Rose Red

Jason's social life takes a turn for the worse when he begins to sneeze out flowers. He becomes the laughing stalk of the school. As if that wasn't bad enough, what will become of his love life?

"Berry the faerie!" my class taunted me at the top of their lungs, resembling  ravenous pigs squealing. My name is Jason Berry, and no, I ain't no faerie. I don't know if I'll ever live this down. I sneezed out flowers one freakin' time and my official nick name is 'the Faerie'. Unbelievable. Yup. You guessed it. It was spring time. You know what that means...

"Buzz off," I hissed. They ignored me and continued. School was like hell lately. Everywhere I turned, there was someone there to tease me. I had enough. Spring was supposed to be fun. I really thought that I'd get a cool power. Like super speed or telekinesis.

I don't even know how this happens. Getting the powers, I mean. No one really questions it. It's like going through puberty. Whenever you turn sixteen, you start getting an ability. It's only active in spring time though. I personally think that it's a witch's curse on this town, and the she must be out to get me out to get me.

It's ridiculous. Even the geeks who play video games all day have cool powers. Hell, one of them has super strength! The shoe is on the other foot, I guess. Their revenge for how I treated them all that time. Whatever.

I had enough. My teacher was late, so they just gathered around my desk to drain me. I swear, when spring was over, and things went back to normal, they were in fort it. I couldn't do anything at the time because they could all beat me to a pulp if they wished, much to my dismay. I had no choice but to sit there and deal with it. And yes, I did use all the profanity in the book. I just wish I had a bigger book.

Headphones were in. Music was blasted. I was gone. I looked past my 'adoring crowd' and among the few of the class who weren't harassing me was Cindy. I hated to admit it, but I was so relieved that she hadn't joined in.

Oh no. I felt it. It was coming. I couldn't stop it. My head tilted back, my eyes began to snap shut, and my mouth began to open. I squeezed my nostrils as an attempt to cease it from happening, but it was no use. Everyone saw it coming and abruptly became silent in anticipation. "Ah-choo!" I hated this. A disgustingly massive amount of tulips sat on my desk.

Their laughter over powered my headphones. I was done. I flipped my desk over, crushing the flowers as a result, and stormed out of the room. I stomped down the hall and yanked my headphones out.

"Jason! Do you have flowers for me?" a girl teased. I looked behind me and saw Emily grinning at me expectantly. She thought that I had a thing for her, or she wished that I did, so she used flower jokes like that as an excuse to talk to me. Damn her. So many girls were flirting with me now like that. I knew I shouldn't be complaining, but they just weren't the girl who I wanted. I wasn't going to settle for just anybody.

"Buzz off," I spat at her and continued down the hallway.

"I'll take a kiss instead!" she called. I was lucky that she didn't followed me that time. She usually did. Maybe she finally learned to take a hint...Nah, I wish.

I slipped in to the art room before anyone could notice. It was vacant today because the teacher was absent. Has ammonia or something.

How did I end up there? Sitting in the art room. Hiding from everyone. I wondered if this is how they felt. All of those times I picked on the geeks. Before spring began, I was king of the jocks. I was the star athlete, so that gave me the privilege to torment them as if it was my job. It made me feel like I fit in with my friends. Now those same friends were sitting back and watching those nerds torment me. They refused to talk to me since my power was so lame. I became nervous that things would never be the same again.

I sat down on the window cill and pulled a cigarette from my pocket and my lighter. Just my luck. It was defective. Wouldn't even spark. "Oops! Sorry. I didn't know you were in here." I almost fell from where I was sitting because the voice startled me. It was Cindy.

"No, it's cool. It's not my house or anything," I replied and tried to make my body language seem nonchalant to contradict the butterflies in my stomach.

She smiled ever so slightly and humored, "I would hope not. I just forgot my book in here last period." She actually liked artsy stuff. Not that I stalked her or anything, but I noticed that she spent more time in this class whenever she had the opportunity.

Sitting on a desk near me was her notebook. I picked it up and met her halfway. Her warm fingers grazed mine briefly. She noticed the un-lit cigarette I had in my hand. She giggled. "Need help with that?" she offered.

"Guess so. My lighter decided to not work all of a sudden." She held a finger tip up to the butt of it and fire emerged. So she was one of the lucky ones. It didn't really suit her though. She was so gentle. "Thanks." I popped it in my mouth. This school didn't care if we smoked. They didn't care about anything. That's why it was so easy to bully someone. She nodded with a smile. "You got a cool power." I wish I thought of something more witty to say. It was the first time talking to her ever. I was nervous. So what. Bite me. I pulled the cigarette out of my mouth and held it between my fingers.

She said, "It's not all that great. I set my whole bedroom on fire last week. It's become more manageable, but still...I'd rather have a power like yours."

I looked at my cigarette in shame. Speaking of which, she didn't seem to mind the smoke. That surprised me. It seemed like something that would give her the excuse to judge me for. "You make controlling it look so easy. I can't control these damn flowers."

"It takes some time," she comforted. "If you try hard enough, maybe you can control what type of flower you sneeze. Kind of like how I can control how much fire I want."

It was unreal. I never thought I'd be able to communicate more than a 'hey, what's up' to her. I knew that this golden opportunity wouldn't come again, so I decided to take advantage of it. "You know, I always thought you were different," she mentioned out of the blue.

Uh oh. "What do you mean?" I asked. It wasn't the worst thing she could have said. She did say that she thought about me somewhere in that statement.

She explained, "Well, you know...I always thought you were a tool. I guess when your not around your friends, you can be yourself."

"You think? I guess I'm going to be myself for a long time. Those morons aren't going to talk to me even after spring is over," I analyzed. She somehow looked relieved when I said that.

"That's not the worst thing ever. What have they ever done for you?" I put my cigarette out in the trash can without starting a fire. I was sure Cindy had more than enough fire.

I shrugged and answered, "Nothing." Awkward silence. She looked like she was about to leave, but then she saw it was coming and she waited. "Ah-choo!" Roses sat in her hair after my  'explosion'.

She grinned widely. She leaned closer to me. "I told you that you can control your powers." Her lips pressed softly against my own. After that day, our relationship bloomed and it went on even past spring. So you see, that power was worth something. Suck on those eggs, geeks!