As Rose fell from the top of the 10 story building, she struggled not to scream. You’d think after years of doing this—practically a pro—she would get used to it, but falling from a building gave Rose this terrible feeling of inevitable death that no other activity she participated in could come close to replicating. Breathing in ragged, brisk breaths, she closed her eyes, thinking of visible wind, of a sun so close the world burned to a crisp, of a world without ozone.
And then she wasn’t falling.
Rose wrapped her arms around herself, squeezing her eyes shut as she slowed her heart beats. She hated this part of the job. Teleporting to Earth was easy but coming back to Aerilai was borderline painful. Even though her heart continued to go at it fast pace and her hand-eye coordination was not doing well, Rose opened her eyes and took in her surroundings. She was in front of her room, just like every other time she transported back. She whipped her head to the left and right to check if anyone was around, letting out a relieved breath when she verified that there wasn’t, and entering her room.
She called up her Notary, wanting to get the report done and over with before sleeping the rest of the day off.
It appeared out of the wall, a blue smiley face staring straight ahead. For the millionth time in her life, she wondered why whoever had made it chose to make it look like that.
The Notary blinked, still staring ahead as it said, “How may I help you, Rose?”
“Record a message,” she answered, searching the dresser for something to wear to bed. She could imagine its face taking on a neutral expression, indicating that it had begun recording her message. “Mission ID: 2874950 reported by Rose Price on Calor 65. Human name: Arra May Johnson. Human ID: 104854356896. Reaping due to the danger of overpopulation. No broken rules. Human did not resist and is safely on her way to the Judgment Stage. Report over.”
She turned just in time to see the Notary blinking violently, a noise resembling the snapping of a photo emanating from it. “Your report has been delivered, Rose. Do you need anything else?”
“No.”
It nodded, grin still on its face as it disappeared back into the wall. Rose let out a sigh of relief once it was out of sight. That thing honestly gave her the creeps.
With another sigh at being able to get some rest, Rose collapsed onto her bed and let herself relax.
For about five seconds.
Three precise knocks forced Rose out of bed and to the door with a scowl on her face. She replaced the expression with a more neutral face as she opened the door, though, internally, all she could think of was how much she wanted to punch whoever was behind this door.
And of course, it was Brenda.
“Hey, Brenda,” Rose said, a fake smile plastered to her lips. “Do you need something?”
Half of Brenda’s face twisted into a half smirk. “Only for you to come with me to Gain.”
Rose almost lost her cool then. She’d barely just come back from a Reaping—she was fucking tired. But Brenda didn’t know that. And even if she did, she still would’ve asked. Internally sighing, she said, “Sure. Just let me change.” And she closed the door in her face.
Internally groaning, Rose laid five outfits across her bed. She then paced around the room, momentarily glancing at the five outfits as she did. The first three were not going to work (too much stomach, too much leg, too much everything), but the last two were decent. Not thinking too much about it, she grabbed one of the two and left.
Brenda and Rose walked together in silence, which was a bit weird since Brenda always talked about herself when Rose was around. She curiously peered at her, only to see the girl with a nervous smile, eyes widened intensely. Before Rose could look away, Brenda glanced at her, eyes widening more. Then she spoke, eyes going back to normal.
“How was your mission?”
Rose was hesitant to say anything due to the abnormality of the question. Brenda never asked how anything was going for her.
Brenda didn’t wait for her answer, saying, “Why am I even asking? It must have gone great, right? You are the best in our Division, after all.” She sighed. “My last mission was terrible though. I couldn’t get the human to calm down, and she even sensed my presence! I can’t imagine how the trip to the Judgment Phase went for her.”
Rose didn’t bother listening any longer as the girl rambled on, crossing her arms. How could she even think for a second that Brenda would care how she felt? She was only with her because she was the top in the Division—and she was... popular, in a sense. Who didn’t want to be around her?
“—Tristan?”
Rose blinked, looking at Brenda. “Huh?”
Brenda rolled her eyes. “What do you think of Tristan Rhine?”
Now it was Rose’s turn to roll her eyes. Tristan Rhine. Tristan Rhine. Tristan fucking Rhine. He was the second best in their Division, but, in a sense, more liked than Rose. While Rose was the best, she knew she was hard to talk to, which was why she only had two friends. Tristan, though—captivating, easygoing, friendly—had people flocking around him every minute of the day.
“He’s fine, I guess. Why?”
“Well, um…” Brenda glanced at her with wide eyes, then looked away. “We’re going to… Gain to…” Brenda muttered the last words inaudibly, to which Rose leaned closer with an eyebrow raised.
“To what?”
“To—to… to see him!” And she took off down the hall.
Rose stood there, blinking, for a moment, before fully comprehending what she said. “What?” she hissed. “Get back here!”
Rose’s words did nothing to stop Brenda, the girl still hauling ass down the hallway. Rose took a few breaths, nostrils flaring, then toof off after her. As she ran, she was glad that the hallways empty. She could only imagine what people would think if they saw her like this.
“Is that actually Rose Price?”
“I can’t believe the daughter of the Price Family is like that!”
“And they say she’s the best?”
It was ridiculous, really, that her fellow students would say things like that when they were the exact same way—they just held her to much higher standards than they did themselves, which was ironic.
Too caught up in her thoughts, Rose narrowly avoided crashing into Brenda, tripping over herself to stop in time. She was about to question the girl, but noticed they were right in front of Gain. Well, wasn’t that just perfect.
Brenda smirked at her. “Can’t go back to your dorm now, can you?”
Rose gave her the deadliest glare she could muster, which wasn’t very deadly since she didn’t have very much experience glaring at people. Finally, she sighed. “Whatever. Let’s go.”
As they walked in, Rose couldn’t help but stare, as she did every time she went. Gain was where Junior Reapers went to buy necessities for living. Rose, however, only went to Gain, at most, 6 times a year. Her parents sent her most of the things she needed so there weren’t many occasions that she had to come here, unless there was some sort of special occassion going on.
Now, Rose wasn’t very easily impressed—she jumped off of buildings nearly every day—but the sheer quantity of food and clothes and practically anything you could imagine just made her speechless each time.
“Rose, close your mouth—you look like a fish when you do that.”
Rose snapped it shut, sending a dirty look at Brenda, but she was already moving on.
“Come on. I think Tristan is at the clothes section.”
With a groan, Rose trudged after Brenda. She wasn’t that annoyed, however. It was nice being out and about sometimes, looking and seeing and being more than a couch potato all the time. She just hated that they were here to see Tristan, the center of all her insecurities. She may have been the best, but if one day, she dropped below him, she would only be in his shadow. She was well-known, but reserved—he was popular and talkative, so if their roles were reversed at some point… she would be all but forgotten.
And then she saw Tristan in all of his glory, surrounded by girls and boys alike, and walking straight in their direction. Rose could see that he hadn’t noticed the two yet, and she wanted to keep it that way.
“Hey, why don’t I just go over there? I have some stuff I want to buy and—”
“Are you out of your mind?” Brenda interrupted, voice low and harsh. “I can’t face them alone!” Upon seeing Rose’s grimace, she rolled her eyes. “Look, you don’t even have to talk to them. Just walk with me. They probably won’t even notice us.”
“If you say so,” Rose whispered, glancing at the large group. Then she looked away.
Pretend you don’t see them and they’ll pretend they don’t see you, or they might not see you at all, she thought to herself. She knew she was only giving herself false hope, but what else could she do? Her heart pounded erratically, anxiety flooding her veins as the group grew ever near…
“Hey, Rose.”
Fucking beautiful.
A wide smile involuntarily made its way onto her face as she slightly turned to face Tristan. She struggled to keep her eyes from trailing down his body. “Hi, Tristan.”
He raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing here?”
Rose could practically hear him saying, You don’t usually leave your dorm much. “Just buying some stuff.” She didn’t dare utter the words What about you? She just wanted to get this conversation done and over with.
“Well… I’ll leave you to it.” He sent a competitive smirk her way before walking off with his clique, and that’s when she realized it. The Junior Division Reaper Award… was tomorrow.
“Brenda, c’mon!” Rose grabbed the girl’s arm and spedwalk away.
“What? Rose, where are we going?”
“Dress-shopping!”
“Why?”
“The Junior Division Award is tomorrow! I haven’t bought my dress yet.”
Brenda pulled them both to a stop. “Seriously? You’re one of the ones being awarded and you haven’t gotten a dress yet? Rose.”
“I know it’s stupid, but I… forgot to.” Which was absolutely ridiculous since she’d been practicing what she would say to the audience for a good week or so. Shaking her head at herself, she continued through the store until she found where the dresses were.
Rose let go of Brenda’s hand. “I’m going to go look for some dresses, okay? You can go if you want to.”
Brenda shook her head, poking up her glasses. “Oh Rose, I would never leave you in such a time of need! I will find you a dress—mark my words!” With those last words, she stalked off, on the prowl for a good dress.
Rose smiled. This was why she put up with Brenda. Though the girl could be a bit insensitive, she knew she had a good heart. She was about to start checking for a decent dress when someone grabbed her arm and pulled her into an empty aisle. Her back pressed against their muscled chest, arms restrained so she couldn’t move.
Before she could say anything, they leaned down and whispered in her ear. “It’s nice to see you for once.”
Tristan. Of course.
Her breath hitched, face reddening. “Let me go.”
A deep chuckle vibrated from his chest to hers as he released her arms. “If that’s what you want.”
She rubbed her forehead as she turned around, breathing in deeply to calm down. “What do you want?”
He pressed his hand to his chest. “Is that any way to speak to your best friend?”
“Former best friend. What do you want?”
She saw a flash of hurt in his eyes. “Right. Well, I know you hate staying out for long periods of time, and you haven’t gotten a dress yet, so I picked one out that I know you’ll like.”
It was then that she noticed a mahogany red dress in his arms. She furrowed her eyebrows. “Why?”
“Because you have no sense of fashion and…” He trailed off, averting his eyes as a light blush spread across his cheeks. “Forget it. This is stupid.” He shifted to leave, but she grabbed his arm.
“It’s fine. Thank you.”
He shrugged, giving it to her. “I’ll see you later.”
Rose watched as he walked away, regret seeping in. Then she remembered something. “Did you pay for this?”
He looked back at her, an amused look in his eye. “No. Why would I buy a dress for my rival?”
She internally face-palmed. “Of course. Why am I so stupid…?”
“Beats me.” The amusment left his eyes as he said his next words. “I’ll see you at the Junior Division Award.”
She nodded and waved.
And she was still waving when he turned away.
And still waving even when he turned a corner and disappeared.
She only remembered to stop waving, in fact, when Brenda came back.
“Oh, my gosh! What is that masterpiece of a dress?”
Rose blinked in surprise, then quirked an eyebrow at the girl’s words. “Masterpiece?”
Brenda nodded excitedly, a smile lighting up her face. “Yes—this beautiful thing!” She yanked the dress out of her arms. “Where did you get it from?”
“Um…” Rose scratched the back of her neck. She couldn’t very well say that Tristan got it for her, could she? “I just found it.”
“Yeah, right. Who gave you this?”
Rose let a nervous chuckle escape. “Uh, an admirer?”
“Eeh!”—what even is that sound?—“Do you know his name? How does he look? Is he cute? How tall is he?”
Rose leaned back, sighing. “How about I try this dress on first? The store’ll be closing soon.”
Brenda seemed to consider this. “Alright. But you have to tell me everything!”
Rose slightly nodded before heading to the changing room near them.
“Rose, what in God’s name are you doing in there? It’s been half an hour! Is your zipper stuck, or something? I can help you.”
“No, I’m—I’m fine! Just wait a little longer,” Rose said, frowning at herself in the mirror.
She heard Brenda groan. “Whatever. Just hurry up.”
Rose turned from side to side in the dress conflicted. The mahogany dress had clear sleeves that reached her forearms, rose petals right at the end and covering her chest. There was also a red sash tied tight around her waist, more rose petals covering the beginning of the gradual flair of her dress. It was beautiful and fit her just right, figuratively and literally. She couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or not.
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