Hello all! I have to confess, I was disappointed in myself for a long while. I thought maybe I was losing my touch with my other stories. But the response to this one (which could, very easily, become my favorite) was so encouraging! I was planning to finish Conscience and Cupcakes II and call it quits, work on some original fiction of mine, but then I got this idea and loved it, and so did so many other people. I think I may be sticking around for quite a while now. You're stuck with me! Haha!
Random factoid: Occam, or Ockham, comes from a monk, William of Ockham. (Today we spell it differently) He was the person that Sean Connery's character, William, was based off of in the movie rendition of Eco's novel, The Name Of The Rose.
William of Ockahm was one of those radical-thinking monks. You know, the ones that didn't think JUST about religious texts, but about how science applied to it, too. He was a pretty cool dude. There's a wikipedia page on it if you really care. I'm not sure where Razor came from, but that's who Will was. Yay!
Thanks much to Bloodsucking Leech, my wonderful beta. I hope you feel better, lovely! On with the show!
One Dozen Roses
Part 3: Stalker
Wednesday had been purgatory. Pure Hell in all senses of the word except for the heat that one would normally attribute to it. It was freezing. That didn't help my mood at all.
I'd hiked out to my truck, half expecting there to be another rose somewhere. No dice. The day passed normally, only my classes had been terrible. Maybe all the teachers got together last night and conspired to pick on me. Without fail, they seemed to always call on me when my hand wasn't up. And my answers had all been wrong.
I stormed into the cafeteria, ready to deck the next hapless person to cross me today. I patience was running dangerously short.
"Hey, Bella!" Oh, crap. I turned to look as Eric sidled up to me. I tried to smile at his awkwardness.
"Hi Eric," I said casually, still heading toward the table in the lunchroom. Eric kept pace with me.
"I was wondering what you were doing Friday…" Not this again! Thank goodness for Angela.
"Oh, I'm sorry Eric. I made plans with Angela. We're having a girls' night," I said, trying to smile. Eric's hopeful face fell. I tried not to let myself be guilt tripped by it, but I couldn't help it. I patted his shoulder.
"S'okay," he said. "See ya." He turned and walked away. I grimaced. I needed to work on this tact thing. I sighed, and looked up at the ceiling. What more could possibly happen to me today?
I turned and headed through the lunch line, choosing a sandwich and an apple with a soda. I made my way through the crowd of people, looking for my lunch group. Then I found them.
I noticed most of our lunch group was sitting down at the table already. Something wasn't right. Everyone had their heads together, whispering, and on occasion glancing to me. Crap. What had I done now?
Tentatively I approached the table. As I did, their voices quieted completely, and eventually every pair of eyes focused on me expectantly. Angela was averting her eyes, a smile playing at her lips. Jessica looked like she was about to attack me for something. Mike looked upset. Then I saw why.
There was another red rose. It was laying at my place at the table. Jessica was first to break the awkward silence.
"So? Who is he, Bella? I didn't know you were seeing anyone."
"Neither did I," I muttered.
"Aren't you going to sit down? You look afraid of it," Jessica said. In truth, I was, a little bit. But no one here needed to know why. I laughed softly – I think my voice broke – and carefully sat down before picking it up between my fingers carefully.
"So… who put it here?" I said casually, looking around the table, hoping someone would decide to fess up. This was getting tiring.
"That's just it, though!" Jess exclaimed. "No one here did! It was waiting for you when we all got here." I set the rose down carefully.
"Then how do you know it was for me, and wasn't left here?" I asked casually. I didn't believe my own words – not with two other identical roses sitting in water in my bedroom. The rose was for me. But if it were from Mike, he was playing dumb. Quite well, actually.
"Well, there isn't anyone in here before us. And if it was left from yesterday, then the janitor would've picked it up. Don't you see, Bella? It's for you!" She clapped and giggled, clearly pleased with the situation. I felt positively nauseous.
I set the rose down carefully and opened my soda up in an attempt to be casual.
"Did you see who left it?" I said over the top of the can, taking another drink to try and calm the butterflies in my stomach. Jessica just stared at me.
"You mean you don't know who it's from?"
I shook my head. "No idea."
"Bella has a secret admirer!" She cried, even more excited. I choked on my soda. Mike patted my back helpfully. I was too busy glaring at Jessica to pay attention to him.
"That is not funny!"
"Who said anything about being funny? I think it's fabulous! Just think about it! Somewhere, in these walls, someone is interested in you but is far too shy to tell you. He wanted to show his affection in a sweet, romantic and mysterious way! Isn't it intriguing?" I just stared at Jessica.
"You're serious." It wasn't a question. She really was more excited about this than me.
"Of course I am! Love conquers all!"
"Jess. If anything, it's probably a prank," I explained, even though I was starting to doubt that myself. Only Lauren would hate me enough to do something like that… my stomach twisted. She just might.
"Hardly," Jess said. I picked up the rose and looked at it quietly, then waved the blood-red blossom at her, then at each person at the table.
"So honestly, on pain of death, no one here has any idea who left this?" As I pointed the rose at each person, they each shook their head. Except Angela. She shook her head, but she was smiling faintly. I wondered if she knew something. I'd ask her later. After all, I had all Friday with her.
I set the rose down delicately. So it wasn't Mike Newton. It couldn't be. He would've jumped at the chance to claim the roses for himself. My heart stammered slightly. The Edward possibility was still appealing to my masochistic heart. I sighed softly.
After staring at me for a little while, everyone returned to their food, still musing about whom my 'secret admirer' could be. I fumed. I realized I was annoyed at whoever it was because it was throwing me in the spotlight. I glared at my sandwich, my butterfly-filled stomach suddenly not hungry anymore. I sipped my soda thoughtfully.
Quietly, Angela leaned over to me and whispered into my ear.
"Alice Cullen is staring at you." I blinked. Alice? Jessica had told me Edward had been staring the first day I was here. And then the van incident and he hadn't looked at me since.
Casually I looked over to the Cullens' table, trying to remember which one was Alice. The tiny, dark-haired pixie girl was staring at me. That one must be Alice. It was neither friendly nor unfriendly, but startling. None of the others had ever paid attention to me.
Her eyes narrowed slightly. My heart stuttered faintly as she turned to face her table. It almost looked like a faint smile was playing at her lips. I glanced over all the others. Edward's head was down, but his shoulders were shaking, like he was laughing. The tall blond one was looking perplexed, but unmoving. The beautiful blonde girl looked perpetually angry, and the big brawny one was staring at Alice. Without warning, he swiveled his gaze to lock on mine.
I'll admit, I was terrified. My heart spluttered. He raised an eyebrow, and for the first time, his lips cracked into a half smile. Quickly, he turned back to Alice and his lips moved quickly as if he were speaking something.
I looked back to the table and swallowed heavily. Were they talking about me? I was blushing bright red. Maybe one of them really did have something to do with the roses. Or maybe I was just paranoid. My heart was racing so fast that even the soda didn't seem appetizing anymore. Quietly, I pushed it away.
"Not eating?" I looked up at Jessica. She was studying my flushed expression, wild, panicked eyes and untouched food.
"No, not hungry," I mumbled. Angela smiled reassuringly at me. Lunch was almost over and I stood up. Numbly, I walked to the trashcan and dumped my remaining food. I headed back to the table and paused, looking at Angela. I smiled weakly.
"I'm gonna go to class now, see ya," I said, shouldering my bad and turning away.
"Wait! Don't forget the rose," Angela called. I turned to face her. She held out the rose to me. After a moment of hesitance, I took the flower from her and smiled.
"Thanks," I said. She nodded again and waved.
It was the first time I'd beaten Edward to biology in a long time. I settled into my chair comfortably, set the rose out of the way on the desk and took out my notebook.
I heard the chair move next to me and the sound of a book being placed on the table. I didn't need to look up to know Edward Cullen had decided to join the class.
Neither of us spoke. I didn't even bother to look up until Mr. Banner walked into the class.
He said nothing to me the entire hour, though when I looked up at him once, I caught him staring at the rose on my desk. He quickly looked away. The bell rang, he gathered his things and slipped quickly from the classroom as usual.
I made my way to gym class, Mike tagging along beside me the whole way there, glaring jealously at the rose.
"So are roses your favorite then?" He asked. I sighed.
"I don't know, I suppose it depends," I responded. Different flowers were perfect at different times. Mike didn't seem to understand. He shrugged indifferently and we walked quietly to gym.
Gym has been just as terrible as everything else. I managed to escape the tetherballs unscathed, but I injured two others.
After retreating to the shelter of the girls' locker room, I peeled off my uniform shirt and shorts. Reaching for my jeans, I froze. On top of my folded clothes rested two roses resting in a crossed pattern. Next to the pile was the rose from the lunchroom, right where I'd left it, untouched, like everything else.
"Uh, Bella? You wanna put your pants on?" One of the girls called from across the locker room. Blushing, I casually set the two roses aside and redressed myself. No one asked any questions.
Either a boy had entered the locker room and put the two roses there, or a girl had done it. Now, the real question was, had a boy gone through such trouble for me? Unlikely. Had a girl done it for a guy? Possibly. Someone was in on this. Or, had a girl done this as a joke? It was an elaborate prank if it were. Only Lauren would have that sort of malice to my knowledge. But would she care enough to go this far?
I carried the three roses out to my truck and unlocked the cab, climbing inside. I drove home quietly, thinking about the three roses laying innocently next to me on the seat.
Like lightning, I bounded up the front stairs, inside the house, and up the stairs to my bedroom.
I was going to place the three roses in the glass with the matching two roses. I was, until I saw what the roses were in. They were sitting in an intricate cut-glass vase made for roses.
However, the vase was much too large for two roses. Numbly I set the other three in the beautiful vase. The five of them filled it almost halfway. As I stared at it, it seemed like the vase was a perfect fit for… well, twelve or so.
My heart thudded. Was this not going to end until I had one dozen roses from a very mysterious person? How would I tell Charlie? Maybe Charlie had given me the vase, and simply didn't know what size to get.
I decided to ask him when I got home. I headed downstairs to start dinner.
I hunted around, looking for the missing juice glass. No dice. Not in the sink. Not on the counter. Finally, I opened a cabinet and saw it sitting with the others.
Charlie might have bought me a vase for my roses. Charlie might have not known what size vase to get. But Charlie would've left the glass in the sink. If he had even been home. I had left for school after he left for work, and I had arrived home before he did.
Whoever was giving me roses had given me a vase. He had been in my bedroom. That meant Charlie probably wasn't involved. It also meant whoever had placed the vase in my room had also placed that second rose on my pillow.
My throat swelled up. It might have been flattering if it weren't quite so frightening. Someone had been in my bedroom. Twice! Five roses in two days.
What would be next?