A.N.: Okay, I just finished writing chapter thirty-four, which is the last chapter. I might write an epilogue, but I need to sort out what I want to write!
Rose Amongst Thorns
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The Scarlet Letter
"Are you sure you don't want a ride, Rose?" Regina asked the next morning, Wednesday, shoving her wallet and sunglasses into her purse. Rose sat at the breakfast table across from Ian and Caleb, who were arguing over the toy from the newly-opened box of Lucky Charms. Sean was sipping coffee as he read a new book; 'City of Glass' by Paul Auster.
"No, thanks; I'm going to stop by the public library on my way to school and pick up a library card," Rose said, smiling.
"Okay. Well, if you ever do…" Regina said, checking her watch and adjusting her purse strap. "Doug! Let's get the lead out! I'm gonna be late for work!"
"It's printing! Keep your pants on!" Doug shouted.
Regina turned to Rose.
"Did he just tell me to keep my pants on?"
"Yup. He did, Mommy," Caleb said, picking out the marshmallows from his bowl of cereal and eating only them.
"That boy is lucky he did not grow up with my mother," Regina said. "He would be out of teeth by now."
"What's Doug doing?" Rose asked curiously.
"Spell-checking his 'Scarlet Letter' paper on his computer," Regina sighed. "Why he didn't proofread it last night, I don't know. I guess I should just be happy he's doing his homework this year, right? I had at least five parent-teacher conferences last year about him squandering his potential."
"Really?" Rose asked, surprised.
"Doug's the smart one," Sean said flatly. Now, Rose couldn't believe that.
"Not the only one," Regina shot back, frowning pointedly at her firstborn son as she grabbed her car keys. Sean ignored her and took a huge spoonful of Count Chocula.
"Doug!" Regina shouted.
"Patience, woman!" Doug said, clomping manically down the stairs. The two black eyes left over from his fight with Evan shone in the morning light. He shoved his paper into his backpack and walked right by his mother out to the front porch, where Miller was already waiting.
"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change…" Regina murmured, as she followed her son out. "Sean! Make sure the boys get to the bus!"
"See you later," Rose said, tucking her cereal bowl into the dishwasher in its proper slot.
"Yeah," Sean replied. Rose kissed the top of Caleb's head after smoothing his tousled hair, picked out her snacks and refilled her water-bottle, and headed out to her truck.
If Doug and Sean were really the 'smart ones' in the family, Rose couldn't imagine how frustrated John and Regina must be. Doug spend all his time doodling on his clothing and being obnoxious, and as far as she knew, Sean spent all his time playing guitar, reading and working on his bike.
As she drew into the junior parking-lot, a brand-new library card tucked into her wallet, Rose saw a haphazard line of people standing along the west wall of Baker High. Squinting against the sun, she parked up and glanced through her window. Someone had tagged the school with blue and silver paint. She couldn't make out the design, but it took up almost the entire wall.
Finn was striding over to her as soon as she slammed the truck door and locked it; his mouth was set in a grim line, his eyes contrastingly wide, skittish and anxious.
"Hey," Rose smiled. "What's going on?"
"We knew it wouldn't be good," Finn said, clutching hold of her hand and striding back toward the west wall. Tucking her purse over her shoulder, Rose sped up to keep stride with Finn and felt herself go cold and numb when they joined the throng of teachers, students, administrative staff and janitors all gawking, laughing or shaking their heads at the graffiti. Someone had written 'BAKER SUCKS' in huge blue and silver letters, and blow them was an even bigger illustration, also in blue and shimmering silver. The character was very familiar, and peeing on a varsity letterman jacket.
"Well, it could have been worse," Aimee said, sidling up beside Rose; she shot Rose a smile, and Finn an apologetic look. "They could have actually illustrated their point."
A bunch of people laughed, but Rose glanced at Finn; he looked like he was going to be sick—or kill Doug. She guessed at this point, either were veritable options he was considering. Because if he didn't kill Doug, John and Regina would. If they found out and if Doug was convicted. Unless the students and faculty of Baker High were completely blind to Doug's self-styled wardrobe and attitude problem, Rose doubted it would take long for the rest of the school to learn who the perpetrator was.
Rose had hoped that Doug's indiscretion would have shifted some of the focus away from her. Not so; somehow her name got dragged into speculations about who had tagged Baker High. Maybe she was lashing out, being from a rival school as she was. Maybe she had connections with the other schools in the area—schools in Marblehead, Salem and Somerville were traditional Baker rivals. Rose even heard a group of excitable freshmen talking about Rosalie Meade being the girlfriend of the football captain of Ipswich's private school, Spenser Academy, who had come in a three-way tie for State championships last year, only to fall out in a coin-toss. The freshmen—whom Rose overheard during break, grabbing her swim stuff for gym from her locker—went on to say that Rose wasn't from North Carolina at all, that she had been sent by Spenser Academy to infiltrate Baker High through the McGowan family, to bring down their fullback.
As much as it was totally ridiculous, Rose had to admire the level of detail they had put into their theory, which was a lot better than her having single-handedly done the graffiti herself, as she had heard some of Hailey's friends mutter.
The hallway was buzzing like a horde of angry bees when Rose and Finn left Art class for lunch. Aimee was standing across the hallway, leaning against the wall with one knee bent, her foot against the wall, arms crossed over her chest, waiting for them. She moved away from the wall when they exited the classroom. Rose was surprised she hadn't left with Pearl.
"Hi," Rose smiled. "What's up?"
"They're rounding up suspects," Aimee said, deadly serious. "Chad Linus was pulled from my chemistry class right in the middle of our quiz."
"Shit," Finn breathed, stopping in his tracks as they rounded the corner into the main hallway where the admin offices were located.
"What is it?" Rose asked, following his gaze. Through the long glass panoramic panel that looked into the network of admin cubicles, which were sided by counsellor's offices and meeting rooms, Rose saw Doug. He was being shepherded into one of the offices by a beautiful older woman with long, curling caramel-blonde hair and compassionate blue eyes. "Who's that?"
"That's Ms Ellis, the vice-principal," Aimee said; Finn groaned. Doug looked at the floor as he stepped into the office. He looked like a little kid. A little kid who was trying desperately to appear tough, but knew he was about to get his balls handed to him in a Ziploc baggy.
"I could just go over there right now and smack him one," Rose said, her North Carolina twang coming out; she was angry. Had he thought he could get away with something that stupid?
"I'm going in there," Finn said, determination etched on his face.
"Whoa, whoa, why?" Rose said, grabbing onto the back of his backpack and jerking him to a stop. "What do you think you're gonna achieve bursting in there?"
"I don't know, but he's my brother," Finn said, raising his shoulders. Rose glanced through the panoramic window.
"What'll happen, if he gets caught for this?" Rose asked, her heart in her throat. Finn cast a glare through the window at Doug.
"He'd probably deserve it, but he could get suspended—again. Last time, the principal threatened another offence might cause him to expel Doug," Finn said, his cheeks colouring with an odd mix of emotions, most prominent among them probably anger, and worry. "And with what's happened, I mean—the graffiti. There's no way they'd let him off just with a suspension for that. Maybe I'll tell Ms Ellis that Doug was with me last night."
"They'll never buy that," Aimee told him.
"She's right. They'll just think you're lying to protect Doug," Rose said, which did credit to how much Finn loved his brothers, that he'd risk getting caught lying for Doug. "But me, on the other hand…I've been in this situation before. Let me handle it?"
"What do you mean, you've been in this situation before?" Finn asked, frowning. Rose smiled slowly.
"Remind me to show you my mug-shot when we get home today," she said, smiling.
"It's like I don't even know you, Rose!" Finn called after her, as she entered the air-conditioned office. She carefully wiped the smile from her face and walked straight for Ms Ellis's office; the door was open, and she saw that the vice-principal was nowhere in sight; a pair of denim-clad legs stuck out from the inside wall, and Rose glanced in and saw Doug sprawled on a small sofa draped in a pretty sheet to cover up the fact it was a government-funded grey monstrosity.
Doug looked up when she entered the room and hastily sat down on the sofa beside him. On his lap was a pile of notebooks, all covered with his signature doodles.
"Do yourself a few favours and sit up straight," Rose said, taking the notebooks from him. "For a smart guy, you've been pretty stupid."
"What're you doing?" Doug asked, as Rose pulled her meticulously clean notebooks from her purse and traded them with Doug's.
"If you're going to get out of this mess, just follow my lead, okay," Rose said, frowning. "Where's your 'Scarlet Letter' paper?"
"What? You're trippin'."
"Maybe so. Where is it?" Rose repeated. Doug pulled a face, reached over, and slid the neatly printed pages out of one of his notebooks. Rose took it and zipped her bag shut to hide the vandalised notebooks. Rose flicked a glance at the paper; A Comparison of Puritan Beliefs Versus the use of Nature Symbolism in Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'The Scarlet Letter.'
"Puritan believes versus the use of nature symbolism. You're not in AP, are you?" Rose asked. Doug sucked his teeth, giving her a look that said it all. She read the first body paragraph and conclusion.
Ms Ellis returned; Rose heard a charming Texan twang, and the vice-principal entered her office. She paused and smiled when she saw Rose.
"Who's this?" she asked. Rose stood up.
"Ma'am, I'm Rosalie Meade. I just started here this year, as a junior. I've come to be a witness for Doug," Rose said. "So to speak."
"I don't need your help, yo," Doug said, rising as well. He had at least chosen not to wear his customised jeans today, opting for a clean, if ripped pair. Rose shot him a look.
"Well, it's very nice to meet you, Rosalie," Ms Ellis smiled. She seemed like a smart, compassionate, astute woman, one who probably didn't take any joy in punishing people who rightly deserved it. "Take a seat, then." Rose smiled and sat, followed by Doug, as Ms Ellis took a seat by her desk.
"Now, before either of you say anything, I think you should know that when we saw the anti-Baker graffiti this morning, we naturally assumed that some students from a rival school might have done it," Ms Ellis said solemnly. "Before we take the investigation to the police, we wanted to make sure the culprits weren't walking our own halls. You can understand how embarrassing that would be." Ms Ellis gave a little chuckle; Rose nodded. Doug shifted in his seat, obviously uncomfortable.
"Now, I have it on good authority that the, uh…character adorning our west wall is one of your favourites," Ms Ellis continued, with a disapproving frown. "I'm sorry to say it, but most of your friends have already admitted to being involved. They've received suspensions, and will be doing community service for a month, as well as cleaning up the mess they made."
"Come on, man. I didn't do s—"
Rose covertly pinched the underside of his thigh.
"Doug and I were studying together last night," Rose said, overriding him before he could yelp or say something he might regret.
"Studying together?"
"Yes, ma'am. I live with the McGowans, you see—I don't know if you know about that—but Regina had asked me to help Doug plan his English paper, as he was having some trouble starting it. My teacher last year spent an entire quarter on 'The Scarlet Letter' in my AP class, so I know it cover-to-cover."
"Rosalie was helping you with your homework?" Ms Ellis said, looking at Doug.
"Yeah. She's good at writing and sh—"
"Here, Doug, I managed to read it over again a few minutes ago," Rose said, handing the paper to Doug. "I think you could've used a little more emphasis on Pearl as a symbol more than a fleshed-out character, but other than that, it looks great."
"May I see it?" Ms Ellis asked, and Doug handed the paper to her. "A Comparison of Puritan Beliefs Versus the use of Nature Symbolism in Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'The Scarlet Letter.' I'm impressed, Doug."
"He chose the subject," Rose said, nodding at Doug.
"How do I know you're not just trying to protect Doug?" she said. Yup, definitely very astute, Rose thought.
"Protect Doug?" Rose shook her head. "From day one he's been making my life hell. I don't have any reason to try and get him out of trouble; we hate each other." Not entirely true; Rose couldn't bring herself to hate anyone; she might severely dislike them, but hate…? No.
"Got that right," Doug said.
"If you hate each other, then why were you helping him with his homework?" Ms Ellis asked, glancing from Rose to Doug.
"Well, Regina asked me too," Rose shrugged. "I mean, Mr and Mrs McGowan taking me in after my parents died…it'd be pretty ungrateful of me not to do that one tiny thing they asked of me, considering. Regina's just lucky it wasn't math homework Doug needed help on!" She smiled. "Besides, Doug's been trying to turn over a new leaf this year, doing his homework and everything; he was worried about upsetting Regina again."
"Well, I know that is true," Ms Ellis said, smiling at Doug. "I've had good reports so far from your teachers this year. They've all noticed a marked improvement in your academic performance." For a moment, Ms Ellis looked from the paper still held in her hands, to Rose, and then to Doug.
"Well, Doug, none of your friends mentioned your involvement in this incident. We were just going on instinct here and your penchant for art," Ms Ellis said. "I can't exactly hold you responsible if there's no evidence, and since Miss Meade has been so good as to vouch for you, I'll let you go. However, I need some help rounding up volunteers for the cleanup-crew. The other boys will all be waiting for you after school with supplies, but it's a big job, so try and find as many people to help as you can."
"This is so—"
"We'll be there," Rose said, standing and gripping Doug's forearm to force him out of the office before she nailed him one. "It was nice to meet you, Ms Ellis." Ms Ellis's smile was warm and welcoming.
"And you too, Rosalie."
"Hey! You weren't crucified! What happened?" Finn leapt at her as she entered the cafeteria minutes later. Aimee had evidently been waiting with him. Doug had shoved her books at her, taken her own, and stalked off without so much as a grunt of gratitude, the little asshole.
"He got off," Rose smiled. Finn's expression was worth lying to a vice-principal and being nice to Doug. "Sort of."
"What do you mean?" Finn asked, his expression dropping.
"Well, he didn't get expelled—and no, he wasn't suspended either," Rose smiled, when Finn's eyes widened with alarm. "Ms Ellis put Doug and me on graffiti-cleanup duty after school."
Finn grabbed her and whirled her around, clutching her tight; he set her down again, grinning from ear to ear. "Oh, you deserve a big kiss! Aimee, kiss Rosalie."
"Ha-ha," Aimee smirked. Rose smacked Finn playfully on the chest. "Very funny, Finn."
"Doug and I have to get a group of volunteers together, to get rid of the graffiti after school today," Rose said.
"Ouch," Finn said. "Well, you've come to the right place." He gestured around the cafeteria. Rose sighed. She could get lunch in a little bit.
"Well, there's no time like the present; I suppose I should get started," she said. Rose knew that most people in the room had no desire to talk to her or know her, or be seen to be in any kind of contact with her; people who were gossiped about at high-school were usually deemed as contagious. But she didn't want Ms Ellis to rethink Doug's involvement in the graffitying. She decided to start with Aimee's friends, not expecting much but hoping they'd have enough school pride to overlook Rosalie's asking them to help.
"Hi," Rose said softly, approaching the table. For a moment, there was no response. Then Jenna looked up from her fruit-salad quickly and said, "Hey," back. Pearl and Ria remained silent. Rose sighed.
"I see," she said quietly. "Um…I came over to tell you—to ask you, really—Ms Ellis asked me to put together a team to help clean up the graffiti this afternoon, and I was hoping you might come."
"Shouldn't the people who did the crime do the time?" Ria asked tartly. "Or did you do the crime?"
"I'm not a vandal," Rose said coolly.
"Who's to say what you are," Ria said acidly. Rose felt that sting like an acid-laced knife to the gut.
"Ria," Jenna said quietly, warningly.
"I'm not a vandal, or a liar, or whatever it is people are saying about me," Rose said fiercely, the injustice and Ria's attitude rankling. "But I don't really care. If you believe any of what's going around, clearly I don't need friends like you. The fact is, I've been here less than three whole weeks and I've volunteered to help clean up that graffiti. You've already been here two years; what's your excuse?" Ria stared down at the table, looking ever so slightly smaller than she had a minute ago.
"If you think I'd do any of what people are saying I've done, then I don't care to try and convince you otherwise," Rose said. "But I hope I'll see you later."
Rose headed to the next table. She wouldn't let Ria's attitude and behaviour towards her get to her, but it was difficult. Rose had always been sensitive to other people's opinions of her. But in a way, the injustice of Ria's treatment of her gave her the righteous indignation to do what needed to be done; she had to face the student body, a student body convinced she was Baker High's Hester.
She launched into a little speech, and Rose noticed that on the other side of the room, Finn was addressing a table full of artsy types. Rose caught his eye and smiled; Finn grinned back. Over his shoulder, Rose saw Miller and Aimee sitting outside in the courtyard, not talking, but they didn't look uncomfortable.
After making apologies to a very displeased Miss Smith, Rose headed for the west side of the school. She hoped it wasn't just her and Finn, well, she wouldn't mind that; she just didn't want the two of them to have to clean up the whole west wall. That job would take hours. She knew Doug's presence was iffy, and no one had paid her much attention at lunch. Finn had suggested she should have worn a low-cut top or very short shorts—or maybe her leather chaps.
Rose turned the corner and froze, blinking. Finn stood in the centre of a crowd of students that included Ria, Jenna, Pearl, Aimee, Miller, Darnell and Jake, several of Finn's friends and even some of Hailey's, a few guys from the football team and others from the cross-country team.
"Hi," Rose said softly, sidling up to Finn. "Good turnout."
"Surprised?" Finn smiled.
"Definitely," Rose said, her cheeks flushing.
"I was just explaining to everyone how this stuff works," Finn said, gesturing to the floor. Open at his feet were several plastic containers full of goo. There were also boxes of safety goggles, plastic gloves and putty knives. Five ladders were lined up along the wall.
"Who put you in charge?" Rose asked, glancing around, seeing no adults.
"Oh, Janitor Steve, I guess," Finn said, shrugging. "He didn't want to wait around for you to get here, so he explained the process to me. He said something about this being his bowling night; I don't know." He shrugged again.
"Okay, so what do we have to do?" Rose asked.
"We spread this poultice stuff all over the paint, and it's supposed to suck up the colour," Finn said, snapping on some plastic gloves. "Problem is it stinks and we're not supposed to get any on us."
"Wonderful. That sounds very safe," Rose said dryly. Several people laughed. Everyone gathered around the boxes of protective gear and started getting outfitted; Finn handed Rose a pair of protective goggles and some gloves, and she snapped on both, smiling at him.
"You look so cute," he said softly, handing her a putty knife.
"Yeah?" she smiled.
"Oh, yeah, definitely; very Science-Geek Chic," Finn teased. Rose laughed softly, her cheeks warming.
Rose got to work; she and Finn were a little sceptic about how much stuff they needed to spread on the paint, how thick, but they managed to make it work. Rose was standing at her purse, taking a small water-break, when Ria showed up, looking for a band to tie her hair up in.
"Hey," she said quietly.
"Hi," Rose said, pushing the goggles up her forehead. One of Finn's friends on the Yearbook staff had come along with their digital camera and was snapping photographs, inspired by Rose's little 'community spirit' speech at lunch, and caught a few photos of them.
"So look, I…I just wanted to say… I'm really sorry about the last couple of days. I know I've been a little bit of a bitch." Humility on Ria was an odd fit, which made it all the more touching.
"A little bit?" Rose raised her eyebrows.
"Okay, fine, I've been a huge bitch," Ria amended, with a little laugh. "I don't know why I believed any of it, anyway. Today I heard some freshman saying you're a spy from Spenser Academy in Ipswich."
"Really? I heard I was dating the captain of their football team," Rose said. They glanced at each other and laughed. They went back to work, both hoping to get the job finished sometime before midnight; with everyone chatting away happily, working together as a team, the sun streaming down its hottest, rumoured to be the last fine day before fall truly came upon them, Rose felt strangely at peace, despite the goo gagging her with its smell, the arm-wearying work and climbing up on precarious tall ladders. She had finished the varsity letterman jacket when Aimee came to mix the poultice.
"Hi," Rose smiled. "I saw you sitting outside with Miller today. Did you two talk?"
Aimee blushed happily. "Not really. I mean, we did, but…I know it'll take him a while to get used to me. I just like being around him."
"Yeah, that's 'cause he ain't talkin'," Doug said, slapping some poultice on the wall. "You'd be bored off your ass if he was."
"Ignore him," Rose said, trying to suppress her own rush of anger. "He's just angry at everyone."
"Oh, so now you think you know me?" Doug shot at her.
"Yes," Rose half-hissed. This was for him not saying 'thank you' earlier today. For all they knew, she could have saved him from expulsion. She stood with her hands on her tiny waist, staring him down. "From what I read of your 'Scarlet Letter' paper, I know you're actually a lot smarter than you want people to know, you're a very talented artist and you are very sweet to your brothers; you have an awesome family but you spend all of your time being aggressive and obnoxious, as if you're some sort of tragic victim. It makes me sick."
Doug's face turned beetroot-purple. "You better shut your mouth, bitch, 'cuz you got no clue what you're talkin' 'bout."
"Hey!" Finn shouted, stepping in. "What did you just call her?"
"You heard me," Doug spat, face contorting angrily.
"I want to hear you say that again so you can get what's coming to you," Rose said, pushing past Finn, who was either trying to protect Rose or defend Doug, standing between them. Hurt bristled through her at the sting of that one little nasty word. "See what happens when you use that word again. I dare you."
"Apologise, Doug," Finn ordered, putting a hand in front of Rose to catch her from stalking over to Doug and smacking the obnoxiousness right out of him.
"Yeah, right," Doug scoffed.
"What is your problem?" Finn said. "You know, Rose totally saved your ass today; you could have been suspended—again. You could have been expelled, and now you're out here calling you names You should be thanking her."
"Thanks a lot," Doug said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. He snapped off his plastic gloves, tossed them at Rose's feet, and stormed away.
"What a little asshole," Rose frowned after him. Finn let out a sigh.
"My parents really should have stopped with me," he said. Everyone laughed, and soon they were all back into the swing of things.
"It was really cool of you to help him the way you did," Finn said, helping spread poultice onto the spray-painted pool of urine. "Especially considering the way he's been treating you.
"You should have let me at him," Rose said. "I'd have slapped that attitude out of him."
"You would, too," Finn chuckled. He caught her eye and his sparkled. "You know, I doubt he expected you to say all that nice stuff about him. You really gave him a slap in the face with that."
"Like you once said, I don't know how to bear a grudge," Rose shrugged. "But my truck has so many dents nobody would notice another one, so he'd better watch out."
A.N.: Alright, finished the story, need to work on the epilogue if I write it!
