The City Calls to Her

During Rachel's senior year

Rachel and Freddie quietly got out of Rachel's car and just looked at the house. Gabe stepped outside and approached them. Remembering Freddie from the funeral, Gabe shook his hand before hugging Rachel. Happiness and excitement were nowhere to be found.

"I didn't touch anything," Gabe quietly said as they walked into the house.

"I wasn't expecting you too," Rachel responded.

They stopped outside of Gabe and Jon's room.

"Are you sure you want to do this? I can do it by myself," Freddie said.

"No, it's okay. It's the least I can do," Rachel said and took a deep breath. Gabe squeezed her hand and they walked into the room. She instantly felt the tears streaming down her face. Freddie stepped in front of her.

"You don't have to do this," he said.

"I'm okay," she responded and wiped her face dry. "I can do this."

"Do you think Jon would want you to do this though?"

Rachel couldn't answer the question. She sat on Gabe's bed and Gabe sat next to her. He leaned over and kissed her forehead.

"It's gonna be okay," he whispered in her ear.

"No it's not Gabe! My brother is dead. Someone killed my brother! That's not okay!"

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry." Gabe tried to calm her down. "I'm sorry." Rachel buried her face in his neck while Freddie started to collect Jon's stuff. Gabe gently rubbed her back and watched Freddie. After a couple minutes, Rachel untangled herself from Gabe and stood up. She walked over to Jon's dresser and opened the top drawer. She pulled out the black Norma Jean t-shirt he always wore and sat on his bed. Both Gabe and Freddie watched her closely for a moment before realizing she was going to be okay. She tucked part of the shirt into her pocket and went back to taking Jon's clothes out of the dresser and into a bag. They were well aware that the shirt was going to become her security blanket.

After a couple hours, they finally had ninety-nine percent of Jon's stuff packed and loaded in Rachel's car. They were going to go back home and leave it up to their parents to decide what they wanted to do with his stuff.

"I have one more class left for today and then after that I'm gonna go home so you won't be alone," Gabe told her as they stood by her car.

"Gabe, I'll be fine," she said as he pushed her hair out of her face and kissed her forehead.

"I know but I worry. I don't want you to bottle it up and not talk to anyone."

Rachel just nodded her head.

"I'll see you tonight then," Gabe said before he kissed her. She put her hand on the back of his head so he couldn't pull away.

When she did let him pull away, she said, "I love you. I love you so much."

"I love you too babe." They then said their goodbyes and Rachel got into her car and left for home.

* * * * *

Rachel watched Jenni as she sat across the table. It had been a few weeks since Jon's death and the girls were trying really hard to get their lives back to normal. Rachel felt a sense of déjà vu since people were once again whispering about her. The only difference was that this time Melody wasn't the reason why. People were definitely more careful with their words when they were around.

"Are you gonna be busy tonight?" Jenni asked.

"Not that I know of. Why?"

"Just wondering. There's something I wanted to talk to you about but I wanted to talk in private." Rachel wondered if Jenni had been talking to anyone since she wasn't talking to her about what happened. Rachel had been talking with Gabe and a social worker at his campus. She found it easier to talk about Jon with a complete stranger than she did with a social worker at her own school.

"Okay, just come by whenever," Rachel said and shrugged her shoulders.

"I will. Will your parents be home?"

"Yeah, they had to do some stuff pertaining to Jon today."

"Oh, what was it?"

"I have no idea. They just told me not to worry about it so I don't know. I have no idea what it could be."

"Huh, that's weird that they would keep something from you."

"It kinda is but then again, they probably feel that just knowing about the trial is enough."

"I can't believe they said they didn't do it. I mean, there's pretty much every type of evidence linking them and only them to what happened."

"They probably didn't realize that by just admitting it, they'd get off easier than if they do a jury trial and everything. That was pretty stupid on their part but I have no problem if they get found guilty and go to jail for the rest of their lives. Well not if they get found guilty because we all know that they will."

"Yeah, what a bunch of retards." Jenni rolled her eyes.

"Amen sister," Rachel said as they both stood up after the bell rang. They threw their trash in the garbage on their way out of the cafeteria.

"See you after school," Jenni said as she headed for the stairs and Rachel headed the other direction for guitar class.

"Later," she responded. She turned the corner and walked down what most students considered the "hospital hallway." The hallway was white and brightly lit like a hospital. She walked into the band room and into the locker room where they kept their guitars. She put in her combination and pulled her acoustic electric guitar out. She walked back into the room and sat in her usual spot. She pulled out Jon's guitar and set in on her lap.

"Hey Rach," Sean said as he sat next to her and started getting his guitar out.

"Hey," she responded and went to back to tuning her guitar.

"So how are you doing today?"

"Today was definitely better than yesterday but every day is getting easier to get through."

"That's good." She looked at the sophomore to see that he was being sincere. "So uh, what are you doing this weekend?"

"Sean," she said and cocked her head.

"Hey, no one said I couldn't try," he responded and smirked. He tried almost every week to get a date with her. "No but seriously, what are you doing this weekend? I have shows Friday and Saturday night."

"Gabe's coming home. Who are you playing with and when and where? Maybe we'll go to one of them."

"Friday night is at the Knights of Columbia and we're playing with Pollyanna and Departure of Alex. Then on Saturday, we're playing a house party with Ryan's Hope, Zero To Sixty Never, and some other band whose name I can't remember."

"I'll let you know later if we'll be able to go to one of them."

"Good enough for me," Sean said as Mrs. Belt walked into the room.

* * * * *

After another dinner that ended with a father/daughter fight, Rachel cleared the table and handed the plates to her mom who rinsed them off in the sink and set them in the dishwasher.

"Rachel, are you all right?" her mom asked her.

"No. Why does dad have to be such a bi-"

"Rachel." She looked up at her mom as she shook her head.

"Well you know."

"You know he's still upset over Jon and not letting you go spend the summer with Gabe and Freddie in California makes him feel better about your safety."

"So what is he gonna do, lock me in my room all summer? Is he not going to allow me to leave for college? He can't do that."

"I'll talk to him but that's all I can really do."

"Whatever," Rachel mumbled under her breath as she walked out of the kitchen to answer the front door. She opened the door and Gabe stepped in. They quickly kissed before sitting on the couch.

"So what did your dad say?" Gabe asked.

"He said no. He won't let me go even if I stay at Freddie's instead of with you."

"Maybe your mom can talk to him," Gabe suggested.

"She said she would but something's telling me to doubt it."

Gabe leaned over and kissed her forehead. "We'll figure something out. We always do." They leaned back against the couch and Rachel angled herself towards Gabe. Gabe put his arm around her and they fell into a comfortable silence. Mrs. Douglas told them she'd be in the office if they needed anything. Mr. Douglas was in his bedroom so that left the entire living room to the young couple. They sat in silence together until there was a knock at the door. Rachel already knew it was Jenni. She let her best friend into the house.

"Can you go get your parents? There's something I wanna say to them."

"Yeah, sure," Rachel said and went to her mom. "Jenni wants to talk to you and dad. Can you go get dad and meet us in the living room?"

"Yeah." Rachel and her mom walked down the hallway in opposite directions. After another minute, Mr. Mrs. Douglas walked into the living room and sat on the couch.

"I'll just get right into it. I told Jon this the day he died so I know he didn't get a chance to tell you guys. I uh, I'm pregnant."