5 Chapter 3.1 - Promise?

Five years later

Rose and Alex were fighting through highschool. Rose still had feelings for Alex, but she had better control over them now. Rose knew Alex would never like her back, so she didn't dare to get her hopes up. Isabelle's parents over the back to Pink Stones, so she would usually walk home with Rose. Alex would be busy practicing soccer after school since he made it into the school team. He was quite popular now, and many girls would fawn over him. It made Rose jealous, but she had Isabelle, who would have her back.

One day, Alex came up to her during passing time in the hallways. Passing time was when kids could go to their lockers, to the bathroom, eat snacks, talk to teachers, catch up on homework, etc. They could even talk with their friends if they snuck out of the classrooms. They would always get away with it as well since the teachers just gave up. Rose and Isabelle got into the same homeroom, while Alex got into a different one.

"Hey Rose," Alex called nervously

Rose turned behind to see Alex. He never came out during passing time, so she was shocked. She went to her locker to get the bag of popcorn she packed that morning. Rose and Isabelle were going to share it.

"Hey," she replied casually.

"Can you meet me in front of the schoolyard after my soccer practice? I have something I need to tell you," Alex said as he nervously played with his hands.

She and Isabelle decided to go to the new ice cream store that opened up last Saturday after school. They had a unique maple syrup fudge flavor, and Isabelle and Rose were excited to try it out. Isabelle psyched out the most. The store was also the first store in town that didn't have Pink Stones in its name. If she told Isa belle Alex had told her to wait, Isabelle would understand, right?

"Sure, but you do realize that I have to wait an hour, right?" Rose asked, pooping a popcorn in her mouth.

Most after school activities lasted for an hour, including sports. Then, they would have a pass by the teacher to enter the late bus. If the kids wanted to, they could walk or ride home. Isabelle and Rose both tried out for Track and Field, and they both got in, but their season didn't start in another two weeks.

"I heard Isabelle said you guys were going to the new ice cream store, and I could meet you there," Alex replied.

"Ok, yeah sure," Rose as she kept on eating popcorn casually, even though she was freaking out inside.

"Also, can I have some popcorn?" he asked, helplessly staring at the bag of popcorn.

"It's always food with you, isn't it?" Rose laughed as she gave him a few pieces of popcorn.

Isabelle was inside, patiently waiting for her popcorn. Where in the world was Rose Johnson? After getting tired of waiting, she decided to go outside. As she walked outside the classroom, she saw Alex and Rose talking. Smiling, she realized that everything was going according to the plan. Then, she saw something unbelievable. She saw Rose giving him a handful of HER popcorn! She quickly walked over Rose to stop the exchange, but it was too late. He was already eating the popcorn.

"Yo! I thought you were gonna give me some popcorn!" Isabelle said as she reached the duo.

Alex quickly turned his gaze toward Isabelle, then at the popcorn. Like a lightning bolt, Alex raced back to his homeroom. The girls laughed as they walked back to the classroom.

After they settled into their seats, Rose started telling Isabelle what she and Alex were talking about. Isabelle tried to act as surprised as she could. She already knew what was going to happen, but if Rose knew her plan, then everything would fail. Rose could see through anyone's lies, so Isabelle avoided speaking as much as possible. If Rose weren't doing her homework while telling Isabelle the story, then she would have easily seen through her acting as well.

Little did Rose know that Isabelle and Alex talked earlier in the morning.

"Did you tell Rose yet?" Isabelle asked Alex.

It was a lovely, relaxing, misty morning, with the sun warmly glowing as the figures sat on the bench in the schoolyard.

"No...I don't want her to be sad...." Alex replied, looking at the grass in front of him. "Also, I want to tell Rose that I like her before I....you know...." Alex finished, knowing that Isabelle got the gist in his message.

Isabelle stared at the grass in front of her, trying to come up with a plan. She had watched these two grow up with secret feelings for each other. She knew one day, they had to confess. She just never thought that it would be under these circumstances. She knew Rose wanted Alex to confess to her like in those cliche romance shows. Suddenly, an idea popped up in her head.

"Here's what we'll do...." she whispered to Alex her ingenious plan. "You have to say and do everything I tell you to do, then only it will work,"

"Ok," Alex replied.

Alex got his backpack and left, while Isabelle waited for Rose to show up.

"Hello?" A voice broke Isabelle out of her flashback.

She looked to see Rose, waving her arm in front of her face. She quickly looked up and smiled.

"Hello! My name is Isabelle, what's yours?" She replied to Rose playfully.

Rose elbowed her gently and got back to her work. Isabelle also got out her binder and finished her work.

For Rose, the day seemed to move by very fast. Before she even knew it, she was at Isabelle's locker, waiting for her to finish packing. They walked out and headed to the bicycle rack. They unlocked their bikes and started riding, not even failing to see Alex's bike, not in the usual spot.

Alex's practice got canceled because his coach twisted his ankle. Since he still had an hour, he decided to get Rose some gifts. He went to the nearest gift store, Pink Stone Speciality Shop. After browsing for 10 minutes, he left. There wasn't anything that Rose liked. He then remembered when they met, they would always steal the lollipops that were right in front of them. He then quickly biked to the nearest sweet shop. At Pink Stone's Sweet Tooth, he promptly went to the candy section. There he was looking at all the lollipops, and none them caught his eye. As he was about to walk out of the aisle, he suddenly came in contact with what looked like ten lollipops arranged in a bouquet, with a gold string tied around the sticks of the lollipops, holding it together. There was also a small rose with two green leaves on each side coming from the rose. As if he was in a trance, he walked toward the lollipops bouquet, picked it up, and walked to the check-out line. As he was waiting, he looked at the stands that were filled with freshly picked flowers.

He then picked out the small bouquet of white roses, paid, and quickly ran out of the store. He realized he only had about 10 minutes to reach the place. He quickly biked fast to the ice cream store. The site looked out of place, surrounded by the old, rustic buildings of Pink Stone. You could tell that this was a new building. It was a small building but had tons of glass. It was topped off with white quartz. It also had a ton of white, bright lights inside. Even if you glanced at it, you could feel the modernness radiating off of the building. When you looked at the architecture surrounding it, you feel disappointed.

Alex quickly glanced inside to see Rose and Isabelle inside, enjoying their ice cream and laughing together. He promptly fell into a trance, looking at Rose's bright smile. Her tanned skin seemed more vivid, and her eyes had a twinkle in them. Her black, long hair slowly waved behind herm following her head movements.

Isabelle noticed Alex and gestured him in, said something Rose, then went toward the restroom sign. After seeing Isabelle's gesture, he fell out of his trance and took a deep breath. He put the bouquet of lollipops in his pocket and hid the white roses behind him with his left hand and opened the door with the right. The bell ringed when he came in, and Rose's attention immediately went to the door. Seeing Alex come in, she smiled. Her heart beated against her chest crazily as she tried to control it. The more she tried, the more it heated. she silently cursed it and smiled at Alex, who was walking towards her.

"Hey," he said, with a shy smile.

"Hey," Rose replied.

Suddenly, the air around them became awkward. They both looked around until their gazes met again. They both blushed.

"Promise, that whatever I'm about to tell you now, it will never break our friendship," Alex said suddenly, breaking the atmosphere around them. He looked into Rose's eyes, forcing her to stare back at him.

"I promise," she replied, never once breaking their eye contact.

Then, Alex quickly got down on his right knee and pulled out the white rose he had behind his back.

"Rose, I've liked you for a long time now, but I was afraid you'd never like me back. But today, I decided to run my luck. Will you be my girlfriend?" Alex finished, looking up with a hopeful glint in his eye.

Rose held her hand to her mouth as she tried to stop the tears were threatening to fall out, but she failed as she let a few tears run loose. Those exact words were what she wanted to hear coming out of his mouth for the past 5 years. She quickly hugged him, letting tears run on his hoodie. He hugged her back reflexively.

Her mouth came close to his earlobe and her hot breath touched his ear as she whispered yes.

They remained to hug, and they would have hugged longer if Isabelle hadn't come out of the shadows. She was secretly recording them, with the excuse that she was in the bathroom.

"Ok, that's enough. No need to make it cringy," she said, breaking the two of them apart. "Aren't you forgetting to say something to me Mr.Alex? Isabelle crossed her arms and looking at Alex.

"Thank you! Thank you! I didn't think your plan would work at all!" He said as he went in to hug her as well. He was so happy, it felt like a huge weight has been lifted off his shoulders, the same weight he had been carrying for the past 6 years. He let Isabelle go after a quick hug.

They then sat back at the table, as Alex got another chair to join them.

"Wait, if you liked me back then, they why didn't you say anything? Why now?" Rose asked. This all seemed like a dream, and it happened way too fast to be real.

She then saw Alex and Isabelle exchanging glances, which made Rose even more curious. Isabelle nodded, encouraging him to tell her.

"Well," Alex said he looked at Rose's face "I'm moving in 2 days..."

Just like that, everything came crashing down. She knew there had to be something. Life was never at anyone's disposal, and she learned that the hard way.

"Why?" she asked with a dangerously calm face.

"My dad got a new job, in England," he replied looking down, not meeting her gaze.

"Well then, guess we have tomorrow to do everything we wanted together," she said, leaning down to see his face. Just like that, his face brightened.

The friends talked and talked until the sun started settling down. They quickly paid the owner and went their separate ways. The new couple biked slowly to their houses together, not wanting to waste any time together.