Painful memories
The three girls were sitting on the counter in the bathroom talking whenever Rouge walked in. An immediate silence swept over the bathroom as soon as her presence was known, the girls silently started packing up their things to leave. Lana and Lena had already been ushered out by Rosie before Rouge grabbed her arm. Rosie went to jerk her arm away before saying,
“What are you here to come after me too?”
Rouge looked at her for a second before coming to the realization of what Kitty had done earlier.
“No! I promise I’m not tryna mess with you. You just need to know the truth about the Brotherhood.”
That stopped Rosie at the door, her hand reaching for the handle. She took a breath before turning to face Rouge saying,
“What’re you talking about?”
Rouge looked to her before saying,
“Look I understand where you’re at right now I stayed with the Brotherhood before going to Xavier’s. Whatever lies they’re telling you they’re exactly that, lies! You can’t trust Mystique and those boys follow her blindly. You and your friends are in danger!”
Rosie furrowed her brows before saying,
“What do you mean? We’ve been shown nothing but kindness by Mystique since we got here.”
Rouge burst out,
“Because she’s manipulating you! The same thing she did to me! She wants to use you to hurt people and expose mutants to the world! It’s not safe for you there!”
Rouge stopped once she noticed Rosie’s eyes glowing and her tattoos as well. Rosie seemed to have an internal battle for a moment before the glow faded away. She spoke calmly before saying,
“She’s been lying to us?”
Rouge gave her a sympathetic look before speaking,
“Yes, she has, I don’t want you to get brainwashed Raynie.”
With that Rosie’s eyes shot open in shock as she backed away from Rouge,
“What did you just call me?”
Rouge stopped before saying,
“You used to live down the street from me, I remember that now. You, Lena, and I used to play together in my mom’s garden. Before the accident.”
Rosie’s eyes began to water as she started to tremble,
“No, no one should know about that. You shouldn’t know about that!”
Her tattoos began to glow as she continued to back away, Rouge tried to get closer to her and she continued in a soft voice,
“Raynie I’m so sorry about what happened to Melody and Carlos it wasn’t your fault.”
Vines shot up around Rosie as she yelled,
“NO, YOU SHOULDN’T KNOW! IT WAS MY FAULT THEY’RE GONE, IT’S ALL MY FAULT! LEAVE ME ALONE!”
With that the door to the bathroom burst open to reveal Principle Darkholm standing in the doorway.
“Rouge! Leave this poor girl alone, to my office now!”
Rouge angrily stomped towards the door looking over at Rosie who had slipped to the floor crying while Lana and Lena tried to comfort her. Rouge stopped to say,
“Rosie you remember what I said, and I’m always here to talk if you need.”
Principle Darkholm rusher her out before kneeling to the girls.
“Whatever Rouge told you it wasn’t true, the X-Men make up lies to try and win anyone over to their side. Whatever she said, I’m sorry it hurt you this badly Rosemarie.”
With that she stood up and dusted herself off before walking out of the bathroom her heels clicking away. Lana held Rosie as she silently sobbed speaking gently,
“Rosie what did she say?”
Through the tears Rosie spoke in a calm voice,
“She said we can’t trust Mystique and the Brotherhood and... she knew about the accident. She called me Raynie and she knew Melody and Carlos’ names.”
Lena and Lana shot back immediately going to say,
“How could she know?! There’s no way it was kept so under wraps no one should’ve known!”
Rosie shook her head saying,
“I don’t want to talk about it right now. I just want to get this day over with.”
And with that she went to the mirror and cleaned herself up walking with her head held high and she went to her chemistry class.
The rest of the day seemed to have a mellow tone about it, Lance knew something was up the moment Rosie walked into history. He tried to go and talk to her but not before Mr. Briggs called for them to take their seats. He watched her the whole class period as she gazed out the window. Rain had begun sprinkling outside giving Bayville an ominous look to it. After the final bell rang Lance walked over to Rosie breaking her from the spell keeping her eyes cast outside. He spoke gently to her,
“Hey, ready to go Rosie?”
She nodded before putting her things in her bag silently letting Lance take it from her. The two walked out in silence out to the cars, they had made it there before anyone else had. Rosie lit up a cigarette taking in a huge lung full of smoke before letting it out, and the tears that followed it. Lance immediately pulled her into his chest, hugging her with everything he had. She sobbed silently into his chest, gripping the back of his jacket till her knuckles were white. He soothed her hair down before pulling away saying,
“Do you want to tell me what happened, or do you just want to sit?”
Rosie spoke with her voice breaking more and more by the second, “I-I just want to s-sit dow-n-n.”
Lance pulled her to a bench under a nearby tree before pulling her into his side. Letting her cry into his shoulder as he rubbed her back. Silently plotting whatever he could think in his head to get back at the X-Men for what they’d done to make her like this. The rest of the Brotherhood walked up along with Lena and Lana who immediately went to comfort Rosie. After a few moments of everyone checking in with her, Rosie turned to Pietro before saying.
“Pietro could you drive my car home. I don’t think I can right now.”
He immediately assured her,
“Yes, I can! Anything you need, we’re all here for you.”
All the teens piled in the cars, Lance, Rosie, Fred, and Lena getting into Lance’s Jeep while the test got into Rosie’s bug to head home. As the pulled out the Xavier’s kids watched them from the huge black van, they were sitting in. Scott turned to the back looking at Rouge before brashly speaking out,
“What did you say to her?! There’s a good chance they’re never going to come with us now!”
Rouge looked to where the cars were turning out of the school before saying,
“Don’t worry, I think our chance is pretty high now.”