The One They Left Behind

T W E L V E

The next day Rose borrowed clothes from Hillary and made it to her first class just in time.

"Here you go" Yasmin said, putting a coffee and muffin on Rose's desk as she sat down.

"You're a godsend, thanks." Rose muttered, immediately diving for the coffee.

"I heard about yesterday, Hillary said you had spent the night at her place and didn't have time to wait for the dining hall to open, so I stopped at Tims." Yasmin explained, sipping her own coffee as Mr. Jones walked in.

"Yeah, I stayed at her place last night after work." Rose answered, giving her friend a small smile.

"So, how was the date. Have you talked to Sam since it happened?" Yasmin asked, leaning closer.

"It was good! I was super nervous at the beginning, but once the movie started I felt better. Then, when he walked me to my car, he kissed me!" Rose whisper yelled to Yasmin.

"No way!" Yasmin whooped, catching the attention of  a couple students around them and earning a glare from Rose.

"Alright everyone, please go to your own seats and open your textbooks to page ninety-eight." Mr. Jones called out, snapping the class into action.

"You're telling me everything at lunch." Yasmin demanded as she made her way to her desk.

***

"Hey, wait up!" Diana called to Rose as she was heading to her next class.

"Oh hi, what's up?" Rose asked, waiting for Diana to catch up.

"Renee and I were planning on going out for lunch today, do you want to tag along? If you brought a lunch you can just bring it with you." Diana replied as she fell in step with Rose.

"Sorry, but I promised Yasmin I'd have lunch with her. Also, Renee and I aren't on great terms." Rose answered, feeling somewhat relieved that she wouldn't be joining them.

"It's fine, maybe you can come another day. I don't know if this is being too nosy but what happened between you and Renee?" Diana asked, following Rose to her functions class.

"Look, you two might be friends but she's not a nice person. She's a bitch to literally everyone and when you left she put me on the long list of people she hates for no discernible reason." Rose answered.

"I'm sure if you guys just talked you would be friends again. It would be just like old times!" Diana pleaded as they stopped in front of Rose's class.

"Look, I've missed having you around and it's great that you want to be friends again, but I'm not going let you control who I'm friends with. You've been gone for two years Diana, no one is the same person they used to be and it's too exhausting to pretend to be the person we used to be. " Rose pointed out, wishing she could get out of the conversation.

"Fine. I'll see you later, I have to get to class." Diana huffed, making her way back through the hallway.

Although Rose slightly regretted how harsh she had been, she wasn't going to pretend to be someone's friend just for the nostalgia, especially if that person was Renee.

***

Rose was heading out of Chemistry later that day when Sam caught up to her.

"So, this whole Orgo thing, I don't get it." He said as they went into the hall.

"I don't think anyone does." She answered, "You saw everyone's faces when Mr. Kruntz talked about benzene rings."

"Hey, do you work on Sunday?" He asked, stopping and turning to her.

"No, it's my day off." She replied.

"Perfect. Why don't we get coffee and study Sunday at 2?" He said, the little smile on his face giving her butterflies. 

"Sounds good to me." She said shyly.

"Great, it's a date. I'll see you later." He gave her a little wave before rushing off to follow a friend that had just passed them, almost bumping into Yasmin on the way.

"So, I'm guessing the puppy dog eyes are because of Sam and not eating lunch with me." Yasmin said, a poorly concealed smirk on her face.

"Shut up." Rose muttered, a blush decorating her cheeks.

"Are you guys going out again this weekend?" Yasmin asked as they headed down the stairs to Rose's locker.

"Yeah, it's just a study date." Rose answered, putting her things away.

"I doubt you guys are going to do much studying." Yasmin teased, jumping away from Rose swatting at her.

"Shut up!" Rose giggled, trying her best to calm the fiery red streaking her cheeks.

"Rose!" A loud voice called from behind her.

Steeling herself, Rose took a deep breath and turned to face an annoyed Renee.

"Do you need something?" She asked, trying to remain as polite as possible.

"I heard you're trying to be friends with Diana again. You need to stop." Renee answered, her lips pursed as if she had sucked on a lemon.

"Excuse me? You don't get to tell me who to be friends with." Rose stated, her eyebrows knitting together at the other irl's insanity.

"Look, I don't want to be nice to you and we all know if Diana is friends with you she'll want me to be your friend too. So, I'm going to need you to take yourself out of the equation." Renee said, now sporting a fake smile.

"Don't worry, you and I aren't going to be friends anytime soon. But that doesn't mean I'm going to stop talking to my oldest friend." Rose protested, still completely stunned.

"Fine. But just a warning, your life is going to be complete hell from now on." Renee spat, rolling her eyes and exiting with a hair flip.

"Jeez, she's a bitch." Yasmin stated, staring at the retreating girl. "Who even says shit like that?"

"I have no idea." Rose said, her mind still reeling from the encounter.

"Ok, I think I'm going to need more backstory on this dynamic, she hates you too much to not have a reason." Yasmin said, pushing herself off of the locker she was leaning on.

"I have no idea, she's hated me forever, even before Diana left. She was jus better at hiding it back then." Rose answered, trying to think of a reason. "Maybe I should try to find out."

"As long as you start this mission after lunch, I'm starving." Yasmin declared, taking Rose's arm and leading them to the cafeteria.

***

"You have work tonight right?" Yasmin asked as they were heading out of school that afternoon.

"Yeah, I have to train the new kid." Rose answered, pouting a little.

"I'm sure it won't be that bad. Plus, you have your date with Sam to look forward to." Yasmin said comfortingly.

"Yeah, my weekend won't be half bad." Rose agreed.

"Your weekend seems much more promising than mine, my mom's coming back from a work trip which means many conversations about what I want to do with my life." Yasmin complained as they approached her dad's car.

"Good luck with that, call me if you need anything." Rose said as her friend climbed into her waiting car.

"I will, bye!" Yasmin called through the open window as her dad left the parking lot.

Rose waved until the car was gone before she turned to where she had parked her jeep. She was humming as she approached when someone stepped in her path. 

She froze when she looked up to ask them to move.

"Hey there squirt." The heavily tattooed man said.

"Jonathan?"