Another exhausting day at school, Rose thought as she sat on the stage. It was after school and she was waiting for Dave to show up. She hoped he wouldn't take an hour like he did the previous day. She had almost gotten kicked out of the theater by the nosy janitor who would always come inside to lock the theater up, but luckily Ms. Paint was still at the school.
Rose leaned against a box that was on the stage, finishing up some homework. She had told Kanaya that she'd meet her at the library down the road once she dropped Dave off at their house. Kanaya needed some help with their history homework. Rose had to admit that the layout of the homework was confusing, so she didn't blame her friend for needing help at all. Karkat had finished it earlier in class.
There were a few other people in the auditorium who were in Roses' Theater class. They were talking about plans for before the play each night. One of them mentioned going out to eat, but then someone else said that they should just go get food and then bring it back to the school. Another one said they would probably just go get some snacks and bring them back, then work on homework. Rose thought that she'd finish her homework on those days if she had any, and then goof off with Kanaya, Karkat, and Dave. They had already said they would stay after, Dave mainly because he didn't have another ride. The other two were going to see the play, anyway.
After what seemed like forever, Dave finally showed up. Rose put her books in her bag and walked out of the auditorium. "You take forever. Where do you even go after school?" Rose asked, raising an eyebrow at her step-brother.
"I go talk to Tav and Gamz. Droppin' some sick beats, yo." Dave replied. He immediately started beat boxing. Rose immediately told him to stop, saying she already heard enough of it at home between him and Dirk. Of course, she was just joking around.
"Anyway, when we get home, will you tell everyone that I'm going to the library to help a friend with homework so they won't wonder where I'm at?" Rose asked as she opened the trunk to her car. She put her bag inside, which was followed by Dave putting his bookbag inside. He shut the trunk while Rose unlocked the car and got inside, starting it up.
"I guess. Who are you helping?" Dave asked as he got in the car.
"Kanaya. The layout of our history homework was really confusing, so I don't blame her for needing some help." Rose remarked. Once Dave was situated, she started driving to their house.
…
After dropping Dave off, Rose headed to the library. She was there in no time, and walked inside with her bag. "Hi Rose! How are you?" A cheerful voice said when she walked inside. Rose looked, to see that it was Johns cousin, Jane.
"Oh, hi Jane. I'm doing good, how are you?" Rose said in return with a smile. Jane told her about how her day was working at the library. Not a lot of people came to the library anymore, but enough to keep it up and running. Rose apologized for that, but at least there was some business
"There you are, Rose," a voice said. Rose turned her head to see Kanaya walking towards her from behind a bookshelf.
"Hey, Kanaya, sorry it took me so long to get here," Rose replied. "Excuse me, Jane. I need to help her with some homework we have for history." Jane nodded and let Rose go off. Kanaya led Rose to the table where she had her work at. The two girls sat down. "Okay, so what do you need help with?" she asked.
"Well, I don't really get what you do for this part," Kanaya said as she pointed to one section on the paper. "Do you, like, fill in the blank and then color it, or do you color what you think is right and then fill in the blank?"
"Oh, yeah, that got me too. It would help if there were directions," Rose chuckled. "I just filled in the blanks and then colored it. And then for this next part, it's opinionated, so you just write what you think would have been right depending on the question. See?" she said as she pointed to one of the questions in the next section.
"Yeah, I see now. It would help if there were directions, but I guess they thought average teenagers were clever enough to figure it out," Kanaya said. "Which is kind of stupid. They expect too much of us."
Rose perked up a little bit. Now this was a topic she could get into. "I agree with that so much. Not all teenagers take 8 AP classes a year and have a GPA of 4.0, it's stupid to think they do!" She said.
Kanaya nodded. "For real! And then the AP teachers tell their classes that they're better than the other kids simply because they're in AP classes... Like, really? Either of us could be smarter than an AP kid."
"Oh I know! It's absolutely ridiculous. But that's school for you, full of prejudice and douchebaggery." Rose sighed. Kanaya chuckled, saying she loved Roses' word choice there.
Kanaya finished her homework and the two girls just talked for a little while. Not really about anything– just whatever came to mind. Rose kind of started gossiping about people at the school who would tend to judge on contact, and who Kanaya should stay away from if she met them. Of course, the Maryam girl could already tell who did things like that after experiencing so many of them judging her for her height. It made Rose mad that people would try to make her feel bad for her height. It's not like she could even help it, really. She wasn't even that tall, just a little bit taller than average for a female.
"Well, I promise they probably won't say anything to your face as long as they see us hanging out. Nearly everyone at the school is intimidated by the 'goth', as they call me. I don't even consider myself goth, but y'know, it's whatever," Rose said with a shrug and a smile. "So, it's already seven o'clock... Do you need a ride home or something? If you do we could stop and get some food."
"Wow, already seven? Yeah, if you don't mind giving me a ride home, that would be great... But I don't have any money for food right now. We could just go some other time, though, if you want too." Kanaya said with a smile in return. For some reason, that struck Rose. There was a brief hint of a fuzzy feeling in her stomach. Which was weird.
"Ah, okay. How about we go on the play nights after the play? It'll be late, but who doesn't like late night food?" Rose said. "But for the record, I don't mind paying."
"No, that sounds great! I'd feel bad if you payed for me, so we can do that and I'll bring my own money," Kanaya exclaimed. She seemed a little flustered. Rose giggled and mocked her for being so silly.
The two girls packed up their belongings and walked out to Roses' car after saying goodbye to Jane. They both put their things inside of the cars trunk, then got inside. "So, where do you live at?"
"It's not that far, really. Just like eight minutes. I'll show you the way, it's easier since I'm bad at giving directions." Kanaya chuckled. Rose smiled and started up her car.
"Works for me." She said. She's actually.. Really cute. Rose thought as she pulled out of the parking lot and got onto the road. "So where from here?"
"Okay, so you go to the first intersection down this way, and then you turn left, where the the train tracks are at." Kanaya said.
"Oh, so you live down close to that Elementary school?" Rose asked as she reached the intersection. She stopped the car and waited for the light to turn green. Then, she turned.
"Yeah. Actually down the road across from it." Kanaya responded.
"Wait, near that small convenient store?" Rose asked, to which the other girl nodded. "I know exactly where you're talking about. We used to live down here until my mom married Dave's dad. Well, they call him 'bro,' but he's actually their dad."
"That's really cool, actually," Kanaya said. They went down several turns. Kanaya directed Rose on where to turn from the convenient store. It turned out that Kanaya lived in the exact neighborhood where Rose, Roxy, and their mom used to live. They hadn't lived there at the same time, though. But still, it was odd.
Rose pulled up in the driveway and the two girls got out of the car. Rose opened the trunk and handed the taller girl her book bag. "Thanks for the ride, Rose," Kanaya said with a smile.
"You won't get in trouble will you?" Rose asked as she shut the trunk.
"Nah, my mom will understand. She knows about my little friend group," Kanaya replied. She gave Rose a hug, to which Rose hugged her back. "See you tomorrow, Rose."
"Yeah, see you tomorrow..." Rose smiled. She was kind of surprised at the hug Kanaya gave her. It made her feel warm. Not only that, but in thinking about it, Rose realized that she was blushing as she watched her walk inside of her house. She waved to the Maryam, who waved back. Then shut the door.
"Uh-oh." Rose whispered to herself as she stood there. She got inside of her car and started the engine. Something about Kanaya had captivated Rose, and she could tell, despite it being more subtle than obvious. The problem was; she didn't know if she liked it or not.
