Chapter Two
JustAnotherFanGirl2004: Thank you for the compliments! I'm glad you like my story.
Welcome to the second chapter! In this one, Anne, Phillip, and Phin meet Rose. She's not exactly the easiest person to talk to though...
"I don't believe her!" Phillip yelled, slamming the newspaper down on the table.
"Phillip, please calm down," Anne begged, trying to keep calm, though she was equally angry. "That's just how she feels." She glanced out the window at the pounding rain. The weather seemed to match her and Phillip's moods.
Phillip sat down next to Anne and said, "She just can't accept that I don't want the life she and my father have. That I'm happy here."
Anne rested a hand on his shoulder and whispered, "I know, but we should just ignore it." She hesitated before saying, "What comes after that?"
Phillip picked up the paper and groaned. "A quote from my father," he muttered. "Why is my family so horrible?"
Anne gave him a sympathetic smile. "Well, just in case you don't remember, mine isn't that great either."
"What? But WD is a great brother," Phillip exclaimed.
"Yeah, but there's my dad," Anne said, and immediately her eyes widened.
Phillip gave her a curious look. "What do you mean?" he asked.
As Anne tried to think of an excuse, there was a knock on the door.
"Who could that be?" Phillip asked. "We're not open yet."
He opened the door and both of them looked at the little girl standing there. She had light brown skin and long frizzy dark brown hair. Her eyes were slightly scary - fierce and guarded. Not to mention their unusual violet color. The girl was very young - only about ten or eleven. Why was she standing out in the rain looking like she'd been wet for a while?
"Who are you?" Anne asked.
The girl looked up at them and, without answering the question, asked, "Can I come in?"
Phillip glanced at Anne and nodded. He was looking at the girl with a strange expression. He moved aside and the girl walked inside. He was looking at the girl with a strange expression, as though he vaguely recognized her. Anne also felt like she'd seen Rose before, but she couldn't imagine from where.
The girl turned and looked at Phillip with a determined expression.
"I'm here to ask if I can become part of the circus," she said.
Phillip nodded. "I'll have to talk to Phin, but what's your name?"
"Rose," the girl said.
"No last name?" Anne asked gently.
Rose shook her head. "Where do I wait?" she asked.
"Why don't you dry off first and get some new clothes?" Phillip said, looking at the rags Rose was wearing. "The restroom's that way, and clothes are in the closet. We have some dresses there."
Rose smiled for the first time. "Sure," she said, walking away.
Phillip turned to Anne. "Let's get Phin."
Anne knocked on the restroom door. "Rose?" she asked. "Are you ready?"
She gasped a little when she saw what Rose was wearing when the girl walked outside. Rose was in black leggings and a loose black shirt. This was a very odd outfit for a girl in this time. Anne, of course, wore outfits even more different then that when she performed, but she'd never thought she'd see another girl wearing soemthing even remotely similar to that.
"Why didn't you wear a dress?" Anne asked, a little confused. "And where did you get that?"
Rose shrugged. "It was hidden behind the dresses. Some boy must have left the shirt, and another kid left the leggings."
"Probably Caroline," Anne said.
Rose gave her a confused look and Anne explained. "Caroline is Phin's oldest daughter. She's about your size, and could have left the leggings. But why didn't you wear a dress?"
"Can you do your act in a dress?" Rose asked.
"No."
"Neither can I," she said while walking away. Anne was a little unnerved by the girl. She didn't seem very happy and had only smiled once so far. Anne knew she would know if she'd met Rose. She'd never met a little black girl who could look at a white man the way Rose had looked at Phillip. That way that said, I will not bow to you just because you're white. She still seemed to respect him, though. But not because of his skin tone. It was actually impressive.
Anne followed Rose as the girl walked confidently through the halls.
Anne stopped her. "How are you so confident?" she asked.
Rose hesitated, then said, "I know they'll let me in. I might not look like a freak but..." she trailed off.
"Rose?" Anne said. The little girl looked up and her expression hardened.
"Look," she said, "I've been homeless for three years. I've been facing people calling me a freak my whole life. It might be true, and if it is, I don't care." With those words, Rose's face transformed. She plastered a smile on her face and took a few deep breaths. She seemed to wipe any trace of anger, sadness, and doubt from her face, but Anne was sure she saw sadness in her eyes. Rose turned and walked out of the room and into the area where she would audition.
Rose walked into the room. Phin and Phillip were sitting in chairs.
"What's your name?" Phin asked.
"Rose," she said simply. She caught Phillip's eyes and he gave her an encouraging smile. A hint of real smile crept into her face.
"What's your age?"
"I don't know."
Phin looked surprised and said, "Any parents?" Rose shook her head and he said, "Okay, so show us your talent." He seemed sympathetic.
Rose actually smiled. She liked performing, and loved doing it in front of people who wouldn't judge her or call her a freak. When Phin told her to do that, she bent her body in half. She bent backwards so much that the back of her head and ankles were touching. She heard both men gasp, and when she lifted a leg and did the splits the gasps got louder. She rested her hands on the ground and flipped her body around so her feet were touching the ground. Phillip and Phin smiled at each other and, at the same time, said, "You're in." Rose gave them a genuine smile and walked off.
Please review and tell me what you thought of this! Rose is my story of inequality. She might be fictional, but I want to create a character that represents all the people who had to suffer inequality.
-Creator of Magic