youngblood // p. hockstetter // 0.1

//fifteen

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Patrick was going crazy.

He didn't care about how Rosemary had quite literally used his hormones against him in the theatre house, nor that she was single handedly manipulating the town into protecting her. If anything it was that daring that made him respect her more.

No, it was Rosemary's sudden interest in Victor that angered him. In the week since he'd shoved her, he still didn't have his pencil case and Victor had barely spoken to him. Patrick evidently wasn't the only one angry.

Henry was fuming that the subject of his interest had found someone more interesting then himself, and Victor wasn't helping. He'd told the entire group repeatedly of the incident which occurred earlier that week when Rosemary had tried to protect him from her brother.

Henry thought he was over exaggerating. But sitting with the pair of them in PE, Patrick wasn't so sure. In a surprising move from Rosemary, she moved from the designated 'female' side of the room and sat herself down between Victor and another boy whom was as gobsmacked as the teacher. "Hey Vic" She greeted, grinning at him brightly.

"Rose!" He glanced at the other boys whom where staring at him in both envy and curiosity, his ego swelling slightly as he smirked at her. "What're you doing?"

"What I can't sit and talk to my friend?" He grinned, "Besides, I'm sure conversing with you is far more interesting then the extensive discussion being held about New Kids on the Block" Victor laughed, as did several other boys surrounding her. With a completely serious face, she shook Victor's arm. "Seriously they won't stop talking about his hair"

"Who's hair?" Peter asked jokingly in an attempt to converse with the pretty girl.

Rosemary shrugged. "I kind of tuned some of them out at that point, when you hear how good someone's butt looks repeatedly, it kind of becomes white noise around the seventeenth time"

Patrick hated her presence, because only he was fully aware of the skin she walked around in and shed when he confronted her.

Rosemary didn't quite know what she was doing. She didn't love Victor, but she enjoyed his company and it would be an advantage to have that protection in social situations should she not want boys to flirt with her. He was calmer then Bowers, whom she initially considered pursuing, but Victor's lack of leadership was a definite downfall.

As she walked to Social Studies, she once again thought of Henry. Being their only shared class, it was the only instance where Henry was able to talk to her without others around. The downside of this plan being they sat on opposite sides of the room.

That changed at the end of the third week of school.

Their teacher Mr.Creedus stood before the class with a large pile of papers held between his equally large hands, "As you are all aware, as sophomores you are not required to do exams, however because of this you will be graded on a final assignment. This will be due in at the end of the year, failure to hand it in for most of you-" He glanced at Bowers whom glared at him intensely. "-will result in an automatic fail for your report while for others this can be the opportunity to turn your grades around. You will have this lesson to find a partner and provide me your research question so I may approve it for your task"

Handing the papers out, every student hastily looked at the top of the paper and most smiled. It was a partnered task. Rosemary had barely grasped the paper before two students stood before her desk. Mandy Claous smiled at Rosemary from behind her thick glasses while Stewart Redden glared at Mandy from the end of his nose.

"Rosemary, I think you'll find it advantageous for both of us if-" But Rosemary wasn't paying attention to either of them. It was a creative research type assignment based on a subject question on either History or Psychology, both subjects she was good at. She wasn't surprised students wanted to partner with her, already she had established herself as one of the top students in the class.

Which is what made her next move do shocking.

"I'm truly flattered" Rosemary stood from her desk. "But I'm going to have to decline as I already have a partner"
No one was more surprised the Henry Bowers when Rosemary, one of the classes highest marked students, sat in front of him with a wide grin on her face. Most of the students had abandoned the surrounding seats as to not get paired with what they described as the dunce of the year level. "Partner?"

He stared at her, confused before a grin split across his face.

"Yeah! Sure"

"I'll go tell the teacher then" Standing up, he stared, hypnotised by how fluidly she moved as he tried to process what had just happened. Not only did he know have hope he could avoid Social Studies in summer school, but Rosemary couldn't avoid him now. By her own choice she had decided to spend the time needed to do their assignment with him, and that made him giddy.

Mr.Creedus was less then enthused by her choice of partner. "Rosemary, can I be honest with you?" He asked softly, his voice lowered slightly.

"Of course sir" She smiled back.

"Henry is what one would call a more apathetic student, he isn't interested in the class and I'm concerned that this may effect your final grade when you hand up the assignment"

Rosemary sighed slightly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Sir, regardless of whether he has been apathetic in the past, I don't think it right to judge how he will behave towards this assignment before he has even begun" She glanced at Henry and gave him a reassuring smile. "I don't intend to do the entire assignment, nor do I intend to fail. I will keep Henry on track and neither of us will be failing"

Slightly irritated by her sudden confidence, Mr.Creedus flipped through one of the folders atop his desk before looking at Rosemary with a slight smirk. "For Henry to pass this subject and avoid Social Studies during summer school, he would need a B or higher on this assignment, and he is yet to receive anything better then a C+in this subject"

"Well then it's good that I am yet to receive anything less then an A in this subject" She smiled at Mr.Creedus. "Henry will be my partner. Thank you"

She sat herself down in front of Henry strongly, her lips tucked in ever so slightly as she pulled her notebook out  and slapped it on the table. Having jumped, Henry looked at Rosemary in confusion. "What's going on?"

Rosemary pointed her pencil at Henry, "I'm making sure you pass. I can make sure it happens, but you gotta do exactly what I say Henry. Okay?"

He glanced at Mr.Creedus, the man whom already believed Henry would somehow drag Rosemary's grades down in the two weeks which they had to work on the assignment. Whom hadn't once that year held any belief that Henry would make it through to junior year.

Although apprehensive, he looked at Rosemary's fiercely determined face and nod. "Okay"

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YaAy now we got some Henry/Rosemary action. Look forward to the future because surprise surprise, the assignment does not end well. We'll be getting some more inappropriate Patrick soon so be prepared :}

Q: Who's your favourite member of the Bower's Gang and why?

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