“Hey, you. You are not allowed to play in our playground. So, beat it.” Some mean kids appeared out of nowhere forcing Rose to get off the swing.
“Yeah, beat it ugly girl.” Ugly. That’s what the kids in the neighborhood called her. At that time she was fat and had a short, frizzy hair. Always wearing a pair of thick glasses due to her very bad eyesight. At kindergarten, the girls never seem to make friends with her. She was a loner back then. She became more and more introvert day by day. She was fine with it as long as nobody disturb her. But this time, they were going too far.
“No, I was here first so go play somewhere else.” She tried to take a stand but ended up being beaten by them.
“Hey, stop beating her or you will regret it.” A boy came to the rescue.
“What are you gonna do? Beat us all. Hahaha… You’re just a new kid in this neighborhood, so act like one.” The leader ignored the boy’s warning and tried to continue the beating. Rose immediately reverted back to her defending pose and waited for the blow that never came. She took a peak and saw the boy was beating the leader. When the leader scrambled, his follower were not too far behind.
“Are you alright? Here let me help you get home? Where do you live?” Rose pointed at the road on his left side and said that she lived in a two storey bungalow at the end that road. And so he piggybacked her and set his direction towards the mentioned road. Along the way she was too weak to open her eyes but she was fully aware of what’s happening around her. The boy’s back was broad and so warm that she felt safe. When they arrived, she was reluctant to leave him. In the end, her mother invited him upstairs to Rose’s room.
“Rose, you can let go now. You are safe in your room.” When she realized that she was hanging on to him still, abruptly she let go making her fell on the floor.
“Ouch…” How embarrassed she felt. Not only she clings on to him and now she just fell on her butt in front of him.
“Are you alright? Hahaha… You’re a funny girl. Well then, I’d better go. My mom is expecting me to unpack my stuff. I think I’ll see you later, funny girl.” With that he left.
Next morning when Rose woke up, she heard tapping sound on her window. She went and opened the window and saw him waving frantically at her.
“Hey, funny girl. Remember me?”
“H-hi, morning” She stammered from behind the curtain. Since yesterday when she saw him, her heart beats faster.
“I’m Andy. I know you’re still upset about yesterday. So, I’ve got something that could cheer you up. Here, catch.” He threw at her a black stuffed bear. “You better take care of him. He’s my best friend. I just lend it to you for awhile.” He blushed as he explained.
“Thank you.” She smiled at him for the first time. Giving him the sweetest smile she never had given before. No one had ever been nice to her.
Andy’s heart skips a beat. ‘She’s adorable’. He blushed even more. “Well, bye then.” He disappeared behind the curtain. His heart was beating so hard that even he wondered why. He took a peak and saw her hugging and kissing his bear. He was blushing even up to his ear. ‘This is ridiculous. I’d better go and change.’
“Class… attention please. There’s a new student I want to introduce to you. Please come in, Andrew.”
And there he was. Andy. ‘He’s the same age as me? And here I thought I could finally have a big brother.’
“Hi, my name is Andrew Camble but everybody else calls me Andy. Nice to meet you.”
“Alright, Andy. You can sit at the empty desk at the back.”
When Andy looked, it was then he realized he was sitting next to Rose. He smiled when he saw her big eyes filled with surprised. “Hi, Rose. We meet again.”
“H-hi.” She felt like she wants to run and hide. Pressing her hand on her cheek and felt how hot her face had become. She took a peak at him. He seems unaffected by their meeting. Suddenly she felt sad. She doesn’t understand why.
‘Stay cool, Andy. She just liked a sister to you. Nothing more.’ He kept telling himself that but his heart have a mind of its own. When he looked at her, she was gazing outside the window next to her. He didn’t realize he was watching her until someone called his name.
“Andy. Hello, Andy.” There’s a girl blocking his view.
“Huh. Oh. Hi.”
“Finally I can get your attention. Hi, I’m Mona. It recess time. Wanna play with us?” Andy wanted to refuse but she pulled him outside. While he was playing, his eyes kept scanning the playground. ‘Where’s Rose?’ That question kept popping in his head every time. When he returned to the class, he saw her at her seat still staring at the window. He wanted to approach her but Mona kept interrupting him with her chatters about herself.
“You shouldn’t befriend with her. She’s a bad girl.” That statement gets his attention.
“What makes you said that?”
“Well, yesterday she played a trick on my friend Sasha but was caught by our home room teacher. That’s why she stayed in the classroom.”
He can’t seem to believe her words after what happen yesterday. So, he set himself a task to ask her when they get home. “Psst.. Hey, Rose. Wanna go home together?” He asked her as soon as the teacher came. At first she just stared at him with her big green eyes, and then nodded her head.
Andy waited for her at the gate. ‘Where is she?’ He has been waiting for her nearly 15 minutes. Feeling uneasy, he went and looked for her. He was trying to open the class door when he heard someone he knew spoke.
“Hey ugly, I want you to be mean to Andy. I want you to be the bad one in his eyes so that he would fall for me. You gonna regret it if you did not obey me.”
“Oh, yeah. Or else what?” Andy interrupted.
“A-Andy. We were just… er… talking, right?” Mona’s nervousness can be seen on her face.
“Don’t lie to me. I heard what you said to Rose. Now I know who the bad one in this school is. From now on don’t bully her again. Understand?”
No body dared to object him. He seems to have an aura of authority around him. Since that day, Rose bullying days are over. In Rose eyes, Andy had become her prince on that faithful day. Both of them become close friends until middle school. During those times, Rose had considered confessing to him but she seems to never have the courage to do it. In the second term of their first years in middle school, Andy had to move to Japan due to his father being transferred. Since then they had lost contact. At first Rose felt her life is empty without him. And so to forget the pain, she had taken up many extracurricular activities to keep herself busy. With all that strenuous activities, Rose loss a lot of weight. Overtime, Rose became beautiful and had gained a lot of admirers. Thus forgotten her feelings for him. Even when he came back, she didn’t felt any of those feelings anymore. Not until tonight.
>_<
