Chapter Five: Blackberries & Blooms

Rose Charlotte has no boundaries.

She's been like that since the first grade, when she ordered me to be her best friend. I thought I should've had a choice in the matter, but when she said, "best friends forever," I reckon I was a lifer. We even took a blood oath once, smearing the blood on our two fingers together and locking them in a pact. That was her idea, not mine. Just like the time we went skinny dipping in the swamp and I got bit by a snake. One of these days, I'm going to tell her "no".

So, it's no surprise when she jumps on my bed Monday morning, waking me up from my blissful sleep. "C'mon, Cotton! Wake up!"

I groan and try to turn over, but it only causes her to pull back my soft blankets.

"I'm up, Rose. Cut it out!"

She squeals in glee and pulls me to my feet. "First day of summer break, can you believe it? What should we do? Go to the river? Visit the graveyard? Go throw eggs at the Smith's house again?"

Rose Charlotte also talks a lot. She rambles on and on, and it don't matter if I respond or not—she'll just keep talking until she runs out of breath.

Which is never.

"I don't know," I answer, yawning. "Let me get dressed first."

She follows me as I shower, brush my teeth, and get dressed. She helps me pick out a red, ruffled dress, long gray socks, and red rain boots. By the time I'm finished, my sisters are already downstairs eating breakfast.

"Mornin', Cotton." Ma kisses me on my forehead and slides me a plate of warm blueberry pancakes. Rose takes some too, drowning hers in butter and syrup until the blueberries disappear.

"Is Papa gone already?" I ask, chewing with my mouth open.

Ma nods, sipping on a cup of Joe as she leans against the counter. "You know your father. Leaves early and comes home late. Said he was tracking a big one today and wanted to check his traps."

Papa's been tracking the big one since I was born. He ain't never gonna catch the mysterious gator, but he sure doesn't give up trying. Personally, I don't think it even exists.

Ma glances at the clock on the wall that ticks too loudly for my liking, and almost spills her drink from setting it down too quickly. "Oh! I'm going to be late. I've got to run to Mary's house to help bake for the cake walk this weekend. I declare, seems like we just had one. Y'all behave while I'm gone. No playing inside the house, understand?"

She directs that last part to AJ and Jessie, who smile innocently. "Yes, Ma."

They'll be knocking out windows before she even steps out the door.

"I love you girls." Ma kisses each of us on the cheek, even Rose Charlotte. After she leaves, my sisters are just as anxious to cause mayhem as Rose is.

"Can we go fishin'?" AJ asks, putting her plate in the sink.

"I don't know," I murmur.

"I don't know," Jessie repeats.

I shoot her a glare and toss my napkin on the table. "I've got to practice my baton today."

Rose Charlotte pouts her bottom lip. "Shucks, Cotton. You're always practicing. The pageant ain't for another month. Let's have fun today."

She doesn't understand how I can't just wing it. I won Miss Forks County last year, but I want the state title. Ma's the one that got me started when I was two, and I've been competing ever since. Rose is so pretty she could enter the pageant with me, but she says she wants to be a gospel singer.

Three sets of pitiful eyes look at me until I give in. "Fine. But I ain't going fishin'. These are my good boots, and the last time we went we all fell in after Jessie tipped over the canoe."

AJ gives Rose Charlotte a high five in victory. "Oooh, I know. Maybe we should go visit the Masens."

After last night with Rowdy, I'm feeling shy. Maybe I hadn't heard him correctly. I stand up and clear the table, making sure it's clean before Ma comes home. "Now why would we do a thing like that?"

"'Cause we're bored. And I wanna see that Jasper fella. He called me darlin'." AJ flutters her eyelashes all dreamy-like and I hope she ain't catching feelings. She's too young to be liking boys, and especially ones that smell.

Rose Charlotte scrunches her nose and frowns. "The Masens? Aren't those the ones that walked right in during the middle of my song?"

I nod. "Yep, and they're a bunch of thieves too. Papa said they've been messing and stealing his stuff."

Maybe not Rowdy, but I wouldn't put it past the other two. I can't prove his innocence, but I just don't see him as the type. Not anymore.

"That's a lie!" AJ cuts in. "I asked Jasper and he said he didn't even know what I was talking about."

Of course he didn't.

I sigh, not even bothering to get into a debate with her. "Fine. We'll go visit, but I'm not staying for long. I bet they're not even home."

.

.

.

The walk to the Masen's house isn't a long one, but it's narrow and twisted. Jessie picks blackberries from the bushes the entire way, and by the time we arrive her mouth is shades of purple and blue. Their farmhouse sits back a ways from the road and we have to travel down an unpaved driveway that's covered with weeds. It's two stories high, but all the paint has peeled off and the roof is missing shingles here and there. Seems like they neglect their house just as much as they neglect themselves.

AJ knocks on the door first and keeps on knocking until Rowdy answers with a smirk on his face "Mornin' ladies. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Where's your brothers? AJ and Jessie want to play."

"They're doing their chores," he answers, leaning one arm against the cracked doorway. "I suppose you want to play too?"

I don't know what he means by that so I just say, "Go get 'em."

He laughs and I know his sweetness from the previous night is long gone. He's back to being a smart aleck and saying things I don't understand.

I can hear him telling Esme they're all leaving. She practically shoos them away, saying she needs to rest. Jasper and Emmett walk out first, but it takes about two minutes before Rowdy comes back. When he does, his hair has something in it and his face looks … different.

Cleaner, almost.

"What are we doing?" Jasper asks, standing a little too close to AJ.

"Going to the river," Jessie answers. "But we ain't going canoeing or swimming 'cause Cotton don't want to."

Mind your business, little girl.

"You don't like takin' a dip in the river?" Rowdy leans over and puts a grass stalk in his mouth. "I reckon a girl like you would."

"A girl like me?" I frown and cross my arms. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He chuckles. "Nothin'. You're just a cottonseed still."

I ignore his nonsense and AJ starts walking behind their house and through the field to get to the river. Rowdy lags behind, not even bothering to catch up. AJ and Jasper are having their own conversation. Rose Charlotte and Jessie keep trying to guess foods that Emmett doesn't eat.

"Keep up," I tell Rowdy, slowing my pace to walk beside him.

"I am," he bites back, shoving me to the side. When he does, I stumble and the hem of my dress gets caught between two sticks in the high grass.

I tug, but it doesn't come undone.

Rowdy stops walking and reaches down with a groan. "Here, let me help."

"I've got it," I say, but I don't really. He watches me struggle for a few seconds then leans over again, breaking the sticks and unsnarling a loose thread.

"See? If I wouldn't have been here, you would've been standing out here for days." I feel his fingers lingering near my thigh, even though I'm free.

"I would've survived," I argue bitterly. Rowdy helps me stand steadily on two feet, but doesn't let me storm away.

"I suppose you would've. Cotton don't need much water to live."

"Har, har," I reply. "Is that supposed to be funny?"

Rowdy shakes his head. "Naw. It's true. It can survive for long periods of time in the dry heat, that's why it's grown in the South."

"So?"

Rowdy throws his arm around me and locks one of my curls around his finger. I mind it and I don't. He grins down at me as we follow behind the others.

"But once in a while, in order for it to bloom, it needs to get a little wet."