a rose without a thorn

first day of finals done!
two more to go.

inspired by juliet capulet.

one of my best friends is mad at me and the rest of our group because none of us like his girlfriend. in our defense, his girlfriend is terrible: she's mean, she's conceited, she's just awful to be around. he sees no flaws in her, not one, even though she's far from flawless. he doesn't seem to realize that she's making him hate all of his friends. it's always us who are wrong, us who are evil, never, ever her.
 
anyways, now he's mad at me because he knows i don't like her very much. he's also pretty mad at our other best friend, because he's done being friends with that girl. all she would ever talk about with him is how depressed she was, so i do understand why he doesn't want to be her friend anymore.
 
i just wish everything would calm down already, and i'm tired of her, and i'm tired of how mad he always gets at us because of her.

the tenth of my wars of the roses collections.
 
margaret was the daughter of richard, duke of york and his wife, cecily neville. she was also the sister of two english kings, edward iv and richard iii. throughout her childhood, her father was engaged in bitter conflicts with the lancastrian monarchs, henry vi and margaret of anjou. as henry vi was deemed insane, the duke of york desired to be the king's lord protector, meaning the person who would act as king for the true king. however, henry vi's wife also desired to play this role, and it was she who succeeded.
 
the duke of york and margaret of anjou had fought before. york had been involved in land disputes with the queen's favorite, the duke of somerset. their argument had escalated to an actual battle, in which somerset had been killed. now, the queen's fury would be unleashed.
 
the queen's forces marched towards the the residence of the duke of york, and, at the battle of wakefield, margaret of york lost her father, her older brother, edmund, her uncle, and her cousin, leaving the city in which she and the remainder of her family were staying unguarded.
 
margaret's troops forced their way into the city and lay waste to it. margaret's mother, cecily neville, knew the only way to save her children and herself would be to beg the queen for their lives. cecily marched her three youngest children, margaret, george, and richard, to the queen, who did spare them their lives, but forced them to watch their city burn.
 
later, cecily neville sent her sons to safety in burgundy, a duchy near france. she kept her daughter with her in england, and shortly thereafter, margaret's older brother edward defeated the lancastrian army and made his way to london to be crowned king.
 
margaret of of york was then an extremely valuable member of the family, as she was the new king's only unmarried sister. by the age of twenty, margaret was still unmarried, though her brother was considering the duke of burgundy, charles the bold. planes for margaret's marriage with charles had been thought of since before her father's death, because charles' mother desired an english wife for her son. however, as the mere daughter of a duke, margaret was not a worthy bride for charles. when margaret's brother became king, margaret's hand became more desirable.
 
margaret of york was sent to burgundy to be married to its duke around the time her brother was falling out with her powerful cousin, the kingmaker. when her brother was thrown into exile, he fled to burgundy, where his sister begged her husband to support him against lancastrian rule in england. charles ignored her pleas, and only agreed to help edward regain his throne when he decided it was in his best interests.
 
as years went by, chalres became increasingly tyrannical. he was constantly fighting with neighboring duchies, desperately trying to create an empire to stretch from the north sea to the mediterranean. he struggled with france bitterly, causing trade to be severely disrupted in burgundy. by the time of his death, he was hated by his people.
 
when charles the bold died, he had no son; only a daughter from a previous marriage named mary. margaret had always been known to be intelligent and politically astute, and the guidance she gave to mary was invaluable to burgundy. mary chose the son of the holy roman emperor to be her husband, maximilian of hapsburg. he was not very popular with the burgundians, but he and mary were very much in love. unfortunately, mary died, leaving her son, philip, to rule burgundy, with the aid of his father, and his step-grandmother, margaret.
 
for margaret, more tragedies were to be had. the deaths of her brothers all occurred within a few years. margaret attempted to raise a rebellion against henry tudor, the man who had defeated her brother, richard iii, and she later supported a yorkist pretender against him.
 
margaret died at the age of fifty-seven in burgundy. she is the subject of anne easter smith's "daughter of york," which is an excellent book, if it is not historically accurate.

the ninth of wars of the roses collections.
 
jane shore, born elizabeth lambert, was raised a well-off merchant's daughter, and she later married william shore, a mercer many years older than she. jane was reputably the most beautiful woman in the city, earning her the epithet "the rose of london." her beauty drew to her the attentions of many, including the friend of the king, william hasting. it was most likely through this connection with hastings that jane first met the king of england, edward iv.
 
as the royal mistress, jane was neither showered with gifts nor quickly discarded like the rest of edward's various lovers. she was well-loved by the people, who much admired her generosity and warm-heart. her relationship with edward lasted until his death, and afterwards, she became the mistress of will hastings, and edward iv's step-son, thomas grey, marquess of dorset. jane shore helped to create an alliance between the woodvilles, the family of edward iv's wife, elizabeth, and will hastings. they plotted to take down richard iii, and jane was accused of carrying messages between the queen dowager and hastings. to pay for her actions against the new king, jane was forced to preform a public penance walk.
 
after her penance walk, jane was imprisoned, and during that time she attracted the attention of an advisor of richard iii's, thomas lynom, who would become her husband, and with whom she would have one daughter.
 
anne easter smith wrote a novel about jane's life, which is entitled "royal mistress." she features in sharon kay penman's "the sunne in splendour," and philippa gregory's "the white queen," as well.

shall i compare thee to a summer's day?
thou art more lovely and more temperate
rough winds do shake the darling buds of may
and summer's lease hath all too short a date
sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines
and often is his gold complexion dimm'd
and every fair from fair sometime decline
by chance, or nature's changing course untrimm'd
but they eternal summer shall not fade
nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st
nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade
when in eternal lines to time thou grow'st
so long as men can breathe or eyes can see
so long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

so i'm dating this boy. we used to be best friends, and when he asked me out, i thought it would be really really fun, but it hasn't been. i feel like i don't know him anymore. i can hardly talk to him, and he's really awkward around me. it's like we're not even friends. i sort of want to break up with him, but i know that he really likes me a lot and i don't really know how to. i don't want to hurt him; he was my best friend. i just don't know what to do anymore.