Chapter 5 - A Stinky Rose
----------------------------♡--------------------------
Why fit in when you were born to stand out?
~ Dr. Seuss
----------------------------♡--------------------------

"Um . . . Can we help you?" Savannah asked.

For strange reasons, she appeared upset I had joined her group of friend. Truth be told, Babushka and Viktor should've been the ones complaining right now. We ditched the siblings.

"You can try," I shrugged. "But right now, I'm hungry. Maybe you'll help pass the roses out later on. Sound good?"

Everyone stared at me as if I had said something strange.

Toby disguised his laugh under a cough.

Savannah smirked at me and pulled out a rose-less stem with solid thorns poking out. "You mean these?" I frowned as she brought three more from her backpack. "No worries. Our Shakespeare group has the rest of your roses . . . Well, the stems, anyways."

Plot twist?

"Why are you destroying the flower petals?" I asked genuinely upset.

"Why are you sitting on my lunch table?" she shot back.

"Do you own it?" I asked curiously. A few of her friends snickered. I allowed my eyes to survey the unfamiliar faces and was pleased to spot Liam in the group. "Hey, what's up?"

"The c-ceiling?" Liam offered. I looked up for a second along with a bunch of others who subconsciously mirrored my action. "The ligh-lighting's a bit d-dim, isn't i-it?"

"What's wrong with that? You want a disco ball up there?" Toby said sarcastically. Liam rolled his eyes and proceeded to eat his lunch. "And you know each other?"

Liam and I exchanged an uneasy glance. No one here knew that Liam was a traitor.

"We have Chemistry together," I said quickly.

"A-amazing che-chemistry," Liam added, earning a chuckle from me.

"I see." Toby dropped the topic at that.

"Don't tell me you're switching sides just because she gave you a rose?" Savannah said in a warning tone. "She's desperate for friends and attention." Her friends gave me pitiful glances as if Savannah had insulted me.

"What's wrong with that? Who doesn't enjoy making new friends?" I asked slightly worried. I haven't attended a high school before, but I doubt it was against the rules to want friends. "In fact, I insist we all be friends and eliminate the hate between the Shakespeare Club--"

"Shakespeare sucks," Toby said, casually munching on his tater tots. "Tell me how a thirteen year old girl falling in love with like guy my age is an epic romance?"

"Epic because they killed so many people . . . including themselves!" one of Savannah's friends exclaimed. I sighed. All of the people around me were in agreement that it was impossible for a young love to be so pure and . . . true. Maybe they were right in what they believed, but like a coin, there are always two sides to a story.

Like a great therapist once said, "Our perspective dictates what we think, how we think, and even why we think."

"Why are you so quiet, now?" Savannah prompted. "Don't you always have to answer everything?"

Giving her a smile, I said, "If you really want to hear my thoughts, then you should've just asked." She rolled her eyes as if she didn't believe my words. "The whole point of Romeo & Juliet isn't about the death of two lovers. It's about reunification of two families who had unknown complications and couldn't accept even the mention of the other's name. It's about two teenagers who acted high on their emotions, exactly how teenagers behave. They fell in love--"

"Lust," Savannah corrected.

"How do you know it was lust?" I asked.

"How do you know it wasn't?" Toby asked me, cocking an eyebrow. Although I wanted to stop explaining to them, I still continued. I didn't come to sit down with Savannah for no reason. Trust me, the silent Russian and his sister were a much better company. Even Toby was going against me. I had no backup over here. Liam couldn't even turn down his disguise.

"Would they have willingly killed themselves because the person they loved died?" Now, no one wanted to speak up. "You truly have to love someone so madly that you give up your life for them."

"You act like you have experience," Savannah said in a taunting tone.

"Better known as common sense," I said and refrained smiling. Toby snickered along with a few other people. Pretending to run a hand through his hair, Liam gave me a quick thumbs up. We were the winning party as of right now. Knowing full well one of these students might bring up another one of their Shakespeare issues, I added, "Think about what I said. Life's too short to keep criticizing Shakespeare. While you do that, I better enlighten the lives of other amazing people."

"With red roses?" asked Savannah.

Waving them goodbye, I got out of my seat. Toby made no motion, so I assumed he chose them.

"Hey wait, you never told us your name," some guy said.

"What's in a name?" I joked. No one laughed. "The name's Khan. Noor Khan."

Fingers crossed, I sounded cool and mysterious like James Bond.

Nevertheless, I hurried out of there. It was impossible to believe I socialized with people. At one point of time, I couldn't even face my bodyguards without fear.

Humans are the scariest creatures on this planet.

¤》¤《¤

"What were their reactions?"

"Oh my god, they actually listened to the positives of Shakespeare?"

"Noor, talk to me!"

Massaging my temple, I continued trudging by her side to the outside exit to meet Michael. After I ditched Regina George's group, Babushka wanted all details of why I left her with "the most boring person in this school" aka her brother. Even after one hundred honest explanations, she wasn't convinced about my actions, words, and motive.

"Liam will willingly confirm my words," I told her once again. Shooting me an annoyed glance, she calmed down finally. My eyes flickered to the door where Toby was walking outside with Liam. "I wonder why Toby stayed back with the haters," I said. This issue had been bothering me since lunch. "Did he bring me there so everyone could team up against me and crush my self-esteem?"

She scowled.

"Don't worry. No one except I can kill my self-esteem," I assured, grinning.

"I bet," she agreed. "By the way, I'm curious to know what the haters are gonna do with those stems." We both fell in deep thought at that statement of hers. "Prick their fingers with it?" But then again, they might just throw it out. It was a waste of money, but many people appreciated them.

"Who cares?" I said shrugging. "It's not a crime to give someone a sweet rose."

"I suppose not," she said, tucking her hair behind her ears. "Anyways, I have to find one of my friends and catch up on a missing assignment. I'll see you tomorrow, alright?"

I waved a goodbye as she left in a rush, mumbling how irresponsible and forgetful she was becoming every day.

On my way to Michael's car, another presence took my side. Frankly, I wasn't too content on seeing Toby, but then again, he hadn't done anything wrong. He stuck by his group and that was something I would've done if I was in his place.

Wait, wasn't he with Liam a few minutes ago?

My eyes skimmed over the mob of students and surrendered when I couldn't spot the sweet, stuttering guy.

"Hey," I greeted casually. "What did I do to deserve your attention, Hottie?" I wiggled my eyebrows.

Instead of making a snide remark, he answered, "Can I ask you something?"

Something seemed off. His eyes were moving uneasily between me and another group of students. By another group, it was Savannah's. After the lunch incident, they probably didn't fancy him conversing with me. Especially Savannah who had her eyes scrutinized to the point that her forehead even seemed to wrinkle.

She better stop that if she didn't want lines forming on there.

"You can ask me anything," I said. "I never say no to good looking guys."

He let out a soft chuckle. "When you sat down with Savannah's group," he began, "I assumed you wanted to fit in and all. But then you went back after your mini-Shakespeare lesson. Noor, don't you worry about upsetting people who can make senior year difficult for you?"

I was about to reply when my nose caught a whiff of something horrible.

An inexplicable aroma.

Not exactly.

Rotten eggs, sulfar, or something like that.

"Do you smell that?" I asked Toby, disregarding whatever he was saying. "Something stinks." He scowled and sniffed the air in an exaggerated manner. With an accusing glare, I said, "Did you . . . ? I mean I totally understand your biological releases, but--"

"I didn't fart!" he said defensively. "You're walking near ten other people. It could've been anyone."

I moved forward and sniffed his arm. He gave me an odd look, but I kind of liked the cologne he used. It was like a scent of soap, fresh air, and all things nice. "You smell good. All clear."

"Thanks," Toby said still weirded out. "Hey, your backpack's open," he said. It happened quite often, actually. With the amount of textbooks in there, the poor bag needed to take breaths sometimes. I tried to reach over and close it, but was unable to find the zip. "I got it." Toby moved behind me and started closing the zipper. "Hey, you didn't answer my question earlier. Why are you killing your chances of fitting in?"

"Because I wasn't born to be like everyone else," I said calmly. For someone who had always been homeschooled, it wasn't possible to just fit in. I heard the zipper being shut and Toby was by my side again. "Fitting in is for people who seek acceptance from others. I don't. I'm an individual and I'd prefer to keep it that way."

Yes, if my mother, Ms. President, heard those words she'd have a heart attack. It'd be written in America's history that the Vice President who had become President after the last President's death also passed away. Allah forbid anything happened to my mother. She was the only parent I had left in this world.

"Whatever you say," he said. He didn't even look like he heard anything I said. Rubbing the back of his neck, he said, "I'll see you tomorrow."

He hurried away from me towards his friends, disappointing me a little.

Why did he come to me in the first place?

The smell of that nasty aroma still hadn't left and I feared it was me.

Am I farting without knowing?

Is that why Toby left?

Oh no!

When did I become a skunk?!

My face burned from those thoughts as I joined Michael and his sister. Miley and I rode in his car, today. Their parents advocated eco-friendliness, hence saving gas by driving to school together unless one of them had to go somewhere alone. I was sure my aunt and uncle just didn't like giving them money to pay for gas.

"Oh god, what's that smell?" Miley asked as Michael began driving. "Who farted in here?"

"Don't look at me," Michael said quickly.

Even though no one accused him.

"That smell's been following me since Toby talked to me," I said truthfully. It'd be mean if the blame got put on someone else. The twins exchanged a glance and burst out laughing. "Am I missing something?" Was it some sibling thing?

I wished I had a sibling. Even an adopted one would work.

What if science advances to the point where I can have a clone?

"Did he give you something?" asked Michael.

"Nope."

"Mess with your stuff?" Miley queried.

I was about to say no when I remembered the backpack on my lap.

Slowly, I unzipped the bag, regretting it every second. On top of my textbooks laid a vivid green stem with a white rose instead of a red one. Don't be misled by the white rose part.

It was actually a stinky egg.

A small post-it was lying by it with the most famous Shakespeare quote and a personal note.

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

Even when it's an egg rose?

Now I knew what the stem-less roses were used for!

¤》¤《¤

Vote · Comment · Share

Love ya peeps ♥♥♥