A Rose With Its Thorns Cut Off

5. Turning To A New Chapter

Fortunately, I didn't die.

The Bernardo's were able to call the police to the scene before I even lost consciousness, which I was very thankful for. Later on, they also called for ambulance as soon as they saw the state me and mama Veronica were in.

Even the Reyes's helped us. Turns out, the Reyes's are both very talented lawyers. They volunteered to be our personal attorneys in the case against Gabriel... For free. With their connections to Women and Children's Rights organizations, our hospital bills were easily taken care of. All the media attention helped a lot in publicizing the case which made the trials come faster, and donations rushed in to help us start anew. Don't worry. Our identities were left anonymous.

A week before school started, we were finally able to put Gabriel behind bars with enough financial compensation for about a year. We got mama Veronica to receive therapy and since she graduated as a licensed accountant, she was assured a spot in the finance department of a known non-government organization dealing with women's rights.

Everything was looking up for us.

Things were finally looking up for me.

And a new journey awaits as I finally enter freshmen year in high school as a 12-year-old.

"Hi, my name's Mary Rose Buendia. I'm 12 years old. I love reading novels and writing short poems. I hope we can all get along great."

Mary Rose Buendia. That's my name now. I used to be Mary Rose Tolentino but because they changed my mother's name in my birth certificate, I became Mary Rose Buendia. I almost became Mary Rose Cruz because of Gabriel's marriage with mama Veronica but since they got divorced, I switched back to mama Veronica's and my mommy Victoria's maiden name: Buendia.

Today is my first day of high school at Nuestra Señora De Guia Academy near my new neighborhood. The school was situated a station and a few blocks from our street. The class starts at 8 am in the morning. This gave me ample time to walk the dogs from the apartment. I woke up at 5 am to get them all and walk them for 2 hours before returning them. I went home, took a bath, got dressed in my new uniform, ate breakfast, and took a bus to school. I can walk my way to school for 30 minutes, but I can take the bus as well and it'll only take me 15 minutes. Not to mention the ride on the bus was extremely relaxing. That day, mama Veronica rode with me on the bus. She was going for her therapy sessions with a psychiatrist scheduled every three days. This Monday was also their first session. I bet she was almost as nervous as I was if not more.

After I woke up the first time on my hospital bed after the incident, mama Veronica wouldn't stop apologizing to me. She said if she didn't let her heart blind her to the truth and if she were stronger, I would not have to take all those hits from Gabriel. She blames herself for most of the accident and promised me that she will never let her heart take the reign. Whereas I promised her I'll always protect her from anymore Gabriels that will enter her life.

I introduced myself in front of my new classmates this year. I was a little nervous. Mostly because these people probably knew each other since nursery, and I was a transfer student. Finding friends will be quite the challenge.

"Alright, Miss Buendia. Please take a seat beside Miss Gonzales so we can start today's lesson. Please raise your hand, Jane." Our homeroom and English teacher, Miss Salvacion, stated.

A girl with warm chocolate brown eyes raised her hand. She had equally warm brown colored hair put together in pigtails. She had trimmed eye brows and curly lashes shadowing her eyes. As I walked closer to her, I noticed she had two cute dimples on the sides of her cheeks. I sat on an empty chair beside her at the furthest row in the back of the class two seats from the windows.