Turn Right

New Years passed and so did Valentines Day…days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. I couldn’t believe how much time was flying by. Birthdays passed and Rachael remembered every single one of them. It’s the day before the beginning of the new school year now. Rachael and I are eleven, Joe’s fourteen and Kevin will be sixteen in November. Joe is just starting high school and Rachael and I will be starting middle school tomorrow. It’s been a long and exciting summer and now we’re excited for the new school year. But I was still so shocked and excited because tomorrow would be the mark of our one year anniversary of meeting.

“But Nick I don’t know what to wear, all of those other girls will be dressed all nice and everything and what will I be wearing? A T-shirt with jeans and sneakers,” she said as we laid side by side on my bed like we’ve done many times before.

“Since when have you been concerned about what other girls do, think or wear?" I questioned.

“Since I realized it’s a big part of life…to look nice…presentable,” she admitted quietly.

“Rach you look fine just the way you are,” I said, honestly.

“But it wont just be the kids from our school anymore, we’ll be mixing with other elementary schools near by and what if I meet a cute guy,” she said and I felt my stomach churn uncomfortably.

“Rach if the guy doesn’t like you for the way you look normally then he isn’t worth your time,” I replied, giving the best, friend advice I could give without sounding jealous.

She sighed. “I guess you’re right” Then paused. “But what if I…”

“Don’t change your outfits,” I immediately said before she finished.

“And what if…”

“Don’t put makeup on”

“How about I…”

“Don’t do anything fancy with your hair”

“Fine,” she sighed again and pouted but I smiled at her.

She looked at the clock and then back at me. “I guess I’ll go now, I’m going to call Melissa, I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said and left the bed as I suddenly started missing her next to me.

“Okay see you tomorrow,” I said and she walked out the door.

It’s been a full year now…starting tomorrow…and I still haven’t gotten the courage to tell her how I really feel about her. She’s the best friend a guy could have, she’s sweet and loving to my family…she practically is family…she’s cool with my friends…especially Maya. She supports me when it comes to a singing career. She’s never negative and whenever I’m having doubts, she always brings my hopes back up. Without her and my family I probably would’ve given up already but now that Kevin and Joe are getting involved, it’s even better. We started writing a song together. It’s not finished yet but Rachael doesn’t know because I want it to be a surprise when it’s finished. She says that Kevin, Joe and I are destined for fame. We’ll have girls across the country at our feet…her words not mine. She really thinks we can make it to the top…and I think that’s what keeps me going…knowing that she’s supporting me and knowing that she’ll have my back all the way.
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The next morning, I got up early, showered, got dressed and walked downstairs to see mom cooking breakfast. “Hello Jonas family,” both Rachael and Mandy said as they came inside, laughing about something.

“You guys ready?" Mandy asked Joe and Kevin.

“Yep, see you later mom,” Joe said and kissed Mandy’s cheek as they all walked out.

“Hey, you ready for middle school?" she asked.

“As ready as I’ll ever be I guess,” I replied, smiling at her as she sat next to me at the table.

“Would you like some cereal Rachael?" mom asked.

“Yes please Denise,” she said and mom gladly got cocoa rice crispies for her…it was her favorite cereal.

“Hmm so I see you’re not wearing any makeup, you’re wearing your normal clothes and your hair looks the same,” I noted.

Then she said the same thing I said, mockingly, and I just laughed as she stuck her tongue out at me. After we finished eating, we waited for it to be time to go outside and when we did, we waited for the bus and it soon came. We both walked on and decided to sit in the front because most of the eighth graders were in the back and we didn’t want to cause problems and our friends were in the front anyway. We both sat down and started talking and Rachael was talking too. Most of last year, she was always quiet when it came to my friends or anyone else, now she talks to them like she does to me…well not as much…and even Brittany and Kayla talk to her more and got passed their smug state.

We got to the school and Rachael and I stood side by side in front of the building. We looked at each other, smiled and then walked in. We went to homeroom first {luckily we were in the same homeroom} where we got our schedules and our locker numbers. When we got our locker numbers, Rachael and I had our lockers side by side…seriously what are the odds of that? And to top it off, we had most of our classes together…o.k. actually we had all of our classes together except one, which was English. She was in some kind of accelerated English class…no shocker there though, I'm just shocked she isn't in any of the other accelerated classes.

The day went on and Rachael and I were always together, walking in the hallways, sitting side by side in class. We had a few classes with John, Alex and Luke, along with Melissa, Brittany and Kayla, so we were also kind of happy about that. The end of the day finally came and John, Luke and Alex were all with me at my locker as we were talking and then I looked around and saw no sight of Rachael.

“Hey where’s Rachael?" John asked.

“I don’t know, I was just wondering the same thing, I know she had ELA last period but she should…” I started to say but I heard a laugh…and I could recognize the laugh anywhere.

Luke pointed behind me with a little bit of guilt, showing on his face. I turned around slowly and saw Rachael laughing with some guy as they were walking toward us. Then they both went their separate ways as Rachael started to come over to us with a big smile on her face and I felt a big lump in my throat as I forced a smile to my face.

“Oh my gosh, I have something huge to tell you!” she exclaimed.

“We’ll meet you both on the bus,” John said and I nodded slightly as they walked away.

“What’s with them?" she asked.

“Umm nothing, just a rough first day I think…so who was that guy you were with?" I asked, doing my best to keep calm.

“That’s what I wanted to tell you, his name is Drew and he’s in my ELA class and I think he likes me,” she said excitedly and I forced a fake smile to my face as I felt my stomach churn uncomfortably.

“Well I know it’s the first day of school and we just met but still…okay yea I lied, I like him and he most likely wont like me that way but still…so how was your first day?" she said and I couldn’t help but laugh…even though it was half-heatedly.

We started to walk to the exit and to the bus. “You were with me the whole day,” I reminded her.

“Yea but not for English, how was that?" she asked.

“Well nothing big, you’re normal first day of school stuff…I have Maya in my class…”

She groaned. “The one class I don’t have with you, you have Maya, not fair,” she pouted and I laughed lightly.

We got to the bus and on the bus ride home, I wastalking trying to talk to the guys but I couldn’t help but listen to Rachael’s conversation with Melissa, Brittany and Kayla and they kept squealing as Rachael told them about her encounter with him.

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Rachael couldn’t come over because she was going shopping with the girls. Why she was going, I have no clue but I wanted her to go and have some kind of girl time so I guess this was a good thing. It felt a little weird, not having Rachael over but Maya came over and it was a little better…it would’ve been even more better if they both were here…but I cant have everything I guess.

“Nick are you okay?" she asked, snapping me from my thoughts.

“What? Oh umm yea I’m fine” I replied but she kept staring at me. “Okay so maybe I’m…a little jealous of this Drew guy”

“A little? Nick if it was possible, your face would turn green”

“I am not that…” I started to say but she gave me a look. “Okay maybe I’m that jealous”

“Then why don’t you tell her?"

“Because if she doesn’t like me back then it would make our whole friendship weird and I just don’t want to risk that…and besides, she likes Drew,” I said with disgust.

“I bet if you told her you liked her then she would forget all about Drew,” she sang.

“Doubt it,” I mumbled and went into my own world…thinking of Rachael.