Rose
"And then he never texted me after that." Miley whines as we walk across the school hallway.
"I don't know what you see in that guy. He is such a jerk. Oh and let's not forget how stupid he is." Jessica says.
"Hey! You don't even know him okay? Deep deep down he has a heart of gold." Miley retorts.
"Yeah, that's why he's ghosting you." Jessica snorts.
"He will text me soon........" Miley says gloomily.
"Aww, honey don't worry about him. There is plenty of fish in the sea. And to be really honest, you deserve better. I'm not a fan of Mason either. He is very mean." I say.
"You too, Rose?" She asks with a hurtful expression.
"I mean I don't-" I was interrupted when I suddenly felt someone lifting my skirt up. I promptly turn around to see Felix, one of the biggest jerks in our school, smirking at me. Beside him, is his best friend, Garry, holding a video recorder. I look at the two of them with horror when it dawns on me what they just did.
"What the fuck, Felix? What did you just do?!" Jessica asks taking a step towards him. Miley wraps her arms around me for comfort. But it wasn't helping at all.
"Well, you see Jess, my friend and I, had a bet going on in here. I made a bet saying that our little Rose wears grandma underpants. I gotta prove my point so we thought of taking a little peek, and oh my God I was so right." He says whilst laughing and giving high fives to his friend. By now, we grabbed the attention of all the students around us and they were witnessing the current predicament with curiosity. Some girls were even giggling at my misery while some guys were giving me judgmental looks.
"What a geek." I heard one of the girls murmur. Unable to bear the humiliation anymore, I push Miley's arms away from me and sprint towards the girls' washroom. I lock myself in there and start sobbing. I always knew that Felix and his gang didn't like me, I don't know why. But I never thought they would stoop to this level to degrade me. This is so disrespectful. He humiliated me in front of the whole school! Why do people have to be so judgmental?
"Rose?" I hear Miley and Jessica calling me out whilst knocking on the door of the stall I was in.
"Honey we know you're in there. Please come out, Rose."
"Go away, please. I want to be alone." I say in between hiccups.
"He is such an asshole I swear. He should be getting a suspension for this." I hear Miley mumbling to Jessica.
"He won't. He is the school principal's son after all. That loser will get away with this." Jessica says through her gritted teeth.
"Come out Rose. We promise you no one is going to make fun of you. Come out now." Miley insists.
"No no no. Please just leave me alone." I say, sniffling.
"She won't come out anytime soon," Jessica says to Miley.
"Doesn't matter. We'll stay here till she comes out." Miley says.
"Please guys, I need some space right now. I promise I'll come to you after some time. Just give me some privacy." I say lowly. I hear both of them letting out a sigh before leaving. I bury my head in my hands and sniffle, rewinding the horrific events in my head over and over again. Suddenly, I hear a loud banging on my door followed by a deep, familiar voice.
"Rosie?! Come out, it's Jackson." He says from the other side of the door. My eyes widen and I abruptly open the door, to see Jackson with a bruised cheek and a cut lip.
"Jackson! What happened to your face?" I ask, gently cupping his cheek so that I don't hurt him. He pulls my hands away, shaking his head.
"I'm fine. Don't worry about me. I heard what happened with that asshole, Felix." He says through gritted teeth. I look down at our entwined hands out of embarrassment. After a few minutes, I promptly lift my head and look at Jackson.
"What are you doing in the girls' washroom? You need to leave, now." I say, panicking. As it is, the teachers don't like him, they find every way possible to degrade him.
"I'm not going anywhere without you." He obstinately says.
"I-" he interrupts me by kissing my cheek tentatively. He wraps his arms around me and pulls me into a bear hug. I snuggle my face into his chest, inhaling his scent.
"That asshole won't bother you again, and I made them delete the video, so you're fine now." He says whilst placing soft kisses on my head. I lift my face to take a look at him.
"So that's how you got these cuts?" I ask as I gently brush my fingers over them.
"This is nothing. You should see Felix's face, you won't recognize him." He smirks.
"You're going to get into trouble," I say apprehensively.
"You're worth the trouble, Rosie. I gotta teach those assholes that no one messes up with my girl."
"I'm sorry mom, I'll stop by in the evening," I say as I make a cup of coffee.
"Is everything okay, honey?" I let out a quiet sigh and place the cup on the counter.
"Yeah, mom. It's just that I have to run some errands this morning. I'll be there by evening, I promise."
"It's okay, Rose. You come here every morning and stay till late, I can excuse you for one day."
"Thanks, mom. Although, I think that you need to come and stay a few nights at home. I can stay at the hospital till then."
"I cannot, dear. I can't leave your father's side. We'll come home when everything falls into place." She says, assuring me, or assuring herself, to be precise.
"As you say, mom. I'll have to hang up now. See you later."
"See you, honey." I hang up and take a sip of my coffee. I close my eyes and let out a loud sigh, getting startled in the process when I hear the toaster ding. I place my cup back on the counter and start making breakfast for Jackson. Although I did help him take a shower at 1 AM last night, I'm pretty sure he will be a little hungover. I fill a big glass of water and take the plate of toasts, along with some Ibuprofen, putting them all on a tray. I climb the stairs and head towards his room. I gently knock on the door before opening it, even though I know that he is dead asleep. As soon as I enter his room, I see him sleeping peacefully as if nothing had happened last night. After helping him in the shower, I had insisted him to let me stay over in his room. I didn't want him to go through a nightmare in my absence, he is really drained to experience something so horrid all by himself. I place the tray on the nightstand and head towards the window to move aside the curtains. While I do so, I hear a groan from behind.
"Good morning," I say merrily. He looks at me through squinted eyes and turns over, going back to sleep.
Rude.
I thought of letting him stay in bed till his heart's content since he needs a lot of it right now. I make my way towards the door right before he calls my name.
"Rose." He says, his voice tired and sore. I turn around and give him a questioning look. I try to hide my discomfort with him calling me Rose. Even though he was in a very dreadful position last night, he called me Rosie, which melted my heart.
"Yes?" I ask. He places his palm on the bed and lifts himself, leaning back on the headboard.
"Come here." He says softly, patting the space beside him on the bed. I take hesitant steps and sit next to him. He grabs my hand, pulling me towards him and takes me into a bone crushing hug.
"Thank you so much for last night." He whispers. I wrap my arms around his shoulders, with a soft smile.
"It's alright. I hope you're doing well now." I say, in a soft tone. He does not give a reply but just continues to hug me, burying his face deep into the crook of my neck. After giving me one last squeeze through the hug, he pulls away. His eyes promptly go to my neck and his expression changes to that of guilt.
"I'm sorry, Rosie." He says, gently brushing his fingers over the bruise on my neck. I hold his wrist and pull his hands away, smiling softly.
"It's not your fault, Jackson." I say, looking into his eyes which are filled with remorse and sorrow.
"Although, I am all ears if you want to talk about........" I say, but before I could complete my sentence, he interrupts me.
"I-I.......I just......let's not talk about it now, Rosie." He says, going pale. I might not have noticed the position we were in earlier, but when I did, I was astounded. Jackson had wrapped his arm around my waist, and I was placing both my hands on his bare chest.
"Hey, you're not that uncomfortable with people touching you now." I say, being exultant with his progress.
"No no, I still get weirded out with people touching me. It's just that, your touches aren't weird. It's rather.......comforting, soothing and warm." He says lowly, his eyes locked on my lips.
Our faces were mere inches away from each other. I can feel myself leaning in towards him and I can see him follow suit. As we get closer and closer, his grip on my waist tightens, as if he is afraid that I might vanish into thin air.....