under the shadow of a tree

PART I: CHAPTER 4

"Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting"

Here Comes The Sun – The Beatles

One week later, Rey and Rose entered their room, each carrying a pile of clothes taller than their heads. They set the clothes down by their beds and started folding them like Maz had asked them to do, while the other kids did their chores.

"Okay, but you have to admit it. He had it coming."

"Doesn't mean it's okay to attack people, Rey."

"He called you something awful, Rose. You should've been the one to break his nose, not me."

Rose shrugged. "I didn't want any trouble."

Rey paired two unicorn socks and folded them, adding the fabric ball to Rose's pile of clothes. "Don't let anyone call you that. Ever."

Rose smiled. "You sound like my sister."

"You have a sister?"

"Yeah. Paige. She's older than me."

Rey paused for a second and frowned, folding one of her black jeans. "Then why are you here?"

She realized a second too late that her question was out of line when she saw Rose's face. "Rose, I didn't-"

"No, it's okay. I'd be curious too". Rose bit her lip before she continued, while she left a t-shirt on Tommy's pile. "Paige works a lot so she thought that if I stayed with her I'd be alone most of the time. And I think my parents were friends with Maz before they died, so Paige asked her to take care of me. I still see her sometimes, but she's very busy."

Rey nodded silently.

Rose eyed her. "Speaking of being alone, where do you go all afternoons?"

Rey blushed. "I just walk around", said, eyes fixed on the sheets she was folding.

"Uh-huh. You wouldn't happen to walk around with the Solo guy, right?"

Rey frowned and defiantly raised her chin. "And what if I did?"

Rose chuckled. "You don't need to go all defensive on me, Rey. I won't say anything, I just wanted to know if you are okay."

"Why wouldn't I? And how do you know him?"

"I was bored when I got here so I took a walk around. I saw someone reading near the playground, asked him his name and what he was reading. And he told me to mind my own business! He was a complete jerk, so I decided to just stay at home and play with the other kids here."

Rey laughed. "Why didn't you just tell him to shut up?"

Rose looked shocked. She then shrugged, folding Rey's black socks. "Maz says that just because someone is an idiot with me doesn't mean that I have to lower myself at his level."

Rey contained a smile. "He's not all bad, really"

Rose looked doubtful.

"Honestly, if you knew him a little more.."

Rose rolled her eyes and smiled. "Whatever you say. You get to know him, I'll focus on making friends with kind people."

Rey chuckled and added a skirt on Rose's pile, thinking about the schoolboy bloody nose. "Do you think Maz will ground me?"

"If she does I'll tell her that idiot attacked you first."

The girls smiled knowingly at each other.

-o-

A few days later, Rey tried to focus on her English homework, but she kept getting distracted thinking about the last chapter of the book she had read with Ben, especially the forest with Pools to travel to other worlds. It reminded her of the little park. She smiled and grabbed her notebook from her bag under the dining room's chair she was sitting, writing it down so she could tell Ben next time.