A Wide Spectrum (A Community Fanfic)

A Fun Week

After the little birthday party, Rose arrived at her Spanish 101 class. There was a couple cats asleep on their respective owner's desk, and a student had a hamster in their front shirt pocket. Chang noticed her new dog.

"Well hello Miss. McKinley, the second dog I've seen in class today."

Vanilla yawned as Rose wrote on her board: "I just got her today."

"Oh, it's your birthday today, I nearly forgot. How do we say happy birthday in Spanish? Feliz Cumpleanos!"

"Feliz Cumpleanos!" They said.

Rose wrote on her board: "Muchos gracias!"

"Very good, hold on to your pets, we're gonna go on a Chang of a ride this week."

They began class.

In the study group before the end of the day, they studied while discussing the Valentine's Day dance.

"I met this girl in Intro to Statistics today, her name is Sheila, she's blonde, she's pretty hot, I'm gonna ask her to the dance," Jeff said.

"Shirley, would you do me a huge favor-"

She interrupted Pierce.

"No way in Hell."

"I might go by myself, you don't have to have a date, you can date yourself if you want to," Britta said.

Then, a sleazy looking guy in Rose's Spanish 101 knocked.

"Hey...um..Rose McKinley right?"

She nodded and smiled.

"I thought I might find you here, I'm Dave, I'm in Spanish with you and...I was wondering of you wanted to go with me to the dance?"

She gasped, nodded, and smiled again.

"Great...I'll see ya then."

He left.

"You got yourself a date!" Britta said.

"He was kinda cute...reminded me of Freddie Prinze Jr.," Annie said.

"Freddie Prinze, the comedian?" Pierce asked.

"You're thinking of Freddie Prinze Sr."

"I'm too old to know who his son is apparently," he chuckled.

"Rose, we need to go shopping, just us girls!" Britta said.

"That's a great idea, a girl's night out before the dance, we could get our juices flowin'," Shirley said.

"Most of us are under 21, Rosie just turned 18, she can't drink."

"Mocktails then."

They continued studying.

A couple days before the dance, Britta, Annie, and Shirley knocked on Shayne and Rose's apartment door. Shayne answered.

"Britta, Annie, Shirley, what brings you here?"

"We wanna treat Rose to brunch and a new dress for the dance," Annie said.

"Oh aren't you so sweet, she told...I mean she wrote about Dave, he seems like a nice boy from what she's told me. She's never been to a dance before nor had a big day with friends so this will be an adventure for her."

She let them in.

"Do you want some coffee?"

"No thanks, we're saving that for brunch."

"Ok, her room is on the other side of the apartment right over there."

"I'll go get her," Britta said.

Britta went into Rose's room.

"Shayne can I ask you a question?" Shirley asked.

"Sure."

"You and the dean are brother and sister right?"

"Yep, same parents, ten years apart, me being older."

"You two seem to not like each other, I mean I have kids and they do argue sometimes which is a healthy amount of arguing but you and Craig...argue about Rose."

"It's a long family affair, you wouldn't wanna hear."

"Oh girl I understand, could you give us a small summary. Like, what happened to her parents, how did she get to be with you?"

"Well, her dad left when she was little, her mom died several months later of uh...overdose," she whispered the last word.

"I'm so sorry Shayne."

"Thanks, Craig wanted her but I ended up getting her."

"Oh...I pray for her every night Shayne, she's a gift."

"She is, she's so innocent and kind."

Britta walked out with Rose in tow.

"Rose has the coolest room, all those posters of Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan; she even has nunchucks!"

"Yeah, she's always been a big Chinese kung fu movie buff, she watches Jackie Chan Adventures every Saturday morning. I got her a Bruce Lee film collection last year, she was so happy. I spoil her sometimes, especially after I retired as a nurse, thirty years of twelve hour shifts. Oh Rose, don't forget your board honey!"

She ran back to get her board.

"So where are you taking her for brunch?"

"We were thinking IHOP," Britta said.

"Oh she loves that place. Her usual is chocolate chip pancakes with a glass of sweet tea. If she wants to get something else...she can. And I'll get some money to help pay for dress."

"The dress and bunch are on us."

"We want her to have fun today," Annie said.

"Thank you so much, I see why she became friends with you all so quickly."

Rose ran back out with her board, held it up saying: "I'm ready!"

Shayne said goodbye as the girls left for their day out.