High School Sweethearts (wlw)

• Chapter 9 •

(Emily POV)

My eyes opened.

I had been dreaming of a place.

It was a lake somewhere. I didn't know where.

But Rose had been there, and she had been guiding me along the lake.

Then we were suddenly in a place where no one else was in sight.

Rose came closer and closer, until the gap between our bodies was closed.

I woke up just as she put her left hand on my back.

Shit. What was wrong with my mind? Rose and I were just friends, right? Right???

I looked around to see where she was.

Sitting in her little cave. As usual.

Hang on a sec. She looked like she was... crying?

I walked towards her and she put something away.

"Hey... what's the matter?"

"Nothing." she said and sniffed.

I crawled into the cave and sat down next to her. "Come on. Must be something. Talk to me."

She breathed in and out. "You were right."

I gave her a confused look. "What?"

"I think I do miss my dad."

And then her tears came back and she spilled the entire story to me.

I looked her into the eyes - and hugged her.

There were no words needed. Just two friends hugging over an experience that would haunt them forever, even if they didn't know it yet.

"You're really brave, you know that." I whispered into her shoulder.

"You're the smartest and bravest person I know. And I know a lot of people."

Rose went a bit red.

Then she sat up straight. "Come on, I wanna go check on Maggie."

My smile dropped immediately. I had never felt jealous of Maggie, I mean she was asexual, but Rose checking on Maggie?

Had Rose ever checked on me?

Nevertheless I tagged along, smiling as if everything was okay.

When we walked down the stairs, I looked at the clock.

2 a.m.

I sighed. Time was pretty cruel.

In 6 hours I would probably be at home.

Staring at the ceiling, not knowing what to do.

—[•~]—

"I'm fine, Rose. The cats are all fine too, and the vet left a while ago. You and Em can get back to your... beauty sleep." Maggie said and grinned at me.

I just rolled my eyes. Maggie smirked at me in response.

Rose didn't seem to notice all of that, or she was just choosing to ignore it.

"Alright, then how about you two stay here and I'll take a look at the kittens."

It couldn't have been worse for me. I didn't want to be alone in a room with Maggie.

There was a long silence, and then Maggie sighed. "I'm asexual, Emily. Just remember that."

"Yeah, you're also an orphan." I said. I didn't know exactly why I said it, but Rose had said it once.

"I am?" she laughed. "Then explain exactly what happened so that I know why."

I looked at the floor tiles. Now I kinda felt bad...

"It was a car crash." she said after a while.

"What?"

"They died in a car crash." she said and stopped for a while, staring straight ahead.

"I lost my mother, my sister and my brother. They all died. Only me and my dad survived. And do you know what the funny thing is? Up till that moment, I had absolutely hated my mother."

She sounded like she was crying, but when I looked over at her, she was still completely fine.

Maggie sighed. "I guess then I finally realized that she had just loved me and didn't want me to fail in life. And my siblings. I would give anything to walk into our old apartment and see them sitting there, arguing as usual."

"You moved?" I asked quietly.

"Yeah, we moved into a smaller and better apartment. I mean, why waste a big apartment when you only have 2 people instead of 5?"

"True... I hope your dad is at least nice..."

"Oh yeah, he definitely is. Don't worry. In fact, he's one of the best dads in the world. Rose's father could never."

"I mean, he had his days..." I said quietly.

Maggie grinned. "So she told you about her father. Wow." She took a piece of chocolate off the table.

I shrugged. "Nothing special about it, is there?"

"Ehh..." Maggie said and grimaced. "She doesn't tell many people. But don't worry, princess, you're her special gift. She's never gonna let you go now."

I sighed. "Do you always have to express yourself in metaphors?"

Maggie shrugged. "I just like talking so that normal people, people that are of average intelligence, need a moment to understand." she grinned. "Rose likes it. Says it challenges her mind."

"Yeah, well Rose is like... the second smartest human alive." I tried to defend myself.

"Me being first." Maggie grinned.

I smiled. "Sure. If you say so, orphan."

The door opened and Rose came back out. "Alright princesses, enough chit-chat. Emily, you can go back to bed. Maggie... no matter what I say you won't listen, so what's the point. I'm gonna go and get Max so he can name the kittens."

"It's two o'clock in the bloody morning, Rose. The child is probably fast asleep." Maggie said.

"Then I'll wake him up. He's not gonna miss that opportunity." Rose persisted.

Suddenly the front door knob turned and the door opened.

I hid behind Rose. I hate to admit it, but yes, I was kinda scared. I get scared easily.

"Ms D! My god, you're looking fine today." I heard Maggie yell. Only then did I dare to peek out from behind Rose.

It was her mother.

She walked towards Maggie and ruffled her hair.

"Hey Mags. I'll note you liked this outfit. Maybe you'll get it when I grow out of it, who knows." she said and winked at Maggie.

Then she walked towards her daughter and hugged her. "Mum! Why are you already back?" Rose was mumbling. "I got off early. And I didn't want my kiddos to wake up without breakfast for them, so I came as fast as I could." The blonde said and rubbed Rose's back.

Then her eyes fell onto me. "You must be Emily." I was too stunned to speak, so I just nodded.

She smiled. "Rose told me a lot about you. So you two are in a class together?"

We both nodded. "Well that's nice, isn't it? Now you three should get back to bed. Yes, you two, Maggie. And if I catch you out of your rooms again, there ain't gonna be no pancakes for any of you."

—[•~]—