And bad behavior I've been tryna to hide

Rose walked back to her room with a spring in her step and a smile on her face. The kind of smile that she wore when brimming with absolute confidence in herself (which was most of the time) and what she had planned.

Dawn may not have given her most actionable advice when it came to getting along with Ella- for the most part, her advice consisted of “Be sincere with her and genuinely try to be her friend without ulterior motives” which for Rose was like…

What?

Why would Dawn assume that Rose would approach Ella with ulterior motives? Talk about a negative mental image! That was just rude! For once, Rose was being altruistic here, and trying to make friends with Ella (and Cinder) because she wanted to get along better!

The fact that Nick would be happy about Ella making friends? That could hardly be called an “ulterior motive” and anyone who thought so was just being a big ol’ pessimist!

Rose just wanted to make friends. So she decided to do what she always did, and follow her own advice instead. But she did pull a thing or two from her consultation with Dawn, to help things go smoother. Enough to feel confident, anyway.

“Okay, let’s do this!” Rose threw open the door to the Fashion Suite and stepped inside, a doggy bag of food from the Banquet Hall in her hand. “Ella! You in here?”

Rose heard a clatter from somewhere deeper in the room. But as she weaved through the mannequins she found herself unable to locate the source.

A lightbulb went off over her head. “…You’re invisible, aren’t you?” She asked, tittering as she scanned the room. “That’s okay. I don’t need to see you for us to chat.”

That being said, Rose was concerned that Ella might be inching towards the door.

Instead, just the opposite happened. Ella’s mask slipped off and she revealed herself, standing a couple feet away from the blonde. She looked timidly up at Rose, chewing on her lip.

“Hey there, Ella!” Rose said, sauntering over to her. “Did you slip that mask on just for my sake?” She cooed, batting her eyelashes. “You don’t have to hide. I’m just trying to be your friend!”

Ella stiffened. Rose anticipated that. Dawn had been very clear with her that she should handle the other girl gently; instead of trying to overwhelm her by saying outright “I want to be your friend” which would probably raise alarm bells in Ella’s head.

…That was pretty much what Rose was seeing right now, judging by the frantic expression on the other girl’s face.

“Eh… wh-what!?” Ella stammered, her eyes swimming in her skull. Her skin took on an ashy color as her amber eyes muddied themselves.

Rose frowned. Okay, so maybe Dawn was right. But Rose didn’t want to beat around the bush! If she wanted to do something, then she just did it! And if Ella couldn’t appreciate her sincerity, well… that was her loss!

Her frown only lasted a second before her smile returned. “Let me guess, you were going to sneak out with that mask to get dinner again, right?”

Ella’s eyes widened behind her bangs, and Rose took that as a yes.

“Well, worry no more! Because look what I’ve got here!” She held up the bag of food she’d brought for the other girl. “As your friend, I took the liberty of bringing you some dinner! Isn’t that nice of me? You’re welcome!”

Ella looked warily at the bag of food, which had so many strings attached Rose might as well just let go of it right now and it would still stay hanging in the air. But even though she didn’t trust the blonde girl as far as Cinder could throw her, Rose was ultimately correct… Ella was starving.

“I, um…” The rumbling of Ella’s stomach blocked out anything she planned to say, and her face flushed with embarrassment.

“It’s fine, it’s fine, you don’t need to thank me,” Rose said, placing her hand over her chest and puffing herself up proudly. “It’s what anyone would do for a friend.”

There it was again, that word that made Ella so uncomfortable. “Thwap!” She snapped the rubber-band on her wrist to try and settle herself, causing Rose to look at her in surprise.

“Ella? Is everything alright?” She asked, raising her eyebrows.

“Uhum…” Ella gulped and raised her head, managing to make eye contact with the other girl. “Y-yes,” she managed to spit out, nodding timidly. “It’s just… you… you didn’t have to do that… I could have… had food delivered, so…”

Ah, good point. Rose hadn’t considered that. She lowered her hand and set the bag down on one of the tables.

“Well… now you don’t have to!” She said cheerily, moving right on past all that. “You can just enjoy a nice meal courtesy of Rose Beausoleil!”

Ella glanced timidly at the bag of food. It smelled amazing, but just going by the size… it wouldn’t be nearly enough to quell her hunger.

And besides…

“I… I don’t… um… th-thank you, but…” Ella really didn’t know what was going on here, so she wasn’t sure if she should trust Rose’s gesture or not. The two of them barely interacted, and while she DID appreciate Rose helping her out the other day with getting her more comfortable with Nick, she couldn’t help but feel that Rose wasn’t the kind of person who did nice things for people just out of the kindness of her heart.

No, Ella could feel a weird pressure pushing down on her, like the other girl was planning to leverage this meal into future favors. And that wasn’t something Ella felt comfortable about AT ALL.

Her heart pounded in her chest and she looked up at Rose with tired eyes.

“Can you just… um…” She didn’t even know what she wanted to say at this point. How could she tell Rose that the reason she used her mask to go eat dinner was because she didn’t want anyone to see her pigging out on food and making herself sick?

“Don’t worry, Ella,” Rose said, walking over to her with affectionate eyes. “I made sure that all the food I got was light and would help with your digestion. I even consulted with Dawn on the subject!”

Ella’s face twisted into an expression of horror. “D-Dawn?” She squeaked out. “Why…?”

“Because of how you threw up the other day!” Rose reminded her. “We don’t want a repeat of that, now do we?”

“Thwap! Thwap! THWAP!” Ella frantically snapped her rubber-band, trying to keep Cinder at bay while at the same time wishing she could just run away and let her alter take the helm. Everything was happening so fast and she felt so conflicted… But the LAST thing she wanted to think about was… was when she threw up!

It happened way more often than she liked. And now Dawn was even taking pity on her for it?!

“Just… just leave me alone!” She wailed, feeling a bit of Cinder start to leak out. “It’s none of your business, I’m fine!”

Rose placed her hands on her hips and scowled. “No, you’re not fine!” She chided the other girl. There was nothing “fine” about someone who was throwing up periodically. “Let me help you out, Ella! I know I’m naturally gorgeous, but a great diet helps me look my best,” she bragged, unable to help herself. “I can definitely help you!”

“I don’t WANT your help!” Ella wailed, shaking her head. “Just leave me alone!” She turned and dashed off to the bathroom, but Rose was too quick for her. She’d expected this, and wasn’t about to let Ella get away.

Rose jumped in front of the startled girl, and grabbed her by the shoulders. She looked into Ella’s eyes, and saw the fear and panic in them.

“Ella, binge eating and throwing up isn’t healthy!” Rose snapped, feeling the other girl stiffen up in her hands. Ella’s eyes widened and she started to shake. “Wh-what… it… I…”

“I’ve been down that road myself,” Rose said, tossing out everything Dawn had warned her not to do. She’d already veered wildly off-script anyway, no sense in trying to maintain a losing position. “It’s not fun. Not at all.”

She shook her head. “Back when I was trying out for roles and getting nowhere, I thought that I needed to be skinnier. If I could just lose those last couple of pounds, then I’d definitely get the parts, right? But then losing 5 pounds turned into trying to lose 10. Then 15. I almost ended up in the hospital!”

Rose refused to let someone else make the same mistakes she did. “You need to take better care of yourself. Purging doesn’t just feel terrible, it’s unhealthy! There are better ways to get Nick to take notice of you, you don’t have to throw up every night in an effort to stay skinny!”

Ella stared at Rose. What the fuck was this lady talking about?

“You… you think that’s what’s going on here?” She asked incredulously, shaking herself free from Rose’s grip.

Rose blinked. “…It isn’t?”

Ella’s face twisted into an expression of shock. “…NO!” She exclaimed, shaking her head. “Of course it isn’t! I… I’m not… NO!”

Rose thought that she was purging? Ella didn’t know what “purging” was but it probably meant throwing up on purpose. Rose thought she was doing this on purpose?! Why?! Vomiting made her feel miserable! She’d thrown up twice this morning already, thanks to those stupid eggs, and she’d hated every second of it!

“I’m not doing this on purpose!” She snapped, glaring at the blonde. “And I’m definitely not doing it for Nick!”

Rose blinked. “Oh. Then… I’m completely lost.”

Ella clutched the sides of her head and screamed in frustration.

A second later she raised her head… and it was Cinder facing Rose down now.

“Ey! What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!” Cinder demanded, jamming her finger into Rose’s chest. “Leave Ella alone, you… you pinché idiota!”

“Whoa, look, sorry!” Rose took a step back, sensing a complete change in the prior dynamic, and held up her hands. “I was just trying to help, seriously!”

Cinder gave her a scornful look, and started grinding her teeth together. “You expect me to fucking believe that?” She muttered, shaking her head.

Rose offered her a weak shrug in response. “I… I don’t know?” She mumbled. “It’s the truth… seriously, Cinder, I just brought her food, see?”

She gestured frantically over to the bag of food on the table, earning her a look of confusion from Cinder again.

“Ella… doesn’t want your food,” Cinder scowled, stomping over and seizing the bag for herself. She practically tore it open, and when she saw what inside of it, her look of irritation deepened. “…Uhg… a fucking salad? Are you for real?”

“It’s healthy for you,” Rose said, placing her hands on her hips. “Your diet is atrocious!”

“I’m not eating this slop,” Cinder said, pushing the salad aside and digging deeper into the bag, searching for something actually appetizing. She eventually found a ham sandwich… which was about as good as it was going to get.

The frustrated latina sank her teeth into the meal, bringing the image of a feasting predator to Rose’s mind as she watched Cinder tear into the thing. Crumbs of bread littered the table as Cinder’s teeth shredded the lettuce into stripes with each savage bite, staining her lips with ketchup and mustard in her rush to devour the sandwich.

She finished it in less than ten seconds, and smeared the remains off on the back of her hand in a sloppy display before diving into the bag again to see if anything was left.

“…If you eat that fast, you’re gonna make yourself sick,” Rose warned.

Cinder glared at her. “Who fucking asked you?” She spat. Much to her chagrin, there was no dessert at the bottom of the bag. Unless you counted the fucking apple, and who the fuck would count that!?

Still, food was food. And that sandwich only made her hungrier. So she chomped down on the juicy red apple, savoring the natural sweetness for as long as she could before finally sinking back into her chair, frustrated and hungrier than ever.

“You actually thought that would be enough for me?” Cinder asked Rose contemptuously, narrowing her eyes. “Idiota.”

Rose’s eye twitched. She didn’t need to speak a lick of Spanish to know what that word meant. She scowled furiously back at Cinder, giving the other woman the same reception she was getting in return. “I am NOT your maid,” she snapped. “I brought you- or, well, Ella- that because I wanted to be nice! But look at you, completely ungrateful! I don’t know why I even bothered to try.”

If Rose’s plan was to shame Cinder into feeling bad, it didn’t work.

“I didn’t ask you to give me some stringy, lettuce-filled sandwich,” Cinder snapped at her. She stood up and leaned forward, meeting Rose’s glare with one of her own. “If I’m hungry, I can feed my-fucking-self, I don’t need you to stroke your ego on a charity case!”

Rose softened just a hair. “It wasn’t… it wasn’t supposed to be charity,” she muttered quietly. “I was just trying to help.”

“Yeah? Well, Ella doesn’t need your fucking help,” Cinder snapped at her. “I’m more than enough for her, and I can keep her fed without you going around and acting so magnet… maganatic… magnanny… …Like a fucking goody-two-shoes all the time!” Cinder finished with a frustrated hiss, irritated that she couldn’t remember the word she was trying to call rose.

Well, she could remember “cunt” but she meant the other one.

“So that’s how you help her, then?” Rose asked. “Stuff her face with junk food until one of you has to barf? That’s not healthy.”

“What the fuck would YOU know about it?” Cinder snapped. “You know what it’s like, not being able to feed yourself? Only getting scraps?! You think it’s all fun and games?!”

“I know exactly what that’s like,” Rose snapped right back. “Do you have any idea how many times I had to go without a meal, just to make sure my brother got everything he needed when money was tight? Hmm?”

Cinder blanched, thrown by Rose’s refusal to back down.

“That… it’s not the same!” She lamely responded, but Rose was having none of it.

“I know what it’s like to be hungry, same as you,” she continued. “But that doesn’t mean you can just harm your body this way by binge eating until you throw up! Do you know what would happen if NICK saw that? He’d be heartbroken! He’d try and help you and Ella out however he could, and that would just make him feel even more pressured! Which would waste valuable time he could be spending on me!”

“Oh, it’s all about you, isn’t it?” Cinder sneered. “Well, nobody asked you for your help, or Nick, or anybody! I’m telling you, I-”

“You’re not the only one Ella can rely on now, so back off!” Rose interrupted her. “Look, I get it, you don’t play nice with others. But Ella wants friends, and so do you. So stop getting all caught up in your own ego and let other people actually help her! Okay!? I guarantee you’ll both be a lot happier that way.”

Cinder said nothing. She just seethed silently at Rose as her stomach churned, unsettled by how fast she’d just crammed her dinner down her gullet.

“Just… leave me alone,” she muttered, heading for the door. Her shoulders sagged in defeat, but she refused to confront those feelings, instead just sulking and running away like Ella would. A marked change in Cinder’s demeanor that could only be attributed to not feeling well.

Most people probably would have let things end there.

Rose wasn’t most people.

“Hold on!” She grabbed Cinder by the shoulder. “We’re not done here yet!”

Cinder whirled around and broke Rose’s grip on her arm, her anger reignited. “Yes we FUCKING are!” She snapped, pushing Rose back. “Just get the fuck out of my sight!”

“Fuck you, it’s my room, too!” Rose snapped, pushing the other girl right back. “Why don’t YOU get out of MY sight with that stupid mask of yours?!”

“Fine, maybe I will!” Cinder replied petulantly, pulling up her mask again.

Rose swatted it out of her hands.

“HEY!”

“We’re not done yet!” Rose took back what she just said. “I ‘m not letting you sneak off! Cinder, you need to take care of your health, for Ella’s sake! You think she likes barfing all the time? It’s mortifying for her, and if I can see that, you definitely can!”

Cinder seethed, balling up her fists. But she couldn’t argue with Rose because right now, she was feeling Ella’s heart affirm her statements in spite of how much it stung to do so.

Rose had tried the diplomatic approach, she really had. And she was trying so hard not to set Cinder off right now.

But even someone as patient and understanding and supportive and humble and generous and modest as Rose had her breaking point.

“Cinder, if you want to help Ella, then you’ve got to let other people help her, too,” Rose insisted. “Ella doesn’t want to be babied by you, she hates it! And she doesn’t want other people treating her that way, either. That’s the issue here! Everyone else is so freaked out by you popping up suddenly and cursing at them that they either keep Ella at a distance or treat her with kid gloves, and that’s not good at all!”

“Everyone but you,” Cinder glowered at her.

Rose snorted and rolled her eyes. “Well of course,” she said, shaking her head. “After all, I’m far superior to that girl.”

She batted her eyelashes and sneered. “When I’m looking down on someone, it’s not to help them out. It’s to stomp on them.”

Cinder could smell the dishonesty radiating from the blonde. At the same time, though, she couldn’t deny the veracity of Rose’s statement.

Babying Ella wasn’t helping her. Coddling wasn’t helping her.

Letting her stuff her face (or Cinder doing it) only to throw everything back up later… sure, it felt good in the moment, getting to gorge herself on all this delicious food… especially compared to back then, when she had no idea when her next meal would come…

But the damage she was doing to Ella wasn’t worth it at all.

“…Fucking puta,” she cursed, shaking her head as she returned control of her body to a mortified Ella, who stared at Rose in horror.