Summary: What if Mary's best friend, her real best friend, was a young girl named Rose Lawyer? Of course, Hilary Fay and the other jewels are still the girls' friends, but they aren't true friends. When joint experiences with pregnancy push them away from the group, the girls stick by each other and are joined by the school misfits. High School Hell. Literally.
Status: Right now this should continue to the end of the movie. If I get enough reviews, I'll add an epilogue series about Rose and Mary having babies together.
Disclaimer: The only character I own is Rose, and the only part of the plot I own is her experiences. I don't own Saved, I don't own Mary, Cassandra, Roland, Hilary Fay, Tia, Patrick, or anyone else recognizable. Also, I am not a student at Harvard, and have no idea if they cover criminology in their curriculum.
Rating: PG-13. This is a movie rewrite, so reasons are the same as the movie. It also discusses rape. In other words- about an age 14 maturity level is required to read this story. Don't have, don't read. I'm not responsible for any trouble you get into if you ignore this warning.
I guess you can say my whole life has been a little bit nuts.
For example, I live on my own. No big deal, but I'm 18 already; the foster system really doesn't give a damn about what I do anymore. I basically make a living off of waitressing at a local mom and pop Christian restaurant and the kindness of my best friend Mary's family. I may be the oldest in my grade, but whatever. It's the joy of a birthday the day after the cut off.
A big center in my life is Jesus. Without him, I don't know what I do. He's the only one who's been there throughout the constant moves (other than Mary, of course). To be honest, it's kind of nice.
Mary's awesome; we've been best friends ever since we were little, when her next door neighbors became my foster parents. Luckily I stayed around the area, and we became buds. Then we got into the Jewels click, with Hilary Faye, and life just moved really fast. At least they trusted me- with the constant foster parents, not a lot of kids did until I joined their click.
So that's how I ended up here: painting the schools new Jesus statue. Hilary Faye on my left, Mary on my right, Roland (Hilary Faye's brother) below the lifter that held us up to paint His face.
"I still don't think it's supposed to be white," he called up. I groaned. He had been going at this for an hour. I was on the verge of just asking Hilary Faye if we could paint his stupid skin peach (her father had donated the statue, after all). "Really. I was watching this thing on television…"
"Of course he's supposed to be white," Hilary Faye interrupted, looking at her brother like his wheelchair had made him lose his marbles. "Gosh," I personally thought you could make an argument either way, but I didn't say anything. Some fights you just stay out of.
She walked back over to us. "Sometimes I think my brother's retarded, too,"
"No," Mary chastised, "He's not retarded,"
"He's actually really smart," I argued, knowing now I wasn't overstaying my welcome. "He tested in the 99th percentile on the MSA's,"
Hilary Faye rolled her eyes, knowing I was right. I could read her like an open book.
Did I mention the Jewels click was a girl band to? It started as sort of a gospel thing. I was our guitar, having started to play it when I was 3, before my parents died. Mary was the keyboardist. We were doing the lord's work, raising awareness of His word. Besides, the guitar reminded me of my mother.
Mary and I were sticking through high school together, our lives looking pretty sweet. I had just gotten a huge scholarship to Harvard to study criminology, and Mary had gotten on to study pathology and anthropology. We both hated the injustice in the world and wanted to stop it. Our future was looking pretty bright.
Mary had an awesome boyfriend: I had given my approval. I didn't have one- most boys heard 'foster girl' and ran straight in the other direction- but I was doing ok. We were both about to be seniors at American Eagle: the best Christian school around for miles.
Mary and I ran to catch up with Dean (that awesome boyfriend), Hilary Faye, and Roland as we set off for our last few weeks of summer vacation.
(Divider)
Ring, ring, ring. The phone vibrated around, wanting desperately to be heard.
"Damn phone!" I cried. I was really late for work, ok? I was stressed. My bosses at the restaurant were nice, but my shift being covered by Cici wasn't exactly my goal at the moment. "Hello?"
"Hi, Rose. It's Mary,"
"Hey Mar, why are you calling? Not that I don't want you to, but I'm really late for work," Mary knew I had to be at the restaurant in 5 minutes and my apartment is a 15 minute bus ride.
"I...well, I was swimming with Dean and I bonked my head on the railing in the pool,"
"Oh my god! Are you ok?"
"Rose, don't use the Lord's name in vain!" she cried. "And it's just a bump. There's ice on it now. That's not what I wanted to talk to you about,"
"Well, Mary, as cool as it would be, I'm not telepathic," I'm empathetic and it doesn't work through the phone, "What is it?"
"Ok, we were playing that game. The one where we tell each other secrets underwater?"
"Yeah, I'm aware of that one. Now what's got you so riled up?"
"He told me he thinks he's gay,"
"No, you're kidding!" I said. Dean didn't show any of the normal signs, like actually checking out men's asses. I didn't even suspect anything.
"Yeah. And when I bonked my head. I think…" She trailed off. I did not like where this was going.
"Mar? Spill it,"
"I think I got a vision from Jesus telling me to help him,"
I stopped in my tracks. Visions from Jesus were really, really rare. Unless you happened to be a prophet, which happily, Mary was not. I heard they got wicked headaches.
"Rose? Are you still there?"
"Yeah, I'm still here. Well, you must have gotten that vision for a reason, Mar. My best advice is to do what it tells you,"
"You mean try to convince him to not be gay?"
"Right on the money, Mary. Just do what you can for him. He called you his light once, remember? Be his light,"
"Thanks, Rose, you're the best,"
"And don't you forget it. Are we still on for movies and popcorn tomorrow?"
"Defiantly. Are you still bringing the Lawyer fix-ins?"
"Of course!" I say, faking a mock offended voice. Then I looked at the time. "Shit! I'm sorry, Mer, but I really need rent money and food money,"
"No problem, sorry I held you up. Bye, Rose Ava, God bless you,"
"Same with you, Mary Ann. Keep that ice on, you hear?"
She chuckled. "I will. Now get to work!"
I hung up the phone and rushed out the door. Hopefully Cici wasn't covering my shift when I got there because I was 20 minutes late.
(Divider)
From that day on the rest of the summer consisted of movie nights with Mary (our Friday tradition), working extra hours to pay the rent, and daily updates on Dean's condition. So when I finally got an excuse to use a day off from work, I jumped for it. Mary needed spiritual guidance and support, anyway.
It was just a bonus that that came with a gun and a target to shoot at.
"Christian girls need to know how to protect themselves," Hilary Faye explained, reloading her gun. I shrugged. I actually needed to learn to shoot a gun. It was a skill required to become an FBI agent, my dream job. But I didn't need to throw it out there. I wasn't the best of friends with Hillary Faye, and Mary already knew. But the defense excuse was a good one. I was going to have to store that away for future use with guys who think homicide detectives are weird.
"Sure Jesus could restore my physical and spiritual virginity if I lost it to some rapist," Hillary Faye continued, "but who wants that? I m saving myself until marriage and I'll use force if necessary, "
I saw an interested look of comprehension on Mary's face. I knew that look, and it was one I feared deeply. "What's this about restoring your virginity? You're physically only a virgin once,"
"Yeah," Hillary Faye explained, steadying Mary's aim. "It's not about reversing the physical violation of your womb, it's about giving you a virgin's heart. That way you're pure again," She patted Mary's back. "Do it!"
Hillary Faye went back to her station, and I saw the look grow stronger on Mary's face. "Mar, what are you thinking?"
"I'm thinking I have an idea of how to follow Jesus's instructions,"
(Divider)
"You did what?" I asked Mary in disbelief over the phone.
"I had sex with Dean," she explained, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. "It was the only way,"
"The only way to what? Be nuts?" I demanded.
"Jesus will restore me," She said with conviction. "I had to do it,"
"No, had to do it would be if he gave you a sedative! What if he had been sleeping around and didn't tell you? What if you got pregnant?"
"Shh. Keep it down, my mom doesn't know,"
"I sure hope not. She would kill you!"
"Nothing happened, ok? It was my last option, and I think it worked,"
I sighed. Nothing was going to change the past, so I was just going to focus on the present here. "Well thank God," Then I glanced at the clock. 9:00. Damn it. Why did I sign up for the graveyard shift again? "Mar, I gotta go. Work's in 20 minutes. Do not think we have finished discussing this,"
"God bless you, Rose Ava,"
I sighed. I would eventually knock some sense into that girl, but now was not that time. "Same with you, Mary Ann," I hung up.
(Divider)
I had a 5 minute walk between buses that wasn't the nicest part of town. In hindsight, none of this ever would have happened if I had been carrying pepper spray.
A man grabbed me from behind. I tried to step on his instep, but he pushed a dirty rag over my mouth. I breathed in a sickly sweet smell, and started to drift off.
"Well, you'll do, now won't you lass?" He asked.
I don't remember a thing after that, until waking up in an ally several hours later feeling very violated.