A Wilting Rose

Spring Has Come

A/N This is the final chapter! On to something new next! So vote and comment if you like it! Thanks! ;)

'Rose! Rose, are you even listening to me?'

I jumped to my senses, and turned to see Lily looking at me sternly. Quailing under the look she gave me, I nodded quickly.

'Good,' she said, pressing on. 'So, you know, I really think you should.'

'Should what?' I asked, confused.

'Ahah,' reprimanded Lily. 'So you weren't listening after all!'

I sighed. Over the past week, Lily and I had grown closer, and I began to see someone under all the timid blinks. Lily Richards was in actual fact amusing, interesting, loyal ... and rather bossy. I hadn't had a friend, a proper friend, since my primary school days, and it was an almost brand new experience for me. No one had befriended me since Year Six, where there were no real bullies, only a few imbecilic boys who liked to insult. But, upon entering High School, things had changed. Friendship groups were broken and new ones were formed. People pressured others into things they never would have normally done, and people began to form their own opinions about everything. I was left tottering on the edge, until someone decided it would be fun to bully me, and everyone else followed suit, determined not to be left out or unpopular.

But now, I did have a friend. And I didn't just have a friend. I had Lily. Her personality mirrored my own; she was a 'nerd', she loved books, and she was bullied in her own year, though not quite so severely as me; she didn't have a Michelle.

We were sat comfortably in the library, eating lunch before afternoon assembly. I had just drifted into a world of my own; I was in my element, the library, and not only that, I was accompanied by someone who loved being here as much as I did. But now I was being shaken to my senses as Lily scolded me.

'I said, you should tell someone. About Michelle and all that. And that horrid Casey girl; she's in your form isn't she? Tell Mrs Thomas - I can't believe you've been suffering on your own all these years! It's not right and you know it.'

I smiled begrudgingly at her. 'I don't know. I just ... I guess I don't want their pity.'

Lily let out an odd noise; it sounded like a scoff and a 'pfft' combined. I looked at her oddly. 'What's the 'pfft' for?'

She opened her mouth to reply, but the bell interrupted her. We both sighed and collected our things, before heading out of the library and towards the Main Hall, for the whole school assembly that occurred twice a week. It was two floors down, and by the time we arrived the hall was mostly full. I bid goodbye to Lily, as she made her way forward to where the Year Tens were seated, and sat down where my form was - at the very back. I shifted my chair so it was slightly away from the others, and faced the front, where the headteacher was standing. Mr Wizen was something of a joke in our school, in that he was wizened and old, with wispy eyebrows and equally wispy head hair. When the chatter had died down, he began.

'Welcome, welcome,' he said, in a thin voice that could only be heard with particularly strained ears. 'We have a few notices to start the assembly off. Girls' hockey tonight is for Year Nines only, as they have a forth-coming match against Hurstford. Also, chess club is back on on Thursdays, in the library at break and lunch. Miss Bridges?'

Miss Bridges had just entered through the double doors behind Mr Wizen, smiling, and clutching a piece of paper in her hand. 'Sorry, sir; can I make a quick announcement?'

Looking slightly bemused, Mr Wizen gave a curt nod and stood to the side. Miss Bridges approached the front of the raised platform on which the teachers were standing, still smiling.