Disclaimer: Princess Protection Program and its characters belong to the Disney Channel and are borrowed here for the purposes of free entertainment.
A/N: Whenever I'm working on a longer story, short story ideas inevitably pop into my head. This story is written in a different style, told from Brooke's POV, and fills in some scenes I left out of All the King's Men. This part refers to events of Chapter 9.
2
The new girl looked lost.
I bit my lip and scanned the hall, but there was no one else around. That's when she spotted me.
"Hello. I am Rosie." Her smile caught me and pulled me in. "Do you know where this is?" Guess I'll do my good deed for the day. Maybe she'll tell me who styles her hair.
The handwriting on the slip of paper seemed familiar. I couldn't quite place it though. I squinted at the words. "Who wrote this?"
"My cousin." Her finger pointed and tapped the paper. "I should be attending this class next. Do you know it?"
I read the name aloud. "Harding. Yeah. I'll show you. Cool outfit, by the way."
Brown eyes twinkled at me. "Thank you," Rosie replied politely as she followed me.
The school bell was going to ring soon, so I walked a bit more quickly. "So Rosie, where you from?"
There was a long pause, I glanced back over my shoulder to make sure she was still there.
"I am from Iowa. I am Carter Mason's cousin."
"Oh." I said as I reached the door of her classroom. Oh. Well, that changes things a bit. I tried to keep my shoulders from visibly slumping in disappointment. "How long you visiting?"
"I don't know," Rosie said. She sounded sad, but I didn't ask why.
"Okay, here it is." I stopped and pointed making sure I did not linger in the doorway. I didn't want anyone to recognize me.
It could hurt my rep being seen with Carter's cousin. I'd have to wait until I found out what Chelsea thought of her and Chelsea never thought much good of anything having to do with Carter.
I was just turning away when I felt a light touch on my arm. Raising an eyebrow, I turned back to find Rosie giving me another sunny smile.
"Thank you for your assistance."
"No prob," I said lightly with a shrug. As I turned away again, I heard Rosie speaking to the teacher, answering roll call.
"Yes, I am Rosie González."
Even though I couldn't see it, I could hear the smile in her voice.
Moving down the hall, I was surprised to find an echoing smile had grown on my own lips. I quickly wiped it off, because the next class I had was with Chelsea and Chelsea would be sure to ask me why I was wearing a big dopey grin.
And for some reason, I didn't want to tell her.
Lunch came and the inevitable arrived with it. Rosie sat at a lunch table near where the four of us were sitting. Our group consisted of Bull, Donny, Chelsea, and myself. Proximity was all it took for Rosie to ping on Chelsea's radar. That, and the fact that half the lunchroom's attention had been drawn by the new girl as she picked a unique way to eat her lunch. Personally, it didn't matter to me if Rosie was using a knife and fork to eat a burger. My meager lunch paled in comparison, but Chelsea would never let me hear the end of it if she caught me eating a hamburger on a bun. My mind began to wander as I thought of the toppings I'd enjoy if that were my burger.
Chelsea's annoyed glare didn't touch the burger. She sneered with glee. "Check her out. Who does she think she is?"
Smiling from the aftereffects of my dreams of pickles and ketchup, I waved my fork and happily enlightened her. "Oh, I know. She thinks she's Carter's cousin."
Chelsea's eyes immediately narrowed and, instantly, I regretted letting that piece of knowledge slip.
Donny turned his head to grab another look at Rosie. He suddenly made an exclamation of pain and Chelsea pretended that kicking him had been an accident.
Chelsea leaned close to my side and lowered her voice. "She may be a loser like her cousin, but she's dangerous."
I didn't like her ominous tone. There was no way I'd get to exchange fashion tips with Rosie if Chelsea was already placing her on her list of enemies. "Really, why?"
"Are you serious? Look at her!"
I sighed wistfully. "Oh, I know. Totally love the hair."
Under the lunch table, something hard connected with my leg and pain shot up it. "Ow!" That was totally uncalled for. I thought Rosie had seemed pretty sweet and really nice. So what if the way she was eating her lunch had made the cafeteria buzz. It's just like somebody famous says: There's no such thing as bad publicity. But the way some of the guys, including Donny, were drooling over her put Chelsea in a decidedly bad, shin-kicking mood.
Chelsea encouraged everyone to laugh at Rosie's expense and sneered again when Carter joined Rosie at the lunch table. Then, Chelsea shrugged dismissively as if the two lunchmates were beneath her notice and went back to flirting with Donny.
He still hadn't asked her to the dance and the way he kept watching Rosie made me think he probably won't be asking Chelsea anytime soon. Chelsea liked getting her way and when she didn't, it always put her in a sour mood.
And when Chelsea was not happy that meant my life always got a little more complicated.
Then something happened that raised Chelsea's spirits considerably.
Principal Burkle had just announced that nominations had opened for Lake Monroe's homecoming princesses and the one with the most votes would become queen at the dance.
Rosie climbed up onto a chair and nominated Carter.
Carter's face turned red and she bolted from the cafeteria like her hair was on fire.
Rosie swiftly followed.
Chelsea threw back her head and laughed at current developments. The thought of Bait Girl being nominated against Chelsea would have made anyone laugh, right? So I laughed too, and nodded as Chelsea smugly said, "Looks like I'm going to be queen."
I couldn't help but think how confident Rosie had sounded when she'd nominated Carter. Chelsea had always pegged Carter as a loser, but thinking back on Rosie's nomination speech I couldn't help but wonder why Rosie had seemed so sure.
It made me feel unsettled.
Maybe she had special powers.
Maybe she saw something in Carter that none of us could see.