“I told them I’m sick and am going to bed,” Rachel said.
“Perfect,” said Sarah.
“Come get me when you’re ready,” Rachel whispered.
“Will do. We’ll be leaving in about thirty minutes,” Sarah replied.
At that moment Mark came out of his bedroom and saw the two whispering. Rachel and Sarah stopped speaking and looked at him. The three siblings stood there staring at each other for a moment and then Rachel said, “I’m going to bed guys, I’m sick. See you in the morning.”
“Feel better,” Sarah said as she winked at Rachel.
“Ditto,” said Mark as she bolted down the steps for dinner.
Rachel went into her room, scarfed down her dinner, and began getting ready for her night out.
She went into her bathroom, put on her Urban Decay powder blue eye shadow and curled her eyelashes. She then used her Volum’ Express Maybelline mascara and batted her eyelashes. She couldn’t believe how good she looked, especially for being “sick”
She put on her outfit and sat on her bed waiting for Sarah to let her know it’s time to go. A few minutes later she heard a knock on her bedroom door. Rachel’s heart stopped as the doorknob opened. She was hoping it wasn’t anyone but her sister as she sat there perfectly coiffed and ready to go.
“Hey! You ready?” her sister’s voice rang through the door.
“Oh yeah,” Rachel answered.
Sarah opened up her door and waved her to come out. Rachel turned off her bedroom lights and closed the door firmly behind her. She didn’t want to accidentally leave it open just in case her parents came upstairs.
“OK, I’m going to distract Mom and Dad in the kitchen and you go out the front door and wait on the side of the house. I will come out in a few minutes when my friends pull up.”
“OK,” Rachel said as she grabbed her jacket and converse from the foyer closet.
“Sarah, is that you?” her mom called out from the kitchen. “Can you come in here?”
Sarah dashed into the kitchen so her parents wouldn’t come out and see the two of them standing there. Now that the coast was clear, Rachel slowly opened the front door to the house, pulling it ever so softly so it didn’t make any noises or squeaks. She squeezed through a small opening and shut the door quietly behind her. She ran tiptoeing down the walkway to her house and hid to the side of the house and waited.
Rachel heard the front door slam and the sound of her sisters Steve Madden heels walking down the walkway. At that exact moment, she also heard the revving engine of a Mercedes G500 pull down their driveway. Rachel saw Sarah motion to her, to stay where she was as Sarah hopped into the car to make sure the coast was clear. Sarah gave her a thumbs up and she ran into the back seat of the car and slammed the door shut as she squished her way into the back seat, which already had three other AHS seniors in it.
“See, I told you it’d be easy!” Sarah said as she turned to give Rachel a high-five.
“That was flawless!” Rachel said back.
The driver of the car turned up the radio, which was already blaring in Rachel’s ear. The station was set to 97.1 hip-hop and R&B, which Rachel despised. She’d rather listen to bubblegum pop than R&B any day of the week. The car reversed out of the driveway and then quickly skidded forward, and off they went down the road on their way to the movies.
The ride was short, thankfully for Rachel because she was crammed in the back right next to the excruciatingly loud, aftermarket subwoofer and speakers. She thought she was going to be deaf when she got out of the car. Thankfully, the car arrived in one piece and everyone hopped out of the car.
“I’ll see you after the movies, Rach— text me if you need a ride home or anything,” Sarah said.
“Thanks, Sis, will do!”
Rachel took out her cell phone to text Emily but then heard her friend’s voices coming from the parking lot. “Rachel, Rachel, Rachel!!!!” they were chanting as the car pulled into the spot near her.
“Hey Guys! I’m here!” Rachel said.
“Yeah, can’t believe you snuck out again. Twice in one day!” Liv said.
“I know, I know. I could write a book on the subject,” Rachel said back, as she let out a small laugh.
As she stood there and waited for all her friends to get out of the car she heard throngs of kids in the parking lot all talking, laughing and hollering. She realized that tonight was the big AHS movie night and everyone who was anyone at AHS was there.
She walked through the double doors of the theater and got in line to buy a ticket. They were all going to see a 3D movie, and luckily it wasn’t rated R, so she wouldn’t have to worry about being carded by the movie bouncer. As she stood on line, she heard a familiar voice behind her. She turned around and saw the entire AHS football team waiting in line to buy tickets.
“Listen guys, let it go already, it wasn’t her fault,” the voice said.
Rachel saw Rob talking to a few of the players who kept turning and looking at Rachel. She felt thankful that he was sticking up for her, after everything that had happened that night at the dance. But he was right. It wasn’t her fault.
“Hey Rach,” Rob said with a smile as he moved up in line closer to her.
“Oh, hi Rob,” she said pretending not to have heard his conversation.
“You excited for the movie? It’s supposed to be trippy, I’m psyched,” Rob said with a smile.
“Yeah, trippy?” Rachel asked naively.
“Trippy, like you’re on drugs or somethin’,” Rob said and let out a laugh.
“Oh, right! Duh, I knew that,” Rachel said trying not to look dumb.
Rachel could tell that Rob still liked her. She could tell by the way he looked at her and by the way he acted around her that he was still into her. She couldn’t really understand why though, given the circumstances of the previous days.
“Want to sit together?” Rob asked.
Rachel didn’t know what to think. She had liked Rob for a while, but after he stood her up, she lost all interest in him. She didn’t want to date a guy like that, but perhaps he had changed. She wavered in her head whether or not to give him a second shot and decided, why not. Benji hadn’t reached out to her in days, and maybe she could use a rebound.
“Yeah, sounds good,” Rachel, said cracking a smile. “Come sit with us thought. I don’t want to leave my friends.”
Rachel turned around to her friends and whispered to them what had just happened. They didn’t seem to mind that Rachel had offered for Rob to sit with them.