R O S E S

Chapter 4

Rose quickly learned that she had at least three out of her six classes with the girl named Ashley. She had quickly heard rumors about Ashley and who she physically was in the school. It didn't take very long until she got that information. Although, Ashley did keep on tormenting Rose. In science they needed to get into a group with some other students and do an experiment together. Ashley had automatically picked Rose to be in her group along with Ashley's other friends. Rose had to practically do everything since Ashley refused to work and only wanted to annoy Rose. Rose didn't really have a choice in the matter though, it was either deal with it or probably get called out for not working with anyone and she would've not liked that. Then in math when they were released to do work, Ashley had gotten up from her table and forced the other kids sitting at Rose's table out before sitting next to Rose. Her other friends had come to join and sat around. They only talked and Ashley would invade Rose and continue to annoy her. 

The pink haired girl was about done with Ashley Garza. That's what her name was. Apparently she was the most feared kid in the entire school and the people that follow her around are her closest friends. Ashley is the type of student to ditch class and go do certain things behind the bleachers. Overall, she didn't care all that much. The only thing Rose was trying to put together was how her grades were so good. Rose had learned that Ashley was on the boy's football team, she played on a lot of boy teams considering the school didn't have enough money nor interest to run two separate gender teams. The only thing that made sense to Rose was that Ashley needed to keep her grades up in order to stay on the team, she had heard Ashley was a pretty valuable player. There were many other things she heard about Ashley but she just shook it off. Rose didn't really care about that information, all she wanted was for Ashley to leave her alone.

When Rose had saw Paris in the hallway when the bell had rung after science she had asked the girl if it was normal for Ashley to torment people like that. Paris had said it was, but not in the same that Ashley was tormenting Rose. Paris had said that Ashley was the type of person to fight people and push them around, not annoy them and invade on personal space like Ashley did. It made Rose curious as to what Ashley was doing. 

Finally, the bell signally math had rung. Rose hastily made it out of the classroom and to where the cafeteria was. She didn't know where Paris and her friends sat, but Paris had told her to meet her by a set of trash cans by the door. Rose had scanned the entire room and looked for them and she took a wild guess. It seemed like the right trash cans but there was no way for Rose to know. 

"Hey!" Paris quickly walked over to Rose with a large smile across her face. "Come on, my table is over here!" Paris grabbed Rose's hand and led her through the cafeteria to the back corner where they sat at the end of a long table. "My friends usually take a bit to get here, you know...they smooch and stuff like that." She giggled. "Anyways...how are you liking your classes so far?"

"If you discount Ashley being in my science and math class...I think pretty good," Rose nodded her head. Paris only shook her head to the mention of Ashley's name.

"Do you want to hear about Ashley?" Paris asks

"I mean...I've heard a lot already," Rose explained as she leaned against the table. 

"No, no...I mean like, her personality and stuff like that...just let me explain," Paris dismisses what Rose had said. "I find it really weird that she only is picking on you in the way she is. Usually Ashley is a really rough person and shoves people in the hallway. That's kind of why I took so long to get here, Ashley just bulldozes her way down the hall..." Paris said in a low voice, glancing around to make sure Ashley nor her friends were around. "Anyways...I saw that she had that opportunity earlier when we were walking from English to our next class...she was right behind us and had that opportunity but didn't...I'd say she's favoring you in a way, maybe toying with you..." Paris shook her head side to side. "I'd be careful around Ashley though, you could say something to set her off and then BAM! a punch to the face..." Paris cautioned. That made Rose nervous. She couldn't fight Ashley, in fact...she could fight absolutely no one- not even a fly! Rose may be tough on the inside, but it didn't mean she was physically strong. 

"Yo, Paris!" Someone sat down across from Paris. It was a guy with short blond hair, fair colored skin, and hazel green eyes. He sat down with a girl with platinum blond hair, pale colored skin, and dark blue eyes. "Who's the new kid?" 

Paris instantly changed her expression and looked at the two across from her. "Her name is  Rose! She's in my English class!" Paris smiled at them. "Rose, I'd like you to meet Austin and Samantha!" 

"I love your hair, Rose," Samantha said with a smile. "And you can call me Sam or Sammy by the way, Samantha is too formal..." 

"Okay, and...thanks," Rose giggled

"There's Ashley and her gang..." Austin grumbled as he glared at the group of five entering the lunch room. The guys in the group were shoving each other while the girls walked in front talking and giggling. Paris's cheeks heated up a bit as she looked away. "Oh right...the guy you have a crush on," Austin rolled his eyes. "I mean seriously, Paris...you like the dumb James Anderson? No offense...but I think you should have higher standards than that..." 

"Yes, he's dumb but cute!" Paris snapped. "I don't know why I like him, honestly...I mean...he used to be such a good kid, until he met Ashley of course..." Paris rolled her eyes. "Soon she'll taint Rose with how close she gets..."

Austin and Sammy both had their eyes trained on Paris, waiting for her to say something. Paris never did, Sammy had to hear the rest of the story though. "Rose, what does Paris mean by that?"

Rose was caught off guard with that question but knew she had to answer. "She's in three of my classes so far and she's been bugging me and won't leave me alone...it's really annoying," Rose held up her head with one of her hands. Austin had taken out his lunch and set it between him and Sammy.

"Interesting..." Sammy mumbled. "She doesn't act like that with people, especially new kids...she torments those the worst. From what I heard, she messed with a new kid so bad that they transferred out of the school the very next day." It made Rose even more curious now. "And I don't mean like just bugging and annoying, I mean like shoving...punching...surprise scares, tormenting stuff like that...I don't know what she's doing to you but you have to be careful, girl," Sammy explained and Rose nodded her head.

"I'll try...but it's kind of difficult to..." Rose admitted. "She comes to me and I can't really get away because she follows me around..." 

"I wouldn't try to run away, just ignore her...I mean...obviously the cat is going to chase the mouse if they run," Austin shrugs.

"But the cat will still go after the mouse if the mouse just ignores the cat," Sammy rolls her eyes. It caused Austin to sigh and shake his head. "Whatever, just...be careful...we don't want her driving you out..." 

"She won't get that far, I know that." Rose stated.