I want Rose to have a crush on everyone's hot sister...Damara is just so pretty??? And Meulin is adorable?? Porrim is infuriating but she's stunning?? Latula is cute and upbeat?? Meenah...hoo boy...Meenah is lean and tall...Rose is having a crisis
Meenah is like the textbook definition of “hot n’ nasty” she’s all “better than you” attitude with a rich mom and disregard for people who aren’t for herself and it is FRUSTRATINGLY attractive like yeah she’s an asshole but for some reason that’s hot and Rose hates it.
Latula is so spunky!! She’s exciting and fun and she always has something to talk about and her brain races a mile a minute and Rose notes all the little ways that Latula is constantly in motion, a girl all made of motion and buzzing energy, her bouncing knees and the pencil erasers that bounce rhythmically off the desk to the tune of some unnamed song playing in Latula’s head on repeat, the way that anything left unattended winds up in Latula’s pretty mouth if it sits around next to her long enough, the twisting and braiding and unbraiding and chewing of her gorgeous hair, how her thumb and forefinger rub absently over the surface of anything textured that makes it way into her grip, she’s a goddess of energy forced down into a human shell and Rose could stare at her all day, just watching the way her eyes flick to the window, how she scribbles shaky doodles in the margins of her notebook because she has to go go go go go and nothing’s ever fast enough until she’s outside whooping and hollering and riding her skateboard or bike or scooter or anything or just running, just running, moving, she’s got to GO, and when she goes she takes Rose’s breath with her.
Porrim is two grades above Rose and thinks that makes her infinitely smarter, which infuriates Rose because two years isn’t THAT much difference in experience, yet Porrim sees herself fit to talk down to Rose like she’s some fucking child. She’s got piercings and half of them she did herself, tattoos that Rose wants to trace down below the obstructive lines of Porrim’s clothing, meticulously maintained hair and an air of “holier than thou” confidence while she acts like she invented feminism. Always picking a fight or looking for a reason to turn a conversation into a lecture, so fucking disdainful and it makes Rose’s blood boil and dear god if her lips and teeth don’t know exactly what they’d like to do to Porrim’s pretty mouth and neck as a way to unleash that agitation.
Meulin cannot focus on one single goddamned thing, except for when she can. She’s either off with her head in the clouds, or so focused Rose fears she might melt beneath Meulin’s attention. She doesn’t know what to do with this kind of intensity, and yet she seeks it when Meulin is off in one of her spacey moods. She wears exclusively the cutest shit that Rose has ever seen and every morning when Rose sees her Rose’s heart does a little double take, without fail. The two of them go to Hot Topic together and Meulin coos endlessly over the cute apparel while Rose pretends to be looking at the lipstick. She’s phenomenal at character analysis and Rose has found someone who is her match, literately speaking, and Rose admires her with a dry mouth and a voice that catches, damnably, in her throat every time she speaks to Meulin.
Damara is a breathtaking duality, soft smiles and happy encouragement to those she considers her friends, to strangers, to any who have not wronged her. But to those who have wronged her. Oh god. Rose has watched with awe as Damara reminds everyone- adults, peers, underclassmen- who the top bitch around here is. She’s hellfire in one fist and kindness in the other palm. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned? No. Hell hath no fury like Damara wronged. Rose doesn’t know if Damara is the kind of person she wants to be, or be with, and every conversation leaves the fluttery feeling of standing next to a precipice, looking over the edge. Damara is amazing, breathtaking, she strikes awe with her beautiful smile and her excited chatter and that thick but charming accent, but Rose knows that there is power in her strong arms- always soft, Rose sees her put lotion on in the locker room- power in those excited hands, venom in the voice that makes Rose want to sing hallelujah. Each conversation leaves Rose feeling stupid, and normally Rose hates feeling stupid, but when it’s Damara all she can feel is hot in the face.
