Chapter Two: Rich Girl by Hall & Oates

Rose entered the auditorium after everyone else. She opened the door, and everyone turned around to look at her. Everyone except for the blonde boy. "Hey, I saved you a seat," said Helga.

Rose smiled politely at Helga and sat down next to her. Everyone looked away and focused again on the front of the room. "Hey, who's that?" Rose whispered, pointing to the blonde boy.

Helga laughed quietly. "That's Jack," she whispered.

"Well, he's clearly not unattractive," Rose whispered back. "So is he an asshole or is he damaged?"

"Both," said Helga, letting out a sigh. "He's both."

"Who's that girl?" Jack whispered to his best friend, Fabrizio.

"New girl," said Fabrizio. "She's from Philadelphia. First day here, too."

"Looks like we've got ourselves a rich girl," said Jack, chuckling and crossing his arms.

"Boys and girls, we have a new girl here. Everyone, this is Rose," Molly said. She pointed to Rose, who just waved once. She pretended to be okay, but she wasn't. She was dying inside.

Finally, it was dinner. Everyone was eating at the small round tables that were set up in the auditorium. Rose was sitting at a table with Helga, Fabrizio, and Jack. The cook had made burgers, which Rose didn't eat. She hated hamburgers, so she just sat and watched everyone else eat. "What, you don't eat?" Jack asked her.

"Oh, I just don't like hamburgers," said Rose.

"Well get used to it, you're stuck here with the rest of us," he responded flatly.

Rose rolled her eyes and just looked down. Just what she needed: people hating her. "Be nice, Jack," Helga said warningly.

"Whatever, Helga," said Jack, rolling his eyes. "Not everyone had a perfect little life like your princess friend here."

"Excuse me?" Rose demanded.

"You heard me," said Jack, staring her cold in the eyes.

"Whatever," said Rose, and she got up and left.

•••

"Good morning, sunshine," Helga said cheerfully into Rose's ear. "Rise and shine."

Rose picked the pillow up from under her head and put it over her ears. "It's too early."

"It's already seven fifteen," said Helga. "We have to get you registered at school, we have to sign you up for classes, and most importantly, we have to stop for coffee because you look like hell."

Rose scoffed. "Well, thanks."

"You're really not a morning person, are you?" Helga asked with a giggle.

"Not exactly," said Rose. She stumbled out of bed and over to the bathroom. She brushed her teeth and her hair, and she put on her makeup. She looked at herself in the mirror. She looked the same, but everything was different. "Day two," Rose whispered and sighed.

Then, she returned to the room to get dressed. "Your hair is such a pretty color," said Helga. "Is it natural?"

"Oh, yeah, it is," said Rose. "I sort of hate it. I always wished it was straight. Besides, it's so hard to dress properly for red hair."

"It suits you though," said Helga. Rose pulled out of her bag a cropped blue hoodie with a cinched waist. "Wow, that's so cute!"

Rose smiled. "You can borrow it anytime you want," she said. "You can borrow any of my things. Anytime you want to borrow something, just ask."

"I'm going to take you up on that," said Helga. "Now hurry up."

"I'm going, I'm going," said Rose, and she got dressed. She picked up her navy Kanken backpack and followed Helga out the door.

"Good morning, Molly," said Helga.

"Good morning girls," said Molly. "Remember to sign out before you go."

Helga signed both her own name and Rose's. They both waked out the front door. "Wow, it's nice out today," said Rose, squinting at the sunlight.

"Yeah, and that happens like… twice a year in New York," said Helga. "The sky just has a permanent state of grey. And it's always either too hot or too cold."

"True," said Rose. "Let's go get coffee."

Helga led Rose to the local coffee place, Bluestone Lane. "What's your coffee order?" Helga asked.

"Oh, I usually get an iced almond milk latte," said Rose. "You?"

"You're gonna make fun of me," said Helga.

"No I'm not," said Rose with a smile.

"Okay fine," said Helga. "I usually get an matcha with oat milk."

"Well, we both have basic coffee orders," said Rose.

Rose and Helga got their coffees and walked over to the school. "Don't be nervous," said Helga, "We group-home kids usually stay in our own little circle. No one talks to us, and we don't really talk to anyone."

"Okay," said Rose.

"Come on, I'll take you to the main office," said Helga, and they went to the office.

They entered the large office, where there was a middle aged woman sitting behind the desk. "Hi, I'm Rose. I'm a new student?"

"Entry forms are on the right," said the woman in a monotonous voice, without looking up.

Rose picked up a form and filled out the personal information. "What classes do I want to take?" Rose asked.

"Whatever you want," said Helga.

Rose took a deep breath and checked off a bunch of classes. She checked off honors art, honors history, honors English, honors calculus, and honors physics. "Okay, I did it."

"Wow, ambitious," said Helga. "You should also sign up for ASL. I'm taking that class and it's a joke class."

"Okay," said Rose. She checked off ASL, and handed the form back to the woman.

"Here's a note to hand to your teachers and here's your schedule," said the woman monotonously. "Welcome to PS-41."

"Thank you," said Rose. She and Helga quietly left the office.

"What's your first class?" Helga asked.

"Art," said Rose.

"I'll walk you there," said Helga.

Helga and Rose had arrived at the art studio and Helga had left her at the door. Rose took a deep breath and entered the studio. "Hi, I'm Rose. I'm a new student here."

"Welcome to honors art, I'm Ms. Jackson," said the teacher.

"Would you like me to sit anywhere in particular?" Rose asked. The seats were in pairs, and most of the seats were already taken.

"There's a seat, middle back," Ms. Jackson pointed.

Rose looked over at the seat, and saw the seat next to it was already taken, but not by just anyone. Jack was sitting next to her new assigned seat. She stood there awkwardly and he rolled her eyes. Rose decided to just torture him for fun, and sat down next to Jack. "What are you doing here?" he asked, rather demanded.

"Well there's a federal law that says all minors must attend some sort of a schooling mechanism, so here I am," said Rose.

"Hilarious," said Jack. "I mean, what are you doing here."

"There's a class going on," said Rose. She looked at Jack who was looking at the desk and chipping the paint on it. "Ass."

It was a few minutes later, and Jack and Rose were working on their art projects. Rose looked over at Jack's artwork. "Wow, that's really good."

"Yeah, and I was able to do it without being a rich snob," said Jack, still sketching away.

"What's your problem?" Rose asked. "Why have you been trying to make me miserable since the second I got here?"

"Just don't like you, or people like you," said Jack.

"Well you don't have to like me," said Rose. "You just have to leave me the hell alone." As soon as she said that, the bell rang, and Rose walked out of the classroom.

A/N: So just wanted to clarify: PS means "public school". The New York City school system has hundreds of public schools that have "PS" and then a number. It's not really important to understand, but just in case you're wondering.