Rose Bailey: My Mate, My Flower Chapter 9

Rose's POV

I woke up feeling better than I ever have. That was the best sleep I've had in my life.

Cuddling more to my pillow, I felt arms wrap around me.

" Wait! Pillows don't have arms," I thought to myself

I opened my eyes and was faced with beautiful blue eyes of Derek staring back at me.

"Good morning, Flower! How did you sleep?" He asked me with a smile on his face. Then, he moved the hair out of my face.

" I slept okay," I said, embarrassed by the position we were in at the moment. I knew my cheeks had to be the color of a tomato.

We stared at each other for a while, neither of us speaking.

The sound of a phone broke the awkward silence.

Derek said something under his breath in annoyance before sitting up and picking his phone off the floor.

"Yes," he said to the person on the other end.

"Okay, I will be there shortly." He put his shirt and pants on before looking at me.

"I have something important that I have to take care of. Do you have any plans for today?"

"Yes! My mom is taking James and me to school today. We have to get enrolled because classes start tomorrow." I told him.

"I would like for you to have dinner with me tonight. I want to talk to you about something important. Would you like that?"

I thought about it for a moment. Would my mom care about me going out with him? She definitely would mind if she caught him sleeping in my room.

"I don't know if my mom would be okay with that. Or my brother Jason. They are protective over me."

He looked up at me like he was in deep thought.

"If I get their approval, would you like to go,"

I quickly nodded my yes. Derek bent down and kissed me on the top of the head.

"Okay, I will go talk to them. I will see you tonight at seven," he said confidently before walking out the door.

I sat there shocked, thinking about what had just happened.

"Are you two happy about starting school?" My mom asked.

"I guess," " sure," James and I said simultaneously.

I liked school and was very popular at my old one. I was in choir, dance, and the head cheerleader.

I was going to try out for all three activities today after enrolling. Unfortunately, at this school, Blood Moon High, tryouts ended on the last day of summer break.

James was trying out for football. I was sure he would make it because he was athletic, tall at 6ft 3, and still growing. He had a Caramel complexion and long hair that I braided for him last night before I went to sleep.

After we arrived at the school, my mom took us to the enrollment center to get our schedules.

" I have something I have to take care of. Jason will pick you up after you're done with tryouts."

We both told her okay and started walking to find where we needed to go.

"I will be done before you since I am only going for football. So what's your last tryout?" James asked.

I told him cheerleading, and we went our separate ways.

Tryouts for dance and choir went pretty well. I was sure I would make both from the team's expression and comments to me.

" Hi!" I look up and see a girl with Caramel skin and long curly hair smiling at me.

She looked to be about an inch taller than me.

"HI," replied.

"My name is Ebony" I was about to tell her my name, but she cut me off.

"Rose, right? I remember when they called you for your turn. You have an excellent voice."

"Thanks; you are already in the choir, right?"

" Yes, everyone is nice and friendly. I'm sure you will love it."

"If I make the team," I replied.

" Trust me, you did. Your voice is excellent. "

Ebony and I talked for about twenty minutes, and I could tell we would be great friends.

"I should call my ma.. umm boyfriend to pick me up. are you waiting for someone?" She asked.

"No, I have one more tryout, cheerleading," I said, and she seemed tense.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yes, I will call him later and go with you to keep you company, if that's alright?" She asked, and I agreed.

Once we made it to the gym, where the tryouts were held, I froze.

Sandy and Cindy were there handing out a form to everyone.

"What's wrong?" Ebony asked, looking in the same direction I was.

"Why are Cindy and Sandy here? Didn't they graduate already" I asked, annoyed. I didn't want to have to deal with them today.

"They are Co-Captains of the cheerleading squad."

I couldn't believe it. I didn't want to deal with them for one day the whole year. I was just about to walk out of there when Kate spotted me. I had almost forgotten that she was a part of the squad.

"There you are. I was wondering when you would show; hey Ebony, I see you met Rose. How's Keith doing?" she said while handing me a form.

" Yeah, we met at choir tryouts, and Keith is good," Ebony said

"Why didn't you tell me they were the captains?" I interrupted.

"I didn't want you to back out of joining because of them. So don't worry about them. They aren't important, show your skills, and can't stop you from joining. They aren't the main captain." Kate told me.

I looked at her and nodded. We went and took a seat on the bleachers.

As I looked up, I saw Cindy and Sandy staring at me. I turned my head to listen to a woman named Mrs. Grey.

" Hello! I am Mrs. Grey, the captain of the cheer squad. This is Sandy and Cindy, my Co-Captains. They are here to help make sure that you do your absolute best and help with the cheers if you make the team," She said.

They called everyone by fours. We had to match a routine that Sandy came up with. Every four teams had different routines. We were supposed to make it our own.

When it was my turn, I could see Sandy smirk. The routine she gave my group was not for beginners. Lucky for me, I wasn't one. I did her routine easily and added my own style to it, changing it to fit me.

Once everyone was dismissed, Coach Grey walked up to me.

" You have cheered before, right?" She asked.

"Yes, I was the head cheerleader at my last school," I said, With a smile.

"You are very talented. That routine Sandy gave you was not supposed to be for tryouts, but I'm glad she did. Welcome to the team Rose."

I smiled and thanked her.

Kate and Ebony congratulated me. My brother was outside the gym talking to Nathan and some other guys. Before I could tell him I was done, Sandy and Cindy walked up to me.

" You must feel good about yourself with that act you put on," Sandy said.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Sandy.", I replied and started toward the door.

" You are nothing special. Once Derek gets what he wants, he will leave you and be with Vivian. They have a history that isn't finished, '' Cindy spat.

I could hear Kate say something to them about her brother was going to punish them, but I just kept walking out of the gym.

Hearing them talk about Derek and Vivian being together hurt my chest, but I ignored the pain and kept walking.

"Don't listen to them. They are jealous of you." I heard Ebony say.

I didn't even notice her walking beside me.

"How do you know they are jealous?"

 "We have history."

"What do you mean history?"

Just then, Kate came out of the gym.

"She looked at Kate, and they both looked frozen in thought for a moment.

"Let's go outside, and I will tell you how I know they are jealous," she said.

I told James we would be outside, and he nodded. So we made our way out to hear what Ebony had to say.

Rose's POV

"Keith is on his way, but it will take at least 35 minutes to get here. He is just leaving our house. We live in Indianapolis, " Ebony said

I wondered why she would come here to go to school.

"Our pack, I mean community, shares this school with yours." She said, answering my unasked question.

"What did you want to tell me about Sandy and Cindy?" I asked, getting to the point.

She looked at Kate and then at me. I used to live here in this community. I was born here." She said and waited silently for her to continue.

Ebony

"I used to live here in this community. I was born here." I told Rose, remember all the horrible memories from that time.

"My family and I don't come from money. We lived on the bad side of town. Keith comes from an influential family, and they are wealthy. So we didn't get along.

We have known each other since we were little," I said.

Kayla, Ebony, and I have been best friends since elementary school," Kate said.

"Where do Sandy and Cindy come into this? Rose asked, confused.

" Before Keith and I got together, we didn't get along. He was rich and captain of the football team. I was the poor kid, and he used to bully me. He used to date Sandy back then. You know they are the same age and used to be close. Him, his best friends Mark, Sandy, Cindy, and Vivian used to make my life hell,"

"They would call me a bastard child or warfare kid. He would trip me and do all other crazy things to me. Until he turned eighteen and he changed.

When we first got together, some people, like Sandy and Cindy, couldn't accept it. They tried to break us up. Don't let them get to you but also watch out for them. They still haven't grown up, even after graduating High School," I told her.

She looked at me with a shocked expression on her face.

"That's horrible! No offense, but how could you end up with him and forgive him for all he did to you?" She asked me.

"She made him work for her trust," Kate said with a smile on her face.

" Yeah, I did, and he proved himself. You can't help who you fall in love with. I gave him a hard time, but I knew we would end up together." I told her and meant it.

I made him work for my love and trust, but that night he turned eighteen, our eyes met. I knew he was mine, and I was his.

"There you are, Love, you ready to go," I heard my mate say.

He came over and hugged me, then kissed me on the top of my head. I looked up at the man I loved and saw him looking back at me lovingly. I can't imagine my life without him.

"Almost just talking to Kate and my new friend Rose. Rose, this is Keith, my boyfriend.

''Hello, Rose, nice to meet you. Hey Kate, how's Derek doing?"

"He's doing good, just came back from a business trip," she said.

Keith returned to the car and told me he would wait for me there.

"That was so sweet. The way the of you are with each other. It's hard for me to believe he used to bully you." Rose said, and she was right.

If you see how loving and caring he is to me now; you would never think he was the same guy that treated me horribly two years ago.

"Did Derek ever bully you?" Rose asked me with a worried expression.

"No! Derek and Keith never really got along in high school.

Derek is like a big brother to me. And Kate is like my sister. He hated the way he would treat me and took up for me.

It took him a while to be okay with us being together.

I spent most of my time with Kate's parents growing up because my mom was always out partying and drinking, and I didn't know my father back then.

They also didn't get along because they used to compete with each other on who was most popular. Derek was the captain of the basketball team, while Keith was the captain of the football team. So they were always on some macho power trip about who was better, " I told her.

We said our goodbyes, and I walked to the car where Keith was waiting.

He was leaning on the passenger side, talking to Derek and some other guy.

"Hey, love," he said and pulled me to him.

"Hey Ebony, Keith just told me the good news; congratulations. Did you tell Kate about your pregnancy?" He asked.

"Not yet; I was talking to your mate about something. Congratulations, she is sweet. You better treat her right," I said.

"Yeah, he better, or he will have me to deal with." The other guy that I had never seen before said.

"This is Jason, my mate's brother. Jason, this is Ebony, Keith's mate; she was a part of Blood Moon until they became mates, and she moved to the Silver Moon Pack. She is a second daughter to my parents and a little sister to me." Derek said.

"Well, it's getting late, and I have to go feed my mate; see you later," Keith said and opened the passenger side door for me. He got in on the driver's side.

"So Derek finally found his mate?" Keith asked.

"Yeah, she is really nice,"

"What did you three talk about,"

"I told her our story, leaving out all the supernatural parts. She is having a problem with Sandy and Cindy, "

I could see the look of regret on his face. He was thinking of the past, and I hated when he did that.

" I know what you're thinking about. Please stop; I hate when you think about the past."

"I can't help it. I put you through so much. I don't deserve."

"Stop that, Keith, don't you dare finish that sentence. I love you and need you to let go. We are

having a baby. Let's not think of the past. No more apologies and feeling sorry for yourself."

"You're right, and I love you."

" I love you too," I replied and meant it.

He kissed my lips before starting the car and heading home to the Silver Moon Pack.