Chapter Text
Rosalina King was a quiet and smart 5th grader. She was at the top of her class, reading 9th grade level books, and was the teacher’s favorite student. She didn’t have a lot of friends, but she was okay with that, it kept her out of the spotlight. Her best friend was Sadie Jameson. They had met in kindergarten and had instantly connected over their love of animals. They played together, and knew each other like the back of their hand. Nothing could ever separate them.
On a bright sunny day in June, Rosalina invited Sadie to come to the park with her. Sadie happily accepted and Rosalina’s mother took them to the nearest park. Sadie dragged Rosalina over to swings. They swung for a while and screwed around on the jungle gym after. Finally Sadie asked a question that would impact Rosalina’s future in a lot of ways.
“Hey Rosey, you wanna play tag?” She asked, grinning.
“Sure,” Rosalina said.
“Good! You’re it!” Sadie yelled taking off. Rosalina gave a slight smile and chased after her best friend. After several minutes of unsuccessfully trying to catch Sadie, Rosalina stumbled upon a bird. She called over Sadie in excitement at finding a bird that wouldn’t fly away from her.
“Sadie, Sadie! Come here! I found a bird!” She called. Sadie arrived a minute later and they slowly approached the bird side by side. When they got closer they realized the bird wasn’t moving at all.
“No wonder it didn’t fly away. It’s dead,” Sadie said losing interest and going back to play on the swing set. Rosalina leaned down and poked the bird. Despite being young, death had always fascinated her. The fact that something could be living and breathing one second, and so still and lifeless the next, was so captivating to her. Her mother had often warned her about sharing this anyone. Not even Sadie knew her best friend was curious about death. Staring down at the bird, Rosalina thought about bring it home. This is however, was a terrible idea, as her mother would never allow it. She dug a small grave and gently laid the bird inside.
“Adiós Amigo,” She whispered, throwing dirt over the bird. She put a small stick right over the head of the bird, to mark his grave.
“Rosey!! Come here!” She heard said call. She stood up and walked back over to the swingset.
“What were you doing?” Sadie asked.
“Nothing, just spacing out,” Rosalina said with as much truth a she could muster.
“Alright! Let’s go back to tag!” Sadie cheered. Rosalina gave a small smile and chased after Sadie.
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Rosalina, now a 17 year old teenager, had been nose deep in a thriller by Stephen King, when she was rudely interrupted.
“Honestly Rose! You need to stop reading so much! You’re never going to get a date to prom that way!” Sadie fretted, trying to shut Rosalina’s book.
“ I don’t want to go to prom! You know this,” Rosalina insisted slapping away Sadie’s hand.
“Why?” Sadie whined. “I can’t go without my best friend!”
“Is your boyfriend not enough?” Rosalina questioned, stowing her book in her bag.
“It’s not the same!” Sadie exclaimed. “ You and I have been friends longer than i’ve known Ethan.”
Rosalina turned and covered Sadie’s mouth with her hand.
“Shush! No more complaining, class is about to start,” she said turning to look at the board and removing her hand from Sadie’s mouth. Sadie pouted and turned to her phone, probably texting her boyfriend. Rosalina actually paid attention in this class, as it was History. Rosalina had always been fascinated with History and WWII specifically. She open her notebook and begin to doodle as she listened to the teacher talk about WWII. She already knew all of this, because she really was a nerd. She doodled Sadie and herself as children, a rose, and a Panda. Random things really, just whatever that came in her mind.
“Ms. King, perhaps you would like to tell us the Nuremberg trials and someone who officiated over it?” Mr. Jones her history teacher asked with a hint of smugness glazing his tone.
“Of course, one of them was Norman Birkett, a british judge,” Rosalina replied smoothly, trying hard to not let her sass get the best of her. Mr. Jones eye’s widened, before he composed himself.
“T-thank you Ms. King,” he said, with little truth in his voice. Rosalina nodded before going back to her doodling. She felt Sadie lean over to her shoulder.
“That was awesome!” Sadie whispered, nudging Rosalina with her elbow.
“Thanks,” Rosalina whispered back. Sadie smiled, before glancing down at her phone and went back to texting. Rosalina gave a small smile, watching her friend. Sadie had always been more social and plenty of friends. Honestly sometimes she wondered why Sadie even stuck around. There were plenty of other people she could have as her best friend. Regardless, Rosalina wouldn’t want anyone else to be in Sadie’s place. Rosalina’s grown used to her quirks anyway. Sadie wouldn’t be Sadie without them. Unconsciously Rosalina had begin to draw. She wasn’t sure what she was drawing, it looked like random lines and shapes everywhere. She added shading, more shapes, and even borrowed Sadie’s pen.
“What are you drawing?” Sadie whispered, looking over Rosalina’s shoulder. Rosalina shrugged, before adding a few more stars. She lost concentration when she glanced up at the clock to check the time. She looked down at her paper studying hard. It was bright and looked like a quaint town.
“ I think i’ll call it Heaven,” Rosalina whispered to Sadie as the bell rang. Sadie nodded as Rosalina got up and followed Sadie out the door towards a familiar face. Sadie’s boyfriend Ethan seemed to never go to class, and somehow wasn’t suspended.
“Hey babe,” Sadie said, greeting Ethan with a kiss. They pulled apart and Rosalina could hear Ethan’s friend whistling. The most obnoxious one, Tucker she thought, was continuously scream ‘Bow chika wow wow’ until another, that was probably Franky, hit him upside the head. Rosalina allowed a giggle to escape before turning her attention back to Sadie, who was halfway down the hall, with Ethan’s arm around her. Rosalina hurriedly rushed after them, struggling in the crowd of student’s escaping the school. Finally she escaped the clutches of Hell and made it to the parking lot, only to find her ride gone.
“Why did you leave Sadie!” She whispered, quiet enough not to draw attention, and look like a weirdo. She slumped her shoulders and plopped down on the nearest bench. She was in the middle of feeling self-pity and cursing Sadie out in her head, when she felt someone sit down next to her. She glanced up and was surprised to Ethan’s friend Franky sitting next to her.
“Is something Rosalina? You seem really upset.”
“Well Sadie took off with her boyfriend, and unfortunately she was my ride home,” Rosalina replied.
“Well,” Franky started hesitantly. “ I could give you a ride home?” Rosalina thought about it for a moment.
“Alright, thank you. However, I'm warning you, I know karate,” Rosalina chuckled throwing a bit of joking in her town, so he didn’t think she was serious. He laughed as well, and Rosalina stood up and followed Franky to his car. They arrived at an old 1966 Charger. Rosalina pulled open the passenger door, to be greeted with a familiar, and annoying, head of black hair.
“Tucker, get out of my seat or i’ll pull you out,” Rosalina threatened, reaching a hand threateningly towards Tucker’s arm. Tucker let out an undignified screech, scaring Rosalina and Franky, before calming himself down and crossing his arms.
“No way in hell you get my seat!” Tucker argued.
“Tucker…” Rosalina said warningly.
“Oh hell!” Tucker got of out the car and slid into the backseat, all the while complaining about how ‘some chick’ gets his seat because Franky wants to ‘tap that’ until finally Franky turned up the radio to drown Tucker out. The two sat in silence listening to a combination of Tucker and the radio, until Rosalina had to give Franky directions to her house. They pulled up to Rosalina’s familiar Craftsman house a few minutes later, where Rosalina moved to get out until she felt a hand on her arm. She turned to glance at Franky and was surprised to see a nervous look on his face.
“Hey, uh, maybe, just maybe, I could take you to prom?” Franky asked with a bashfulness that surprised Rosalina.
“Yeah, I’d like that,” Rosalina smiled and climbed out of the car. She headed up her pathway and turned around after she unlocked the door. She Tucker and Franky high fiving and talking excitedly.
“Wear Blue!” She called out and saw Franky nodded and blush at being caught. Rosalina headed inside up to her bedroom and pulled out her phone. She sent a quick text to Sadie before starting on her homework. She heard a beep a few seconds later and picked up her phone. Sadie was an exceptionally fast texter.
‘NO WAY! Frany asked u?? I didnt think he had the guts’
However, Rosalina didn’t count spelling errors as positive.
‘Yeah he did. When are we going dress shopping?’
Rosalina typed back, only to receive a response right away. She wasn’t kidding when she said she was fast.
‘2 night! Im comin to get u!’
Rosalina groaned and reluctantly stood up. She left a note for her parents on the kitchen counter, where they’d see it and slipped her shoes back on. By the time she had finished, Sadie was in her driveway beeping her obnoxious horn. She locked the door behind her and headed down the driveway to her best friends silver Porsche. Sadie’s parents were filthy rich, as her dad was a CEO and her mother was a doctor. Sliding onto the leather seats, Sadie excitedly greeted her before backing down her driveway towards the nearest mall.
They pulled up a few minutes later and Sadie parked the car and nearly dragged Rosalina to the nearest dress store. Sadie made Rosalina try on several dresses all varying shades of blue, until they found one that they both agreed on. A blue dress, with a necklace collar, a ruffle running up the side, and a small slit in the front.
“You’re going to knock his socks off Rosey.”