Coming Up Roses

by Catherine R. Daly

  It was Wednesday, three days before the big day. At least, I thought to myself on my way to school that morning, you don’t have to bring Mr. Know-It-All to school with you today! Thank goodness for small favors.

  At lunchtime, I headed over to the drink machine to treat myself to an iced tea. I ran into my friend Maria Gonzalez and chatted with her about her latest art project, a menagerie of animals she’d made entirely out of office supplies. Maria was so creative that I sometimes wished she worked at Petal Pushers — she’d be a natural!

  After three tries to get the machine to take my dollar, I pressed the ICED TEA button. And out came a grape soda. Not my favorite by a long shot. I was standing there, deciding whether I had time to try to return the soda and get my money back, when a flash of perfectly straightened blonde hair caught my eye.

  It was Ashley, talking animatedly with someone at a nearby table. But then I took another look. Ashley wasn’t talking with either of her two interchangeable brunette best friends. This girl was younger and blonder.

  My mouth fell open.

  Ashley was having a conversation with my sister Rose!

  It took a moment for it to sink in. Then it all started to make perfect sense. Ashley was the reason my sister was insulting my clothes and using words like “totes.”

  But why had Ashley befriended my younger sister? I took a swig of the grape soda, grimaced, and started to march over to confront them. But then the bell rang for class. I was blocked by the mass of students all standing up at the same exact time and swarming around the garbage cans. I felt like a salmon swimming its way upstream as I tried to fight through the crowd. By the time I ended up at the table my sister and my enemy had been sitting at, they were gone.

  The only thing left was a napkin with a perfect, glittery pink lip-gloss kiss mark on it.

  At the end of the day, I made my way to Ashley’s locker. Her handmaidens stood on either side of her as she looked in her locker mirror and smoothed her already perfect hair. She turned around and looked me up and down. “Hello, Delphinium,” she said snidely. “Need some fashion advice?”

  “All I want to know is why you are hanging out with my little sister,” I told her, getting right to the point.

  “What’s it to you?” Ashley asked.

  “Yeah, like, what’s it to you?” said Sabrina.

  “The only reason I can see that you would want to hang out with a sixth grader is to annoy me,” I said. “So I’m going to ask you nicely. Why are you spending time with Rose?”

  Ashley smirked. “Why don’t you ask her yourself?” she said, pointing behind me.

  My heart sank. This was not going the way I had planned it. I turned around, wincing, and there stood Rose at her locker, which, I just realized, was directly across the hall from Ashley’s. She did not look happy at all.

  “Aren’t you supposed to be at rehearsal?” I asked her.

  Ashley snorted. “Shows how much you know about your own sister,” she said. “She quit ages ago!”

  I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. “Rose, is that true?”

  Rose ignored my question, her cheeks turning bright pink. “Is it too difficult to think that Ashley is hanging out with me because she likes me, Del?” she asked.

  Actually, it was. Unfortunately, when the word actually popped into my mind, I thought of Nicholas and how he seemed to be trying to set a world record for the number of times he could say that word, and it made me smile.

  Rose’s mouth fell open. “This isn’t funny, Del!” she said angrily. “You think everything is about you. And it isn’t!”

  She stormed down the hall. Ashley grinned at me. “I’m going to go see how my dear friend Rose is doing,” she said, slamming her locker shut and sauntering off.

  I stood there, shaking. It all made sense now. Rose had been having a rough time in middle school. Especially since Aster was, shockingly enough, fitting in so well. Even the Drama Club, where Rose had always been a star, had been a disappointment to her. Ashley, I reasoned, must have figured out who Rose was, seen her looking upset, and decided she’d “befriend” her. It was just my bad luck that their lockers were so close.

  I had to convince Rose that Ashley was no friend of hers. And that she couldn’t just give up on Drama Club after one disappointment — acting was her biggest love! Plus, I knew that if she followed her passion, she’d find real friends.

  But it was going to be hard. Because right now I didn’t think my sister was talking to me.

  Wouldn’t you know it, as I was standing there, trying to collect my thoughts, I got another text message from Nicholas.

  HEY — R U GOING TO HOMECOMING?

  Was he for real? Enough was enough. Angrily, I typed back: WHAT DO YOU THINK, EINSTEIN? Could this day get any more annoying?

  Chapter Eleven

  I woke up Friday morning and lay in bed for approximately one split second before my brain started to swirl with activity. I had a lot on my plate today:

  1) Get Rose to talk to me (last night over dinner had been a complete failure) and explain to her that Ashley was a big fake. Oh, and get her to rejoin Drama Club.

  2) Pass my Spanish test.

  3) Rush to the store right after school to start assembling hundreds of Homecoming corsages. And hope, hope, hope that we would be able to sell them.

  4) Try not to fixate too much on the big family meeting on Sunday about the future of Petal Pushers.

  5) And finally — try to figure out why was Hamilton Baldwin was not talking to me.

  Things had been really weird yesterday at school. He passed me in the hall and didn’t seem to see me. He didn’t pass my locker once all day. Had he decided to take an alternate route to avoid me? And during assembly, I waved to him from across the auditorium and he had pretended he hadn’t seen me! So I’d pretended I was fixing my hair, my face burning with embarrassment.

  “He must have heard that we were trying to take back some of the Homecoming business from his mom’s store,” I had said to my friends that day at lunch. “And now he’s mad.”

  Becky had shaken her head. “That makes no sense,” she’d said. “He has no interest in what goes on in either flower shop. He told you that himself.”

  I sighed. “But then what could it be?”

  “Maybe he’s just in a bad mood,” said Jessica with a shrug.

  Well, whatever was going on was certainly starting to put me in one.

  As Becky would, I tried to look on the bright side. I’d be so busy on Saturday that it was probably better that Hamilton wouldn’t be going to the game with me.

  Somehow, this thought did not make me feel any better.

  I made myself get up and get dressed. Downstairs, my family — and Nicholas and his mom — were all gathered around the breakfast table.

  “Please pass the maple syrup, Nicholas,” Rose said pointedly as I took my seat.

  “Really, Rose?” I said. The maple syrup was sitting right next to my plate.

  “Really,” she said. I shook my head and handed Nicholas the syrup, who then handed it to Rose. “Thank you, Nicholas,” she said.

  Aster looked at me, concerned.

  On the walk to school, for the first time ever, Rose walked so quickly she was soon a block ahead of us.

  “What’s going on?” Aster asked. “Why is Rose so mad at you?”

  “I … um … found out that she has been hanging out with Ashley Edwards. And I think she dropped out of Drama Club entirely.”

  Aster’s eyes widened. “Why?”

  I shrugged. “To hang out with her new BFF?”

  “But why would Ashley want to hang out with Rose?” Aster wondered.

  “I think it’s to get back at me,” I said. “But Rose heard me telling Ashley that, and now she’s furious with me.”

  Aster shook her head. “This is bad,” she said. “What can we do about it?” Her shoulders sagged. “I’ve been a terrible sister.”

  I shook my head. “I need to figur
e out a way to convince Rose that she doesn’t want to hang out with Ashley. It has to be her decision, though.”

  Aster frowned. “I told you something was wrong,” she said.

  I sighed. “I know, Aster. I should have listened. I guess I was too distracted by everything else that’s been going on.”

  When we got to school, we went our separate ways. “Good luck,” said Aster. “Let me know what I can do.”

  “I will,” I promised. But I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do, let alone how anyone else could help.

  But in the middle of English class I had a sudden, brilliant idea.

  Mrs. Ferrerio had been going around the room, calling on students to take turns reading from the Shakespeare play we were studying, Romeo and Juliet. I sighed. This was going to be one painful class.

  And at first, I was right. Most kids mumbled their lines, or read them like they were grocery lists instead of dialogue. I was alternating between being hugely bored and totally nervous that I would be called on next when Lisa Davis and Maryann Williams began to read a scene between Juliet and her Nurse. I began to listen. Lisa was funny and feisty as the Nurse. I even laughed out loud.

  “Excellent!” Mrs. Ferrerio said, a smile finally spreading across her face.

  Then the bell rang, and I was spared having to follow up Lisa’s amazing delivery. I picked up my books and fought through the crowd to catch up with her in the hallway. This couldn’t be more perfect — Lisa had the lead in the school play. Plus, she had been in elementary school with me and Ashley. I knew how to win Rose back from the dark side. I just hoped Lisa would go along with it.

  Finally, the day was over. Lisa was going to meet me at my locker and we would head over to pay Ashley a visit. Hopefully, Rose would show up soon after.

  When we arrived, Rose, Sabrina, Rachel, and Ashley were all whispering together at Ashley’s locker. “Hello, Ashley,” I said. She turned, looking surprised to see me standing there with Lisa.

  “Well, hello, Delphinium, Linda,” she said.

  “Lisa,” Lisa corrected her.

  “Whatev,” Ashley said. “What do you geeks, I mean, girls, want?” Sabrina and Rachel laughed. Rose shifted, looking uncomfortable.

  “Hey, Rose,” said Lisa. “We missed you at rehearsal yesterday.”

  “Rose has more important things to do,” said Ashley. “Right, Rose?”

  “Um … yeah,” said Rose.

  “She’s not into acting anymore,” Ashley explained for her.

  “It’s funny,” I said directly to Rose. “Lisa and I remember when Ashley used to be really into acting.”

  “That’s right,” said Lisa. “She even got the lead in the third-grade play.”

  “You did?” Rose asked Ashley. “I thought you said acting was for losers.”

  Ashley looked down at her admittedly fabulous pair of clog boots. “That was a long time ago,” she said.

  “Ashley couldn’t remember any of her lines,” I went on, “and Lisa had to whisper them to her. Then she walked off the stage in the middle of the first act and Lisa had to play two parts!”

  “I quit the play because it was lame!” Ashley insisted.

  “So, Rose,” I said. “It’s not that Ashley thinks Drama Club is for losers, it’s that she hates drama. Because she wasn’t very good at it.”

  Ashley snapped open her locker. “That’s not true,” she said with a sneer. “I really do think it’s totes for losers.”

  Ugh. Of all of Ashley’s abbreviations, that one had to be the worst! I cleared my throat, about to lecture my sister. “I know it’s been hard not having the lead role. But next year, I’m sure you’ll get a bigger part. And before you know it …”

  “Zip it, Del,” said Rose. She smiled at me. “You’ve convinced me. Thank you.” My mouth fell open as Rose turned to Lisa and the two began chatting as they walked down the hallway.

  Ashley stared after my sister, her hands on her hips, her mouth set into a thin line. Then she shrugged and spun open her lock. “Whatev,” she said. She turned to me. “You still here? Um, do you mind moving away from my locker? I don’t want people to think we’re hanging out or anything.”

  “With pleasure, Paris Hilton,” I said, naming the worst actress I could think of.

  Ashley looked at me blankly. It didn’t matter that she had no idea what I had meant. It felt good to me. So I took off after Rose and Lisa. I tapped Rose on the shoulder and she and Lisa turned around.

  Lisa beamed at me. “Rose is coming back to Drama Club!” she said.

  “That’s great,” I told them both. I grinned at Rose. “Was I really that persuasive?” I couldn’t help asking.

  Rose bit her lip. “Oh, maybe a little,” she said. “Well, what really happened was that Aster and her goth friends walked by yesterday and Ashley started making fun of them. I told her to lay off and she wouldn’t. That is so totally uncool.” She took a deep breath. “Plus, I missed going to rehearsal, even though I wasn’t the star. And I met a fun girl in my math class. We’re going to the mall together on Sunday.”

  “Oh good,” I said, feeling slightly deflated. I guess I wasn’t quite as helpful as I had imagined. Still, things were back to normal, and that was all that mattered, anyway.

  Rose gave me a quick hug. “I do appreciate your looking out for me, Del,” she said.

  “Of course,” I said. I watched as she and Lisa headed to rehearsal. That was one less person to help with the corsage making this afternoon. But it was totally worth it.

  I packed up my books and went to collect Aster at her locker.

  “Rose won’t be joining us today,” I told her. “She’s at rehearsal!”

  “Oh, Del, that’s great!” Aster said. “I knew you could do it!”

  “Actually, I think Rose figured it out for herself,” I told her.

  “Hello, everyone!” I called out as I pushed open the flower shop door. The bell rang merrily.

  “Hello, Delphinium, Aster,” said Aunt Lily. My stomach sank. She, Mom, Debbie, and Nicholas were sitting at the worktable. They were surrounded by leaves, yellow and red roses, floral wire, tape, and corsage pins. My great-aunt was dressed in a tweedy suit as usual, but her hat and jacket were off and the sleeves of her pale blue silk blouse were rolled up. There was a pile of expertly made corsages next to her.

  “Hey, Aunt Lily,” I said. “Did you make those corsages?”

  She nodded, smiling. “It comes right back to you!” she said, indicating the pile. “Like riding a bike!”

  I caught Mom’s eye and she gave me a tiny shrug back as if to say, Your guess is as good as mine!

  “Don’t just stand there, you guys,” said Nicholas. “Pull up a chair!” I slipped off my jacket, and Aster and I joined in.

  We laughed and joked, put roses in our hair, and listened as Nicholas told us about the history of the corsage. A lump formed in my throat as I looked from Mom to Aster. This could be one of the last times we worked together in the old store.

  When I thought we were done, Mom hauled out two more buckets of roses — one red, one yellow.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  Mom shrugged. “Nicholas was here when I was ordering the roses and he convinced me to order extra. He’s really sure we’re going to sell each and every one.”

  I gave him a questioning look, but he just smiled at me.

  “You can thank me later, Del,” he said.

  Finally, my cramped fingers wrapped the very last floral wire around my very last corsage. We were done. Yawning, I collected the empty pizza boxes and soda cans left over from our hasty supper.

  At home, as I climbed into bed, I had one last thought before I fell into a deep sleep: Can everything go smoothly, just for once?

  Chapter Twelve

  The next morning, we drove to Petal Pushers to assemble the rose dress. On the way there, I got a small thrill of excitement. It was Homecoming Day! The town was already bustling with activity, and a huge sign hung
over Fairfield Street read WELCOME TO HOMECOMING WEEKEND! In all the drama, I had lost sight of the fun that was in store.

  I wasn’t going with Hamilton, but other than that, everything would be okay. As long as we got the dress done in time, and people bought corsages, what could go wrong?

  Approximately four hundred roses later, Mom was finished. She had hired a seamstress to make a simple, floor-length strapless dress out of a light, yet sturdy fabric. And then Mom had completely covered the dress with roses.

  I helped her place the rose-covered garment on the dress form. We stepped across the room and took our first real look at our creation.

  Dad let out a low whistle. “I think you’ve outdone yourselves,” he said.

  “Oh, Mom,” I breathed. “It’s incredible.”

  “It is,” she said in a hushed voice.

  It was the most beautiful dress I had ever seen, covered in velvety soft, red buds. It looked like the richest, softest fabric that money could buy. And the smell was heavenly. I just wanted to bury my face in it. I felt this warm glow of pride spreading out in my chest. It had been an amazing idea, if I did say so myself.

  Nicholas, of course, took several shots of it, from all different angles. After we packed up the corsages, each one nestled into a cardboard display, Mom hung the dress on a padded hanger. We’d be transporting it on a dress rack in the back of the van. Nicholas had volunteered to sit in the back and make sure it didn’t get crushed. To be safe, Mom packed a whole bunch of replacement red roses.

  Mom, Nicholas, Rose, Aster, and I piled into the minivan. Dad drove Debbie and Poppy in his car. We’d all rendezvous in the parking lot at McIlhenny University.

  Rose and Aster were in the middle seats, whispering excitedly to each other. For once, their extreme closeness didn’t make me feel the slightest bit wistful. I was just happy things were back to normal with them.

  I peered out the window as we approached the campus. Crowds were milling about, wearing their McIlhenny sweatshirts. A bunch of kids were wearing moose antlers on their heads. Others had their faces painted half red and half yellow.