Huldrefolk

A Second Encounter: Rose

"So his name was Kade?" Danie, Rose's best friend at this current school, asked, as the two whispered exchanges in the dim light of Grove's big theatre. It was a weekly assembly of all the students. Currently two preppy cheerleaders with perfectly glossed lips, curled ponytails and fake tans were advertising the latest lacrosse and football games the school were attending.

"Yeah. You know him?"

"Can't say I do. Sounds like a player, though, so I probably should." She smirked, and Rose had to giggle, earning her a stern look from their shared homeroom teacher. She faced forward and pretended to be listening to whatever the cheerleaders were on about, when another, familiar, face stepped on stage to address the audience.

"Hey, guys. I'm Kade Dawson and I encourage anyone with any musical talent at all to drop along to room 45 at lunch to sign up for Music Club. No one cares if you suck at it because the point is to get better. Thanks." There were whispers throughout the crowd, and as he left the stage, Rose was only too aware of the sound of her racing heart.

"Ohhhh. I see the allure. Guess who's going to room 45 at lunch? You."

"What? Danie, I can't just show up I—"

"Play the violin beautifully. I agree. Babes, he was practically speaking to YOU." Rose flinched as her phone beeped loudly, earning her another look from her homeroom teacher. She waited until Ms. Coulter was distracted, then pulled it out and saw it was from an unknown number.

'Hey, it's Kade. This is slightly stalkery, but I got your number from my mate Roland. He's your friends boyfriend I think... anyway, if I was mistaken in taking you for a musical gal, 145 Park Drive, I'm home by 5.'

The lack of annoying abbreviations seemed like such a Kade thing to do. She showed the text to Danie, who immediately added the number to Rose's contacts, dubbing Kade 'Sexy Musician', and insisting Rose reply with something mildly provocative:

'Hey Kade, yeah, Roland is my best friend Danie's bf. It's fine you got my number off him. You weren't mistaken, I play violin. I'll see you at lunch.'

Within a matter of seconds, her phone buzzed again, her idea to put it on vibrate paying off when Ms. Coulter didn't take her eyes of the Dean, who everyone knew she had the hots for.

'I'll be waiting :-)'

Her heart did a little flutter and she grinned down at her phone, catching sight of Kade leaning casually against the door, looking directly at her.

~○●□●○~

Her periods leading up to lunch consisted of art, art history and creative writing. By the time the bell hailed her to room 45, she was way over thinking the whole experience. It wasn't the first time she'd been hit on. She got wolf whistled and things had gotten scary once when a guy had shoved her up against a wall. Luckily, Danie was there and absolutely beat him senseless (then turned him in and got him expelled). Half the time boys were the reason Rose had to switch schools. This was the first time she'd been genuinely interested in a guy, though. He had shown her kindness, which made him different in ways he probably didn't even comprehend.

Room 45 was pretty full by the time she got there, with groups of mostly geeky kids crowded around the front desk, signing up for the club. When one moved over, Rose caught sight of Kade. He saw her and smiled. She lined up, and a few minutes later she was at the front.

"This is where I'd usually ask for your number, but I already skipped ahead." He said quietly, as she busied herself with signing her name, number, email and homeroom on the paper under about seven others.

"You did. And you gave me your address, too." She glanced up at him for a split second, before finding herself imagining his lips on hers. She decided quickly to focus on her writing.

"Will you be showing up? I should probably know, so I'm not like, in the shower or otherwise... indecent, when you show up." This would usually be a big turn off for Rose, but the way Kade said it, it sounded as sweet as if he'd offered to bring her flowers.

"I'll take it under consideration. I won't insist you wear clothes, either." She didn't look him in the eye as she said this, and wondered if it was stupid of her to be so forward. It wasn't usually her style. He caught her wrist gently with his fingertips as she went to leave.

"Thank you for signing up, Rose. We meet in here every Thursday." She nodded and smiled as she slipped the gloves he'd lent her into his hand, with a note she'd prepared during art history.

'I'll be there at 6.'

As she wandered back to the cafeteria to meet with Danie, humming to herself, her phone buzzed with a new message from ' Sexy Musician'.

'I'll make sure not to wear any clothes ;-)'

Rose laughed out loud, hurrying to go tell Danie about her first official sort of maybe date.

~○●□●○~

"Oh my god!" Danie shrieked. Practically throwing down her tray on the cafeteria table. Her smoothie made a gurgle of protest at the rough treatment, and Rose felt herself flinch. "Roland just told me Kade asked you out! And that you said yes!"

Rose felt a twinge of annoyance at Roland. She had been excited to tell Danie personally, and it had barely been a quarter of an hour since the incident.

"Oh. Yeah, I did. He did. I wanted to tell you myself," Rose blurted. Her disappointment must have shown on her face, because Danie furrowed her drawn-on brows.

"Oh, crap. I should have let you tell me yourself, I was just so excited! Your first date at Amber Grove!"

Rose smiled in spite of herself. Danie's positivity was nothing if not infectious.

"I am very excited," she agreed. "And I really. really like Kade. He's so. . ." Rose hesitated, unsure of how to describe him.

"Elusive?" Danie offered.

Rose raised an eyebrow, it was unlike Danie to use big, complicated adjectives.

"That's a big word for you," she joked to her friend.

"I just learned it in English," Danie proclaimed, grinning proudly.

"I was gonna say wild," Rose chuckled. "Or determined, considering he went to the trouble of starting a whole new school club just to get my attention."

"That is pretty impressive. The best I got from Roland was him walking onto the football quad at a game holding a big, overly sparkly sign he made out of vivid and craft glitter from the art room asking if I'd go to the Winter Ball with him." Danie tossed her hair over one shoulder. It was obvious she was making one of her classic humble-brags about how cool Roland was and how public he was about his affection for her. That was Danie's thing, her love-language, if you will. It was not Rose's.

"That was really cool of Roland," Rose offered, indulging her friend. "Especially since he's team captain."

"Oh! That reminds me. I'm signing up for the Cheer Captain role. Ms. Browne is holding auditions next week!"

It had actually surprised Rose that Danie wasn't already captain, as she has thought she was when she first started at the school. Danie just had the confidence of a leader, and a natural presence that lit up every room she walked into. If she went to the auditions, she was certain to win.

"That's so cool Danie! You're definitely going to get it. Anyone can see that."

"Thanks Rose! Anyhow, send me photos of your outfit options for tonight when you get home. I'll approve or deny them."

Rose smiled as Danie sipped her smoothie, as the bell rang right on cue.