Fall ➳ lrh

Chapter Eight

Rose

I walked in the halls, my head held high. As people passed I could hear their compliments on my hair. What was weird is that Grace and her crew had been avoiding me all day, even Luke.

I walked into the cafeteria and to our table. Marlee caught sight of me first, nudging Michael.

"Hey guys." I said with a smile then sat down next to Luke. Grace smiled at me, I could tell it was fake. What the hell.

"Hey." They all mumbled. None of them met my eyes. I rose my eyebrows.

"Did I do something?" I asked, taking a bite of my sandwich. Luke shook his head but the others did nothing.

"Can I talk to you?" Grace asked, standing up from the awkward table. I nodded, following her into the bathroom.

Once we got in there Grace looked around then turned to me with her arms crossed.

"Do you want to date my brother?" She asked. I tensed, was this what she was mad about?

"Why?" I asked. Grace narrowed her eyes.

"Because," she started "he likes you Rose." She stated. I immediately shook my head.

"No he doesn't, we're just friends, Grace." She laughed a little.

"Are you blind?"

"What?"

"He's never acted like this with a girl, Rose. He treats you right. I can see it with you too. You like him. After your guy's date, or whatever that was, he wouldn't quit smiling. I see you guys together all the time. Just, if you two do end up together please don't break his heart."

***

I walked into social studies, going over to Luke and Casey. We haven't started on this project yet, I'm pretty sure we haven't even come up with a topic.

"What are we doing?" I asked. Casey smiled brightly at me.

"Hey Rose. I think we're gonna do something about the Darfur genocide." She said with a smile. Why the hell does this girl smile all the time?

"Cool." She nodded, turning to Luke who was looking at me.

"Sound good?" She asked. He nodded.

I reached under the desks and grabbed his hand. He intertwined our fingers. I turned and smiled at him. Casey cleared her throat.

"Let's get started on this."

***

"I saw you holding hands." I heard Grace squeal. I chuckled, shutting my locker and turning to her.

"Let's just go home." I mumbled. She laughed, nudging my shoulder.

"There's Luke now, bye." I opened my mouth to say something but she ran off before I could say anything.

"Hey Rosie." I rolled my eyes.

"Hey Lucas."

"You want to get some cookies with me later because I know this really good place." He said with a smile.

"Oh, cookies? Sure I would love too, Lucas." He smiled then grabbed my hand.

"Good. If you didn't want to I would've had to drag you." He teased. I rolled my eyes.

"Sure you would."