The City Calls to Her

Rachel listened as her footsteps echoed through out her room. There was no furniture to absorb the sound waves. She climbed into her bed and pulled the blanket over her. Just as she said she would, her mother walked into the room to check on her 16 year old daughter.

"Are you okay?" her mother asked as she smoothed back Rachel's hair.

"Yeah, whatever," Rachel said and rolled her eyes.

"Rach, it'll be fine."

"Fine? You think everything will be fine? Fine would be staying here and not leaving all my friends behind. Fine would be not having to start a new school in the middle of the year. Fine doesn't include everything that's about to happen."

"You're gonna make new friends. Trust me. You'll see," her mom said and kissed her forehead. "Goodnight Rachel."

"Night mom," Rachel huffed and laid in her bed as her mom shut off the light and closed the door behind her.

* * *

So far the only plus to moving was Rachel had a bigger bedroom than she did in Pennsylvania. She hadn't realized how much stuff she had been able to cram in her old room once she saw all the boxes sitting in her new room. Feeling a little overwhelmed, she took a break and looked out her window. It was a nice quiet neighborhood.

"Hey, how are things coming along?" her 17 year old brother, Jon, asked. He would be 18 in the upcoming month.

"All right I guess," Rachel said and shrugged.

"You do know we're not too far from New York City?"

Rachel shrugged, "It's not like I pay attention."

"I'm just saying. Well, I'm gonna go finish unpacking," Jon said and left the room. Jon would have no problem fitting in since he was he most outgoing of the three Douglas children.

The oldest, Freddie was 20. He was the chameleon of the three. He was whatever the situation called for. Freddie currently resided in California where he was a sophomore at UCLA. Jon, the middle child, was the most outgoing of them all. He was always out with friends on the weekends and played guitar in a band. He was the best guitar player Rachel knew. Rachel was the youngest and the shy one. She had many friends but considered only very few of them to be best or good friends. Freddie and Jon were her best friends above all though.

As she was looking out the window, someone across the street came out of their house. He was a tall guy with curly hair and an odd sense of style. She watched him as he looked at the moving van and all the people moving stuff out of it. Then he looked up to her window and she ducked to the side hoping he didn't see her. Despite his comical style, she thought he had a certain attraction to him. He looked nothing like the boys back in PA. By his height and everything, he was probably too old for her anyway. He got into his car and peeled out of his driveway before taking one last glance at her window and driving away.

Rachel sighed and walked back to the middle of her room. She opened up another and looked inside. This box had a lot of stuff from her best friend, Maxine. Photos, notes, presents, and stuff they've made for each other over the course of their ten year friendship. She was going to miss Max the most out of everyone. Rachel laughed at the thought of when she first told Max she was moving. They both threatened their parents that they were going to move to California and live with Freddie if things didn't change. Needless to say, that threat didn't work. Freddie did say they could come and visit him anytime they wanted though.

Rachel pulled out a photo album and sat on her bed. She started flipping through and looked at all the pictures of her friends. Then she came across one of her and Spencer. Spencer was a boy she started dating when she was 15. They broke up because of the distance that would come between them. Rachel wiped away a tear and shut the book and set it down. She still had quite a few boxes to unpack.

* * *

Rachel got out of Jon's car and followed closely behind him. She looked up at their new high school. It was slightly bigger than the one back home. Jon didn't seem to mind that people were staring at them as they walked by but it made Rachel feel a little insecure. Jon and Rachel had to check in with the front office and get their class schedules. Given that Jon was a senior and Rachel was a sophomore, she was a little disappointed since she knew they wouldn't have any classes together. All the electives she opted to take Jon had already completed. I might as well get used to it now since I have two more years here without him. she thought to herself once they had their schedules and realized all they had was lunch together. After telling Rachel where to meet him, Jon headed off to his first class as did Rachel. It was going to be a long day for both of them.

* * *

Rachel sighed in frustration and wandered through the hallway. Her next class, Music Theory, was in the E hallway. The school was in a square shape having hallways A through D. Rachel gave another frustrated sigh and stopped in the hallway. The bell had rung probably five minutes ago.

"You look a little lost," someone said.

"Yeah, really?" she responded sarcastically. She looked up and came face to face with the boy from across the street. She quickly regretted her sass.

"What class are you looking for?"

"Um, Music Theory with Ms. Belt."

"Oh, I know exactly where that is," he said as he took her schedule, put his arm around her neck and started walking to where she needed to be. "Oh wow, we have quite a few electives together."

"Super," she said quietly.

"I'm Gabe Saporta by the way."

"Rachel Douglas."

"Do you have a brother named Jon?"

"Yeah, he's a senior."

"Thought so, he's in my history class."

"Okay..."

"No one explained the hallway system to you, did they?"

"Not really but I think I got it," she said looking at him. More like stared actually.

He stared back at her. "If you say so," He dropped his arm from around her and walked into a room.

"Mr. Saporta, it's great of you to join us," a short blonde haired lady said.

"I was helping the new girl," he simply said and sat at a table.

Ms. Belt just shook her head and got Rachel's name and told her to sit next to Gabe. Once she sat down, Gabe moved a little closer to her. It made her uncomfortable but she couldn't move away. She was already at the edge of the table. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. He was pretending to be paying attention to Ms. Belt.

The moment he saw her, he knew she was the girl across the street; the one that hid when he looked at her window. He felt himself wanting to know everything about her, her entire life story. He couldn't remember the last time he had been so awestruck by a girl. Before he knew it, the bell signaled that class was over. Rachel quickly left the table and was out the door. Gabe was determined to know her story by the end of the week.