A/N: Hey guys, I finally got the new chapter up, I'm sorry it took so long! I hope you all enjoy it (:
The first month of school sped by pretty fast, for Rose anyway.
It also passed with a lot of lonely moments; Jenna hadn't been spending any time with Rose. In fact, it seemed like she was trying to avoid her completely. Rose had been trying for days to figure out what she had done wrong and it all came back to the same thing; she hadn't done anything.
It was lunchtime on the first Saturday in October and Rose figured that it would be the easiest day to find Jenna and confront her about what was going on.
The first time Rose had mentioned anything to Jenna about where she had been, she mumbled something about the lake and then told her it was nothing, so that was where Rose was going to start.
Rose walked out into the bright sunlight; it was a beautiful day and there were many students hanging around the lake.
Jenna wasn't that easy to spot; she was shorter than the average girl by at least a head. Rose had to walk right to the shore of the lake to find her.
There she was, in the centre of a large group of kids that would never even consider talking to Rose because they felt like she wasn't "cool" enough, so now she wondered why Jenna was suddenly in their good books. They were all laughing at something Jenna had said and then someone else got up and moved to the middle; it looked like some type of game.
Rose mustered up some courage and called out to her friend. "Jenna?"
Some of the people in the group looked over at her and didn't bother to hide their laughter before pointing Rose out to Jenna, who rolled her eyes when she saw the girl. Rose was taken aback by her friend's actions, but she didn't move an inch while she waited for Jenna to approach her.
"What do you want?" Jenna hissed so that only Rose could hear.
Rose blinked rapidly and stared wordlessly at Jenna; she had never used that tone with her.
Rose finally found her voice. "What's you're problem?"
"What's my problem?" Jenna repeated. "You're suffocating me."
Rose heard the laughter from the group of people standing behind Jenna, but she ignored them and continued to stare Jenna directly in the eye.
"And I guess the mature way to go about dealing with that is to avoid me?" Rose asked slowly.
A boy strutted over to Jenna and grabbed her hand. Roses' eyes widened as she wondered if a boy was the real reason Jenna had been ignoring her.
"Jen is everything ok?" he asked with genuine concern.
From the look the boy gave her, he hadn't heard many good things about Rose.
"Everything is fine," Jenna said sharply. "I'll be right back."
Jenna grabbed Rose by the wrist and led her out of earshot from the rest of the group.
Rose looked down at the girl expectantly, waiting for an explanation.
"Look, Rose, I didn't want it to happen like this and I was really hoping that you wouldn't confront me. I started dating Jasper right after we came back to school and he's very selective about who he talks to, so I had to chose between you and him."
Rose could feel the tears welling up in her eyes. "I'm pretty sure I know who your choice is."
Jenna just nodded, she didn't apologize and she didn't even look remotely sorry. Rose couldn't believe that this had been her best friend for so long and all it took too end their friendship was a pair of lips and some wandering hands.
Rose knew that if she stayed any longer the water would begin to spill out of her eyes, but there was one more thing she wanted to do. She drew back her hand and brought it back down across Jennas' face. The sound was loud enough that she was sure that Jenna's new friends heard it, so instead of waiting for them to come and see what had happened, she turned and ran back to the castle with the tears finally escaping her eyes.
Rose didn't pay any attention to where she was going; she let her feet do the thinking and ended up in the library. It was empty when she walked in, what person in their right mind would spend this gorgeous Saturday in the library? She sat down at the first table she passed, rested her head down and continued letting her tears flow.
Everything was spinning around so quickly in Roses' head and she was having a hard time collecting her thoughts. What kind of person chose a boy that they had just met over their friend? What kind of person would make someone choose between them and their friends? Rose wasn't sure who she was more annoyed with in the situation.
The silence in the library was starting to become more eerie than calming and Rose was trying to think of somewhere else she could go and collect her thoughts. When she was about to stand up, she felt a strong hand on her shoulder.
Rose didn't want to see anyone, she didn't care who it was. She was going to turn around and tell the person to go away, but she couldn't even find her voice.
"Hi Rose!" the voice said; it was James.
Rose tried to force a smile for him, but she knew it was no use because she was still crying and James' face suddenly became very concerned.
James had the tendency sometimes to be very overprotective of Rose. Most of the time he didn't even act that way with Lily, but she seemed to be able to handle herself without protection from her brothers.
"What happened?" he asked. "Who do I need to hex?"
Rose shook her head. "Nothing, I'm fine."
James shook his head. "I know you too well; you're lying."
Rose didn't know how to convince him because he was right, he would be able to tell if she was lying.
"James, you don't need to get involved, I'm a big girl," she tried to joke.
James didn't laugh and he sat down next to her.
"Rose, I swear if you don't tell me I'm going to go and get Albus and Hugo and we will find out," he threatened.
Rose looked at look in her cousins eyes and knew immediately that he was serious, but instead of telling him what was wrong she just kept shaking her head.
"Rose, please," he begged.
Rose knew that he was only looking out for her, but she knew how her cousins and her brother fixed things for her and she wouldn't even wish that on Jenna or Jasper, no matter how mad she was at them.
"Fine, I'm going to get Albus and Hugo," he said standing up.
He wasn't bluffing; he was almost at the door.
"Wait!" she called.
James nodded and sat back down. "That's more like it."
"It's Jenna," Rose said simply.
James looked confused. "Is she alright?"
He had made the wrong assumption, he thought that she must have been sick or something and that was why Rose was upset.
"Yeah, she's fine – I mean, I guess so."
"What do you mean, you guess so?" James interrupted.
"I mean that we're not talking; only I didn't know it until today."
"Why?" James pressed.
"Apparently she met a boy and this boy made her choose between him and me because he's "selective" about who he talks to and obviously she chose the boy," Rose explained.
James shook his head. "You know you can do better than that witch, right?"
Rose couldn't help but laugh at her cousin's choice of words, but she really wasn't sure if she agreed with him.
"James, she was - is my best friend."
James looked at her skeptically. "Would a best friend do that?"
Rose shrugged. "I didn't think family would do that either, but look at Lily."
"Forget Lily, she'll get over her issues," James said.
Rose just shrugged her shoulders again. James draped an arm around her and gave her a light squeeze.
"Rose, don't worry about it, ok? You deserve better friends than that; to tell you the truth I never liked Jenna anyway."
Rose inched away from her cousin. "I'm not going to forget about it just like that."
"I understand that, but promise me you'll try. Don't just sit around and wallow in self pity."
Rose looked over at him. "I promise."
"Good," James said getting up. "I'm going to go find Anna, but maybe you can go find Albus."
Rose nodded. "Maybe I will."
James smiled. "I'll see you later, kid."
Rose smirked at him. "Bye."
James laughed and ruffled his cousin's hair before he left her alone again.
Rose decided that she would go up to the owlery to write to her parents and to Victoire, her cousin. She took her time walking to the owlery, because since she apparently had no friends anymore, she had no one that she had to meet.
The owlery was empty, except for the owls. Rose sat down on a ledge and pulled the parchment and quill she had brought with her.She thought about what she wanted to say and wrote her letter to Victoire first.
Victoire,
I miss home more than anything right now. I miss you and Teddy. I miss my mum and dad; I just really don't want to be at school right now.
Jenna isn't talking to me; she chose a boy over me. Can you believe that? She chose a boy over our friendship; lovely. I know you would never do that to me and you didn't, you made it a point to still include me in your life after you started dating Teddy.
Lily hangs out with the group that Jenna is friends with now, no wonder she acted so strange all summer. She's changed so much; I remember when she used to idolize you. But anyway, I think I past the point of caring about her if that's the way she's going to act.
James was ready to hex someone when I wouldn't tell him what was wrong with me. It was scary; I've never seen James so mad. If I didn't tell him, I think he may have stomped around like a dragon demanding that someone tell him what had happened to me; he probably would have breathed fire too.
Just so you know, our dear cousin also has a little secret, but don't say that I mentioned anything; he'd probably hex me for letting it "slip".
How are you and Teddy, by the way? I'm so rude, asking that when I'm about to end the letter, but you know me, my mind is a messy place, and some things just get overlooked.
Write me back soon,
Rose
Rose rolled the letter up as tight as she could and tied it to the leg of an eager school owl.
The owl took off out of the closest window and Rose began her next letter to her parents. It wouldn't be as long, she just wanted to let them know that she was doing ok; she was going to lie.
Mum and Dad,
I'm trying to keep my promise of writing every week, so please don't expect long letters from me all the time.
I'm doing great. My class are all going smoothly and I haven't been in any trouble. Speaking of trouble, you should write to Hugo and ask him what he has been up to. Don't say I told you.
I can't wait until Christmas, I miss you all already, but that's nothing new, I feel the same way every year. Can't I be homeschooled?
I'm kidding, don't worry. I need to be able to socialize with people my age once and a while.
Hope the family is well. Give them my love.
Rose
Rose rolled up her second letter and attached it to another owl and she watched it soar off through the sky. She got up from her seat once the owl was out of sight and left the owlery, with no where in particular in her mind to go.
Rose was walking down what seemed to be an empty corridor when she heard someone call her name.
"Rose!" the voice shouted. "We need to talk."
Rose knew the voice, but she hadn't heard the person address her in so long that she was shocked they still remembered her name; it was Lily.
She wasn't sure she wanted to turn around; Lily was yelling, that couldn't be a good sign at all.
Rose turned to face her cousin warily. "What do you want?"
Lily was glaring at her with piercing brown eyes, just like her mothers.
Rose tapped her foot impatiently waiting for her younger cousin to talk.
"You embarrassed me out there today," she hissed.
Rose was taken aback for a moment; that was the most childish thing she had ever heard, which was saying a lot because she had a lot of younger cousins.
"I embarrassed you? How do you think I feel, Lily? Damn it, Lil, my best friend told me today – in front of a large group of people no less, that she didn't want to be my friend and that she had chosen a boy over me. Let me tell you how I feel; I feel bloody great. Can I please beg your forgiveness for embarrassing you?" Rose yelled sarcastically.
Lily rolled her eyes. "Don't be so dramatic."
Rose's eyes widened. "I'm being dramatic?"
Lily nodded. "Yes."
Rose fought the urge to roll her eyes and just stared at Lily wordlessly.
Lily didn't give Rose another chance to talk. "Look, what Jenna did was the best thing for you. You wouldn't understand."
Rose snorted. "That is the biggest load of rubbish I have ever heard and that's saying something because I've heard so much out of your mouth."
Lily was finally at a loss for words and Rose took that opportunity to walk away.
Another week sped by for Rose and she hadn't spoken to Lily, Jenna or really anyone since the incident by the lake.
Rose was walking to the Great Hall for breakfast and she saw Jenna standing alone outside of the doors.
The look Jenna gave Rose was almost painful to look at and her mouth opened and closed like she wanted to talk to her badly.
"Hi," Rose whispered as she walked past.
"Rose, wait," Jenna commanded.
Rose turned slowly. "What?"
It was rude; Rose was never rude to anyone, but she wasn't sure how much more she could take.
"About the lake, I'm s-" but her words were cut short by a large group of people walking over to them.
The look on Jenna's face instantly turned cold and she turned and walked away.
Rose gave up the last shred of hope that she for them to ever become friends again.
