Stranger With Pride (An Original Story)

Chapter 2

As Elliot peered around, he scans the hallway with eyes squinting from the brilliant sun shining through the window to look for Rose through the crowd, but she couldn't see him. She was still waiting for somebody.

While Brian was making their situation worse, Elliot was trying so hard to bite back his tongue because who knows if he might have one at the end of the day with the way this altercation is going. Heart pounding, palms sweating, and even his breathing was heavy.

"Hey!"

Most heads turn while some were still on Elliot and Brian along with the The Biggest Assholes in This Shithole. That's when in under thirty seconds, the whole crowd ran in different directions. There was so much going on that when Elliot turned his head, he couldn't see Rose. She must've ran off with everyone else.

"What's going on-"

Brian grabs Elliot by the shirt collar, following the same direction as everyone else. He was lost for words. Elliot didn't understand why people were running, but they ran with them. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Matthew and Tanner pushing people through the crowded area trying to get somewhere. Elliot just assumed there are teachers searching for them who heard about the incident from a second ago.

But he was dead wrong.

°°°°°°°

The teachers had the students stay in their second periods a little longer than usual. There was something going on and Elliot knew it. He tapped Rose, whose desk was four inches away from his, to question her about the hallway.

She looks up.

"So.... you didn't meet Brian and I-"

"What the hell were you and Brian doing following me?"

Elliot just sat there, staring into her eyes, moving his gaze toward her freckled, light-brown cheek. He didn't answer.

"I'm not stupid," she shoots him a look of annoyance. "I saw the both of you about to get your body parts rearranged fucking with those assholes!"

He kept quiet. He knew he shouldn't have been there, along with Brian. But if it were Rose, she would've done the same. Except she wouldn't have got caught.

"What do you think is going on outside," she says, looking towards the window. When she had said that, all that he saw were flashing red and blue lights. You could hear some students whispering about the police cars showing up to the school.

On Rose's right sat Maribella, who recently lost her sister, Cadence, to drunk driving. She was driving, supernatural speed, on the highway. Then, her car ran off the road and into the lake. Her car was found, but her body wasn't. It's been a month and a half, her body is still missing, and she hasn't had a proper funeral because there is no body. Maribella is pretty convinced her sister is still alive. But like always, she has her doubts.

"Can I ask you something, Rosetta," Maribella asks.

"It's Rose. Sure," she replies.

"Do you believe in the afterlife?"

Rose looks at Maribella, a little taken aback. She doesn't answer the question. She's had enough questions for the day and it's only second period. Except it should've been fourth period, but because of all the commotion outside, they had to stay in their current classes.

"They have somebody!"

Everybody turns their head to the kid by the window, pointing his index finger down to the cops walking out with a senior that Nathan Wright hung out with a lot. Rose ran over to the window, along with the other teens in the classroom. She immediately pulled out her phone to text someone and Elliot knew who. He rolled his eyes in irritation.

Nobody could leave the classroom. And a lot of people weren't happy with this arrest. But neither Rose nor Elliot knew this guy, but at some point in the future, this arrest was going to impact them in a way.

"Free Day'Von," one student yells out the window.

"He ain't do 'nuffin," another says.

Day'Von? That name sounded really familiar to them. Especially Rose. But other than having Nathan as a mutual, something was off with her when she heard that name.

"What did he do," Elliot asks one of the other students.

"I heard he did it with the biology teacher," one kid chimes in.

"I heard put a gun to the principal's head," another chimes in.

"I heard he stole from the corner store across the school," one girl says, checking her phone.

"He stole? Hell no. Fuck Free Day'Von. He's had enough free shit."

After that statement, it led to arguments, conversations, and more theories onto what really happened to him. Elliot glanced at Rose and knew that look of horror on her face mirrored his own-- although for different reasons. She kept looking at her phone and looking back up at Elliot.

He walks over to her, pulls her to the side. He sits on one of the tables in the back of the classroom, with Rose in between his legs, arms around her hips. This always seemed to comfort her when she wasn't in a good mood. With everyone else gathered at the windows, Elliot was trying to calm Rose down for God knows what? And it was obviously something on her phone.

"Rose."

"Huh.."

"What's going on?"

Rosetta starts to sob a little. She reaches for the phone in her back pocket when the intercom starts blaring throughout the school.

Attention! We regret to inform you that Winter Formal will be cancelled indefinitely under circumstances we unfortunately can't inform you all about, but we will fix this and we'll let you know when Winter Formal is back on.

This made a lot of people sigh of despair. Some kids had already bought their dresses and outfits, most were expensive. What caught Elliot was Rose smacking her teeth.

"I thought you didn't do school dances," he asks.

"Yeah. Well, Nathan had asked me the other night and-" she was rudely interrupted by a teacher.

"The bell is going to ring in a couple minutes. Please put my desks back together and return to your seats."

Rose just looks up at Elliot and gives him a hug. He gives her a kiss on the top of her head and she lets go. As they're walking back to their desks, they could hear a couple girls giggle as Rose walks by. She felt swallowed up in Nathan's absence because she knew if he were here, they wouldn't be doing that. She pulled her shirt down a little, hiding the rolls of fat that hung out a little because she knew what they were giggling at. That made them snort.

After sitting, she put her earbuds in and Elliot is confused on the whole situation and unable to think clearly on what's going on.

Elliot leaned forward to the right of him, to see Rose's face. Her face a storm of anger.

°°°°°°°

A few hours later, Rosetta, Elliot, and Brian were sitting on Brian's front porch. Drama club along with other after school activities and curriculars were cancelled. They kept quiet the whole walk to Brian's neighborhood. Usually, they'd search endlessly for a tree with branches low enough to climb because of how short Rose is, but none were in the mood.

"Hope is a painfully useless exercise," Brian says, breaking the silence. They all look up at each other.

Rose nods. "Absolutely." A tiny laugh escapes from her lips.

"You both are insane," Elliot says, picking at the same wool hanging from his sweater for the past two hours.

Rose kept pulling her phone from her back pocket to check something. Elliot didn't want to be nosey, but he just couldn't help himself. Eventually, she stood up and grabbed her bag with a strange look on her face.

"Gotta go, guys!"

What was on her phone that made her leave in such a hurry?