When she got to room 202 she quietly opened the door as to not interrupt the class and then slipped in and took an empty seat. She slunk down in her chair in the back of the classroom, hoping that nobody saw her enter, which was obviously wishful thinking because everyone was staring at her. She couldn’t bear it anymore. She hated being in the spotlight, and today she felt like she couldn’t get out of it.
The class started whispering and the teacher had to quiet everyone down and bring their attention back to the front of the room.
“Now class, eyes up here please!” Mr. Dappler said.
“But Mr. Dappler, Rachel’s back!” Brian said. Then the class cheered and started asking in unison, “What happened? Where were you? You’re alive!”
Brian was a guy in her class whom she’d never been friends with before but thought he was hot. She was surprised actually that he even noticed she was back. She didn’t even think he knew her name but apparently he did. She felt excited by that and felt a sense of belonging again in her high school.
“Hi everyone!” Rachel said. “I’m back!”
She figured she might as well go along with it until she gains some understanding of where the past year and a half of her life had gone.
“Where were you?” Brie asked.
“I thought you moved?” Deborah asked.
“But wait, I heard you died?” Kevin asked.
“Not now kids, you will have to save all of your questions for Rachel for after class. Right now we are speaking French!” Mr. Dappler said. “Comprendez vous?”
“Oui!” the class responded.
Rachel sat there, completely lost in this intermediate French class. She had no idea why they put her in this class, but apparently she missed the beginner’s class last year while she was gone. She knew she’d have to do a lot of studying to catch up and she couldn’t risk her perfect GPA. She wanted to get into a good college and knew she’d have to start applying soon, especially since it was almost the deadline. Actually, now that she thought about that, she started to get worried. She started to feel under an immense pressure to research all the colleges. She couldn’t believe she’d let this one slip through the cracks like this. It’s not like it was a little thing either, it was COLLEGE for crying out loud.
She couldn’t let herself get carried away thinking about the future at a time like this; she had to deal with more immediate issues. She had to figure out where the past year and a half of her life went. She had to sort that out first.
She sat there, looking at the clock, waiting for this class to end. She knew she only had one more class until lunch and then she’d be able to catch up with her friends and find out more about what had happened to her. She knew if anyone were to know these details about her life it would be her friends. After all they were like sisters to each other; or at least they had been.
The next hour and a half dug on as if it were a year. She’d never been so out of it in her entire life. She couldn’t focus on the class or the teacher and she was completely lost. She didn’t know what they were talking about in her physics class and she couldn’t understand the lab assignment either: it was all too complicated for her. It was also the first time she felt confused in a class. This day was getting worse and worse.
RING RING
The bell rang and it was finally time for Rachel to go to lunch. She was excited and nervous all at the same time. She didn’t know what to expect, and worried that maybe her friends wouldn’t remember her or they wouldn’t accept her after all this time. Or worse off, that her friends wouldn’t be friends with each other anymore. She didn’t know but she was about to find out.
She didn’t have to go to her locker, since she didn’t have one so she just walked over to the cafeteria. She arrived there a minute later and was one of the first to arrive. She looked around the big empty room with about twenty round circular tables, waiting to be filled by her classmates. She didn’t know what to do: she didn’t know where to sit. She stood there, and watched as kids started to filter in from the hallways. The noise level grew louder and louder as the cafeteria filled up.
She continued to look around for Dana or anyone she recognized, but they weren’t there. She knew some of the kids that were filing in, but not well enough to sit at their lunch table with them. As she stood there, she could feel the kids staring at her in awe. She could hear their conversations and it made her feel uncomfortable. She hated being the butt of jokes and rumors, but today, it was hard for her to escape it. She didn’t want to stand there anymore, so she decided to walk around the hallway and come back in a few minutes, that way she’d give her friends time to get to the cafeteria.
She walked back toward the main office and through the swinging door. She knew this might be a good time to sort out her locker situation since her backpack wasn’t exactly light.
She went back over to Mrs. Dusty’s desk and stood there until she was off the phone.
“Mrs. Dusty, can you give me my new locker?” Rachel asked.
“Oh, I’m sorry, dear. I thought I gave it to you already,” Mrs. Dusty said, looking at her papers.
“No. I don’t have it,” Rachel said.
“Here, let me get that info for you. I think you are locker 198. Let me double check…” Mrs. Dusty looked down a long list of names and locker numbers. “Yes 198 it is!”
“Ok, thank you,” Rachel said.
Rachel left and went over to her new locker. She pulled out the piece of paper Mrs. Dusty handed her with her new locker combination and she tried it.
Success
She put her backpack and books away and then headed back towards the cafeteria. Surely her friends would be there by now, she thought.
As she approached the entrance to the cafeteria her heart began to race again. She could feel her body temperature rising as she walked through the doors. The stares were endless and then out of nowhere she heard a voice calling her, “Rachel! Rachel! Come on, we’re waiting for you!” Dana yelled out across the cafeteria.
Rachel was thankful that Dana was there, and saw a few of her other friends sitting at the table, too.
Phew, she thought to herself.
She walked over to their table amid the glares and whispers of the kids in the cafeteria. She didn’t acknowledge them and kept her focus on Dana and her friends.
“Rachel!” Dana said. “Everyone’s so pumped you’re back!”
Rachel smiled, “Yeah!”