A/N: Yeah so, this chapter should've been posted yesterday, but my internet kept acting up. First I got kicked offline about 10 times and then it finally got to a point where it wouldn't even let me get on at all. Things seem to be back to normal at the moment, so who knows what that was about yesterday. Gotta love technology, right? I have to say that I love the rose in this chapter. Not sure where the inspiration for it came from, but I think it fits. There's a few parts I think I could've done better (like Vance's part), but all in all I'm pretty happy with this one. One more rose left! I think this'll be a fairly quick update this time - assuming my internet keeps working like it's supposed to, that is. I already have the chapter completely planned out so I basically only have to type it up. I can't wait to get that one done! Though I have to say I'm a little sad that there's only one rose left since I've really enjoyed writing this story. One word for everyone: sequel. There will be one. I just have to decide if I want to have it be my next new story or if I want to start one of the other stories I have planned. We'll see.
Thanks, as always, for all of the reviews and support so far! Hope you all like this chapter. :)
It was at that point that Kelsi noticed that the music that had been playing in the background had been turned off and everyone had gone silent. Ms. Darbus stepped forward and announced that, unfortunately, she had to leave in order to catch a plane. She gave Kelsi a big hug and wished her a happy birthday once more before leaving. Ryan offered her his hand and she took it, letting him lead her to one of the armchairs in the living room. He motioned for her to sit down and she did, realizing that everyone else was finding places to sit as well. Ryan left the room for a moment and returned with a beautiful red rose. The attention of the room was focused on Ryan as they all waited for him to speak.
"So originally, my goal in coming up with all of these roses was to let you know how much I love you," he started, looking at Kelsi while he spoke. "But as I started thinking about what I could do for each rose, my goal changed. It went from wanting you to know how much I love you to wanting you to know how much you are loved in general. Because the truth is that everyone here loves you, Kelsi. You mean so much to all of us and I thought that it only seemed fitting that one of your roses would be from the group as a whole. All day I've been telling you how much I love you, in one way or another. Now I want to give everyone else a chance to do the same thing. And I think the best place to start is with the people who loved you first." Ryan turned towards Kelsi's mother, Karen, and handed her the rose.
"You know, Kelsi," Karen began. "When your father and I got married, we dreamed of having a big family. We wanted to have a house full of kids and for a long time we wondered if that dream was going to come true. We had been trying to have children for so long with no success. I had managed to get pregnant a few times, but they always ended in miscarriage. We were finally told that we would probably never have children and so we stopped trying. It was too painful. And then, much to our surprise, I got pregnant again. With you. I spent most of the pregnancy in bed rest and every day that passed where I remained pregnant was a miracle. The day you were born was the happiest day of my life. We may not have gotten our house full of kids, but that didn't matter anymore. Because once we had you; that was enough. More than enough. The moment I first help you in my arms, I remember feeling like no other mother in the world could possible love their baby more than I loved you. We had wished and hoped and prayed for you for so long..." She trailed off, unable to speak through the tears that were rolling down her face. She looked over at her husband, who nodded and took the rose from her.
"You were our miracle baby. The doctors were all amazed when you were born. And born healthy at that. You became the center of our world the second you came into it. One of the greatest joys in our lives has been watching you become the beautiful person you are today. I remember the first time you showed interest in the piano, we were both thrilled. Neither of us is very musical...as you know," her father chuckled. Kelsi had definitely not inherited her musical talent from either of her parents. "I remember trying to tape your first recital and almost not being able to because I couldn't seem to stop the camera from shaking. I think we were more nervous than you were. We watched you, our beautifully shy little girl, come out on stage and freeze in terror as you noticed the size of the audience. I think we were both debating running up to the stage to rescue you, but you didn't need us. You played your song perfectly, so completely focused in the music that the audience almost didn't matter to you anymore. At least until the song ended. Once the applause started, you gave the fastest bow in history and nearly ran offstage. We were both so proud of you and I remember your mother nearly got kicked out because she was clapping so loudly." He smiled at his daughter. "Over the years we have watched both your talent and confidence grow. If I thought we were proud of you during that first recital, it pales in comparison to how proud we are of you now. Having you for our daughter has been the single greatest blessing of our entire lives. We love you so much, honey. Words cannot even begin to describe how much."
"I love you both," Kelsi whispered, barely able to speak. She felt a nudge and looked over to see Derby reaching over to hand her a box of tissues. She let out a small laugh. "Good call on that one," she managed.
"Now that we have everyone crying," Kelsi's dad, Keith, said with a smile, though tears were in his eyes as well. "Who wants to go next?" He turned to Chad, who happened to be the closest. "Chad?"
"I don't know how any of us can follow that," Chad said, shaking his head. "I'm not even going to come close, but I'll do my best." He studied the rose for a moment before looking over at Kelsi. "What can I say about you, small person? I spent a big part of high school not even aware that you existed," he winced slightly at his honestly. "But that all changed. We kind of talked about that before, actually. I told you that I thought that you were the reason why all of us became friends and it's true. Even though you probably still don't believe it. You brought us all together and I can't imagine not having you in our lives. I don't even want to. You're like a little sister I never had and I...well...I love you, small person." He seemed a little uncomfortable actually saying the words, but Kelsi had no doubts about his sincerity. "And no matter what happens...I have your back. No one messes with my little sister."
"Aw, now that was very sweet honey," Taylor gushed from beside him. "That wasn't so hard, was it?" She smiled at him and then held her hand out for the rose. "The rose I gave you earlier was for unconscious beauty and I still really like how it applies to you. Going off of what Chad said, I really think that you were the reason we all ended up being friends. That said, I don't think you understand how important you are to the group. It wouldn't be the same without you. If we all represented a symphony, you'd be our composer. Your songs were what started everything with all of us during our junior year and then the following summer; we used them to bring our group back together. When we all got caught up in the craziness of senior year, you were the one who realized that we all needed to do the musical together. You understood something that none of the rest of us did at first. Our studies and our grades were not the most important things about high school." Chad gasped dramatically.
"Who are you and what have you done with my wife?" he asked, causing a ripple of laughter to flow through the group. Taylor grinned.
"Maybe I wouldn't have admitted it at the time," she conceded. "But it's true. We were all caught up in what was going on around us and too busy to understand that when we looked back on our time in high school, the things we remembered most wouldn't be what grades we earned on what tests. It would be the time we spent with our friends. Instead of drifting off into all of our various activities, we ended up working together. And as we worked together, our friendships got closer. I don't honestly know if this group would still be as close as we are if we hadn't of had that time. And we never would've had that time if it wasn't for you writing all of our names on that sign in sheet. Our group just wouldn't work if you weren't in it," she finished, softly. "You know you're my girl, Kelsi." She grinned as she looked around the room at the others. "Well one of them, anyway. And I love you." She passed the rose to Gabriella next.
"Well first of all....what Taylor said was so true. She actually said a lot of what I was going to, but that's okay," Gabriella chuckled. "Kelsi, you're one of my favorite people to talk to because you're probably one of the best listeners I know. You're always the first to lend a sympathetic ear when it's needed. I don't know if I ever mentioned it to you before, but I've always respected you. You always tried so hard to be considerate of other people's feelings and always tried to do the right thing. Even if it wasn't easy for you. I admired that...I still do. I think you'll be hearing this a few more times today, but you're like a sister to me. I know that I can trust you with anything and I know that I can always count on you. No matter what." She smiled as she passed the rose to Troy.
"You know Kelsi, in a lot of ways I have you to blame for my whole undecided between basketball and acting thing. If you hadn't of tripped and then got us to sing your song I don't think any of it would've happened. That was the start of my problem and everything just kind of took off from there. It caused a lot of drama sometimes, but I think I became a better person because of it. I was probably the first one who started seeing you like a little sister and I love you like one. You're one of the best people I know, Playmaker." Troy said, smiling at Kelsi. He passed the rose over to Jason.
"I've never been good with this kind of stuff. I'm not going to try and make some great speech because I know I wouldn't be able to do it. So to all of the ones done by our friends, I say ditto. I love you, Kelsi," he said simple. He then smirked at Ryan, who had moved behind Kelsi's chair. "Even though, contrary to popular opinion, we never dated. I still love ya." He handed the rose to his wife.
"I always related to you, Kelsi. Even when we weren't really friends. You just kind of reminded me of myself. Neither one of us really fit in too well anywhere. I mean, you hung out with the drama club but were always kind of on the outside of it. I always got lumped with the smart kids, but I was always kind of on the outside too. Especially when it became known that I like to dance," Martha said with a laugh. "I know we both struggled with what other people thought about us, so we had that in common too. It's so important for us girls to stick together and when the four of us," she gestured to herself, Kelsi, Taylor and Gabriella, "became friends we all just sort of clicked pretty quickly. And then later on Sharpay joined our little group. I know sometimes we both struggled with feeling insecure, especially in comparison to the others. We kind of became each other's personal support in those times. There were so many times I was feeling bad about myself and you would encourage me. I don't think I ever would've had the courage to try out for the cheerleading squad if it wasn't for you always being there to lift me up. I don't know what I would do without your friendship," she finished, tears in her eyes. "Zeke?"
"We have a pretty interesting friendship, I think," Zeke started, taking the rose from Martha and studying Kelsi. "It's a little different from my friendships with everyone in the group and a large part of that has to do with Ryan and Sharpay. Getting involved with an Evans meant getting close to the entire family, as you know. Which of course meant that we became better friends as a result. Now I consider you to be one of my best friends and, like the others, I love you like a sister. There's no one else I would rather share the twins with than you," he grinned at her while passing the rose to Sharpay.
"I still love how you two have claimed me and Ryan for yourselves," Sharpay said, to Zeke, with a giggle. "Even if it does make us sound like shares of real estate. But anyway," she said, turning her attention to Kelsi, "our friendship got off to a rocky start, especially considering how much I terrorized you. Out of everyone else in the group, you were probably the person with the biggest reason not to welcome me as a friend. But you did. Even after everything I put you through. That says so much about you, Kelsi. As far as I'm concerned we are sisters – in every way that matters. Out of anyone who could've laid a claim on my brother, I'm so happy it was you. And I'm happy that he was smart enough to go after you in the first place. I used to think no one could possibly know him as well as I do, but I was wrong. You're the absolute perfect person for my brother. I love you...sis." She handed the rose to Vance.
"You, and Zeke, have meant so much to our family and there couldn't be anyone better suited for either of our children. You all balance each other out and bring out the best in each other. You have done so much for our family, Kelsi, and we will always be so grateful to you for that. I always hoped that my son would find a girl that would love him as much as Derby loves me and he's found that with you. You've become like a daughter to me over the years and I love you like one." Vance said, simply, but with emotion. "Darling?"
"I think it's very easy for a mother to feel like no woman is good enough for their little boy," Derby began. "As my Ducky was growing up, I worried about that too. But then I met you and there was something so special about you. I liked you instantly and was positively thrilled when I first noticed that way Ryan felt about you. It's been so wonderful to watch the love between the two of you grow. You are such a lovely young woman and you mean so much to our family. When I think of my children, I think of four people and not two. Because I love Zeke like a son and you like a daughter. You have been an absolute blessing and a joy to have around," Derby said softly. "I love you, sweetheart." She then handed the rose over to Ryan, who moved to the front of Kelsi's chair and knelt down.
"See baby...you make all of our lives better just by being the person that you are," he started. "There is so much love for you here. When I started talking to everyone about this rose thing I wanted to do for you, they all instantly wanted to help. They all wanted to be a part of it because they all wanted you to know how much you're loved. Some of the roses you've gotten today only apply to us and our relationship, but a lot of them could be true for anyone here. Like loving you for your gentle spirit or for admiring your talents. So many of them are reasons why everyone else loves you too. The words spoken to you just now only just begin to explain why you mean so much to everyone here. This rose is from each of us and I hope that every time you look at it, you remember how much you are loved. Not just by me. But by everyone."
"Oh," Kelsi sniffled as she took the rose from him. "I don't even know what to say. I love you all," she said softly, motioning for Ryan to stand up. She got to her feet as well and slipped her arms around his neck. "You're going to be the death of me today...you keep making me cry," she whispered in his ear. He cuddled her closer.
"That was kind of my goal," he whispered back, kissing the top of her head. "I think you're going to be getting passed around now," he adding, noticing that just about everyone else had gotten up and was closing in. He eased back, giving her another kiss on her forehead. Sure enough, Kelsi soon found herself being hugged by every other person individually. Ryan moved just outside of the group and smiled as he watched Kelsi continued to be showered with love by the people she cared about the most.
"So this was what, rose twenty four?" Jason asked as he stepped back to join him.
"Yep. One more rose left," Ryan answered with a nod. He turned towards his father, who was still waiting for a chance to hug Kelsi. "Is everything ready?"
"Yes it is, son," Vance grinned at him. "Are you?"
"I've never been more ready for anything in my entire life."