She heard Mark and Sarah’s door slam shut a few seconds later and the sounds of their feet racing down the hallway.
Rachel opened her door to the smell of roast chicken filling the air. Rachel loved roast chicken, one of her favorite meals her Mom cooked.
When Rachel got downstairs, she saw mashed potatoes, corn and gravy, too. My favorite, Rachel thought to herself.
She didn’t want to let on that she was happy about the meal, though, and sat down in her hard wooden chair without cracking a smile.
Rachel sat there scooping food onto her plate, quietly eating as Sarah and Mark raved about their first days. Listening to them blissfully describe their day in detail, Rachel wondered if they were at different schools. She couldn’t understand how Mark and Sarah both had picture-perfect days.
“So, Rachel, how was your first day? her dad asked. “You’re awfully quiet over there,”
Rachel looked up from her plate, swallowed her bite of corn and said, “Fine.”
“She didn’t make any friends, she’s a loner,” Mark said with a laugh from across the table.
“Shut up,” she retorted.
“Honey, is that true?” her mom asked in a sympathetic voice.
“No. Mark doesn’t know anything.”
Rachel’s mom changed the subject and turned towards her dad and said, “So how was your first day at the office, love?”
“Couldn’t have been better. I unpacked the office, and started right into it,” he replied.
Rachel’s dad was a computer IT guy who worked for IBM. Basically, he fixed broken computer systems. He had been transferred to the IBM headquarters in Armonk, New York, because of the bad economy. His office in Pennsylvania had gone bankrupt and he either had to be transferred or was out of work. It was an easy decision for him, because he couldn’t be without a job, especially with three kids and a wife at home-- not to mention, the three looming college tuition fees that lay around the corner. So, the family had all packed up and moved to Bedford with only a few weeks’ notice.
“Oh good, I’m so glad it was an easy transition,” their mom replied.
As Rachel heard all the positive remarks coming from each of her family members, she couldn’t help but wonder if she was really related to these people.
Are these really my mom and dad? Are those two balls of excitement my siblings? Rachel thought of all the various possibilities to explain this. Maybe she was adopted? It would only seem right. She was nothing like these people she called her family.
Despite these feelings of alienation, Rachel knew she wasn’t adopted. She had been part of every family video and had seen pictures of her being born in the hospital. This made her even madder inside. Why was she so different?
Rachel cleared her plate, put it in the sink, and started for the stairs.
“That’s not where that goes, get back here and clean your plate,” Rachel’s mom yelled. “We are not your personal maids, clean up after yourself.”
Rachel stomped back into the kitchen and looked at Sarah’s plate that had been placed right next to hers in the sink.
“But Sarah left hers in the sink,” Rachel said.
The front door slammed shut as Sarah left the house.
“Sarah went to go meet a friend in town and she was running a little behind,” Rachel’s mom said.
“It’s not fair,” said Rachel as she cleaned her plate off and put it in the dishwasher.
When Rachel got back into the comfort of her bedroom, she lay there breathing heavy, her head face down in her pillows. All her emotions were flooding her body, and she began to cry. She sat up and reached for a tissue and saw her cell phone on the nightstand. She flipped it open. No new messages.
Rachel grew even sadder. She couldn’t understand why nobody from Pennsylvania had reached out to her. Rachel scrolled down her lists of contacts and clicked Dana’s name. She started writing a text.
Hey, how was your day today? Did you see Alex? What was he wearing?
Rachel placed the phone back onto her nightstand and waited. Dana always had her phone glued to her body and never missed a call, text or email.
A few minutes went by with no reply and Rachel’s heart dropped.
Rachel went over to her desk and took out her purple, velvet diary. She held it up to the key on her necklace, and opened the lock.
Dear Diary,
Today was awful. I hate AHS, I hate Mr. Allen and I hate my family. I didn’t make one friend and I never will. Nobody even knows I exist. Dana is ignoring me, too. I feel alone.
I did see a cute guy in school – Rob Greene. He plays football. He obviously hasn’t noticed me yet, but we are in the same homeroom. I hope he notices me tomorrow. He’s the hottest guy ever and has the biggest muscles. He’s perfect. Not that he would ever go for a girl like me.
I’m dreading tomorrow. I hope it won’t be a repeat of today.
Oh, and I have cheerleading tryouts tomorrow. Wish me luck!
XOXO,
Rachel
As Rachel locked her diary back up her phone buzzed.
One New Message:
Dana: Hey, can’t talk-super busy-call you tmw.
Rachel shut her phone, feeling even more depressed. She put her head back on her pillow and fell asleep.
Chapter Five
Rachel woke up twenty minutes earlier so she could dart into the bathroom before Sarah. She finished in the bathroom relatively quickly so she wouldn’t have to deal with her sister.
Rachel remembered that today was the big tryout, and she didn’t know what to wear. She didn’t know if she was supposed to wear her tryout clothes to school or change into them after school. Since she desperately wanted to wear her new Penney’s boyfriend jeans, she opted to bring a change of clothes for her tryout.
She recalled the flyer said, “Dress to Impress.” She didn’t know exactly what that meant. She thought for a moment, and pulled out a red spaghetti strap tank and blue cotton skirt. Her school colors were red, white and blue so she thought this would show her school spirit. Rachel also figured that all cheerleaders wore skirts, and she assumed that this must be what they meant by “dress to impress.” Rachel also packed a pair of black bicycle shorts to wear under her skirt in case it rode up doing a high kick.
Rachel threw the clothes into a small gym duffle, and headed downstairs for breakfast.
Rachel looked at the cereal on the table.
“Do we have anything besides Cheerios?” Rachel asked.
“I’m going to the Shop Rite today. What would you like Darling?” her mom asked.
“Golden Grahams and Fruity Pebbles!” Rachel said.