She stood there for a moment, taking it all in. For a moment she had a flashback of a different school and a different time. She quickly snapped out of it when she felt a tap on her shoulder.
“Hey there!” Dana said.
“Dana! Hi!” Rachel said.
“Didn’t think you were serious, but here you are! In the flesh!” Dana said.
“What do you mean?” Rachel asked.
“Well, I’m just surprised to see you,” Dana said.
“Really? I just saw you a day ago,” Rachel said.
“Maybe it feels like a day to you!” Dana answered.
“Um..I don’t get it.” Rachel said.
“Well, it’s been longer Rach,” Dana said.
“Listen, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I was here Friday and we hung out Saturday night. I think we did anyway. Not too sure, it’s kinda all a fog to me now,” Rachel said. “What did happen to us anyway? We got separated right?”
“Rach, I wasn’t with you on Saturday night and you didn’t come to school last Friday. You haven’t been here in almost two years!”
“Two years?” Rachel asked. “Are you in on this, too?”
“In on what?” Dana asked.
“This whole conspiracy about me being gone and everything,” Rachel said. “It’s like I’m a crazy person or something. Every time I talk to people they look at me like I have three heads and tell me I’m wrong or that I’m forgetting something.”
“Well…” Dana said.
“Listen, D, I’m not crazy! Let’s just drop this whole thing and get to class!” Rachel said.
“What do you have first period?” Dana asked.
“Math,” Rachel said. “With Mr. Peterson.”
“Alright, see you at lunch then,” Dana said.
Rachel walked towards her locker, which was located close to her first period math class. As she approached the locker, she reached for the combination lock, and started to put her combo in. It didn’t work. She tried over and over, but it wouldn’t open.
This is weird, she thought to herself.
The second bell rang and she knew she had to get to class before she would be marked tardy. She’d never been late to class ever and didn’t want to be counted as absent. She had a perfect attendance record and didn’t want to blow it.
When she walked into her first period class she was surprised to see that the class was full of underclassmen. She looked around at the seats and they were all full, and some other girl had taken up her seat. She looked over at Mr. Peterson who looked at her in disbelief.
“Rachel? What are you doing back here?” Mr. Peterson asked, with a stunned look on his face.
“Um…I’m confused. Aren’t I supposed to be in this class?” Rachel asked.
“Rachel, that was two years ago. You haven’t been here in a long time!” Mr. Peterson remarked. “It’s nice to see you though.”
“What?” Rachel asked. She could hear the whispers going around in the classroom, as she stood there dumbfounded, trying to sort things through in her head.
“I think it’s best if you go to the main office and ask them for your new schedule,” Mr. Peterson said.
“Uh.. Ok,” Rachel said, feeling confused and out of it. “Good idea!”
Rachel turned and walked out of the classroom, and back into the now empty hallway. She looked around at everything and started wondering if everyone was right. If she had some sort of memory lapse or amnesia or something. She stood there, looking around at everything, looking for clues as to what was going on. She went back to her old locker one more time to see if the combo worked, but it didn’t. She knew something was up; she just had to figure it all out.
As she walked to the main office she looked in at the other classes already in session. She looked at the kids sitting there at their desks and realized she recognized none of them. It was like she was in a new school or something. Classroom after classroom of strange faces but familiar teachers. This was all mind-boggling.
She pushed open the swinging wooden door to the main office and walked over to the secretary’s desk.
“Hi, Mrs. Dusty, do you happen to have my class schedule here? I’m a bit lost today!” Rachel said.
“Oh Rachel Wood. Your dad called and said you’d be coming back to school today. We have been working on your placement schedule and have come up with a solution since you’ve missed so much already this year,” Mrs. Dusty said.
“Can I ask you something, Mrs. Dusty? How long has it been since I’ve been here?” Rachel asked, trying not to sound too odd.
“Well, our records show that you’ve been out of school for nearly a year and a half,” Mrs. Dusty answered.
“WHAT?” Rachel said. “A year and a half?”
“That’s what it says here,” Mrs. Dusty said, looking down at her computer. “Here is your new schedule. You’re supposed to be in French class now with Mr. Dappler. You should get going now.”
Rachel reached out and took the schedule from Mrs. Dusty and then turned to walk away. A year and a half she kept repeating over in her head. What?
She walked to her French class, which was in room 202. She had to go up the stairs and down a long hall to get there. She passed a few kids on the way and they exchanged friendly smiles, despite the fact that she didn’t know them.
When she got to room 202 she quietly opened the door as to not interrupt the class and then slipped in and took an empty seat. She slunk down in her chair in the back of the classroom, hoping that nobody saw her enter, which was obviously wishful thinking because everyone was staring at her. She couldn’t bear it anymore. She hated being in the spotlight, and today she felt like she couldn’t get out of it.
The class started whispering and the teacher had to quiet everyone down and bring their attention back to the front of the room.
“Now class, eyes up here please!” Mr. Dappler said.
“But Mr. Dappler, Rachel’s back!” Brian said. Then the class cheered and started asking in unison, “What happened? Where were you? You’re alive!”
Brian was a guy in her class whom she’d never been friends with before but thought he was hot. She was surprised actually that he even noticed she was back. She didn’t even think he knew her name but apparently he did. She felt excited by that and felt a sense of belonging again in her high school.
“Hi everyone!” Rachel said. “I’m back!”
She figured she might as well go along with it until she gains some understanding of where the past year and a half of her life had gone.
“Where were you?” Brie asked.
“I thought you moved?” Deborah asked.
“But wait, I heard you died?” Kevin asked.
“Not now kids, you will have to save all of your questions for Rachel for after class. Right now we are speaking French!” Mr. Dappler said. “Comprendez vous?”
“Oui!” the class responded.
Rachel sat there, completely lost in this intermediate French class. She had no idea why they put her in this class, but apparently she missed the beginner’s class last year while she was gone. She knew she’d have to do a lot of studying to catch up and she couldn’t risk her perfect GPA. She wanted to get into a good college and knew she’d have to start applying soon, especially since it was almost the deadline. Actually, now that she thought about that, she started to get worried. She started to feel under an immense pressure to research all the colleges. She couldn’t believe she’d let this one slip through the cracks like this. It’s not like it was a little thing either, it was COLLEGE for crying out loud.
She couldn’t let herself get carried away thinking about the future at a time like this; she had to deal with more immediate issues. She had to figure out where the past year and a half of her life went. She had to sort that out first.
She sat there, looking at the clock, waiting for this class to end. She knew she only had one more class until lunch and then she’d be able to catch up with her friends and find out more about what had happened to her. She knew if anyone were to know these details about her life it would be her friends. After all they were like sisters to each other; or at least they had been.
The next hour and a half dug on as if it were a year. She’d never been so out of it in her entire life. She couldn’t focus on the class or the teacher and she was completely lost. She didn’t know what they were talking about in her physics class and she couldn’t understand the lab assignment either: it was all too complicated for her. It was also the first time she felt confused in a class. This day was getting worse and worse.
RING RING
The bell rang and it was finally time for Rachel to go to lunch. She was excited and nervous all at the same time. She didn’t know what to expect, and worried that maybe her friends wouldn’t remember her or they wouldn’t accept her after all this time. Or worse off, that her friends wouldn’t be friends with each other anymore. She didn’t know but she was about to find out.
She didn’t have to go to her locker, since she didn’t have one so she just walked over to the cafeteria. She arrived there a minute later and was one of the first to arrive. She looked around the big empty room with about twenty round circular tables, waiting to be filled by her classmates. She didn’t know what to do: she didn’t know where to sit. She stood there, and watched as kids started to filter in from the hallways. The noise level grew louder and louder as the cafeteria filled up.
She continued to look around for Dana or anyone she recognized, but they weren’t there. She knew some of the kids that were filing in, but not well enough to sit at their lunch table with them. As she stood there, she could feel the kids staring at her in awe. She could hear their conversations and it made her feel uncomfortable. She hated being the butt of jokes and rumors, but today, it was hard for her to escape it. She didn’t want to stand there anymore, so she decided to walk around the hallway and come back in a few minutes, that way she’d give her friends time to get to the cafeteria.
