A/N – Okay, I know this is late but it's here now. The reason why it's took me so long to get around to writing this chapter is because I only had one reviewer (who rocks, by the way!) and I just got disheartened by it I guess. So please, I'm only asking for one little thing and t really means a lot hearing what you think, so just please take the time to review.
Chapter 4 – A Little bit of Heaven and a little it of Hell
Flashback – The same day, just before school
Every morning was the same, thought Jackie. Rose, one of the people who worked for Jackie's dad, would wake her up, make her breakfast, and take her to school. Every day she'd tell her that her dad would pick her up in the afternoon and that she'd see her after school. It was becoming quite routine. Today however, unknown to Jackie, was different. As they drove towards the school Jackie sat chatting happily about her clothes when they turned the corner, they saw Hyde walking to school by him self.
Jackie pointed him out to Rose; he didn't look anything like she had expected him to look. Jackie had told her so much about him, she already had a picture of him built up in her mind, but the boy who she saw looked so much more innocent than the deliquent Jackie descibed.
'Okay here we are.' Rose stopped the car. 'I'm not sure who's picking you up tonight, but i'll see you later anyway.' She gave Jackie a kiss on the cheek. 'Have a good day at school.' Jackie got out of the car. 'Oh, and dont forget you've got your dance lessons after school, okay?'
'Okay, i'll see you tonight Rosie! Wait.' Jackie turned to face her. 'Can we make brownies tongiht?'
'Sure, i'll pick up the ingredients on the way home.' She smiled. 'No go, your gonna be late.'
After she watched Jackie enter the buiding she turned the car around and headed back down the road but when she saw Hyde stood next to a tree and so she stopped the car before she could even think about it.
She treated Jackie like a daughter and after hearing about Hyde making fun of Jackie at her own birthday party; she couldn't not say anything, right?
'It's Hyde isn't it?' He simply nodded after hearing this stranger speak his name. 'I'm one of Jackie's maids.'
'I'm happy for you.' He said and started walking towards the school.
'Wait! I heard about you making fun of Jackie at her party.' She blurted out to get his attention back.
'I didn't make fun of her.' He stopped and turned around looking confused. 'Did she tell you that?'
'Yeah, she said you were mimicking her, behind her back. You didn't do that?'
'Well…. Yeah, but in all fairness she wasn't supposed to see that.' He smirked
'Yeah, well she did. And I think you should apolo-'. Rose gasped and clutched her stomach.
'Are... you okay?' Hyde asked, not sure what had just happened.
'Yeah, I'm fine, I just-' this time she let out a long painful moan.
'Are you sure?' Hyde said getting worried, should he call a paramedic?
Rose looked to Hyde, with her eyes watering. 'You need to listen to me okay?'
Later That day… again
(Continued from last chapter)
'Are you okay?' He asked quietly.
'I am now.' She replied in a small voice.
Oh my god. This isn't a dream; he's really here, stood two small feet away… just staring. He's probably going to yell at me for making Donna cry the other week. She took a step back as he took one towards her. Oh god… what do I do? He turned and started towards her bag. Well at least I look good, she thought looking down at her clothes, smiling to herself.
'Crap.' She heard him say quietly as he dropped her bag. She laughed at him for his clumsiness but after seeing his head turn she clasped he hand to her mouth to try and muffle the hideous noise she realised she was making. Oh no, did I just snort? Feeling her cheeks burn up, she could tell she had gone red and slapped her hand on her head embarressed, but after seeing him stand up and chuckle at her, she soon forgot her embarrassment and it was replaced with annoyance.
'What? Like you've never...'
C'mon Jackie think, never… snorted? Never… laughed… never… think, Jackie, think! After a couple of seconds of awkwardness she said the first thing that came to her mind.
'Shut up!' This just triggered his laughter even more. Great, that was brilliant, way to go, moron.
'I believe the phrase you were looking for was 'like you've never made a revolting noise'. As she opened her mouth to retaliate, he got there first. 'Wait… your not gonna tell me to shut up again, because that really hurt.' He laughed.
'It was nice of you to get my bag for me. You might wanna be careful though, behaviour like that'll make people think you actually have a heart.' She smirked to herself satisfied with her burn. As the expression on his face turned solemn.
'Hey, how's your mom?' Regretting the words as soon as they had left his mouth, he came to a stand still upon seeing tears begin to form in her mismatched eyes.
'Wait, I didn't mean… I just… don't cry.' Beginning to panic, he started frantically picking her things up from the pavement, trying to ignore the loud sobs that were now coming from the tiny brunette. He had only said that because he was angry, he didn't really want to hurt her, it was just the first thing he could think of.
'Tissues!' He yelled out as he saw some, they must have fallen from Jackie's bag, he thought.
'Tissues.' He said quieter when he turned to her with them displayed on his hand. Not knowing what to do, he stared at the tissues expectantly as if they would do something to make her feel better. But, instead looked back at her dismally when he saw it wasn't working. Edging closer to her with the tissues still held towards her, he hoped she would take one and stop crying. 'Tissue?' He said hopefully.
'Steven.' She whimpered putting her arms around him and sobbing into his shirt. All she had wanted to do all day was to go home and cry after he teacher had mentioned her mom, but after being fogotton, everything just built up.
Taking a quick scan around, to make sure no one was looking, Hyde slowly gave her a pat on the back, not sure of what else to do.
'So… you don't want a tissue then?' He asked tyring to break the silence and stop her tears at the same time.
She laughed into his tear stained chest. 'They're not my tissues.' She said slowly.
Dropping the tissues immediately, and rubbing his hand on the side of his jeans with a look of disgust on his face, he allowed her to continue hugging him, not sure if she was now crying or laughing.
'Come on.' He said, taking her arms from around him and putting them at her sides. 'I'll walk you home.' Picking up her bag they started towards her house.
After a couple of minutes of listening to nothing other than the sounds of their footsteps, Hyde decided that talking about anything would be the best thing to do right now. 'So why are you still here, anyway? I mean, school finished over an hour ago.' She looked up into his blue eyes and smiled. This was the first time she had, had a conversation that didn't revolve around school, or clothes or being popular or even her mom since she had started school.
'Why?' She continued to smile at him.
'Just making conversation. I had detention, which is why i'm still here, so what's your excuse?' He wasn't really just making conversation, he was actually curious to why her dad hadn't picked her up instead of leaving her to walk to other side of town alone.
'I don't know.' She answered honestly, not wanting to give him more ammunition to burn her next time they came to argue and at the same time not wanting to lie to him.
'Oh.' He answered not wanting to sound too eager to find out what had happened.
'Won't your Mom wonder why you're late?' Her mismatched eyes caught his blue ones whilst trying to make conversation but instead saw something she had not expected, anguish and even his eyes watering.
'Nah, she's probably at work anyway.' He said clearing his throat.
'What's up with you and your mom?' She pressed, not being as tactful as Hyde.
'What do you mean?' They turned the corner. He put his hands in his pockets acting aloof. Unfortunately for him, she could see straight through this behaviour, after all; she invented it. She had been acting like that since she had started school. Most teachers and some of the other kids had asked about her mom and she found the best way to deal with it, was to ignore it.
'It's just… when I asked, about you mom, you looked… you liked like-'
'I looked what, Jackie?' He said stopping and turning to her, annoyed.
'You looked like I did when my mom left.' She replied, with her hands on her hips and a determined look in her eyes.
'My mom's still here. She's just…' He let out a breath, unsure of what he was about to do. 'okay, if tell me why your dad didn't pick you up then I'll tell you about my mom.' If he was gonna fess up about his mom, then she was gonna have to give him something to bargain with.
After thinking carefully she turned and started walking again, with him following closely behind.
'He's away on business. He won't be gone for long, usually the help pick me up, but I guess he forgot to tell them or something. Now your thing.'
'Wait, you've got no one looking after you at home?' He said stopping again.
'That's not what I said.' She turned around to look at him. 'Rose, one of the maids, cooks for me, she takes me to school and picks me up when my dad's not here. She even keeps me company when I'm bored and helps me with my homework, when I get stuck.' She turned back again and carried on walking, hearing his footsteps close behind she continued talking.
'She's never forgot to pick me up before, even when my dad goes away suddenly, she's usually here. She's the only one of the maids that I like. All the rest of them are alright, but they don't speak much English and when my mom left my dad hired Rose so I wouldn't be alone all the time. Why wouldn't she be here?'
'Well…' Hyde said catching up. 'It's like you say, she probably just forgot.'
'No.' Jackie starting to worry. 'Rose wouldn't forget, she just… wouldn't.' She started speeding up as they crossed the road.
'Maybe she didn't know. Your dad maybe didn't tell her.'
'Stop with the Maybe's!' She stopped again out of breath, this time. 'You don't understand, since my mom left, Rose has always been there. When I cried, she was there; she'd make me feel better. When I come home after school, she come's up to my room, every night without fail, she brings me my dinner and let's me talk about my day, then I go downstairs with her and help her make desert. If I'm not back by now, she'd have come looking for me. She was supposed to take me to dance lessons after my desert, why isn't she here? She should be here.' Starting to panic, Jackie turned on the spot and began to sprint home.
Not knowing what had just happened, Hyde ran after her, almost colliding with her as she stopped and watched an ambulance go past.
'Jackie, what's going-' without even letting him finish his sentence she began to run again. It didn't matter, nothing he could say would matter to her right now. It was just back ground noise as she heard her name being yelled. The tears streaming down her face were blown away by the wind as soon as they fell and the pain in her side that kept increasing intensity as she ran, was nothing compared to the knot in her heart.
Her mind racing, she turned the corner and crossed the road not caring that a car was coming towards her. The tyres screeched as the car came to a halt and the driver beeped his horn and yelled out the window at her as, but all she could hear was the her heart beat getting faster, louder with every step. She burst through her door and carried on running.
'Rosie, I need to see you now!' She screamed, running towards the kitchen, taking a quick scan of the room then jolting back out the door. 'Rose?!' She ran to the living room, and searched the room for her. Turning back she saw a maid with a basket of clothes walk by. 'Hey you.' The maid stopped. 'Where's Rose?'
'Miss Jackie. Rose…Er…' The maid got flustered when she saw Jackie's tears. She didn't know much English and didn't know how to explain.
'Rose!' Jackie yelled. 'Where's Rose, where is she?'
'Rose… Er… accident, she not well for long time, paramedic… dey tell me Rose die. Nothing they dey, dey try everyting.' She bowed her head and left the room.
Jackie didn't even notice the maid leave. She couldn't seem to take in what she had just heard from her. Unable to hold her self up any longer she fell to the cold marble floor and started to grieve for the only person who had ever truly loved her, unconditionally; no strings attatched.
'Tissue?'
She felt a pair of warm, strong arms around her, and hearing that voice speak softly, she felt if possible, a little bit of heaven and a little bit of hell at the same time.
Flashback – The same day, just before school
'Okay, listen kid. You need to make sure Jackie's okay.'
'What are you talking about, Jackie's fine.' Hyde said confused as to why this strange woman was asking him to do this.
'I'm ill, and I'm all she's got. I don't think I'm gonna be here much longer, just do me a favour and make sure that when she cries, she's not alone.'
'What do you mean? I don't understand what you're talking about.'
'Her mom's not around Hyde, I can't really talk about it. But she's been left all alone without having any one there for her, before. I don't want that to happen again, and if I'm not here I need to know she's gonna have someone.' Rose looked at him with heart felt tears. She knew she was ill, but she was being treated and she thought she would get better to see Jackie through all the bad times.
'What do you expect me to do?' Hyde said taken aback.
'Just, be there for her. You owe it to her, right after you hurt her at her birthday party her mom left, just… just do what's right Hyde. She can't make it on her own, and when I'm gone, don't let her love get buried with me.' With that, her final words, Rose drove home for the last time.
In loving Memory of Nanna Rose
A/N2 – Okay, I know this may not be the best chapter, but it's the best I could do at the moment. I just wanted to write something to try and shift this writer's block I've had and I just didn't want to give up on this story because of lack reviews and lack of excitement about the last chapter. But I am glad I carried on and wrote this and hopefully the next chapter will be better. As always please Review. It makes me smile.
Next chapter – I'm not gonna put an next update date because I haven't been on time for the last two updates, and I think it's unfair to keep leading you all on lol. It'll be here once it's written, that's the best I can do lol.