MORE THAN THAT
Chapter Five
October 1, 2003
Jack hung out with Tommy, Fabrizio, Hannah,
and Christina every day. He stayed away from Rose, like she had told him to. He
had started to like Rose a lot, but he obeyed her wishes. He couldn't even turn
around in homeroom to talk to Fabrizio because she sat behind him. She didn't
utter a word to him. His friends felt bad because they knew how much he liked
her. They tried to encourage him to forget about her, but it was just too hard.
Jack's closeness with his friends had grown
very strong over the past month, especially with Christina. He felt closer to
her than the guys and Hannah, mainly because she didn't live far away.
"Jack, do you have the history
homework?" Christina asked, as they sat at her kitchen table.
"Yeah. You don't usually copy history
homework, though, Chris," Jack said. He took his history homework out of
his book bag and passed it to her.
"Thanks! I haven't had time to do it,
that's all. I'll do it later," she said, putting it aside.
"Won't you be on the phone with Tommy or
something?" Jack asked.
"Yeah. I'll do it after I get off the
phone." Christina pulled his art portfolio closer to her. She opened it to
look at his drawings. She had fallen in love with his work. She looked at a
drawing and started to laugh.
"What?" Jack asked.
"You have a picture of Cal in here
dressed up as a pig!" Christina said, holding it up for him to see. Jack
chuckled.
"Oh, yeah. That's because he is a pig!
Who the fuck hits a girl?" Jack asked. His face grew red with anger.
"Whoa! Calm down!" Christina said.
"It's not your fault that she is still with that asshole!"
"I know. I wish I could make her see
that Cal isn't good enough for her."
"Well, she obviously gets off on it if
she stays with him." Jack blew his hair out of his face.
"Whatever. I have to get home for
dinner." He got up from his seat, and Christina led him out the house.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Chris!" Jack said. Christina smiled at him
and waved, closing the door behind her.
Jack walked to his house, his mind completely
focused on Rose. She was getting hurt by this white-collar guy. Tommy and
Fabrizio had told him all about Cal. He had been a bully to Rose. They always
saw Cal yelling at her in the hall. Jack had seen it many times a week. He just
stayed away as he had promised.
Jack greeted his mother when he stepped into
his house. He quickly ran up to his room, changing out of his school uniform. He
took out his paintbrush, paint, and easel from under his bed.
He put on an old T-shirt to not get paint on
his white one that was underneath. He set up the easel and placed a chair in
front of it. He had an old white blanket underneath that was covered with
paint, so it wouldn't get on the carpet. He played some music. It calmed him
when he painted and helped him relax.
He dipped the paintbrush into the red paint.
He pressed the paintbrush on the blank canvas. He got everything down
perfectly. He dipped the red paint in a darker shade of red. The paintbrush
went smoothly on the canvas. Soon he used green and blue. The background was
filled with oranges and yellows.
An hour later, the picture was completed.
There stood a picture of Rose in a blue dress, sitting on a horse, heading out
for the horizon.
*****
Rose picked at her food at dinner, barely
eating it. Her back ached from when Cal had pushed her against the wall at the
side of the school, where no one could see. When he had punched her face nearly
a month ago at Marie Jones' party, it had left a black and blue mark on her
face. Her mother had asked her what had happened, but she had lied. She had
told her that a ball had hit her face in gym while playing volleyball.
Her birthday was on Sunday, and Cal was
taking her out somewhere nice. She wasn't very excited. She was quite scared of
him now, not knowing what was gonna happen. She wanted to break it off with
Cal, but she was too scared.
"Rose, why aren't you eating your
dinner?" her mother asked.
"I ate a lot for lunch today. I'm not
very hungry," Rose lied. She hadn't been eating much lately.
"You look sick, dear. Go to your room
and rest," her father said. Rose excused herself from the table and went
to her room.
She lay down on her bed, holding the stuffed
bear she had had since she was a toddler. Tears began to fall from her eyes.
She used to be really happy, but her life was now filled with depression. She
didn't have the friends she used to have. Her last real friend was Christina.
They had been the best of friends, until high school, that was. Then they had
drifted apart.
Rose had been obsessed with being popular.
Christina, on the other hand, had just made friends with whoever. Rose had
ignored Christina when she had made friends with Hannah. Rose had started to
talk to other kids who had money like her family. By sophomore year, all ties
with Christina had been cut loose and her crush on Cal had started. Cal's
friends became her friends.
Rose had to admit that she missed her once
best friend. She looked at the pictures she had taken with Christina, thinking
of the memories they shared. They were once inseparable. That was all in the
past now.
It felt unfair to treat Jack the way she did.
She knew he had been trying to be nice that night of the party. Instead, she
had just shut him out. He didn't turn around in homeroom, not even talk to
Fabrizio. He didn't turn to look at her in history. She knew that was what she
wanted, but she was upset about it. She kind of liked Jack. He was smart,
always raising his hand in class. He answered everything correctly.
Unfortunately, she was stuck with Cal.