Just Rose

Chapter Four

After a solid four or five hours in the bedroom Julie had informed me was mine, someone pushed open the door. The two identical Hispanic boys stood there, one slightly behind the other.

The sudden movement surprised me. "Oh!" I exclaimed. "Um, hi," I greeted them.

"Hi," they said, almost in unison.

"Is there... anything I can do for you?" I asked after a few seconds.

The first boy walked over to the bed I was sitting on and crossed his legs on the ground in front of me. The second boy followed suit.

"Well we're your brothers now," one of them said.

"So we're supposed to know you," finished the other.

"Oh- well- um- okay," I said. "So, um, what do you want to talk about?" I asked, placing the papers I had been attempting to memorize next to me on the bed. They didn't respond, just kind of looked at me. "I don't even know both of your names, how about we start with that?" I suggested.

"Well I'm Miguel," one of them said.

"And I'm Damian."

The door was pushed open again and another boy, whose name I was pretty sure was Alex, walked in confidently. I couldn't remember if he was five or six- he looked more six than five, as far as I could tell.

"Actually," he interrupted, closing the door, "Their names are Michael and Dallin."

"Well that's what the country says," said one of the twins- Damian, I was pretty sure. He had a missing tooth. I would have to remember that. "But no one actually calls us that. Those are just our American names."

"Our mom and dad named us Miguel and Damian," added Miguel.

I nodded. "Those are nice names," I agreed, turning to the boy who had just walked in. "And you're... Alex?"

He groaned. "No, I'm Aleck! Aleck, not Alex!" he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Right. "Oh, sorry. Aleck. Right. I'm learning a lot of names today," I told him, "and-"

"What's that?" Alecksuddenly asked, striding over to the bed and picking up the papers.

I gently pried his fingers from them. "They're... really important," I told him. "I'm working on memorizing them for-"

"Wait, you didn't tell us your name!" Damian, the one missing the tooth, suddenly said.

"Yeah!" Miguel agreed.

"Oh. Well, I'm... let me see," I said, skimming through the pages to where the name Julie had picked for me was.

"No, not the name Julie came up with," Damian told me.

"Your real name," Aleck said.

"Oh. It's-" I paused, looking at all their eager faces for just a second.

"Well?" Aleck asked impatiently.

"Rose," I finished. "My name's Rose. And you're... Aleck, Miguel, and... Damian," I said, pointing to each of them in turn. "Right?"

"Rose what?" asked Miguel.

"What?" I asked.

Aleck giggled.

"What's your last name?" Damian clarified.

"Oh... it's just Rose," I told him.

"Just Rose?"

"Just Rose," I agreed.

"So your name's just Rose?" asked Miguel. "You don't have a last name?"

"Nope." I smiled. "Sorry to disappoint."