25 Roses (18 page)

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Authors: Stephanie Faris

BOOK: 25 Roses

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To: Mia

From: Mia

You’re perfect just the way you are.

“What’s this?”

I smiled down at Kaylee, who was sneering up at me. Six of her friends were gathered around her, but I started with Kaylee. I set her rose on the desk in front of her and stepped back. Then I started handing roses out to everyone around her.

“Now, you’ll notice there’s a card attached to each rose,” Ms. Phillips, Kaylee’s homeroom teacher, announced. It was the following Monday and Ms. Phillips was helping me with my secret plan. “Write the name of the person you want it to go to and write a short message on the card, then hand it back to Mia, who will kindly make sure your rose gets to that person.”

“Do we have to pay for it?” someone asked from the back of the room. I didn’t look to see who it was. Alex and Ashleigh were back there, and I didn’t want to take the chance of making eye contact and losing my nerve completely.

“No, you don’t,” Ms. Phillips said. “Mia will explain why after all the roses are handed out.”

It had taken me a while to find chocolate roses so long after Valentine’s Day. Finally, Mom had found a drug store that still had some, plus they were on clearance.

I came to Ashleigh and Alex before I’d expected it. They’d moved from where Alex had been sitting when we’d delivered roses on Valentine’s Day. I stopped, a handful of roses in front of me, and stared at the two of them. They stared back.

“I’m sorry,” I mouthed. I was looking at Ashleigh as I did so, but it went for Alex, too. Neither of them had spoken to me for the rest of the lock-in Friday, and of course, nobody had called me all weekend. That was fine with me, because it gave me more time to work on my plan.

Since neither of them responded, I set a rose on each desk and walked toward the front of the room, I tried to gather
my courage. With each step, I felt like I was getting stronger. I could do this. I really could. I’d prepared for it all weekend because I had no other choice.

I had to explain everything. No more hiding. No more secrets.

But most importantly, no more games. My sister was great, but I was great too. It didn’t matter if I received a hundred roses on Valentine’s Day or none at all. What was important was really good friends, parents who were proud of me, and doing the right thing. When I’d been dishonest about the roses, it had been the wrong thing, even though I had good reasons for doing it. I realized that now.

I’d have to do this in every other seventh-grade classroom as well. One rose for each person, purchased out of my allowance savings, and a speech for every class. This would be the hardest, though, because this class had Ashleigh and Alex. If I could do this class, I could do the rest.

I turned and faced the class. “Last year we all sat by and watched as the same people collected roses,” I began. “Do you know how it feels to sit by while everyone around you
gets roses? You hope, maybe just this once, that one of those roses will come your way.”

I looked at the people in front of me then and judged their reactions. I ignored Kaylee and her friends, and I didn’t dare look in Ashleigh’s direction. I’d lose all my nerve if I saw either her or Alex.

But there were plenty of other people to look at. They seemed to be hearing what I was saying and nodding. That gave me the push to go forward.

“So that was what I did,” I continued. “I didn’t think about what I was doing, I guess. It hurt people. I sent roses to people from secret admirers and let them figure out who had sent them. It was wrong.”

“But you are setting it right,” Ms. Phillips said. “And we thank you for that, don’t we?”

I wasn’t finished yet. I continued speaking.

“This will only set things right if you have the courage to do something,” I said. “Most of you have crushes on someone you’d never, ever tell. Tell them. Take the chance.”

People looked down. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Kaylee had that sneer on her face again.

“If you don’t have a crush, write something nice to someone,” I continued. “Someone you’d never tell in person. And
sign it. Sign your name to it. None of this secret admirer stuff.”

“Thank you,” Ms. Phillips said. She stepped forward and began giving everyone instructions, leaving me to step back. That was when I dared to make eye contact with Ashleigh. She smiled at me, and for the first time in days, I had hope.

Maybe my friends could forgive me.

“That will be all, Miss Hartley,” Ms. Phillips said. “You’re free to go to your next homeroom.”

Ms. Phillips knew I was doing this in every seventh-grade classroom, so she was just trying to help. But I wanted to stay around and find out if Ashleigh and Alex really had forgiven me. With no other choice, though, I began walking around, collecting roses, as people wrote. I had to keep them separate from the blank cards or I’d have a mess.

Alex handed me his without looking at me, and my heart fell. My smile fell as well. I wanted to read his, but I knew that would be wrong, even if I did it after I got into the hallway.

Ashleigh was still writing. I’d passed her to pick up Alex’s, but when I backed up, she kept writing like I wasn’t even standing there. She held it up but didn’t hand it over
when I wrapped my fingers around it. Her gaze moved deliberately to the card, where I looked at it and saw the words,
Read this now.

Maybe I was slow, but it took a second for me to realize that was meant for me. I opened the card, right there in front of everyone, and read the words I’d been hoping to read.

I’m sorry,
she’d written.
Let’s talk.

I looked at her and nodded. She knew I was sorry as well. That was what this whole thing was about. But I mouthed the words, “I’m sorry too,” just to make sure.

Then I turned and rolled the cart into the hallway, feeling better about things already. I still had to make things right with the rest of the school. One class down, the rest of the seventh-grade classrooms to go. The roses were just a way to help people the honest way this time.

At the end of homeroom, it was time to give the roses out. I set the cart in front of a table in the hallway, where I quickly realized I’d taken on far more than I could handle. How could I have ever thought one person could do all of this? I had to arrange everything alphabetically without reading the messages and then hand them out when people came to get theirs. And I had about five seconds to do it before final bell rang.

Final bell rang and I still had a mess. Students, who had all been told to come to the trophy case to get their roses, began lining up. I was still digging through cards, trying to find one for the first person in line, when I heard a voice behind me.

“I’ll help you.”

“Me too.”

I turned around and there was Ashleigh. I smiled. Then I saw Alex standing behind her, and my smile widened. I was relieved they were helping me, sure, but mostly I was just relieved they were both my friends again.

“There’s something I never told you,” Ashleigh said, low enough so only I could hear. “I sent Kaylee’s rose. I wanted to watch her try to figure out who sent it.”

I was stunned. “Did you tell her?” I asked.

“I will,” Ashleigh answered. “I want to help you first.”

Sun and Gillianni pushed through the crowd behind Ashleigh. They were there to help too. Together, we handed out cards until the only ones that were left were the ones for each of us.

All of us had more than one. I personally had written up one for each of them, telling them what I thought was great about them, but I was surprised to find they’d all done the
same. I saved Alex’s for last, and once the rest of our friends had stepped off to the side to give us a few minutes alone, we read each other’s.

I’d written him just a few simple words.
I was too naive to realize it before, but I’ve liked you for a long, long, long time.
His smile told me those had been the right words. Then he waited while I read mine.

You’re the most amazing person I’ve ever known.

Ashleigh, Sun, and Gillianni had all written similar things. Even though they’d all gotten mad at me, when they’d stopped to think about it, they realized I’d been trying to do the right thing. Trying to help others. And now, by helping me, they were doing the right thing too.

I knew we still had a lot to talk about, but at least we were talking. As long as they’d let me make it up to them, I’d start today and make sure I never, ever broke my friends’ trust again.

“So no more matchmaking?” Alex said as we started toward class after pushing the cart back to the principal’s office.

“No way,” I said. “Seventh graders are in charge of their own lives from now on. I’m just happy hanging out with my friends and being me.”

He smiled at me. I smiled back. I couldn’t believe it had taken me this long to realize how much I liked him. Even worse, he’d liked me all this time and I’d never even realized it. It looked like all that time I’d spent matchmaking, I almost missed what was right in front of me all along.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Most people don’t realize it takes a small village to create a book. I’m lucky to have the best village ever. Thank you to my agent, Natalie Lakosil; my editor, Alyson Heller; everyone at Simon & Schuster, especially Teresa Ronquillo; and my copyeditor, Valerie Shea.

Speaking of cheerleaders, a big thank-you to everyone who supported me in the release of my first book, including the Midsouth SCBWI, Mary Grey at Parnassus Books, and Sue at BookManBookWoman. I hope to bring many more readers your way!

I also have to thank the person in my junior high who brought in the carnation sale for Valentine’s Day. Without that, I might not ever have been inspired to write about chocolate roses.

Thank you to my husband, Neil, who makes life so fun and amazing. I look forward to seeing where our adventure takes us next.

STEPHANIE FARIS
knew she wanted to be an author from a very young age. In fact, her mother often told her to stop reading so much and go outside and play with the other kids. After graduating from Middle Tennessee State University with a Bachelor of Science in broadcast journalism, she somehow found herself working in information technology. But she never stopped writing.

Stephanie is the author of
30 Days of No Gossip
and
25 Roses
, both with Aladdin M!X. When she isn’t crafting fiction, she writes for a variety of websites on the topics of business, technology, and her favorite subject of all—fashion. She lives in Nashville with her husband.