Rose in the Dark

"Sheeeeesh," I heard for the thousandth time coming from my sister's cellphone. It was Saturday, and the two of us were cooped up inside. Mom had been called into work, so we decided to waste our days away playing on our phones.

My phone dinged, letting me know that I only had five percent battery left, and I groaned, "Hey, Hannah, you done with the charger?" She murmured a reply I couldn't quite here, so I spoke up a little.

"Yo, Earth to Scatterbrain, you done with the charger?"

"I said I wasn't using it, dipwad, open your ears," Hannah grumbled, hardly any louder than before. I creased my brow.

"Didn't you tell me your phone was low?" I replied, worming out of my comforter on the floor below her to find the USB-C. Hannah set her phone on her chest, and scowled at me.

"Uh, yeah, I did, but I just didn't ever move to grab the charger. What's your percent?" She said, reaching out to grab the charger from me, but I swiped it away before she had the chance.

"I'm at five, so let me get it for a few minutes," I snapped slightly at her, already hooking in my phone. After I set it on the table and released it, Hannah had already unplugged it and prepared hers. I reached up to resist, but she pressed her foot to my shoulder to keep me at a distance.

"Chill, Rose, my phone just died. I need it more than you. Go grab the one from the kitch-" she was cut off, both of us jumping out of our blankets as the lights shut off with a loud whirring.

"Woah...is it storming out?" I said to Hannah, shoving her foot slightly as I rose from the carpet. She leaned over the back of the couch to check the window just behind, and shook her head.

"No...it's a normal, nice day outside. Maybe the breaker flipped?"

"Nose goes on checking," I shot quickly, pressing my index finger to the tip of my nose. I received a groan of frustration from Hannah, but she shimmed out of her blanket and off the couch without fighting any further.

I stole her spot on the couch, even going so far as to swap our blankets, and began playing on my phone. A few minutes passed, and my phone died before Hannah got back. I chewed on my lip impatiently, and just as I decided to go check on her, I could hear her feet stomping through the kitchen.

I sat up slightly, propping myself up on my elbows, and peaked at her. She spoke, "Not sure what happened. None of the breakers were off, but I flipped a few on and off to see if anything would change."

"I didn't notice anything," I replied, and she shrugged.

"Call Mom, or maybe Uncle Rick, maybe they know what's up."

"I would, but I...well kind of drained the rest of my battery," I said with a shrug, and she furrowed her eyebrows at me.

"Really? Ugh, whatever. Get up and let's go see if Mr. Holten can do something for us," Hannah said, turning back into the kitchen and half storming, half power-walking out. It didn't take me long to catch up to her, and we both made our way out of the side door.

Mr. Holten, our next door neighbor on the right side, was already on his way out of the door when we entered his yard, and he gave us a smile. Hannah and I exchanged a glance when we noticed the frustration in his eyes.

"Hey, Mr. Holten, did you lose power?"

"Sure did. Guessing I'm not the only one. You girls okay?" Mr. Holten's gaze turned to us, and I smiled while Hannah replied.

"Yessir, just a little annoyed. Can we borrow your phone to call our mom? Both of ours are dead," she said, and Mr. Holten handed off his cell to her. She stepped aside to make the call, and Mr. Holten grumbled, more to himself than me.

"Damned wiring in this neighborhood is older than the dirt. I've been telling the H.A. that we've been needing a tune up," he said, running his hand over his long, black beard.

Hannah returned with his phone, and he nodded to both of us. "I'll get to calling the electric company. If you girls need something, just knock."

"We will, Mr. Holten. Thank you," Hannah said with a smile, and the two of us trotted back to the front porch. Hannah settled onto our bench swing, and I sat beside her. She lazily set her arm over my shoulder, and we sat in a comfortable silent for a moments.

We watched our neighbors all come out of their houses, talk to each other, occasionally wave at those further away, or us, then return to their house. No one seemed to concerned, and for a second, I thought I saw a neighbor's television on.

"It is a really nice day," Hannah murmured, and I turned my attention to her. Her pale face and brown eyes were lit with a smile, and her black hair was pulled into a messy bun. I grinned at her.

"A little hot for my liking, but sure," I said. We'd always been a little different, but still very close. People often said we looked like twins, despite the fact I was three inches shorter than her at only a year younger. Still, I loved her, and knew she loved me.

After a few more minutes of quiet people watching, she finally rose from the swing, and started off the porch. "Why don't we go to the park or something?" she recommended, and I scrunched my face up.

"Eh...sure, why not? It'll give us something to do," I said, and sat up from the bench. Once I was off the porch, she nudged me slightly, pushing on my back as if to hurry me along.

"I'm going, Hannah! Sheesh..."

The park was only a few blocks from our house, right outside the elementary school, and right across the road from the high school. It had a jungle gym, complete with two slides - one straight and the other a spiral - monkey bars, and a very small rock wall on one side. There was a set of swings, four total, and a few seesaws opposite of those. On the very edge of it all was a short, lazy obstacle course that didn't get much use.

Hannah and I immediately noticed that all four swings were occupied, and I couldn't help but shoot Hannah a grin when I recognized one of the boys - Brad.

Brad was Hannah's classmate - another junior in the grade above me - and her biggest crush. The two of them were good friends, but Hannah was still flustered by him. It was pretty obvious he liked her too, but neither of them had ever made a move. He had dusty brown hair, which covered his forehead down to his eyebrows. His eyes were a crisp golden color in the light, but a darker hazel indoors.

He was handsome; I could see why Hannah liked him, but he was a total dork, too. Still, the guy was fun to be around.

Beside him, on his left, was another boy, Eric, who was in my grade, and a total butt head. He had strawberry blonde hair, with grey eyes. He'd be handsome too, if he didn't have such a big nose, and a permanent grin on his face all the time.

He bullied me a lot, but I kind of enjoyed it. I'd always been more of a tomboy, and he was always fun to heckle back.

Jessica, Eric's older sister, was on Brad's right. Her blonde hair was pulled up in a high, tight pony, and her bright green eyes lit up as she looked over at Hannah and I and smiled slightly.

She was very sweet, very pretty, and very quiet. When she talked, though, it was meaningful, and her voice was soft, but still demanded attention.

And I had a huge crush on her.

There were times it felt like she was flirting with me, not to mention Hannah teased me about how oblivious I was. Maybe she had a crush on me, too...

To her right was another boy, one of my friends, Jacob, who I'd known since kindergarten. I trusted him with everything. I'd come out to him before anyone else, even Hannah. Even after admitting he had a crush on me for a long time, he still never made it weird, and had even tried to be my wing man on a few occasions.

Hannah and I stopped just out of reach of the swings, with Jacob and Eric competing to see who could swing highest, and I called up to them, "It doesn't matter how high you go. You're both losers on the ground."

Jacob slowed slightly grinning at me as he swung back, then forward over my head again. I could hear Eric snort though, and he replied, "Lot of talk, coming from the biggest loser on the ground or in the sky."

Hannah laughed, her cheeks flushing slightly when she noticed Brad looking her way. I scowled at her, but shook my head with a grin when I noticed Jessica laughing softly. Jacob and Eric finally slowed their momentum and gave us all a chance to talk. Hannah spoke first.

"Did you guys lose power at your places, too?"

"We did, but we were already here," Jessica replied shortly.

"Yeah, Jess and I met Brad out her half an hour ago. Jacob showed up a little before you guys," Eric said, and then looked pointedly at me. "I guess you were following him, huh?"

"Stow it, Helmsey. We were bored, so we came here. Just a bad chance you were here, too," I sneered, and he glared back at me. I heard Jessica giggled, and I could feel my cheeks warm.

"Well, cool that you guys are here now. My dad says that the power went down because a transmitter burnt out on our grid," Brad said, gesturing off into the distance. "He and his crewmen are working on it now."

"So you guys are just swinging now?" I asked, leaning against the pole between Jessica and Brad. I was deeply aware of Jessica watching me from the corner of her eye.

"Mostly. Getting kind of boring now, I think," Brad said, but he smiled a bit. "Jess and I came up with an idea before you two showed up. Wanna hear it?"

"I'm game," I said, and looked back at Hannah to see her nodding in reply.

"Cool. Jess?" Brad turned to let Jessica take over, and she shrugged before she spoke.

"Nothing special. We thought playing hide and seek around the school could be pretty cool," Jessica said softly, leaning her head on the chain of the swing, her eyes glowing playfully as we looked each other. I thought I noticed a blush on her cheeks. I'm certain she noticed it on mine.

Eric was the first to reply, "Hell yeah, that sounds awesome! Not it!" Quickly, everyone was ringing in until Jessica and I were dubbed the seekers.

"Shoulda known it would be you, slowpoke. This will be too easy," Eric said, and I bucked up to him, causing him to jump slightly. Brad, Jessica, Hannah and Jacob laughed, while Eric scowled.

"Alright, we'll count to fifty. The school is pretty big, so that should give you time to get to the other side pretty easily," Jessica said, and got up from the swing, waving me over to the side of the park with the obstacle course on it.

"Better get moving guys! We're counting now," Jessica held up her phone, showing that she'd set a timer for fifty seconds. The other four scattered, with Eric and Jacob running around the right side, and Hannah following Brad around the left.

After watching the timer for a few seconds, Jessica looked up at me and smiled. "So what were you doing before this?" She said coolly, and I felt my stomach twist in literal knots.

"Oh...nothing really. Hannah and I were just playing on our TikToks," I said in reply, realizing how lazy and lame I sounded. To my surprised, Jessica minimized her timer and pulled up her TikTok app.

"I should have know. You sent me a lot," she replied with a small quirk of her lip. I blushed and shrugged a little.

"Most of it's lame, but you can find some gems if you dig enough," I said, laughing to myself awkwardly.

"You're funny, Rose," was all she replied, and when I looked up, her lips were curled up in a gentle smile that made her eyes twinkle. I was probably redder than a strawberry, and felt all too grateful when the alarm went off.

"Ready or not, here we come," I murmured to her, and her smile widened slightly, her teeth peaking through. She seemed excited.

"I bet I know where Eric hid. Let's go that around the left side and check under the bleachers at the football field," Jessica said, and I trotted beside her on the sidewalk.

When we arrived at the football field, I was trotting a bit ahead of Jessica, until I felt her hand on my arm. I turned back to see her smiling at me, and I returned it shyly.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to leave you behind," I said, laughing. She laughed as well, and when I turned back around, she pressed against my back and covered my eyes.

"Uh...Jess, what are you doing?" I asked.

"Humor me for a minute, okay?" She whispered in my ear, sending a chill down my spine. I wasn't sure what was going on, but with Jessica that close, I wasn't about to complain.

She led me forward for a little bit, until the grass of the field gave way to the track, then back to grass as we reached the bleachers. Jessica finally tugged me to a stop, and I stood awkwardly. After a few seconds, she spoke again.

"Alright...open your eyes."

I did, and underneath the bleachers stood Brad, Hannah, Jacob and Eric, as well as Brad's dad and my mom. Behind them, were five long pieces of paper, spelling out 'P-R-O-M-?'

I felt a lump in my throat, and was unsure how to react. I wasn't entirely sure what I was looking at until Jessica stepped in front of me, and took my right hand in both of hers. My eyes found hers, and I saw them cloudy with nervousness, and yet filled with confidence.

"I was wondering if you'd be my date to prom?" She said, without hesitation. It was so attractive. I heard the question echo in my head for a few seconds before I found my arms around her neck, and my lips against hers.

Jessica didn't jump, didn't move., like she knew I was going to kiss her. Her lips were soft, warm, and inviting. The kiss was deep, passion filled, her lips dancing with mine, until finally, reluctantly, we both pulled way.

I had to catch my breath for a moment, and I leaned with my forehead against hers. After enjoying our embrace, I laughed softly, more at myself than anything else, and finally spoke.

"Was that answer enough for you?"

She replied with another kiss. It was shorter this time, a quick peck, but still as sweet. It left me wanting more, but I smiled patiently and looked in her eyes.

"I'd love to, Jess. More than love to," I said, feeling multiple emotions bubbling to my chest. Suddenly, I was startled when everyone began to cheer, and I remember that we had an audience. I grinned at everyone, blushing madly.

"How? How'd you set it all up?" I turned back to Jessica, covering my cheeks shyly with my hands. "And how long have you been planning this?"

"Just a week or so. I just knew I wanted to go with you," Jessica said, and looked at Brad's dad.

"Brad asked me if I could cut power to your house for fifteen minutes - with your mother's permission of course - just to get you outside," he said, and Hannah picked up from there.

"I told you I was using the charger so that you would run out of battery, and wouldn't have an excuse to say no. When I called Mom at Mr. Holten's, I was actually calling Jess and Eric to get Jacob and Brad together."

"I know it was probably a bit too weirdly elaborate, but the whole thing sounded so fun when Brad and I were brainstorming it," Jessica said, holding my right hand in both of hers. I pulled it free and wrapped my arms around her shoulders.

"I...I'm so embarrassed, but so happy. Thank you, all of you," I said, looking around at my friends, then back to Jessica. "Can I ask you one thing, too?"

"Yes, I'll be your girlfriend," Jessica murmured, reading my mind before kissing me softly again. She didn't linger long, knowing that everyone was still watching. I pouted noticeably, and she laughed at me.

Finally, the two of us joined the others, and I turned to look at Mom, who was just now putting her phone up from filming. She had misty eyes, and pulled me into a hug.

"So Mom, I'm guessing you didn't get called into work. Did you come just to film?" I said, pulling away, but leaving my arms around her waist.

"Well, that, and you've only got a couple of weeks now until prom. I'm taking you, Hannah and Jessica prom shopping!"