Fangs & Fins
Chapter 2: "Alone Again, Naturally"

Rose brought the rose to her face and examined it closely. Some of the petals were a little damp, so it must have been bought recently.
"Where did you get that?" Lily asked, coming toward Rose. She was out of her work clothes and was back in normal ones.
"Someone dropped it." Rose said quickly. Lily looked at her suspiciously. She turned her face to look at James as he and Ben, who were heading toward the door.
"Who are they?" She asked, motioning to James and Ben.
"Some guy and his pervy friend," Rose answered.
Lily bit her lip and looked at the boys. "Were they annoying you, because I could have them kicked out of the Juicenet."
Rose wondered if there was a way to tell her sister to only ban Ben, but she knew Lily would get the completely wrong idea from that. Lily might think she liked James or something crazy and entirely untrue like that. But all he had done was pretend he was from movies that Rose fell asleep just hearing about.
"No. Its fine they were just lost. They're um… new around here." Rose said, trying to avoid her sisters glare.
"Whatever you say, now let's go home." Lily headed towards the door and Rose followed. She had learned it was best just to do what her older sister asked.

Home was a two-story, simple and cleanly decorated house that the Collins had moved into right after Lily was born. Everything in the house was in its place and nothing ever seemed out of order.
When Rose had been younger she had loved the dark furniture contrasting with the light colored sofas and the big glass windows.
Now it was just cramping her style.
Their dad was on a two-month business trip at the moment in Europe and the house felt a bit empty.
Rose loved her dad, but ever since their mother and brother had been killed he had been kind of lost. He'd lose everything if Lily hadn't been there. Maybe this trip would help him regain a little of his sanity.
"You want a vase for that?" Lily asked, shaking Rose out of her thoughts.
"What?"
"The rose." Lily pointed at Rose's right hand. Rose hadn't realized she was still holding the red rose.
Rose smiled weakly at her sister. "Sure."
Lily opened a cabinet in the kitchen and pulled out a vase. She filled it with water and scooted it across the counter top to Rose.
"Thanks."
Rose headed toward the top story up the stairs with the vase. She entered the long thin hallway filled with white doors.
She found hers and headed in, placing the vase down on her desk. Rose sat on her bed and stared sadly across the room into the hall. The door to Lily's perfectly organized room was open.
As far as room went, Rose and Lily's could be on opposite planets. Lily's was a perfect square and was painted a pale blue. Rose's room had a slope on the far side, which she liked because she could put posters on it, and the shape of her room was more rectangle than square. The walls were white because Rose's mom had said that she would paint them a few days after Rose's 10th birthday.
And Lily wondered why Rose never wanted to paint her room.
Rose let out a sigh and looked at the door next to Lily's. Well, half a door. She couldn't see the full thing with the door frame in the way. That room had been Elliot's.
No one really went in there, except during the holidays because Elliot's room had a large closet where they stored holiday related decorations. Elliot hadn't used it when he was alive because he had liked to have all his toys spread around him.
Rose gave another depressing sigh and flopped down on the messy and tangled red blanket on her bed. The slope was right above her bed but Rose had ripped down the only poster she had on it last week because she was too old to have a picture of a Panda starring at her.
She turned to her right and looked out the window. She didn't have Lily's huge squar-ish windows, but she had her nice little round one with a view of the water. There was a larger window on a different wall but Rose always threw the curtains over it.
Rose didn't really get why she had gotten the smallest room, but Lily said it was because Rose hadn't wanted Elliot's room because the closet was big and scary (Rose died many deaths while hearing this) and Lily had picked her own room out already.
"Rose! Dinner is ready!" Lily screamed from downstairs.
Rose got up and headed downstairs, calculating the chances of Lily letting her eat in her room. The answer: slim.
Lily was seated at the table, tapping her fork absentmindedly on the edge of her plate. By the looks of the pancakes on her plate it was breakfast for dinner.
Lily had made a chart on who got to pick what they had for dinner while their dad was gone. Rose picked every Sunday night, Lily picked every weekday, and Saturday they ordered out. Their dad had been gone a week and the plan chart had worked perfectly.
Rose sat down and looked at her pancakes. Lily held her hands out triumphantly.
"Well?"
Rose nodded. "Yum."
Lily frowned deeply. She didn't like seeing her sister so sad all the time. She and her dad had tried counseling, (Rose had answered 'I don't know' to every question), pets (Lily had read somewhere that pets were good for the soul but Rose had developed an allergy to her goldfish two weeks after having it), and making Rose's favorites (pancakes every night wasn't what Lily had in mind).
Finally, after half a decade of trying, Lily and her dad had given up.
Rose cut her pancake into quarters and poured syrup on it.
Lily smiled and tried to engage her little sister into conversation. "There are volleyball tryouts at school tomorrow."
When Rose was seven she and Lily had went to a volleyball class after school for a week. They had both loved it but Lily had been more focused on swimming, which had had to give up because the girls had discovered they were mermaids a while after. Lily thought volleyball would be a perfectly safe sport as long as Rose stayed away from her teammates water bottles.
Rose nodded. "Yeah, cool."
She took a bit of her pancake.
Lily continued. "I think you should try out."
Rose nearly choked on her pancake. "What?" she coughed a little after for a dramatic effect.
"Volleyball, you're good at it." Lily stated. She looked at her sister who was shaking her head violently.
Lily knew the conversation was over. She stirred her syrup around on her plate. At least she had tried.
Rose got up and deposited her plate into the sink. "I'm going upstairs. I have English homework."
Lily nodded.
If there was one thing Rose cared about it was her English grade. Lily was a good student but Rose didn't care about any subject besides English, and Lily didn't really get it, until she had found piles of their mothers own written stories and poems in Rose's room. Her mom clearly had a gift with writing and Rose seemed to want to follow that.

*******

Rose sauntered down the hallway for her school, scanning the halls for her friend, Lewis.
After a few more steps maneuvering around her classmates, she spotted him.
Lewis was talking to a hassled looking Lily near a staircase. The breeze flowing through the air didn't seem to bother Lewis, but Lily was franticly trying to keep her long hair under control.
"Hey." Rose said. She smiled at her friends.
"Hey Rosie," Lewis said. "I've been making some real progress with my mermaid…"
"Lower your voice, Lewis." Lily muttered between her teeth.
"Um...I mean your condition. And I have to say that my involvement…"
"You mean obsession?" Rose said. Lily giggled, pulling a stray piece of hair away from her eyes.
Lewis rolled his eyes. "Whatever Rose." He looked at his watch. "Got to go."
Lily and Rose watched Lewis walk away, adjusting his hat and steadying the massive amount of papers and books he had tucked under his arms.
"We have got to get that boy a hobby." Rose snapped.
Lily looked at Lewis. "That would be a good idea. But he means well." She smiled. "And he's sweet."
Rose looked at Lily with a confused look on her face. "Sure. Well I've got to get going also...see you later." Rose waved and went down the hall to her next class: which happened to be English.
Rose looked at her desk in the second row and gasped. She never had anyone seat behind her before; which her teacher had set up because Rose was the best student in the class and her teacher didn't want anyone taking advantage of that.
Until today, that is.
James Wood was sitting in the usually empty seat, looking down at his book.


Hey guys, Kelly again! I know I told you Maddie would update with the next chapter, but she's on vacation with her family (lucky) until the 24th, so you'll be seeing a lot more of me from now on! :) (i'll also update both Fangbook, Caribanet & the next chapter next Sunday).

Hope you guys liked this chapter. Nothing going on that much. But get ready for the next chapter I'm writing (Chapter 5), a really HOT James/Rose scene near the end, that's all i can say...lol.
Oh & I DID NOT write this chapter, it was ALL MADDIE! :) (her description ROCKS. Mine sucks, lol. I'm much better with dialogue). All I did with this chapter was just proofread & fix the ending a bit (to match my 3rd chapter).

Well once again, hope you liked this chapter! :)

& please, more reviews would be nice. I want to see at least 10-20 reviews by next Sunday...hopefully you guys can make it happen.

Well until next time,

xoxo,

Kelly