Practice was cancelled today and Rosaline thanked any possible higher power for that. The incoming storm had caused enough commotion to actually cancel a practice for once. They usually went into the gym for practice but thankfully it was all booked up by the other sports teams. Rose shuffled her feet as she waited for her "friends" to join her. Sarah and Joanna joined her at last in the same red cheerleading uniforms Rose was wearing. They hastily began making their way home. For the past three years, Rose had walked home from practice with them but this year was getting tiresome. She was beginning to truly realize how ignorant they were. The two of them spent the next few minutes complaining about how sticky the air was and how gross the weather was going to be. Rosaline actually quite liked thunderstorms. She used to love sitting on the sofa and watching the lightning while she read a good book. The wind, however, was not to Rose's liking. Wisps of fair hair had been blowing into her mouth and eyes the entire time. She stopped to tuck her hair into an unruly braid and the two girls stopped with her, now babbling on about other girls on the team. "Mary's a skank. "Rose finally inputted. She wasn't one to talk about people but Mary pretty much bragged about all the guys she slept with.

"Ain't that the truth." Sarah said. "She's slept with half the basketball team."
 [i]So have you.[/i] Rose thought to herself, rolling her eyes. The sudden sound of shouting in the distance made Rose glance up. She took a step toward the sound and craned her neck to see what was going on. She could make out a large amount of people in the town square.

"Oh my gosh, Rossiee! A certain hottie was eying you in class today. I heard him talking about how cute you are yesterday too. I'm one hundred percent sure he's going to ask you out tomorrow-"
She darted forward before she could finish. Rose slowed to a stop as she found a large gathering around a crappily-built stage, all loudly voicing whatever opinion they had. The crowd was getting rowdy as a man yelled into a megaphone. She couldn't really understand what he was saying but she recognized that the name on the banner had something to do with some mutant activist group. Daringly, she began to move toward the crowd to try to find out what the man was telling them when Sarah grabbed her arm and yanked her back.

"What the hell? Are you insane?"Sarah yelled. "Don't associate with those people they're a bunch of freak-lovers."She brought her voice down to a whisper as she said this. "God I'll never understand why the government didn't just get rid of them the moment they found out about them. It's because of morons like these that those freaks will kill us all one day with their weird-ass powers or whatever."

Joanna shook her head in disgust. " Why anyone would protest for a bunch of monsters I'll never know. Let's just go this crowd is getting psychotic." She pulled both the girls back to the sidewalk. 

"They're just people, Joanna."Rosaline said. "They're not much different than us." They both turned to glare at her. Rose thought it was peculiar how one difference could make one person lesser than the other. It had been decades ago that a person would be viewed with contempt just for having a different skin color. Now, if someone could do something that another couldn't, that person was a monster.

"Jesus, Rose. Are you a sympathizer?" Joanna whisper-hissed.

Rose looked between them and shrugged. "I'm not getting involved in any of that. I'm just saying they're people too." 

"Let me tell you something. One of those freaks killed my dad without even touching him. That's no human."Joanna said darkly and turned away from her. She speedily walked away from both her and Sarah. 

Sarah rubbed Rose's shoulder and smiled sadly. "She's just a little touchy on the subject. You're so cute seeing the best in everything but she is right and you know it. Let's just hurry home before it rains. "

"You know I think I'm going to hit this grocery store quickly. I'll call my brother to pick me up or something." Rose said quietly and turned toward the small grocery store. "I'll see you later." Rose had been about to go into the grocery store when she noticed another woman had stopped to listen. She recognized her from somewhere but she couldn't quite place it. The woman was staring at the rally-leader with as much curiosity as she had moments before. It then hit her. That was her brother's old physics teacher at the University he attended. She had seen her when her brother had taken her to tour the University two summers ago. Rose wondered if maybe she was a mutant too. Even if she was, she would never admit it if she was as smart as she appeared to be. Giving that information out could mean losing the respect of everyone who's ever cared about you.