WHAT DO THE STARS SAY?
Chapter Three

A few days had passed. Tiffany, Jack’s cousin, arrived in Rocksprings. She would take care of Jack’s mom while he and Peter were gone. Rose was still mad at Jack. She barely even talked to him. This made Jack sad. At one point, he and Rose had a huge fight. She argued that he was bad friend, that she didn’t understand him, and other things. Jack was so mad that he just walked off. He sat in the field where he would wait for Rose, but this time he wasn’t waiting for her. He was just there to think, think about his life. He had sat there for a while when all of a sudden, he heard his name being called.

"Jack! Jack!"

He quickly got up and saw that it was Rose. She was crying. Jack walked to her; it hurt him when she cried. He hugged her.

"I’m sorry; I know I have been a total pain lately," Rose said.

"It’s okay, Rose. I know how you feel, because I feel the same way. I promise I’ll be back," he said.

Rose buried her face in his chest.

"Everything has been so wrong lately. Rick broke up with me," she said, crying.

Jack couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He had promised himself he wouldn’t let anyone break Rose’s heart, and Rick had done just that.

"I can’t believe you’re leaving me tomorrow," she said.

Jack felt horrible. He felt guilty that she was crying. "I promise I will come back. I would not be able to survive if I didn’t see your eyes again," he said, looking into her tear-filled eyes.

He wiped some tears off with his hand, looking at her with love. Rose noticed that he had a different look in his beautiful blue eyes. It was the first time she had noticed that they were beautiful. They stared at each other for a moment. There was a strange silence. He slowly kissed her forehead, his eyes closed, and she closed her eyes as he did. He slowly ran his lips down her face; he kissed her tears away from her eyes and from her cheeks. He went farther, until he got to her lips. He stopped and saw that she had her eyes closed. He was so taken by the moment that he did not think twice about it, and kissed her lips. It was a slow and tender kiss. Rose, without thinking, kissed him back. Their tender kiss grew into a passionate one. Jack put his hands on her face, and with all the love he had hidden inside him for years, kissed her with more passion. How he had dreamed of this moment.

Rose realized what she was doing. She was kissing Jack! Silly old Jack, the guy she always saw as just a friend. After realizing this, she quickly pushed him away.

They were both breathing hard, trying to catch their breaths. Their lips were pink from the kissing. Rose stood there in shock. Jack realized that she hadn’t been expecting this. He quickly turned away, licking his lips.

"What…I…" Rose couldn’t finish what she was going to say. She really didn’t know what to say.

"I’m sorry, Rose!" Jack quickly ended the silence. "I just…I don’t know what came over me. Please…forgive me."

Rose looked at him. The same eyes that had been staring at her a moment ago were staring back at her. She didn’t know what to say. She was confused, so she ran off.

"Rose! Rose, wait!" Jack tried to stop her, but she didn’t come back.

Jack felt like a complete idiot. How had he let this happen? He had held his feelings inside for years, but now he had no idea how they he had let them out. Jack fell to his knees. It was clear to him that Rose didn’t feel the same way he was feeling. His heart was torn into a million pieces. There was no greater pain than a love not returned. He stayed on his knees on the ground, his head hanging down. Why does it hurt so much? he asked himself.

*****

Rose entered her house with slow steps. She was still very confused about everything. Did Jack really mean it when he said he had not meant to kiss me? Has my mother been right this whole time? Has Rick been right, also? They had both told her that Jack wanted something besides friendship, but she hadn’t believed them. She walked slowly to her room, ignoring her mother.

"What’s wrong, Rose?" Ruth asked. Rose didn’t answer.

The day passed, and the hours seemed long for both Rose and Jack. Rose stayed in her room, while Jack just sat against the oak tree. He wasn’t looking at the stars anymore. He was just looking down and felt empty. He looked and felt depressed. He didn’t look like his usually dreamy self.

"Hey, Jack. What’s wrong?" Peter asked.

"Nothing. I just…feel sort of sad that we are leaving tomorrow," he said. "I’m going to miss Mom so much, and this boring town, this tree, the way the stars look from here, and…"

"Rose!" Peter interrupted him.

Jack looked at him with eyes filled with sadness. "Yeah, Rose. I’ll miss her; I think I’ll miss her the most besides Mom. I don’t think she will miss me, though," he said.

"Why do you say that, Jack? She is your best friend. You two have been like glue, always together. Well, until she met that Rick guy, but besides that, you two are perfect. Everybody has always wondered why you two haven’t gone the extra step and been more than friends. You two know each other so well, you would be the perfect couple," Peter said.

His words were killing Jack. He had always thought the same, but he knew she probably had never given it a thought. Her eyes had never looked at him with eyes of love, and he felt like she probably never would.

Jack got up and went inside the house. He tried to go to sleep, but he couldn’t. Rose was in his head, like always, but this time she wouldn’t let him sleep. He finally forced his eyes to close, but she was still there. He wanted to forget her, but he couldn’t.

*****

The next day, Jack and Peter got up early. Jack was tired; he had not gotten any sleep. They put their suitcases in their truck, ready to head to the bus station. "Please come back, boys; I don’t want lose you both," Laura Dawson said.

"Don’t worry, Mom. We’ll be back," Peter assured her.

She started to cry. Jack hugged her. He tried to comfort her, but she kept crying.

After a few good-byes, hugs, and kisses, Jack and Peter waved farewell to Tiffany and their mom, and left for the bus station. When they got to there, they found that the bus would take an hour to leave. They sat down on a bench and waited. Jack couldn’t stop thinking of Rose.

"Jack!"

Jack looked up. It was Rose.

"Can we talk before you leave?" she asked.

"Uh…yeah. Sure," he said nervously.

They walked to a tree near the station. They didn’t walk close, though; she walked in front while Jack followed her. It was a short walk, but it seemed long. There was a weird silence all the way. Rose stopped at the tree. She didn’t look at him for a long time. Jack began to worry. He just looked at her with a worried look.

Rose couldn’t find her words. "Jack, I have one question, and only one," she finally said, breaking the silence. "Jack, do you…what do you really feel for me? And answer me with the truth."

"I…I…" He didn’t know what to answer.

"Do you love me, Jack? Do you love me as more than a friend?" she asked angrily.

Jack looked at her and saw it in her eyes. "I…I don’t. I really don’t," he said, looking down. He couldn’t look at her as he lied.

"You don’t? Then what was all that yesterday? Jack, are you sure?" she asked. As she did, it started to rain. She saw that he wasn’t answering her; she felt more anger and started to walk away.

Jack grabbed her arm and pulled her close to him, so close that he could breathe her scent of flowers. He looked into her eyes. She pushed him back and started to walk away again. He grabbed her again, pulled her to his lips, and kissed her. Rose didn’t know what to do. She kissed him back, but quickly pulled away. Jack couldn’t hide it anymore, and decided to confess.

"Yes, I do love you!" he said. "I love you with all my heart and soul. I have loved you all my life. You are what I dream and think about all the time. I love you so much that I can’t take it anymore. It hurts too much! Every time I would see you with Rick, I felt so mad. I wanted you to love me! You are everywhere; you are even in the air I breath," Jack said, tears in his eyes.

"Why have you lied to me for this long?" Rose yelled. "Why have you lied to me? Why? You have no right to do this to me! I thought that out of all people, you were the only one who was honest to me! I guess I was wrong! I was being fooled all this time!" she yelled, and pushed off, hitting him in the chest. Tears fell from her eyes. The rain was getting worse. Jack just watched her cry. "Why didn’t you end this lie a long time ago, Jack?" she asked.

"I don’t know. Maybe I was scared that you would react the way you have reacted now," he said in a low tone. Rose just looked at him angrily.

"I would rather just keep my feelings to myself instead of losing you, even if it would kill me slowly but surely. Now I realize I was right. I should have just kept it to myself. You look at me with hate and disappointment, something I have always feared. My heart couldn’t stand it anymore, so I gambled and I lost. I lost you, Rose," Jack said sadly.

Rose was still angry. Why had he lied to her all this time? She was so angry she didn’t think of what her following words were going to do.

"Yes! Yes, you have lost! I trusted you with all my heart, and you betrayed me. I have been living a lie for years. All I feel for you now is disappointment, anger, and even hatred!" she yelled. Those words crushed his heart. "I don’t want to see you ever again!" she yelled, and walked off.

Jack didn’t bother stopping her. It was clear to him that he had lost Rose forever.

Rose kept walking. She really had not meant it when she said she hated him, but she wanted to make him feel bad, bad like she was feeling now.

Jack and Peter got on the bus. The bus took off. Everything Jack saw was blurry. His eyes were full of tears. Peter didn’t bother asking him what was wrong. He had overheard them. He knew Jack needed some time alone.

Rose saw the bus pass, and with it Jack. She wiped her eyes and kept walking, hoping to forget Jack forever.

Little did she know this day would haunt her for a long time to come.

Chapter Four
Stories