tennis court-rosénali

vulnerable

third-person pov:
"Ugh, my teachers actually hate me." Denali groaned shutting her locker after putting her books in.
"What did he do now?" Olivia asked.
"He gave me a D on my essay and I know that it wasn't that bad." the brunette sighed leaning against her locker and crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"Was it Mister Nelson?" Symone asked looking up from her phone.
"Yes of course it was him." Denali rolled her eyes.
"He doesn't give anybody good grades." Olivia explained resting a hand on the girl's shoulder.
"Yeah, you're right whatever..." Denali mumbled.

"Oh god... they're coming" the brunette said shaking her head.
"Who?... oh," Symone asked as she looked around and spotted who Denali was talking about.
It was the three most popular girls in school. Madison, Caitlyn, and Rosé. They basically ruled the school. Every time they walked through the hallway it was like time stopped. It became silent and everybody just stared at them. Most boys and even some girls had crushes on them, some were jealous of them and some didn't like them.
Denali was one of the people that couldn't stand them.

Olivia, Symone, and Denali only waited to see if they would insult them when they passed.
It was usually Madison that would say something mean and the other two would just laugh along before Denali snapped back at her.
The brunette noticed how something was wrong with one of them. Rosé. Her fake smile looked even faker than usual and she looked uncomfortable. But Denali didn't care enough to say something or think about it for too long.

"I hate the cheerleaders!" Denali sighed when the girls had disappeared behind the corner.
"Not all of them are bad." Olivia added.
"Yeah, Gigi is one of my best friends." Symone explained.
"Well, true but those three are unbearable." Denali said.
"Yeah, you're right." Symone agreed with her and Olivia nodded.

"I'll go now." Olivia pointed to the exit with her thumb while she threw her bag over her shoulder.
"Maybe we can hang out together later today." the girl suggested.
"Yeah I'll text you guys." the brunette said.
"Ok see you later." Olivia hugged the two and walked out of the school.

"Do you need a ride home?" Symone offered while fidgeting with her car keys in her hand.
"Oh, no thanks. I'll walk home." Denali smiled as she hugged her friend and they said their goodbyes.
Symone walked away and Denali took her AirPods out of her bag.
She took both of them out of the case and plugged them into her ears. She connected them to her phone as she played her playlist.

As she started walking out of school the song Affluenza by Conan Gray started playing and her mind wandered off to the blonde girl that passed her in the hallway.
She didn't know why she was thinking about her it's not that she cares about her in any way. It was probably just because the song reminded her of Rosé and that wasn't necessarily a good thing.

She walked to the beat of her music towards the shortcut that she takes daily while the wind blew her long brown hair behind her.
As she walked through the gate of the tennis court her eyes were fixed on her phone switching through the songs as she settled on the perfect one while her legs were still moving.
She looked up and noticed someone sitting in the corner of the tennis court with their knees held close to their upper body and their head buried in the palm of their hands.
It took Denali a moment to recognize who it was. She stood on that one spot not daring to take one step until she realized who it was. Rosé.
The brunette thought about what to do for a moment. She usually is always up to help people but she hesitated when it came to a person she strongly disliked.
But at the same time, Rosé has never done anything that harmed Denali.

She took a deep breath and slowly walked towards the girl.
As she stepped closer to her she saw the girl's shoulders move up and down slightly and she could hear her soft sob.
"Hi," Denali said quietly looking down at the blonde from where she was standing.
Rosé looked up at her after a few seconds.
"Hey." she simply said wiping off her tears with her sleeves quickly and trying to hide that she was crying.
Denali kneeled down in front of her and took out her headphones.
"I know that you were crying you don't have to do this. It's not a bad thing to show vulnerability." the brunette immediately tried to make her feel better.
The blonde only looked at her through blurry eyes without saying anything.
"You know what I'll just leave." Denali shook her head realizing it was probably a dumb idea but as she started to get up but Rosé quickly grabbed her arm.
"No... please stay," she said in between sniffles.
Denali sighed and sat down crossing her legs.

"Why are you here... at the tennis court crying?" the brunette asked.
"I could ask the same thing. Just minus the crying part." the Scottish girl chuckled awkwardly.
"Well, this is my shortcut. I always walk through this when I go home." Denali explained looking around the court.
"Can you now answer my question, blondie?" she asked locking eyes with Rosé.
"I'd rather not..." she mumbled into her knees making it barely audible for Denali.
"Ok that's understandable." the brunette said fumbling with her nails.

"I probably look a mess right now." Rosé giggled self consciously.
"I wouldn't say a mess but you do have some mascara running down your cheeks." Denali told her.
"Oh god..." the blonde leaned her face into her hands while shaking her head.
Denali placed her bag on her lap and started looking through it.
Rosé tilted her head slightly in confusion while she looked at the girl in front of her.
"Here." Denali handed Rosé a pack of makeup wipes.
Rosé gave her a shy smile and took the pack from her hand while her hand grazed over Denali's making her feel warm inside.
She pulled out a single wipe and used her phone camera as a mirror while she rubbed off the black stains from her cheek.
Denali had to pull her eyes away from the girl when she realized she had stared at her for too long probably.
When Rosé's face was free of the make up she gave Denali back her package of the clean makeup wipes and smiled at her.

"Thank you... but this never happened okay?" Rosé tried to make sure.
And just like that, all the walls around her built up again and the vulnerability was gone.
"Yeah... yeah of course." the brunette nodded.
With that, the blonde stood up and strutted away pretending as nothing had just happened.

Denali felt stupid for even thinking that the girl would change and that after this she would treat her any differently.
But Denali also didn't care. A good relationship ship with Rosé wasn't important to her.
Was it?