As Rose woke up for the second time, she turned over and stretched. She checked the time, and smiled. Eleven in the morning, more her style. Her head felt better, and she was definitely in a better mood. She felt guilty about snapping at Mickey like that, but he just didn't know when to stop. He cared to much, and Rose didn't need him as much as she did before. Mickey had been there for her during the Jimmy Stone incident last term, and she was grateful for that, but Mickey needed to realise that Rose was okay now. She had John.

She pulled her phone out from her bedside drawer, and checked her messages, she quickly noticed one from Martha, and opened it.

10:52

Hiya Rose. Was wondering if you wanted to meet up today? Bring whoever you like, but maybe not Shareen. I don't think she likes me much.

Rose smiled, somehow Martha seemed to come across so cute and vunerbale over text, when in real life she was definitely equally as confident as Shareen, but more focused. She quickly texted back,

Sounds good. Mind if I bring John, if he's about?

Martha texted back immediately,

John, the new boy? I heard you two where erm… getting close the other night at Amy's

Oh God. Is the whole school talking about that or something?

Pretty much.

Well I'll stop the rumours now. We're just mates. He's nice, you'll like him. Super smart.

Okay, bring him to mine. We can head up town or something.

Ok

Rose quickly sat up, suddenly excited at the idea of seeing John again, the thought sent butterflies to her stomach, and she quickly tried to supress them. John was her friend nothing more, she kept repeating to herself. She dialled John's number quickly, her heart beating faster with each beep. Finally after what felt like years, he answered.

"Rose Tyler, what can I do you for?"

"Hiya John" Hiya? When did I turn into a year seven?

"What's up?"
"Um, I was just wondering if you wanted to come out today."

"Out where?"

"Well Martha was wondering if we wanted to go up town with her, just hang about and that."
"Okay Rose Tyler. Sounds good. should I meet you at your estate in say an hour?"

"Sure."

John clicked off without saying goodbye, and Rose silently cringed at the word estate. She bet John lived in a massive house with marble pillars and umpteen bedrooms or something. Her and her mum were lucky to be in this two bedroom flat, as a lot of people on the estate with multiple kids had to put up with one bedrooms. She tried to push thought of John looking down on her out of her head, as he seemed to be a nice guy, and hadn't said anything about the estate before.

Rse quickly showered and washed her hair, changing into her nicer jeans, and off the shoulder top. John had only seen her dressed up or in school uniform, so she couldn't exactly meet him in her trackie bottoms like she would Mickey or Shareen. She blow-dryed and straightened her bleach blonde hair, frowning at her roots. She would have to get her mum to dye them again soon.

She applied heavy mascara, but kept down on the lipstick and foundation, sticking to a peach party lip gloss instead. She didn't want John to think she was trying too hard or anything. Looking outside at the slightly disappointing weather, Rose grabbed her pink zip-hoodie, and slipped her feet into her Nike trainers. They would have to do as most of her other shoes needed replacing. She glanced at the time, it was 11:45. It was at least another twenty minuets until John showed up, great. She pulled out her phone again, and dialled Shareen's number.

"Rose I'm about to leave to meet up with Carl, what is it?"

"I'm meeting John in twenty minuets, I need advice."

"Not exactly time for a bloody counselling session Rose"

"Come on Shaz, just tell me, how can I know if he really likes me or not?"

"Rose, if he really likes you, you'll know. Now piss off the phone, because I see Carl and he's got the sexiest new haircut, oh Rose you really should- YEAH CARL OVER HERE DARLIN', I'll see ya Rose."

And with that Shareen hung up the phone and Rose rolled her eyes. Typical Shaz, picking a bloke over her, as usual. She played her fingers over the buttons on her phone, eager to ring John and see if he was going to be here any time soon, so she didn't want to look to desperate.

With a need to be distracted, she dialled Jack's number.

"Rosie sweetheart, what can I help you with? Done with your superhero John and ready to move on to a bit of Harkness?" he joked. Rose rolled her eyes and laughed through the phone.

"Very funny Harkness, if you must know I'm just trying to kill time before John meets me."

"Ooh, going on a date are we? Kinky"

"Oh shut up. It's not a date, we're meeting up with Martha actually."

"Jones? That's hardly going to be fun. Don't get me wrong, I like Martha, but you know what they say, three's a crowd."

Rose bit her lip, she hadn't thought of that. She wanted to spend time with John but she didn't want to leave Martha out. "Crap, I didn't even think of that. I can't blow her off, she invited me out. I asked if I could bring John."

"I'll tell you what sweetie, I will cancel the movie I've got with Stacey Lee in lower sixth, and come out with you guys. Stop Martha from playing gooseberry."

"Oh Jack thank you so much. I don't even want to imagine how awkward that would be."

"No problem Rosie, I will text Martha and sort it out and meet you at her house"

"Thank you, again" she said, hanging up the phone and smiling, Jack always knew how to fix things in an instant. Rose was lucky to have him, as Jack was like a brother to her. He had been there for her through her troubles with Jimmy and before that. Sometimes he joked that he was secretly in love with her, but Rose felt it more as a family relationship. Jack was like her older brother.

As she hung up she noticed a text from John.

I'm at the swings.

Her heart skipped a beat unexpectedly and she looked in the mirror for a final time. Jackie had gone out to meet up with the bingo girls, so she left a note on the side saying that she was going out to meet Martha John and Jack. Then she thought again, and quickly scribbled out the John part. She didn't need unnecessary hassle from her mother about the new boy on the scene. Not that John was on her scene or anything. Not that she hoped he wanted to be, or that she even cared. John was just a mate, for god's sake, he had made that plenty clear.

She headed out the door, slipping her key underneath the mat once again and took a deep breath. She zipped her hoodie up and began her descent down the stairs, becoming aware that she was being watched. She looked out and noticed Mickey, staring at her. And there was a boy next to him, a tall boy with gravity defying hair and red converse. Her heart skipped at least three bits when she realised Mickey was standing there, with John.

She cringed internally, trying to avoid a blush on her cheeks as she sped up her pace and trotted down the stairs. What was Mickey saying to him? Was he trying to scare John off? She was so angry at Mickey, and her hands subconsciously balled into little fists at her sides. Mickey had absolutely no right to intrude in her private life like this. Him and John weren't friends, and they had barely said two words to each other before. Mickey clearly had no other reason to talk to him, than to ward him off of Rose. God he was so protective sometimes, he needed to realise that Rose wasn't the naïve kid she was over the summer. In the past few months, she had grown up a lot more.

She tried to keep her face smiling as she headed into the swings where the boys were. John was leaning against the wall casually, one foot resting on the wall, taking sips out of a can of coke. God he looked cool, Rose thought to herself before scolding herself internally. It was becoming harder to tell herself that John was just her friend. Mickey was standing slightly in front of John, his pushbike resting against the wall. They stopped their conversation and both turned, to face Rose.

"Y'alright Rose?" Mickey asked "Me and John were just chatting, he was waiting for you."
"Yeah well, we're going out." Rose said, and then blushed furiously as both John and Mickey raised their eyebrows, "No, no not like that. Wrong choice of words. We're going to meet Martha, and Jack is tagging along too." She said quickly, trying to cover up what she let slip. Luckily John just smiled, a lopsided grin. "We should probably make a move then," he said, motioning his head to the exit of the estate. Mickey's face was straight, void of any emotion. John hadn't noticed this, so he just smiled and held his hand out to Rose, who took it immediately. "Nice chatting to you, Rickey" he said, before walking off with Rose, clutching her hand gently. Rose worried if her hands were sweaty and clammy, but tried to keep a straight face. They were a little way out of the park, when Mickey called out, "It-it's Mickey!" but unfortunately for him, John clearly wasn't paying attention.

He swung his arm, swinging Rose's too, one hand tucking into the pocket of his long brown trench-coat, and turned to face Rose. He didn't say anything, but just smiled again, and Rose found herself smiling back, twice as wide.