She was dreading going into the cafeteria. If only the police questioning had lasted longer, she wouldn’t have to deal with the cafeteria scene today. If she thought it was bad last week, she couldn’t imagine what it would be like today.
Rachel walked to her locker and grabbed the brown paper bag that held her lunch. She could smell the peanut butter aroma coming from inside and heard the loud voices of kids breezing down the hallways. Their voices echoed in her head, as she tried to listen for conversations about the fight. She hoped that people had moved on to another topic, but that was not the case, everyone was still buzzing about the homecoming dance fight.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen to the team?”
“I heard they got a serious beating.”
“Who is this guy anyway?”
Rachel couldn’t help but hear the gossip swarming around her. She so badly wanted to set everyone straight, but she knew she couldn’t. She knew she would have to keep it bottled inside until this whole thing died down.
As she walked with the crowds of people, her mind was spinning with everything that had just happened. She couldn’t stop thinking about her interrogation by the police chief. At that moment she remembered the newspaper article. Did she really see a photo of herself on the front page of the Westchester Daily News? She ran the article over and over in her head, which made her incredibly anxious. As if she didn’t have enough on her plate, Rachel worried about her parents finding out about Rye Playland. She knew she had to come up with a way to dodge her parents looking at the paper. As she was coming up with ideas in her head, she felt a tap on her shoulder, which made her nearly jump out of her skin.
“Why are you so skitzo today?” Asked Jen who was walking with Emily and Taryn.
“I know you guys heard what happened last night, don’t pretend like you don’t know what I’m going through,” Rachel said back.
“Yeah, we know, but we want to hear it from you,” Taryn said with a laugh.
“What are you going through?” Asked Jen.
“Guys, we should give her some space, she’s had a rough morning,” Emily chimed in.
“Thanks, Em,” said Rachel. “It’s been tough.”
The four girls walked into the cafeteria and found a seat at the table. Rachel actually felt thankful that her friends found her in the hall so she wouldn’t have to walk into the cafeteria alone, of all days. She felt like she had just dodged a bullet.
Even so, the second that they all walked into the cafeteria, Rachel could immediately sense everybody stop to turn and stare at her. She felt her cheeks redden from all the attention. She could even have sworn that the entire noise level in the cafeteria dropped dramatically at her entrance.
Thank God I don’t have to go stand on line for a hot lunch, she thought, gratefully clutching her brown paper bag.
As they unpacked their lunches, Liv and Kate joined the table.
“OMG, this is the craziest day I’ve ever seen at AHS guys,” Liv said, as she took out her iced tea.
“Um, yeah! It’s sick what’s been going on,” Kate added.
“Did you guys hear the police chief has been here questioning kids about last night? I heard they questioned Amanda, who had been driving out of the parking lot and saw the fight. Rumor has it, she snapped a pic from her cell and gave it to the police,” Liv said.
They all looked at Rachel, expectantly, as if waiting for her to say something. Clearly, this was the moment when they all expected her to fill them in on everything that had happened.
But Rachel didn’t know what to say. She didn’t want to gossip about last night with her friends, so she sat there and began to eat her sandwich as she thought about what she was hearing. Her world was being shaken upside down and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
“Guys, can we change the subject?” Rachel asked. “I’ve been dealing with this all day. I need a break.”
“Are you serious?” said, Taryn. “This is the biggest thing to happen to AHS in years, thanks to you!”
“We want to hear your side of the story. Please, just tell us. We won’t tell anyone,” Liv said, as she leaned into the middle of the table.
“I’ll tell you,” Rachel said, “but not at school. It’s too dangerous.”
“Ah!” shrieked Liv, “I can’t wait!”
“Tell us now,” Emily begged. “We’ll leave you alone after, we promise, not a peep about it.”
Rachel felt as if she were under fire. She wanted to tell them what was going on, but at the same time, she wanted to keep her secret. After all, she had sworn to Benji that she would never tell. But, at the same time, she had to give them something.
“Well,” Rachel began, thinking what to say, “the principal called me into his office, too. The police were there. They asked me a lot of questions.”
“OMG,” Emily said. “What did you say? What did you tell them?”
“Are you in trouble?” Liv asked. “Are you suspended?”
“And what happened to him? Who is he, anyway?” Kate asked.
“Are you guys dating?” Emily asked.
Rachel felt overwhelmed by all the questions. She didn’t know who to respond to first, what to say. She tried to think of a response that would satisfy all of them. She could have even sworn that she saw people from the table over quieting down and listening in on their conversation.
“I barely know him,” Rachel said. “His name is Benji. We had just met. He had asked me out, but I said no. Then we met at the dance. Rob saw us, and I guess he got jealous. Then they to started to fight. But I really had nothing to do with the whole thing. I tried to stop it, but it didn’t do any good. So, like, I don’t know what to say.”
“This guy sounds like a real creep,” Kate said.
Rachel, despite herself, felt herself flushing red, getting angry, wanting to defend Benji.
“Don’t say that,” she snapped back. “He didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Yeah, right,” Liv said. “He just beat up our team for no reason.
“That’s not how it happened,” Rachel snapped, and was embarrassed to realize that she actually yelled.
Half the cafeteria turned around, dead silent, listening to her, as she stood at the table.
“They attacked him. He was just defending himself. You guys should get your facts straight before you go around accusing other people!” She yelled.