The sun reached its fingers into the open window. In the bed with the white bedspread was a sleeping girl, her brown hair falling in cascades over the blankets. She opened her eyes and blinked, staring at the light that had spread across her bed. 15 years in an orphanage and she was free…free to provide her own funds for her high school education and her house. After attending Juban Junior High with permission from the orphanage supervisors, she had grown a lot more confident. She also couldn’t believe it was her first day of school at Juban Senior High School.
The girl felt a pressure on her legs and saw her brown kitten, sleeping by her feet and purring softly. She laughed and managed to leap out of bed, her long white nightgown brushing against her legs. She stood in front of the mirror, surveying her tired eyes, and sighed. After changing into her school uniform, a cute white shirt, blue skirt, and a bow on the front and a bow tied in the back, she braided her butt length waterfall of chocolate colored hair. Taking one last glance at her mirror, she stroked her sleeping cat a few times and then headed downstairs.
The young woman began to brew some decaf coffee, noticing how early it was. 6:00 AM, two hours before school began, and she felt sleepy yet awake at the same time. It was the first time she felt truly alone, away from the children at the orphanage. She had been the only orphan to attend a normal middle school, and some had thought she thought she was better than them. She watched as the coffee dripped into her black mug, yawning. The sun was rising higher in the sky, as if being pulled by a slow-moving hand. 6:05; had 5 minutes really gone by? She pulled the hot mug from the brewer and blew on the burning liquid, feeling the warmth of the steam caress her face. She stood there, leaning against the wall and holding the heated mug in her hands, watching as the world slowly awoke.
Provided with trust funds from her long-lost parents, Rose Opal was comfortable
and happy. Now, as she looked out into the garden, she felt blessed. She took
another long sip of coffee.
Laughing quietly, Rose bent down and scooped up the little brown cat that had
rubbed against her leg.
“Comet, you rascal you,” Rose murmured, stroking the cat’s soft fur. “Can’t you
sleep longer than 10 minutes so I can get away?”
Comet yawned, showing his pink tongue and his teeth; Rose giggled and patted
his head. She set Comet back on the floor and heard the “Ding” of the toaster.
Gingerly taking out the hot bread, she heard Comet leap up onto the table and
sniff at her coffee. She placed the bread down and snatched the cup before Comet
could take an inquisitive lick.
“Oh no you don’t,” she chuckled softly. “No, coffee just isn’t your beverage.”
She started to spread butter on the toast, watching it melt like a golden pool.
Taking a bite, she sat down with her coffee and pet Comet, who was looking
unhappy about the coffee being Rose’s instead of his.
The next hour and 15 minutes was spent finishing breakfast, washing the plate
and glass, packing up school supplies, and working in the garden (gardening took
most of the time. Rose slid her black book bag over her shoulder and closed the
door behind her, hearing another meow of protest from her cat. She waved to
Comet, who was sitting by the window, and headed down the sidewalk. 7:45, and
the world had slowly but surely awakened. Rose hurried, worrying that 15 minutes
might not be enough time to make it to the Senior High School.
The sound of talking filled Rose’s ears as the school building towered above
her. She shivered a little, seeing groups of boys and girls file into the doors.
She quickly slipped in, avoiding the eyes of people. She had been at the Junior
High School, so a few calls met her ears.
“Hi, Rose! Did they let you out of the orphanage?”
“Rose Opal? Hi! You’re at our school!”
“Are you in Honor English first period, Rose?”
Rose simply waved as the five-minute bell rang. She took out her card, which
informed her of where her classes and lockers were (along with combinations).
Checking the door in front of her, she saw that 405 was indeed her Honors
English first period class. She opened the door cautiously and stepped in.
Almost all the students were seated; Rose’s eyes only sought out a few empty
desks. She slid into an empty seat next to a red haired girl who she recognized
from Juban Junior High but did not remember her name. The redhead smiled shyly
at her, as if trying to give Rose a hint about her identity.
The teacher, a stiff woman with short silver hair, stepped to the front behind
her desk and stood there like a stick as the bell rang. The students, seeming to
be used to this kind of thing, listened to the announcements and then turned to
the front to face their teacher.
“Greetings, class. I am Mrs. Wyatt, your English teacher. To begin with, why
don’t we go around the classroom and introduce ourselves? Your first and last
name and what you hope to learn in this class, please.”
Mrs. Wyatt’s eyes fixed on a small girl with long dark hair. She stood up
quickly and announced, “I’m Leena McCain and I want to learn more about writing
poetry.”
There were a few murmurs as the girl, dusting off her uniform, sat down. A
heavily muscled, brown haired boy stood up as Leena turned to look at him.
“I’m Greg Alvertex and I need to work on essay skills.”
A girl named Kyra Liki and a boy named Daniel Yukat followed, and then Rose saw
the tall redhead stand up. Rose caught a glimpse of the girls’ alert blue eyes
and smiled encouragingly at her.
“I’m Phoebe Martin, and I’m ready for anything this year.”
Rose remembered the girl almost immediately. Phoebe Martin had been teased
because of her height, with Rose being one of the only ones to stand up for her.
Rose hadn’t seen Phoebe because the girl, feeling shy, stayed inside a lot, not
coming on the lunch grounds at all. But Rose also recalled Phoebe being star of
the volleyball team. Phoebe grinned at Rose as she sat down.
A few more students introduced themselves and Rose felt the gray eyes of Mrs.
Wyatt stare at her. She rose to her feet.
“I’m Rose Opal and I am, like Phoebe, also ready for anything this year.”
More whispers came. Rose plopped down in her seat, suddenly feeling weary.
Phoebe caught her sad look and winked, making Rose manage a small smile.
The class finished roll call and Mrs. Wyatt began a study of verbs. Rose,
yawning, leaned back, her braid nearly hitting the person behind her. What she
really wanted to do in English was write fiction. She loved the assignments
where they wrote satire, plays, and autobiographical tales…
“Rose, what is this verb?”
“Huh? Oh yes…” Rose looked at the chalkboard and studied the verb her teacher
was pointed at. “That’s a helping verb.”
“Very good. Now, Tina…”
Rose heaved a sigh of relief and placed her elbows on her desk. She placed her
chin on her fists, knowing if she drifted off into daydreams it would get her a
bad participation grade. She raised her eyes to Mrs. Wyatt’s pointing finger. Oh
how she wished the bell would ring.
The bell eventually did ring; a half an hour later Rose was ready to leave her
desk and head to her next class. Just as she headed out the door a finger tapped
her on the shoulder. She turned; it was Phoebe.
“Do you have Room 506 Math next?” Phoebe asked quietly.
Rose studied her card, and then lifted her eyes back to the face of the tall
girl. “Yeah, I do. Hey, we can walk together! You’re Phoebe Martin, right?”
The two girls, side by side, talked cheerfully together. Rose discovered
Phoebe’s favorite subject, History, and her favorite gemstone, topaz. They slid
into desks next to each other just as the bell sounded.
At the time…
Her fingers drummed on the marble pillar as she turned the corner of the empty
palace. The stone was smooth and cold; she’d have to thank Diamond for letting
her have such a magnificent palace…and Prince Diamond was ever so handsome too.
Her white-blond hair brushed her back as she turned. She wished her hair was
shorter; it was too long, down to her ankles. But hair didn’t really matter; as
long as she destroyed the Sailor Scouts Diamond would be happy.
Her footsteps echoed throughout the deserted hallways as she opened the door.
It groaned as she slammed it shut and turned on the light. Two girls were
standing there, waiting for her.
“Rage and Vengeance…I didn’t expect you here,” the white-blonde murmured.
“Pearl, the Senshi are very close at hand,” the black-haired one, Rage,
replied. “Just reach and they’re right there…”
“Oh, shut up Rage,” the blonde, Vengeance, growled. “What she means, Mistress
Pearl, is that we have spotted them in the city of Tokyo on Earth.”
Pearl smiled evilly and stepped into the light. The two others, dressed in gray
robes, turned to look at her. Pearl ran her fingers over the globe that had
tracked down Sailor Moon and her comrades. Her malevolent grin spread further
across her face as she stepped back. A whirling wind emerged from the globe.
“Where are you going, mistress?” Rage asked.
“That’s a question with an obvious answer, Rage,” answered Pearl coldly. “Take
care.”
Pearl stepped into the storm of power and vanished.
“School is out!” Rose cheered joyfully.
“I thought you would like to stay,” Phoebe teased.
“I always hate the first weeks…all review. Then we get to the interesting
stuff.”
The two new friends walked down the hall, dodging the chatting students that
barricaded their path. Both talked happily about their mean P.E teacher and the
easy math review. They were in all classes together except for their elective;
Phoebe was in woodshop, which she hated, and Rose played flute in band.
“What surprises me is not a single boy has asked me out,” Rose marveled,
stopping at her locker and carefully doing her new combination. “Normally they
tease me because some of them think no one would date an orphan. I’m not pretty,
either.”
“You are!” Phoebe argued, eyeing Rose’s long, smooth braid and shining eyes.
“Oh don’t flatter me, Phoebe, I hate it when people tell me that…I start acting
all vain. You’re much prettier than I am, and that’s a fact.”
Phoebe blushed. “I’m glad you think I’m pretty but you are too.”
Rose flung open her locker door and shoved her flute book in. Just as she took
her math book out her eyes caught laughter down the hall.
“What are they laughing about?” she murmured to Rose without turning her head.
“Looks like some boy is telling a joke or something,” Phoebe whispered back.
Rose thrust the math book into her book bag and zipped the bag up. She raised
her eyes up to a crowd of boys. A boy with gold-blonde hair was standing in the
middle, talking quickly and waving his arms. Occasionally the other boys would
burst into laughter. Rose lifted her eyebrows at Phoebe, as if saying, “Boys are
so immature.” She swung her book bag and led Phoebe down the hall, trying to
inch past the knot of boys.
Suddenly the guy in the middle stopped talking and stared at Rose. His blue
eyes studied her, his expression one of awe and curiosity. Feeling uncomfortable
under the young man’s gaze, Rose changed direction the direction of her eyes and
walked away, Phoebe at her heels. Immediately loud talking sprung up behind
them.
“Ooh…love at first sight, huh Sonny?”
“Want to know her name, Sonny-boy? That’s Rose Opal.”
“You need her? Aw, poor you!”
Rose rolled her eyes as the sounds of boys’ chatter vanished like dew on a hot
day. Phoebe, however, was looking back at the boys, her eyes bright.
“Rose, that’s Sonny Gregorson from the private junior high school! Well, he’s
17…but he’s nice, I heard. Isn’t he cute? I think he likes you!” Phoebe said
this all in one breath.
“Phoebe, he’s probably one of those gossiping guys! Besides, he probably
doesn’t like me, and if he does, I don’t need a lovey-dovey man on my arse,”
Rose snapped, quickening her pace.
“Really, Rose, he’s quite the gentleman.”
“How do you know? He wasn’t at Juban Junior High and he’s two years older than
us!”
“Yeah…but I heard the girls talking about him.”
“Girls shmirls. They probably love him. Oh, the martial arts center. That’s my
stop.” Rose whirled around to face Phoebe and grinned. “See you tomorrow?”
Phoebe smiled back. “Sure thing! Bye, Rose!”
Phoebe crossed the crosswalk, leaving Rose to enter the building. She hadn’t
told anyone at the orphanage, but she had been practicing karate etc at this
place. Now she was a regular. She set her book bag down and snatched a white
karate robe from the high shelf.
“Miss Opal! How nice to see you again!”
“Hello, Master Shin,” Rose greeted without looking behind her.
“Go into the changing room and get ready. The other students will be arriving
shortly,” answered the rough voice of the karate master.
Rose nodded and tucked the robe under her arm. She entered the changing room,
dressed, and went back out. To her great surprise there was Sonny Gregorson,
taking a robe from the boys’ side.
Master Shin was busy directing the new students to where to head. Rose was
quite anxious, wanting to practice her new skills. In classes she would normally
do a match with another student, using karate chops and kicks and other martial
arts moves. Since she was one of the intermediate pupils, she probably wouldn’t
have to face Sonny; she had never seen him in any of the classes before.
But she did think Sonny was kind of cute…
Rose shifted back and forth, growing impatient and wanting to practice a few
kicks. She punched the air, then, bored, tugged on her braid. She watched as
students emerged from the rooms, their robes on. Rose fingered her brown belt
symbolizing that she was intermediate; everyone knew blue was beginning, brown
was intermediate, and black was advanced.
Sonny, dressed in his robe, was the last to emerge from the boys’ dressing
room. Rose sought out the color of his belt and scowled. It was brown. Master Shin stood in the middle of the room and clapped three times. The swarm
of kids and teenagers ran to the center, Rose following close behind. They all
sat in a circle around Master Shin, who cleared his throat loudly and looked
around.
“I’m glad I have the opportunity to have you all here…welcome to the newcomers,
and welcome back to the regular members,” he began, his eyes sweeping the room.
“We will begin today with matches of the Intermediate individuals. Boy against
girl…and boys, girls are certainly not feminine in this class.”
The girls giggled.
“Everyone clear to the sides.”
Rose sat down against the wall watching everyone obey.
“The first two will be Rose Opal and Sonny Gregorson.”
Rose glared as Sonny stood up. She rose to her feet, cracked her knuckles, and
stepped to the center of the room. Sonny stood there, his head lifted high, and
Rose blushed, seeing how handsome he really was. She plucked off the rubber band
holding her braid and unraveled her hair, letting it fall past her waist in
waves. Sonny stared, and then clenched his fists.
“Begin!” Master Shin cried.
Like a furious tornado Rose rushed at Sonny and hit a karate kick at his thigh,
knocking him down. She pounced on him, wrestling him. He karate-chopped out and
she rolled to dodge the blow. Flipping up to his feet, he aimed a punch at her.
She ducked her head and cast a low kick at his ankle. Soon both were on the
ground, tussling. She skidded away from his strike and he swung away from her
punch.
“Remember, concentrate on the weak point!” Master Shin encouraged Rose.
“Ooh, I don’t even want to think about your weak point,” Rose growled at Sonny,
slugging him in the arm.
He grabbed her wrists with grips like iron and attempted to throw her down.
Struggling, Rose kicked; her feet were like a rabbit’s hind legs and nailed him
in the waist. She was soon on top of him, wrestling with him once again on the
floor. For 10 seconds she had him pinned, and Master Shin clapped his hands four
times. Rose, with beads of sweat on her forehead, stood up, her hair mussed and
hanging over her face like a thick veil. She brushed her hair aside, breathing
heavily, as Sonny rose to his feet.
“Shake hands,” Master Shin commanded.
Sonny grasped Rose’s hand and shook it tenderly.
“He was right about saying girls weren’t feminine,” he laughed.
Letting go of her hand, he sat back down with the other boys. Rose plopped down
next to the girls, feeling as if she was perspiring all over.
“Good job, Rose,” someone muttered in her ear. She nodded, not caring to see
who it was. She ached all over; it seemed that even her hair hurt…
“Next are Kayla Uban and Thomas Lotto…”
Rose wasn’t paying attention. Her eyes were fixed onto Sonny, whose chest was
heaving up and down for breath. He was like a prince in a fairy tale; Rose
didn’t like it, but she knew the truth. She was in love with him. Shaking her
head like she was coming out of a trance, she sighed. Why did she have to like
him when one, she didn’t know him and two, she didn’t want to love anyone?
And why did it feel like Sonny was reading her thoughts?
She daydreamed for the next hour; she didn’t know time was flying by like a
flock of eagles. The bell Master Shin used was ringing, and she quickly
scrambled to her feet, planning to head for the changing room. She felt a hand
on her shoulder and she twirled around to look into the face of (you guessed it)
Sonny.
“I wanted to say congratulations,” he informed.
Rose bobbed her head. “It took a lot of hard work.”
The two stood in silence for a while.
“You play flute, right?” Sonny asked awkwardly, breaking the silence.
“Yeah…why?” Rose replied inquisitively.
“I know a piano player…she’s really good, but a lot of people mistake her for a
boy. Anyways, if you ever needed an accompanist…here’s her number.”
Sonny pulled out a piece of paper from his uniform pants, which he wore
underneath his robe. He handed it to Rose, who smiled.
“Thanks, Sonny. Say…would you like to join me at my house for some coffee?”
“Sure. By the way, in appreciation of you asking, I want to give you this. But
it’s closed really tightly…”
Sonny pretended to pull the rose from Rose’s ear. She laughed softly and took
it. To her surprise, the bud was closed, the petals stiff. She examined it and
gazed at Sonny.
“Why isn’t it open?”
“Well…” the 17-year-old young man began, thinking. “I got it just for fun and
then I met you, matches your name doesn’t it? But it was open before. For some
reason, while I was walking, it closed.”
“I don’t know…” Rose touched the top of the bud softly.
There was a flash of white light. When it disappeared, the petals slowly
unfurled, opening to create a beautiful blossom. The red petals swayed silently
and suddenly froze. A sweet scent filled the air; Sonny and Rose stared at the
newly opened bud in deep surprise. Rose, feeling a bit spooked yet pleased,
twisted her hair back into a braid and slipped the rose into her hair.
“Let’s change, then we’ll head to my house, ok?” she asked the stunned Sonny.
“Sure…” he managed to gasp out.
Rose disappeared into the changing room, got her robe off, and revealed her
school uniform. She grasped the piece of paper with the phone number, grabbed
her book bag, and headed back to where Sonny, who had also taken his robe off to
show his school attire, was waiting. He smiled happily at her.
“Shall we go, my lady?” he asked in a snobbish voice, holding out his arm.
“Yes, Lord Sonny, and we shall dine on coffee,” Rose laughed, slipping her arm
into his.
The two exited the martial arts center, chatting happily.
But one question plagued Rose to no end…why had the flower opened when she
touched it?
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