Saving Rose



 

  Dedicated to lovers who are missing hearts.

 

 

  SAVING ROSE

  A NOVEL BY LAUREN KUTTERFLY

 

  Published by

  All Rights Reserved.

  This novel is a complete work of art. All names and places mentioned are purely a coincidence.

  Do not copy, electronically transmit, or hand print a copy of this novel without the consent of the author.

  Copyright by Lauren Kutterfly, 2016

  Published by Smash words Publishing.

  Summary: A girl named Eleanor Fyer jouneys to understand the meaning of love. A boy named Samuel Rose guides her along the way by being her tutor.

 

 

  CHAPTER 1: With Spring Comes New Trouble

  Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter. Of all the seasons, today just had to be Spring.

  Normal people loved Spring out of all the four seasons. Not too cold and not too hot; just right. But I despised it. Spring marked the beginning of the blooming season. With a huge allergy to nature, I was not a big fan of flowers and trees.

  Signing up for Volleyball was a big mistake because I was not much of an athlete. The only reason why I even bothered to do it was because Marisol nagged me none stop to sign up with her. To make matters worse, our coach wanted to nail the fact that winning was the most important thing into our minds, so he pushed and trained us past our limits.

  I sneezed as a runner ran past me, huffing and puffing.

  The moldy ground, wet from last night's rain shower, squished underneath my foot as I forced myself to walk on, despite how tired I was. I stayed up late last night messaging away on Facebook and now I regretted it.

  "Hey Eleanor!" Marisol chirped as she jogged up to me. "Wazzup?"

  Marisol had no problem with running. Unlike me, she was born and made into an athlete. Running a few laps around a track was no big deal for her.

  "Nothing," I said and continued walking on. Marisol slowed to a walking speed and fell step by step next to me.

  "You don't look like nothing happened," Marisol noted as she studied my face. "Don't tell me you were up all night on Facebook."

  "I can do whatever I want with my life, thank you very much," I huffed.

  Marisol shrugged. "Just helping."

  I groaned as my left foot sank a little into a damp area of the ground, ruining my newly brought tennis shoes.

  I picked up my feet, examining the brown smudges on the soles of my shoes.

  "The game's next week, ya know," Marisol reminded me as she peered over my shoulder to look at my shoes. "Your shoes will get dirtied anyway."

  "I know, I know," I said, annoyed and disgusted. "But I don't want to wear ugly shoes to the game."

  Marisol shrugged again. "Suit yourself."

  Coach Wayne blew the whistle and we all jogged over to him and huddled together.

  "Listen up, Pipsqueaks!" he yelled. Coach Wayne screamed all the time in order for all of us to hear. But with only 13 of us, his voice shattered our eardrums.

  "You all better win next week or else I'm going to pelt you with volleyballs! You hear?!" he gave us all a glare, daring us to tell him otherwise.

  "Yes sir!" we said in unison.

  "Don't just 'yes sir' me! Do it!"

  "Wow, he's cranky today," I rolled my eyes.

  "When isn't he?" Marisol pointed out.

  "Am I clear?!" Coach Wayne barked.

  "YES SIR!"

  "Now get out of my sight! Go home and practice until your little minds shrivel up into nothing! GO!"

  The group dispersed and began to grab their items that laid sprawled out on the ground. I picked up my backpack with all of my sport utilities, wiped it on the concrete to wipe away as much mud as possible and followed the group inside.

  "Wanna go to Starbucks?" Marisol asked as we headed into the locker room to change.

  "Why?" I said and flung open my locker door.

  "Oh, y'know. To get pumped up for next week's game!" Marisol answered as she tossed her gym shirt into the locker.

  "Isn't it too early for that?"

  "Nothing's too early!" Marisol grinned. "Come on, Eleanor. Just hang out with me for once instead of spending your time in front of a mirror each and every day."

  I took off my gym shirt and put on my normal shirt.

  "Fine, whatever," I mumbled. I pulled out a lipstick from my handbag and slapped a new layer onto my lips. The old layer had faded away during practice.

  We slammed our lockers shut and walked out the locker room.

  "Did you finish the math homework, yet?" Marisol asked as we got into her red convertible. She started the engine and we drove off to Starbucks.

  "Yeah," I lied. In truth, I never even touched any of my homework. They were all sitting in a huge stack at my desk at home. I was going to at least finish the Science homework, but the music blasting from my earphones distracted me and I totally forgot about everything related to 'homework'.

  Marisol didn't even bat an eye at my lie. She knew me better than anyone. If I lied about something, she knew the truth behind it. Finishing my homework was a huge lie because I almost never did my homework.

  We stopped at a red light. Marisol turned to look at me.

  "Eleanor, you need to start studying more," she said seriously. "You're failing all your subjects. If this continues, it'll really affect your future."

  I looked out the car window, having heard her say that so many times it was getting annoying.

  "Yeah, I know," I said. "I will."

  ~*~

  "Ah! Getting coffee right after practice is always amazing!" Marisol grinned as we pushed open the door to Starbucks and entered.

  I didn't answer her as we walked up to the counter where a boy with dark brown hair sat on a stool with a textbook plopped open in his lap. He was writing madly onto a sheet of paper.

  "Ahem," I coughed, getting his attention. He paused and looked up, noticing us.

  He quickly pushed away his book and stood up, grabbing a notepad to write down our orders.

  "How may I help you today?" he asked with a smile.

  "One medium coffee and..." I turned to look at Marisol.

  "One Large Caramel Frappuccino please," Marisol finished for me.

  "Got it," he said and turned around to start fixing our drinks. As he was turning around, the little black badge engraved with white words on his chest flashed and read 'Samuel Rose'.

  "Really? A medium sized coffee for Queen Eleanor?" Marisol smirked, breaking me out of my trance. "Never heard of that before."

  I gave her a look. "I can get what I want. Since when did I have to start getting fancy stuff?"

  Marisol laughed. "Whatever, girl."

  The blender whirled in the background as I looked around the little shop. People sat at tables with either their laptops opened and typing or with mountains of books piled high into the air next to them as they tried to do their work. It was pretty silent here except for the blender's noise and occasional whispers here and there.

  In no time, our orders were ready. The boy carried them over in both of his hands and handed them one by one to us.

  "Here you go," he said. "One Large Caramel Frappuccino-" he handed Marisol hers "-and one Medium Coffee."

  But as he was handing me mine, his hand slipped and the coffee tumbled out of his hands, the hot, sizzling liquid pouring out all over me like a waterfall.

  I shrieked and stumbled back, the coffee soaking through my shirt and reaching my skin, burning me.

  "What in the world?!" I yelled, causing the entire shop to look our way. "What was that for?!"

  "Wh-what...? B-But I... This isn't... I can explain..." Samuel stammered, unable to make a complete se
ntence.

  I looked down at my pale pink shirt with white frills and silver buttons going down my chest. It was one of my favorite shirts that I brought this year when my mom took me shopping. Now a gradually growing brown stain of coffee was slowly spreading in the middle.

  That was all it took before I broke.

  I grabbed Marisol's hand and marched towards the door, completely forgetting about what's left of my coffee.

  "Wait! Eleanor!" Marisol cried as she had to jog just to keep up with me. I didn't listen to her and continued walking, anger building up inside of me from embarrassment. No one ever humiliates me. No one.

  Behind me Samuel apologized over and over again, but I wasn't listening to him anymore. I wasn't listening to anyone anymore.

  I walked out of the door and never looked back. Not even once.

  CHAPTER 2: Recognizing Him for the First Time

  "And so, the neutrons and protons circle the nucleus in an atom and blah blah blah...".

  I wasn't really listening to Mrs. Jackling, our science teacher, anymore. I had zoned out and focused my eyes on anything but her lesson and blazing outfit that hurt the eye.

  "Psst!"

  I tilted my head lazily to the right and saw Marisol waving her phone at me and mouthing the words 'Talk to you through texting'.

  With nothing better to do, I mouthed back the words 'Got it'.

  I dug my hand into my purse and pulled out my iPhone. I kept it under my desk so that Mrs. Jackling couldn't see it and I looked up once in a while so that nothing looked suspicious.

  My phone vibrated in my hand and Marisol's message popped up on the front of my screen.

  'Hey, whatcha doing?'

  'Nothing,' I typed back.

  'Aw, that's too bad. You bored?'

  'If you mean bored enough to chuck Mrs. Jackling out the window then yeah, I’m.'

  'LOL. Don't worry. You aren't alone. I missed half of what she said yesterday by sleeping.'

  'I didn't hear anything she said yesterday.'

  'Well, that's too bad. She actually said some pretty useful information yesterday for the test tomorrow.'

  'What test?'

  But before Marisol could reply, Mrs. Jackling's sudden stern voice boomed across the classroom, startling me and causing me to almost drop my phone.

  "Ms. Fyer, may I ask what you are doing during my class?" she asked and peered over her glasses at me in that old fashion way. There was a rumor a few months ago about how Mrs. Jackling might have come from the 1900's because everything she did, including her fashion sense, was outdated. For all we knew, she might be a hundred years old.

  "Nothing," I replied quickly, stuffing my phone back into my purse. Mrs. Jackling didn't look very convinced.

  "Are you sure, Ms. Fyer?" she pressed. "Perhaps my class is too easy for you? Maybe I need to make it more challenging."

  I wanted to scream 'No, it's boring and lame! Go back to where you belong! Earth is already full!'. But instead, I shook my head.

  "No ma'am. I'm sorry for disturbing the class."

  Mrs. Jackling sighed and set down the piece of paper that she was reading from. She strode over to my desk and stopped directly beside me.

  "Ms. Fyer," she said in a low and dangerous voice, one she used before she pounced on her victims. "This is not the first time you have rudely disrupted my class."

  I didn't look up and kept my gaze glued to the carpet.

  "I can't have this happening anymore," she continued. "You are keeping others from getting their knowledge. See me after class."

  Speaking the last word, she turned on her heels and walked back to the front of the room. I slouched down in my chair and pouted.

  My phone vibrated again in my purse. I turned to look at Marisol and she pointed at my purse while holding a sheet of paper with the words 'Read it' scribbled across it.

  I sighed and turned to look at the front of the room. Mrs. Jackling had resumed the lesson on page 137 and continued where she had left off about parts of an atom.

  Seeing that the coast was clear, I pulled out my phone and opened it to the message section.

  'Jackling's stupid' it said.

  'No duh. What does she want from me? I already said sorry.'

  'Well, whatever she wants, let's hope that you come out alive.'

  'Thanks for being positive.'

  'You're welcome.'

  I heaved a sigh and closed my phone, tossing it back into my purse. Mrs. Jackling talked away for the rest of class about parts of an atom.

  The bell rang and kids immediately got up and rushed out the room with their binders half closed and papers flying out of it.

  I hastily packed my backpack and was about to run out the room as well when Mrs. Jackling stopped me.

  "Ms. Fyer, I believe I have asked you to stay after class," she said and sat down at her desk. I looked desperately at Marisol for help, but she just shrugged and mouthed the words 'good luck' before walking out along with the crowd. I groaned internally and dragged myself to the front of the room.

  The only person left other than me and Jackling was a boy with dark brown hair who sat by the window at the very back of the room. I noticed him once or twice, but never got the chance to ask for his name. Not that I cared what he was called.

  He was stuffing papers and pencils into his overflowing backpack, overloaded with textbooks. He zipped close his backpack, heaved it onto his shoulders, and was about to walk out as well when Mrs. Jackling called out to him, "Samuel, can you stay for a moment as well?"

  My eyes widened. Samuel? Samuel, as in the Samuel Rose who spilled coffee on me the other day and ruined my outfit?

  Samuel stiffened and visibly gulped before muttering a soft 'yes ma'am' and shuffled to stand next to me.

  I almost didn't recognize him. When I last saw him, he had a Starbucks cap over his hair, covering it so I couldn't see his hair color. But his eyes stayed the same. That hazel brown never changed.

  I scooted a little to the left, staying as far away as possible from him.

  "Now," Mrs. Jackling said, propping her elbows onto the desk and setting her chin on her hands. "Let's start shall we?"

  Samuel kept his gaze on the floor and shuffled back and forth.

  "Um, is there something that you need?" I asked promptly, wanting to get over with this as fast as possible. Staying in one room with Mrs. Jackling for forty-five minutes is already enough, but adding extra time to that number is going to drive me insane.

  Mrs. Jackling smiled. Not the normal smile that teachers gave you when you were walking down the hallway in the morning, but one that told you trouble was coming soon.

  "Ah, yes," she replied. "Like I told you countless times before, you are failing not only my class but your others. So, I came up with a way to help you with that."

  Samuel looked up confused and asked, "But what has all this got to do with me?"

  Mrs. Jackling's smile widened, making her look like a raccoon with huge, black eyes.

  "That's where I'm getting to, boy," she told him, a bit of sweet venom dripping off her voice.

  She turned back to me. "Ms. Fyer, I think that a tutor will help you in this case."

  I stared at her. Having a tutor will mean more studying and I hated that. I would rather spend my time choking down a banana milkshake than listen to some random person talk about useless things for an hour.

  "B-But..." I stammered.

  "Worry not, Ms. Fyer," Mrs. Jackling said. "I already found your tutor."