Page 9 of Emergence: Prequel
His eyes shot to mine, “Of course I did, why wouldn’t I?” He stopped before continuing, “Actually, no, don’t tell me because it will just piss me off. I swear to God, if that man wasn’t in prison, I’d beat the shit out of him again for not taking care of the gifts he was given. Go get Jenny, baby.”
Doing as he requested, I walked to the kitchen and stuck my head in.
“Hey Jen, I’m sorry; I know you’re on break, but would you mind holding the fort for me? Maestro wants me at the table with the girls.”
“Is everything okay?” Jenny asked, already standing up and adding her plate to the dishwasher.
“Honestly, I’m not sure. Rosie came from school a bit off, Maestro’s not happy and wants to find out what’s going on.”
Taking her apron from her hook, she slipped it on, pushing me gently out the door. “Go find out what’s going on. I’ll handle the front. It’s nearly time to clear up for the evening shift to come in anyway.”
Squeezing her hand in thanks, I walked over to the table where the girls and Roman were sat. I found them all chatting happily, telling him about their day. It didn’t surprise me that Opal and Maura were comfortable with him. He was Maura’s godfather as well as her uncle and had been in her life since she was born. Much the same with Opal as her godfather had been his older brother, Chains.
Sitting down next to Roman, I picked up his cup and took a sip of coffee, making a face at the bitterness of it, forgetting that the man drank it black with no sugar.
“Here, Mom,” Rosie said with a small laugh, pushing her milkshake towards me. “You always forget that Maestro drinks his coffee without sugar. You can finish mine. I’m going to go to the bathroom, then I’m going to head home to do homework.”
No sooner had Rosie disappeared into the bathrooms than Roman was around the table so that he could look at the other girls, “What’s going on with Rosie? And don’t bullshit me, girls. It’s not like her to be upset.”
The two girls, both a little younger than my Rosie, shared a look before they made a decision.
“If we tell you, Uncle Roman, you can’t go off half-cocked; you have to speak to Rosie first. As it is, we’re breaking girl code. She’s been putting up with bullies at school, and today they pushed things too far,” Maura says earnestly.
My breath caught in my chest. How had I not known about her being bullied? Roman’s hand enclosed mine as if he knew what I was thinking.
“I can’t promise I won’t lose it, Maura, but I’ll do my best to get all the information first.”
“So, there’s this guy at school spreading rumours about Rosie being loose and sleeping around. Those of us that know Rosie know that is absolutely not true. She’s never even kissed a boy,” Maura assures him.
“Okay, so he’s a little dipshit.”
“Well, yeah,” Opal agrees. “He is, but he’s also captain of the football team and in the same classes as Rosie. He’s been trying to get with her for over a year, but she keeps turning him down. He didn’t take that well, and he has a girlfriend already. When she found out, rather than blaming him, she went after Rosie instead. It’s typical high school drama, you know. This guy really didn’t like that Rosie told him no. But it’s been getting worse and worse the last month. Enough that Maura and I are worried; we try and stay together as a group as much as possible, but Rosie’s older, so our timetables don’t always line up.”
“I’m glad you girls are sticking together; that makes me feel better. What happened today to upset her?” Roman asks.
Again, the girls shared a look. “It was pretty bad,” Maura continued. “When she wasn’t at our meeting spot at the end of school, we didn’t have a good feeling, so we went looking for her. We found her in the boys’ changing rooms fighting off three boys who had her down on the ground. The fourth was the captain of the football team, but Ford had him handled. We managed to get them off her. She wasn’t raped, but if Ford hadn’t happened to be in there trying to stop it, and we hadn’t arrived, I’m not sure what would have happened.
“She didn’t want us to say anything or make a big deal out of it, but we insisted she had to come to the diner because I know that if it was my mom, she’d want to know.”
I’d not realised I’d made a noise until Rosie said, “Momma.”
Lifting my eyes to hers, I found them swimming in tears, and I went to stand, “Oh, baby.”
It wasn’t me who made it to her first, though; it was Maestro who took her in his arms and held her tight. Jenny, realising whatever was happening wasn’t good, closed and locked the door, turning the sign around to ‘CLOSED.’
I took Rosie from Roman when he handed her to me; his jaw was clenched as he listened to Rosie sob in my arms.
He sat back down at the table, “Thank you, girls, not only for having Rosie’s back but also for knowing this isn’t something you can deal with yourselves. I’m so proud of you both. Now, I’m going to need names because if they did this to Rosie, then I’m sure they’ve done it before. I’ll also need to know who Ford is, then I’m going to call your dads to come and get you.”
“We’ll give you their names because I think you’re right, Uncle Roman; it’s not the first time. There were rumours last year and the year before that before it all went quiet. Ford isn’t part of this group, though.
“In fact, he hates them because they’re rich and he comes from the trailer park. He’s also a better football player than them and should have been captain, but Oliver’s dad—that’s the dickhead’s name, by the way… anyway, his dad donated a tonne of money to the sports side of the school last year,” Maura blurted out before taking a deep breath. “So, the three who had Rosie pinned and were trying to get her jeans down were George, Leo, and Oscar. Ford was fighting Oliver, and he was winning. Ford’s a good guy.”
Leaning over the table, Roman kisses their foreheads, “Thank you, girls. Always remember you can come to us with anything, and if not us men, then your moms, they’re all-good, strong women. But just know I’m proud of you. I’ll touch base with Fordand get his measure. I’m going to have you stay home for the next few days until we’ve sorted everything out, okay? Now let me call your dads to come and get you and to tell them they’ve raised some pretty phenomenal girls.”
Both girls sat up straighter at those words as Roman pushed his chair back, stood and walked towards us. Running a hand over Rosie’s head, he pushed her hair away from her face until he could see her eyes. “Hey, sweetheart,” he said softly. “Do we need to take you to the hospital?”
She shook her head, “No, they didn’t get to touch me. I fought them off just like Kyle showed me.”