Serendipity

chapter two

c h a p t e r   t w o

The interior of the car is dead silent. Even when Rachel reaches over and turns on the radio to get rid of the painful quiet, there is still an awkwardness in the air. I have no inclination to make idle conversation, and Rachel obviously seems to understand that I don't want to speak, but it does not make the silence any less uncomfortable.

It's a twenty-five minute drive from the house to school. South River High School. My new school.

When we arrive, it's a hectic battle to weave around the other cars and find a parking spot. By the time Rachel pulls into an empty spot and parks the car, the late bell is about to ring. She doesn't seem worried, though, strolling towards the school with me in tow.

We merge into the stream of students entering the school through the front door. From there, the crowd disperses, some heading to the left, some to the right, and some straight ahead into the cafeteria. Rachel leads me a bit down the hall to the left before stopping before a door. She pulls it open and enters.

The secretary at the desk looks up from her computer. "Can I help you?"

Rachel steps up to the desk and gestures at me. "This is Valerie Nichols. She's a new student. My mom should have registered her about a week ago."

The secretary types something on her computer before nodding. "Ah, yes. Valerie." She looks over at me. "Now, new students usually come in for an appointment before enrolling, but Mrs. Li has assured me that Rachel will help you with anything you need." She stands up and moves to a printer, gathering up two sheets. She hands them to me. "Your schedule and a map of the school."

"Thank you," I find myself saying. And then we're leaving the way we came.

Once we're out in the now-empty hallway, Rachel takes my schedule and looks at it. "Impressive," she says, scanning the list of classes. "Okay, so today is a B day. That means your first class is . . . AP Lit with Mr. Alden." She starts off down the hall, and I quickly follow.

As we go, Rachel points out to several places. "That end is the gym and the locker rooms . . . Those doors down there lead to the auditorium . . . This is the music hall . . . That's the tech ed hallway . . ."

I try to listen, but Rachel's voice becomes little more than a drone after a while. Maybe I'm being rude, but I don't have any interest in where anything is at the moment. Being in school is already bad enough. Soon, I'll be entering a classroom and having twenty or thirty students looking at me and assessing me and judging me. But it's not the students that bother me; it's the attention.

I start paying attention again when we stop outside a classroom on the second floor. I don't remember the way here, nor would I be able to find my way to my second class, but I don't think about that now. Rachel is opening the door, and the class inside falls silent. Everyone's head turns to look at the two of us, and if I could, I would be blushing.

Mr. Alden stands up from his seat in front of the class and heads towards the door. Rachel and I step back, and he steps out of the classroom, pulling the door shut behind him.

"Hi, Mr. Alden," Rachel says brightly.

"Morning, Rachel," he says, before turning to me. "And you must be Valerie, correct?"

I nod, knowing I seem rude, but not caring. As always, everything seems . . . distant. There's a disconnect between me and the rest of the world. And I should hate it. I usually do. But at this moment, I'm glad for it. In such a public place, soon to be surrounded by the people whom I would see almost every day for the next four months, it would not do to show any of my feelings. I can't let anyone here know about me. About my parents. About Dad's accident, and about Mom's cowardice.