That night Rose tried on about seven different outfits before deciding what to wear to Amy's party. Sure she had been to a lot of parties, without it being a big deal with what she wore, as she was comfortable with the people around her. She often dressed up a little more at Amy's parties, mainly because all of the hot boys from the year above were usually there, but tonight she hadn't even given getting off with the likes of Marshall Clarke and Carter West, as all she had been thinking about was john.
She gave him his number when he had said goodbye to her at the school gates, and he called around four to ask if she wanted to meet before the party as he had no idea where Amy lived. She arranged to meet him in the estate playground at half seven, blushing furiously when she gave him directions to the powell estate. She immediately regretted it afterwards, thinking that he would think it was a total dump. So she decided to try and dress up as nicely as possible to take his mind of it.
She eventually settled on a very short black pencil skirt, and red tartan polo neck jumper with black heeled ankle boots. It was one of the nicest outfits and shortest skirts that she owned, not that she wanted Jack to look at her legs. she tied her hair up in the 'half up, half down' style that Shareen had showed her and quickly put on some black tights that would be disposed of as she left the flat and walked into the living room where her mum was sitting on the sofa, feet up on the table watching eastenders.
"Mum I'm off out. To Amy's"
"Alright," Jackie said, barely taking her eyes of the telly "But I swear if you aren't back in this house by ten o'clock not only will the door be locked and me be in bed but you will be grounded for at least a week" she warned.
Rose just smiled "Of course mum." she said before heading out the door and slipping her key under the mat as it closed. Rose knew her mum would be fast asleep in front of the telly by half nine, so she could easily sneak in any time after and crawl into bed, looking like the angel child she wasn't. she smiled and quickly checked her reflection in the compact mirror she put in her red bag and smiled, checking her red lipstick wasn't on her teeth. She peeled off the tights, rolling them up and shoving them in her bag before putting a chewing gum in her mouth, and walked down the stairs trying to look confident, as she spotted john sitting on the swing, looking around dreamily.
He turned his head at just the right moment, and noticed her walking towards him and stood up. He was wearing simple denim jeans rolled up to his ankle to show off his red converse, and a simple short sleeved red t-shirt. Rose nearly fell over, how could someone make such simple clothes look so good?She thought, trying to regain her composure.
"Hi," he said first, as he climbed over the gate to walk towards her.
"Hi" she said smiling and giggling. God when did I get so giggly and girlish? She thought, internally cringing.
"You look nice" John said smiling. Rose nearly fell over… again. His voice, complimenting her and his eyes looking her up and down but not in a pervy schoolboy way, and the way the corners of his mouth turned up as he smiled, god why wasn't that illegal? She eventually realised that he had spoken at least ten seconds ago, and quickly said "Sorry, thanks. You look really nice too."
"Thanks," he said, noticing her odd behaviour but smiling anyway "So which way to Amy's?"
oOo
Rose was relieved once they came to the bus stop just up the road from Amy's house, as sitting next to him at the back of an almost empty night bus was almost too much for her. Being in such close proximity that their knees were touching caused her to start off the giggling girl act again. It was almost uncontrollable, something as simple as knee touching that she would do with mickey all the time to make her feel like this? It was John for goodness sake, she had barely known him a day.
They walked down the road, in causal chat until they got to Amy's house. It was a big house, with three floors, but wasn't well looked after made apparent by the shabby looking door and ivy growing around the windows.
"You say just Amy and her Aunt live here? This place is huge."
"Well," Rose said "She used to live here with her mum, dad, sister, brother… but there was a car accident. They all died, when she was nine and her aunt has looked after her ever since. Not that she does much looking after… she's always out. Sometimes for whole weekends."
"That's heart-breaking. I didn't know" John said, as Rose rang on the door.
"Yeah, she doesn't like to talk about it." Rose said, when suddenly Rory opened the door.
"Hi guys," he said smiling "Come on in, drinks are in the kitchen."
The party was in full swing, despite only just starting, which didn't surprise Rose. Amy's Friday night parties had become something of legend around the school, boosting her popularity. Who couldn't forget the night that Millie Rowe had found her boyfriend cheating on her with her best friend in the conservatory? Or when Jack Harkness got two girls into one of the upstairs bedrooms with him at the same time? Or when Sadie Crown started stripping on the dining table? Certainly not Rose as she had been present in all of the situations.
She led John into the kitchen-dining room where the party was mainly situated. There were countless bottles of booze lined up on the kitchen breakfast bar, no doubt brought in by the year elevens and sixth formers. Rose spotted Donna laughing and flirting with one of the sixth form boys that frequented Amy's parties. She spotted Rose and smiled, before turning back to the boy. Britney spears was pumping from the speaker in the corner and many of the girls where dancing as the boys leant by the wall watching them. John noticed that one by one, a boy would get up and head over to a specific girl before dancing with them, and then heading either into the garden or upstairs with them.
"So, what do people do around here for fun?" he asked sarcastically.
"Relax John- it's a party," Rose said, nodding her head along to the cheesy pop song "just loosen up a little, have a drink" she said.
"Sorry, I'll relax" John said, smiling before heading over to the kitchen and quickly bringing back two cans of beer. Rose drank hers rather quickly, being used to the bitter taste, whilst John went slower, chatting with her about the people around them.
"Well that's Ashley Stewart, in year eleven" Rose said, pointing to the girl dancing along to the music with a tall good looking boy "And that's Jason Trusty, he's in sixth form." She said
"So what do they 'go out'" he asked
"No, no. Ashley just broke up with her last boyfriend in Jason's year Justin Blake, because she cheated on him."
"With Jason?"
"No, with Anthony Curt," Rose said "She's a bit of a slut." She added sighing.
John just laughed, and Rose did too. She finally felt comfortable for the first time that night. John was so nice, and the beer had helped clear the butterflies in her stomach.
oOo
two hours later
The party was still going strong and Rose had left to go to the toilet. She had to queue for at least twenty minutes before finally getting in. she was quick and touched up her makeup, before toddling down the stairs, as her boots weren't the easiest to walk in. as she re-entered the kitchen, she saw John immediately, leaning casually against the wall talking to a girl. She quickly realised that the girl was Katie Bridge.
Rose had always hated Katie. From that moment all the way back in year four when Katie had said that Rose's new haircut was ugly and all the other kids laughed at her until it grew back out. Katie was definitely a total bitch, to say the least. And there she was standing very closely to John, smiling and flirting and flipping her hair everywhere. And what's worse was John was smiling and flirting back.
No no no she thought. This was Rose's worst nightmare. She walked over closer to the pair, and bravely walked over to them, coming to John's side. Rose was one thing, but not a coward.
"Hi John, I'm back. Sorry I took so long," she said trying to smile as brightly as possible "queues for the toilets were a nightmare."
"I was wondering where you are. This is Katie by the way, she's in our year."
"Oh Rose and I know each other very well. Don't we Rose?" Katie said, smiling even wider than Rose.
"Of course, we've known each other since primary school."
"Remember that awful haircut you had in year four?"
"Remember the time you fell over in the school play in year six?"
"Memories" Katie said, as both the girls laughed. But John sensed the tension between them both.
"Anyway John, I'll leave you here with Rose, clearly you guys are having a ball. But if you do fancy… a chat later. I'll be around" she smirked before giving Rose one final dirty look and heading off into the depths of the party.
"I'm guessing there's a story there?" John laughed.
"You could say that. But never mind Katie bloody Bridge. She only wanted to get off with you."
"Ohhh," John said, as if he had just solved a problem he had been trying to work out all night. "I wondered why she walked into a corner, stuffed tissue into her bra and then walked over here, smiling way too much and talking to me like she'd known me all her life. Makes more sense now."
"Katie Bridge stuffs her bra?" Rose said, laughing "Oh John, you do make me laugh"
"Find me amusing then?" he said, laughing and raising his eyebrows
"Yeah, but in the good way." Rose said, smiling at him. She was happy to be here with John, she really was.
oOo
About half an hour after the whole Katie Bridge scenario, John headed off to get him and Rose both another beer. They had talked and danced, and Rose had had such a good night that she thought nothing could ruin it. Thought.
As soon as John walked off, a year eleven that Rose knew as 'Rocky' (his real name was Romero) came up and leant against the wall facing her. "Hey," he said smiling.
"Er.. hi." Rose said
"Your Rose right?" he said, still smiling, but not in the way that John had smiled at her. Rose felt seriously unnerved. She didn't like the way Rocky was eyeing her up and down and suddenly wished that her skirt was a little longer.
"So, now that your done with brainy boy over there, how about taking a little trip upstairs with a real man?" he asked.
"No thanks." Rose said, rolling her eyes and attempting to walk away, but rocky gripped her wrist tightly.
"Hey. Don't be like that, Rose."
"You-you're hurting my wrist" Rose said, but Rocky just pressed harder. Where's Jack? She thought anxiously, before remembering that Jack was upstairs with some girl. "Hey, I just want you, that's all"
"Get off me," Rose pleaded, trying to pull her arm away from him, but his grip was too tight.
"Don't be like that, babe."
"Hey," a voice said, from behind them "Rose said leave her alone."
Rose looked around and was shocked to see John standing there, looking angry. Really angry, he set the two cans of beer on the table behind them.
"And what are you gonna do about it boffin boy?" Rocky smirked.
"Step away from her," John said slowly "You get one chance. That was it."
But Rocky just pressed against Rose's wrist harder, pushing it against the wall. Suddenly the most unlikely scenario that Rose could ever imagined happened. John shoved Rocky, hard and he released Rose in shock, but his shock quickly turned into anger. He swung his fist, quickly connecting to John's lip, but John didn't look shocked. He swung back, harder and connected with Rocky's jaw, before kicking him hard in the shin. Rocky tried to swing again but John was faster than him with better reflexes. He punched Rocky in the gut, and as he doubled over, kneed him hard in his chest, causing him to cough. The whole party had stopped in their tracks to watch the brawl.
Rocky went for John again but John once again dodged and punched him hard, several times, before Rory stepped in, followed by one of the sixth formers. "Oi, both of you cut it out" Rory said, before the sixth former came between the two boys shoving Rocky away from John. "Everybody out!" Rory called as Amy came running in from the kitchen. Everybody sighed slightly and scuttled out, the party being over, the sixth former also headed out just as Jack came running down the stairs as the girl he was with ran out after hearing the commotion. He ran into the kitchen seeing a rather beaten Rocky, John with a split lip and Rose crying.
"Rosie, darling what happened?" he said gently stroking her hair.
"That Dick Rocky was hurting Rose, so John told him to piss off. But rocky wouldn't let go, so him and John got into a fight." Rory quickly explained, handing John a pack of ice.
"You did that to him?" Jack asked
"He was hurting Rose. What else could I do." John shrugged, holding the ice pack to his lip.
"Here Rosie, let me see your wrist" Jack said, as Rose held out her arm gently, it looked bruised- Rocky must have been holding her pretty tightly. Jack turned around and looked at Rocky, "Don't you ever touch Rose again you hear me? I don't want you talking to her, touching her… don't even look at her." He said.
Rocky quickly scuttled away, mumbling and grumbling and Jack kissed Rose lightly on the forehead before grabbing his jacket and slipping out into the night. "Hey, I'm sorry about all this," Rose said sniffing slightly "Me and John should probably go."
"It's okay, and thank you John," Amy said "You did the right thing. We'll see you two at school on Monday yeah?"
"Yeah," John said, smiling as much as he could through the pain coming through his lip "It was a good party though."
Amy just laughed and said thanks, and John and Rose headed out the door. "I'll walk you home, don't want that idiot Rocky lurking around anywhere." John said as they stepped out into the right.
"Thanks," Rose smiled "and thanks for protecting me. You didn't have to do that"
"Of course I did, can't have anyone hurting my Rose can I?" he said, laughing.
Rose laughed too and the two of them walked through the dark streets. "Let's not get the bus," Rose said as they walked up the street "It's a nice night."
"Do you know what we should do?" John said.
"What?"
John smiled, and clasped Rose's own hand tightly in his, he turned his head to stare at her and said one word.
"Run."
