“K, I’ll be down in a few,” Rachel replied. “Thanks, Mom.”

Phew, that was close.

Rachel smiled at her mom and walked back into her room.

Relieved, she sat on her bed and thought about how happy she was. It had been almost a week since their move, and she already felt like she belonged at AHS, and in her new town of Bedford. She didn’t feel like an outcast anymore, and she was surprised at how quickly things turned around for her after her terrible first day. Rachel felt lucky to have Emily and Rob. She thought Emily was quickly entering the best friend zone, and she felt that Rob was going to turn into her boyfriend before she knew it. She really wanted Emily and Rob to become friends but she knew that would never happen. Despite this, she felt like the luckiest girl on the planet.

“Honey, pancakes are getting cold,” her mom yelled up to Rachel.

“Coming!” She headed downstairs and into the kitchen. Mark and Sarah were still not home, so it was just Rachel, her mom and dad sitting at the breakfast table again.

Rachel felt guilty as she sat at the kitchen table, having a delicious breakfast with her parents. They had absolutely no idea she snuck out, and while Rachel felt good about that, she also felt a little sad, too. She was not the type of girl to dupe her parents.

“How was the game?” she asked her dad.

“Mayberry caught a fly and won the game,” he replied.

“Nice!” she said, excitedly.

She loved the Phillies but felt that because she was now a New Yorker she should start liking the Yankees or the Mets. As the three finished their breakfast, Rachel said, “Can I help with anything, today?”

Her mom looked at her and said, “That’s nice of you, Darling. We could use some help in the garage actually.”

Rachel suddenly wished she hadn’t offered, but figured it would make her feel better about herself and about lying if she did something to help out around the house. After all, the house was still a wreck and there were boxes everywhere, and she didn’t want to live like that either.

She left the kitchen to go change out of her pajamas. She went up to her room and saw her phone light up.

1 Missed Call

Emily: 10:22am

Rachel waited for the voicemail to come through, and then listened to it.

“Hey Rach, it’s me, Emily. Just calling to see how your night was. I heard the party was crazy last night. Cops came and broke it up around 1am. Hope everything’s OK. Call me.”

Rachel decided to text Emily back. She didn’t want to be caught talking on the phone because then she would get her phone confiscated for the day. After all, she was still grounded.

Rachel: Hey Em, just helping out around the house, unpacking and stuff.

Emily: How was Jordan’s?

Rachel was surprised at Emily’s sudden interest in the party but answered her anyway.

Rachel: It was OK, not really my scene, but Rob was great. We almost kissed, but didn’t. Long story.

Emily: OMG! Really?

Rachel: Yeah, isn’t that cool?

Emily: If you like him, yeah. But be careful, he’s kind of a player.

Rachel: Well, I gotta run, see you tomorrow in Mr. Allen’s class.

Emily: Peace out!

She put her phone down, annoyed. She didn’t know why Emily always had to bring her excitement down, especially now, after such an amazing night with Rob. She figured that Rob was popular and knew all the girls liked him, but she thought he was different. He was so sweet to her and so kind, she didn’t believe Emily. And even if Emily had been right, that Rob was a player, Rachel figured that maybe he had changed. Regardless, she knew she was going to have to think twice about things before she shared every little detail with Emily.

Rachel changed her clothes and headed outside to the garage. Her mom and dad were both out there emptying boxes and organizing things. They were very focused, listening to Billy Joel on the stereo system.

Her mom put a few boxes aside for Rachel to sort through, and she got right to work. The boxes were a mess: full of cables, wires, nick-knacks, clothes, rags, parts to things she could not identify.

It took Rachel most of the day to sort through the boxes. It was exhausting work, and she only stopped for about a half hour to eat a sandwich and run upstairs to check her phone.

By the end of the day, Rachel’s back was hurting and her stomach was grumbling. It was nearing dinnertime and she was ready to call it quits on the garage project.

She headed inside. As she walked upstairs, she heard loud music coming out of her sister’s room. She went over and knocked on Sarah’s door, excited that she was back from her weekend with Gary. Even though the two weren’t the best of friends, Rachel did miss Sarah when she was gone: especially this weekend, because she had been grounded.

“Who is it?” Rachel heard Sarah yell from inside her bedroom.

“It’s Rachel,” Rachel shouted so Sarah could hear her over her music.

She heard Sarah turn down her music.

“Come in,” Sarah said softly.

As Rachel opened the door she was surprised at what she saw. Sarah was taking down all her pictures of her and Gary. She had also torn down all the letters and cards he had wrote her.

“What’s going on?”

“Gary wants to take a break,” Sarah said wiping a tear from her eye.

“What?” Rachel asked. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah. He said it’s too much with his school work and he wants to enjoy his freshman year at Skidmore without having to worry about me,” Sarah said.

“I’m sorry, Sarah,” Rachel said. “He will realize what he’s lost, don’t worry.”

Rachel couldn’t believe what she just heard. Sarah and Gary had been together for years now, and were even talking about marriage. What could have gone wrong?

Rachel waited for Sarah to ask her how her weekend was, but she was too absorbed in the emotions of her breakup to talk about anything else.

Rachel walked through their bathroom and back into her bedroom and walked over to her window. She peered out, thinking about Sarah, and then thinking about Rob. She so desperately wanted to tell her sister about him: but she knew tonight wasn’t a good time.

As she looked out the window, she wondered what their second date would be like, and if tomorrow would be the day of her first true kiss.

Chapter Nine

Rachel woke up bright and early Monday morning, eager for her day at school and, more importantly, her second date with Rob. She had been looking forward to this day ever since Saturday night. She couldn’t get him out of her mind: it was all Rachel could think about.

As Rachel walked into Mr. Allen’s class that Monday morning, she was excited. Not only would she see Emily, she would also see Rob.

Rachel saw Emily take her sweater off the seat next to hers. Rachel walked over and sat down. The two chatted about the rest of their weekend, and then class started. Rachel looked around but did not see Rob. She hoped that he was not sick, and that their date would still be on after school.

Twenty minutes later in walked Rob. He walked right by Rachel without looking at her. Rachel didn’t know what to make of it. She thought that maybe he didn’t see her. Rachel sat there, hoping that Rob would try and get her attention; she wanted him to acknowledge her, but the class went on and he did not.

At the end of class, Rachel got up and walked to the door slowly, so that Rob would catch up to her. Rob bumped her arm as he passed which gave Rachel the opportunity to say hello.

“Hey,” Rachel said.

“Oh, hi,” Rob said.

“How was the rest of your weekend?” Rachel said.

Rachel had hoped that Rob would have texted or called yesterday but he didn’t. She figured he was just busy, or that he was one of those guys who didn’t check in daily. Either way she didn’t let herself obsess over it.

“Good,” Rob said, “ended up going back to the party. Good times,” Rob said. “See ya later.”

Rob moved passed Rachel as he headed quickly down the hall. Rachel watched as he gave one of his friends a high-five and the friend said, “Nice work, man, I heard.”

Rachel didn’t know what this was all about, but it made her mind start spinning with possibilities. Did something happen at the party? Did he hook up with Arielle or another girl? What could it be? Rachel thought. She was disappointed at their interaction in class and knew that something was up. She just didn’t know what it was.

Rob did say, “See ya later,” so Rachel knew she would find out what was going on, on their date this afternoon. She was still very much looking forward to that.

As the school day ended, Rachel ran into the bathroom to touch up her makeup. She wanted to look perfect when Rob met her in the front of the school.

She walked outside and stood in front of the big red doors at the entrance of AHS. She watched as kids flew out the front doors of school and into the parking lot.

Rachel checked her watch: it was 2:40pm, and the school bell rang ten minutes ago. She wondered where Rob was: he said he was going to meet her at 2:30. She justified this and figured he got caught up with something; maybe he had to stay late and talk with a teacher, maybe he had to see his coach, maybe the guys stopped him in the hall to chat. She knew it could be a number of things and continued to stand there.

As her watch neared 2:50pm, Rachel knew something was up. Rob never came, and he didn’t text, either. She felt dejected.

Rachel walked back inside the building to see if she saw Rob, but he was nowhere to be found. She had been stood up.

Rachel didn’t know what to do. She didn’t want to see or talk to anyone.

She decided she would walk home. It would be about a twenty-five minute walk, but she needed some time to cool off. She didn’t think Rob would have blown her off like that, and her emotions were running wild.

Rachel took out her phone and texted Rob to find out what was going on. She had such high hopes for her date, she wanted to make sure there wasn’t a mix up.

Rachel: Hey, do we still have plans?

A few minutes went by with no text. Rachel figured it was over, then all of a sudden, her phone buzzed.