The Strength Of the Heart

The Roses Are Red - 7

I spent the rest of the day wondering if she was okay. I didn't even mind all the whispers that were going around the school. They weren't my first priority. She was. I needed a way to get number so I could talk to her. The only reasonable way was to go ask her friends but they weren't the "I want to help you" type. Another option was to go the office and request her number but that wouldn't work either, they weren't allowed to give out students information. So the only reasonable option was to get it from her friends. I spent the rest of the day thinking about it when Justin ran up to me after my last class. 

"Duuuuuuude. What happened? I heard you and Chloe are a thing now?" He sounded so enthusiastic. He had a smile on his face and eyes were glowing with excitement. I didn't know how to tell him his info was wrong. I got angry at the way rumours were exaggerated in school.

"Nope. That's not true. I walked her to her car, and that's it. Nothing else happened." I kept my voice mellow and looked him dead in the eyes as I said this, trying to sound as neutral about it as possible. He looked at me for a while, then he rolled his eyes and smiled at me.

"You'll tell me later, I understand." He continued smiling at me until I smiled back and we we both started laughing. Tension alleviated, I said,

"So what happened to you today?" 

As me and Justin were walking out of the gate I saw Genny, one of Chloe's friends, standing alone. I stopped and looked at Justin.

"Please wait for me here" I told him, already walking towards her.
"What are you-!?" was all he could get off before I started jogging to Genny. She was writing something, placing the book on her left arm and writing with her right.

"Hey!" I called out. When I got to her she looked at me as if I was some dress she got for Christmas that she knew she was never going to wear.

"Uhm I was wondering if you could give me Chloe's number?" She continued writing for a minute, then grunted and tore a piece off the paper.

"You think I'm just gonna give it to you? Do you know how many guys have asked for it? " She sounded tired. I hadn't thought that anybody else would be interested in Chloe. I mean, she was the new girl. But I really needed it.

"I just want to see if she's okay" I sighed. Genny walked up to me and shoved me back with both her hands on my chest.

"Then wait until tomorrow like everyone else!" She turned and started walking.  I looked at her for a while, sad and disappointed.  I ran back to Justin.

"What was that about?" He asked. I looked back.

"Nothing important." I replied. We continued walking. When we got to his house we said our goodbyes and I was about to leave when he said,

"Hey whats that in your shirt pocket?"

I checked and saw it was a piece of paper. With a number on it. I looked at him,

"Its just some homework. See you later" I waved goodbye and started walking home. At the top of the paper, above the number was a name. 

Chloe

We need to stop and smell the roses. Because sometimes the roses won't be there, and that will be the day when we need to remember what the roses smell like. So you can either wait for the roses you took for granted to come back (which isn't likely) or you could go into the world and find more roses. No matter who you thought you needed, no matter how much they have changed your life, remember that even though you're hurting, you will be alright. 

And the roses will still be red.