36. Good Girl

**Rosé**

Step by step plan to get what I want.

1. Don't show real vulnerability, only the fake one. If that becomes too difficult to fake, entwine your new persona with some of your true fears and insecurities.

2. Learn to stomach their presence and taunts as well as those around them.

3. Get to know what they love and their goals. Find out what makes them tick.

4. Become familiar with anyone they're close to. Family, friends, it doesn't matter. What matters is how I'm perceived in their eyes.

5. Be consistent. Don't slip.

6. Use their desires and fears against them.

7. Destroy their sense of person, just like they did mine.

8. Stop. Hesitating.

I swept some wet hair out of my eyes and looked at myself in the mirror. Memories of me hitting the ground stared back at me.

Someone knocked. After saying they could come in, my mother opened the door.

"Here you are, baby." She passed a bundle of clothing to me. "I'll be leaving for a brief minute to get us Pepsi. Don't go anywhere until I'm back."

I nodded. After placing the clothes on a shelf, I turned and wrapped my arms around her waist. Mom didn't move at first, but hugged me back with just as much emotion.

"Mom?"

"Yea, baby?"

"Would you still love me if... if I was not a good girl anymore?"

I smiled as she laughed into my hair. "Don't commit arson and we'll be fine. Seriously though, I will still love you, baby. I never asked for a perfect child. My one wish, during my entire pregnancy, was for my baby to find happiness. Nothing more and certainly nothing less."

My eyelids slowly closed. I wished I could express how much her reassurance meant to me. For now, all I could do was hold her like my sanity depended on it.

'Cause maybe it did.

________

**Denis**

The moment Zoey Myers stepped out of Rosé's hospital room, I, Cameron, Tommy and Manuel ran up to her before the poor woman had a chance to close the door.

"Mrs. Myers, is she OK?" Denis asked, eyes wide open.

Zoey took in the boy's appearance. Football jacket draped over one shoulder, expensive looking jeans that weren't buckled properly and dark hair matted with sweat despite the air conditioner running. She swept her tongue over her dry lips and nodded. "The doctor gave her the go ahead to return home. It's like a miracle. Fell three floors and yet somehow ended up with a light bruising on her arms."

Denis sighed and closed his eyes. "Gosh. Thank heavens she's alright." He opened them. Tommy wrapped an arm around Denis' shoulder. "See?" Tommy said. "Told you. Fighter. Won't go down that easily."

Rosé's mother cleared her throat. She motioned to the door. "Are you positive you don't want to go in? Since you're schoolmates of hers, I'm sure she would be happy to see you."

Denis opened his mouth to say something, but didn't. In the end, he gingerly shook his head from left to right. "No, thank you. I only wanted to know how she was holding up, that's why I came here. Thank you again, Mrs. Myers."

"Hah, no." Zoey smiled at the boys. "Thank you all for being such good friends and bringing my daughter here while she was unconscious. I don't want to think about what would have happened if you didn't decide to take action."

She got no response in return. That was because her last words played over and over again in Denis' head. *Take action*, something he failed to do. He made the wrong choice in holding back that day. And because of his unwillingness to act, their mate ended up in this situation.

An inner voice manifested in the form of a glykon slithered its way up Denis' arm stopped to hiss into his ear. *"So it's 'our' mate now? What about when you were planning on keeping secrets from your friends, hm? Who said that he could keep her all to himself?"*

Denis bit his lip and clenched his jaw. *I was an idiot.*

*"Not just an idiot," it hissed in short patterns as if it were laughing. "But you're too insecure on where you stand as a man to protect the one you claimed to cherish. Tsk tsk tsk. When was the last time you looked for a way to change her fate?"*

*Shut up.*

*"Admit it." He could practically feel the flicker of its tongue against his earlobe. *"You're holding on to hope that she'll fix your pack's connection to the moon goddess, even if that might cost her her life."*

"You don't have to thank us," Cameron said. Denis observed as he stepped forward and gave Zoey a comforting hug. "It's what we should do as human beings."

They smiled at each other as they seperated. "All the same, thank you. We'll be leaving shortly so I'm going to get some refreshments. You young man should be on your way home. You've been here all day, you can't stay all night too."

"Oh! If that's the plan then let me accompany. Rosé must be hungry. I know a restaurant not a block away that serves good food and drinks you can bring with you as takeout. My treat."

Zoey stared at the tall boy, blinking twice before shaking her head. "That's nice but that won't be necessary."

Such words couldn't make Cameron change his mind. "It's a pleasure and no trouble at ll, believe me."

Cameron's hand appeared behind his back. It opened and closed several times. After translating what it meant, Tommy sighed, reached into his wallet, and placed $200 into Cameron's hand. Cameron smiled and shoved it into his pocket without looking at it.

While she felt hesitant, Zoey sighed and shrugged. "Well, if you insist I won't stop you. Lead the way…"

"Cameron, Mrs. Myers." He offered his elbow to her. She shook her head before taking it with a smile. "When I tell you that they have the best chicken out there I mean it! So many varieties to choose from."

As he led Zoey away, his arm brushed against Manuel's shoulder. Manuel flinched and stepped back. Cameron noticed, but didn't say anything.

Tommy and the others maintained their smiles until they were out of sight. When the elevator door closed, Tommy's smile dropped. He reached out and grabbed Manuel's shoulder. "Okay, I'm fed up. What was that about? You keep tiptoeing around me and Cameron."

Manuel didn't pull away, choosing only to avert his gaze. "It's nothing. You're just looking too much into it."

"I'm not a dumbass, Manny! Ever since that day you've never been the same."

They heard a groan and turned to spot Denis slumped into a waiting chair. "Is this really the time for that?" He pointed to the room. "Rosy fell off a freaking building, and you want to argue *now*?! No, not Rosy, Rosé. I didn't do shit." Denis held his head in his hands. "So I don't deserve to call her by that name."

"Actually," Manuel muttered. He backed up until he hit the wall, standing right beside Denis. "He's right, and this is as good a time to talk about it as any."

The noise of an incoming siren flooded the halls. Manuel sighed and rubbed his shoulder, nervously glancing at the gray tiles.

"After we were done with the meeting in his basement, I forgot something, so I went down to get it. And I found those two groping each other. The thing is, Cameron wasn't doing it as himself. He turned into Rosé."

Denis' jaw dropped to his lap. He looked at Tommy, waiting for an explanation. All he got was a shrug as a nurse passed them by. Manuel waited until she was out of earshot before continuing.

"If they were doing their own thing, I wouldn't have cared, but the fact is you were disrespecting Rosy for having someone else pretend to be her. And after we had just finished talking to you, too. I got so pissed off, Elder Eldritch gave me a few days off to calm myself. He said it was unlike me."

Tommy's expression softened. "I wasn't trying to disrespect her in any way, shape or form, Manny. I… I wanted a release. You guys were right. At that time it was so easy for me to slip and before you knew it, I might've started pursuing her without a care in the world. I'm sorry you had to see that."

Denis was still trying to wrap his head around it. He imagined the scenario and played it in his mind over and over again.

Although Tommy apologized, Manuel's fists were squeezed shut and his dark hair covered his eyes. "Really? That's it?" His voice came out low and gruff. "Cameron is your servant and you're his master, Thomas. Do you think it's fair to have him do stuff like that?"