The One They Left Behind

O N E

Diana flopped onto her bed, giggling about the boy the girls in their grade were currently pining over.

"You should have seen his face! He couldn't believe that Maybelle didn't want to go to the dance with him." She gasped out, relaying her story to Rose, who was listening intently.

"I wish I could've been there. Stupid guidance called me down to talk about my schedule for next year." Rose replied, climbing carefully onto the window seat in her best friend's room.

"What are you going to take?" Diana sat up, sitting up to bring her knees to her chest and cocking her head to the side.

"I'm not sure, I want to take French again, but I'm not sure what else I want to do," Rose mumbled, pulling her old, rundown laptop out of her backpack.

"Why don't you take something cool, like tech?" Diana suggested, moving to her desk and pulling out her new laptop.

"Eh. I'm not really a tech person. I'd rather read." Rose replied, pulling up the English essay she was working on.

"I know! Why don't you take Drama with me!" Diana squealed suddenly, causing Rose to look up from her essay.

"I don't really want to be put on a stage Di. I'll probably just take art again or something." Rose murmured quietly.

"You'll be good at that, you're good at everything," Diana replied, giving her friend a smile before both girls delved deep into another world as they worked on their homework.

***

Hours later, Rose was packing up her things to go back to her own house.

"You could stay here tonight. It's a Friday night and my parents won't mind you staying. They love you." Diana said, watching her friend get ready to leave.

"My dad will be furious if I'm not back tonight. I'll see you on Monday." Rose gave her friend a small smile as she walked out.

"Don't forget your application for next years schedule! Monday's the last day to hand it in!" Diana yelled out to Rose as she left.

Rose left on her bike, pedalling as fast as her legs could go. The bag on her back felt heavier than it had this afternoon when she had biked to Diana's house.

When she left her bike in the garage, she was relieved to see that her dad hadn't gotten home yet, because he was becoming increasingly difficult to deal with.

She walked into the house and ran her finger along the empty spots where pictures used to line the wall. Dragging out a sigh, she put her things into her room and went to the kitchen to begin making dinner for herself and her father.

She gave herself a bowl of the pasta she had made and put a heaping serving into the microwave, ready to be heated when her father returned.

Rose ate alone at the kitchen table, humming a tune to herself. She wanted to finish her dinner before her father got home, when he returned he would just ignore her as usual and she would retire to her room.

After working on her essay for another hour, Rose heard the sound of the front door opening and slamming closed, her father was home. Back when she was younger she would rush downstairs and meet him at the door, giving him a flying hug and a kiss on the cheek. Back then he would spin her around and fly around the house and now, he rarely acknowledged her existence.

Rose listened closely to what he was doing, listening to the sound of him warming up his food and what she knew was the sound of him grabbing a beer from the fridge. She listened to the sound of him eating and then turning on the TV, watching what she could only presume was sports.