“It’s nice, different, but nice so far,” Rachel said.
“We should hang out sometime. I’ll show you around,” Rob said.
All of a sudden Arielle came over and gave Rob a hug. “Hey there,” she said. Arielle looked at Rachel with a scowl.
“Hey Arielle, gotta run, still in practice,” Rob said, as he darted back out the door onto the field.
As Rob got out of sight, Arielle looked at Rachel and said, “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Huh?” Rachel said.
“Rob’s way out of your league,” Arielle said coldly.
Arielle walked back into the gym and gathered all the girls around her in a huddle. Rachel noticed a few of them turn their heads to look at her. They looked mean. She wondered if they were talking about her.
Rachel limped back down the stairs and into the girls’ locker room to change. A few minutes later, girls from the team started trickling in, too. As some of them walked by Rachel she heard them say, “that’s her.”
The girls all gave her dirty looks. One girl said, “That wasn’t smart.”
Rachel was scared. She didn’t do anything. Rob was the one that started talking to HER.
As Rachel walked upstairs to leave school for the day, she saw Sarah on a bench with her new friends. Sarah noticed Rachel and waved her over.
“How do you think it went?” Sarah asked.
Rachel didn’t want to tell Sarah what had just happened in the locker room. Rachel knew that the girls on the team hated her and worried that it might affect her getting on the team.
“Not sure… OK, I guess,” Rachel answered.
“I’m going to hang here for a while, tell Mom I’ll be home later,” Sarah said.
Rachel dialed her mom who was already on her way over to pick her up.
“How’d it go Rach?” her mom asked when she picked up the phone.
“Fine, I think. Did you know Sarah was trying out, too?”
“Yes, she mentioned it to me yesterday. I hope both of you girls make the team. It would be so much fun to see you both cheering at the football games this season,” her Mom added.
“Okay, see you when you get here,” Rachel said as she hung up.
Rachel stood on the curb and waited for her mom to arrive. She overheard one of the cheerleaders tell another that “The List” would be posted on the bulletin board outside the girls’ locker room in the morning.
When Rachel got home, she ran upstairs to her room. She couldn’t wait to tell Dana about her day. She picked up her cell and dialed Dana, but she didn’t answer.
The voicemail picked up, “Hey, you’ve reached Dana, I’m out leave a message at the beep.”
“Hi Stranger,” Rachel said. “I have BIG news. Call me ASAP. I miss you, bye.”
Rachel waited all night for Dana to call back but she didn’t. She fell into a fitful sleep, wondering if maybe they weren’t as good of friends as Rachel had thought.
Chapter Six
Rachel and Sarah both ran into school the next morning, anxious to see the list outside the girls’ locker room. As Rachel headed towards the bulletin board, she saw swarms of girls huddled by it searching for their names.
When she reached the list she ran her pointer down the white piece of paper, scanning each name typed out in alphabetical order by last name. Rachel finally spotted “Wood,” slid her finger moved to the right of the page and it read, “Sarah.” She looked again but her name wasn’t on the list.
Rachel sank back away from the board, and she felt ill. All she wanted was to be part of the team, especially now that she was in competition with her sister. Why did Sarah always get everything that Rachel wanted? It wasn’t fair.
“I’m sorry, Rach,” said Sarah. “I won’t do it if you want.”
Rachel was surprised by what Sarah had just said. Would she really give up her spot on the team for her? Maybe Sarah wasn’t as awful as Rachel thought. Maybe they would actually become friends.
“No, it’s fine. It’s more your thing anyway. Thanks though,” Rachel said.
Rachel headed off to homeroom as she slowly let her desire to be part of the cheerleading team fade away. She guessed it was for the best; she didn’t really want to be on a team with those girls anyway, especially after what had happened yesterday.
When Rachel got into homeroom class, she went right over to Emily, who was waving at her.
“So, you make the team?” asked Emily.
“Nope.”
“Sorry,” Emily said, “you ok?”
“Yeah, you were right,” Rachel said. “I didn’t really want to be on a team with those girls anyway. They don’t seem so nice.”
“They’re terrible -- especially Arielle. Consider yourself lucky for not making the team,” Emily said.
Rachel laughed and smiled.
“So, you meeting people?” Emily asked.
“Some…not really though,” answered Rachel.
“Sit with me at lunch today. I’ll introduce you to my friends. I think you’ll like them,” said Emily.
“Cool, that’d be great,” Rachel said.
Mr. Allen started his lesson, cutting Rachel and Emily’s conversation short. Today’s topic was a continuation of women in history. Mr. Allen said he wanted to teach that first, because so often women get overlooked even though they have done some pretty incredible things to get our country where it is today. As he began talking about Susan B. Anthony and the 19th Century Women’s Movement, Rachel couldn’t help but to wonder if she’d be a powerful woman.
She envisioned herself changing the world when she grew up. She’d always dreamed of becoming a doctor or a scientist. She loved being in the laboratory and she loved helping people. She related deeply to the topic Mr. Allen was discussing and it gave her inner strength to think about her future as a powerful woman in America. Rachel was getting lost in her daydreams when the bell rang. She got up from her chair and headed to the door.
“I’ll see you at lunch, meet me by the entrance,” Emily said.
“Great!” she replied.
Rachel was doing an inner happy dance, she was finally making friends.
Day three and things were starting to look up, Rachel thought.
As lunchtime neared, Rachel watched the clock tick in her science class. Only a few more minutes until she would meet her new group of friends at AHS. She hoped they would like her, and she also hoped she would like them. Thinking back to her first day in the cafeteria, she saw each clique flash vividly through her mind. She couldn’t help but wonder which group she was going to sit with, and which group was going to be her clique. Rachel pictured herself eating, laughing, swapping phone numbers and making plans for the weekend with these girls. God how she wished these girls would like her.