Roses looked at the paper in her hand. ‘First period, History, Room 148,’ she read to herself. ‘Yep, right place.’ She took a deep breath and opened the door.

“-was at this point in his life that Marx found God. I’m not sure that God was exactly lost and needed to be found, but Marx-oh, hello, there. You must be the new student.”

Roses nodded at the teacher. He already seemed weird. The class stared at her, making her even more nervous. Looking around, she noted a fairly even number of boys and girls, tidy rows of desks, and plenty of world maps on the walls.

“Well, what’s your name, then?”

“Roses.”

“Ah, like the flowers. I have a whole garden, myself. We’ll just have to watch out for your thorns, right?”

She smiled at him as the class laughed. ‘Hmm…maybe he’s not so bad after all.’

“You’ll find that in my class, Roses, we keep things in order. Organization is a good skill to have, that’s what I always say. Therefore, my students always sit in alphabetical order. By first name, of course, just to keep it interesting. Can’t have order without some kind of fun.”

‘Yes, weird.’

“Gentlemen? Maybe you could slide the desks in that row a little closer together and make room for one more? I believe that Roses will be sitting right behind Roseidous, if I have my alphabet correct.”

Roses watched as the boys re-arranged things without question and then took her seat behind who was apparently Roseidous. ‘They must just be used to his eccentric personality.’

“Very good, very good. Roseidous, I’ll ask you to share your notes with Roses after class so that she’ll have all the information for this chapter. And Roses? Welcome to our class. Now, as I was saying, Marx-“

***

The bell rang, and Roses put her things away gratefully. He sure did like to talk. She had completely missed the part about Captain Capitalism, whatever that was.

“So, you’re new in town?” Roseidous turned around and handed her his notebook.

“Yeah, thanks.” She looked through it. “Um…it’s…illustrated?”

“Here,” the boy sitting across the aisle from her handed her his notes. “They’re even outlined. We all know how bad Rosey’s note-taking skills are.”

She smiled. “Rosey?”

“Don’t tell the new people that! Don’t make her start the habit!” Roseidous complained. “Stupid nickname.”

“You know you like it. My name’s Nothlit, by the way. It’s nice to meet you, Roses. We need something new around this place.”

“Well, thanks for the notes, guys.” She handed Roseidous his notebook and put Nothlit’s with her own things. “Can you tell me how to get to room 307? According to my schedule, Senior English is next.”

“You are in luck.” Roseidous picked up his backpack. “We just happen to be going that way, ourselves.”

“Don’t tell me, we sit in alphabetical order in that class, too?”

“Nah, she doesn’t even care if we sit in a desk or not.”

***

“What did I tell you?” Nothlit led the way towards their lockers. Roses’ locker was apparently right above Roseidous’ and next to Nothlit’s. She seemed to be stuck with these two.

“I believed you, I just wasn’t expecting Roseidous to stand on his head in the corner the whole time.”

“You get used to him.”

“Hey, at least I don’t outline my notes.” Roseidous said.

“Maybe if you did, you’d-“ a scream down the hallway cut Nothlit off.

All the students, except Roses, ducked. A boy ran through the crowd, two girls chasing him. They appeared to be waving around some lipstick.

“Ty, come back!” one yelled, and all three turned down another hall. When they were no longer in sight, the other students all breathed sighs of relief and stood up.

“Who are they?” Roses asked.

“Holli, Tails, and Tyrael.” Roseidous answered. “They’re Juniors.”

“Yeah,” Nothlit added. “You get used to them, too. So who’s ready for lunch?”

Roses closed her locker and followed them to the cafeteria, where they approached a table. It was already occupied by a few people, two boys and two girls. Roseidous pulled up a chair and gestured for Roses to do the same. Nothlit sat down across from them and began talking to one of the girls.

“Guys, meet Roses.” Roseidous announced. “She’s new.”

The others turned to look at her, but immediately resumed their conversations. Roses glanced at Roseidous.

“They’ll open up, once they get to know you,” he reassured her. “That’s Fitey, Yoda, Dahjo, and Lone.”

“Don’t forget us, Roser!” said a voice from behind them. A voice that reached over and took Roseidous’ cookie.

He tried to grab it back, but gave up. “How could I forget you? Roses, meet Holli, Tails, and Tyrael. I believe you saw them running down the hall?”

“You like duct tape?” Holli asked Roses, maneuvering around the table towards the other end.

“Umm…I don’t know.”

Holli sighed and set her tray down.

“At least there’s an even number of guys and girls now.” Tails said, sitting down across from Holli. “Come sit by me, Ty.”

Tyrael, now wearing lipstick, had to obey orders. Besides, it was the only seat left. He noticed Roses staring at him and shrugged, then started eating. Roseidous had already abandoned the conversation for his lunch. From the other side of him, Roses could hear Dahjo and Fitey saying something about technology class and a spy camera. Nothlit was still talking to Lone about computer class, using some language Roses didn’t understand. Holli and Tails unwrapped their straws and blew the papers into Tyrael’s hair. Yoda watched them with a disapproving look, and then noticed Roses wasn’t participating.

“So where are you from?” he asked.

“This really weird place called Clyattville. And believe me, this school is so much better than ours was.”

“You lived there your whole life?”

“Actually, no. But I don’t rememb…” she trailed off, because the table had fallen silent.

“Don’t remember what?” This time, Dahjo was asking.

“Um…well…this might sound impossible, but I don’t remember much of anything before middle school. My parents said there was some kind of accident. They’re not really my parents, though; I’m adopted.”

The table was still silent.

“What? Too much information?”

“No. It makes sense. I mean, none of us-“ Tyrael was interrupted when both Holli and Tails tried to clamp their hands over his mouth.

“None of us is that interesting. It makes sense that the new person should be.” Lone finished for him.

“Oh,” Roses watched everyone exchange looks.

Thankfully, Roseidous changed the subject. “What class do you have next?”

“Science, I think.”

“Me too! Let me see your schedule!” She handed it to him. “We have all the same classes! Hey! You can be my lab partner. I don’t have one, and I’ll introduce you to Bunny!”

“Should I ask?”

“I wouldn’t.” Dahjo advised.

“Rosey is in love with Bunny.” Holli grinned.

“Oh, she doesn’t have lunch with us?”

“No…” Fitey also grinned. “Bunny is the class pet. He’s a bunny.”

“He’s my friend.” Roseidous said, defensively. “You’re all just jealous.”

“Something like that.” Lone said.

“You know, guys, someone’s birthday is coming up next week.” Tails suggested. “Are we doing anything *special*?”

Roseidous paled. “Special? I hope not. It’s just a birthday.”

“And you’ve only been talking about it since last year.” Nothlit said, and everyone laughed.

Roses joined in the conversation about party ideas and decided that this new school wasn’t going to be so bad after all.

***

That Friday, Holli and Tails watched as Tyrael gathered the supplies they needed for chemistry and discussed Roses.

“We are going to have to corrupt her. She’s way too innocent.” Holli said.

“Yeah,” Tails agreed. “But hanging out with Rosey all day won’t let her be innocent for long.”

“True.”

“What about his birthday, anyway, speaking of him.”

“I don’t know. We can’t really do anything at school; it’s during Spring Break this year.” Holli examined the sparkly green polish on her fingernails.

“We could do it early. Just for him.”

“I’ve always liked the way you think, Tails. Ever since you moved here.”

Tyrael dropped an armful of stuff on the counter in front of them. “That’s everything. What are you talking about?”

“Roses.” Holli answered.

“Oh. I like her.”

Tails pulled out what appeared to be a pocketknife, but actually turned into a pen. “That’s because she doesn’t threaten you.”

He ignored her. “When are we going to tell her?”

“When the time is right.”

“We should have told her the first day. I mean, isn’t it strange how she showed up here? I know we say this every time, but I wonder if there are more of us.”

“I think there probably are.” Tails put on her safety goggles, then watched Holli pour something that smoked into the nearest glass beaker.

***

“She doesn’t need to know.” Dahjo said, typing some adjustments on a keyboard.

“Fitey thinks she does. Because Fitey would want to know.”

“I hate it when you talk in third person like that.”

“Fitey always talks like this!”

“I know you do. I mean, she does. I mean-I’m confused.”

Fitey grinned. “Good.”

Yoda approached their workstation. “Are we ready to try?”

“Yes.” Dahjo hit the ‘Enter’ key. “Let’s see if she’ll fly.”

Fitey giggled insanely.

The three of them has been working together in the technology class all year to develop their brainchild. A flying, miniature, spy camera. Today was the day all their work should pay off. Yoda was a little skeptical about the moral implications of spying, but the other two convinced him to go ahead with the project. Dahjo just wanted to prove that he could do it, but neither of the boys was sure why Fitey liked the idea.

Yoda held the camera in his hand, Fitey turned it on, and Dahjo took over the controls. The camera lifted up and flew towards the teacher’s desk. Dahjo hit another key and a fuzzy picture appeared on the screen.

“It’s alive! It’s alive!” Fitey shrieked happily.

Dahjo nodded. “Just need to make adjustments to the picture.”

Yoda watched it fly back towards them proudly. “We should get an A.”

***

“Let’s go to the computer lab,” Roseidous suggested to Roses after school.

“Why?” she asked, cautiously. His reason was sure to be a good one. She was still trying to get used to his personality.

“Because we always meet in the computer lab on Friday afternoons.”

“I see.”

“But first we have to go feed Bunny.”

Roses sighed.

“What? You don’t like Bunny?”

“Nothing personal. Rabbits aren’t my thing.”

“You don’t have to go if you don’t like him.” Roseidous gave her a hurt look. “He probably can tell you don’t, and that would make him sad. I’ll meet up with you in a few minutes.”

Roses shook her head and followed his directions to the computer lab upstairs. Nothlit, Dahjo, Lone, Fitey, Tyrael, Tails, and Holli were already there. She got various reactions. Lone said hi, Nothlit and Yoda waved, Fitey and Dahjo kept staring at a computer screen and looking at something in Fitey’s hand, Tyrael typed busily at one station, and Holli and Tails were suspiciously stirring a dark blue liquid in a glass. A bug suddenly flew in front of her face, and she slapped at it.

“Hey! Watch the spy cam!” Dahjo complained.

Fitey hurried over to rescue it. “Fitey wants to try!” she shoved him out of the way and took over.

“Where’s Roseidous?” Nothlit asked.

“Rosey went to feed Bunny. He’s obsessive.” The room fell silent. “What is it this time? I always seem to say things to shut you all up.”

Tails grinned. “You called him Rosey. And you haven’t even been here a whole week! There is hope for you!”

“I’m sure.” Roses turned on another computer.

Holli picked up the glass. “Hey, Ty?”

“No.”

“I’m sure it tastes good.”

“Not gonna.”

“But we made it especially for you!”

“Nope.”

“Well, how about-“

Holli was cut off when Roseidous ran into the room. “Bunny escaped!”

“What?”

“I left the cage door open to get his food and he got out! He must be lost somewhere and really scared!”

“Or rejoicing in his freedom,” Lone whispered, and several people struggled not to smile.

“You have to help me find him!”

“Okay, okay,” Yoda said. “We’ll split up and look for him. Fitey and Lone, you go over to Building Two. Holli and Tails search the first floor here. Nothlit and Dahjo go towards the cafeteria, and Tyrael and I will go to the gym. Oh, and um…Roses, you and Rosey stay up here in case he hops up the stairs.”

Everyone nodded and headed off in his or her assigned direction.

***

“Fitey got new shoes!” Fitey told Lone, then tried to hold her feet up and walk and the same time.

Lone nodded. “I got a new hat. It’s orange. And it’s sexy.”

Fitey giggled.

***

“Sorry, I can’t. I’m working tomorrow.” Nothlit said.

“You live at that bookstore.”

“I know. I should move in.”

Dahjo looked under a table. “So can I bring the program by on Sunday? You can tell me what we’re doing wrong with the focusing.”

“Sure.”

***

“I can’t believe you have to go out of town for our entire Spring Break.” Tails said. “You could have told me sooner, you know.”

“My parents just announced it last night. They’re making me go.” Holli sighed sadly. “Don’t do anything fun without me. Oh, and make sure Tyrael enjoys his Spring Break.”

“You know I will. And don’t worry. We wouldn’t leave you out unless it was really important.”

“Are we set for Rosey’s early birthday stuff next week?”

“I think so.”

“Good,” she smiled evilly.

***

Yoda opened the door to the locker room. “Girls are evil. Probably even Roses.”

“Tell me about it.” Tyrael said.

“I think there’s a lot of stuff going on.”

“Isn’t there always?”

“I mean, more than usual. And we’re just going to have to wait and see what happens.”

***

Roseidous, meanwhile, had convinced Roses that they needed to go back to the science room. “After all,” he said, “maybe Bunny will get hungry and get back in his own cage.”

“If not, someone will find him.” Roses reassured Roseidous. “If I were you, I’d be more concerned with what Tails and Holli are planning for your birthday. When is it, again?”

“During Spring Break. That’s why it’s not a problem. Holli will be gone, and I have plans of my own,” he said mysteriously.

***

Bunny hopped into the computer lab, saw that he was alone, and went to sleep in the corner.

***

“Good morning!” Roses put her extra books in her locker, got her things for history, and slammed the door. “I *said* good morning!”

“Hmph,” was the only response she got.

“Oh, come on, Rosey! Your birthday is next week and so is Spring Break, it’s Friday, and I’m sure that Bunny is just fine because something ate the food out of his cage every day this week.”

“Really?” he brightened up. “You checked today already?”

“Only for you.”

“Great! But what is the teacher going to say when I tell him I lost Bunny? He still hasn’t noticed.”

“No problem. Just blame Holli and Tails for it.”

“You certainly are cheerful today,’ he regarded her critically. “And it’s mean of you to suggest blaming them. What drugs did you take?”

“None! I promise! I can be mean just like the rest of you!”

“Since when?”

“Since my parents gave me back my ribbons!”

She received a blank stare. “What?”

“I used to take ribbon dancing classes. But I got in trouble for hitting the other kids with them.”

“On purpose?”

“Not at first,” she admitted. “I was just very uncoordinated. But later, I did it on purpose because I liked it.”

“You *are* weird. Ribbons don’t hurt, do they?”

“They do if you have the proper technique.” She reached for her backpack. “Want to see?”

“Er…no.”

“Want to see what?” Nothlit approached the row of lockers.

“Roses being violent.” Roseidous told him.

Nothlit glanced at her. “She’s not violent.”

She grinned. “I can be.”

“Okay, now she’s creepy. What did you do to her?”

“I didn’t do it. Blame the parents.”

“At least Holli and Tails will be pleased.”

“Are you insane?” Roseidous said. “Don’t encourage any of them!”

Nothlit shrugged. “Any luck with Bunny?”

“No, but no bad news, either.”

“Maybe you can use the spy cam to help,” he offered. “Dahjo and I finally finished it up yesterday. After school, the Search For Bunny will continue.”

“It’s not an action movie! This is serious!”

Roseidous turned to dial the combination for his locker. It didn’t open. He tried again, and it still didn’t open. Behind his back, Roses looked at Nothlit and smiled. Roseidous tried again, and when this attempt failed, he started hitting his locker. The door finally popped open, spilling the contents of the locker all over him and the floor. The locker was full of a mixture of whipped cream and jell-o, courtesy of Holli and Tails. Roses knew the combination from watching Roseidous open the locker every day, and she was proud of her contribution.

“Happy Birthday!” Roses giggled, and handed him a white index card with the word LOVE printed on it. “You’ll need this later. Keep it.”

He snatched it from her and stalked off towards the bathroom amid stares and laughter.

“That’s horrible.” Nothlit said.

“Just make sure you do your part.”

“Oh, I will. Don’t worry. I’m looking forward to it.”

***

“I’m telling her whether you want me to or not.” Tyrael announced.

“No! You can’t!” Tails protested. “She’s not ready!”

“Fitey thinks she is!”

“Let’s vote.” Yoda said.

“Without Rosey or Nothlit?” Lone looked doubtful. “That’s not fair.”

“It’s not fair that they drove to school and we’re stuck here on the bus, either.” Dahjo pointed out. “Why are you on the bus today, anyway?”

Lone sighed dramatically. “If you must know the whole story, it all started when I had to go to the movie rental place yesterday. But then, I got stopped at the train tracks, and I saw this guy staring at me. He might have been staring at my new, sexy, orange hat, because I did wear it. Or he could have just been looking at my car. In any case, he was staring, so I had to follow him and see what his problem was. He turned down this little dirt road, and you know how I hate to get my car all muddy, but I followed him anyway to this house and-“

“Okay!” Holli interrupted, having heard some of Lone’s stories before. “I can vote for them. Rosey will say no, and Nothlit will say yes.”

“How do you know that?” Tyrael asked.

“She’s right.” Dahjo agreed. “I know Nothlit wants to tell her, and if Rosey hasn’t let it slip by now, he doesn’t want to.”

“So that’s one yes and one no,” Yoda counted. “Tyrael?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Holli?”

“No, not yet!”

“Lone?”

“Yes.”

“Tails?”

“No.”

“Fitey?”

“Fitey says yes!”

“Dahjo?”

“No.”

“And me. Yes. Five yes and four no. We tell her today, after school.”

***

“And then, I just had to hit her, right?” Roses asked. “She deserved it!”

“Um…right.” Nothlit moved slightly further away.

The class started laughing as Roseidous came inside, whipped cream still stuck in his hair. He glared at Roses before sitting down. Roses looked at Nothlit, who shrugged, and then began his part of the mission.

“Hey, Rosey, can I borrow a pen? Mine ran out of ink.”

“Sure,” Roseidous turned around. “Serves you right, though, taking all those notes. I’m surprised you haven’t run out of ink before.”

He handed a pen to Nothlit who, accidentally-on-purpose, knocked it to the floor. It rolled towards the front of the room.

“I’ll get it!” Roseidous jumped up to retrieve the pen.

Nothlit casually reached over, got a Ziplock bag out of his backpack, and tossed it into Roseidous’ chair.

“Here you go!” Roseidous handed him the pen again and sat down.

The bag made quite an interesting noise before breaking and covering the desk with the leftover Lime Jell-o. Roseidous spun around to Roses. She was laughing, but managed to point at Nothlit.

“Keep this one, too.” Nothlit handed him another card with the word HAVE and gave Roses a high-five.

“I see what’s going on here,” Roseidous narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Are Holli and Tails behind this?”

“I’m afraid I can’t say.” Roses looked at him innocently.

“They are, I know it. Now that I’ve figured out their little scheme, they won’t be able to trick me anymore.”

“WHAT is THAT?!” the teacher entered the room. “Roseidous?”

“Oh…er…it’s…my Mommy didn’t pack my lunch very well today.”

“Well, go get some towels and clean it up! They didn’t win any battles in World War Two with Jell-o, you know!”

Roseidous nodded and hurried to the bathroom. Yoda was already there, as planned, but he didn’t know that.

“Hey,” he said, reaching for the paper towels.

“Um…hi.” Yoda glanced at his hair. “Having a bad day?”

“Sort of. But I won’t let anyone else get me!” He turned to examine his hair in the mirror.

Yoda sighed and produced a water balloon from behind his back. He raised his arm to throw it, but hesitated.

“I can’t do it.”

“Do what?”

“Hit you with a water balloon. Here.” Yoda handed him a third card that said YOU and left.

“At least if you had, my hair would be less sticky.” Roseidous stared after him, and then contemplated the situation. He briefly thought about sticking his hair in the sink to rinse it out, but considering that the water smelled funny and there was something growing in the sink, he changed his mind and went back to class.

***

Roseidous walked down the hall after history, his shoes sticking to the floor with every step. Roses hurried after him.

“Don’t be mad, Rosey. It will all be worth it! Really!”

He didn’t say anything, just kept walking. A scream from around the corner made them, along with everyone else, duck and cover. Tails and Holli ran down the hallway, chasing poor Tyrael again. Roseidous stood up in their path and they skidded to a halt.

“What happened to you?” Holli giggled.

“Like you don’t know. But it’s going to stop!”

“Know what?” Tails shrugged at Holli. “What are we supposed to know?”

“I know the two of you having something to do with the jello in my-“ he stopped in mid-sentence. And for good reason.

Using Holli and Tails as a diversion, Tyrael had successfully completed his mission of the day and attacked Roseidous from behind. With a water balloon. This particular balloon was full of vanilla pudding.

Roseidous spun around angrily. As soon as his back was turned, Dahjo stood up from the crowd in the hallway and threw a second one, full of chocolate pudding.

Holli and Tails waved happily and skipped off down the hallway. Tyrael walked up to Roseidous, handed over a card and ran after them. Dahjo stuck his card to some pudding on Roseidous head. Tyrael’s said “BIRTHDAY” and Dahjo’s said “WE.”

Roseidous didn’t say anything. He calmly walked to his locker and opened it. Nothing fell out. However, a plastic container sitting on top of his locker fell over, coating him with syrup. Seconds later, a box tipped over, showering him with bright yellow feathers.

Around the corner, Lone and Fitey put down the strings attached to the boxes and gave each other high fives. Taped to the inside of the locker were two more cards. One said “ROSEY” and the other said, simply “A.”

“That’s it!” he yelled. “I’m calling my Mommy!”

Roses laughed along with everyone else in the hallway as he stormed towards the office.

Suddenly, a voice behind them said “What is going on here?!”

Someone shouted, “It’s the principal! Run!”

The students fled to their next classes.

***

“Good afternoon, all,” Roseidous sat down at the lunch table.

“Um, hey Rosey.” Yoda said. “You um, missed a feather, there.”

“I’ve decided that I don’t care. Just because you’re acting childish today doesn’t mean I have to.”

“You’ll look back and laugh,” Lone told him. “One day.”

“We did it all for you,” Holli nodded. “For your birthday.”

“It’s not my birthday.”

“No, but we won’t be in school for your birthday. Spring Break, you know.”

“Here, look,” Tails said. “We got you a cake.”

She and Holli pulled a box out from under the table and got up to put it in front of him.

“I’m not opening that.”

“I don’t blame you,” Roses smiled.

“Oh, here, I’ll do it,” Holli took off the top of the box and revealed a cake covered in chocolate icing. Electric blue icing spelled out “Happy Birthday, Roseidous!”

“I’ll help you,” Tails took one side of the plate to lift the cake from the box. Holli grabbed the other side.

“Thanks, guys,” Roseidous said. “I thought it was more jello or something.”

“No. We ran out.”

Tails and Holli looked over his head at each other and on an unspoken signal, smashed the cake into his face. This triggered the biggest food fight in the high school’s history. No one escaped.

Later, in detention, Holli looked around and grinned. “That was the best food fight ever. Even better than the time-“

“The time what?” Nothlit asked.

“Nevermind. Thought I was remembering something. Guess not.”

“Was it worth it?” Roseidous glared.

“Of course! Do you think it was?” Tyrael asked.

He considered. “It was funny.”

“Yes,” Fitey nodded. “Fitey thought it was a good day.”

“Did you ever get your message figured out?” Roses asked Roseidous.

“Message?”

“The cards.”

“Oh! Wait!” Tails dug around in her bookbag and produced the final card, which read ‘GREAT.’ “We were so busy with the food fight we forgot.”

Roseidous took out the rest of the cards. “What are they for?”

“They spell a message if you put them in order.” Dahjo instructed.

“Oh, I see,” he moved them around. “Love Have You Birthday We Rosey A Great?”

“Not the order you got them in, silly,” Tails spread them out on the desk and put them in the correct order.

“Have A Great Birthday. We Love You, Rosey,” Roses read them aloud. “So there. Forgive us?”

“Yes, of course,” he said. “So what are we doing for my birthday next year?”

“I don't know, but I can’t believe you wouldn’t help me dissect the frog in science!”

“Are you still on about that? It was gross.”

“It was a valuable learning experience.”

“One I didn’t need to have!”

“What are you two arguing about?” Nothlit stopped them.

“*Someone* wouldn’t help me today in lab,” Roses glared at Roseidous.

“It was staring at me!”

Fitey, Tails, and Holli giggled.

“Fitey would help! Fitey kill!” Fitey screamed.

“That’s nice.” Lone said.

“Anyway,” Tyrael looked pointedly at the group. “I believe we have some business to take care of, don’t we?”

“Yes, let’s continue the search for Bunny.” Roses set her books down on the desk. “Where should I start looking today? The kitchen maybe?”

“Um…not yet.” Yoda said. “It’s something else.”

“Oh. Well, what then?”

“Roses, have a seat.” Nothlit gestured and Roses noticed that one desk had been turned to face the others.

“Am I on trial?”

“No. Just listen.”

“…okay…” Roses sat down and looked at the others lined up in their own desks in front of her. Holli crossed her arms, looking impatient. Next to her Tails quickly finished writing something in a notebook. Dahjo was making small adjustments to the spy cam, but stopped to watch. Fitey smiled happily, Yoda looked worried, Lone seemed bored, Nothlit was calm, and Roseidous was trying to take a nap. Tyrael elbowed him and he sat up straight.

Tyrael began. “Roses, you know how you don’t remember anything from before middle school?”

“Yes, but I’m not lying!”

“No,” he said quickly. “We believe you.”

She looked at them all suspiciously. “You believe me? Any specific reason? Maybe because I used to live here? Did I go to elementary school with all of you, and you’re not telling me that you remember me?”

“Well, there’s the problem.” Holli sighed.

“Yeah,” Roseidous looked around. “You see, Roses, we believe you because we’re the same.”

“What?”

Yoda nodded. “It’s true. We don’t remember elementary school, either.”

“And we’re adopted, too. We just don’t remember.” Dahjo added.

“Now you’re making fun of me!” Roses got up to leave. “Some new friends you are!”

“Wait,” Nothlit stopped her. “We’re being serious. I met Roseidous after I moved here, and we soon found out what we had in common. One by one, we all moved here, to this school, and we realized that we *all* had the same thing in common. No past.”

“Seems that we got stuck together.” Tails smiled.

“We’ve searched through newspapers and all of that.” Lone told her. “There’s no big accident or anything reported around the first things we can remember. Nothing that links us together. Just chance.”

“And now there’s another one.” Tyrael finished up. “You.”

Roses considered all of this information, calmly reached into her bookbag, and pulled out something.

Then she yelled, “And you decided not to tell me all of this until now?! I couldn’t know the first day?! I’m not the only one without my memories! I’m not the only person who wonders where I came from, who my parents are? I tell you the first day and make you think I’m the weird one, and that I’ll always be the different one, and now I find out that I’m not!?”

“She has a temper? Who knew?” Tails whispered to Holli, who shrugged.

Roses let go of what she was holding, and a multi-colored ribbon dropped to the floor.

“Um…” Roseidous stared at it. “You’re not that angry, are you?”

“I wanted to tell you the first day!” Tyrael ran for the closet.

“Please don’t hit me!” Nothlit jumped up and hid behind his desk.

“What is that?” Lone stared critically. “It’s-rainbow-ish? That’s never a good thing.”

“It’s her ribbon.” Roseidous ducked behind Lone. “From ribbon-dancing class. Watch out.”

Roses burst into laughter. “Rainbow-ish?”

“Yep, now she’s crazy.” Fitey nodded.

“I’m not going to hit you,” Roses shook her head. “Nothlit, come out from behind that desk. Someone get Tyrael out of the closet.”

“You promise?”

“No, I won’t hit you today. Now, if I had a real whip, that would be a different story.”

They all stood around, nervously.

“Oh, and Tails is right. My problem is that I do have a temper.”

“Obviously,” Dahjo muttered.

“Are you really mad at us for not telling you?” Holli ventured.

“Well, sort of. You should have told me the very first day, when you found out about me. But hey, at least I know I’m not the only one, right?”

They continued to glance at the ribbon.

“Could you maybe put that thing away?” Yoda asked. “It would make us feel much more comfortable.”

“Fitey wants to hold it!”

“No!” everyone agreed. Fitey looked disappointed.

“That would be very dangerous.” Tails told her. “Ili wouldn’t approve.”

“What did you just say?”

The group froze.

“I have no idea where that came from.” Tails stared, then shook her head. “Weird.”

Roses shrugged, rolled up the ribbon, and tucked it back into her bag.

“Sleepover at my house tonight?” Holli asked them, breaking the awkward silence. “My parents said I could have one before we left for our vacation. You can come, too, Roses.”

Roseidous and Tyrael gave each other high-fives. “Party time!”

“Girls only.”

“Oh.”

“Come on,” Holli steered Roses out of the room. “I’ll get you some directions.”

The other girls followed, presumably to get their clothes and things for the sleepover. The guys remained in the room. Bunny hopped inside. They all stared at him for a few seconds, then pounced at the same time. Tyrael managed to grab him and they marched to the science lab. Roseidous triumphantly locked the cage, and then looked around.

“So, we’re crashing it?”

“And insult them by doing something else?” Tyrael grinned.

“Right then,” Roseidous took charge. “Get the supplies. And Dahjo? Get the spy cam.”

***

“He did not.” Roses reached for the nail polish.

“He did, too!” Tails smiled evilly. “Shame you missed it. Holli ran out of film in the camera, so we couldn’t take a picture.”

Lone made a face. “It’s not a shame you missed it. Be grateful.”

“I think I am.”

“Fitey is here!!”

“Hey, Fitey, what took you so long?” Tails moved over to make room for her on the bed.

“Fitey had to get this!” Fitey proudly displayed several cans of silly string.

“For the boys, I assume?”

“Of course!”

“So when do we plan on their arrival?” Lone yawned. “Not too late this time, I hope. I’m tired.”

“I’m betting it’s before midnight.” Holli watched Roses finish painting her nails. “Hooker red is a good color on you.”

“Thanks,” Roses said, but looked concerned. “The boys are coming?”

“Yeah, they always show up sooner or later.” Holli said, waving a hand dismissively. “But don’t worry, we’re always prepared. I think the score is 10 to 2 or something, in our favor. And that was before we had an even number.”

A few hours later, Holli flipped on the lights as Tails hit the rewind button.

“Fitey likes that movie even more every time she sees it!” Fitey announced.

‘Yeah,” Lone agreed. “It does kind of grow on you.”

“I didn’t know you all liked Die Hard.” Roses said.

“Well, it’s the explosions,” Tails said and Holli sighed. “Fire is good and so is planning to take over the world through a major corporation. And there were Christmas lights.”

“And if you think, you’re surprised,” Lone added. “We certainly didn’t think it was your type of movie, either.”

“She just has a crush on Hans.” Holli teased.

“Hey, he’s cute.” Roses defended herself. “And he reminds me of someone.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I knew someone who looked like Alan Rickman before I lost my memories.”

“Now that you mention it,” Tails thought. “He reminds me of someone, too.”

“Not like you’d remember, either”

“True. So what’s next? Titanic?”

“NO!” Fitey shrieked. “Anything but that!”

Lone had turned pale. “Even thinking about that makes me feel like throwing up.”

“I was just kidding,” Tails said. “Besides, there’s no explosions in that movie.”

“Too much water for a proper fire.” Holli nodded wisely.

Roses shook her head. “Sometimes you people scare me. I’m going to put on my pajamas.”

***

Outside, in the bushes under the front window, Roseidous sat up. Around him, all of the guys were sleeping. Tyrael mumbled something about an elephant in his sleep. Roseidous shoved the person nearest to him, Nothlit.

“Wake up!”

“What?” Nothlit grumbled. “I was just resting my eyes…on this stick…”

“I heard someone say pajamas.” Roseidous told them. “Get the camera. Hurry!”

***

Holli finished explaining something to Roses, who nodded and headed into the bathroom. Once inside, she shut the door, opened her shower bag, and got out her hairbrush. She listened very carefully for the noise Fitey described. The tiny humming sound came from behind the shower curtain.

“Holli! I think I’ll shower before I put on my pajamas!” she called.

“Okay!” Holli yelled back.

Smiling to herself, Roses turned on the water.

***

Back outside, the boys watched the spy cam on Dahjo’s laptop.

“Now, aren’t you glad we’re here?” Roseidous asked. “……oh, come on. Be real men and watch the screen.”

Nothlit and Yoda both had their hands over their eyes. “Not gonna.”

“You mean, you don’t want-“

“We have a slight problem, Dahjo interrupted. “She must be using really hot water. The camera’s all fogged up.”

“No!” Roseidous went for the controls. “Move it out of there! We have to see!”

Tyrael also reached for the controls and both boys hit the wrong button. The picture went blank.

Then, “Fix it!” Tyrael shouted.

“Move out of the way and I will!”

“No, I got it!”

“Hurry up!”

“Serves you right!”

“It was the perfect opportunity!”

“Shut up!”

“You shut up!”

“No! You’re being loud! They’ll hear!”

“You’re being louder than me!”

“You!”

“Got it!” Dahjo announced as the picture reappeared.

The bathroom was completely empty.

“We missed it!” Roseidous cried.

“You sure did. You missed the whole set up,” a voice behind them said.

All of the guys froze, and then slowly turned, guilty looks on their faces. The girls stood behind them, shaking the cans of silly string. Roses glared. There was a moment’s silence.

“Attack!” Fitey shouted, and they opened fire.

The boys yelled and ran for the sidewalk. The girls chased, coating them all with pink and purple strands. The guys managed to reach the sidewalk in front of the house, where they’d stashed a supply of water balloons. They quickly retaliated.

“Now who’s laughing?” Roseidous said, hitting his target, Roses.

“Everyone!” she giggled, running after him.

“That’s right!” he said, and threw another one.

After a good ten minutes of warfare, everyone had run out of ammunition and collapsed on Holli’s front lawn. Each person was dripping from the water balloons and covered in silly string.

“That was the best one so far,” Yoda said.

“Yeah,” they all agreed.

“My mom is going to kill us tomorrow and then make us clean all this up.”

“I’m surprised the neighbors didn’t come out here and complain. Or make us stop,” Roses stared up at the stars. “All that noise we made.”

“They’re used to us by now, I suppose,” Tails yawned, starting a chain reaction.

“On that note, we should be going,” Nothlit stood up and dragged the rest of the guys to their feet.

The girls stood up, too. There were various calls of goodnight and threats if the boys didn’t show up in the morning to clean.

***

“Hey, Roses? You busy this afternoon?” Roseidous held the trash bag for her to throw away the last piece of balloon, and then tied it up.

“No, why?”

“I’m taking you somewhere.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Oh, really? And where is that?”

He glanced over at the others, who were getting lemonade from Holli’s adoptive mother. “It’s a surprise. Come on, we have to leave now if you want to be back tonight.”

“Wow, how far are we going?”

“Um…a few hours, maybe?”

“Well, okay. But let me tell Holli goodbye first. She’s leaving for her family vacation today.”

***

“We’re here!” Roseidous unnecessarily announced, pulling the car to a stop.

“Finally.”

“What?”

“I just didn’t know you were such a Barry White fan.”

“It’s good driving music!”

Roses sighed and climbed out of the car to look around. ‘Here’ was a single story, rectangular building with few windows and only the one door. The windows were tinted to be almost black. And there was absolutely nothing else. Just desert.

“You running a drug ring out here, Rosey?”

“Nah.”

“And where is here?”

“Nowhere, really. Not far from Albuquerque.”

“Oh. And why am I here?”

“Let’s go inside. I’ll show you.”

He escorted her inside and proudly turned on the lights. “What do you think?”

Roses was speechless.

“Great, isn’t it? Worth all of my life savings.”

They were standing on a balcony on the top floor of the building. The other four floors descended below them and various corridors stretched off underground. Every surface was shiny steel and the rooms Roses could see were full of complicated electronic equipment.

“What is it?” she managed.

“My lab,” he said. “You didn’t really think was all that stupid, did you?”

“Well…yes. Sorry.”

“I hide my genius well. Sometimes I even believe I’m stupid. I’m very convincing.”

“Apparently. What is all of this stuff for?”

He looked offended. “All of this ‘stuff’ is going to help me take over the world!”

“Is it now?”

“Yes. That’s my birthday present for myself. I only need to kidnap someone and make clones. For my robotic army.”

Roses stared at him in disbelief. “And who is going to let him or herself be kidnapped and cloned? You’ll have to trick someone. Oh, and if it’s a person who doesn’t want to take over the world, you’ll have to give their clones a different brain. A brain that can follow orders without questioning them. And you’ll need someone else to lead the army---wait, what am I saying? I can’t help you! Why would I help you?”

“Because you, my dear, want to cash in on the benefits. Think about it. I could use a partner.”

She sighed. “I’m already involved, aren’t I? You’re evil, you know.”

“Yes. And you will be, too.”

“They’ll try to stop us. Even our friends. Except maybe Fitey. She’s weird.”

“They probably will try to stop us.”

She walked over to the nearest computer terminal and read the display. “Wow. This actually looks possible. Um…okay. I’m in.”

He seemed pleased. “I knew you would be! We are now the Evil Rose Corporation. Catchy, huh?”

“Yeah, sure. So who are we kidnapping? Have you decided?”

“Someone who will fall for it, of course.”

“Tyrael?”

“Yep. Let the plan begin! The world will be ours! Can you laugh evilly?”

“Mwhahaha?”

“We’ll work on that.”

TO BE CONTINUED IN THE ALBUQUERQUE SAGA.