"Guys. Oh my God." Anna slammed her tray of salad onto the table, her blue eyes wide and gleaming with excitement. "Guess what?"

Miranda and Elizabeth snapped to reality and threw down their compact mirrors, giving Anna their full attention. "What?" they shrieked in unison, so loud Rose winced.

"My sister got me tickets for Rihanna next week! Rihanna!"

The three girls screamed like they had won a billion dollars. Several students in the cafeteria turned in their seats to stare at them, their faces painted with annoyed expressions.

"Oh my God!"

"Oh my God, Anna, can we come?"

"Yeah, can we?"

Rose chewed her lettuce in silence, averting her eyes from her friends to the table of jocks behind them. Who the hell was Rihanna?

Anna finally calmed down and sat down right in Rose's line of vision, blocking the guys behind her. "Yes!" She locked eyes with Rose then and grinned stupidly. "Do you wanna come too, Rose?"

Rose held her gaze as she swallowed her food. An almost uncomfortable silence fell over the girls as they waited for Rose's answer. The fiery-haired beauty began gnawing on her bottom lip, struggling inside her mind to decide how to respond.

Normally, she would've said yes; she would've just gone along with her friends, following them blindly and ignoring the small voice in the back of her mind, like she did yesterday when Miranda asked about Cal's performance during sex.

But today, she felt different. Today, she didn't want to.

"No."

Miranda and Elizabeth turned to gape at Rose, while Anna looked a bit hurt.

"What? Why not?" Miranda tugged on the sleeve of Rose's green cardigan, begging for her attention. "I thought you liked Rihanna!"

She pulled her arm away from Miranda's grasp, and snorted—very unladylike. Her mother would have slapped her if she had been there to witness it.

Miranda thought she liked whoever that was? That showed yet again how much her friends actually paid attention to her.

The four girls ceased talking and ate their lunch quietly, not even making eye contact with one another. Rose pushed her tray to the side when she was finished and placed her hands upon the table, folding and unfolding them so she'd have something to do instead of sitting there awkwardly, even though this mess was her fault.

The skin of her hands was cracked and dry; her nails were short, bitten down, with chipped pink nail polish. She observed her friends' hands—soft skin, French-manicured nails, moving gracefully as each of them lifted forks to their mouths and folded their napkins daintily.

Even when it came to small things, Rose was nothing like her friends.

She finally took a deep breath and looked into Anna's face. "Do you like Slayer, Anna?"

The skinny brunette blinked at her like a deer caught in headlights. "What?"

"Slayer. They're a favorite band of mine. Do you know them?"

Anna's bottom lip quivered. "No, Rose."

"What is your deal today, girl?"

Rose turned to her right and met Elizabeth's piercing gaze. Her chocolate brown eyes stared into Rose's green ones, searching for…something. Rose didn't know quite what.

"My deal?"

"Yes!" Elizabeth looked away from Rose and threw her hands up exasperatedly. "You've been acting like a…acting like a freak all day! You barely talk to any of us, and when you do, you're kind of rude and not yourself." The other two girls nodded in agreement, and Elizabeth tucked a piece of black hair behind her ear before continuing. "Like, I don't understand what your damage is today. Did you and Cal have a fight or something?"

"No." Rose clutched her purse to her side and slowly stood up. "I haven't even seen him since yesterday morning. I guess I'm just…off today." She snorted again—her mother would die—and marched out of the cafeteria—

—And straight into Cal, who had seemed to be waiting for her outside the doors. His brown eyes held a hint of anger, but Rose pretended not to notice. She forced a smile on her face.

"Hello, Cal."

"Where have you been? I've been looking for you all day." He gripped her wrist, almost painfully, and pulled her down the hallway with him. "You weren't outside your classroom after fourth period like you usually are. You know we're supposed to meet up there. Don't you, Rose?" He suddenly whirled around to face her, and she jumped slightly in surprise.

"I guess."

"You guess?" His grip tightened just a little.

"I mean, I know, Cal, I know. I'm sorry." She wrenched her wrist away and stumbled back a few steps. "I'm sorry. I haven't really been myself today."

"No, obviously not." Cal smoothed down his dark hair with his hand and sighed loudly, then bared his teeth in what he thought was a charming smile. "Darling, would you be interested in a lunch date tomorrow?"

Hell. No. She said nothing.

"It's supposed to be glorious sunny weather!"

She gave Cal a quick peck on the stubbly cheek and stared at his mouth, so she wouldn't have to see the rage in his eyes. "No, dear. I'm going out with my mother." She hurried away before he could respond, thankful that he didn't try to follow her.

She wondered for a second if Jack would have been proud of her for defying her friends and her boyfriend.

Jack. She shoved him out of her mind as she walked into her history classroom and found her chair. Why had she been thinking of him all day? She barely knew him. Why did his opinion matter anyway?

O O O O

Rose didn't want to go home today either, only this afternoon she didn't have an excuse as to why.

She texted her mother another lie (God, she was turning into such a bad girl!) and strolled through the empty hallways, humming Blink-182 songs under her breath. Something in her head kept encouraging her, and then urging her, to go to the auditorium again.

And so she found her feet taking her there before her logical side had a chance to argue.

The unnerving clang echoed throughout the room again as the doors closed, but Rose ignored it this time and began to walk along the edge row of seats, looking…

Looking for what?

Jack. She knew it was Jack that she was searching for. But she didn't want to admit it to herself—not just yet.

Maybe one day soon she could.

She continued to follow the length of the carpet, her eyes scanning over every area of the room in hopes of finding a blonde head somewhere among the seats.

But there was nothing.

Rose searched three more times, just to make sure, but each time, she found nothing.

Jack wasn't here.

A surprising disappointment settled heavily in her heart, weighing her down as she picked up her purse and forced herself to go out to the parking and drive home.