Chapter Forty Four: Blame It by Jamie Foxx

It was right before Christmas break. Jack and Rose were sitting on Jack's bed talking. "So, when we're older, are we going to send Christmas cards?" Jack asked with a smile.

"Right, to the three people we like," said Rose.

"Still nothing from Helga?" Jack asked.

Rose shook her head. "What if she never forgives me?"

"She will," said Jack. "And if she doesn't, she's not the person either of us thought she was."

Rose looked up at him tearfully. "But what if she never forgives me?"

Jack wrapped his arm tightly around her and kissed her hair. "I'm sure she will."

Rose finally fell asleep on Jack's chest. He wondered how he was going to get her up and back up to her room. Fabrizio walked in a little later. "Don't worry about it. She can stay in here with us. I don't mind."

"Thanks," said Jack. "I hate that she's in so much pain."

"I know," said Fabrizio.

Jack slowly slid his arm out from under Rose, unintentionally waking her. "Jack?" Rose said quietly, reorienting herself to her surroundings.

"I'll be right back," said Jack.

"Wait, where are you going?" Rose asked.

"To take care of some things," said Jack.

Rose knew what he was doing. She watched as he walked over to the window and climbed through.

"Wait, Jack!" Rose called as she followed him out the window. She ran to catch up with him, and she grabbed his hand, stopping him. "I know what you're about to do, and it's not necessary."

"Yes, it is," said Jack, and he kept walking.

"No, wait!" Rose said, and she kept following him.

Jack climbed through the window to Rose's room. "Wait," Rose said again, as she followed him into the room.

Jack didn't listen. "You need to stop," he said angrily to Helga.

"What?" Helga asked.

"She loves you," said Jack. "She cares about you! And you know she would never do anything to hurt you."

"Well, she did," said Helga.

"Yeah, by accident," said Jack. Rose was standing behind him, tears running down her face. "And she apologized. And you're just being petty and rude!"

Helga turned to Rose. "You need your boyfriend to protect you?"

"Do you really want to have this conversation?" Jack asked. "You want me to say what I really think?"

"Don't hold back now," said Helga.

"You didn't have any friends except for me," said Jack. "We were best friends our whole childhood. Then you met Fabrizio-"

"Don't say his name," said Helga.

"And then you met Rose," said Jack. "And I guarantee you, if you keep this up, you lose all three of us. You may not care about losing Fabrizio and I, but you should care about losing Rose. She is kind, and caring, and she deserves a hell of a lot better than you."

"Are you done?" Helga asked.

Jack scoffed. "Yeah. We're done."

•••

Jack and Rose had left the room. "Thank you for saying those things," said Rose.

"Of course," said Jack. "I meant every word."

"What do I do now?" Rose asked.

"You can stay with us," said Jack.

"That's not fair to Fabrizio," said Rose.

"Fabrizio said he's okay with it."

Rose shrugged. "I don't know," she said quietly. "Maybe me being in the room with her will put some pressure on her to talk to me."

Jack scoffed. "I can't believe her."

"I think she's hurting, and she doesn't know how to deal with it," said Rose. "Before you and I became close, she said something to me."

"What did she say?" Jack asked.

"I was complaining about you, and she told me that we are all damaged and have commitment issues. And that you can't compare someone from here to other people. You have to compare them to people that have suffered the losses that they have."

"She's right," said Jack. "But it's not an excuse."

"I know," said Rose. "But whether she wants to admit it or not, she needs me."

"You're really going back there?" Jack asked, and Rose nodded. "Call me if you need anything, okay?"

"Thanks," said Rose. She gave him a quick kiss before climbing back through the window.

Rose walked into the room and sat on her bed. She didn't say anything. She just sat there.

•••

Jack, Rose, and Fabrizio were sitting downstairs the next day. Helga walked downstairs, eyed them, and then walked away. "I'm not even sad about it anymore," Rose said. "I'm angry at her."

"You should be," said Fabrizio. "She's handling this terribly. Your advice was good, Rose. We just couldn't do it."

Rose nodded. "Even if she did move on now, I'm not sure I would be able to," she said. "She's put me through hell the last few weeks."

"I know," said Jack. He wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed her temple.

It was later that day, and everyone was in school. It was the middle of physics, which was the one class Jack, Rose, Fabrizio, and Helga all had together. They were about to be given groups to do a lab.

"Okay," said the teacher. "Fabrizio, Helga, Jack, Rose, you're a group."

"What a sick joke," said Rose as the teacher continued to divide the class into groups.

"You gonna be okay?" Jack asked.

Rose shrugged. "Not like I have much of a choice."

They gathered in the back of the classroom. It was obvious that Jack and Fabrizio had taken Rose's side in the fight, but they were both still on the side of getting them to be friends again.

"So, who wants to take notes?" Fabrizio asked.

No one answered. Rose and Helga were glaring at each other, and Jack just looked at Fabrizio, who shrugged.

Jack put his hand on Rose's back. "Rose, can you do it?"

Rose didn't break her eye contact with Helga. "Sure," she said. She took the paper and the pen and started writing.

"You guys have to snap out of this," said Fabrizio. "You're best friends."

"We never really were" said Rose.

"You know what can help?" Fabrizio began. "Roleplaying. When someone speaks to someone else."

"Oh, like this?" Helga began. "Hi, I'm Rose. I like to lead guys on. Let's see, there was Cal; I took him to the dance then broke his heart. Then there's Jack, who I'm just with because it's fun to be with someone lower than you."

Rose was livid. "Hi, I'm Helga. I blame people for all of my personal crap and push away the only people that care about me."

"Okay, Rose here again," Helga began. "Have I mentioned that if you love me you're probably gonna die soon?"

"Helga!" Fabrizio exclaimed.

Rose started to back away before turning and running out of the classroom. "What the hell is wrong with you?" Jack asked before leaving and following behind her.