Wilting Roses

Chapter Thirteen: Exposed

The Wicked Queen cackled with victorious laughter as she brandished the captive Snow White closer to her. "Looks like your happiness and love is all mine, prince!" she sneered down at prince Rose who stood clad in his armor and feebly held up his sword. He may be tired and he may not know a way to defeat the witch, but he would not stop until Snow would be safe again.

"You alone cannot stand up to me," the Queen jeered from atop her jagged cliff as lightening flashed behind her.

"He's not alone," said a high pitched voice and right behind prince Rose came the dwarfs. There was Alice the Chipper, Emmett the Strong, Jasper the Brooding, Angela the Nice, Mike the Loyal, Eric the Sober, and Lauren the Grump. "We are all here to help him because we believe in his love. We believe in the power of prince Rose and princess Snow White!

Invigorated, the prince raised his sword high and let out a mighty battle worthy roar, the dwarfs raising their swords behind him in readiness.

Then, they charged.

I sat frozen, staring at the small screen of my phone for what felt like hours but was only minutes. The words had punched the air out of my lungs, made my limbs go heavy.

My heart shook in anguish. What was the meaning of this? Why was Bella breaking up with me? What had brought this on? Was this my fault? Had I upset her by not wanting to come out about our relationship? But she had seemed so understanding when I explained things to her. So then what brought all of this on?

Given my past experiences with love issues and feelings dealing with Bella, I would be broken, staying in my room for days.

Not today.

Today I was going to get some damn answers. There was no way Bella would just randomly break up with me like this. And there was no way in hell I was going to just let her go easily. Not when I had fought so hard for her.

Anger coursed through my veins and it stayed red hot there even as I got dressed and drove off to school. I wandered the halls, trying to see if I could spot Bella, the phone with her incriminating text clutched in my hand hard enough to crack the screen. Was she still at home? Or did she come back?

I received my answer shortly when I saw her.

Them.

Wrapped together around each other.

Edward had an arm over Bella's shoulder and was ducking down to press a kiss to her cheek.

I saw red.

Nothing else mattered in that moment. Not even the way Bella did not seem all too comfortable with him.

I wanted to stride over and rip his arm from his body. Rip it away from her, but I didn't. Something held me back and it might have been my saving grace for it certainly would not look good to have a fight break out in the middle of the school hall. Edward spent some more time talking with Bella and then he pressed one more kiss to her and walked away in the opposite direction of me, a swagger to his steps.

She was momentarily alone at her locker, picking out her books for her class with slow hands. I took this chance to rush over to her.

"What is the meaning behind this?" I demanded, holding out the phone with the open text.

She jumped, clearly not expecting me. "Rosalie..." she breathed out, clutching her pounding heart.

"Tell me," I demanded once more, nearly shoving the phone at her face.

She averted her eyes guiltily. "I...I broke up with you."

"Why?"

"I..uh, I realized that I was thinking wrong. That I was only enamored by your looks and that it was admiration I felt for you and not love."

"Bullshit," I spat out, not buying a single word of her unconvincing speech. "I don't believe that for a second. Tell me the real reason."

Bella's lips twisted up as she looked at the floor, scuffing her shoes there. We stood in heated silence, me, chest heaving and ready to punch someone, and her, cold and small like she was trying to make herself disappear from the world, from my wrathful gaze.

"If I didn't break up with you, then he was going to tell everyone." Her tone was small and I barely heard it over the clamor of students coming down the halls.

I knew who he was. There was no doubt.

"Edward blackmailed you?"

"He was technically blackmailing you," she clarified and raised her head to look at me with pleading eyes. "And I know how much you didn't want this secret revealed, so...so I did what he asked. To protect you."

"He asked you to dump me?"

"And date him."

"Even though you don't like him, he's forcing you to be in a relationship with him?"

She nodded her head slowly, big eyes almost brimming with tears.

I was flabbergasted. Never in all my years of being alive, could I have suspected of Edward stooping this low. Of being able to do such a thing. I couldn't decide if I wanted to strangle him or run him over with my car more. All I knew was I wasn't going to let this stand.

"Rosalie, where are you going?" Bella called out after me as I strode off with big wound up steps.

"I'm going to make things right. Because I care for you and I'm not going to give up so easily."

"Rosalie- I don't want you making things worse!"

Her words cause me to spin on my heels. "How can it get any worse than how it is now?" I indicated between us. "Us broken up and you forced into a relationship you don't want to be in!"

Her silence proves my point and this time when I move on, she doesn't follow me or try to stop me.

I am a woman on a mission and when I get to Edward's classroom, I stand in the doorway and indicate for him to come outside so we can talk. He's in the middle of conversation with his friends and the fact that he's so happy, laughing even, pisses me off more. How could he do something like this? How could he be such a dick?

He doesn't seem at all intimidated by my angry demeanor and slides cockily over to a quiet spot in the corner where we will mostly be safe from prying eyes. I cross my arms over my chest and take a moment to breathe, to get everything under control because right now I feel like my own words will choke me.

"What do you want Rosalie," he drawls, looking bored. God, that just makes me want to punch him even more.

"You know what I want," I growl out, voice low in my throat. "You know what this is about."

"I really don't," he shrugs, uncaring and I cross my arms across my chest tighter so I'm not tempted to punch him anymore than I already am.

"This is about you blackmailing Bella into dating you. Into breaking up with you."

"Oh please," he scoffs. "That's just something she came up with so you'd leave her alone and you're stupid enough to believe it."

And now he was lying to me? God, someone was going to need to hold me back and soon or else I was going to kill him in this hallway. The vein in my neck pulsated hard. "Funny, but Bella would never do that. Unlike you, I actually know what she's like and she would never do that to me. Face facts, Eddy, she's only with you because you blackmailed her, told her you would out us if she didn't. She never liked you, and after you did all this, she hates you now. You're totally irredeemable in her eyes."

Something in one of those sentences I said seemed to finally get to him. He lost his casual demeanor and tightened his jaw. "Fine then," he whispered out, his eyes dark on me. "Take her back then. I'm not going to fight you on it." He smiled, a false thing that dripped with malice, and clapped me on the shoulder. "See ya, Rosie." Then he left back to his class.

Like a tight coil, I slowly uncoiled myself and let out a harsh breath. Well, things had gone better than I expected. There was still so much to clear between us but that would have to happen later. I was still too worked up to be truly happy. I was just relieved that me and Bella could be back together again. I rushed over to report this to her, finding her in her usual spot in the library.

I should have known better. Should have known that Edward's defeat was too swift. Too easy.

But I never truly expected him to turn into such a slime-ball. Given his recent actions I should have known it was par for the course. Yet, Bella was the only one on my mind right now.

"Bella," I whispered as I slid into the seat in front of her. She jumped in surprise again. "Geeze, don't do that. You'll give me a heart attack at this rate." She pressed a hand to her chest though she couldn't hide the curl of a smile at seeing me.

"Good news," I smiled. "Edward's given up. He said he wouldn't bother us anymore."

Bella's jaw dropped open as she blinked rapidly. "You're sure? He gave up so easily?"

"Why shouldn't he, when he's in the wrong?" I had so many choice words and points I'd like to tell him but he had robbed me of the chance by concluding the issue so quickly.

She shrugged. "I don't know. It all...just feels surreal. You sure everything is okay now?"

I nodded my head. "Don't worry. I'll keep us safe. If he bothers you again I won't hesitate to punch him in the face." I reached over and touched the back of her hand.

"And I'll join in," she said earnestly. She didn't look entirely convinced by my words but she wasn't also entirely despairing anymore. "Thank goodness. I couldn't imagine keeping up the act for so long."

"I'm not done with him. He still has a lot of shit to answer for, for making you do that."

"And I'd like to have a word with him too. Don't count me out."

The bell rang at the conclusion of Bella's words, signalling the end of one devastating morning and heralding the ushering in of a new one.

After Bella's and mine brief artificial break up, we spent the whole evening at my place, just reading on the bed together and talking about minor things, absolutely avoiding the mess of this morning. We parted ways that night with a sweet kiss that seemed to wipe away anything bad that had happened between us.

I was glad that I had fought for my relationship this time rather than be devastated and sit locked up in my room with all those useless emotions. If I had, then who knows what Edward would have asked Bella to do for their relationship. The thought still made my blood boil but less than before.

I went to bed, falling asleep to thoughts of Bella and of what new dates we could go on to wipe away this bad memory. My sweet dreams were interrupted by my cell phone ringing at about six in the morning. I blindly reached for it before answering it.

"Hello?" I asked, my voice muffled by my thick pillows.

"Rosalie, you need to check out Facebook right now." It was Alice and her voice sounded grave and panicked.

I instantly sat awake, because there was very little that could actually make her chipper demeanor drop like this. "Why, what's there?"

"I...It's you. And Bella."

The blood in my veins froze and my stomach dropped. Already an unsavory conclusion had drawn together in my mind. If Alice was the one calling me and she was the only one who knew about me and Bella...then I knew what it was. Putting her on speaker phone and opening up the social media app, my eyes bulged out as my heart raced quickly in my chest.

A picture. A picture of me and Bella in clear liplock in the library.

How...how did this photo surface? Who saw us?

Through my panic one name cut through like a knife. Edward.

He had seemed entirely too smug, too at ease when I told him to back off of Bella. My fists curled up. I was going to punch the ever living snot out of him. He used to be my friend. How could he do this to me over Bella?

"Rosalie, are you okay?" Alice asked at my long silence.

"Of course I'm not," I rasped back, my breathing heavy. "How could Edward do this to me?"

"We need to call an emergency meeting. Wake up Jasper, and I'll get Emmett." And before she hung up, she added, "and please, don't do anything rash."

"What, like punch Edward in the face?" I said in a voice that was too high pitched.

"Yes, like that. Don't even talk to him."

Even Alice knew Edward had done this. I hung up, and seething, paced my room for a moment to calm myself down. Then, holding up my head, I got dressed and violently knocked on my brother's door. He opened it, shaggy hair in his eyes. He was shirtless, and rubbing his bare chest as he yawned. "What's up?"

"Meeting. Now," I barely grit out and went downstairs.

Ten minutes later and all of us were gathered around my giant kitchen counter. "What's this meeting about?" Emmett asked. "I was having a great sex dream and I had to wake up." He grumbled, hair still slightly messed up from being roughly awoken.

"This is about Rosalie and this," Alice slid the phone to middle of the table, open to the picture of me and Bella. My heart stabbed in my chest as I waited with baited breath on what my friends would say. Would they be disgusted by me? Would they hate me? I never intended on coming out to any of them but I was left with no choice.

"Someone photoshopped you and Bella?" Emmett asked, flicking his eyes up to me and my stormy expression. Alice looked at me, as if wordlessly asking for my permission to proceed. I nodded my head. Sucking in a huge breath, Alice piped up. "That's not photoshopped."

Silence fell over the two boys as they pieced this together.

"Wait, you were dating Bella and you didn't tell us anything?" Emmett burst out at last as the cogs in his brain turned.

"Emmett, that's not the point. The point is, that now the whole school knows," Alice said.

I didn't even bother to read the comments under the photo posted online. I already knew what they would be like- all derogatory.

"Can we curb it? Call it fake news?" Jasper asked, hand on his chin.

Alice shook her head. "We can say whatever we like, but it's too late for that. Multiple pictures have cropped up, all in different places. There's no way to call this fake."

Edward had followed me? Several times? And I entirely had no idea! He was such a creep! It made me hate him all the more. He better hope he did not cross paths with me because I would rip his head right off of his body. He was trying to ruin me!

My phone buzzed and I unlocked the screen to see it was a text from Bella. I just saw what happened. I'm horrified. Rose, are you okay?

For some reason Bella's sweet concern brought tears to my eyes. Made me want to crumple up into a tiny ball and have her stroke my hair as I cried. I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat.

"Rose, what do you want to do?" Jasper's voice made me blink back tears and I shook my head out to regain some confidence. "I might as well go through with this. To deny it would make things worse. I need to take a hold of this, and work it to my advantage." A bit of PR work as they would call it in the media.

"We're behind you, a hundred percent," Alice said warmly as she squeezed my hand. I knew she was- but what about the boys? They had glossed over my essential coming out.

"I don't care who you like Rosalie. I know you've struggled with it for a while. I'm just glad you're happy," Jasper said, smiling at me. "That you no longer are the impenetrable ice queen."

I was happy to hear my own brother had accepted me. That he wasn't making a big deal of this.

"I wish you would have told us Rosie," Emmett added. "Now, you can be my wingwoman when getting hot dates," he winked at me playfully.

"If you're not careful, Rosalie will win them away from you," Alice said teasingly.

"You're probably right," Emmett pouted.

"Don't worry. You can have them all. I only want Bella. And I didn't tell you...because I was worried about how I would be treated. Edward knew by accident and it didn't turn out so well. I felt like trusting anyone else was like a game of roulette. It might end up good like it did with Alice knowing, or it might end up bad like Edward knowing."

"You can trust us. I would never hurt my sister," Jasper said softly. "Now, let's determine what to do with Edward. We can't let him get away with this. He hurt one of us, and our top rule was to always have each other's backs."

And just like that the soft mood between us was gone as we discussed the traitor's fate.