His Flower

Chapter 3

Where as some high schoolers saw school as a prison, Rose saw it as a safe haven. A place where she was freed of all the troubles at home. 

Theo and his antics: gone

Tabitha and her cold thoughts: gone 

The fact that five Arkham inmates were living at her home: still filling the girl with fear. 

She didn't know that the inmates would be going after Gotham Gazette, and she didn't know they would be kidnapping workers and letting them die early. Both those things put fear into the ginger girl. 

'What if my school is there next target?' She would think to herself. Only Theo knew where she went to school, but that hardly means much. Attacking a school could give them, the Maniax, the publicity that Theo wants them to get. 

"Rose," Rose tensed up a bit before looking to the chalkboard. She relaxed a bit seeing the horror of numbers and letters mixed together, and not some diabolic plan to take over Gotham. "The answer please." 

Rose nodded before giving her answer, and asking to go to the bathroom. She allowed the teacher go through the procedure of how to get the answer as she left the room and wandered to the closest girls bathroom. 

"It's only school," Rose muttered to herself as she walked down the hallway. "Nothing too horri-"

"Attention all students and staff," Rose froze up hearing the principal speak through the intercom. "We'll be initiating a lock down-"

Rose's thoughts got ahead of her, hearing the two terrifying words: lock down. 'Lock down means that someone is in the building, and they shouldn't be here which means they're a threat' 

She started breathing heavily, thinking the worse possible situations. 'Jerome and the others! They're here and they're going to shoot up the ent-' 

She let out a screech and jumped a bit, turning around to see one of the older teachers in the building. 

"Miss," the elder spoke calmly. "You need to get inside for the drill." 

Rose felt herself relax a bit, following the smaller lady into her empty classroom and sat down in a corner away from the door and the windows. 

'A drill,' Rose mentally assured herself. 'It's only a drill.'

"Are you ok?" The teacher asked quietly, taking the drill seriously. She wanted to make sure that Rose was ok though, seeing that the teenager might've been having a panic attack or some mental breakdown, and that she screeched at the touch of the teacher.

"Yeah, and paranoid that's all." Rose stumbled over the words and looked down to her shoes. 'A drill this time, but maybe not next time.'

*** 

There was a taxi cab already waiting for Rose when she left the school building. When Theo got out of the cab, Rose slowed her pace down. 'Why is he here? Isn't there something more important for him to do?'

"My sweet Rose," Theo smiled as he held the door open for Rose, letting her get in first," How was school?" He closed the door behind them when they both were in the taxi. 

"Fine." Rose told him not making eye contact with him. She felt uncomfortable with the silence filling the backseat of the cab, as well as Theo's presence. She wanted to know his motives for taking a taxi cab, and picking her up from school. Increase his fame with the city? 

That thought quickly went away when the taxi cab pulled up to their building. Rose was quick to get out of the cab and head to the elevator. The school work weighing her bag down surprisingly made Rose eager to get a start on it.