Flipped

Chapter 18- The Fragments of a Year

TWO WEEKS LATER
********************

Rose

"George. George? George!"

The sound of my birth name is muffled when it reaches my ears, and I am only vaguely aware of it. It takes Sam nudging me with his shoulder for me to actually come to attention and find that Mrs. O'Brien and the entirety of our speech class is staring at me.

"Huh?"

The confused sound that I uttered is followed immediately by laughter from my classmates (with the exception of a couple people in the front, who used to bully me relentlessly but have spent the last two weeks ignoring me completely).

"Were you listening?" Mrs. O'Brien asks me directly.

My face grows hot, knowing full and well that I haven't heard a damn thing she's said since class started. But I nod, hoping that she wouldn't make me repeat back what she said.

"Good. Because these instructions apply to you just as much as everyone else, even though you are the only one who has yet to give a speech this semester."

Sam narrows his eyes at her, but I grip his hand under the table to stop him from speaking up in my defense. After all, the lady is absolutely right. And at least now I can infer that she has been lecturing the class about our final project, so nothing that I particularly need to listen to. Not like I haven't anxiously reviewed the syllabus at least a dozen times since the first day.

I resume staring out the window, Mrs. O'Brien's voice fading nonsensically into the background once more.

My attention is recaptured when I feel a piece of paper being pushed under my fingertips. A note from Sam. I pick it up and read it.

You're still thinking about her, aren't you?

I sigh, looking at Sam just long enough to reply to his message with a curt nod before returning my gaze to the cold, wet grounds outside. Of course I'm still thinking about her. Wondering where she is, what she's doing. Hoping to God that my former best friend is okay.

This all started when, approximately two weeks ago, Rose Parker didn't show up for gym on the same day that she had been called to the office. I remember how lonely it was without her, even though it had been awhile since we'd really talked. This was my first gym class without her, and I remember finding it strange that none of my normal bullies took advantage of it. In fact, the very people who used to torment me the most (all with faded words on their heads) now avoided me like the plague.

I told myself I found it strange, anyway. But deep down I knew the truth, and that truth was confirmed at the end of that school day when Rose sent me a text that caused my phone to ding loudly with a tone that I had chosen just for her. Thinking that she had finally responded to my text from that morning asking her what had happened, I was frantic when I pulled my phone from my pocket.

I remember it took Dan and Sam, who had been walking in front of me side by side while holding hands, a moment or two to notice that I was no longer following them. When they did, Sam rushed back to find me standing completely still and staring at my phone screen without blinking. I had no idea how many times I had read over the short text message, but the meaning behind it still hadn't completely sunk in:

ROSE PARKER: I've been expelled. See you never, I guess.

That was it. Short, sweet, and to the point. And it was then that all of the worst thoughts that had been racing through my head since the moment she was called to the office were confirmed to be true.