[Room #213 - NFB]

[auroryborealis]

Rory woke early Monday morning, warm and cozy in bed and snuggled against Anakin.

She wouldn't have gotten out of bed if she hadn't seen the things on the floor by the door.

She put the disc on her desk, and opened up the letter.

Halfway through, when she reached the names, she sank into her desk chair. "Ow," she said softly.

[Hey, self? The

Comments

[emo_padawan]

Anakin was across the room almost before the words were out of Rory's mouth.

The emotions radiating off of her...

"What's wrong?" he asked, putting a hand on her shoulder and leaning over to see the letter.

[auroryborealis]

Rory passed him the letter. "From Victor," she said quietly. "You talked to him?"

If Anakin hadn't already been able to sense her emotions, her tone would have made it perfectly clear exactly how hurt she was.

[emo_padawan]

Anakin nodded absently, eyes scanning the page. "Not like my talk with Blair or anything. He whined about you, then wondered if we were dating. I told him that the radio's full of it but left him, you know breathing and walking and stuff."

He got halfway through the letter and stopped, his voice going very cold. "Obviously a mistake on my part," he said, the paper crumbling in his hand.

[auroryborealis]

"I thought we agreed on full disclosure. Telling each other things. Don't you think I should have known you talked to him?" Rory asked, her voice going a little colder.

[emo_padawan]

"Oh, Rory," Anakin sighed, then wrapped her in a tight hug. "It's going to be okay," he whispered.

[auroryborealis]

"I'm used to not having friends," Rory mumbled into his neck, tears spilling over. "And now I guess I'm going to get used to it again. I'd gotten complacent, anyway."

[emo_padawan]

Anakin picked Rory up without really thinking about it and sat down in the desk chair, snuggling her against him. "Don't you think that," he said fiercely. "You have plenty of people who love you."

In his head a voice was snarling for revenge. Anakin tried to ignore it.

[auroryborealis]

"I'm apparently a whorey bitch," Rory sniffed, not lifting her face.

[emo_padawan]

"I know how much this kind of thing hurts," Anakin said softly. "I'm not exactly Mr. Popularity myself."

He leaned his forehead against hers. "But there is no way that everyone in this school will hate you."

[auroryborealis]

"Almost everyone, then," Rory whispered. "It only takes a few people actually believing a rumor for it to really have an effect."

[emo_padawan]

"But no one is going to believe this," Anakin countered. "Because you're you." He tipped her head up. "Can you see Angel saying to himself, 'well, this green kid I've never met thinks that Rory's not as great as I know she is. I think I'll go with what he says.'"

He kissed her forehead. "Don't be so hard on yourself, love. It's not worth it."

[auroryborealis]

Rory actually gave a small smile at that.

"It could happen," she said feebly. "But...okay. Maybe I'm overreacting a little."

[emo_padawan]

"Promise what?" Anakin asked.

[auroryborealis]

"Don't go after him," Rory said seriously. "Please."

[emo_padawan]

"He made you cry," Anakin said. "This is not acceptable."

He snorted. "But he is, like, three feet tall and nine years old or something. Not exactly a challenge."

[auroryborealis]

"Not worth it. I shouldn't have cried. And I don't want to give him satisfaction of letting him know he got to me," Rory said.

[emo_padawan]

"If you say so," Anakin said, giving her a soft kiss on the cheek. "Want some time by yourself to write? Or do you want me to stick around?"

[auroryborealis]

"I want you to stay, but only if you're not going to be way boredinated by watching me write," Rory replied. "It won't take me long."

[emo_padawan]

"I won't be bored," Anakin said. "I'll go meditate on the floor. Give you your chair back and everything."

[auroryborealis]

"Ooh, chair just for me?" Rory asked, moving off his lap. "It really'll just take me a second, and then you can read it, if you'd like."