82 -The chapter where Rose meets everyone

Christian

Rose just shook her head, taking a deep breath before following me out of the room, looking a little cowed by the stares she received from the people in the hallway.

" Hey, we don't bow our heads to anyone," I whispered, slipping my arm around her shoulder, forcing her to move.

The girl took a deep breath, putting both hands in the pockets of her jacket, resuming her body posture that bordered on arrogance when she didn't put a smile on her face.

" "That's how I like it," I teased, receiving an amused look in return.

We walked for a few meters in silence, ignoring the stares we received until we reached the first flight of stairs.

" 'Did you see how they're looking at us? I'm parading around with your name written on my chest," Rose commented, but I didn't mind one bit.

" 'Does that bother you? You once told me that the jacket looked better on you than on me,” I gave her a sidelong glance, still with my arm around her shoulder.

" You know what they're going to say.”

" 'And since when do you care what they say? " I said back.

Rose tilted her head to look at me, watching my face for some hidden meaning in my last sentence, but I kept my expression neutral.

"Girls might shy away from you because they think you're dating, or they might want to be with you just to screw me over," she pointed out.

" I assure you that won't be a problem, Rose," I returned with an amused expression, "I promise I won't let anyone screw you over”

She narrowed her eyes as we continued walking together. I didn't look in her direction, pretending not to take the question seriously, but the truth was that I didn't feel like being with another girl but her.

"Someone might stay with me to screw you over,” she returned in a petulant tone.

For a moment I considered the possibility of insisting on the subject, but I decided not to.

" What matters is what we know, right? " I offered a neutral response.

" 'Right,” she agreed, seeming to regain her confidence with each step.

We both walked in silence until we found our friends in the common area. Rose did everything to hide all her pain behind a mask, only I knew how hard it had been to overcome her defenses yesterday, and I confess that seeing the fragile state she was in scared me a little. I moved away a little, letting Skyller, Liam and Theodore talk to her, sitting down in the free armchair next to the one we usually occupied, taking my cell phone afterwards.

I saw that Rose used my cell phone to call an unknown number, probably her mother's, the call lasted a little over three minutes, but what really called me were several messages from Jack asking if I was with Rose at that moment.

I typed a quick reply, barely noticing the approach of Liam, who sat on the couch next to the armchair.

" 'So, you managed to subtly get her to parade around campus with your name on her clothes,' he commented.

" 'I'm trying to get her confidence back, if I had a motorcycle club jacket without my name on it, I would have lent it to her,' I shrugged.

" She seems confident to me," Liam teased.

I watched our friend talking to Theodore, Skyller and someone who occasionally stopped to speak a word of comfort to her, when a new notification on my phone made me turn my attention away.

" Of course it looks like it, it wasn't you who held her while she cried yesterday, so it makes it easier for her to cheat " I replied while reading another message from Jack.

" Was it that bad? " he took a deep breath.

" When I entered her room, she didn't speak a word, she was motionless on the bed with a lost look on her face, and I swore she would stay that way until I finished ridding her of all that paint. It took a while for her to feel comfortable speaking a word, and..." I took a deep breath, looking at her again, remembering how I had worried about her initial reaction yesterday.

" By the time we got there....”

" She was already dressed, but believe me, you wouldn't want to see the situation she was in and she couldn't stand anyone else seeing her like that." I ducked my head, watching my feet for a second before looking at him, "she scared the shit out of me yesterday. I was afraid I couldn't help her, that I wasn't enough.”

Liam took a deep breath, cracking his jaw and sprawling on the couch as he brought one hand to his lips in annoyance. Sky had bought some sweets and was offering them to Rose who cast us a confused look from time to time, seeming to find our distance from the rest of the group strange.

" You were with her and brought her back, did she say who did it?”

" 'Some girls in my class at the behest of... you know who...' I felt uncomfortable accusing his ex"girlfriend and her cousin, but he couldn't be blind to it.

" I know. But you can't prove anything about them, but I want their names...".

That's when another series of notifications made me turn my attention away, frowning at the fact that Jackson insisted on knowing where his daughter was.

" Is something wrong? " Liam caught my eye.

" 'Her dad's texting me, he wants to know if I'm with Rose, if she's with someone "' I mumbled as I answered his message.

Rose seemed to have noticed something wrong, turning away from the group to come towards us.

" Hey, why are you guys so far apart? " she looked at us suspiciously.

" 'We're giving you space to get all this attention before I overshadow everyone with my wonderful presence,' Liam smiled lazily.

I stood up, letting out a small smile trying to disguise my discomfort as I received another message from the girl's father, asking me to get away from her and call him.

" Well Rose, remember all the times I told you that you have the biggest ego in the universe? I was wrong, that title certainly belongs to this guy.”

" "I don't take that as an offense, Davis," he warned nonchalantly.

" 'It should,' I returned, stretching. 'Now that you're properly chaperoned, I need to go.”

A surprised expression took over Rose's face, she didn't seem to expect us to leave so soon but there was nothing to be done, I needed to call Jack and find out what was going on.

" But it's still early, where are you going? " she frowned.

" He has some things to sort out, about a subject " Liam came to my rescue, seeming to understand what was going on.

" 'Yeah, I need to sort out some things in the lab,' I reinforced, 'I was just talking to Van Derr Waal about that.

" Ohh. Okay. See you at lunch? " she stammered, alternating her gaze between Liam and me.

" Of course.”

" I'm not leaving your side today, My Sweet Apprentice of Da Vinci." Liam slipped his arm around her.

" "I've been released from class in the morning, I'm going to have a meeting with the social services, and..." he said.

" 'Great, I'll walk you through that too,' he assured her.

" "I have to go, I'll meet you later in the cafeteria, Rose.