A/N: HI, I'm new on this site and I'm trying out my hand on Titanic FanFiction! I'm Leo Me Enamoraste's friend in real life, so please check out her stories! She's in a hard case of writer's block so please review out ideas for her! LOL, I really want to read the next chapters of her stories! I totally love Michael Jackson and his songs, so I dedicate this story to him! May he rest in peace!
Anyways, here's my story
Man in the Mirror: Chapter One
"Goodbye, Jack!" Abelle Dawson called after her 6-year-old son, Jackson Dawson, or commonly referred to as, Jack. She bit her lip as the truffle of dirty-blond overgrown hair became smaller and smaller as he ran into the yellow bus without replying to her goodbye.
She didn't move a muscle as she watched her son in the yellow school bus grow into a smaller and smaller speck in what seemed eternity of the earth. She ran her fingers through her blonde hair, it was a family habit, but this time it wasn't because of the habit; it was in worry, for Jack.
She suddenly recalled Pre-School for Jack. It wasn't much, in fact. It was just day-after-day visits to the principal's office because of Jack "yanking on a girl's braids," or "kicking the teacher," and even "wrestling with such and such." Once he even fell on top of a girl named Susan, giving her a bone fracture.
That certainly put an end to the day-after-day visits. After that, he was expelled from the Pre-School and could never come back, and Abelle certainly hoped that Jack would have grown up a bit or matured to the limited amount that he could think twice about his actions.
Hopefully, just hopefully. And that's what she kept on telling herself as she quietly walked back to her quaint little home.
The Dawsons weren't the richest in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, you could say. Often, they were struggling to reach ends of their bills, their needs, and their son with a growing neediness.
Abelle suddenly felt a queasy feeling in her stomach, and she felt no surprise by this, what she felt was curiosity.
She'd been having this regular unpleasant feeling for weeks now, and when was her last menstrual period? She couldn't remember. Could she be…Pregnant?
Although she loved the thought of a second kind, which in her mind was a responsible little girl that did everything right-a complete opposite of Jack- she knew she couldn't afford another kid when they could barely afford Jack with her husband, Rene's low income, and Abelle, with no education but her high school diploma and no work experience.
Quickly she opened the door of the quaint house and walked straight into the bathroom, still with the queasy feeling.
Looking in the mirror, she inspected how she looked. Crystal clear blue eyes, pale face, shoulder length blonde hair, she looked normal. Then, she inspected her midsection, and didn't see a big difference.
Suddenly, she felt a thrusting feeling in her throat that made it impossible to shut her mouth as she threw up last night's dinner.
….
Jack smiled naughtily as he climbed onto the bus. Being the last one to arrive, he was the last one to board, and of course being the last one to sit down.
"Hurry up, kid, or ye' get the whole bus late ter' school, so pick a seat," An elderly fat bus driver with glasses spoke. Jack scrunched his nose, making all his golden freckles move an inch around his face.
He eyed the whole bus, finding only one open seat, and he scowled. It was next to a scrawny kid with orange hair, oversized glasses, a runny nose, cherry red freckles, and small chapped lips.
Ultimately Jack thought he could catch a disease from the strange kid, but he spent 30 long seconds thinking if he should just walk to school. Of course, he didn't know the way, but he didn't care.
That was when the fat bus driver lost it.
He lunged up and wobbled over to Jack, grabbing him by his tiny waist and hoisting him upward, leading him to the runny nosed kid.
"Next time ye' better hurry up!"
Jack rolled his eyes and tried not to fall, as he was sitting on the very tip of the gray moth-eaten bus seat, as all the other room was filled up with the runny-nosed kid and his dirty tissues.
"Sorry," the kid said with his nose plugged. "I have bad allergies." Jack made no response, and the bus began to move. "I'm new here…I'm Regis Di Petrio…from New Orleans…who are you?" Jack tried to scoot over as the mountain of tissues increased in height, but found it impossible.
Suddenly, the bus made a sharp right turn, and since Jack and Regis were seated on the right side, gravity sent Jack tumbling on the floor of the dirty bus.
"Thump!"
"Get back in yer' seats!" The bus driver howled. Embarrassed, Jack crawled back into his seat.
"Haha! Little kindergartener couldn't keep his balance!" An older kid at the very back of the bus cackled. Jack turned around, and realized something.
Why was he being the victim of a bully? He should have been the bully, not a runny nosed kid or an older kid!
So, Jack stood up and paced to the very back of the bus, and when he reached it, he saw a curly redhead with her nosed buried into a book next to him. She was so short, Jack hadn't noticed her! But short didn't mean skinny. She was easily 90 pounds- way too heavy for a kindergartener.
Jack pushed the girl, who was on the outer seat towards the boy that had picked a fight with Jack, and seemed to be the redhead's brother.
"What are you doing here?" It was clear that the boy thought that he was "all that" as the teenagers would say.
He had red hair like his sister, but it was straight and better looking than the runny nosed kid. The difference was the neatness, cleanness, and tone of the shade. He was tall and skinny thought-the opposite of his sister.
"What's your name?" Jack asked, pretending to be friendly.
"I'm Renaud DeWitt Bukater, a first grader," Renaud responded, looking confused. "This is my little sister, Rose." He cocked his head towards Rose, who was still reading her book. "And what are you doing here? Who are you?"
Jack made no reply, and grinned. He stood up in the crunched up seat to see the road ahead and saw the bus driver starting to make a wide right turn. He stood up and clinging onto the seat, he grabbed Renaud's skinny and long head and tried with all of his strength to shove him and his sister to the ground of the bus.
Jack almost fell over himself, but he managed to shove Renaud AND Rose to the ground, since Rose was on the outer side of the seat. They landed right in front of Jack's feet like dead rats, with Rose under her older brother. Jack cackled a laugh.
"What was that for?" Renaud asked, angry. Rose had her face shaking and buried under Renaud's body.
"I'm Jack Dawson…the bully," Jack replied, sinisterly laughing.
"Whoa, how did you do that?" Some beefier looking kindergarteners asked Jack two seats in front of him on the other side of the bus. Jack approached them and ignored Renaud and Rose who were picking themselves up, crying.
He turned around one last time, asking himself if he'd gone too far, but realized he didn't want to be known as a dork, so smudged himself between 5 other boys who adored what he'd just done.
Turned out, they were pretty cool guys who were also like him, bullies. There was Rainier Faucher, who seemed to follow and copy Jack as if he were his role model, which was pretty stupid considering they were in kindergarten. He had chocolate brown hair that was like that guy Jack always saw on the cover of magazines at the grocery store; that Justin Bieber, he thought.
Then there was Pierre Carrara, who seemed to be the quiet one, but did whatever everyone else did and wanted to do. He had white-blonde hair that was cut in a buzz cut and had spooky gray-blue eyes that looked like a cunning coyote's fur in winter and had a long body, including an arched neck, long cracked nose, long skinny and knobby legs, and long bony arms, hand, and fingers. He was like a skeleton with skin.
And finally there was Philippe Massara, who was as bad as Jack, only bigger in every way. He had black hair that was in a buzz cut as well, but with thicker and bushier hair than Pierre. Jack thought of him as the best, and they clicked instantly.
….
Rose DeWitt Bukater pretended to have her nose stuck in a Magic Tree House book as she silently thought over Miss Acadia's (the teacher wanted the kids to call her by her first name) booming voice.
She was pretty and young, but all that came at a price. She was strict and mean to the kids, and Rose instantly disliked her. Right now, Miss Acadia was giving a lecture on the alphabet, but Rose didn't need to hear it. She already knew it.
What did Jack's shove to the floor and cackle mean? Her stomach began to hurt. Had she eaten too much? She clutched her stomach and turned her head towards the girl next to her.
She had curly golden locks that cascaded down her back, and they were perfectly neat. Her eyes were pure ocean water blue, and she was skinny. Skinny.
Rose clutched her stomach as it rumbled of pain again, and wished that Renaud were here. She sighed, missing him.
Before she left, Rose's mother, Ruth had told her that the whole "dating thing" that young elementary schools did these days was preposterous and ridiculous, and she forbade Rose for any of that nonsense, but looking at the other girls in the classroom, even as a young six year old, she couldn't help but compare herself to the other skinny girls.
"Rose!" Miss Acadia snapped. "Pay attention! Stop daydreaming, do you want to learn your ABC's?" Rose slowly nodded, knowing she already knew them but didn't want to pick a fight with the ruler.
"Maybe she's daydreaming about how never in a million years she'll be pretty," she heard a familiar voice speak. Rose looked u and tucked a curl behind her ear. Jack.
She swiftly turned around and saw him and his gang laughing, their faces red. She buried her face, biting back to hold the tears. Why couldn't she be perfect like the perfect blonde girl next to her?
"Hey, Adrienne," a brunette girl with chin length hair said two rows away from Rose.
So the perfect girl's name was Adrienne.
"Hmm?" Adrienne replied, bobbing her curls and using a soft angelic voice.
"Do you want to come over to my birthday party next Saturday?" The girl passed an envelope to Adrienne.
Rose gulped. She hadn't received an invitation.
Maybe it was because she wasn't worth it.
This made matters even worse. She could feel the swell of tears rise up and down her throat, and she let out a loud sniff, and felt Adrienne's eyes gaze onto her.
Rose ducked, and built up the courage to raise her hand.
"Rose?" Miss Acadia called.
"Miss…Can I please go to the bathroom?"
"Miss Acadia, MAY I please go to the bathroom?" Miss Acadia corrected, stifling a few laughs across the room, including Jack's. "And why are you laughing, Mr. Dawson?" She snapped. "You're the one who's not going to pass kindergarten."
Now that was even funnier for the few bright kids around the room, but Rose found it harder to bite back the tears within each second.
"May I please?" She croaked.
"Recite your ABC's."
" G," she began, eyes shut tight so that no tears would escape. She wrapped her legs around the legs of her plastic chair. " P." Her voice cracked once. "Q R S, T U V." She began to mumble. "W X, Y AND Z…now I know my ABC's," she gritted her teeth. "Next time won't you sing with-"
She didn't finish. All she did was run into the bathroom.
…
Rose slammed the door shut, letting her body slowly slide down it, until she hit the cold hard floor.
Then, she just let everything out. Tears streamed down her face and onto her tight shirt that showed her plump belly button whenever she raised her arms.
She walked towards the mirror. She wasn't enough.
"Rose! Hurry up!" She heard Adrienne scream on the other side of the bathroom door. Rose made no reply.
….
"Miss Acadia," Adrienne said, returning to the room. "I think Rose is crying."
Miss Acadia's eyes lit up with suspicion. "Why would she be crying?"
Adrienne shrugged and felt everyone staring. "Maybe it was something that Jack said. They were picking on her the entire class."
"I didn't say anything!"
"Liar!"
Jack rolled his eyes and felt Miss Acadia's anger land on him. "What did you say?" She screeched.
Jack looked down and made no reply. "Since you're not going to tell me anything, Adrienne, what did he say?"
"He said something about her not being pretty," she told her.
And grabbing Jack by his ear, Miss Acadia stormed out of the room, leaving the brunette girl in charge to take names of whoever talked.
"Tattletale," Philippe muttered to Adrienne.
"Yeah," Rainier continued. Pierre crossed his arms.
"We thought you were cool."
A/N: Okay, I know Rose sounds like a mary sue, but it gets better! Trust me! Review please!