Roses Are Red

Chapter 03

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Spring

March 12th, 1957

Samantha tapped her foot and bit on her pencil, eyeing the clock hung above the chalkboard. She had received detention from grouchy, old, Mrs. Smith for talking back. Samantha had gotten up late and was unable to do her hair. In her second hour, Mrs. Smith called her sloppy. Having had enough of her insults, Samantha said something along the lines of "wicked old hag" under her breath. The girl next to her, an obviously trying-to-hard teacher's pet, overheard Sammi's mumble and in a nasally voice, told on her.

She had written all of her lines, but the teacher giving detention made them stay until after the bus left, which was a full hour. Sammi worried about Paul. She hoped he had waited up for her, but knew that it was unlikely because it had been an hour since school ended.

As soon as the teacher said the word "dismissed" Samantha flew out of her seat, handed in her paper full of lines, and rushed out the classroom door. She ran down the dimly lit hallway and pushed opened the large door that led to her freedom. She was met with clouds and a biting chill that caused her nose to turn pink and goose bumps to appear on her arms. Samantha scanned the steps of the school and grinned when she saw Paul sitting on a step with a book in his hand. She raced down the stone steps causing Paul to glance up at her.

He snapped his book shut dramatically and stood up. "'Bout time," he said and Sammi rolled her eyes. "We have to walk to the next stop, it's fifteen minutes that way," Paul pointed down the street in the direction of his school.

Sammi nodded. "You didn't have to wait for me, you know," she said as they began their walk.

Paul shrugged, "I didn't have anythin' better to do," he said. "Guessin' ye had detention?"

"Yeah," she grumbled and kicked a pebble that had found its way into the sidewalk. "Mrs. Smith."

"Old bitch," Paul said and shoved his hands into his blazer pockets, "I've never met 'er but still."

Before the reached the steps to Paul's school, a boy with dark brown hair made his way down the steps and, clutching his bag, began his own trek down the sidewalk the same direction that Samantha and Paul were headed. Paul squinted at the boy for a moment before his face lit up. "George!" Paul called. The dark haired boy stopped in his tracks and peeked over his shoulder. He saw Paul and decided that he should turn around to greet his friend.

The boy Paul had called 'George' was slightly shorter than Paul, around Samantha's height. His hair was tosseled into a messy quiff like Paul's. It was all the rage to have hair like Elvis. He had dark, thick, eyebrows that rested above his chocolate colored eyes. His nose was straight and the tip of it was pink from the cold. He wore a blazer that looked a lot like Paul's, but had been dyed black as you could still see some of the original pattern on the jacket underneath. The school emblem patch had been sewn on. His trousers we're a tad too big on him and the scarf wrapped around his neck looked hand knitted. Overall, Samantha had decided the boy was quite endearing.

Paul began walking quicker and Samantha trailed behind him. She never met any of Paul's other friends before. She of course new he had them at school, but usually never interacted with them since a lot of his friends took a different bus. "Hullo, Paul," George said with a small smile and his eyes darted to the redhead girl beside his friend. Samantha noted that his accent sounded different. It was lower and smoother, he held his vowels for a longer amount of time.

After glancing at Sammi, George's gaze returned to Paul. "Ye miss the bus?" He asked.

Paul nodded and cocked his head towards Samantha. "An old crow gave 'er detention," Paul said.