by Emma Knight
When Rachel woke up the next morning she rubbed her eyes and sat up feeling confused. She thought about her night and wondered if it had all been a dream.
Did that all really just happen?
She got out of bed and saw her party clothes on the floor of her closet and knew it was not a dream. She picked up the denim skirt, brushed the wrinkles out, and brought it back into Sarah’s room.
As Rachel was hanging the Gap skirt back on the hot pink hanger, her mom walked through the door of Sarah’s room, holding a laundry basket.
“What are you doing in here?” Rachel’s mom asked, sounding surprised.
“Oh, I, was just returning a skirt I borrowed from Sarah,” said Rachel.
Rachel looked at her mom as she stared back at her with questioning eyes. Rachel worried her mom would ask why she borrowed the skirt, and where she wore it. She knew she was busted.
“I don’t remember you wearing that skirt,” her mom questioned her.
Thinking quickly, Rachel knew she had to come up with something fast.
“Oh, I wore it the other day to school, you must not have noticed,” Rachel answered.
“That’s nice, dear,” her mom answered, “It’s so nice you girls share clothes.”
“Yeah.”
“Come downstairs, I’ve made pancakes for breakfast.”
“K, I’ll be down in a few,” Rachel replied. “Thanks, Mom.”
Phew, that was close.
Rachel smiled at her mom and walked back into her room.
Relieved, she sat on her bed and thought about how happy she was. It had been almost a week since their move, and she already felt like she belonged at AHS, and in her new town of Bedford. She didn’t feel like an outcast anymore, and she was surprised at how quickly things turned around for her after her terrible first day. Rachel felt lucky to have Emily and Rob. She thought Emily was quickly entering the best friend zone, and she felt that Rob was going to turn into her boyfriend before she knew it. She really wanted Emily and Rob to become friends but she knew that would never happen. Despite this, she felt like the luckiest girl on the planet.
“Honey, pancakes are getting cold,” her mom yelled up to Rachel.
“Coming!” She headed downstairs and into the kitchen. Mark and Sarah were still not home, so it was just Rachel, her mom and dad sitting at the breakfast table again.
Rachel felt guilty as she sat at the kitchen table, having a delicious breakfast with her parents. They had absolutely no idea she snuck out, and while Rachel felt good about that, she also felt a little sad, too. She was not the type of girl to dupe her parents.
“How was the game?” she asked her dad.
“Mayberry caught a fly and won the game,” he replied.
“Nice!” she said, excitedly.
She loved the Phillies but felt that because she was now a New Yorker she should start liking the Yankees or the Mets. As the three finished their breakfast, Rachel said, “Can I help with anything, today?”
Her mom looked at her and said, “That’s nice of you, Darling. We could use some help in the garage actually.”
Rachel suddenly wished she hadn’t offered, but figured it would make her feel better about herself and about lying if she did something to help out around the house. After all, the house was still a wreck and there were boxes everywhere, and she didn’t want to live like that either.
She left the kitchen to go change out of her pajamas. She went up to her room and saw her phone light up.
1 Missed Call
Emily: 10:22am
Rachel waited for the voicemail to come through, and then listened to it.
“Hey Rach, it’s me, Emily. Just calling to see how your night was. I heard the party was crazy last night. Cops came and broke it up around 1am. Hope everything’s OK. Call me.”
Rachel decided to text Emily back. She didn’t want to be caught talking on the phone because then she would get her phone confiscated for the day. After all, she was still grounded.
Rachel: Hey Em, just helping out around the house, unpacking and stuff.
Emily: How was Jordan’s?
Rachel was surprised at Emily’s sudden interest in the party but answered her anyway.
Rachel: It was OK, not really my scene, but Rob was great. We almost kissed, but didn’t. Long story.
Emily: OMG! Really?
Rachel: Yeah, isn’t that cool?
Emily: If you like him, yeah. But be careful, he’s kind of a player.
Rachel: Well, I gotta run, see you tomorrow in Mr. Allen’s class.
Emily: Peace out!
She put her phone down, annoyed. She didn’t know why Emily always had to bring her excitement down, especially now, after such an amazing night with Rob. She figured that Rob was popular and knew all the girls liked him, but she thought he was different. He was so sweet to her and so kind, she didn’t believe Emily. And even if Emily had been right, that Rob was a player, Rachel figured that maybe he had changed. Regardless, she knew she was going to have to think twice about things before she shared every little detail with Emily.
Rachel changed her clothes and headed outside to the garage. Her mom and dad were both out there emptying boxes and organizing things. They were very focused, listening to Billy Joel on the stereo system.
Her mom put a few boxes aside for Rachel to sort through, and she got right to work. The boxes were a mess: full of cables, wires, nick-knacks, clothes, rags, parts to things she could not identify.
It took Rachel most of the day to sort through the boxes. It was exhausting work, and she only stopped for about a half hour to eat a sandwich and run upstairs to check her phone.
By the end of the day, Rachel’s back was hurting and her stomach was grumbling. It was nearing dinnertime and she was ready to call it quits on the garage project.
She headed inside. As she walked upstairs, she heard loud music coming out of her sister’s room. She went over and knocked on Sarah’s door, excited that she was back from her weekend with Gary. Even though the two weren’t the best of friends, Rachel did miss Sarah when she was gone: especially this weekend, because she had been grounded.
“Who is it?” Rachel heard Sarah yell from inside her bedroom.
“It’s Rachel,” Rachel shouted so Sarah could hear her over her music.
She heard Sarah turn down her music.
“Come in,” Sarah said softly.
As Rachel opened the door she was surprised at what she saw. Sarah was taking down all her pictures of her and Gary. She had also torn down all the letters and cards he had wrote her.
“What’s going on?”
“Gary wants to take a break,” Sarah said wiping a tear from her eye.
“What?” Rachel asked. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah. He said it’s too much with his school work and he wants to enjoy his freshman year at Skidmore without having to worry about me,” Sarah said.
“I’m sorry, Sarah,” Rachel said. “He will realize what he’s lost, don’t worry.”
Rachel couldn’t believe what she just heard. Sarah and Gary had been together for years now, and were even talking about marriage. What could have gone wrong?
Rachel waited for Sarah to ask her how her weekend was, but she was too absorbed in the emotions of her breakup to talk about anything else.
Rachel walked through their bathroom and back into her bedroom and walked over to her window. She peered out, thinking about Sarah, and then thinking about Rob. She so desperately wanted to tell her sister about him: but she knew tonight wasn’t a good time.
As she looked out the window, she wondered what their second date would be like, and if tomorrow would be the day of her first true kiss.
Chapter Nine
