Turn Right

Three days passed and all of Rachael’s talk was about Drew…well most of it was…then the day came and… “Oh my gosh, he asked me out!” she squealed as she jumped over to my locker. “We’re going out tonight, isn’t that awesome?" she exclaimed.

“Oh umm yea…really awesome…I’m happy for you,” I choked out and her excitement died down.

“Are you okay? You look a little pale,” she noted.

“Oh yea, I’m fine," I assured her even though I really wasn’t.

“You sure?"

“Yea…”

“Rach!" a voice called and we both saw Drew standing in a distance with his friends, waving her over.

“Umm you go ahead,” I told her.

“You sure?"

“Yea, I’ll just talk to you later”

“Yea, I’ll stop by later,” she said and gave me a hug before running off. I watched but then pulled myself away as I started toward the buses.

I felt a little weird…depressed I guess. I didn’t know why…I guess it could be from Rachael being with him…but otherwise I couldn’t tell what it was. The bus got to my stop and I walked inside.

“How was school?" mom asked. “No Rachael today?" she added.

“No she’s with Drew,” I snapped and mom just looked at me in shock. “Sorry,” I mumbled. “I’m just…tired” I said and walked upstairs and into my room.

I never gave mom attitude or snapped at her like that before, I didn’t know what was wrong with me. I shut my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

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When I woke up, I saw it was already 5:00 but then I looked in front of me and saw Rachael just sitting there with concerned eyes. “Hey,” she whispered and smiled softly.

“Hey,” I whispered back.

“Your mom sent me up when I stopped by, she told me you weren’t acting yourself…I hope it’s okay that I’m here,” she said and I sat up.

“Of course it’s okay, but what about your date with Drew,” I said, trying not to sound disgusted just buy his name.

“He canceled, he said we shouldn’t really date or hang out outside of school…what ever, right now I don’t care about him, I’m worried about you,” she said and I tried to stop myself from smiling at the thought of her wanting to be here with me than out on a date with him…but it still wasn’t right of him to cancel on her.

“Really Rae, I’m fine,” I said. We agreed that only Joe, Kevin and I would be aloud to call her Rae with the ‘ae’ ending…Joe’s idea of course…because Rae had come up with the ‘Joe-hawk'.

“Just because you say you’re fine, doesn’t mean I don’t stop worrying about you,” she said. “Get some rest and I’ll make you some soup,” she offered and I knew there was no use in arguing.

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Two weeks had passed, now I’m twelve and Rachael has been seen around school with him but never out of school…but she seemed happy so I stayed out of it. More days continued to pass and one day, I was working on a song that Joe, Kevin and I started and I finished it in the library. As soon as the bell rang, I jumped from my seat and raced to my locker, excited for the end of the day, dodging and bumping into kids in the hallway and mumbling sorrys to them as I kept going. I saw Rachael at her locker and my face lit up.

“Rachael!" I yelled and almost ran into her but stopped short.

“What’s up Nick?" she laughed half-heartedly.

“Well Kevin, Joe and I have been writing songs together and I just finished one that, in my opinion is really good and I want you to read it,” I said at a fast pace.

“Nick that’s great! Let me see,” she ordered and I pulled it out of my book bag and gave it to her.

“Well it might not be so good, but in my opinion it’s the best we’ve written together so far…” I started to ramble but just stopped as I watched her read the lyrics.

I couldn’t help but notice she wasn’t looking like herself though…her eyes didn’t have that light I usually see in them and they also looked a little watery. “Hey are you…” I started to say.

“Nick these are amazing…but there’s no shocker there, I love all of your songs”

“Thanks…” I said slowly. “Are you okay?" I asked.

“Me? Oh umm yea I’m fine,” she said but I saw right through it. “Come on, the buses are going to leave,” she said and started walking and I jogged a little to keep up.

I started to feel a little light headed and I missed a few steps. “Are you okay Nick? Lately you’ve been a little out of shape and you’ve had a few mood swings here and there…you sure you’re not a girl with her period”? she joked lightly.

“Last time I checked I’m not, what about you,” I challenged.

“You really want me to answer that?"

“No. Don’t answer that,” I said, suddenly feeling stupid…but I didn’t really care, I always acted like that around Rachael…kind of stupid and embarrassing…but she doesn’t seem to notice.

“But seriously, are you okay?"

“I’m fine,” I snapped, suddenly feeling angry.

“Fine,” she said back, letting it go and we got to the buses. We got on ours and we sat in our usual two-seater with her on the inside but today we were both unusually quiet.

As the bus driver, began driving, I was just looking down but I felt Rachael’s eyes graze over my body, up and down. I look at her and she looked into my eyes. “What?" I snapped.

“Are you eating?" she asked suddenly.

“What?" I asked again.

“You look like you’ve lost some weight…and not in the healthy way…you’re eating, yes?"

“Yes, I’m eating,” I said coldly.

“What’s wrong with you?" she mumbled, avoiding my eyes, as she played with a string on her jeans.

“Nothing’s wrong with me…what’s wrong with you,” I said unconvincingly.

“Nothing’s wrong with me,” she said quietly and looked away and I knew she was lying. The rest of the ride was quiet between us.

We got to our stop and we both walked off and just stood there as the bus drove off.

“Nick…I’m just worried about you, you’re losing a lot of weight and you’ve been so out of shape and you’ve had major mood swings with your parents, your brothers…me…you never give your family attitude and now? What’s going on with you?"

“Nothing’s going on with me! I’m fine, so just stop worrying about me!" I snapped.

“Fine! Don’t need to tell me twice,” she yelled and started walking away. This was our first fight.

I wanted to run after her but I’m too stubborn to move from my spot. I started walking toward my house but everything started to get blurry and then my legs gave out from under me.

“Nick!" was the last thing I heard as I saw a shadowy figure running toward me which looked like Rachael but my eyes shut, and I was out.