Chapter five - Hi, I'm that kid nobody likes

Rose's point of view

A/N: Bonjour, mes chéries! *Whooshes past you in a blur*

In about a day, I will be in France, skiing down a black run at fifty miles an hour. Wish me luck and pray I won't die.

Love you, my darlings.

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I sat at the table, coffee clutched in my hands, as dad spilled everything.

My parents had been criminals, murderers, revolutionists. Papa had broken the border between black and white. And dad had led a whole army to destroy the American government. Uncle Mikey shot the president. Uncle Ray helped.

It was a lot to take in.

Dad looked pretty drained, but I was glad he'd managed to finally explain some shit to me. It was good to know some of the story. What he'd left out though, was why I was fucking grey. I'd tried to pry that out of him, but he'd refused, saying he was too upset. Dad had always hated talking about the past.

We all went back to bed, but I didn't fall asleep for another hour; everything I'd just learned was twisting and jumping around in my head, bouncing off the edges of my mind. I was almost the same age as dad and papa had been when they took down the government. And what had I done? Nothing, really. I'd been through half of school. Just about survived. I'd made half a friend who wasn't really a friend... more my art teacher.

And that was it. That was my life.

It was slighting, what I'd achieved compared to them, and kind of depressing. I fell asleep with a pathetic kind of ache in my chest and the determined intention of finally doing something tomorrow.

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After overhearing dad and papa talking about naked art while making coffee the next morning, I left early, mildly traumatised. I regretted this decision the moment I got to school.

Lucille, Sammi and Geordie were loitering at the front gate, Lucille perched on top of the gate, her ridiculously short skirt riding up even further up her legs. Geordie was giggling shrilly, the caked-on makeup on her orange face creasing as her mouth contorted, and Sammi was twirling her brittle red hair around her finger.

I'd lived in Britain since I was a baby, but I had never grown to understand the frivolous, tedious, life consuming disease that is fashion. It had become a trend for girls to tan their faces a disturbing shade of orange, and to backcomb and sea-spray and hairspray their hair until it was a hideous lump of perfumed frizz atop their head.

I despised fashion.

Completely coincidentally, the kids at school who followed it tended to be complete and utter bitches to me. Sammi and Geordie were my worst enemies. I had none too much against Lucille, however... she was much more the sidekick than the main offender. Her worst fault was probably just hanging out with the popular crowd.

"I'm getting so sick of boys," Geordie drawled. "They're such users."

"Ugh, like, same," Sammi sighed. "I'm thinking of going, like, boy vegan. You know, wait until I can date a more mature man."

"Totally," Geordie said. "It's always the young ones that are all over mature girls like us," she complains, rolling her eyes.

I edged up to them quietly, hoping to pass by unnoticed, but of course, Sammi caught sight of me and tugged at her friends' arms to get their attention. She whispered something in Geordie's ear then glanced at me, and Geordie tried to stifle a laugh.

"Heard in the news the other day that being homo's hereditary," Geordie muttered to the other girls. "I wonder..." She shot me a glance.

Sammi dissolved in giggles, hissing out "lesbo" as soon as she could breathe again and giggling even more.

I gritted my teeth and walked briskly past them, past the groups of chatting kids in the playground and the boys tackling each other for a tennis ball, inside the school to my first lesson. Normally, if I was early, I would spend a few minutes hiding in the toilets before I set off for lessons, but I didn't mind being early for art. Mr Somers was the only teacher who didn't have a grudge against me (actually, probably the only person at school who didn't have a grudge against me), and sometimes we would talk a little before the lesson started.

"Hello, Rose," Mr Somers smiled as I came into the classroom and slid into a seat at the back.

I hummed in acknowledgement, sinking further into my seat and fixing my eyes on the grammar poster on the wall opposite me.

"You okay?"

I hesitated. "Yeah," I mumbled.

Mr Somers' smile faltered. He frowned and knelt down by my desk. "Rose," he said. "You sure?"

I shrugged weakly. "Just some people, um. Messing with me."

Mr Somers let out a frustrated sigh. "Sammi and Georgie, by any chance?"

I blinked in surprise. "Yeah. How did you know?"

He laughed awkwardly. "They're damn prejudiced, huh?"

My stomach tightened. I gulped. "What do you mean?" I asked.

"Let's just say that I don't fit their stereotype for men."

"Right," I said nervously. I'd never met anyone who wasn't straight outside my family. This was a pretty big thing.

Come to think of it, this was probably why Mr Somers was so nice to me. He understood.

There was an awkward silence that I didn't know what to fill with.

"Hey, um," Mr Somers said, mouth quirking into a smile. "If you wanna talk about anything or just rant or whatever, I'm here all break. I can almost guarantee I'll understand."

"I'll keep that in mind," I said, finding myself smiling back. "Thanks."

"Hey, and I'd love to have a word with your parents whenever they're free. You've got a lot of talent, and I wanna know where it's coming from."

"Well, um, my dad's an artist, so I've got a lot of arty influence at home," I mumbled.

"Oh, that's awesome!" he grinned. "My parents are lawyers, so I was kind of on my own with my art till I went to art college," he said with a laugh. "Do both your parents work?"

I swallowed. "Um." I was almost certain he already knew that my parents were gay, but it was scary saying it out loud. My chest was tight like it was full of cotton wool. "I-"

We were interrupted by a cacophony of obnoxious laughter and the loud voices of the other kids.

Mr Somers took a step back and walked up to the front of the classroom. He twirled his whiteboard pen in his hands until the class had settled down. "Right," he said, trying to hide a mischievous smile. "Today, we're doing self portraits."

A mix of excited murmurs and unenthusiastic groans rippled through the class.

"But not your conventional kind of self portrait," Mr Somers continued with a smile. "You'll have no mirrors, and it's all abstract. I don't wanna see any recognisable facial features on these, clear?"

"Sir, do we have to?" Lily whined.

"No, come on, Lil!" Samuel argued. "I'm gonna look well cool in mine."

Mr Somers ignored the kids' petty arguments and started handing out sheets of paper and oil pastels.

Lucille elbowed Samuel. "We all know you're just going to draw your dick."

"We all know you're gonna love it," Samuel smirked.

Lucille raised her eyebrows.

"You loved it up close, remember? You slut," Samuel teased.

Lucille scoffed. "I've fucking had enough of you."

"Hey, babe, come on." Samuel grabbed her wrist as she tried to get up.

"Sam, get off," she snapped, pulling away. She stalked away to the other side of the classroom and sank into the furthest seat away from Samuel as possible. Next to me. I tried to hide my grimace.

"Hey," Lucille said casually, like we'd been friends forever. "My boyfriend's being a dick. Well. I guess he's my ex-boyfriend now."

"Yeah," I said, awkwardly nodding. I was so uninterested in the affairs of the popular kids, it almost hurt to feign vague interest.

"You're Rose, huh?"

I nodded. I started to sketch out some curved shapes with my blue pastel. "Lucille?"

"Yeah, Luce if you want. I'm the school slut, apparently," she smiled brightly.

"I'm that kid that no one likes," I said. "It's probably best for your reputation if you don't talk to me."

"Nah, my reputation's all a lie," she said cheerily. "I've never really slept with anyone."

"Oh," I said, surprised. "Really?"

"Yeah," she laughed. "Total virgin. Sam hated it."

I laughed a little too. This was weird. Someone was actually talking to me like I was a normal person. It was nice.

Mr Somers caught sight of me laughing in the corner of his eye and smiled.

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Bit of an abrupt chapter ending, but I didn't really know where else to leave off.

Tell you what, though, I'm really enjoying developing Rose as a character, and everyone else at the school. You guys likey? Any thoughts on what's going to happen with Rose soon...? ;) I bet you won't guess.

xoxo