Rachel wondered that maybe, if she sat quietly facing forward, this would all disappear. She wouldn’t have to break out of her shell and make new friends.
Rachel felt a tap on her back. She turned around.
“Can you pass this to her?” a pretty girl with blonde hair was pointing to the girl sitting on the other side of Rachel.
“Sure,” Rachel said as she reached out and stealthily took the note. Mr. Allen turned to the board, and Rachel quickly handed the note off.
The girl opened the folded piece of paper and began to read. As she read the note, Rachel could hear her chuckle, and she had put her hands over her mouth to mask the sound. Rachel noticed the girl slyly looking at her while she was still reading the note. Each time she looked over at Rachel, she laughed even more.
Rachel felt so uneasy. All she wanted to do was disappear. She looked down at her shoes, pants, shirt, and bag, and couldn’t imagine what could be so funny.
Rachel figured things couldn’t possibly get any worse and she decided to turn partially around in her chair to see who was sitting around her. She saw a mix of boys and girls. She could tell by the way they dressed that they were different than she was. Did she miss the memo that leggings and tees were not cool for the first day of school?
Rachel looked at their faces, as one after another looked back with cold stares. Rachel wondered if anyone smiled at AHS.
Towards the far corner of the room, Rachel saw an average looking girl with black hair and glasses writing in her notebook. The girl looked up and caught Rachel’s stare. She smiled briefly at Rachel and then went back to her writing.
Rachel felt much better as she sat there. A new wave of confidence filled her body, and for the first time she wondered if maybe this wasn’t going to be terrible.
Rachel peered out of the corner of her eye, and her gaze stopped on a cute boy. He was the stereotypical, all-American, jock type. He had dirty blond hair, green eyes, perfect skin and he was wearing fitted jeans and his football jersey. Number 80. Rachel couldn’t see the back, but was anxious to see his last name.
“Psst.” The girl who had just read the note was trying to get Rachel’s attention. Rachel ignored her.
“Hey you, pass it back.” The girl threw the note onto Rachel’s desk.
Mr. Allen suddenly walked over to Rachel’s desk, picked up the folded piece of paper and held it in his hands.
“What’s this?” he asked, staring at Rachel.
Rachel was silent as she shrugged her shoulders.
“Listen up: you may be new, but I know you know that note passing is not allowed,” Mr. Allen said as he confiscated the note. Rachel then saw him walk over to his attendance book, make a mark in it and then looked back at her.
Rachel looked over at the girl who threw the note on her desk, but she didn’t look back.
RING. The second bell rang.
Rachel heard the sound of notebooks slamming shut and the screech of metal chair legs on the floor. The voices grew louder as she neared the hallway, and as the boy in the football jersey passed by, her hand swiped his large bicep.
The back of his jersey read Greene. Rachel took a mental note. #80 Greene. She was going to keep an eye out for him. He was hotter than any guy she’d ever seen in Pennsylvania.
The next few classes were boring compared to what Rachel went through in homeroom. She sat through the typical first day of math, science and literature, and now found herself walking alone into the cafeteria, the four crumpled up dollar bills clenched firmly in her sweaty palm.
She stepped into the large cafeteria, which she felt was the most daunting place in the entire school. Here it was, her first “real” taste of what AHS was really like.
When she got through the two double doors that led her into the large open space, she saw long, blue folding tables, with benches attached to them. There must have been 20 of them spread out through the cafeteria in neat rows. The smell of mass-produced school food infused the already stale air. The chatter of voices rang loudly in her ears as she looked for the hot food line.
Rachel read the menu:
Meatloaf: $7.50
Tuna Sandwich: $5.50
Grilled Cheese: $5.00
Chips: $2.50
Cookie: $1.50
Juice: $2.00
Rachel looked into her palm, at the four, moist dollar bills. She realized they wouldn’t go far in this school, and bypassed the hot food line as her stomach growled.
Rachel reached for a bag of Fritos and a cookie, paid the cashier, and exited through the opposite door.
As she left the lunch line and entered the large cafeteria room again, it had gotten much more crowded. All the tables were full, and everyone was already eating. Apparently it wasn’t cool to buy hot lunch at AHS. Everyone had brought their lunches from home, and she looked at the array of wraps, salads, and freshly made deli sandwiches that spread across each table.
As Rachel looked at all the kids, she couldn’t help but feel like she was part of a cliché teen movie. New girl in the cafeteria, with no friends, having a hard time finding a place to sit and eat.
She continued walking, looking for a table to sit at. She passed a table full of nerdy looking kids, all with their laptops and schoolbooks out.
At another table Rachel saw a group of grungy, punk kids with baggy pants, chain wallets, streaked hair and dark black eyeliner.
At another table sat a group of pretty girls, and Rachel could hear them going over a cheer. Rachel assumed they were cheerleaders. This reminded her of her plan to try out for her old school’s cheerleading team. She took another look at those girls, and felt deflated, and she didn’t feel like she belonged on the same team as them.
At the table next to the pretty girls sat Greene, in his #80 jersey. He was sitting there with about ten other jock types: some in their football jerseys, and others looking sharp in preppy clothing.
Rachel came upon a table behind Greene’s, with a few random people scattered at it. Nobody was talking to each other and they were all looking down, quietly munching away at their lunches. She found an open seat and sat down.
Nobody even looked up to acknowledge that she had joined the table. Rachel felt an overwhelming feeling of solitude, and quickly ate her Fritos lunch. She didn’t want to sit in that cafeteria feeling anonymous and alone any longer than she had to.
As she scarfed down her chips, she couldn’t help but notice how cute Greene was.
“Hey Rob, check this out,” a boy sitting at Greene’s table said, and handed Greene something.
Rob Greene Rachel thought to herself. Now she knew his first name, too.
Rob was one of the hottest guys she’d ever seen. His wispy blonde hair swept over his green eyes as he brushed it back with his fingertips. Rachel wanted desperately for him to notice her. Her heart started beating faster and she realized she had her first crush at AHS.