Author's Note: I got this idea from Freshman For President, and in that book, the two main characters were discussing roses and the color they represent. Enjoy, and happy reading!
Chapter One: A Rose By Any Other Name
Red, white, coral, orange, pink, and yellow.
Different colors for each emotion, and feeling.
Kelsi Nielsen remembered her father bringing home her mother a bunch of roses: one of every color, including a purple one, which is rarely seen.
She asked her mother what a purple rose ment, and Mrs. Nielsen got all starry-eyed, and said the purple rose stood for "love at first sight".
She didn't know there was a rose for that, but she also didn't know there was a rose for "desire" neither.
It was a Tuesday morning, in Feburary, and while Feburary wasn't one of Kelsi's favorite months, she had another reason to hate it:
Flower Day.
Flower Day was made up of roses: and whatever rose you get, you give to a special someone.
The only kind of roses she had been getting were yellow ones, thanks to Taylor McKessie, Gabriella Montez, Martha Cox, and the drama department.
Not once did she get a red rose.
But, she shouldn't get her hopes up:
Like anyone would think of her that way.
"Hey, Kelsi!"
Kelsi looked up from the piece she was writing, and into the brown eyes of Martha Cox.
"Hey." Kelsi said quietly, and Martha's smile turned into a frown.
"What's wrong?" she asked, and Kelsi sighed as she made room for the girl, who was slightly "large" for her age, but Kelsi didn't complain about the way Martha, or any of the girls in her grade, looked.
That was more of Sharpay's job than hers.
"Nothing's wrong...thanks for the flower. That was nice of you." Kelsi said, and Martha shook her head.
"Kelsi, I hate to see you so down. If this is about other girls getting red roses, don't worry. It's not I'll get anytime soon." Martha replied, while glancing at a blonde-haired girl, getting a long, stemmed, red rose from her boyfriend, who was looking bashfully at the floor.
Kelsi followed her gaze, and she shook her head,
"This is just another popularity contest. It just makes a mess out of everything."
Martha's smile came back on her face.
"You just don't like Feburary." the girl pointed out, and Kelsi looked at her.
"That's because it feels worse when you don't have anyone...why watch someone else be happy whe you aren't yourself?"
Martha looked down at the floor, and Kelsi got up from the bench.
"I have to go talk to Ms. Darbus. I'll see you later, Martha."
Kelsi walked down the hall towards Ms. Darbus's classroom, and thought about what Martha had said.
Don't worry about it?
Why was it that every clone of Sharpay got more red and purple roses than the girls lesser than them, who only got yellow roses, which signaed friendship?
That's what she wanted to know.
"Ooof!"
Kelsi found herself laying on her back, and her head trobbing in pain.
"I'm sorry! I just opened my locker door, and--Kelsi?"
Kelsi glanced up to see Ryan Evans staring down at her, and Kelsi blushed.
"I guess I wasn't watching where I was going."
Ryan chuckled as he held out a hand towards her.
"I guess so."
Kelsi allowed Ryan to help her up, and he looked at her.
"Again, I'm sorry. I didn't know anyone was coming this way." Ryan stated, and Kelsi shook her head.
"That's okay."
Ryan closed his locker door, and gave her another smile.
"So....did you get any roses yet?"
Kelsi nodded.
"I got a few, but they were yellow." Kelsi said, realizing how selfish that sounded.
Atleast she got some flowers, while some people didn't.
"I didn't mean to sound selfish, but--" she started to add, and Ryan looked at her.
"No, it's fine." Ryan said as they started to walk towards Kelsi's destined place, and Kelsi bit her lower lip.
"So, I guess Sharpay got a lot of flowers, huh?" she asked, and Ryan nodded.
"You could say that. But, most of the roses came from Zeke. I saw him this morning paying for a lot of red roses."
Zeke Baylor was probably the only guy who had a crush on Sharpay.
Ever since sixth grade, Zeke had been chasing Sharpay, while Sharpay started to like Troy, who never liked her back.
"So, are you giving a girl any roses?" she asked, and Ryan started to blush, much to her amazement.
"Maybe. I'm just afraid she'd laugh at me if I did." Ryan replied, and and Kelsi rose an eyebrow.
"Why would she laugh at you? I'd be happy that I got a bunch of roses from a guy I like."
Ryan's blush went to another level of red as he stared down at the tile floor.
"I don't know...I usually don't do this kind of stuff."
There were pently of guys didn't give out roses like free candy:
Such as Chad Danforth, Taylor McKessie's boyfriend, who didn't partake in these school funcutions, but took Taylor out to dinner instead for Valentine's Day.
"But, I think you should...it'd be sweet." Kelsi expained, and Ryan looked at her.
"Really? I guess I could."
Kelsi gave him another smile.
"Tell me how it does afterwards."
Ryan nodded as she and him departed ways, and Kelsi went into the classroom, ready to go talk to the "crazy" (everyone seems to think so) drama teacher.
The drama teacher looked up from what she working on.
"Good...Kelsi, you're here. I want to talk to you about a sudden change of plans. Ryan can't practice with you and Sharpay for some unknown reason, so you'll just be with Sharpay today. Run through her parts of the song, and you'll work with Ryan and Sharpay when Ryan decides to join you."
Kelsi's insides changed into ice as she heard Sharpay's name.
"Oh...well....I can work with her." Kelsi meekly told the teacher, and Ms. Darbus nodded.
"Great. Sharpay is noified of this change, so she'll wait for you after school in the auditorium."
Somehow, she thought that Sharpay wouldn't be nice to her at all.
When she got into thw auditorium after school (she was on time: no way was she was getting on Sharpay's bad side!), she heard yelling n the back.
"This must be some kind of mistake!"
Kelsi cringed, and Sharpay walked over to her, carrying a bunch of flowers, and trusting them at her.
"Here. I think the deliver made a mistake because these flowers are for you, not for me."
As Sharpay got ready, Kelsi looked at the card that was attached to the flowers:
Thought these flowers might help you get through the session with Sharpay.
--a good friend
Kelsi smiled, and gazed at the flowers:
Red, white, coral, orange, pink, and yellow.
Mixed perfectly together, and she looked at them closer, she noticed another rose that certainly shocked her:
A purple rose.