I'd like to thank my friend Natasha(aka--Bradhadair) for helping me out of
this fanfic.
I'd like to thank my friend Alyse(aka--Erin The Goddess) for helping me out
on this fanfic.
A long time ago there were a king and queen who said every day, "Ah, if only we had a child," but they never had one. But it happened that once when the queen was bathing, a frog crept out of the water onto the land, and said to her, "Your wish shall be fulfilled, before a year has gone by, you shall have a daughter." What the frog had said came true, and the queen had a little girl who was so pretty that the king could not contain himself for joy, and ordered a great feast. He invited not only his kindred, friends and acquaintances, but also the Wise Women, in order that they might be kind and well-disposed towards the child. There were thirteen of them in his kingdom, but, as he had only twelve golden plates for them to eat out of, one of them had to be left at home. The feast was held with all manner of splendor and when it came to an end the Wise Women bestowed their magic gifts upon the baby--one gave virtue, another beauty, a third riches, the fourth song, and so on with everything in the world that one can wish for. When eleven of them had made their promises, suddenly the thirteenth came in. She wished to avenge herself for not having been invited, and without greeting, or even looking at anyone, she cried with a loud voice, "The king's daughter shall in her fifteenth year prick herself with a spindle, and fall down dead!" And, without saying a word more, she turned round and left the room. They were all shocked, but the twelfth, whose good wish still remained unspoken, came forward, and as she could not undo the evil sentence, but only soften it, she said, it shall not be death, but a deep sleep of a hundred years, into which the princess shall fall. The king, who would fain keep his dear child from the misfortune, gave orders that every spindle in the whole kingdom should be burnt. Meanwhile the gifts of the wise women were plenteously fulfilled on the young girl, for she was so beautiful, modest, good-natured, and wise, that everyone who saw her was bound to love her. It happened that on the very day when she was fifteen years old, the king and queen were not at home, and the maiden was left in the palace quite alone. So she went round into all sorts of places, looked into rooms and bed-chambers just as she liked, and at last came to an old tower. She climbed up the narrow winding staircase, and reached a little door. A rusty key was in the lock, and when she turned it the door sprang open, and there in a little room sat an old woman with a spindle, busily spinning her flax. "Good day, old mother," said the king's daughter, "What are you doing there?" "I am spinning," said the old woman, and nodded her head. "What sort of thing is that, that rattles round so merrily," said the girl, and she took the spindle and wanted to spin too. But scarcely had she touched the spindle when the magic decree was fulfilled, and she pricked her finger with it. And, in the very moment when she felt the prick, she fell down upon the bed that stood there, and lay in a deep sleep. And this sleep extended over the whole palace, the king and queen who had just come home, and had entered the great hall, began to go to sleep, and the whole of the court with them. The horses, too, went to sleep in the stable, the dogs in the yard, the pigeons upon the roof, the flies on the wall, even the fire that was flaming on the hearth became quiet and slept, the roast meat left off frizzling, and the cook, who was just going to pull the hair of the scullery boy, because he had forgotten something, let him go, and went to sleep. And the wind fell, and on the trees before the castle not a leaf moved again. But round about the castle there began to grow a hedge of thorns, which every year became higher, and at last grew close up round the castle and all over it, so that there was nothing of it to be seen, not even the flag upon the roof. But the story of the beautiful sleeping Briar-Rose, for so the princess was named, went about the country, so that from time to time kings' sons came and tried to get through the thorny hedge into the castle. But they found it impossible, for the thorns held fast together, as if they had hands, and the youths were caught in them, could not get loose again, and died a miserable death. After long, long years a king's son came again to that country, and heard an old man talking about the thorn-hedge, and that a castle was said to stand behind it in which a wonderfully beautiful princess, named Briar- Rose, had been asleep for a hundred years, and that the king and queen and the whole court were asleep likewise. He had heard, too, from his grandfather, that many kings, sons had already come, and had tried to get through the thorny hedge, but they had remained sticking fast in it, and had died a pitiful death. Then the youth said, "I am not afraid, I will go and see the beautiful Briar-Rose." The good old man might dissuade him as he would, he did not listen to his words. But by this time the hundred years had just passed, and the day had come when Briar-Rose was to awake again. When the king's son came near to the thorn-hedge, it was nothing but large and beautiful flowers, which parted from each other of their own accord, and let him pass unhurt, then they closed again behind him like a hedge. In the castle yard he saw the horses and the spotted hounds lying asleep, on the roof sat the pigeons with their heads under their wings. And when he entered the house, the flies were asleep upon the wall, the cook in the kitchen was still holding out his hand to seize the boy, and the maid was sitting by the black hen which she was going to pluck. He went on farther, and in the great hall he saw the whole of the court lying asleep, and up by the throne lay the king and queen. Then he went on still farther, and all was so quiet that a breath could be heard, and at last he came to the tower, and opened the door into the little room where Briar-Rose was sleeping. There she lay, so beautiful that he could not turn his eyes away, and he stooped down and gave her a kiss. But as soon as he kissed her, Briar-Rose opened her eyes and awoke, and looked at him quite sweetly. Then they went down together, and the king awoke, and the queen, and the whole court, and looked at each other in great astonishment. And the horses in the courtyard stood up and shook themselves, the hounds jumped up and wagged their tails, the pigeons upon the roof pulled out their heads from under their wings, looked round, and flew into the open country, the flies on the wall crept again, the fire in the kitchen burned up and flickered and cooked the meat, the joint began to turn and sizzle again, and the cook gave the boy such a box on the ear that he screamed, and the maid finished plucking the fowl. And then the marriage of the king's son with Briar-Rose was to be celebrated with all splendor, and they would live contented to the end of their days. Until one day, before the king's son and Briar-Rose's wedding day, she mysteriously disappeared, when she was out in the woods visiting the 12 Wise Women. They said she never came back home.
Briar-Rose
Rose wandered down the street. It was almost November, and the winter chill was blowing in from the North. Rose had no winter coat to keep her warm--only a sweater-- like any other kids, for she was an orphan from an abusive, rich family. Since then, she has refused to stay at any type of Summer Home or with any Foster Family. She shivered, wrapping her arms tightly around herself, she continued wandering, stopping only to duck behind a store wall in refuge to the cold. She was hoping to make it to the South. Someplace where she would never be cold again. She hoped to one day start her own family, treating them much better than she was treated herself. Only now, did she realize that it took a little more than high hopes and a willing spirit to make it such a distance. Rose sat on a curb and watched a wind blown paper skip across the asphalt. She slipped the school bag from over her and placed it at her side. She reached inside, starting to sing softly to herself, maneuvering around the large holes and rips, some summer clothes and pulled out her favorite book, "The Art of Poetry". She had actually found this book, lying in a trashcan. Some of the pages were torn in half other stained beyond recognition. But, this was the only book she owned. Rose transferred school almost every other week, running away from cops that had been chasing her ever since she first ran away. As she traveled into another district, she would look for things like Recreational Centers and Librarys and Soup Kitchens. Recreational Centers supplied her with nightly showers, at Librarys she could read all the poetry she wanted for free, and the soup kitchen filled her stomach. If these things wouldn't fit to her liking, she...went without them. She constantly found herself sleeping on park benches or under overpasses. Before she could even open the book, when a hand gripped her shoulder firmly. With a start, Rose looked up to notice a sandy blonde-haired man, not much older than 16 peering down at her, "Hello again, lovely." He said his handsome face flashing her a dazzling smile. Rose jumped up, knocking his hand off her shoulder, "Go away, you bastard!" He just smiled and grabbed for her wrist, "Let GO of me!" She yelled jerking out of his grip. "I think you dropped this," He said to her, picking her back pack off the cracked cement. She yanked it from him and in one quick motion, zipped the pocket containing her personal possessions closed. She glared at him when he held up his hands, in a surrendering motion. "If looks could kill!" He exclaimed with a laugh. "Why are you trying to be NICE?" she asked him, squinting at him suspiciously. He shrugged, "I just thought you looked cold." Was his simple answer. "Well, I'm NOT." She said, slinging her book bag over her shoulder and starting to walk away. "I don't think so," he objected, this making her spin around at his rudeness, "I know you have no place to go," He said, coming closer to her, "There's no place for you to... run!" He grabbed her around the shoulders and stuffed her face in his coat. Rose quickly brought her knee up, and made solid contact with the man's groin. "Oof!" He let go of her and she started to run. The man didn't bother to get off the ground to chase after her. She darted down the street, turned left and then left again to hide in a dank back alley. She heard footsteps from where she had just been, Great, he sent his goons out to find me, she thought, pressing herself up against the cold brick wall. The cold bit into her arms, sending chills up her spine. "Where is she?" A man asked. "Obviously not home!" another man exclaimed, and they both started guffawing. Not until the laughter died away did she close her eyes and take a breath. "I think you dropped this," A voice sounded in front of her. She startled violently, thinking "he" was back again, but instead, "he" was replaced with a tall, cute boy with dark brown hair and blue eyes. He held out her poetry book to her with a grin. Rose grabbed the book and darted away, her heart racing madly. "Wait! Where are you going?!" The boy's voice called behind her.
Rose took a deep breath and practiced a smile, making sure she was ready. She had previously brushed her hair with her small key-chain brush, and scrubbed all the dirt out from under her fingernails. She looked nothing like a girl from the street, in fact, she even picked up a trend from the street by connecting the pieces of cloth on either side of her ripped jeans with saftey pins. She was lucky she was so thin, or she never would have fit into the jeans she had found in City Hall's lost and found. She placed a hand on the door knob to the main office of Aldine High School in Southern Chicago. "Excuse me," She said shyly, startling the secritary as she closed the door lightly behind her. "Oh, hello." The secritary said, putting on her tortoise shell glasses and reaching a hand out to take the papers Rose held. They were the papers to confirm her transfer to Aldine High. She had told the same secritary only two days ago that her parents were much too busy to come into school to sign them, so she would take the papers to them and get them signed. Little did they know that she didn't even have parents to sign the papers, or that she was forging their signatures. "Thank you very much, uh, Ms. Heller." She said, flipping through the papers to make sure everything was signed, "You start your first day tomorrow." "Thank you, ma'am," Rose said smiling and turning to leave. "Wait!" The secritary called. "Yes?" Rose asked politely. "You don't have an address filled out on this." The secritary said, pulling a yellow sheet from the pile. Rose mentally kicked herself for letting that detail slip, "Oh, uh, were moving into a new house in a few weeks, and we don't quite know the address yet. We haven't decided yet." Rose said quickly as the secritary gave her an odd look. Rose knew perfectly well that you closed a deal on a house weeks before you moved. She turned and slipped out the door before the secritary could ask any more questions. Rose walked down the hall, and spotted a row of pay phones by the office door. She felt in all the change slots to make sure no one had left some change. Disappointed, she left the school grounds.
A light knock came to the classroom door. No one would have noticed if it wasn't for the stillness of the room full of students concentrating on a test. Mrs. Bern waddled over to the door and greeted Rose with a smile. Rose handed her her papers with her personal information on it. "You must be the new girl," She said, taking her by the wrist and leading her to the front of the room. Rose noticed, as she followed Mrs. Bern, that half the class was already staring at her, "Class, this is the newest addition to Aldine High school, uh..." She glanced at the papers in her hand, "Ms. Rosalina Heller." "Please call me Rose," She said quietly. She heard some girls in the back row snicker at her nick-name. Some of the guys were smiling while others were elbowing each other, laughing. Rose looked down to hide her blush. "Please treat Ms. Heller," More snickers, "With respect and make her feel welcome at Aldine High." She turned to Rose, "Please take a seat next to Sherrie in the back row." She noticed that Mrs. Bern probably put her next to the snickering girls on purpose.
Adam looked up from his American History test to notice the teacher dragging a miserable looking, yet very cute, teen in by her wrist. She looked familiar, and he sat up in his chair as he noticed it was the girl from the alley. The one with the poetry book. She sat down next to Sherrie, but his view was blocked by Brian. He leaned forward and noticed that she sat with one fair hand on her forehead and her wavy, blonde hair hung into her face so that Adam couldn't see her expression. She looked up finally when the teacher called her name and told her to take a textbook from the shelf. Later at lunch as Adam carried his tray to his lunch table with his friend Greg, he noticed her sitting by herself at one of the smaller circular tables near the back, her nose buried in her worn poetry book that he had returned to her. Adam thought she must have been miserable, being new and sitting all by herself. Adam told Greg he'd see him later and worked his way toward the back of the cafeteria. She didn't even look up at him, when he walked up to her table. "Excuse me." Adam cleared his throat. "Mmm, hmm?" the girl still didn't look up from her poetry book. "I noticed that you were sitting here by yourself and I was wondering if, uh...you wanted to sit with me at my table?" "Mmm, hmm," "You will?" "Mmm, hmm," "Great--uh," Adam looked at the girl, directly. "Are you listening to me?" "Mmm, hmm," Adam noticed that she didn't want anything to do with him. He looked behind himself and seen Greg looking at him with a mocking grin on his face. Adam smiled sarcastically. "Well, if you ever want to...you can sit with me, over there." Adam pointed at his table. The girl still didn't look up. He shrugged and walked back to his seat. "She wasn't paying ANY attention to you!" Greg laughed. "Yeah, yeah." Adam sighed, drinking from a Sprite can. "I TOLD you to go ask Sherrie out!" said Adam's other friend, Lance. "Eh...I don't know," Adam winced. "She's not my type."
Adam was walking down the hall on his way from his third hour class, when he seen the girl he'd "talked" to during lunch at her locker. She was standing in her locker, trying to reach for something on the top shelf. She dropped something on the floor and she didn't notice. He walked over to pick it up. It was her hall pass. On it, was her name and her home room and student number. Adam looked at the name. "Rose Heller." "Excuse me, Rose, is it?" Rose looked back at Adam. "You..." Rose gasped. Adam looked at himself, looked back at Rose. "Me," he smiled. "Uh...You dropped this." She nervously took it from him. "T-Thanks." Rose said, her voice practically a whisper. "Anytime." Adam grinned, walking away. I don't know why a girl like her would be so nervous. Adam thought. She seems like a nice person. Adam heard the shrill giggles of girls behind him. He looked back and seen Sherrie and her friends laughing at Rose, following her. He sighed and decided to help Rose out. But by the time he reached the mob, Rose ran away to her next class. Adam just stood there, feeling helpless. "Hey, Adam," greeted Sherrie, flipping her long black hair. "What's up?" Sherrie was the most popular girl in school, just because she's captain of the cheerleaders. Guys would always want to go out with her. Every week or so, Sherrie would get a new boyfriend or best friend. "N...Nothing," Adam said, trying to smile as he walked away.
Why did that have to happen with me? Rose thought. Why was that guy talking to me at lunch? Was he just mocking me, the way those girls were? Rose wasn't doing very well on her first day, in fourth hour, which was gym. She couldn't stop thinking about why people were doing what they were doing to her. Those girls didn't even know her and they were already teasing her. And that guy--that tall, dark, and yummy guy--who was asking her to sit with him and his friends at lunch. He seemed so familiar to Rose. Then it hit her. That guy--that tall, dark, and yummy guy--was the same guy that she met in the alley the other day! Great, HE'S here too? Rose thought. Then she got an even more horrible thought. What if that blonde guy goes to this school, too?!
The next day was a living hell. The same girls who were taunting her yesterday, were doing that same thing today. Only this time, they sat at her lunch table and wouldn't stop asking her questions, that made her feel very uncomfortable. "We saw Adam helping you at your locker yesterday." "Adam's a hottie, isn't he. Do you have a little crush on him?" And questions that only a mental would be asked. Of course, she tried to ignore them, but Rose couldn't take it anymore. She got up, grabbed her book, and stormed out of the lunch room before she started to cry. She noticed that the guy who helped her out, and was obviously named Adam, was glancing at her. He wasn't enjoying this, was he? In fourth hour, the group was playing softball. Whenever Rose wasn't looking, she'd feel a tapping on her shoulder. And whenever she'd look behind herself, she'd see Sherrie and a few of her friends snickering. Rose tried to ignore them. While Rose was coming out of the bathroom in the girls' locker room, after getting dressed, Sherrie and her friends were waiting for her outside of it. "Why don't you want to get dressed out here, Rose?" Sherrie asked in a high, baby-ish voice. "Why do you WANT me to get dressed out here?" Rose shot back, walked passed the group. They followed her and started tapping her on the shoulder, again. Rose turned around, shoving Sherrie in the stomach, unfortunatly, not enough to hurt her. "Oh, my gosh!" cried Sherrie. "She pushed me! I'm telling!" Like I care! Rose thought to herself, walking in the opposite direction. Rose took the rest of the day off, not caring about what homework she had. In fifth hour, Mr. Easton took attendance. "Hm." Mr. Easton said. "Rose isn't here today. Does anybody want to take her her homework for tonight?" Adam raised his hand. "I will."
Adam thought that he was so stupid as to bring Rose her homework when he didn't even know where she lived. He was hoping to find her. Sitting on a park bench, by herself, was Rose. She had her feet on the bench and her head buried in her knees. "Rose?" Adam started. She looked up. "Oh...hi," Rose tried to smile. Adam handed her the literature book. "Is this my homework, or something?" "Yeah," "Thanks." Rose stood up, starting to take tiny breaths. "You okay?" Adam asked. "Yes, I am." Rose said nervously. "Hey, uh...not that this is any of my business, but why did you skip the rest of school to day?" "I wasn't feeling well." she said. "I had a headache." "Oh, okay." Can't you think of anything better to say?! "Glad your feeling better." Rose blushed. "I gotta go. Bye!" And she trotted away. "Bye,"
Rose was sleeping on a bench inside of a bus stop. She was captured in some dream, that was not giving her a decent sleep. She was turning over and over and nearly fell off the bench. In her dream, Rose was in Chicago. However, the place was empty. No one was on the streets or in the stores or buildings. "This is disturbing..." Rose said to herself. She heard a shrill cry of a bird, that made her jump and look behind herself. She seen a huge raven, the size of a plane, flying above her. It reached it's talons out to grab her. One of it's claws got caught on the back of her sweater, stabbing her in the back. "Ahh-ah!" Rose cried, struggling She fell from the claw and started to run, blood slowly running from the wound in her back. She tried to go inside of the buildings, but the doors were locked. She looked back up at the raven, it was coming back for another dive at her. It reached it's talons out. As soon as the duclaw was about to pierce through Rose's gut, she woke up. Rose frantically rubbed her hands on her back. No blood. She sighed. "Whew...just a...it was only a dream..." she whispered, sitting correctly on the bench. What was THAT all about?
The next day. Yesterday, before Sherrie walked over to Rose's lunch table and started teasing her, Adam offered again for Rose to sit next to him. He then understood that she was just shy about making new friends. Today, at lunch, he sat at her table, waiting for her to show up. He opened a can of Sprite and started to drink from it.
Rose sighed to herself walking into the cafeteria. She was hoping for today to be better. Rose walked over to her lunch table. A familiar handsome face is sitting in her seat, staring down while drinking from a can of Sprite. Adam. He looked up. "Excuse me." Rose tried not to sound offensive. "This is my seat." "YOUR seat?" Adam smiled. "Yes, I-I always sit here." Adam chuckled to himself. "Okay, here's YOUR seat." Adam stood up and waved his hand in front of it for Rose to sit in. "Now, it just feels stupid." Rose said with a laugh. "That's the point." Adam sat in the chair next to Rose's and he pats her seat, endorsing her to sit in it.
The two of them talked the whole half hour of lunch and in between classes, both interested in what the other had to say. Adam had gotten the correct impression about Rose. Before, he thought that she was a girl who had an interesting life. And he was right. Rose wasn't shy anymore. She felt so comfortable now, when Adam was around her. She had told him almost the exact opposite of what she was really living. Rose told him that her and her family lived North of Chicago(which wasn't true because she really had no idea about where she came from) and that her family loved her very much(which was not true) She told him what her favorite things were, out of what to do, food, what she believes in, and about her love of poetry and songs. Adam told her the same thing about him. He said that his family worked for a grocery store. And he told Rose about them. About his Mom, who was named Kate, his Dad, who was named Lex, and his little sister, Anysia. He also talked about what he liked; didn't like. Rose got so caught up in Adam, that she'd forgotten about going to the South. What they talked about went on for nearly a week. Adam's friends were getting a little freaked out about that, and Sherrie was more competitive of Rose then ever. But Rose didn't care about that. One day, Rose and Adam went to the Dairy Queen for a Blizzard. Adam had one with Nerds candies in it; Rose had an X-Treme chocolate Blizzard. When they finished, Rose and Adam walked behind the D.Q. to go on their way to his place. Rose looked down the side-walk and seen a familiar blonde head, who was looking into the D.Q. parking lot. He was with his buddies and they, too, were looking at what he was looking at. "Oh, no!" Rose whispered. "What?" Adam asked. "It's him!" Rose started to panic. Adam looked at the group of men Rose was whispering about. "Who's 'him'?" "I've gotta hide--he's getting closer!" "Here." Adam pinned Rose against the wall. She had to keep herself balanced, by putting her hands on the brick wall. Adam was covering her with his body, his forehead up against her own. His hands were pinned against the wall too, making it look like he was looking down upon her. "Play along." he whispered, gently rubbing his nose with Rose's. Gosh, he smells good! Rose thought to herself, closing her eyes. She got the idea of what Adam was trying to do. The group of men stared at Rose and Adam up against the wall, while walking passed them. They couldn't see Rose's face, for Adam's arm was in the way on that angle, from which they were looking. When they turned the corner, Adam and Rose sighed, still in that position. "Uh, Adam?" Rose laughed, nervously. "I like you too, but could you please get off of me?" "Oh, yeah! Sure." He quickly stepped away from the wall and blushed. "Sorry about that."
Adam and Rose stopped outside of his house. (describe house) Rose was overwhelmed about how nice Adam's house looked. Once walking in, there were steps leading upstairs, and steps leading downstairs. "Wow," Rose breathed, looking around the rest of the house, from the welcome mat. "This is a nice house, Adam!" "Heh. Thanks." Adam took off his shoes. "My Mom keeps the place as neat as possible, just in case there's unexpected guests." He told Rose to take off her shoes. He called downstairs. "Mom, I'm home!" "Okay!" Kate answered. A little girl, of about seven, peeked around the wall from downstairs. "He brought his girlfriend, too!" she squealed, running up the stairs. "You must be Rose!" "And you must be Anysia." Rose smiled, thinking about how Adam had mentioned her to his family. "Yep!" Anysia giggled. "Adam told me SO much about you. He said you were really nice. You know what else he said about you?" she whispered. "What?" Rose bent over to listen to what Anysia was whispering about. "He said that--" "O-kay! That's enough." Adam started to blush. "Let's go upstairs, Rose, I'll show you the kitchen."
At 5:10, Rose was leaving Adam's place. She was standing on the porch with him. "Thank you, Adam, for showing me your house." Rose said. "I love it. And your sister is a sweetie!" "Sometimes." Adam smirked. Rose smiled and looked at him for a while. "Well, I gotta get going. It'll get dark soon." "Why don't I walk you home? I'm sure you can use the campany." "Thanks for the offer, Adam. But I can make it on my own." Rose started to walk away. "Well, when can I see your house?" Rose's eyes widened. She looked back at him. "I don't know. Soon." She started to walk away, again. "Bye!"
I CANNOT believe I DID that! Adam was thinking about the other day, when he pinned Rose against the wall, on his way from lunch. Greg and Lance were already at his locker, waiting for him. "Hey," "Oh, hey," Greg said, trying to sound innocent. "Ah, look who's comin'!" It was Sherrie. "Hey, Adam," smiled Sherrie. "What's up?" "Eh, nothing." "Are you busy today? Because I wanted to know if you'd like to go shopping with me(?)." "I don't know, I AM kinda busy today." "Well, if your plans ever change, give me a call." Sherrie winked at Adam, walking away. "You are so lucky, man! Sherrie's into you!" Greg exclaimed. "Sherrie's not that great." Adam said, thinking about Rose. "What are you talkin' about, man? Sherrie's totally hot! But do you decide to ask her out? Noooo!" "That's because Adam is with Rose." mumbled Lance, loud enough for his friends to hear. "He was seen behind the D.Q. yesterday with Rose. And they were up against the wall making out. I've heard rumors. It's practically all over school. Don't deny it, Adam." "Well...then I won't." Adam said simply. His friends gasped. "But she's a newbie!" Greg whispered. "You've only known her for, what, a week? And your already going at it? I envy you." "Not at IT." Adam blushed, dispite that the rumor wasn't true. "She's a nice girl because she listens to what I have to say. Unlike Sherrie. Talkative, talkative, Sherrie." "But Sherrie's normal," Greg said. "And Rose is...well...I don't mean anything by it...but she's just weird. I mean she never talks and she's always sticking her nose inside of that book of poems." Greg looked behind himself and saw Rose standing there. She was giving him a hurt/disgusted look. She looked at Adam and walked to her next class. Adam walked after her. "Rose!" Adam called. She didn't stop. Adam walked a little faster and finally caught up to her. "It's not what you think." "You have no idea what I'm thinking." "We weren't talking about you." "Don't lie to me!" Rose stopped. "How DARE you talk about me behind my back! I thought you were my friend. But your just another one of those kinds of people who don't give a rat's ass about whether one's feelings get hurt. Your just like Sherrie and how she treats people." "Don't get the wrong impression about me, please, Rose." Adam said. "It wasn't like that. Just let me explain." "I'm listening." "My friends have a problem with me...being with you. And somehow they found out and got the wrong idea us behind the D.Q." "They found out about that? Now I'm going to get taunted for the rest of the school year!" she whispered. "I'm sorry. Continue." "I don't think your as weird as Greg thinks you are. Heck, I don't even think your weird. I think your a nice, good-listening, cute, and not- weird girl." Rose blushed, but her expression didn't show her embarrassment. "Can I make it up to you?" "No," Rose said quickly. "No, it's alright. I was dumb for thinking you would do such a 'casual' thing to me." "It's dumb to not want to go to a movie that's on me." Adam smiled. "Please? The movie can be your choice." Rose bit her lip. "We can get Twizzlers licorice." "Oh, okay!" Rose couldn't resist licorice. "Great. I knew you wouldn't back out on candy." Adam lightly patted Rose's shoulder. "Now get to class. We'll discuss plans after school."
A long time ago there were a king and queen who said every day, "Ah, if only we had a child," but they never had one. But it happened that once when the queen was bathing, a frog crept out of the water onto the land, and said to her, "Your wish shall be fulfilled, before a year has gone by, you shall have a daughter." What the frog had said came true, and the queen had a little girl who was so pretty that the king could not contain himself for joy, and ordered a great feast. He invited not only his kindred, friends and acquaintances, but also the Wise Women, in order that they might be kind and well-disposed towards the child. There were thirteen of them in his kingdom, but, as he had only twelve golden plates for them to eat out of, one of them had to be left at home. The feast was held with all manner of splendor and when it came to an end the Wise Women bestowed their magic gifts upon the baby--one gave virtue, another beauty, a third riches, the fourth song, and so on with everything in the world that one can wish for. When eleven of them had made their promises, suddenly the thirteenth came in. She wished to avenge herself for not having been invited, and without greeting, or even looking at anyone, she cried with a loud voice, "The king's daughter shall in her fifteenth year prick herself with a spindle, and fall down dead!" And, without saying a word more, she turned round and left the room. They were all shocked, but the twelfth, whose good wish still remained unspoken, came forward, and as she could not undo the evil sentence, but only soften it, she said, it shall not be death, but a deep sleep of a hundred years, into which the princess shall fall. The king, who would fain keep his dear child from the misfortune, gave orders that every spindle in the whole kingdom should be burnt. Meanwhile the gifts of the wise women were plenteously fulfilled on the young girl, for she was so beautiful, modest, good-natured, and wise, that everyone who saw her was bound to love her. It happened that on the very day when she was fifteen years old, the king and queen were not at home, and the maiden was left in the palace quite alone. So she went round into all sorts of places, looked into rooms and bed-chambers just as she liked, and at last came to an old tower. She climbed up the narrow winding staircase, and reached a little door. A rusty key was in the lock, and when she turned it the door sprang open, and there in a little room sat an old woman with a spindle, busily spinning her flax. "Good day, old mother," said the king's daughter, "What are you doing there?" "I am spinning," said the old woman, and nodded her head. "What sort of thing is that, that rattles round so merrily," said the girl, and she took the spindle and wanted to spin too. But scarcely had she touched the spindle when the magic decree was fulfilled, and she pricked her finger with it. And, in the very moment when she felt the prick, she fell down upon the bed that stood there, and lay in a deep sleep. And this sleep extended over the whole palace, the king and queen who had just come home, and had entered the great hall, began to go to sleep, and the whole of the court with them. The horses, too, went to sleep in the stable, the dogs in the yard, the pigeons upon the roof, the flies on the wall, even the fire that was flaming on the hearth became quiet and slept, the roast meat left off frizzling, and the cook, who was just going to pull the hair of the scullery boy, because he had forgotten something, let him go, and went to sleep. And the wind fell, and on the trees before the castle not a leaf moved again. But round about the castle there began to grow a hedge of thorns, which every year became higher, and at last grew close up round the castle and all over it, so that there was nothing of it to be seen, not even the flag upon the roof. But the story of the beautiful sleeping Briar-Rose, for so the princess was named, went about the country, so that from time to time kings' sons came and tried to get through the thorny hedge into the castle. But they found it impossible, for the thorns held fast together, as if they had hands, and the youths were caught in them, could not get loose again, and died a miserable death. After long, long years a king's son came again to that country, and heard an old man talking about the thorn-hedge, and that a castle was said to stand behind it in which a wonderfully beautiful princess, named Briar- Rose, had been asleep for a hundred years, and that the king and queen and the whole court were asleep likewise. He had heard, too, from his grandfather, that many kings, sons had already come, and had tried to get through the thorny hedge, but they had remained sticking fast in it, and had died a pitiful death. Then the youth said, "I am not afraid, I will go and see the beautiful Briar-Rose." The good old man might dissuade him as he would, he did not listen to his words. But by this time the hundred years had just passed, and the day had come when Briar-Rose was to awake again. When the king's son came near to the thorn-hedge, it was nothing but large and beautiful flowers, which parted from each other of their own accord, and let him pass unhurt, then they closed again behind him like a hedge. In the castle yard he saw the horses and the spotted hounds lying asleep, on the roof sat the pigeons with their heads under their wings. And when he entered the house, the flies were asleep upon the wall, the cook in the kitchen was still holding out his hand to seize the boy, and the maid was sitting by the black hen which she was going to pluck. He went on farther, and in the great hall he saw the whole of the court lying asleep, and up by the throne lay the king and queen. Then he went on still farther, and all was so quiet that a breath could be heard, and at last he came to the tower, and opened the door into the little room where Briar-Rose was sleeping. There she lay, so beautiful that he could not turn his eyes away, and he stooped down and gave her a kiss. But as soon as he kissed her, Briar-Rose opened her eyes and awoke, and looked at him quite sweetly. Then they went down together, and the king awoke, and the queen, and the whole court, and looked at each other in great astonishment. And the horses in the courtyard stood up and shook themselves, the hounds jumped up and wagged their tails, the pigeons upon the roof pulled out their heads from under their wings, looked round, and flew into the open country, the flies on the wall crept again, the fire in the kitchen burned up and flickered and cooked the meat, the joint began to turn and sizzle again, and the cook gave the boy such a box on the ear that he screamed, and the maid finished plucking the fowl. And then the marriage of the king's son with Briar-Rose was to be celebrated with all splendor, and they would live contented to the end of their days. Until one day, before the king's son and Briar-Rose's wedding day, she mysteriously disappeared, when she was out in the woods visiting the 12 Wise Women. They said she never came back home.
Briar-Rose
Rose wandered down the street. It was almost November, and the winter chill was blowing in from the North. Rose had no winter coat to keep her warm--only a sweater-- like any other kids, for she was an orphan from an abusive, rich family. Since then, she has refused to stay at any type of Summer Home or with any Foster Family. She shivered, wrapping her arms tightly around herself, she continued wandering, stopping only to duck behind a store wall in refuge to the cold. She was hoping to make it to the South. Someplace where she would never be cold again. She hoped to one day start her own family, treating them much better than she was treated herself. Only now, did she realize that it took a little more than high hopes and a willing spirit to make it such a distance. Rose sat on a curb and watched a wind blown paper skip across the asphalt. She slipped the school bag from over her and placed it at her side. She reached inside, starting to sing softly to herself, maneuvering around the large holes and rips, some summer clothes and pulled out her favorite book, "The Art of Poetry". She had actually found this book, lying in a trashcan. Some of the pages were torn in half other stained beyond recognition. But, this was the only book she owned. Rose transferred school almost every other week, running away from cops that had been chasing her ever since she first ran away. As she traveled into another district, she would look for things like Recreational Centers and Librarys and Soup Kitchens. Recreational Centers supplied her with nightly showers, at Librarys she could read all the poetry she wanted for free, and the soup kitchen filled her stomach. If these things wouldn't fit to her liking, she...went without them. She constantly found herself sleeping on park benches or under overpasses. Before she could even open the book, when a hand gripped her shoulder firmly. With a start, Rose looked up to notice a sandy blonde-haired man, not much older than 16 peering down at her, "Hello again, lovely." He said his handsome face flashing her a dazzling smile. Rose jumped up, knocking his hand off her shoulder, "Go away, you bastard!" He just smiled and grabbed for her wrist, "Let GO of me!" She yelled jerking out of his grip. "I think you dropped this," He said to her, picking her back pack off the cracked cement. She yanked it from him and in one quick motion, zipped the pocket containing her personal possessions closed. She glared at him when he held up his hands, in a surrendering motion. "If looks could kill!" He exclaimed with a laugh. "Why are you trying to be NICE?" she asked him, squinting at him suspiciously. He shrugged, "I just thought you looked cold." Was his simple answer. "Well, I'm NOT." She said, slinging her book bag over her shoulder and starting to walk away. "I don't think so," he objected, this making her spin around at his rudeness, "I know you have no place to go," He said, coming closer to her, "There's no place for you to... run!" He grabbed her around the shoulders and stuffed her face in his coat. Rose quickly brought her knee up, and made solid contact with the man's groin. "Oof!" He let go of her and she started to run. The man didn't bother to get off the ground to chase after her. She darted down the street, turned left and then left again to hide in a dank back alley. She heard footsteps from where she had just been, Great, he sent his goons out to find me, she thought, pressing herself up against the cold brick wall. The cold bit into her arms, sending chills up her spine. "Where is she?" A man asked. "Obviously not home!" another man exclaimed, and they both started guffawing. Not until the laughter died away did she close her eyes and take a breath. "I think you dropped this," A voice sounded in front of her. She startled violently, thinking "he" was back again, but instead, "he" was replaced with a tall, cute boy with dark brown hair and blue eyes. He held out her poetry book to her with a grin. Rose grabbed the book and darted away, her heart racing madly. "Wait! Where are you going?!" The boy's voice called behind her.
Rose took a deep breath and practiced a smile, making sure she was ready. She had previously brushed her hair with her small key-chain brush, and scrubbed all the dirt out from under her fingernails. She looked nothing like a girl from the street, in fact, she even picked up a trend from the street by connecting the pieces of cloth on either side of her ripped jeans with saftey pins. She was lucky she was so thin, or she never would have fit into the jeans she had found in City Hall's lost and found. She placed a hand on the door knob to the main office of Aldine High School in Southern Chicago. "Excuse me," She said shyly, startling the secritary as she closed the door lightly behind her. "Oh, hello." The secritary said, putting on her tortoise shell glasses and reaching a hand out to take the papers Rose held. They were the papers to confirm her transfer to Aldine High. She had told the same secritary only two days ago that her parents were much too busy to come into school to sign them, so she would take the papers to them and get them signed. Little did they know that she didn't even have parents to sign the papers, or that she was forging their signatures. "Thank you very much, uh, Ms. Heller." She said, flipping through the papers to make sure everything was signed, "You start your first day tomorrow." "Thank you, ma'am," Rose said smiling and turning to leave. "Wait!" The secritary called. "Yes?" Rose asked politely. "You don't have an address filled out on this." The secritary said, pulling a yellow sheet from the pile. Rose mentally kicked herself for letting that detail slip, "Oh, uh, were moving into a new house in a few weeks, and we don't quite know the address yet. We haven't decided yet." Rose said quickly as the secritary gave her an odd look. Rose knew perfectly well that you closed a deal on a house weeks before you moved. She turned and slipped out the door before the secritary could ask any more questions. Rose walked down the hall, and spotted a row of pay phones by the office door. She felt in all the change slots to make sure no one had left some change. Disappointed, she left the school grounds.
A light knock came to the classroom door. No one would have noticed if it wasn't for the stillness of the room full of students concentrating on a test. Mrs. Bern waddled over to the door and greeted Rose with a smile. Rose handed her her papers with her personal information on it. "You must be the new girl," She said, taking her by the wrist and leading her to the front of the room. Rose noticed, as she followed Mrs. Bern, that half the class was already staring at her, "Class, this is the newest addition to Aldine High school, uh..." She glanced at the papers in her hand, "Ms. Rosalina Heller." "Please call me Rose," She said quietly. She heard some girls in the back row snicker at her nick-name. Some of the guys were smiling while others were elbowing each other, laughing. Rose looked down to hide her blush. "Please treat Ms. Heller," More snickers, "With respect and make her feel welcome at Aldine High." She turned to Rose, "Please take a seat next to Sherrie in the back row." She noticed that Mrs. Bern probably put her next to the snickering girls on purpose.
Adam looked up from his American History test to notice the teacher dragging a miserable looking, yet very cute, teen in by her wrist. She looked familiar, and he sat up in his chair as he noticed it was the girl from the alley. The one with the poetry book. She sat down next to Sherrie, but his view was blocked by Brian. He leaned forward and noticed that she sat with one fair hand on her forehead and her wavy, blonde hair hung into her face so that Adam couldn't see her expression. She looked up finally when the teacher called her name and told her to take a textbook from the shelf. Later at lunch as Adam carried his tray to his lunch table with his friend Greg, he noticed her sitting by herself at one of the smaller circular tables near the back, her nose buried in her worn poetry book that he had returned to her. Adam thought she must have been miserable, being new and sitting all by herself. Adam told Greg he'd see him later and worked his way toward the back of the cafeteria. She didn't even look up at him, when he walked up to her table. "Excuse me." Adam cleared his throat. "Mmm, hmm?" the girl still didn't look up from her poetry book. "I noticed that you were sitting here by yourself and I was wondering if, uh...you wanted to sit with me at my table?" "Mmm, hmm," "You will?" "Mmm, hmm," "Great--uh," Adam looked at the girl, directly. "Are you listening to me?" "Mmm, hmm," Adam noticed that she didn't want anything to do with him. He looked behind himself and seen Greg looking at him with a mocking grin on his face. Adam smiled sarcastically. "Well, if you ever want to...you can sit with me, over there." Adam pointed at his table. The girl still didn't look up. He shrugged and walked back to his seat. "She wasn't paying ANY attention to you!" Greg laughed. "Yeah, yeah." Adam sighed, drinking from a Sprite can. "I TOLD you to go ask Sherrie out!" said Adam's other friend, Lance. "Eh...I don't know," Adam winced. "She's not my type."
Adam was walking down the hall on his way from his third hour class, when he seen the girl he'd "talked" to during lunch at her locker. She was standing in her locker, trying to reach for something on the top shelf. She dropped something on the floor and she didn't notice. He walked over to pick it up. It was her hall pass. On it, was her name and her home room and student number. Adam looked at the name. "Rose Heller." "Excuse me, Rose, is it?" Rose looked back at Adam. "You..." Rose gasped. Adam looked at himself, looked back at Rose. "Me," he smiled. "Uh...You dropped this." She nervously took it from him. "T-Thanks." Rose said, her voice practically a whisper. "Anytime." Adam grinned, walking away. I don't know why a girl like her would be so nervous. Adam thought. She seems like a nice person. Adam heard the shrill giggles of girls behind him. He looked back and seen Sherrie and her friends laughing at Rose, following her. He sighed and decided to help Rose out. But by the time he reached the mob, Rose ran away to her next class. Adam just stood there, feeling helpless. "Hey, Adam," greeted Sherrie, flipping her long black hair. "What's up?" Sherrie was the most popular girl in school, just because she's captain of the cheerleaders. Guys would always want to go out with her. Every week or so, Sherrie would get a new boyfriend or best friend. "N...Nothing," Adam said, trying to smile as he walked away.
Why did that have to happen with me? Rose thought. Why was that guy talking to me at lunch? Was he just mocking me, the way those girls were? Rose wasn't doing very well on her first day, in fourth hour, which was gym. She couldn't stop thinking about why people were doing what they were doing to her. Those girls didn't even know her and they were already teasing her. And that guy--that tall, dark, and yummy guy--who was asking her to sit with him and his friends at lunch. He seemed so familiar to Rose. Then it hit her. That guy--that tall, dark, and yummy guy--was the same guy that she met in the alley the other day! Great, HE'S here too? Rose thought. Then she got an even more horrible thought. What if that blonde guy goes to this school, too?!
The next day was a living hell. The same girls who were taunting her yesterday, were doing that same thing today. Only this time, they sat at her lunch table and wouldn't stop asking her questions, that made her feel very uncomfortable. "We saw Adam helping you at your locker yesterday." "Adam's a hottie, isn't he. Do you have a little crush on him?" And questions that only a mental would be asked. Of course, she tried to ignore them, but Rose couldn't take it anymore. She got up, grabbed her book, and stormed out of the lunch room before she started to cry. She noticed that the guy who helped her out, and was obviously named Adam, was glancing at her. He wasn't enjoying this, was he? In fourth hour, the group was playing softball. Whenever Rose wasn't looking, she'd feel a tapping on her shoulder. And whenever she'd look behind herself, she'd see Sherrie and a few of her friends snickering. Rose tried to ignore them. While Rose was coming out of the bathroom in the girls' locker room, after getting dressed, Sherrie and her friends were waiting for her outside of it. "Why don't you want to get dressed out here, Rose?" Sherrie asked in a high, baby-ish voice. "Why do you WANT me to get dressed out here?" Rose shot back, walked passed the group. They followed her and started tapping her on the shoulder, again. Rose turned around, shoving Sherrie in the stomach, unfortunatly, not enough to hurt her. "Oh, my gosh!" cried Sherrie. "She pushed me! I'm telling!" Like I care! Rose thought to herself, walking in the opposite direction. Rose took the rest of the day off, not caring about what homework she had. In fifth hour, Mr. Easton took attendance. "Hm." Mr. Easton said. "Rose isn't here today. Does anybody want to take her her homework for tonight?" Adam raised his hand. "I will."
Adam thought that he was so stupid as to bring Rose her homework when he didn't even know where she lived. He was hoping to find her. Sitting on a park bench, by herself, was Rose. She had her feet on the bench and her head buried in her knees. "Rose?" Adam started. She looked up. "Oh...hi," Rose tried to smile. Adam handed her the literature book. "Is this my homework, or something?" "Yeah," "Thanks." Rose stood up, starting to take tiny breaths. "You okay?" Adam asked. "Yes, I am." Rose said nervously. "Hey, uh...not that this is any of my business, but why did you skip the rest of school to day?" "I wasn't feeling well." she said. "I had a headache." "Oh, okay." Can't you think of anything better to say?! "Glad your feeling better." Rose blushed. "I gotta go. Bye!" And she trotted away. "Bye,"
Rose was sleeping on a bench inside of a bus stop. She was captured in some dream, that was not giving her a decent sleep. She was turning over and over and nearly fell off the bench. In her dream, Rose was in Chicago. However, the place was empty. No one was on the streets or in the stores or buildings. "This is disturbing..." Rose said to herself. She heard a shrill cry of a bird, that made her jump and look behind herself. She seen a huge raven, the size of a plane, flying above her. It reached it's talons out to grab her. One of it's claws got caught on the back of her sweater, stabbing her in the back. "Ahh-ah!" Rose cried, struggling She fell from the claw and started to run, blood slowly running from the wound in her back. She tried to go inside of the buildings, but the doors were locked. She looked back up at the raven, it was coming back for another dive at her. It reached it's talons out. As soon as the duclaw was about to pierce through Rose's gut, she woke up. Rose frantically rubbed her hands on her back. No blood. She sighed. "Whew...just a...it was only a dream..." she whispered, sitting correctly on the bench. What was THAT all about?
The next day. Yesterday, before Sherrie walked over to Rose's lunch table and started teasing her, Adam offered again for Rose to sit next to him. He then understood that she was just shy about making new friends. Today, at lunch, he sat at her table, waiting for her to show up. He opened a can of Sprite and started to drink from it.
Rose sighed to herself walking into the cafeteria. She was hoping for today to be better. Rose walked over to her lunch table. A familiar handsome face is sitting in her seat, staring down while drinking from a can of Sprite. Adam. He looked up. "Excuse me." Rose tried not to sound offensive. "This is my seat." "YOUR seat?" Adam smiled. "Yes, I-I always sit here." Adam chuckled to himself. "Okay, here's YOUR seat." Adam stood up and waved his hand in front of it for Rose to sit in. "Now, it just feels stupid." Rose said with a laugh. "That's the point." Adam sat in the chair next to Rose's and he pats her seat, endorsing her to sit in it.
The two of them talked the whole half hour of lunch and in between classes, both interested in what the other had to say. Adam had gotten the correct impression about Rose. Before, he thought that she was a girl who had an interesting life. And he was right. Rose wasn't shy anymore. She felt so comfortable now, when Adam was around her. She had told him almost the exact opposite of what she was really living. Rose told him that her and her family lived North of Chicago(which wasn't true because she really had no idea about where she came from) and that her family loved her very much(which was not true) She told him what her favorite things were, out of what to do, food, what she believes in, and about her love of poetry and songs. Adam told her the same thing about him. He said that his family worked for a grocery store. And he told Rose about them. About his Mom, who was named Kate, his Dad, who was named Lex, and his little sister, Anysia. He also talked about what he liked; didn't like. Rose got so caught up in Adam, that she'd forgotten about going to the South. What they talked about went on for nearly a week. Adam's friends were getting a little freaked out about that, and Sherrie was more competitive of Rose then ever. But Rose didn't care about that. One day, Rose and Adam went to the Dairy Queen for a Blizzard. Adam had one with Nerds candies in it; Rose had an X-Treme chocolate Blizzard. When they finished, Rose and Adam walked behind the D.Q. to go on their way to his place. Rose looked down the side-walk and seen a familiar blonde head, who was looking into the D.Q. parking lot. He was with his buddies and they, too, were looking at what he was looking at. "Oh, no!" Rose whispered. "What?" Adam asked. "It's him!" Rose started to panic. Adam looked at the group of men Rose was whispering about. "Who's 'him'?" "I've gotta hide--he's getting closer!" "Here." Adam pinned Rose against the wall. She had to keep herself balanced, by putting her hands on the brick wall. Adam was covering her with his body, his forehead up against her own. His hands were pinned against the wall too, making it look like he was looking down upon her. "Play along." he whispered, gently rubbing his nose with Rose's. Gosh, he smells good! Rose thought to herself, closing her eyes. She got the idea of what Adam was trying to do. The group of men stared at Rose and Adam up against the wall, while walking passed them. They couldn't see Rose's face, for Adam's arm was in the way on that angle, from which they were looking. When they turned the corner, Adam and Rose sighed, still in that position. "Uh, Adam?" Rose laughed, nervously. "I like you too, but could you please get off of me?" "Oh, yeah! Sure." He quickly stepped away from the wall and blushed. "Sorry about that."
Adam and Rose stopped outside of his house. (describe house) Rose was overwhelmed about how nice Adam's house looked. Once walking in, there were steps leading upstairs, and steps leading downstairs. "Wow," Rose breathed, looking around the rest of the house, from the welcome mat. "This is a nice house, Adam!" "Heh. Thanks." Adam took off his shoes. "My Mom keeps the place as neat as possible, just in case there's unexpected guests." He told Rose to take off her shoes. He called downstairs. "Mom, I'm home!" "Okay!" Kate answered. A little girl, of about seven, peeked around the wall from downstairs. "He brought his girlfriend, too!" she squealed, running up the stairs. "You must be Rose!" "And you must be Anysia." Rose smiled, thinking about how Adam had mentioned her to his family. "Yep!" Anysia giggled. "Adam told me SO much about you. He said you were really nice. You know what else he said about you?" she whispered. "What?" Rose bent over to listen to what Anysia was whispering about. "He said that--" "O-kay! That's enough." Adam started to blush. "Let's go upstairs, Rose, I'll show you the kitchen."
At 5:10, Rose was leaving Adam's place. She was standing on the porch with him. "Thank you, Adam, for showing me your house." Rose said. "I love it. And your sister is a sweetie!" "Sometimes." Adam smirked. Rose smiled and looked at him for a while. "Well, I gotta get going. It'll get dark soon." "Why don't I walk you home? I'm sure you can use the campany." "Thanks for the offer, Adam. But I can make it on my own." Rose started to walk away. "Well, when can I see your house?" Rose's eyes widened. She looked back at him. "I don't know. Soon." She started to walk away, again. "Bye!"
I CANNOT believe I DID that! Adam was thinking about the other day, when he pinned Rose against the wall, on his way from lunch. Greg and Lance were already at his locker, waiting for him. "Hey," "Oh, hey," Greg said, trying to sound innocent. "Ah, look who's comin'!" It was Sherrie. "Hey, Adam," smiled Sherrie. "What's up?" "Eh, nothing." "Are you busy today? Because I wanted to know if you'd like to go shopping with me(?)." "I don't know, I AM kinda busy today." "Well, if your plans ever change, give me a call." Sherrie winked at Adam, walking away. "You are so lucky, man! Sherrie's into you!" Greg exclaimed. "Sherrie's not that great." Adam said, thinking about Rose. "What are you talkin' about, man? Sherrie's totally hot! But do you decide to ask her out? Noooo!" "That's because Adam is with Rose." mumbled Lance, loud enough for his friends to hear. "He was seen behind the D.Q. yesterday with Rose. And they were up against the wall making out. I've heard rumors. It's practically all over school. Don't deny it, Adam." "Well...then I won't." Adam said simply. His friends gasped. "But she's a newbie!" Greg whispered. "You've only known her for, what, a week? And your already going at it? I envy you." "Not at IT." Adam blushed, dispite that the rumor wasn't true. "She's a nice girl because she listens to what I have to say. Unlike Sherrie. Talkative, talkative, Sherrie." "But Sherrie's normal," Greg said. "And Rose is...well...I don't mean anything by it...but she's just weird. I mean she never talks and she's always sticking her nose inside of that book of poems." Greg looked behind himself and saw Rose standing there. She was giving him a hurt/disgusted look. She looked at Adam and walked to her next class. Adam walked after her. "Rose!" Adam called. She didn't stop. Adam walked a little faster and finally caught up to her. "It's not what you think." "You have no idea what I'm thinking." "We weren't talking about you." "Don't lie to me!" Rose stopped. "How DARE you talk about me behind my back! I thought you were my friend. But your just another one of those kinds of people who don't give a rat's ass about whether one's feelings get hurt. Your just like Sherrie and how she treats people." "Don't get the wrong impression about me, please, Rose." Adam said. "It wasn't like that. Just let me explain." "I'm listening." "My friends have a problem with me...being with you. And somehow they found out and got the wrong idea us behind the D.Q." "They found out about that? Now I'm going to get taunted for the rest of the school year!" she whispered. "I'm sorry. Continue." "I don't think your as weird as Greg thinks you are. Heck, I don't even think your weird. I think your a nice, good-listening, cute, and not- weird girl." Rose blushed, but her expression didn't show her embarrassment. "Can I make it up to you?" "No," Rose said quickly. "No, it's alright. I was dumb for thinking you would do such a 'casual' thing to me." "It's dumb to not want to go to a movie that's on me." Adam smiled. "Please? The movie can be your choice." Rose bit her lip. "We can get Twizzlers licorice." "Oh, okay!" Rose couldn't resist licorice. "Great. I knew you wouldn't back out on candy." Adam lightly patted Rose's shoulder. "Now get to class. We'll discuss plans after school."