A CALIFORNIA ROSE
Chapter Seven

Rose ran across the campus, sobbing. She wasn’t sure where she was going; she only knew that she had to get away.

A few students were still wandering around the campus, and they looked at her askance as she ran past them. A car honked at her and slammed on its brakes as she darted across a street, but Rose paid no attention.

Rose’s frantic flight finally ended three-quarters of the way across campus, when she slammed into a bike rack near the library. Panting, out of breath, she stood there for a moment, her hands clutching the steel bars. Then, gazing up at the library, she headed up the stairs.

Rose wasn’t certain what she was going to do, but when she saw the railing separating the landing from the long drop to the concrete below, she knew.

The library’s first floor was actually about thirty feet off the ground, with a basement and a sub-basement beneath. The sub-basement led to an outdoor patio, currently undergoing construction. The drop from the landing to the sub-basement patio was about sixty feet.

Looking around to make sure no one was watching, Rose climbed over the railing. Her high-heeled shoes impaired her ability to climb, and she gripped the branches of a tall tree growing out of the sub-basement patio. Her tight dress restricted her movements, but somehow she found herself on the other side of the railing. Turning around carefully, she stared down, contemplating the blackness below.

Rose’s hands clutched convulsively at the top rail as she tried to convince herself to let go. All she had to do was loosen her grip, and she would fall to the concrete below. Even if she survived the initial fall, it was unlikely that anyone would find her until it was too late. She leaned forward, her hands still clutching the railing. All she had to do was let go, and she would be free. No more Cal, no more pressure, no more threats hanging over her head. No one could ever hurt her again.

So deep was Rose’s concentration that she didn’t hear the footsteps coming up behind her. She didn’t realize that anyone was there until the person spoke up.

"Don’t do it."

Gasping with surprise, Rose turned her head to look at the speaker, nearly losing her grip on the railing. A young man with blonde hair and blue eyes stood just a few feet from her. Vaguely, Rose remembered seeing him that day at Sunpeak.

"Stay back! Don’t come any closer!"

He was carrying a notebook full of loose papers. Setting it on top of the book drop, he edged closer.

"Take my hand. I’ll pull you back over."

"No! Stay where you are. I mean it. I’ll let go." As if to emphasize her point, she loosened her grip on the railing.

He looked at her for a moment, wondering how to proceed. Then, it came to him.

"No you won’t."

"What do you mean, no I won’t? Don’t presume to tell me what I will and will not do. You don’t know me."

He shrugged. "Well, you would have done it already. Now come on, take my hand."

Rose looked at him in confusion, wiping angrily at her eyes. "You’re distracting me. Go away."

"I can’t. I’m involved now. If you let go I’m going to have to climb down there after you."

"Don’t be absurd. You’ll be killed."

He stepped closer, gripping a low-hanging branch of the tree. "I’m a good climber."

"If you slipped--"

"It hasn’t happened yet."

Rose stared at him. "You’re crazy."

"That’s what everyone says. But with all due respect, I’m not the one perched over a sub-basement here." He moved a little closer. "Come on. You don’t want to do this. Give me your hand."

Rose stared at him for a long moment, undecided. Finally, she realized that he was right. She didn’t want to jump.

Slowly, Rose took one hand from the railing and gripped her rescuer’s hand. Now that she had decided to live, the drop was terrifying. Still clinging to the railing with her other hand, she turned around.

Her rescuer smiled with relief. "I’m Jack Dawson."

Rose couldn’t help but return the smile. "I’m Rose DeWitt-Bukater."

"I’m gonna have to get you to write that one down."

Rose laughed, shakily, and began to climb back over. As she put her foot on the lowest railing, one of her high heels caught in a crack in the concrete. With a terrified scream, she fell toward the black abyss.

Jack still had hold of her hand, and she dragged him halfway over. As she fell, she managed to grip the edge of the concrete landing with her other hand.

"Help me!" she screamed, struggling desperately to find purchase on the smooth concrete wall. Her screams became louder as she felt Jack’s grip slip a little. "Please, help me!"

Jack tightened his grip on Rose’s hand as he lunged backward from the railing, pulling her partway up. "I’ve got you. I won’t let go. Now, pull yourself up!"

Rose managed to grab the top rail. Grabbing the front of her dress, Jack pulled her the rest of the way over. They fell in a heap.

Two campus police officers had heard Rose’s screams and come running. They saw Rose lying on the ground, crying, her now-torn dress pushed up past her thighs. Jack had landed on top of her.

The officers immediately jumped to conclusions. One grabbed Jack and snapped a pair of handcuffs on him, while the other helped Rose up.

It took a moment for Rose to realize that they were trying to arrest Jack. One of the officers began to read him his rights. Rose stopped him.

"What are you doing?"

"Go sit down. We’ll be with you in a minute."

"He didn’t do anything."

The cop stopped talking and looked at her. "Excuse me?"

"He didn’t lay a hand on me."

"That’s not what it looked like."

"It was an accident. Stupid, really. I dropped something over the railing, and I couldn’t get my hand far enough under the railing to reach it, so it tried to lean over it, and I slipped. I would have fallen, but Jack here saved me, and almost went over himself." She looked at Jack pleadingly, willing him to comply with her story.

The cop looked at him. "Was that what happened?"

Jack nodded. "Uh, yeah, that was pretty much it."

The other cop unlocked Jack’s handcuffs, still suspicious. Something about Rose’s story didn’t sound quite right, but since she was refusing to press charges, there was nothing he could do.

"Do you need to be escorted back to your dorm or something?" he asked Rose.

She shook her head, noting her two roommates hurrying toward the library. "I’m all right. Besides, my roommates are here. They’ll walk with me."

He put the handcuffs away and nodded as Mari and Michelle came running up. "We’ll be going now."

"Okay. Thank you."

Mari ran up to Rose, knocking Jack’s notebook off the bookdrop in her haste. Papers scattered everywhere, but Mari didn’t notice. "Rose! Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, Mari, I’m fine."

"You looked like you were ready to throw yourself in front of a moving car or something!" she exclaimed, noticing Rose’s torn dress. "What did you do?"

Rose winced, not wanting to be reminded of the mistake she had almost made. "Nothing. I just..." She looked around, searching for something to change the subject. She noticed Jack picking up the scattered papers.

"Let’s help him pick up. You dumped his notebook."

Michelle was already helping. She looked at Jack with interest. Rose felt an unaccountable jealousy. "This is Jack Dawson."

"Pleased to meet you." Mari handed him a stack of photocopies. "I’m Mari Lopez, and this is Michelle Palmer. We’re Rose’s roommates."

Rose picked up one of the photocopies. It was a picture of a medieval painting. Curious, Rose opened her mouth to ask Jack about it, but Michelle was already talking.

"Are you a student here?"

"Uh, no..."

Jack noticed that one of the cops had returned and was eyeing him suspiciously. "I’d better get going. Rose can tell you what happened." He picked up his notebook and one last scattered paper and hurried away. The cop made no move to follow him.

"So what did happen, Rose?" Mari was still worried about her.

Rose gave her roommates the same story she had given the cops. Michelle was satisfied with the story, but Mari didn’t quite believe her.

"So why were you crying like that?" she asked, as they walked back to the dorm.

Rose just shrugged, refusing to volunteer any additional information. She saw a folded piece of paper on the sidewalk and picked it up, trying to distract her friend.

"What’s that?" Michelle asked, eyeing the crumpled paper.

Rose unfolded it and took a look. It was a schedule for classes at Masline City College, with Jack’s name on it.

"I think Jack lost one of his papers," Rose replied, tucking the paper into her pocket.

Michelle looked at her. "You going to return it to him, Rose?"

"I wouldn’t know where to find him."

"Sure you can," Mari piped up. "It says Masline City College."

"Still..."

"I think you should go for it," Michelle told her. "Maybe you can find someone better than your creepy fiancé."

Rose didn’t want to talk about Cal. "You looked like you were interested in Jack. You should return it."

"He’s cute, I guess, but I think I’ll stick with university guys. They’ve got better futures."

And that, Rose thought, was half the problem.

Chapter Eight
Stories