R O S E S

Chapter 3

"Alright class, settle down," Mrs. Tanner walked to the front of the classroom as everyone was chatting with at least someone. There were only a couple of students who were relatively silent. Rose instantly could tell that this was just a class of loud Senior students. 

Students still weren't quiet by the time the final bell had rung and the intercom had come on. Despite Mrs. Tanner telling them to all be quiet, they talked all through the announcements, only stopping to say the pledge of allegiance. Rose didn't really pay attention to the announcements either, she knew that nothing would really apply to her. It was true that something important could've come on, but Rose would've automatically began to listen once again. That's the type of brain Rose had, she knew when to listen and pay particular attention. 

When the announcements were done, Mrs. Tanner had the struggle of getting the class to quiet down. The door to the classroom then opened and everyone instantly went silent. Rose glanced over at the door along with everyone else to see five students walk into the classroom. There was one girl who particularly stood out to Rose, she was in front of the other four. She had long, black hair which was put up in a pony tail, showing off some wavy curls. Her skin was a naturally tan color with stunning light crystal blue eyes that stood out from the rest of her. She seemed incredibly tall to Rose with a curvy body and some muscle. She wore a leather jacket with a white tank-top underneath and jeans with lots of rips in them and boots.

She smirked at Mrs. Tanner before going over to her desk which was behind Rose. Rose looked away and back at the window, ignoring the look she was getting from the girl. The other four spread out to their desks and sat down in careless positions. Rose instantly could tell those were the popular kids, probably the bad kids too. 

Mrs. Tanner then cleared her voice since the class had finally settled down. "Alright everyone, we have a new student joining us- would you please stand up." Mrs. Tanner spoke. As much as Rose didn't want to, she obeyed and stood. Every teacher in her past has made her introduce herself in front of the class and so this shouldn't be different. "Introduce yourself."

"My name is Rose and I'm from New York City," Rose said before sitting back down again. 

Of course Rose couldn't just sit down without someone making some sort of comment about her hair. It was actually the girl behind her who said it. "Did you dye your hair that color?" She asked as she leaned her head on her arm while she looked at Rose. Rose glanced over her shoulder and shook her head. "Natural, cool..." The girl smirked.

Mrs. Tanner sighed before continuing starting to talk to the entire class. Rose felt like she was being stared at the entire time though, it sent shivers down her spine. She was used to people staring at her, but it gave her an odd feeling this time though. Rose attempted to ignore it as she started writing down notes on a piece of paper. Rose put her full attention to Mrs. Tanner and wrote down all the important information she got from what the teacher was saying. Rose took her grades seriously, if anything she wanted to go to college. Rose knew that was most likely not going to happen though, her family just didn't have enough money to be able to afford something like that, even with a scholarship. No matter what, Rose wanted to still do good though. She wanted to make sure she learned everything before she stopped attending school. 

As Rose was writing something down, she felt fingers wrap around a small portion of her hair. Rose tensed up as she glanced over her shoulder at the girl sitting behind her. She had a slight smirk across her lips as she wrapped her finger around Rose's pink hair and twirled it a little bit. 

"Ashley! Stop distracting Rose!" Mrs. Tanner snapped which caused everyone to turn their attention to the back corner of the room.

Rose's face turned a bit pink as she turned forward. She's never felt really embarrassed towards anything considering she never got called out in class. Yes, people stared at her for her appearance, but that was something she got used to. Her name was generally never called out in class unless the teacher wanted her to answer a question. The girl named Ashley glared at everyone who was staring before laying her head down on her arms. 

Ashley couldn't understand why, but she was fascinated with Rose already. Most people bore her nowadays. She used to be able to pick on the younger students and get enjoyment out of it, but it was no longer as interesting to her. Of course she still did it, to keep up her image, but she never had any real enjoyment. It was something she did like doing with her friends though. They all had this image to keep up and so they made it fun for each other, or as much as they could. It was difficult to make Ashley interested in things. She was always constantly bored. But now...she found someone who interested her. 

The rest of class seemed to drone on. Rose wrote a full page of notes which she would most definitely return to in the future. The bell had rung and a majority of the students flew out of the classroom as fast as they could. Rose put her things away and put her backpack over her shoulder. She had glanced over at Ashley who seemed to be waiting for Rose. She winked before going over to her group of friends with a smirk across her face. Rose rolled her eyes as she quickly walked out of the classroom.

"Hey, wait up!" A voice called out to her. She glanced to the side to see a girl with long dark brown hair approach her. She had fair colored skin and deep chocolate brown eyes. She was a bit taller than Rose but not by much. "Hey, sorry..." She giggled. "My name is Paris Atkins! I'm in your first class but I didn't have a chance to say hello."

"Oh, nice to meet you, I guess you know who I am then," Rose said, returning the smile. Paris giggled and nodded her head. "You must be the principal's daughter then, Mrs. Tanner told me your a Junior too..." 

"Yup! It's nice to finally have another person my age in that class, I mean...I guess it didn't matter before...but now I get to actually work with someone who probably understands me better than Seniors who don't seem to care about their work," Paris explains and I nodded my head with a chuckle. "Anyways, what's your next class?"

"I have AP science...or...do they even call it AP?" Rose looked at her schedule and squinted.

"Not initially, but the ones who are put in those classes do!" Paris giggled. "It's kind of a shame though, I don't have AP science. I was only approved for English since I got a really high score on one of the very last tests I did last year." 

"Oh, so they approved it based on tests?" Rose asked and Paris nodded.

"Other things too, but I don't know," Paris shrugged. "Anyways...wanna be friends?" She asked and Rose nodded her head. Rose knew she was crossing a dangerous line by saying yes. She knew it would hurt if they had to move again. This was only to protect herself...but what's a little bit of enjoyment every now and then? "OMG yes! I can't wait to introduce you to the rest of us- what lunch do you have?" 

"Uh...C?" Rose looked at her schedule in confusion. She didn't even know how to tell something like that. Paris peered over and squealed.

"You have to come sit with me! I have two other friends and I know you'll get along with them so well!" Paris giggled. "Well, we better get going if we don't want to be late!" Paris smiled.

Both of the girls walked and talked on their way to their next classes. Rose had forgotten how nice it was to actually talk to someone like they were a friend. Of course she had her other friends from other schools that she still texted, but it was never the same as making a real friend she could physically talk to.