It's nearing noon, and she's still vibrant with energy-- and why shouldn't she be? She'd woken up in her bed slightly disappointed to find John no longer by her side, to be sure, but the lone luminescent star stuck to her ceiling (and she's still working on fathoming just how he'd managed to attach it to her ceiling without rousing her from her slumber, mind-- she suspects the office chair now closer to her bed than it'd been the night before had played a part) that still glowed faintly as the dawn broke had warmed her heart considerably, tugging her lips upwards into a smile that had yet to fade. --The group of students lurking at the end of the hallway threatens to destroy the happy haze she'd been in, however: they straighten themselves up as she approaches, obnoxious smirks on their faces.
And, well, she only tightens her grip on the straps of her backpack, hoping they'd simply let her pass this time, but they don't. It's nothing she hasn't heard from this lot before, and for a while, she only stands there and takes it as they corner her and taunt and jab and mock, but then they bring John into the mix ( apparently, leaving in the middle of class with him yesterday had been a wrong move in their eyes), and Rose starts to retaliate, awash with a sudden sense of fury-- it was all well and fine if they mocked her for not getting good grades (no matter how hard she tried) or thinking differently, because she'd been taught growing up that words were simply words, and they only bothered her a lot slightly; it wasn't fair, however, to go on about John.
Except there are more of them and only one of her, and eventually, they win. At one point, she finds herself at a loss of words to say, and they hone in on that, seeming to crowd in on her as their taunts increase in ferocity, rendering her all the more speechless and humiliated. Hazel irises flick about the hallway, hoping against hope to see a familiar face, but when there's none to be found, she finally yields, pushing her way past the gang of goading students when words fail her and her eyes start to sting with tears instead. Instead of defending herself, Rose Tyler runs, and as she notices John Smith standing before her, she pushes past him too, unwilling to let even him see her in her state right now.
When it came down to it, there were no true princes and princesses, and life wasn't a fairy tale-- she'd been fooled into ever believing otherwise.