THEN YOU LOOK AT ME
Chapter Two

Rose excitedly raced out of the Warehouse Theater and jumped in her car. She let out a little cry of joy as she got out her keys and started the Honda.

"I got the part," she sang to herself as she got out her Celine Dion All the Way CD and put it into her car's CD player. She switched the song to 'That's The Way It Is' and started singing along as she pulled out of the parking lot.

After all the parts had been announced, people ran around congratulating each other and taking nicely to the people who hadn't made the play. Rose had seen Mary Anne stalk away after a very heated argument with Mrs. Lewis over her not getting the part. She had smiled at that scene. In Rose's opinion, Mary Anne deserved to lose once in a while. Rose assumed that she was now at home complaining to her father about not getting to be Juliet. That’s what Mary Anne always did, went and complained to her daddy. Usually, if her dad couldn't fix the problem, he'd end up getting Mary Anne something else that she wanted. That made Rose even more mad. Mary Anne was nothing but a spoiled little brat that everyone hated. Rose sighed and turned the music up louder, hoping to make herself forget about Mary Anne.

As she was on her way home, Rose saw a sign for 'Pete's Pizza', a local pizza place that had pizza to die for. Rose's stomach growled as she thought of eating one of their large cheese pizzas with a glass of Pepsi to wash it down. She checked her watch. It was 4:30. Turning down her stereo, Rose got out her cell phone. When she had to stop for a red light, Rose dialed her mother's work number.

"Hello, Spokane Probation Offices, my name is Callie. How my I help you?"

"Hey Callie, its Rose," Rose said over the phone to the secretary at her mother's office. Her mother worked as a probation officer for Spokane, something you didn't see a lot of women doing. It was nice though; her mother got a lot of extra time off and made money.

"Hello Rose, how are you?" Callie asked. Rose could practically see her sitting at the little desk, taking on the phone and surfing the web at the same time.

"Just great, Callie. Hey, can I talk to my mother? Or is she busy?"

"Oh no, your mom's here. She just got out of a meeting. Hold on, I'll put ya through," Callie said.

"Thanks, Callie," Rose said before she heard another ringing.

"Hello?" her mother's voice came over the line a minute later.

"Hey, Mother," Rose said, stopping as she turned onto the street that Pete's was on.

"Hello. Rose? Did you get the part, honey?"

"Yes! Oh my gosh, Mom, I am so excited!" Rose yelled over the phone.

Ruth laughed. "That’s great, Rose. I know how much you wanted the part."

Rose beamed. She was glad her mother was almost as excited as she was. "Thanks," she said. "Um, I was calling because I am down by Pete's and was wondering if you want me to pick up some dinner?" Rose could practically see her mother smiling.

"Oh, Rose, would you darling! That would be great. I don't know if I am going to get off work right at five."

"Sure, I am right here now," Rose said, pulling up next to the pizza place. "What do you want?"

"Ah, get whatever you want, Rose. Just no olives, all right?"

Rose laughed. "Duh! Gosh Mother, who in this family eats olives?"

Ruth laughed. "I know, just making sure your mind wasn't too excited with Juliet thoughts that you weren’t thinking straight."

Rose smiled. "I am just fine, for now at least. I don't know what I'll be like at home." Ruth laughed again. Rose smiled and got out of the car, locking it with her automatic lock button on her key chain. "Okay, well, I gotta go, Mom."

"All right, dear. I'll see you in a little bit," Ruth said.

"Bye, Mom, love you!" Rose said before pushing the off button and stuffing the phone in her purse. She walked up onto the sidewalk and into Pete's. Only a few people were there at the moment. A man reading the newspaper by the window, an older couple, and a college couple out on a date. Rose smiled and walked up to the counter.

"Can I help you...Rose?"

Rose smiled. "Hey, Nick! How are you? I haven't seen you since graduation."

Nick Whittaker had been a classmate of Rose's at Gonzaga Prep. He had brownish blond hair, dark green eyes, and was a little on the short side. He was also one of Rose's best friend's boyfriends. Her friend, and neighbor, Mollie Finlon (who had a twin sister, Liza, who was Rose's other best friend) and Nick had been going out since their junior year. Rose thought they made a cute couple with Mollie's brown eyes and blondish hair.

"I am just fine, Rose. What are you up to?"

Rose could barely contain her smile. "I just got the part of Juliet in Romeo and Juliet!"

Nick smiled. "That’s wonderful, Rose!"

"Thanks," Rose replied, smiling at Nick. "Now, for the pizza. I want one medium Canadian bacon pizza, with half no sauce."

"What?" Nick asked, raising his eyebrows. Rose rolled her eyes.

"I don't like tomatoes, Nick. I have never liked pizza sauce, either. Geez, how long have you known me?"

Nick laughed. "Okay, okay. I'll get you your no-sauce, nasty pizza. Is this to go?" Rose nodded and pulled out some money. Nick took the order to the back of the room, then came back. "Anything else?" he asked.

"No, thanks Nick," Rose answered.

"Okay, that comes to $12.76, with tax," Nick said, ringing up the cash register. Rose handed Nick a twenty-dollar bill and then waited for Nick to get her change.

"Here ya go Rose, $7.24 is your change," Nick said, placing the money in her hand. "The pizza will be done in a few minutes."

Rose smiled. "Thanks." She went and sat down at one of the little tables and put her change in her purse. Humming along with the song coming out of the small speakers overhead, Rose looked around. Nothing exciting was going on. She sighed and studied the walls. Rose had always loved the walls at Pete's because they were different from everywhere else. See, a while back someone had painted a mural on one of the walls, signing their name at the bottom. People didn't realize that the person had been hired to draw the mural and started writing things all over the walls. By now there were hardly any white spaces left, just messages and signatures from millions of different people. Some of the stuff was funny, but most was just stupid. The thing was though; the walls didn't look bad, just creative. It didn't look like a gang had come in and written crazy stuff all over. It was just there, almost as if someone had planned it. Rose had signed one of the walls once, a couple of years ago. From her seat, she found the spot and saw that her name was still there. Rose smiled and looked for any new stuff she had missed. There were a couple of 'Class of 2000's' written up close to the ceiling, but not much else.

"Hey, Rose!" Rose turned her head and saw Nick holding a pizza box. She immediately got up and took the pizza from Nick.

"Thanks," she said.

"Welcome, Rose. See ya later!" Nick called as Rose started to leave.

Rose turned and waved. "Bye!" she called, before leaving the pizza place. Unlocking the car door, she put the pizza in the passenger front seat and then went around to the driver’s side. Rose started the car and pulled away from the curb, at the same time taking out Celine Dion and turning the radio on. Mandy Moore's "I Wanna Be With You" was playing, and Rose started singing along, turning the radio up and rolling down her window.

"...how beautiful it is, just to be like this...I wanna be with you, if only for a night, to be the one who's in your arms, to hold you tight," she sang at the top of her lungs, not caring if anyone saw or heard.

Rose drove down North Indian Trail until she reached Bedford. She then turned west on Bedford and then onto Sundance. Turning down the radio, Rose listened to the sounds around her. She loved her neighborhood. It was part of the new development in Spokane and all the houses were only, at the most, eight years old. Sundance was the main road that looped around and all the roads and courts that the houses were on came off that. Rose lived in the newer area of the street called Skagit. All the houses were really big and looked really expensive. Her house over looked the rest of the Sundance area and down on the forest area below her house.

That was another reason Rose loved where her house was. It was still in Spokane, but it was far enough out that you didn't always feel like you were in the city. After turning onto Skagit, Rose slowed down and drove to her house. Pushing the garage door opener that she had in her car, Rose pulled into her garage. Her mother's car was not in its spot, so Rose assumed her mother was still not home. She grabbed the pizza and her purse and jumped out of the car. Balancing the pizza box in one hand, she opened the door to the house and pushed the garage door close button that was on the wall. Rushing into the house, she put the pizza and her purse on the counter and pushed the answering machine button.

"Hey Rose, it's Mollie. Call me when you get home and let me know how the audition went. Oh yeah, Liza says hi. I'll talk to you later! Bye!" Rose smiled when she heard Mollie's voice. "Beep...Ruth, its Jane. Call me later. Bye." Rose laughed out loud at her mother's best friend. Jane could be so dry sometimes.

Shaking her head, Rose dashed upstairs to change. She walked into her messy bedroom and looked around for a clean tee shirt. Finally finding one, Rose pulled off her old one and slipped her new one on. She ran downstairs again and set the table, including two glasses of Pepsi along with everything else. Rose had just brought the pizza over to the table when she heard the garage door open.

"Hey, Mom," she said, when Ruth walked through the door.

"Hi, darling. Oh good, you got everything ready. Thanks for doing that," Ruth said, setting her purse down before kissing her daughter's cheek.

Rose smiled. "Welcome."

Ruth smiled back. "Well, enough of that." She sat down at the table, followed by Rose. "Tell me how the audition went," Ruth said, as she opened the pizza box. Rose's eyes began to sparkle and she told her mother exactly what had happened at the Warehouse Theater.

Much later, Rose was lying on her bed reading People magazine. The lights were dimmed in her room and the radio was playing softly. Rose smiled as a song that she loved came over the radio and she threw her magazine to the floor. After grabbing a pen from her bedside table, she jumped up and started singing in front of the mirror. Rose couldn’t carry a tune at all, but she could sing loud and hold long notes.

As she sang, Rose, only half-aware, looked around the room. Her ocean blue window shade was drawn up, revealing a view that overlooked her pool and wood view side of the neighborhood. Under the window was her desk, which had her computer and printer resting on it. Scattered across the dark blue carpet were countless clothing items. Mostly jean shorts and camp tee shirts. Her comforter was half on the floor and half falling off the queen-size bed.

Rose loved her comforter. It was this ocean blue color with flowers printed on it that looked like they had been done by chalk or crayon. The reverse side was this mix of different squares in blues and greens with white lines, some thick and some tiny, running around the borders of the color squares. She had this collection of pillows that went with it, six in all. One pillow was this really long body pillow that was the same design as the reverse side of the comforter.

Across from the bed were her TV and VCR, and then on the floor was her stereo with various CD's scattered around. Rose's walk-in closet was to the far right of her bed, and the door to her bathroom was right across from that.

Suddenly, the phone rang, causing Rose to jump. She turned down the radio and grabbed her phone off the floor. "Hello?"

"Hello, yourself. Ever heard of calling anyone back?"

Rose winced. She had totally forgotten about calling Mollie back. "Uh, sorry. I forgot, I guess. I guess I am too excited," Rose explained.

"Excited about what?" Mollie asked. "Wait...did you get the part?"

"Yes!" Rose exclaimed, throwing herself down on the bed. "Oh my gosh, Mollie, this is like a dream come true. You know how much I wanted this part."

Mollie laughed. "Yes, I know. So when do rehearsals start?"

"Tomorrow, at 12:30. They go till 4:30, so I am gonna be tied up from now on. They are every weekday and every other Sunday."

Mollie sighed. "What about us?"

Rose laughed. "Oh, come on, it’s not that bad. And besides, the play is at the end of July sometime, so we will have all of August to hang out."

Mollie sighed again. "I guess you are right. I am happy for you, Rose. I am sorry if I don't sound like it."

"That’s okay, don't worry," Rose said sincerely.

"Good," Mollie responded before laughing.

"Hey, is Liza there?" Rose asked.

"Nope, she went out with some guy she met at graduation. I think he was like Tim's cousin or someone. Anyway, she won't be back till late," Mollie said.

"Oh okay, tell her hi okay?"

"Sure thing," Mollie promised. "But I gotta go now. I just wanted to call and make sure you hadn't like jumped off a cliff or something."

Rose laughed. "All right. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Okay, bye!" Mollie said.

"Bye," Rose answered before hanging up.

Sighing, she got up and went over to the computer. She signed onto AOL and checked her mail. Nothing exciting, just her ET Newsletter. Rose sighed again and signed off.

Suddenly getting an idea, she ran to her closet and got her swimsuit. After changing, she ran downstairs and jumped into the small hot tub they had next to the pool. The hot water relaxed her mind, and Rose soon found herself consumed with thoughts of Romeo and Juliet.

Chapter Three
Stories