Roses aren't always Red

The Circle of Life

[AN] This is going to be switching POVs a bunch and is starting from the same timeline that the last one started with, but following Rose and Casey in the beginning. I hope it's not too confusing. Enjoy!

Casey's POV
"God I'm so tired. Next time we have projects, we are not procrastinating" I say after a really big yawn.

"I've been telling you that forever. Are you finally going to listen?" Rose says irritably. She always gets like that when she doesn't sleep enough.

"Probably not," I joke trying to lighten her up. She just rolled her eyes at me and mutters something under her breath.

"Chill out, you can get some sleep later," I say getting tired of her pissy state.

"Yeah. Whatever. Honestly that's only half the issue here anyway "Rose says angrily.

Shit, what's her issue. I didn't do anything. Whatever. We just need to get ourselves to our dorms and to sleep.

"You don't have anymore classes for the day right?" I ask her casually.

"What do you think" she replies sarcastically.

"I was just checking. Because we can go up to the dorms and sleep. You could come sleep in mine if you wanted to. Ari is in one more period" I say trying to get her to calm down a little. Note to self. Don't make Rose angry when she hasn't slept enough.

"I don't want to get in your way when she gets up there," Rose says practically spitting with anger.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked stunned.

"Figure it out. I'll talk to you when you figure out what I'm talking about," she says and stalks off leaving me standing there in shock alone. I send a text to Ari asking her to come up to the room asap. I go up and sit on Ari's bed and start crying, uncharacteristically. I obviously fucked up but I can't figure out what I did wrong. Ari, please just get here soon.

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Rose's POV
I stand in my room pacing around and occasionally punching a wall. Fuck. I can't believe I just blew up. Casey is probably so confused right now. I should go apologize. I check the time and sigh to myself. No way. Ari will be there by now and it'll just be bad.

I lay down on my bed and stare at the ceiling thinking about the red head. I know it's stupid to like her because she likes Casey and they are together. But I do, I really do. And on top of it, Isabelle is into her too, so I'd have no chance anyway. Damn why do I always fall for the ones I have no shot with.

I must have fallen asleep because I wake up the next morning and check the time. Shit. I have five minutes. I throw on a clean shirt and cargo shorts and grab my bag, sprinting out the door. Of course, with my luck, when I get down the hall and to my first period, the only seat left is right next to Casey. I sit in the seat and try not to look at her. I feel her stare burning into the side of my head and I try to focus on the teacher in the front of the class.

"Stop ignoring me" Casey's voice says while we are supposed to be working on the homework with our seat partners.

"How do you do problem 3? It is confusing" I say, not wanting to talk about what happened. Casey slams her hands down on the table and gets up angrily, grabbing her bag and walking out of the class. The whole classroom is either staring at me or at the door that she walked out. What the hell was that about?

"Everyone get back to work" the teacher says, walking through the rows of desks making sure people are getting back to the worksheets stopping at my desk.

"Do you know what that was about?" My teacher asks me quietly, but I can tell everyone in the class is straining to hear what I have to say.

"No clue, I asked about problem three and she did that" I answer mostly truthfully.

"Ok, well I can help you with it" he says leaning over the desk to explain it to me. When the bell rings I thank him and gather my stuff together. I walk out the door and before anyone can try to stop me in the hall and ask me any questions I am heading to my second period.

"Rose, Rose," a voice calls out from behind me. I keep walking not wanting to talk to anyone. A hand on you shoulder makes me stop for a moment.

"Rose stop. I need to talk to you. What the hell is going on with you?" Ari says to me and I curse under my breath. The one person I can't say no to.

" get to class Ari, we both have classes. Just meet me after school ok?" I say, trying to pull away from her.

"Fine. Meet me at the mess hall alright? You better be there Rose" she calls as I manage to get away and start walking to my next class.

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Ari's POV
I sit in AP Chem, this time wide awake. I keep glancing at the clock wanting the period to be over so I can go find out what's wrong with Rose. When the bell finally rings I jump up out of my seat and rush to the mess hall. Rose is sitting there doing homework. I sit down across from her and she looks up at me frustrated.

"Hey, this stuff makes no sense to me. Casey always helps me with homework in math and doing it alone is difficult" Rose says when I raise an eyebrow at her.

"She doesn't know what she did. She just wants you to tell her what she did so she can fix it" I tell her.

"Well, tell her she can't fix it"

"I can't tell her that unless you tell me what is really on your mind Rose. You are an amazing friend and Casey is really taking this hard. She hates fighting with you and it's kind of stupid to be mad at her and not tell her why"

"I can't, she won't understand"

"I think if you give her a chance she would. Please just try to talk to her Rose," I say finally, exasperated.

"I'll talk to her. Happy?" Rose says angrily and before I can register what she said, she is gone. I sigh and put my head down on the table. I look at my phone to check the time and there is a text and a missed call from Isabelle. Shit. I was going to tutor her today.

I rush to the library, hoping there's a chance she's still there, but she's not. I lean against a wall pissed about how today was going. Everything came back in a circle to bite me in the ass. And to think it felt almost normal yesterday.

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Isabelle's POV
I sit in the library after my last period waiting for Ari. I know she has one more class than I do so I should be sitting there for about an hour before she gets here. I decide to try and get started on my work and ask her about the ones I don't understand. About half an hour of this makes me realize that I don't actually know any of it. I get up and find a book to read and sit there until the last bells of the day go off.
I put the book away and wait for her to come walking in. And I keep waiting. I text her asking where she was. No reply. Ten minutes later I call her.

She's not picking up. Great. She just blew me off. I should have known she wouldn't actually take the time to deal with me if Casey was around.

I gather up my stuff and leave the library and go to my room, deciding I wouldn't bother trying the homework anymore because I didn't understand any of it. Maybe I'll ask her tomorrow. But I doubt she will actually talk to me. I think to myself until Alex comes in and then I forget about Ari for the rest of the day.

[AN] This was hard to write because it was a lot of different characters POV's. But I hope y'all liked it. Next chapter will hopefully be updated sooner than this one was (: