28 ROSES

by episkia

Thursday, 31st January

Submitted for: 250 word max rant column.

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Sex sells. We all know that. But sex only sells when hot people are the ones endorsing it. Unless you're ridiculously famous and ridiculously ugly, which then means people will buy the magazine just to laugh their heads off and ultimately, feel better about themselves. Even in stories, why is it that even the really nerdy girl that hides within her loose, baggy jumpers stolen off her brother is actually really hot when you shove her in a dress?

In such a society, we want it fast. A racy, passionate couple. One night stands and a tall, dark, handsome stranger. Sensationalist headings in newspapers. Heck, we all know how fast rumours travel around our school after a party on the weekend. But there's a reason these stories don't last, and instead, names like Gilbert Blythe and Mr. Darcy are still with us today. Shakespeare was right you know – ever read his mockery of another poet's description of his loved one – sonnet 130? He coldly describes her features: 'I've seen roses damask, red and white, / But no such roses see I in her cheeks' but in the end, he says 'And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare / As any she belied with false compare.'

I'm not going to lie and say that I know what love is. But I know that it has to be more than this. We all know it has to be more than this. So I'm on a mission this month to find love that doesn't revolve around the phrase 'damn she's hot, I'd bang her.'

Crowding around the fourth article we'd read today, we collectively raised our eyebrows. "Well," I said, "We certainly have a bitter girl after a broken relationship here."

"What! It wasn't you?" Lisa giggled, and continued on saying, "The rest of the newspaper was sure that you'd sent it in as a joke."

Affronted, I scanned through it again. "I sound that cynical? Yeah, okay, Gilbert Blythe is a favourite of mine, but who doesn't love Anne of Green Gables? But hey, I'd never admit Shakespeare was right, after creating the disaster that was Romeo and Juliet. I mean, what two kids fall in love after …"

Kit cut in this time, rolling her eyes. "We've heard it all before, Tee. Yeah yeah, they'd only just met for a couple of minutes and drunk on one kiss, they professed their love for each other, blah blah blah. Oh well, he's a literary genius anyway. You've got to admit that."

I placed my hands in front of me, stopping them from saying any more. "We've had this conversation loads of times. He is a genius. I love Macbeth and Hamlet; it's just R and J that annoys me a bit."

"Quite a lot, you mean."

Turning around to face William, I patted him on the head after his disgruntled reply and cooed, "Just because I broke up with you doesn't mean you have to be so depressed that I don't believe in real love yet want it anyway. You know my expectations are high."

Lisa and Kit grinned at him, and the former said, "Hey, you lasted six weeks. That has to have been some kind of record."

"Well," Will hastily said, to re-earn some of his broken ego, "Tee did go out with me quite long. There must've been something in my personality that she loved."

"Yeah, I definitely loved your annoyingly liberal, ignorant high socio-economic bracket views. And your lack of common sense."

He kissed me on the cheek, and then told me I was a ridiculous communist. Oh, I now remember why I broke up with him.

Lisa barged in before I could complain about the unequal distribution of money in developing countries to say, "Before Tee can complain about the unequal distribution of money in developing countries," – damn, I hate having friends that know me so well – "can we decide what we want to do with this 250 word rant? We've got space for three or four rants in our Valentine's Day edition, depending how long the main article is, and we always like a cynical piece in a newspaper full of cheesy love letters. This unnamed girl's nursing a grudge though, that one."

"Wait, why are we just assuming she's a girl?"

"William," Kit waved the piece of paper around him, "Look at it! How can it be a guy! Stop trying to add some testosterone in this conversation."

"Also," I said to be fair, "come on, she's showering love around! What kind of guy would do that? And look at the email address. I mean, Sirius Black isn't dead at hotmail dot com? Raging fangirl to be sure. Although, of course, I'd like to have an email address something along the lines of why did hedwig have to die at hotmail dot com. Hey, I love this girl!"

"Hedwig's just an owl! It's almost as bad as saying you want an email address that says why did Harry's Firebolt have to crash at hotmail dot com! What about Fred Weasley!"

William, Lisa and I all gave each other a look that was a bit sad. Kit had always loved the Weasleys, probably because it was everything she wanted her own dysfunctional family to be. While we loved Kit for her crazy ups and downs, it wasn't healthy for anyone involved. She'd be bouncing up and down one minute, and making a tiny Year 7 girl cry in the corridors the next.

Lisa took charge in this situation, like she always did, and I loved her for it. While I could become impatient easily, Lisa knew how to move on without sacrificing anybody's feelings. I mean, there is a reason she's labelled the campus psychologist and is always voted for leadership positions. "You guys! This is supposed to be an official meeting! Kit, you get in contact with her."

And just like that, Kit was fine again, and gave a salute. "Yes sir!"

Lisa continued, albeit with a little smile, "I know it's only the second day of school, but it's already the last day of January and we only have ten days before we have to send it off to get printed. William, find out what's happening with the advertorials. We're probably going to get a ton of TS, marry me, by WF or something in this edition. Damn February. And Tee …"

Lisa cocked her head at me, as if in thought. "Er, don't worry. We'll handle it. Just write the minutes of this discussion down and hand it to Mr. Elliott, would you? Not that er, we did anything important today."

My jaw dropped open. "Are you worried that I'll try a fiasco like last year and burn all the stupidly happy articles for the Valentine's Day edition last year? That's only because I was all pissed off after I found Andrew, the freaking loser, cheating on me!"

"Yeah, that's exactly why."

Okay, well … yeah, I couldn't really say anything to that so I just sat sulking in my chair until the bell signalling the end of lunch rang. Lisa leaped out of her chair and pulled her gorgeous black hair from its ponytail – her "I'm thinking" mood (I keep poking her to admit she got the idea from Violet in "A series of unfortunate events"), gathered her belongings hastily and sprinted out of the room with a wave.

Blinking, I said "Whoa, that was … quick. What's she got that she's in such a rush?"

"She always has swimming training fifth period on Mondays instead of curriculum PE. You know, with that idiot Nathan Brent, who she has been in love with for about a millennia."

Kit laughed, asking, "You mean the dark, handsome, brooding swimmer?" I went on, "Why do you think he's such an idiot? And why do you know Lisa's timetable off by heart?"

I detected a bit of a fumble as he answered quickly, "Because I always see him doing stupid things when he's crazy drunk at parties. He's in my rowing team remember? And I know your timetable as well, Tee. Why's it such a big deal?"

"Because I think you're in love with her." It was only supposed to be a good natured joke, because William, while an ex, was a person I was completely comfortable with – something I can't say for a lot of people even if I am ridiculously loud and brash. Even when we were dating, we'd been friends more than anything else. So when I saw the red tinge appearing in his cheeks, I gave Kit a slow grin and mock whispered, "So that's how it is."

She didn't look as excited as I was, but that's probably because while I was a closet romantic, Kit was set on her "love is a lie" theory. Since I sensed a downturn in her mood, I decided to entertain myself in a way I couldn't do with most.

I took a step back and raked Will from head to toe. "Gorgeous dirty blonde hair, electric blue eyes, high cheekbones, body I know that's pretty damn hot from personal experience, clean cut personality, perfect manners, always the designated driver after parties because everybody knows you don't drink … hmmm, you're not too bad Mr. Van Arkel. I give you full permission to go after your ex girlfriend's friend."

Kit laughed at my antics. I loved killing two birds with one stone. Buoyant and with new knowledge about Will that I'd make sure to keep in mind, Kit and I skipped off to Chemistry … but not before I gave a roguish wink to the nervous seventeen year old male behind us.

I slid into the seat behind the second bench in the science lab and Kit made her way to the side table – alphabetical seating sucked. Out of breath but in a good mood, I could even bear to be chirpy to Cindy whose school blouse was two sizes too small and skirt ten centimetres too high. "How is my favourite parasite?"

Hey, I never said anything about being polite.

She shook her shock of red hair behind her, scowling, but didn't say anything to me. She knew I'd only gather steam the more I went on and she had better things to concentrate on – like my lab partner Lucas whom she was draped over. Second day of Term 1 of Year 12 and she was already at it.

While the parasite whispered so-called sultry things in his ear, I stole his book so I could check the answers to the homework and ignored them the best I could. She'd be leaving in about five seconds anyway, if my calculations were right. 5, 4, 3 … she hooked her legs over Lucas' chair and straddled him, tilting his head down with her claws to stare into his aquamarine depth, make out with him, whatever. That was the last straw for Lucas though, thank God.

"Cindy, that's enough. Mr. Duvall's coming now anyway."

Lucas pulled the airhead's skirt down for her, which rewarded him with a glossed pout (my head met the desk over her ridiculousness at that moment) and sashayed to the back corner where she could listen to her iPod and giggle over her blackberry with her sycophants in peace.

I suppressed a smirk at Lucas as he swivelled over to talk to me with a more real smile.

"How is my favourite lady doing this morning?"

"Not too bad, since you've finally stopped calling those random parasites 'baby'. Try a symbiotic relationship, would you?"

"You know my heart beats only for you, Tee." He ruffled my hair and I only grinned in response. No matter how many girls tried for his affections, he never went any further than the show a few minutes ago and I had to give him begrudging respect for that. While we didn't run in the same social circles at all – I actually wanted to study and do something with my life instead of getting drunk every weekend thank you very much – we'd worked together in the school production the year before and had become pretty good friends.

The teacher called for our attention then, having finished meticulously setting out his white board markers in colour order. "Let's review atom structure then, shall we?" Protests came from all over the class. "We've done this three years ago!"

"But some people may profit from this revision," he raised his voice, "especially Cindy and Deborah, I can see you girls reading a magazine. I'm not blind you know." I couldn't suppress my laughter at that, and Lucas was a bit too enthusiastic about hitting me on the back so I wouldn't choke.

The lesson went smoothly after that (I couldn't help but like Mr. Duvall much more now), except for Lucas' lame pick up lines surfacing again in our boredom. After the classic 'Do you have a map? I got lost in your eyes,' he cut through the drone of the teacher's voice that lulled everybody into sleep to ask, "Sir, is that why us guys like girls? Because we're positive and they're negative?"

I challenged him, "Oh yeah, explain homosexuals then."

"Well, they obviously swapped a proton for a neutron." Lucas didn't even miss a beat, saying the words with a quick grin tossed my way. Oh, there's the only other reason I keep him around. His smiles are devastatingly gorgeous, and if there's something that turns me on, it's a guy's smile. Forgive me if I emitted a fangirly sigh then, along with the rest of the females in the class who had suddenly woken up from their stupor.

I begrudgingly took notes for the latter half of the lesson but gladly escaped into the fresh air for recess. "Hey, Tee, Nathan's having a party at his place tomorrow night. Celebrating the beginning of Year 12 and all that. You should come … bring Kit if you want. I think Lisa got invited already."

"By who?" I loved being nosy.

"The host himself?"

The world skid to a halt. "As in, Lisa's Nathan? The hot, brooding one? The one who drinks too much, according to my trusty source William?"

"Well, I don't know about hot, I'd rather look at you any day, but he does drink a fair bit. You shouldn't bring William though, I'll be too jealous." He placed his arms on my shoulders, wanting me face him head on but I was too immersed in reviewing the conversation that had occurred within our meeting this morning to look at him. I was worried for Lisa – the perfect girl always fell for the bad ones like the cliché dictated, and I knew that Will would be much better for her than this terrible playboy I'd heard too much about from girls in the bathroom crying their heads off.

Forcing myself not to get too worried, I tried to steer the conversation away from deeper waters. "You know he's just a friend. And he's always our driver after parties. You can get both or neither of us."

He flapped his hand and an easy smile suddenly appeared on his face, "Nah, he's been invited anyway. They row together remember? I was just kidding."

Diverted, he pulled at an overweight girl that was wiping her tears with her arm from the mass of people in the hallway. "Why're you looking so sad, gorgeous?" He tipped an imaginary hat and bowed. She could only give him a wan smile, so he decided to step up a level. With a flourish, he presented her with a red rose and whispered something in her ear. He was a smooth talker, no doubt about it.

I watched his overdone act with a smile and joined him a few minutes later as he waved goodbye to the girl who we now knew was a Year 8 girl named Ivy. Lucas had managed to catch the attention of quite a few people in the hallways – I mean, how often do you see one of the hottest guys on campus present a rose to … well, such a girl? Watching her walk with a new spring in her step I said thoughtfully, "You know, you really are so much better than I give you credit for. I haven't seen the rose before though, you decided to add something new?"

Lucas grinned, waving the compliment off. "It's Valentine's Day soon. Because I am incredibly wonderful and charming, I'm on a mission to give a special lady a rose every single day until the fourteenth. And then on the actual day …" He trailed off, but I didn't take much notice as I scanned the fields that we'd reached for my friends. "Well, I'll see you around. Friday, okay?" I gave a noncommittal shrug and watched him walk over to the bored jocks that groped their latest girl for something to do. Lucas really was one of the only ones I could stand out of them since he seemed to own a moral compass that pointed to North … most of the time.

With a shake of the head, I slid into my own group. Kit was making out with Zach, who had almost survived a month of dating her. Will was having a heated discussion with Tim about something or another. Lisa was reading the last few chapters of Jane Eyre,a dreamy smile on her face.

To announce my presence, I flung my hands out to say, "Had I been a sanguine, brilliant, careless, exacting, handsome, romping child, you guys would all have noticed I was here and fell at my feet!"

Peering from his James Dean hair, Tim quirked a smile and drawled, "Dude, you know you're all those things, so stop begging for our attention."

"And," a new voice said, "stop quoting canon texts like Jane Eyre. It makes everybody else feel inferior."

With a dramatic gasp, I turned around and hugged the tall figure with all my strength. "Alexaaaaaander," I sang, "I haven't seen you in awhile!" I ignored William's petty comment: "This is why I felt so bad while we dated man. She'd say I was her boyfriend but start jumping on Alex whenever he came over to her house to visit Perry, who'd always be in the next room spying to make sure his little sister wasn't committing any acts she shouldn't be."

I'd had this massive crush on Alexander until I was about thirteen, like every other girl in the world. Come on, the older brother's best friend? Fortunately, after I stopped squeaking every time he came into the room, I was gradually able to hold a conversation without blushing furiously. The turning point was probably the epic Lord of the Rings marathon Perry, Alex and I had. We bonded over our love for Eomer, and the three of us had been inseperable since.

"Lo," he answered, messing my blonde hair. "I'm here strictly on business, so hands off. I'll be thrown out on charges of sexual harassment charges before I even walk into a classroom."

Kit promptly shoved Zach off her and threw him into the tree, shrieking, "You're a teacher here? What the hell! You're too hot! And too young! Twenty one!"

The man in question winced at the high pitch. "Weeell, thanks for the compliment Kitanya, but I'm not a teacher per se. Just doing my student teacher credit here."

I jumped out of his arms. "This isn't FAIR," I wailed. "I'm going to end up as the victim of a teacher student relationship! It will be all over the news! I'll end up in court defending you because the media will portray you as this soul sucking leech who wanted to have sex with me!"

Alex laughed. "That's why I thought I'd drop by first, to tell you that the school won't approve of me having movie marathons with you anymore. I'm starting work tomorrow."

I folded by arms and scowled in response. "The school can meet me at court. I'll have Perry be our defence lawyer."

Kit waved her hand airily. "Don't worry guys. My mum can just bribe the school. Done."

I raised my hand to Kit's for a high five and then we promptly groaned because of the pain.

Rolling his eyes, Alexander looked around to all six of us and warned us, "It's Mr. Key on campus okay?" When we all nodded like the good students we were, he gave a satisfied smile and walked off to the main staffroom.

"Cool. Does this mean we can get the English exam earlier?" Will asked, bouncing.

Tim slapped him over the head. "That's cheating man. But we'll have all the inside info now about the teachers. Good stuff."

Will reciprocated the action. "Blackmailing is worse than cheating idiot."

We all looked on in amusement except for Zach who was only really there to salvage the dying relationship between Kit and himself. Thought we were a bunch of newspaper losers, actually. He tried to stray the conversation away to more interesting grounds. "You all going to Nate's party tomorrow?"

At those simple words, Lisa dropped her head and started tugging on the grass patch in front of her. I nudged her knee and said, "I'm only going if you're going. It won't be fun without you and Kit."

Will jumped in to chip in his two cents worth. "Yeah, last time when you were grounded Lisa, Kit was just hooking up with someone and Tim was nowhere to be found so Tee was all gloomy and complained the whole night how the party was so booooring and how she wanted me to drive her hoooome."

Opening her unsettlingly blue eyes to her widest, Kit flicked her brunette hair back. "It's not my fault I'm hot. Just my mum's for sleeping with some random white guy and creating a halfie baby."

There was a short pause. Will seemed perturbed by her uncaring attitude and Tim blasé like usual, but I knew better. Ruffling her pixie short hair, I slipped my arm around her waist and placed my head on her shoulder. "We love you. That's all that matters."

"I guess." Rousing herself, Kit jumped up and dragged Lisa to the seat next to her. "What's up? Your crazy Asian parents making you stay home and study again? School barely started! Come out and have some fun!"

Lisa looked straight at her, her eyes serious and expression calm. "They're not crazy. They just want the best for me."

Will scrutinized her and was about to speak up when I glared at him. We'd been over this so many times but it would be something that wouldn't be resolved. Better to leave it be and attack her in a different way.

Teasingly, I lightly said, "But you want to go right? I mean, the host himself invited you. Nathan himself."

Her cheeks flooded with heat at that very name. Will's mouth dropped open. "He's not good for you, you know. You deserve somebody better."

The Korean girl tossed her head. "I'll see what I can do."

Translation: I'll go.

"Whoo, okay, that's decided. We're all going. Kit, I guess you're going with Zach. Will, you're going to be awesome and pick everybody else up right?"

A sigh. "As the lady commands."

"Awesome." I wasn't much of a party goer but Nathan's were infamous for a reason. Checking my watch I announced, "Kay, the bell's about to go. I'll catch up with you all later."

Walking through the large oval, I spied Lucas mouthing something to me. I was a failure at lip reading, but I could guess his question considering how one-tracked the male brain is. Ignoring his friends doing questionable acts around him, I nodded in answer and received another blinding smile in return.

Ah, if only I had known the ridiculous bet he'd challenge me with.

A/N: Hiyas. I was ignoring all my assessments due when I found this story I'd randomly started writing up awhile ago. Reading it over again, I had some ideas of where I wanted this to go, so we'll see what happens. It's a cliche yes, but there'll be a few twists on the road.

Thanks for reading!