number 12. (l.s.)

Chapter 23.

T W E N T Y    T H R E E
-Rose's story-

Louis looked at his clothes, which were totally covered by the white powder. "Louis?" Dan asked again. He quickly walked towards the door, on the way he locked eyes with Dan, who looked at him in a way as if he could laugh any second. "Ow, I forgot to ask, something, erm, came up." Louis said, looking back and forth between Rose and Dan.

Rose started to laugh timidly. "I see."

Dan laughed too. Louis only felt quite embarrassed. "Is it okay if she's here?" He asked for approval.

Dan nodded. "Yeah, of course. Come in. I'm Dan."

Rose stepped inside and intruded herself. "Hi, I'm Rose. Your neighbor." She smiled as she did so.

"Ow really? I actually wanted to invite you all sometime, getting to know our new neighbors." Meanwhile, they walked into the house. "It's five pm, would you like to stay for dinner?"

"Ow, I really don't want to bother you,' she said politely.

"Well, Louis and I were just cooking, and we could really use a judge,' he said with a warm smile. She snickered at that. "Well, thank you then, I'll be the judge."

After that, Rose and Louis walked upstairs. "Dan is really nice,' she stated. "Yeah, he is,' Louis agreed with a soft smile. When they walked into the room, Louis saw himself in the mirror as he closed the door. "I look horrible, I'll be back in two minutes,' he quickly said, and walked to the bathroom located in his room. He only cleaned his face, and just ignored his clothes. As he walked back, he saw Rose sit in his windowsill. She looked at her own room across from Louis' window. Then she looked back at Louis. "Do you sit here often?"

Louis nodded, but quickly added, 'I don't look into your room though, at least, except when I heard that yelling."

She smiled and nodded. "I understand. I sit like this often too, but not like creeping on you. I didn't even know this was your room, until I saw you and we did rock paper and scissors."

Louis sat down on the bed. "Rose?"

She nodded. "It is a really weird question, but like, you've heard of my reputation, didn't you?"

"Well, I think the entire school does."

"But like...,' Louis didn't really know what to say, so he just looked at her unsure of what to say.

"I think I know what you're trying to say. Two things: no I'm not scared that you'll beat me up. And no, I don't have a crush on you."

Louis opened his mouth, but close it again when he didn't know what to say. "Great,' he said eventually, raising his eyebrows a little.

Rose nodded. "Yeah. I mean, there was this huge story about you and Juliet dating."

"Yes!" Louis nearly shouted, glad that Juliet finally came up as subject.

Rose was taken back for a moment, not expecting that. "You are dating her?"

"No, no, definitely not! She's really, really single,' Louis said and nodded with his answer, widening his eyes a little.

"And you're not?" She had a really confused look on her face.

"No, I'm too, but I mean, she is too. You know her, Juliet?"

Rose shook her head. "No, well, she's in our science class, but that's about it."

"Do you want to get to know her?" Louis asked carefully.