Roses

In their Monday morning Maths lesson, Chuck was flirting with the girl on his table again. Juillietta had to look away, irritated beyond belief.

If it had been anyone other than Beth, she could have possibly lived with it, just about. But there Chuck was, flirting like there was no tomorrow with Beth Livingstone, the girl who hated Juillietta’s guts for no reason at all.

In Art, Juillietta ranted about the weekends happenings to Louise.

“And After all that ‘I love you but you don’t love me so we’re just friends’ bullshit he’s sitting there with that stupid Beth Livingston with her stupid laugh like nothing even happened! Why would he do that? It’s makes no sense!” Juillietta fumed, spattering black paint on the foil that covered the sheet of paper in front of her.

“It makes sense to me. Maybe in the garden he was trying the whole ‘treat ‘em mean to keep ‘em keen’ thing. Or he didn’t want to feel like he was pushing you into doing something you didn’t want to do, or he wanted to be sure of your feelings towards him. It could be anything. Maybe he really was waiting for you to fall in love with him back. And the Beth thing is obvious. Either he’s trying to distract himself from you with her, or draw your attention and make you jealous and want to go out with him.”

Juillietta’s eyebrows drew together. “If he were trying to making to make me jealous, he’s failed miserably. I’m not jealous; I’m livid. He had to choose Beth Livingstone, of all the girls in our, class, in our year,” Juillietta pursed her lips fiercely and determinedly. “Beth Livingstone. How dare he.”

The look in her eyes declared that she and Chuck would be having a long, serious conversation later on.



Later on came with a vengeance. Juillietta pulled Chuck away from his friends- which today included a simpering Beth Livingstone- and into a secluded corner of the playground.

“What did you want?” Chuck demanded in a hurt tone, massaging the red ring around his wrist that showed where Juillietta’s hands had grasped him.

“I want to know what the hell you’re playing at!” Juillietta replied, her fury playing out in her voice.

“What do you mean?” Chuck asked, confused.

“I mean you flirting with Beth Livingstone, that’s what.”

Cuck gave her another confused, slightly injured look. “What the hell? Beth and I are just friends!”

“Oh, come off it, Chuck. You know Beth doesn’t see it that way at all, and so you know you’re leading her on!”

Chuck pondered Juillietta’s statement for a while before saying to her, carefully, “okay, so maybe I’ve acted thoughtlessly. But that doesn’t explain why you care so much. You don’t even talk to Beth.”

“Because you’re doing exactly what you said you wouldn’t do on Saturday.”

“What? No! This is completely different to what happened on Saturday!” Chuck spluttered in remonstration, offended sensibilities making their presence known though his voice.

“You’re right. It is completely different. Because you’ve turned the tables and you’ve made it worse. I like you, Chuck, and when we spoke on Saturday I was willing- I was more than simply willing to go out with, to be your girlfriend but you refused because you said I didn’t like you enough. But you, do you even care about Beth Livingstone, even if only as a friend? Could you learn to love her?”

“Of course I do-” Chuck began, but Juillietta cut him off savagely.

“No you don’t! You like that she’s convenient. She’s there all the time, and she likes you. That’s what you care about, you don’t care about her. And I don’t blame you for that. I blame you for being a hypocrite.”

“Why the hell do you care, Juillietta? You don’t like her either,” Chuck pointed out hotly.

“Exactly! That’s why I don’t talk to her. That’s why you’d never see me flirting with her!”

“Surely that’s not the only reason,” Chuck said, saucily, but Juillietta ignored his teasing.

“You were acting so self righteously on Saturday, like some kind of martyr but then you’re at school doing things like that with Beth Livingstone. It’s ridiculous!”

“Okay, so maybe I am in the wrong. You still haven’t explained why it’s any of your business to care about what I do with Beth.”

“Because it is Beth. Beth Livingstone, who hates me for no reason at all, and I don’t want you to be with her!”

Chucks expression- thus far having remained some of its usual cheery playfulness, turned cold. “Well who I’m with isn’t really your concern, is it?”” he asked.

Juillietta’s reaction, in turn, was even colder. “I’m asking you to make it my business, Chuck,” she replied, and her voice had ice in it.

There was a tense, artic silence.

“So you’re telling me that you’re asking me to ask you out?” Chuck asked, still careful, still cold, in spite of the long abandoned hope that gave a little flutter of ragged wings in his heart.

Juillietta thought back over what she’d said, and what he’d said in her head before nodding.

“Fine. I’ll ask you out. Juillietta, would you be my girlfriend?”

“Well of course I bloody will, Chuck,” she replied, almost angrily.

“Good. I ‘ll see you later then. Bye.”

“Bye,” Juillietta replied, looking away from him.

They both stalked back out into the playground and to their friends, scowling all the way. The realization of what had actually just passed didn’t hit them until the bell rang for third period.



Aurora, by contrast, was having a fabulous day.

Everyone in her class was still lighted by the glow of her party, and the glory of it had spread to the other year five classes and even to the years sixes.

That was like reaching the pinnacle of the highest mountains of primary school fame, or it was close enough that no one could tell the difference.

As Aurora strode into the lunch hall- she still hadn’t gotten round to asking for packed lunch and the make up of her body rearranged itself so that she could survive days on end without any lunch at all- she was the object of every admiring gaze In the room, and she bore it well, like she was born to.

Harry was also proud.

He’d become famous by association and he strutted in alongside Aurora with the smile of the Cheshire cat plastered onto his face.

His friend had always attracted attention, with her otherworldly beauty, her confidence and her brains, but this was something else entirely.

It felt like being crowned king and queen of the whole school, which he was very happy with indeed.

Aurora couldn’t care less, at that point, because the food she was given was still the same glutinous gloop as always, and no amount of hero-worship would change that.



Luciana stood nervously at the living room door, unnoticed by Robbie. Or at least, he tactfully pretended not to notice her presence there.

She had kept contact with him down to a bare minimum since Saturday- contriving reasons to spend less time with him then she had managed even after the incident with the arrow that wasn’t there.

He’d obliged her need for space, and had tried to make avoiding him easier on her.

But now she was ready to talk to him again, because she had an important question to ask, and she wasn’t sure who else she could go to.

She felt guilt panging and her chest as she stared at him from the door. The TV was off, and he was stretched across his sofa, listening to music with his eyes shut.

Luciana wondered if he was asleep.

She crept closer to check, and found him to be breathing deeply and slowly. She smiled at him, a little sadly, and straightened out. He would have left, had he not cracked an eye open at that moment and smiled gently at her.

“Umm, Robbie,” she said, hesitantly, unsure.

“Yes Luciana?” he replied gently, sitting up so she could sit next to him. She stayed standing, too preoccupied to even see the gesture. He patted the space next to him, encouraging and she jumped a little before smiling nervously and sitting down.

“Umm, I was wondering… about university. Would I be able to go, like you said? Would I really?”

Robbie’s face cracked into a huge smile of pure, unadulterated joy as he launched into Luciana’s education on the subject of education.

He showed her all the courses she could do; and where she could do them with the aid of his laptop.

“Where are you going?” she asked, biting her lip nervously, peering over his shoulder at the laptop screen.

Robbie suppressed another, deeper smile from appearing on his face.

“I’m going to Queen Mary, here, in London.” He opened Google maps and showed her the distance between their own small town and London.

“That’s so far,” she murmured, shocked.

“Not really,” Robbie replied. “About three hours by train, less by car, depending on the state of the motorway.”

“Wouldn’t you miss your mum and Will?”

Robbie nodded. “Yeah, I think I would. So I’d have to come back regularly.”
Luciana peered again at the distance.

“I’d miss you, too,” he added, suddenly. Luciana froze, and then slowly, by degrees, allowed herself to relax enough to reply.

“I could… apply there? For English, or maybe to learn a language? Do you think I would be able to?”

“You’d have to call the admissions tutor and explain your situation to them, and they’d probably make you take a few tests to check you are okay but honestly, Luciana, you are brilliant. They’ll let you in.”

Luciana settled back into the sofa, and Robbie missed the warmth radiating from her, the closeness of her body. He closed the laptop and shuffled a little further away for her comfort, although it took far too much effort for him to do so.

Luciana didn’t notice; she had her eyes shut and was dreaming happy dreams about the university.

~

“Is she sure she wants to go?” Caroline asked Robbie later that night, when everyone else had gone to their beds- or had at least pretended to go to bed.

“I don’t know. She seemed pretty excited about it when we spoke about it today but she was very against the idea before so…” Robbie trailed of into an unsure shrug and Caroline nodded, understanding.

“Well ask her tomorrow. Call Queen Mary’s admissions tutor; see if it would be possible for her to get in. You don’t want to get her hopes up for nothing,” Caroline warned.

Robbie nodded. “Thanks mum,” he said, getting up to make more tea.

“No problem. And about the other thing? You liking her?”

“I thought you disagreed with that,” Robbie joked lightly, trying to avoid the question itself.

“I do disagree with it. But I think that if you kids are going to ignore my advice I’d like to at least know,” Caroline replied, severely, but with a twinkle in her eyes.
Robbie sighed, defeated. “Well, not much, actually. Luciana doesn’t think she’s ready.”

Caroline raised an inquisitive eyebrow- Robbie’s tone held no small amounts of sarcasm- and Robbie looked away.

“What do you mean like that?”

Robbie looked up at her, his eyes burning with his answer. “She’s ready, mum. I can see it in her. I can feel it. But she’s… I think she’s too scared to acknowledge that fact.” He looked back down again.

“Oh. Umm… well obviously- officially- I think perhaps she’s right, and you two aren’t ready. But… erm, I think she’ll come round. She’s warming up to you.”

Robbie didn’t reply but even his silence contrived to be- somehow- despondent.

“So chin up, love!” Caroline chirruped brightly, forcing cheerfulness in the hopes that it would infect her son.

He just grimaced, and looked even further away from his mother.

They finished their teas in silence.