102 - The chapter where Rose tells everything

Rose

" Rose, can you just stop underestimating our intelligence? " Sky complained as we walked together with Theo towards the cafeteria at lunchtime on Monday.

We were still discussing the details of all the changes that would happen in our lives, and for me, moving in with my friends was just one of them.

" Underestimating? When had I ever done that? " I frowned.

" You and Davis are different, Rose. Everyone noticed that," Theo pointed out.

Yes, I knew everyone had noticed, maybe our resolution to keep things low-key wasn't going to work out so well in the end, but I felt too happy to hide it. More than happy, I felt exhilarated. And most of that feeling was because I had finally overcome all that insecurity and irrational fear that had gripped me before.

" I don't know, maybe we missed each other and we're enjoying it now." I tried to say, "Sky and Liam can't get away from each other either. Neither can you and Cam.”

" And we're publicly dating now," Sky pointed out, "and Theo's moving towards it.”

" I'm trying,” he confirmed.

For a moment I was tempted to tell them that we were officially together, but I decided to wait a bit longer for that. When it happened, it would be epic, like anything we do!

" I'm not so opposed to the exclusivity thing anymore " I decided to play on a neutral ground " let's see how things turn out in the next few days.”

They both stopped walking, keeping their gaze fixed on me with a surprised expression on their face. I rolled my eyes as I was about to enter the cafeteria, turning around and walking to where the two of them were still perplexed.

" Do you have to be like this? " I crossed my arms in a defensive pose in an attempt to show my embarrassment with the situation.

" You know we love you,” Sky joked.

" We want to know what happened, what the hell hit you, to make you change your mind so suddenly,” Theo insisted.

I snorted, looking at the movement around us, wondering what to do next. I wanted to vent to someone, someone who really understood me, and inside, I knew that opening up would be good for me.

" Okay, something happened. But I'm not going to tell you," I mumbled to Theo, "I can tell Sky later, if she promises not to tell anyone."

" That's not fair,” my friend complained.

" It sure isn't," Sky agreed, receiving a grateful look from the boy before she could finish her sentence, "Why do I have to wait if Theo can come in and leave us alone now?"

" Hey!”

" I'm sorry, Peterson. But I need to talk to my friend," she winked at the boy.

" 'It's a female matter,” I added.

He grumbled for a few seconds, then walked into the cafeteria.

" Do you want to have lunch in town? " Sky suggested.

" You drive.”

We both changed course, walking towards the parking lot. It didn't take long for the sight of Christian coming to meet us next to Camille to make me smile. My heart pounded harder as I noticed the satisfied expression in his eyes, following my every move as the shadow of a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

" Where are you guys going? " Cam asked as soon as they approached.

" Girls' lunch, that means you're coming with us, cutie " I told her.

" But what about the boys? " She frowned.

" We'll enjoy these two hours without Rose's nagging," Christian quipped, "Don't worry, Cam.”

I gave him my best smile before giving him the middle finger, receiving a wink in response.

" Let's get going, Cutie.”

" I'll take my stuff to your room tonight, Campbell. Van Derr Waal said it's all set,” Christian warned.

I just nodded in response as I walked away with the two girls by my side.

" Where are we going? " Cam asked.

" Lunch in town and Rose will tell us what happened that made her change her mind about being exclusive with Chris,' Sky encouraged.

" Wow, are you guys dating? " Cam asked excitedly.

At that very moment, Alicia crossed our path, casting a curious glance in our direction, causing me to hold back from kicking Cam for being so indiscreet. She, of all people, was the last person I wanted to find out about the two of us.

" I'm not going to talk about that subject here,” I whispered to her.

" I'm sorry, do you think she heard? " Cam lowered her voice, looking back at the girl who was quietly walking away.

I followed her gaze, having a bad feeling about it, but taking a deep breath, I decided to move on.

" It's gone, but from now on we don't talk about it where anyone can hear. Especially what I'm going to tell you now," I warned.

The girls nodded and it wasn't long before we were comfortably ensconced in Sky's Virtus. I was still uncomfortable with what had happened a few moments ago, and my friend, noticing that, tried to change the focus of the situation.

" 'How were those two weeks, Cam? " She watched the girl through the rearview mirror.

" 'It was okay, I saw some friends again and they asked me to their prom in a couple of months " Camille seemed a little uncomfortable with the subject.

" 'You don't seem very happy about it,” I commented.

" "I told them about you and now my friends think I'm making it up to make them jealous," the poor girl admitted, "I would never make something like that up, but it seems impossible to believe that I got popular and cool friends, we were kind of the nerd group of the school. And when I joined the advanced class and graduated first, I don't think they were happy to be left behind.”

" That's ridiculous," I quipped.

" They didn't even want to believe that my tattoo was real. They wanted to make me wash it," the girl muttered disgruntledly.

That was absurd, and I felt bad for the girl going through that. I turned back, watching her beautiful green eyes before giving her an encouraging smile.

" Don't mind them, they're just jealous that you're no longer the nerd in their group but the nerd in our group," I winked at her.

" Hey!”

" Don't be offended, that's a fact! We all got accepted to Dalton because we're nerds. Sky and Theo are nerds who are learning how to design buildings, you and Christian are nerds who are learning how to produce drugs and I'm a nerd who's going to learn how to restore works of art " I nudged Sky who just smiled and nodded while focusing on the direction.

" What about Liam? " Cam asked.

Sky and I exchanged a quick glance, thinking about how to answer that.

" Well, Liam... He's…”

" Something," Sky added with a laugh.

We laughed at that conclusion, remaining silent for a few seconds before Cam spoke again.

" But what about you and Chris? You promised to tell us and we're already alone.”

" 'Good point, Cam,' Sky agreed.

I let out a resigned sigh, trying my best to summarize the story in my mind so that it would make sense to the girls, knowing that Skyller would probably understand me better than Camille.

" Well, to start with, I missed him a lot. And you have no idea how much he helped me when it happened... that thing with the girls... He... Look, he was very important to me.”

I couldn't fully open up about my feelings especially to the girls, the only person who knew that side of me was Christian.

" The thing is, last week I thought I was pregnant," I let out at once, attracting the girls' shocked looks at me.

" YOU WHAT!? " Cam was the one who had the biggest reaction, while Sky divided her attention between the city streets looking for a parking spot near the restaurant and my face.

" I'm not pregnant, I've always taken good care of myself and we haven't had any slip-ups, but my period was late enough to scare me and... He supported me in everything, he said that regardless of the test result he would be by my side and we would go through everything together " I looked away, remembering once again the fear I felt in those days.

" Oh my God, Rose! " Sky finally parked the car, turning away from me.

" That made me realize that my fear was irrational. I can trust that Christian is the last person who will do anything to hurt me," I admitted, "So that changed my mind about the whole relationship thing.”

" "Wow, I didn't expect that, I confess," Sky stammered before smiling, opening the car door to get out, "But it's great that you think so.”

I followed my friend out, and soon the three of us were walking to the entrance of the restaurant that Liam loved so much.

" What would you do if you were pregnant? " Cam asked.

I stopped to think about that possibility for a second, feeling a chill run through my body at that scenario as I walked into the restaurant.

" Good afternoon girls, didn't Van Derr Waal come today? " the waiter who always served us smiled as soon as he saw us.

" Today it's just us girls, Carl. We'll have the usual " Sky smiled while Cam looked a bit out of place, since it was the first time she had accompanied us to the place.

" "Spicy chicken sandwiches on a whim," he winked at me, making me smile, "You can sit at the usual table, I'll bring the juices in a minute." .

He was a few years older than us and he never missed a chance to flirt with me, since he didn't take chances with Skyller. The guy was definitely not my type, but I didn't complain about getting extra sauce and bigger portions every time I went to the place.

" You know you're going to have to stop this, right? " Sky nudged me as soon as we sat down.

" Why?”

" Chris! " Cam pointed out what seemed to be obvious.

" 'Hey, he usually encourages me to come with a good cleavage so I can get the sauce he likes so much for free,' I returned, 'plus Carl never made any advances, so I can keep enjoying my treats.”

" Oh my God, you suck! " Cam laughed.

" Hey, my dad dressed up as a stripper for Halloween, what did you want! By the way, if I were really pregnant, he and my mom would be forced to pay for therapy for the poor child " I concluded.

" Wouldn't that be your responsibility? " Sky gave me an amused look.

" No, they raised me the way I am, so I think the decision would be unanimous, the responsibility would be all theirs,' I shook my head.

The boy returned to the table with three glasses of Cranberries juice and a portion of cheese fries.

" Carl, we didn't order that,” I warned.

" Don't worry, I owed you a Christmas present,' he smiled before walking away.

The girls gave me an amused look as I helped myself to the first fry.

" Do you want some? Or would you rather I cut it off for good?”

" You can always wear a little more cleavage," Sky quipped, helping herself, causing Camille to laugh.

We spent the entire lunch hour talking about everything that had happened in the last few weeks, from Skyller being introduced to her mother-in-law via video call to Cam and Theo setting up their first date for the weekend where I made sure to help her get dressed.