Ok, angeliastar, this is the chapter. This is your birthday present. I hope you like it. I think you will. I would if I were you. So here you are. Chapter 7. It's my longest one so far!
~Lauren
Chapter 7
More than Friends
Rose and Fleck have talked for a very long time. They have become great friends.
"Oh, Rose!" Fleck says with a pang of worry.
"Hm?" Rose cocks her head up.
"You must never tell the Master anything I am telling you. And you must never call me by my real name in front of him either."
Rose furrows her brow. "I don't think father would be that mad about it."
Fleck sighs. "You many know him as your father, but you don't know him as the Phantom or as my Master."
Rose sighs. "That sounds very depressing."
Fleck shrugs. "It is not that bad. He will just yell at me. And I hate being yelled at. I am just so vulnerable."
Rose nods. "I understand, Felicity. I will try to call you Fleck."
Fleck nods with a smile. Rose then looks to the side and sees a girl, slightly taller than her, with long brown hair. Rose furrows her brow.
"Who is that?" she asks motioning to the girl.
Fleck follows Rose's gaze. "Oh, she's new here. She is a dancer. She has only been here for about a month." She shrugs. "I don't know much about her."
Rose exhales and smirks. "I'll see you later, Fleck." Fleck blinks and all of a sudden Rose is gone and walking towards the girl.
Rose walks up the girl with a small smile. The girl's back is facing her by the time Rose gets there. She is hesitant for a second before tapping the girl on the shoulder. The girl whips around with a surprised look on her face.
"Oh! Hello." The girl mutters.
Rose smiles. "Hi! I just saw you and you looked a little lonely. So I thought I should come over."
The girl shrugs. "Oh. Thank you, miss. I guess I am kind of lonely. To be honest, I don't have many friends. I haven't been here long."
Rose nods. "Yeah. That's what Fleck told me."
The girl nods. They are both obviously in an awkward situation.
"Hey," Rose says, "I will happily volunteer to be your friend."
The girl looks surprised, but a smile quickly spreads on her face. "Th-thank you, miss."
Rose smiles and puts her hand up. "Please. My name is Rose. What is yours?"
The blonde girl nods and says, "Noelle."
Rose smiles. "That's beautiful. How old are you?"
"I am going to turn fifteen in about six months."
Rose smiles. "That's great! I am thirteen. But I will be fourteen on Saturday."
Noelle gasps. "Today is Wednesday!"
Rose nods and giggles. "Then there is also my brothers. We are triplets. Angel was first, then me, then Gustave."
"That's great." Noelle smiles.
Rose stifles a laugh. "I hate being a triplet. I wish I could just have a day to myself." She shrugs. "And my brothers just annoy me. Gustave is mean to me, thinks I'm psycho. And Angel just stays in his room all day and paints. He barely says anything. If he says something, it's if he's in a bad mood."
Noelle smirks. "That's not good. But Angel sounds nice."
Rose smirks back. "I don't know. I guess."
"Why does your brother think you are a psycho?"
Rose sighs and looks at the floor for a few moments. "Well…um…I saw into the future when my father was going to send us a letter. And I knew who my father was without even knowing a thing about him. Oh, and I knew where he was living."
"I would say that's gifted if I were you. Have you tried to use this power more?"
Rose makes a face. "Power?! I would call it a curse. It has only been used against me."
Noelle shrugs. "I don't know. I think it's pretty cool."
Rose stifles a laugh. "Thank you. I like you, Noelle."
She laughs. "Thank you. I like you too. I think we can be great friends."
Rose nods. "Oh, maybe you could come over for lunch. I think that would be fun. Would you like to?"
Noelle smiles. "I would love to, thank you." She looks to the side and her smile fades. "I don't know if the Master would let me. There is a show later. It would depend on what time we get back."
Rose shakes her hands. "Don't worry! I would get you back in time."
Noelle nods. "Thank you, Rose."
Rose and Noelle turn their heads when they hear Eva yell, "Rose! Come on!"
Rose turns back. "That's my mother. Come on, Noelle. I will ask if you can come for lunch."
Noelle and Rose smile as they run up to Eva. Rose smiles at her mother, catching her breath. Noelle looks nervous.
Erik gestures to Noelle. "Ah, I see you've met our new dancer."
Rose smiles and nods. "Mother, this is Noelle."
Noelle smiles.
"I was wondering if she could come over for lunch." Rose bites her lip.
Eva shrugs. "I don't see why not!"
Erik then holds up his hand. "You must know though, Rose. Noelle has a performance at six o'clock. But she must be here by five."
Eva looks down at her watch. "Plenty of time!"
The two girls squeal. Rose runs and hugs her mother. "Thank you so much!"
Rose looks over at Erik and decides to hug him too. She releases from her mother and then grasps onto Erik. She looks up at him. "Thank you, father."
He looks down at her in surprise. He doesn't know what to do, but he thinks he should wrap his arms around her. But, before he can, Rose has released and is running off with Noelle back to the house.
Erik smiles at the love and warmth of his daughter. But the happiest moment was that she called him father, without hesitation.
"I'll see you later, Erik." Eva says to him before running off after the girls.
When they get to the house, Rose and Noelle run up the stairs to Rose's room.
Rose suddenly stop in the doorway of her room because she totally forgot about her wigs.
"Uh…um…" she mutters, but she knows she must keep walking in the room. She slowly creeps in the room and gazes at her wigs. She looks over at Noelle, scared at what her reaction will be. She honestly looks a little confused.
"You can ask." Rose says with a smile.
Noelle sighs. "Okay. Why do you have all of these wigs?"
Rose sighs. "I am not able to grow hair. Don't ask why because I was born this way. My mother has it too. She can't grow hair, so she wears wigs. So for me it's genetic."
Noelle nods slowly. "I'm sorry."
"No it's fine. I actually like it. Being able to change my hair so easily. But the only fear is of my wig falling off when I'm brushing it." Rose giggles.
"I want to be a hairdresser when I grow up. I love doing hair."
"I think you would be good at that." Noelle agrees.
Rose nods. "Thank you."
They nods and stand there for a few moments.
Then Noelle breaks their silence by saying, "Hey, can I meet your brothers?"
Rose is surprised. "Oh. Um, sure." She walks to the door and walks out of it down to Gustave's door. She knocks.
"Gus?"
No answer.
"I have someone I want you to meet."
The door opens and Gustave is surprised to see Noelle standing there.
"Hello." He says with a small smile.
Rose smiles and says, "This is Noelle. She is a dancer at Phantasma."
Gustave nods. "That's great. It was nice meeting you, but I must get back to working on…something."
Noelle nods. "It was nice meeting you too."
Rose shrugs as the door closes and they walk down to Angel's door. The door is closed, so Rose knocks.
"You can come in." Angel mutters.
Rose opens the door and sees Angel painting.
"Angel? I have someone for you to meet."
Angel puts down his palate and brush. He then turns around and bulges his eyes. Noelle smiles. He still has a blank expression. But then it seems he comes back to reality and takes off his smock. He walks up to Noelle and grab he hand. He kisses it softly. He brings his head up and says, "I am Angel. And you are?"
Noelle blushes. "I'm Noelle."
Now Rose's eyes are bulged at Angel's polite interaction.
"It is wonderful to meet you." Angel says with a small smile.
"You too." Noelle blushes once more. She starts to look around his room in awe. She is astounded at all of the painting all over the walls.
"Wow." She says. "Did you paint all of these?"
Angel nods. "I did. Do you like them?"
Noelle smiles. "I love them. You are very talented."
Rose is still surprised at how much Angel is talking.
"I think my mother is almost done with lunch, Noelle." Rose interrupts.
Noelle looks at Rose. "Oh, okay." She looks back at Angel and smiles. "I hope to see you again. Good bye, Angel."
Angel smiles. "Good bye, Noelle."
Rose walks out his room with Noelle and just looks at her.
"He hasn't talked that much to a stranger before. I'm shocked." Rose laughs.
Noelle looks at Rose and pulls her away from Angel's door.
"Rose, I like him."
