The day Rick was scheduled to begin school, Rachael noticed a blonde girl, Emma, standing in front of him, preventing him from getting by.
"Excuse me; I've got to get by." Rick explained to her with a low and calm voice.
Rachael wanted to help him out, but to her relief she didn't have to make that gesture. Mr. Raditch came to help him to class.
"Emma step aside." Mr. Raditch approached them and stood behind Emma.
"We don't want him here Mr. Raditch." She crossed her arms and explained to him with a firm voice.
"This isn't one of your little crusades Emma this is serious. I'm warning you, stay out of it." He bellowed as he reached for Rick's arm to help him by.
Rachael then began walking to her locker, wondering why Emma had done that to him.
She grabbed her books and turned to leave when she saw Rick walk up to Paige who was taking things out of her locker as well, which was only a few feet from Rachael's.
Rachael quickly spun back around and made herself look as though she was still looking for things as she strained to hear their conversation. Hoping it would give her some kind of clue as to why Emma was so rude to him in the hall and why she said they didn't want him there.
"Paige; a moment?" Rick began as he neared her.
She looked at him with anger in her eyes as she closed her locker.
He continued. "I was thinking maybe we could talk. Maybe, bury the hatchet."
"You put my friend in a coma!" her voice began to shake.
"One, I know I let my anger get the better of me last year. And two I'm in counseling, I'm even seeing Ms. Sovay." He stepped closer to her and in a sincere voice, "How—how is Terri—anyway?"
Without an answer, Paige left him standing beside her locker, his head hanging low, as she made her way to the girls' washroom.
Rachael gave a strange look on her face. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. He had put someone in a coma? That must have been why Emma and the others were acting like that.
Rachael could see the fear in his eyes, as she glanced over at him. She saw him wipe his brown glossy eyes that hid behind his thin-framed glasses. As long brown shoulder-length hair cascaded over his face as he hung his head low which he often did around school.
She shut her locker, and began to walk to class. As she drew nearer to him her books slipped from her grasp, hitting the floor with a BOOM, snapping Rick out of the painful thoughts that had begun to resurface in his mind. The sound of Terri's head hitting that rock, how he was the one responsible for it, how his hands were the ones responsible for that painful sounds. The sounds that wouldn't go away and the thoughts he couldn't erase. No matter how hard he tried.
She bent down with embarrassment to gather her books, her eyes met with his and she paused. She tried to force herself to look away from his eyes, as he walked over to assist her.
"Hi." He said with a faint smile as he knelt next to her to pick up one of her books.
"Hi." She repeated as she stared at her books. They both stood.
"I believe this belongs to you." he handed her her math book. His eyes shyly wondering to her face which looked filled with shyness and a touch of fear from what he knew she had just heard.
"I'm—I'm Rick." He smiled once again, placing his hands in his pockets.
"Thanks. For—helping me, that is." She finally replied with a sweet smile.
He gave a sigh of almost relief when she spoke.
"Oh, I'm Rachael." She held out one hand while trying to balance two books in the other.
"That's a lovely name." He took her hand.
His hands were so smooth and gentle.
It's hard to believe these were the same hands that had put a girl in a coma.She thought.
"Well, I'll see you around?"
"I'm sure you will." He quickly replied as she began to walk away.
She looked back to smile at him. He smiled back replaced his hands in his pockets and began to walk to class.
After school Jackie and Rachael headed over to the Dot, which was where a lot of Degrassi's students hung out at.
"Okay, I so don't understand anything in chapterfour! You're going to have to explain it to me." Jackie told Rachael with a bit of frustration to her voice, as she flipped through her math book.
"Jackie, you'll be fine." Rachael told her with a giggle in her voice as she gently shook her head.
"I know but what if—"
"You'll do fine, don't—" Rachael stopped dead in her tracks in front of the Dot's window. Just in time to see Emma grab Rick by his arm, and drag him towards the door.
"What?" Jackie questioned.
Rachael was almost hypnotized by what she was witnessing. She gave Jackie a quick gesture in Rick's direction just as he was being shoved out the door. They could see him trying to open the door but Emma had locked it. So he turned and headed down the block.
Rachael began to go after him but Jackie quickly stopped her.
"You can't be serious. Rachael, he's a psycho!"
"Jackie, I'm not asking you come with me." She responded in a sincere voice
"Fine; whatever; but if you two become friends don't expect me to stick around!"
Rachael stared back at Rick, who was halfway down the street, then stared back at Jackie.
"Just give me ten minutes."
"Fine; I'll go get the smoothes." Jackie said with annoyance.
She walked up the stairs to the door and looked back a Rachael who had stared to run after him. She shook her head and went inside.
Rachael ran after him and began to yelling.
"Rick! Rick wait!" He kept walking at a quick pace, his hands shoved deep into his pockets. "Rick!" She finally caught up to him and grabbed his arm to make him stop his face was hot with anger and belittlement. "Rick, what's wrong?"
He began yelling, "You wanna know what's wrong? I can't go anywhere without constantly being reminded of the past. It wasn't my fault!" He screamed, people passing by were now staring.
He began walking around, in one spot, but constantly moving out of anger.
"Rick calm down." She motioned for him to sit down with her on a nearby bench.
Rick brushed his hair back and sat down he was continued to breathe heavily. He rested his forehead in his palms. His brown hair surrounded his face as he let out an angry sigh. Rachael cautiously put her arm around him.
He picked his head up and finally spoke in a calmer voice. "I loved Terri. Why would I ever want to hurt her? They just don't understand."
Rachael stared into his puffy brown eyes and all she could manage to say was. "I—I don't know."
He put his forehead back into his palms and gave another heavy sigh.
"Look Rick." She added her arm was still around him, now gently rubbing his back. "I don't know what happened last year. But it shouldn't matter any more. What's done is done." She paused as he lifted his head up and gave her look of confusion.
"How can you say that?" He sat fully up. "How can you just sit there and say it doesn't matter?" He jumped up. "That you don't care what the entire school is still talking about! What they won't let go! Because obviously; it matter to them!" He pointed down the street in the direction of the Dot.
"Rick," she reached out for his other hand that was clenched in a fist as his side. She could feel his entire body trembling with anger. Then she stood up and looked into his eyes once more, as he placed his other arm at his side.
She began again in a calm and very firm voice, "The way I see it you can both ignore them and go on with school—" She was cut short by Rick's angry that had bubbled up again.
"Rachael they hate me! Please, explain to me how I can ignore them because it makes sense to hope for the inevitable. To hope for something that will never be. To—" She put her hand up to stop him.
"Or make the most of it by making friends. By showing them it doesn't bother you."
"But it does bother me. You don't understand." Rick's temper had calmed a little.
She gave him a faint smile, in which she tried to instill hope and safety, as she went on. "And you can start with me." She kept her smile that had now grown a bit bigger.
Rick stared into her face. He got the message her smile was gave off.
"So—do you want to come back to the Dot with me?" She let got go of his wrist and grasped her own in front of her at her waist.
His smile disappeared once more.
"Well you don't have too." She said to try to bring that sweet and gentle smile back to his face.
"I should get going. Mother's expecting me soon." He went shy again.
"Oh, okay. I'll just see you in school then." She reassured him.
He looked up at her his smile reappearing once more.
He turned to leave as Rachael stared after him.