Chapter Tres, er Three

What the hell was that? That made NO sense.

I shook my head.

OK Rae, you've had a long day. Plus the hanaberos in the Chili. Maybe it's making you sick. All you need to do is go to bed.

I let go of the barn door and ran back to the house.

"What do you think you were doing?" A tall, blond-haired young lady was levitating in the heavens, legs crossed.

I THOUGHT THAT IT WOULD BE THE BEST IDEA TO SHOW HER THE DANGER-

"She's twelve!!!. On top of that-" The girl protested

"Well, being young didn't stop a certain group of human adolescents from stopping him-"

"Well, you have a point there, but there has to be a better way...let me try!"

The blond girl floated over to him.

"If you send me, she'll trust what I have to say over anyone else."

I CAN NOT DO THAT. YOU KNOW ABOUT THE RULES! NO DIRECT INTERFERENCE.

The Ellimist stroked the beard that he had when he appeared to humans.

"But Drode has made their lives a living hell. Well, before the deal, but you know what I mean. There has to be some way you can use me-"

USE YOU AS CRAYAK USED DRODE?

The Ellimist thought for a second.

I SUPPOSE I COULD BEND THE RULES, AS HE HAS BEFORE. ARE YOU READY?

"No, maybe we should give her another revolution, er, I mean, day. Man, I've been dead too long."

AS YOU WISH.

(Rae)

I woke up next morning. My sleep had been pretty normal, but there was something about that Big Red Eye. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I felt like I'd seen it somewhere before.

Probably in a nightmare you had as a kid. Don't worry, nightmares aren't real.

I stretched my arms over my head and yawned.

It was so weird to be sleeping, living, in my Mom's room. There were still boxes of things unpacked, as well as my half-empty suitcase.

Speaking of suitcases...

I had to find something to wear to school.

I grabbed a pair of jeans and looked around for a top to wear. I found this really nice pink 3/4ths top after a while. I took those and the rest of my clothes with me.

Then I made my way down the hall to the bathroom, but there was a MAJOR traffic jam! God, this NEVER happened at home, at least I had my own bathroom!

"MOM!" I yelled.

"What Rae?"

"I need to take a shower!!"

"Honey, I need to give your little brother a bath. It's his first day of school too!"

"Mom, I can't wait...school starts in an hour. The hot water-"

"Will be fine. Your grandparents put in a new heater two years ago. Anyway, use the bathroom downstairs. It'll be easier for you to get some breakfast."

I shook my head and went downstairs.

I hadn't spent too much time down here last night, but I noticed the hallway leading to the family room was longer. But then I saw why.

Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop had built an extra bedroom downstairs for Mom and Dad.

Hey, that's thoughtful.

Though I didn't want to use their bathroom, I had no choice.

I knocked on the door. No answer.

Good, Dad's not in. Maybe I can have some peace and quiet.

As soon as I jumped in the shower, my plan was thwarted. I ran out of hot water almost immediately.

Oh great, this is juuuuust great!

I finished my shower in the ice-cold water. I tried combing out my hair, but, it frizzed up. Mom had some unused brushes and Dad had some hair gel.

Well, let's try to use the best of both worlds.

5 minutes later, I had a serviceable ponytail. But I couldn't help but look around the bathroom before I left. The whole bathroom was modified so that someone who was in a wheelchair could use it.

I bit my lip and put my clothes on.

Maybe I should just be happy I can use both bathrooms.

I ran out to the kitchen, and Dad handed me a bagel.

"Can I have some lox, Dad?" I asked him.

"No kiddo, your Mom needs to get on the road now if you and your brother want to get to school on time." He handed me something else. A gym bad. "I got you new sneakers. Those Pink Vans you like and the New Jordans. And some gym clothes...all you'll need to do well."

I looked at him for a moment. He actually cared.

"Thanks, Dad,"

"You're welcome, Rachel."

I put my socks and sneakers on just as Mom hauled Tommy down the stairs, fully dressed.

"Rae, are we ready?" She asked as she grabbed a breakfast bar for him and took the keys off of the hook.

"Yeah," I finished tying my shoes and started to Munch on my Bagel.

Mom took my LL Bean backpack off the coat rack. I looked back at my father.

He wasn't dressed.

"Aren't you coming?"I asked.

"No, I have to stay here with your sister. But have fun, Rachel. And stay out of trouble."

The ride out of our farm was slightly bumpy, but once we got on the road, two black cars followed us to school.

"Who are they?" I asked.

"Bodyguards, Rachel. I had to take some precautions. Jake insisted on it."

"Oh,"

It seemed my personal space would be invaded here just like it was in Berkeley.

Tommy's school was first. His Elementary school was closer than the Middle school. Probably because there were more Elementary schools than Middle schools.

Tommy literally JUMPED out of the car when we arrived. It was a cute little place with a bunch of kids running around.

I saw Mom run out of the car to corral Tommy.

She kneeled down to him and whispered something in his ear. Then she motioned to me.

"Take a picture, Rae!"

"But you don't have a camera!"

"You should have one, it's in your cell phone!"

I raised my eyebrows and got out of the car.

Seeing Mom squeezed next to Tommy was cute, I had to admit.

"Say Cheese!"

I took the picture and Mom got back in the car. We both waved at Tommy, who was escorted to the school by one of the bodyguards.

The Middle School was farther up the road.

And so was the craziness.

There were so many Paparazzi everywhere, leading up the main street.

When the cops saw our car, they escorted us into the parking lot.

"Rach, this is your stop,"

I didn't move.

"Mom I don't want to-"

"Rachel, I know you like to fight about everything, but this is not one of them."

"But look around! The police have to take me into school. I'm already going to be labeled the biggest loser in school and I haven't even stepped in the place!"

"Rae, honestly now. You haven't even given it a chance. And look, here comes the principal."

A woman who appeared to be Mom's age came over to the car. Mom mouthed "Get out", so I did.

"Hi Cassie, how is everything? How was the move?" The lady asked.

"It was fine, Melissa. We're still getting settled in. Aren't we Rachel?"

"Huh?" I was taking my stuff out the back of the car when the lady came over to me.

"Rachel, my name is Melissa Chapman, and I'm the Principal. I've come to personally welcome you to our school." She stuck out her hand.

That Melissa Chapman?

Mom started to pull away from us.

"Be good sweetie!" I heard her yell.

I rolled my eyes.

As she and a bodyguard started to take me through the front door, I could feel the stares of all the students who were walking in.

"You're Mom tells me you're quite the basketball player..."

I started to tune her out. No way I wanted to talk to the principal of all people.

Great, they already think I'm a freak.

"...and this is your locker, You're in the "B"'s obviously. Just put your things in here, you get a lock with a combination free of charge. Your homeroom is around the corner. They'll give you a copy of your schedule. Good luck Rachel. You are going to be a welcome addition to our community."

I shrugged my shoulders as she walked back down the hall. The bodyguard looked at me,

"Ready?" he asked as he took me to homeroom

Do I have a choice?

I slid into the back just as the teacher started to take roll.

When My last name was called, I raised my hand. Then I slunk back down into the chair.

We spent another 5 minutes listening to the teacher, Mr David, introduce himself, then the bell rang. I went up and got my schedule.

"First period Social Studies? You have GOT to be kidding me," I muttered.

"You have Social Studies? That's funny. I have it too." I whipped around and looked for the girl whose voice I heard.

"Behind you," There was a girl, maybe a couple inches shorter than me. She had braids and warm, welcoming brown eyes. They matched her coffee brown-colored skin.

"Hi, I'm Tanya. And you must be-"

"Rachel. My name is Rachel. But you can just call me Rae. Everyone else does."

She smiled.

Maybe this won't be so bad, after all.

"The Social Studies teacher is all the way across the building, past the cafeteria. It's a pain to walk to, but we have enough time."

"Really? That stinks. Back home, I went to a smaller school, everything was closer together."

"Where did you go to school?"

She didn't know?

"Oh, I used to live in Berkeley."

"Ah! I knew there was something different about you. Besides your hair."

"Um, yeah. I'm mixed. My Mom is Black and my Dad is White." I started to nervously ramble.

"Well, I knew that. Everyone knows about your parents."

"So why did you ask about Berkeley?" I was curious.

"Well, no one down here knew where you guys were still living there. We thought ya'll were down here."

"Nah, Mom never liked L.A. or San Diego. She said the Paparazzi were so bad, they would kill us, just like they killed that Princess in England."

"She has a point there," Tanya said. "Oh, here we are. Mr. Turner. Social Studies. My big brother had him for Social Studies when he was in middle school."

"You have a brother?"

"Yeah, he's 17. He goes to the high school. His name is Jamal."

"I'd rather have an older sibling than two younger ones. Tommy and Melissa are so annoying. But that would be near impossible,"

We entered the classroom and took a seat. Mr. Turner started to take roll. Then he started to talk about what was happening in California and the rest of the world.

Well at least some things are the same everywhere you go...

School was starting to look like it wouldn't be so terrible. Tanya was also in my second period English class, as well as Fourth period Math. For third period Spanish, I was on my own. At lunch, I spotted her again. She invited me to sit with her friends.

"Okay, everyone, this is Rae."

"What up shorty?" A big guy in a football jersey smiled at me

"Uh," Ohmigod!, I didn't know people still said that!

"Darryl. Shut up. Don't scare her." Tanya threw an apple at his head.

I clutched my brown bag lunch.

"Well, I will say this, you got some good hair," another girl told me.

"Me? No way, it takes forever..."

"But it looks so soft. You probably don't even need a hot comb."

Now I was getting embarrased. How could they be so right about my hair? I never met any of these people before.

"All right, all right, back off. Don't traumatize her on the first day here." Tanya scolded everyone.

I bit into my sandwich.

"Do you have gym next?"

I nodded my head.

"It's going to be basketball tryouts for everyone, guys and girls. Do you want to go look?

It was better than eating the brussel sprout sandwich Mom made. Or even the green goop on the lunch tray of the other people.

Tanya and I snuck out and looked.

But I was in shock. There was a big placard that read.

"The Thomas Berenson Memorial Gym"

I covered my mouth with my hand. No way Dad dedicated they gym to his brother Tom.

It was all nice and clean, even better than the gym at my old school. And there it was.

A picture of my Uncle, showing him to be the all-time points leader at our school.

I could feel the anger boiling in my blood. Dad thought he was sneaky.

"Rae, is there something wrong?"

"No, nothing at all." I said through clenched teeth as the bell rang. I stalked off towards my locker.

A few minutes later, I came back with my gym clothes on. There were two teachers, I guess one was the gym teacher and the other held a sign for girls' basketball tryouts.

"Everyone who wants to try out over here!" I stood in line.

It was then I noticed people pointing at my Jordans.

"How'd she get the new ish...that Rich B-"

I shot people daggers and got in line.

The teacher split us up into two groups and we started to scrimmage. I did well as the center, I pulled down a few rebounds and blocked a few shots. I also made a couple baskets, one lay-up and another off the dribble in 3-point range.

The coach wrote something down on her clipboard. When I went up for another rebound, a girl fell into me and I rolled on my bad right ankle for a second.

"OW!"

"What's the matter?"

"My ankle," I motioned to the coach. He helped us up.

"That's enough for today Rachel. You did well. Do you need to see the nurse?"

"No, my Mom's a doctor, I'll have her look at it when I get home."

I limped back to the bleachers.

"Just give me a chance to rest," I moaned.

It was then I saw this light skinned black guy come in with the rest of the boys team, I guessed. He looked at me, smiled, and then started to drain threes.

I just sat on the sidelines

"So how was school?" Mom asked me.

After Gym, I only had History and Music. They weren't so bad, but my ankle still hurt. Tanya wasn't in either of them, but the mysterious guy was in my music class. He smiled as we picked instruments. I got the flute, which I've never played before while I could see he studied the alto sax.

Then the final bell rang. Before I could get up to say anything to this mysterious boy, he was gone. The bodyguard came to get me.

When we walked out of school, Mom and Tommy were waiting for me.

I looked around for the boy, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Hop in sweetheart."

I got in the front seat.

"How was your day?"

"I rolled my ankle again."

"Well, I'll take a look at that when we get home. Did you make any friends?"

"Yes, there's this girl named Tanya, we have almost all of the same classes."

"That's great honey! I TOLD you that you'd be able to make friends!"

"Yeah, sure."

"Don't be pessimistic,"

"I don't know yet."

People were still staring as well pulled out of the parking lot and into the street.

"Just wait until tomorrow" She gave me a reasurring pat on the back.

I didn't know how ironic her statement was going to be.