When Rose Wakes Read Online Free PDF

was trying her best to hide in her book, right up until Aunt Fay rapped on the open door.
    “Good morning, Auntie,” Rose said.
    “Good morning to you, dear. Aren’t you getting up? We need to leave in an hour or so and you should be getting ready.”
    Rose smiled, held up the book. “I was hoping to finish.”
    Aunt Fay studied her curiously as if trying to make sense of her somehow.
    “I would have thought a girl who had been in a bed as long as you were wouldn’t want to spend so much time in one now.”
    Rose hesitated. How to explain that bed, especially here in her aunts’, was where she felt safe. She smiled at Aunt Fay, who smiled in return, but sometimes her smiles did not reach her eyes. The woman wore charcoal pants and an expertly cut red blouse. Rose knew very little about clothes but she thought Aunt Fay looked very smart and full of purpose in those clothes and with her glasses sitting on the bridge of her nose.
    “I’m just nervous, I guess,” Rose said.
    Aunt Fay came in and sat on the edge of the bed. “Of course you are. It’s a big day. Your debut, in a way. Though not as big a debut as when you start school here.”
    “It just seems fast,” Rose said softly. “I mean… I don’t want you and Aunt Suzette to think I’m ungrateful. You’re doing so much for me. You gave up France to make sure I was taken care of, and now all of this… this new beginning. But if I had more time to adjust—”
    “Rose, we’ve talked about this. It’s entirely normal for you to be nervous about this, but you’re ready. Truly. Delaying would only compound your anxiety. You need to be surrounded by people your own age, to jump in with both feet, and this test is the first step.”
    “That’s another thing,” Rose said, folding down a page of the book and setting it on the bedside table. “I’m afraid I’ll do poorly on the test. I’m old enough to be a junior, but what if I do so horribly that I end up a sophomore, or even a freshman? I went on an Internet forum about high school and so much of what the kids there were chatting about was how cruel they all are to each other.”
    Aunt Fay, usually so serious, softened. She reached out and pushed Rose’s hair away from her face.
    “I promise you it will be fine. You’ve been given a second chance, Rose. Your aunt Suzette and I want you to be able to make the most of it. It might be awkward at first, but you will make friends, you will study and learn, and soon you won’t be the ‘new girl,’ you’ll be just anotherclassmate. I promise you that we will watch over you, as we always have.”
    Rose took a deep breath, borrowing from Aunt Fay’s strength, calming herself.
    “All right,” she said.
    Aunt Fay wrinkled her brow. “As long as you stay away from the boys, all will be well.”
    Rose laughed softly and shook her head. “So you and Aunt Suzette keep saying.”
    “It’s not a joke, Rose. Boys are trouble. They’re guilty until proven innocent, every last one of them. Steer clear. I’d wanted to put you in Saint Mary’s—it’s all girls—but they would not have had a spot for you until January and wouldn’t even guarantee one then.”
    “It’ll be all right, Fay,” Aunt Suzette said, appearing in the open doorway. “Besides, attending an all girls’ school hardly means that she wouldn’t be exposed to boys. I’ve read of some all girls’ schools with terrible reputations.”
    “You two are unbelievable,” Rose said. “They’re not demons. They’re just boys.”
    Her aunts exchanged an anxious look and Rose gave an exasperated smile. Ever since she had woken up, boys were the one topic that neither of her aunts had any sense of humor about at all. Even Aunt Suzette, always so joyful, routinely issued grim warnings for Rose to keep away from boys. In so many ways they seemed very modern for middle-aged women, encouraging Rose to use hercomputer and watch television—they weren’t strict in that sense—but the