Storybook Ending

“Rosie! Wait up! Rosiiiieee!”

“What?”

“I..need….to tell….you something.”

“What?”

“Okay, this might be kinda long. It’s, like, a whole story.”

“Isn’t it always?”

“Rosie, can we just skip the sarcasm?”

“No, Thea, I don’t think we can. I think that I should be able to be as sarcastic as I want with you, considering that we aren’t friends.”

“Anymore.”

“Really? I don’t know if you ever thought I was good enough for you.”

“Rosie, that’s not true. Anyway, I need to talk to you about that. Can you listen for a minute? Please?”

“I have theater.”

“Not for twenty minutes.”

“Take a hint.”

“I’m too stubborn to. Just listen, or at least pretend to and then I’ll leave everything alone. You can go to theater and keep going to theater and forget that I ever happened.”

“You have that backwards. You’re the one who forgot about me.”

“I’m just going to keep going. I have this thing, in my head. It’s called the Dome. I go inside and it’s safe. There’s nothing there, no pictures, no windows, nobody except who I want to talk to. And then I talk. Like I’m doing right now. This is the first time I’ve actually said something that I thought in the Dome, though. And yeah.”

“At least I’m good enough for your stupid Dome.”

“It’s not stupid, Rosie. And you’ll always be good enough for me.”

“If you say so. Just keep going.”

“Stop checking your watch and listen.”

“Why? It’s not like---”

“Rosie! I’m really sorry about the sleepover and I was wrong about everything and I really sholdn’t have tried to be friends with those girls just because I could be totally thoughtless when I was with them. I don’t want to be that ex-friend that comes back begging to be friends again, but I do just want to say, I’m not hanging out with the Camp Oak girls anymore, okay?”

“This is the part when you expect me to run up and hug you and start crying that I’m sorry too and we can be best friends forever and why don’t we go make bracelets and braid each others hair like we did when we were six, right?”

“No. I just want you to know that I’m not wearing all the clothes that I bought to fit in with them anymore, and I’m not going to Kate’s birthday party,”

“Even though it’s in New York City?”

“Yep.”

“I thought her parents were paying for all the clothes and shoes and makeup and stuff that you wanted.”

“Not all of it--”

“Thea, thank you. This was good, and I don’t think the Dome is stupid, and…”

“And?”

“I could have done this all better too. It was your birthday, and it wasn’t only you that I was mad at.”

“Thanks, Rosie.”

“I have to go to theater.”

“And?”

“There wasn’t going to be an and, but…you can come and watch us run lines if you want. And I guess you won’t be able to take the bus home after, so why don’t you stay over.”

“This is the part when you run up and hug me. I don’t have much hair to braid and I’m guessing you don’t want to make bracelets, so here you go. You can cry if you want.”

“Later. Now we’ll just hug.”