Free Rosemary's Double Delight by Heather Rainier Page A

right back.” As she walked away, she heard Wes sigh with relief. Knowing how hardheaded both she and Evan could be, Rosemary didn’t allow herself to feel as hopeful as Wes 66

    sounded. She said a quick goodnight to her girlfriends and to Grace, reassuring them she was all right.
    Why couldn’t things be simpler for the three of them? When he wasn’t being an ass, Rosemary loved Evan as deeply as she loved Wes, but these power struggles were getting old, as were Evan’s issues with Rita. He’d actually compared Rosemary to Rita, and she could not abide that. A spoiled-rotten brat she might have been in years past, but she’d grown up, and she didn’t deserve what he’d said to her. The big bully.
    The air definitely needed to be cleared, but it might not end the way Wes and she hoped it would. Guilt reared its ugly old head again because she knew she wasn’t innocent of causing them pain, either.
    There was plenty of blame to share. History had proven on several occasions that little Rosemary Piper was often no better at controlling her mouth or her temper than Evan Garner was. She returned to Wes and took the hand he offered her as he led her out the door.

     
    * * * *

     
    The first day of sixth grade…

    The first day of sixth grade had been a terrifying experience for Rosemary. She and her classmates were used to Divine Elementary School with a total student population of 110 children.
    Divine junior high school students were bussed to campuses located halfway between Divine and Morehead. It was so much to process, how large the school was compared to the little classroom her twenty classmates had shared for six years. Add to that the necessity of moving from one room to another between classes for eight different periods and a locker with a combination she had to remember. To say she suffered from culture shock was putting it mildly.

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    The real horror came during PE when she discovered she’d have to change into a scratchy PE uniform while surrounded by 100 other adolescent girls. They’d have to use the communal showers afterward and then dry off with a towel the size of a postage stamp. Her towel was too small to cover her little, round body for the short walk back to her gym locker.
    By the time the last bell had rung, Rosemary was completely numb. She felt lonely as she found her locker and gathered her books.
    Rosemary couldn’t wait to see Wes and Evan. She’d missed them all day. She didn’t have any classes with them, and the one glimpse she’d gotten of Evan during the day had made her want to cry because he hadn’t seen her. She rested her forehead against the cold metal frame of the locker and closed her eyes.
    She felt familiar, callused hands on her arms as she stood there.
    As she turned to them a commotion broke out in the next row of lockers. Evan squatted down to get a look underneath.
    “It’s two girls fighting,” Evan said. “That’s the second fight I’ve seen today.”
    “Come on, Rosemary. We don’t want to miss the bus on our first day of school. Got all your stuff?” Wes asked as he gently tugged on her arm.
    After she nodded, Evan slipped her backpack off her shoulders and slung it over his own, evidently unconcerned that it was pink canvas.
    Rosemary followed them to the schoolyard, where all the kids waited for their school buses to arrive. Though they only lived half an hour from Morehead, the bus ride would take well over an hour by the time she was dropped off in front of her house. Following them mutely, Rosemary noticed Wes kept looking down at her, the concern plain on his face. Wes hugged her, quietly asking her if she was all right. She felt Evan’s fingers slide through her wild, curly hair. For the first time all day, she felt her world return to order.
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    Rosemary had been close with Wes and Evan since they were itty-bitty, and they’d always looked after her like this. It was a comforting gesture and one that brought tears to her eyes with its