4
Rose and Leanne sat in homeroom spilling over some notes for some new cheerleading moves when Jack entered with two of his friends. Rose glanced up and their eyes met.
"Hey Rose," Jack smiled as he passed.
"Hi Jack," Rose greeted, not taking her eyes away from him as he took a seat at the opposite end of the room.
"Did Jack Dawson just say hello to you?" Leanne looked at her friend in shock. She wasn’t actually expecting Rose to talk to Jack. She was just teasing Rose when she suggested that she asked Jack to the dance. Leanne rather see her go with Caledon Hockley.
"Yes he did," Rose grinned happily. "And look at this," Rose pulled out the picture he drew of her.
"Oh wow! This is you! Who did this?"
"Jack. Isn’t he talented? It’s like he captured my
soul and put it on paper."
"How did you get this."
"It’s a long story," Rose sighed.
"So. Tell me. You somehow talked to the
guy you’ve been crushing on forever and now you’ve
actually talked to him somehow. Tell me."
Rose laughed and told Leanne about helping Jack’s
grandmother home and the time they spent together.
"Wow," Leanne sighed.
"So…are you going to ask him?"
"What?"
"To the dance. After seeing this, you have a good chance of him saying yes."
"I don’t know…what if he thinks
I’m pushy? What if he was just being nice last night? You
know, grateful that I helped his grandmother get home?"
"But the picture Rose…"
"He’s an artist Leanne. He draws people. I just happened to be his topic that day. It doesn’t mean anything."
"Rose?" Jack stood behind Leanne a smile on his face.
"Hi Jack," Rose swallowed.
"I was wondering something. Are you doing
anything besides cheerleading Friday night?"
"Uh…no. Not really. Why?"
"I was wondering…would you like to go to the dance with me? Maybe we can grab a bite to eat afterwards?"
"You mean…like a date?" Rose’s heart began beating at a rapid pace, she tried her best not to stutter. This was like a dream come true. Jack Dawson actually wanted to go out with her.
"That’s the idea," Jack smiled, hiding his nervousness well.
"S-sure…I mean yes. I love to."
"I’ll meet you there," Jack grinned before going back to his desk.
Rose could have stood up and did one of her cheers just then and there. Jack Dawson was actually going to be her date Friday night! Things couldn’t get better than this.
"Well it looks like I won that bet," Rose leaned back in her seat. Leanne just shook her head.
"I don’t think so. You were supposed to ask him. It’s a default."
Rose just rolled her eyes good-naturedly and continued to stare at her drawing, knowing that her life was about to change for the better.
"I can’t believe you’re taking her to the dance…heck that you’re going at all!" Moira Donnelly griped as she took a seat at the table her and her friends sat at lunch. She glared over at her best friend Jack. Sometimes the boy confused her. He was always optimistic and thought everyone was basically good people. Plus, he had a crush on a cheerleader. How…cliché could one get. There was nothing more that Moira hated more than cheerleaders and jocks. To her, they were all airheads.
"Rose is different Moira. You shouldn’t judge someone without knowing them," Jack sighed.
"I don’t need to know her. I just know she’s as stuck up as the rest of the numbskulls on that squad and I’ll be glad when you come to the same conclusion at the dance Friday. In fact, I’m surprised that she agreed to go with you. Her type usually go with those rich boys on the basketball team. Like Caledon Hockley."
"Like I said, Rose is different," Jack smiled.
"Get off Jack’s case Moira. If he wants to take Rose Dewitt Bukater to the dance, that’s his business," Tommy Ryan took a bite of his hamburger.
Rose sat at her table with the rest of the cheerleaders. She rolled her eyes as Caledon Hockley stood at the head of the table, his gang standing behind him.
"Sweetpea!" He greeted Rose.
Rose sighed, regretting the one date she had gone on with Cal. At first she had thought he was handsome and charming. But the more he talked, the more annoyed she became. The man did not have a brain in his head or a sensitive bone in his body. That was their first and last date. But ever since, Cal had been trying to get Rose to go back out with him. Even giving her these stupid pet names.
"What do you want Cal?" Rose rolled her eyes.
"The dance this Friday…I think
we’d make the couple if we went together," Cal winked,
leaning down to meet her face to face. "What do you say?
We’d be the biggest thing there."
"Have you ever heard of Freud Cal? You might be interested
on his theory on the male preoccupation with size," Rose
stood up and left, not wanting to spend anymore time in
Cal’s presence than she had to.
"What that a yes or a no?" Cal asked, staring after Rose.
"Definitely a no," Leanne laughed at Rose’s barb. Being the smartest of the cheerleaders, Rose was always able to come up with jokes that stumped the others.
"Who is freud anyway? A new rockband?" Cal took a seat.
This made Leanne double over in laughter, getting up out of her seat. "Talk to you later Cal," She followed Rose out of the cafeteria.
"What’s their problem?" Cal frowned.
"Ignore Rose Cal," Suzette Winters, the co-captain of the squad patted the seat next to her. She was always jealous of Rose. The girl had everything. The top spot on the squad, the perfect house and she even had the perfect man interested in her, even though she spurred his advances. "Set by me. I would love to go to the dance with you."
Cal looked at Suzette in resignation. Since he couldn’t have Rose, he could take the next best thing.
"Caledon Hockley wants you bad Rose. Why don’t you go with Cal instead?" Leanne followed her friend out on the steps.
"Because I like Jack better, that’s why," Rose glared at Leanne. Who just shrugged and down next to her. "Besides, Cal is a talentless, brainless, slimeball."
"But Jack’s poor Rose. Cute, but poor. We cheerleaders usually stick to boys like Cal. Boys with social standing."
"Social standing’s not everything Leanne. In fact, it’s something that can easily be lost," Rose sighed, wondering if she should tell her friend her secret. That soon Rose won’t be rich anymore. In fact she had to move out of her house and into a small apartment come Saturday. The fact that her mother had declared bankruptcy was a fact she had kept hidden well. But soon, the secret was to come out and then she will really see who her friends were.
"Leanne…would you still be my friend if I wasn’t rich? If someday I became poor?"
"But you are rich Rose."
"But what if I wasn’t? What if I wasn’t rich anymore."
"Rose…this is rediculous. You are rich. You will probably remain rich, so really you have nothing to worry about."
"But…"
"Drop Rose. Ok. You are rich so let’s forget all this what if crap. Your social standing will never be in question. Now I have to get to class. I’ll see you later," Leanne rushed off , leaving Rose alone and depressed. Little did Leanne know that Rose’s social standing was going to be questioned very soon and their friendship was going to be put to the test.