White Rose

The new boy

The next day, Delphine walked into school with a bruise on her arm. It was just above her wrist, clearly visible to anyone with a wandering eye. She had showed it to her father, who had suspected that she must have hit her arm somewhere. He looked rather peaky that morning, as he left her off at the school gate. Work must have been taking a toll on him.
She walked towards her class, which was situated at the far end of the first building. As she walked, she kept an eye out for Fiona. Her friend was nowhere in sight. She had been rather reclusive and secretive for the past few days. Ever since they had caught that woman spying in front of the school.
She walked into class and took her seat at the front. The class was unusually crowded today. Delphine frowned. She knew that she was usually not the earliest to class but never before had she known the class to be as hactic as it was today. Someone bumped into her shoulder as they walked past. It was one of her classmates, Clarice, who appeared twice as giggly today. She didn't even bother to apologize as she gave Delphine an reproachful look and scurried after her friends.
The students, the majority of them girls, had gathered around a particular table at the back of the class. Some of the boys hung around the table as well, not bothering to try to edge in between the gang of girls, knowing that it'd be pointless. Delphine's frown deepened.
Thankfully, she caught sight of her friend Xavier lingering around with another odd looking boy, holding a textbook in his hands. Delphine moved in between the desks and went to them.
"Hey, guys. What's happening?"she asked. Xavier let out a sigh and didn't look like he would be answering. He looked like he was in a grouchy mood at the moment.
"Can't even sit at my own desk... What else will they take from me..."he was grumbling, looking over at the group with a venomous expression.
Delphine looked at them and realized that the table that they were gathering around also belonged to Xavier.
"New boy. He sits next to poor Xavier from now on"the boy next to him whispered. He was Ken Malter, another one of the unpopular kids of the school. He was nice enough, except when he starts talking to himself and freaks you out. He constantly hangs out with Delphine and Xavier whenever he wasn't talking to himself.
"That's horrible!"she symphatized. She knew how hard sitting next to a new guy was. Almost half of the female population of the school will be crowding around your table. Knowing Xavier, he'd rather flush himself in a toilet than put up with that for more than a week.
"What's the freakshow's name?"she asked, leaning against the wall next to her friends.
Xavier was too cross to respond properly. "Welhaermfacn" he grumbled.
"Sorry?"she repeated.
"William Falcon. Look, he's right over there" Ken said, pointing to the tuft of brown hair that was peeking from behind one of the girls. Delphine stood on her  tip toes, trying to catch a glimpse of the boy. She wished that the girls would quit their swooning and part away for a bit. It was almost a miracle that she managed to find a gap in between them. She looked at the boy and gasped. The gap closed. She quickly craned her neck around for a second glimpse, hoping that she'd mistaken his identity.
She hadn't. It was the same boy from the bus stop! Delphine immediately took off from the class and went to Fiona's class. She had to find her. Fiona's class was on a higher floor and was full of quieter and more studious students. She stormed into the class and searched for her friend. Fiona was nowhere in sight.
She turned to a studying student and asked, "Excuse me, did you happen to see Fiona? Fiona Lakes"she asked. The girl shook her head in a rather unfriendly manner and went back to her book.
"The loony? You mean the red head with the weird look on her face? What do you want to do with her?"someone asked. Even before Delphine turned around to face the boy, she felt an immediate surge of anger flood through her.
She faced a gang of the biggest, smelliest boys in the world. They each at doughy arms and legs and they each acquired the unfriendliest face anyone could have the misfortune of having. The gang's leader was the biggest one of the lot and he went by the name of Dylan Prace.
"If you mean Fiona Lakes, then yes. Did you see her?"she snapped. Dylan's friend Peppu's voice shot up.
"Yup... Thought I saw her in front of the school just now. She was in a terrible state"he said.
Dylan smirked. "She's always in a terrible state, Pep" he said as the others snickered.
"I mean, she was in an even worse state than usual, old Prace. Almost resembled a beggar" his friend continued.
"Well then maybe you mistook the beggar for Lakes. Its okay buddy. Its hard to differentiate the both. Lakes... beggar... both the same..."
The gang burst into fits of laughter. Delphine looked disgusted and opened her mouth to defend her friend. It would have turned into a very heated fight if Xavier and Ken, who had hurried after her, hadn't pulled her back and steered her out of the class.
"Never put up a fight with idiots, Delph. They always drain the logic out of the arguement to get a better hand. You'll never win that way. An arguement can only be won if there is logic on both sides. Otherwise it gets pointless" Xavier preached. Delphine nodded grimly. Ken patted her back.
"Besides, Fiona doesn't care about what they say to her. They've given up bullying her ages ago. You should see how she deals with it. She goes all cool and so calm you'd wonder if you were listening to a news reporter"Ken said, with admiration.
Delphine and her friends returned to class after it was obvious that Fiona was not about to attend school that day. They took their seats just as the teacher walked into the class with an armful of literature books and a bag full of papers. Mrs Lian was not Delphine's favourite teacher in the whole school. In fact, the two of them were often at eachother's throats at every given chance. To make matters worse, she was Delphine's class teacher for the new term.
The crowd at William's table dispersed at once. This gave Delphine a clearer view of the boy. He was wearing a neatly ironed uniform, folded at the sleeves and slightly crumpled above his silver belt. He looked pleased with himself, as if he had just been having the time of his life, which he had been.
Mrs Lian greeted the class quickly and immediately proceeded to introduce their new classmate.
"This is Mr William Falcon. He is a transfer student from..."
Mrs Lian paused and scowled at him.
"Picasso Platypus High, you said?"
William nodded, the corner of his mouth twitching for a second. He wasn't the only one. Several other students were chuckling as well.
"Very well. Picasso Platypus High. Goodness knows where the founder came up with the name_"
"He owned a platypus, madam" William spoke up. The class burst into laughter, some of them stuffing their knuckles into their mouth to restrain themselves. Mrs Lian looked at him over the top of her glasses.
"Hump. Alright then. I hope you enjoy your upcoming years here at Milicent's Academy, Mr Falcon. Now, without further discussion, let us begin today's lesson" she said, and then stuck her head into her bag to search for her poetry collection.
Delphine could not stop turning around and looking at him every time Mrs Lian's back was turned. He didn't meet her eyes even once. Either he hadn't realized her presence, or he was deliberately ignoring her. Delphine figured that it must be the latter. Xavier looked focused on the lesson and despite sitting right next to him, pretended that William did not exist. Delphine couldn't help but smile at her friend's defiance. Xavier must have thought that the new boy had received enough attention from the others to last him a lifetime. Any more attention and his head would be too bigL to deflate even if someone sat on it.
Finally, the recess bell rang. Delphine was eager to escape the loud, boisterous Christine, who had been sitting next to her in class. She went to Xavier's table at once and waited for him as he took out his lunch box. William had been one of the first to get out of class, which was a relief to her. Ken had wandered off by himself again. He was often with Fiona during recess but today, due to her absence, he had ventured off by himself.
Xavier took his time to carefully clean out his glasses before following Delphine out of the class. He looked a great deal sterner than before as he sat next to her in the canteen.
Delphine bit a chunk off her apple and looked around the cafeteria. She couldn't find Falcon anywhere. There was a tap on her shoulder that made her jump in astonishment. Xavier and Delphine turned around to see William standing behind them, holding a wrapped lunchbox as well.
"May I join you?"he asked. It sounded as if he was trying hard to filter the arrogance from his voice.
"Sure"Delphine said, making room for him on the bench. Xavier didn't look up from his sandwich and practically ignored him. Delphine watched as he unwrapped his lunchbox and took out a bowl of a weird type of soup. It was greenish with little chunks of brown meat floating in it. It gave off a heavenly smell. Even Xavier's attention was won over. William didn't realize that the two of them were staring at him. And by at him, at his soup.
When he finally noticed, he held out a spoonful of the stuff.
"Want some?"he asked, smirking. The both of them flushed and looked away, embarassed to be caught staring at his food.
Xavier spoke."I do not identify the soup. What is it?"he questioned, still not looking at William.
"It's a Spinach and Cow Meat Delight. Its kinda famous where I come from"he replied casually, winking at Delphine.
She blinked.
"Spinach and Cow Meat Delight? I've never heard of it"Xavier said, frowning.
"It's one of my grandmother's specialities. Do you want to try some?"he asked.
"No thanks" Xavier said quickly, though he was decidedly less hostile towards the new boy now. They finished their meal quickly.
"May I speak to your friend for a few moments"William asked Xavier as they walked to class. Xavier looked between them suspiciously and shrugged. He went on his way.
"Is he always this tough to get along with?"William asked her when they were alone.
"Nah. He's really nice if you get to know him better"Delphine said, even though she felt that he was difficult to deal with at times too.
"Yeah... so, where's your other friend?"he asked her. Delphine knew that he was talking about Fiona.
"I don't know. Fiona didn't attend school today"she said, shrugging. William rubbed his chin and appeared deep in thought.
"Why didn't you meet me at Cruscurt Alley that day?"he asked. Delphine took her time to answer to this.
"Of course I wouldn't meet you!I don't even know you!"she exclaimed. He sighed.
"Fair enough. You're a cautious girl. Unlike Lakes..."he said.
This caught Delphine's attention. "Why do you say that?"
"I've got a lot to explain. Didn't Fiona tell you anything? About the whole business with the Consumers, the Communities, the Rose, the Drain Out..." he asked, surprised.
"The what?"
"Meet me at Number 13, Trectian Lane today after school. The gate will be open for you. Don't worry, its my house. You can always tell your dad that you're coming to work on a school project"he said.
"Oh... I don't know..."
"You have to come. Only then will you know what's going on"he said firmly. Delphine shrugged. "Sure. But I can't promise you anything"she told him. He grinned.
"Then I'll wait for you until four. If you don't turn up by then, I'll assume you're not coming"he said. Right at that moment, Clarice, Lannita and Drassi came towards them and dragged William away after shooting Delphine an uninterested look.
"She's not a nice girl, Will. She lied to her father about her test results..." Delphine could hear them whispering as they took him away. She sighed. Of course she was going to have to meet him. Things had just grown stranger by the minute. Her mother's red roses were wilting and new red buds were taking their places in an unnaturally fast pace. There was definitely something not right about the tree. The white rose bud was growing and would probably bloom in another estimated fortnight or so.
*
Delphine stepped off the bus in a bus stop at Trectian Lane. She had not informed her father of the visit because he was at work and usually hated being distracted by phone calls. She was wearing a green hat over her long brown hair and had on a green tank top and a pair of skinny jeans.
Delphine looked around the lane. These houses were way smaller than the ones at Cruscurt Alley. Though they had a friendlier, more approachable look to them.
She looked for Number 13 as she walked down the lane. It was a lively road, with children playing in a playground nearby, a boy walking his dog, a young couple holding hands and cuddling together on a bench...
Number 13 was one of the nicest looking houses in the lane. It was not too exotic, not too overwhelming, and welcomed everyone with its yellow walls and its bright red door. The gate was also open.
Sitting on its doorstep were two boys. One of them was William. The other boy was slighter, less handsome, had rosy cheeks and a scrawny body. He was also short but captured the eye with his friendly looking face. He looked way nicer than William was and smiled at her as she came to the gate.
The boys ran up to her. The other boy pulled it open eagerly and welcomed her in.
"Hello there! Come in, come in!"he said, leading her into the house.
William locked the gate behind her as his friend pulled her along. He opened the door and allowed her to enter, even taking off her hat and hanging it on the umberella stand for her.
Delphine grinned.
"You sure are eager for my arrival. Were you waiting for long?"she asked.
The boy smiled. "Nah. Not really... Just for an hour or so"he said, shrugging.
He held out a hand. "I'm Fabian Rigshot" he said.
Delphine shook it and opened her mouth to introduce herself, only to be waved away.
"I know who you are of course"he said.
"Oh. I didn't realize that my fame was worldwide"she said, surprised.
"Well. Not exactly worldwide... Just among the Community I guess. For now. You'll be famous worldwide as soon as someone lets the cat out of the bag to a blabber mouth"he told her.
Delphine didn't say anything to that. She knew too little about the Community or all these magic stuff to comment. William came behind them.
"I see you have familiarized with eachother. Time to meet Grandma" he said, leading them into a room along the hall.
"Grandma? You mean your grandmother?"she asked.
"That's exactly who I meant"he replied, taking them upstairs and then down a corridor. Delphine realized how tidy the house was. It smelt of lovely gingerbread and peppermint and was stuffed with elegant, wooden furniture. The owner of the house seemed to have a thing or two for flowers. There were vases of flowers on every ledge, every table and every cabinet in the house. The house floated in lovely fragrance.
They stopped in front of one of the doors upstairs. William knocked on it. The sound of a rocking chair stopped and Delphine heard someone approach the door with slow footsteps.
The door pulled open and revealed an old woman. She was shorter than any of them but did not hold a cane. Nor was she hunchbacked. There were a few wrinkles on her forehead and she had wispy light brown hair that was fading. Her soft brown eyes searched them kindly and landed on Delphine. She smiled sweetly.
"Do come in, dearies. Come on, I've got tea"she said, letting them in. Delphine looked around the room. It was a private sitting room. The room was warm and was illuminated by the ray of sunshine that escaped through the curtains.
There was a purple fire going on in the fireplace. This caught Delphine's eyes more than anything else. She rubbed them and looked at the fire again. It was still purple. She hadn't mistaken it.
"Sit down, my dear. Here, have some Butterflying Cupcakes. They're fresh from the oven you know"she said, pointing to a tray next to a table near her rocking chair. Will and Fabian each pulled up a chair and sipped on tea as soon as they entered the room. Fabian pulled up a chair for Delphine.
She took her seat and received her tea, still staring at the fire. She had never seen purple fire before.
"Drink up dear. We'll answer your questions as you do"she said sweetly.
"Hmm?"Delphine asked.
"Why, don't tell me you don't have questions dear! Surely you know why you're here. Didn't Wiil tell you?"she asked, surprised.
"Um... Not really. But it does have something to do with my mother's rose tree. I think. And there are bad people called The Consumers. They're hunting for me and the rose tree. Am I right?"she asked, sipping her tea and burning her lips in the process.
"Its hot dear, do be careful" the woman told her, concerned for her lips, which were swelling red.
"Ah... I'm okay. You were saying, madam?"Delphine said, biting her lips and placing the tea back onto the tray.
"Just call me Granny Liliana my dear. Or just Lili will do. Nothing too formal and long, please. Names were meant to be short and sweet so people know what to call you. After all, that's the whole point of names isn't it?"she said, smiling. Delphine grinned back.
"Of course, Granny Lili. Um... so, can I ask my questions now?"she asked.
"Regarding the Magicals and the Plant Of Magic and  the battle between the Consumers and the Communities?"
Delphine nodded.
"Shoot away my dear"