She is Not Made of Roses

thirteen: i'm gettin' a lot of sapphic vibes up in this bitch

“—You guys are friends with Raj, right? Do you know if he’ll be swinging by?” Willa asks all of a sudden, chewing her gum incredibly loud.

Rosie frowns, caught off guard. “Um, kind of,” she says, disinterested, “and no, he will not be.”

“That’s a shame,” Willa says with a sigh, taking it upon herself to find her own seat. “I’m wearing really cute underwear right now.”

Alan puckers his lips, his eyes widening in horror. “That’s, um, well, absolutely disgusting, Willa.”

Rosie tries her best to keep her most excited face on, “Well, regardless, I think we have a pretty good group here.”

Tessa, who’s remained silent for the majority of the time, smiles and sits beside Willa. “Well, we’re happy to help. In any way that we can”—she nudges Willa, who looks more than dozed off already—“Even this one.”

“Well that’s good, because we need all the help we can get,” Rosie sighs, smiling. “Our chances of getting funded until graduation pretty much just tripled now.”

Alan shrugs it off as if it were nothing, “Well, you know me. I live for charity.”

“Just ignore that one,” Tessa says with a smile.

“That’s a hate crime, honey, and don’t you forget it.”

“Question,” Willa interjects, raising her hand. “Are there any straight men in this club? Because, side note, I’m gettin’ a lot of Sapphic vibes up in this bitch.”

“Sapphic is female homosexuality, for your information, Willa,” Alan bites back. “And take a look around. Does this”—he makes a grand gesture to himself—“Look straight?”

“Hey, a girl can dream can’t she?”

“Rosie?”

Immediately, Rosie’s head spins, greeted by four familiar faces looming in the doorway like ghosts. Hesitantly, they enter, tentatively as if they’d braced a minefield. Aurora looks inquisitively around her, her eyes always falling on her friend.

“Why do we have the entire drama department in this one room? You know how I don’t like my drama life and my you life mixing.”

Rosie frowns hopelessly, “Ella told them about us and they said they wanted to join,” she says. “And why not? It’s not that bad.”

Alan spins around and smiles, “Hey, Dorothy,” he says, waving excitedly. “Hope your thoughts on feminist critical theory aren’t as shitty as your step ball change.”

Aurora scowls, eyes turned to icy daggers. “That’s exactly why, Rosie,” she hisses.

“I’m gonna side with Kansas over here,” Maia agrees. “I was cool with Princess joining, but this is our thing. Having the entire school in it kind of fucks with our air of mystery.”

“Since when are we so adamant in trying to exclude people?” Lilly snaps instantly, grimacing. “We’re not the fuckin’ Cosa Nostra. You don’t need to kill a person to prove your loyalty to us, or anything. I think there’s just, like, a form.”

Aurora frowns, stumped. She crosses her arms, craning her neck to peer over at the last member of the group. “Well, what do you think, Danielle?”

Immediately, all four sets of eyes fall on her, and she falls silent. She shrugs her shoulders, her lips glued shut.

Lilly nods thoughtfully, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. “God, you are so insightful sometimes. We could all learn a thing or two from you.”