's got a line of suitors waiting for me at home." She sighed,
"At the end of the day Rose, you get to chose who you marry though, right? Your parents won't force you to marry anyone, I'm sure. As for me, I'm going to marry my prince charming, whoever he is." She fell silent before continuing, "Do you believe in love at first sight, Rose?" she asked looking at her friend who looked back at her with a blank expression on her face.
"I like to think I believe in it..." she said slowly, "but I don't see how it can. It only happens in fairy tales, I mean how two people can just look at each other and... Fall in love? It's hard to believe, Mari." She sighed and lay her head on her knees.
"Well I think that there's one perfect person for everyone. And you know when you meet them because you just click. I mean you never know where they are, could be anywhere. Soul mates!" she exclaimed, jamming her hands together, her fingers intertwining with those on the other hand. "But how do you know when you meet them?" asked Rose, her head still hidden from view, due to her long red ringlets that fell into her already hidden face.
"You just know." Whispered Mari. The girls fell silent and after a few minutes, Rose brought her head back up to just rest on her knees and the pair watched the stars dance across the sky. Then like a clap of thunder, a shooting star raced above them.
"Oh wow! I haven't seen one of them for years!" Marianne exclaimed, finding the shooting star a perfect excuse for another biscuit. "I've never seen one before," whispered Rose, "It's beautiful." Marianne studied the older girls face, and found wonder in her glowing emerald eyes, so different than her chocolate brown ones.
"What you thinking about?" she asked, breaking Rose's line of concentration. "Oh, soul mates. You really think there's one perfect person for everyone?" Marianne just nodded, "Then that means there's one for me too, right? I mean, I wonder what he's like, and what he's doing right now?" she let out a little hummm sound before continuing, "Well, if he's perfect for me then he'd have to be adventurous, with a good sense of humour, and definitely not dull."
"I agree, and he must be nice and handsome maybe...?" she smiled and offered Rose a biscuit. She was chewing it slowly when suddenly, Marianne exclaimed "Ok! I've got a question for you! Where do you reckon we'll be in... Three years?"
"Hmmm, three years? Well I'll be seventeen, but it is one o'clock in the morning... so probably asleep." Rose concluded, laughing. Marianne just gave her a look that said, 'very funny'. "No, I don't know really... maybe I'll have met my soul mate by then? You'll be somewhere really strange and exotic, and will have probably finished writing a novel or something by then." Marianne grinned sheepishly, she did have a passion for the written word.
"And I'll bet you'll be ha-" A shrill voice cut of Marianne and made her throw the half empty tin of biscuits fifty yards behind her, in fright and surprise.
"So there you are! Miss Hartley, and... Well, well! Miss Dewitt Bukater! What a surprise to see you out of bed at this insufferable hour. Again! It's not even April 14th anymore. Believe you, me, your mother will hear about your unwavering line of recklessness! It's a good job Miss Angela Slater informed me of your absence, otherwise you two could have missed out on punishment. You are to follow me back to your dorm immediately."
"Yes Madam Roswell" chimed the girls together as they got up from the grass and followed Madam Roswell towards the school doors, planning all the way back to their doem what horrors they could enflict on Angela Slater.