Mark My Words

20 | The Berry Residence

Copyright © 2018. All Rights Reserved.

Rosalie didn't have much time to slide into class and take a seat between Lennie and Joanna, but she did have time to jump in during the most ridiculous conversation in which Jamie-Lee and Joanna were fighting over what dress Rosalie would wear to Homecoming.

"You literally don't have to use the same pattern. Just go with a red dress," Joanna said.

"No. I already fucking bought the fabric," Jamie snapped.

"Red is an Adams color, though," Lennie pitched in, only to be addressed by the annoyance of both Joanna and Jamie-Lee.

"So you want me to change our color scheme?" Jamie said, all high-and-mighty.

"Uh, yeah. That dick Birchmeir took you out of the game!" Lennie cried. The bell rang, but the teacher had yet to arrive, and so the argument continued, much to the amusement of the entire class.

"You might be the most high-maintenance guy at this school, you know that?" Jamie said.

"Might be?" Joanna repeated, offended. The people around them laughed, and Dylan was already crying, brushing a finger under his eye to rid it of tears of pride.

"I am not changing my color scheme," Jamie-Lee insisted, nose in the air. "Right, Rosalie?"

"What," she deadpanned, entirely lost. "I don't really care what colors we go with. I like the slacks."

"Thank you." Jamie clasped onto her shoulder. "That means a lot to me."

Joanna flicked her agenda up between them, nudging Jamie-Lee's hand off Rosalie's shoulder. "Hands off, Berry, before I pound your face in," she threatened.

Jamie puffed out his cheeks at Joanna just as the teacher waltzed in and called the class to attention. Through it all, though, Rosalie was caught amidst the turmoil of Jamie-Lee and Joanna teasing one another in mock-jesting. The look of death in Joanna's eyes said it wasn't a joke in her book. When the teacher turned her back on them to write something on the board, Jamie-Lee lunged forward and tried to snatch a doodle off of Joanna's notebook, but she flung her hand up and smacked him in the face. Rosalie bristled, looking feverishly at the teacher in fear of being caught in the middle of this.

On the way to study hall, Joanna and Jamie-Lee turned into the equivalent of two feral cats. It started with Jamie getting all feisty (as he always seems to do), and Joanna was just reciprocating the feistiness by giving him a taste of his own medicine. Rosalie trailed behind them, rubbing her fingers to her temples, as Lennie watched on from afar with that ever-stoic, calculating expression of his.

"I sometimes forget what it's like living amongst a bunch of hormonal teenagers," he commented from beside Rosalie.

"You're one to talk," she grumbled. "I'm still mad at you."

"What, for stopping the horde of hormonal teenagers?" he said, and Rosalie wished she had something to stab him with. The best she had was a pencil, but if she was going to go for a clean kill, it wouldn't be through lead poisoning.

"Even after you backed off, it's not like I suddenly skipped into a romantic relationship," she confessed with a swing of her arms. She gestured to Jamie and Joanna. "Jamie taking me to Homecoming isn't exactly Next Stop: Romanceville."

They didn't quite make it to the lunch room before Joanna was fending Jamie off and escaping down a separate corridor. Jamie nearly chased after her, but Lennie caught him by the back of his collared shirt. "Watch it. No running with that ankle of yours," Lennie warned, dragging Jamie back into line. He slung an arm around Jamie's shoulders as the kid slumped forward, pouting.