The rest of the period, second and third period as well, Ambrosia’s mind swirled around Demetri’s words. No matter how hard she tried, Rose couldn’t get her mind off of it; she needed to know what he meant.

Once lunchtime rolled around, Ambrosia was happy to finally be able to speak to Demetri about their previous conversation, but what would she do about Josephine? She couldn’t leave her alone; that’s not something a best friend would do.

Rose would have to wait to talk to Demetri.

As she got her lunch, Ambrosia didn’t feel any arms wrap around her or cover her eyes. Callum must have been giving her some much needed space.

Rose walked over to Josephine’s table, which Josephine was nowhere near. Glancing around the cafeteria, Ambrosia spotted her waiting impatiently near the end of the lunch line. Since it would take Josephine awhile to get to the table, Rose decided to see where Callum was.

At a table, along with many of his friends, Callum sat, watching her. Ambrosia struggled to understand as he mouthed two words. It seemed like he was apologizing, but she could have been wrong. As his friend nudged him, Ambrosia took the chance to look away and search for Demetri.

At the same lone table as yesterday, Demetri sat, nervously gazing at her. Ambrosia looked away to pull a piece of paper and pen from her bag. Upon the torn paper, she scribbled: “After school, we need to talk. Let’s meet at the same place as yesterday.”

Getting up, Rose walked over to him. Demetri was about to speak when she stopped him. She handed him the paper, which she had clumsily folded on her way over, and walked back to her table. Sitting down, Rose watched as he read it.

When he finished, Demetri looked in her direction and nodded once. Just in time because from the corner of her eye, Ambrosia could see Josephine sit down next to her. Smiling, Rose looked away.

“What were you doing?” Josephine questioned with a smirk.

“What do you mean? I was waiting for you to get here,” Ambrosia stammered. Josephine shook her head and laughed.

“You were not, and you know it! You were looking at that boy from your class and smiling,” Josephine burst out.

Seconds passed before Josephine finally calmed down and noticed Rose blushing.

“Oh. My. God! You like him!” Josephine exclaimed. Ambrosia shook her head hastily to which Josephine chuckled. “Yep, you do. Denial is the key,” she asserted.

“No! I’m not sure if I even like him. I’ve only known him for a day,” Rose murmured, feeling her cheeks grow warm.

“What does time have to do with it?”

“Okay, fine. I’m not sure if I should or not. He was rude yesterday, but when I hung out with him--”

“Wait, you hung out with him? And, you didn’t tell me?! I thought we were best friends!” Josephine screamed, cutting Ambrosia off mid-sentence.

“I’m sorry. I haven’t told anyone, not even Callum.”

“Whatever, just give me the details,” Josephine groaned, dropping the issue.

“It was really fun. He was a real gentleman, nothing at all like yesterday morning. We talked about various stuff from what we like to our dreams. He’s pretty funny, too. Most of the time I was there, I was laughing. I had a great time until I got home,” Ambrosia babbled, reminiscing about the whole affair.

“What happened at home?”

“I got into a fight with Callum; a big one.”

“What was it about?” Josephine questioned, concerned yet intrigued.

“The fight he had with Carson.”

“Why would you fight about that? It had nothing to do with you.” Before knowing all the facts, Josephine was already becoming judgmental.

“It turns out, it had everything to do with me,” Rose admitted warily.

At the sight of a confused Josephine, Ambrosia continued.

“Carson had wanted to date me, but Callum wouldn’t allow it. So, he told Callum he couldn’t keep me locked up forever. When Carson started to list all the dirty things he would do to me when he got me alone, Callum beat him up.” Considering Josephine had a crush on Carson for years, Rose was unsure if she should be telling her.

“Wait, Carson wanted to date you, and Callum wouldn’t allow it? Why would you fight over that? He was protecting you. Carson was obviously scum if he wanted to do horrible things to you,” Josephine snapped back.

“But, he protected me from every guy. I’ve never had a boyfriend or been on a date because Callum always told guys no,” Ambrosia groaned. “I’ve never even been asked out,” she whispered to herself, frowning.

“Man, that sucks.” Ambrosia nodded in agreement. “Does that mean all those guys yesterday were ogling you? Not me?” Josephine questioned, sounding as if the world was ending that moment.

“Not all of them. I’m sure half of them were looking at you. Maybe all of them were looking at the both of us,” Rose stuttered, unsure of what to say.

“What do you mean both? Why can’t it just be me?” Josephine asked with a snobbish attitude.

“I can’t have any boys looking at me? Well, that’s rude. I guess you think I’m ugly then, too,” Rose claimed, crossing her arms.

As if to say she didn’t know and didn’t care, Josephine shrugged.

“Why would they like you? You’re nothing special to look at, just a big roly-poly. You’re practically one of the guys.”

“Callum said they were looking at me, so it must have been both of us, not just you,” Rose shot back. Irritated, she stood up and grabbed her bag. “Maybe not you at all. No, probably not. I mean look at you. You call me ugly? You’re hideous. Who would want to date a fat-- no, queen pig like you? You need to come to terms with that. Hopefully, someday, you’ll understand just how revolting you truly are. Now, goodbye sir.”

When Rose saw Josephine stand up and open her mouth to speak, she stopped her.

“Save it. I don’t have time to deal with mediocre people like you,” she declared before storming off.