Here With You (A Laurel Heights Novel)

chapter Seven



"Baby has a new bra," Madison cooed in the locker room.

Rachel stilled as she hooked one of her new bras. The pleasure she'd felt all day, feeling pretty underneath where no one could see, began to dim, and that pissed her off. Her new bras were fabulous—Nicole would reassure her of that. And Nicole was the one who was so beautiful and hung out with Griffin Chase. She was the one to emulate, not sheep like the evil –sons.

"She actually has boobs," Addison said, joining in with her fake laugh.

That was it. Whirling around, she flashed a sticky-sweet smile at the two girls. "I can give you the name of the store, if you want to do something about that." She nodded at pityingly at Madison's chest.

Her nemesis's face went so red Rachel thought she was going to explode. For a second she was afraid they were going to retaliate, but then the PE teacher came into the locker and blew her shrill whistle. "Get going, ladies. You only have five minutes left to shower and go to your next class."

The –sons of anarchy shot Rachel a glare and turned their back on her.

A victory. She smiled softly to herself. Wait till Griffin Chase used her poem in a song. Then they'd bow down.

But she wasn't going to hang around to let the girls gather the one wit they shared. Deciding to forgo the shower to avoid giving them a target, she got dressed before they came back.

As she left the locker room, another girl tugged her arm. Rachel stiffened, turning to look at her. It was Lydia, with the small glasses and big lips, who sat next to her in chemistry. "That was brilliant. Madison and her boobs have had it coming for a long time. I only wish I were recording it so I could put the whole thing on Youtube."

What a horror that'd have been. Rachel shrugged off the girl's hold. "It was nothing."

"It was socially significant." Lydia blinked at her. "Do you know how many girls would have liked to stand up to Madison and her crony but haven't had the guts? You're like a superhero."

"I can't be a superhero. I don't have a cape." She gave her a polite smile and walked out of locker room.

One more period with Madison, she told herself, trudging to English. She'd almost made it inside and safely to her seat when she felt someone fall in step next to her.

Looking up, she relaxed when she saw Aaron. "Oh, it's just you."

"I'm excited to see you, too." He grinned at her.

She rolled her eyes. "I didn't mean it like that. I thought you were someone else."

"Tell me you didn't think I was Matt West, because that pisses me off."

Matt West was probably the only guy in school who was more popular than Aaron. She could tell he was joking about that, especially because she saw them hanging out all the time. But she bit her lip to keep from smiling. She didn't want to encourage him.

He took her bag from her shoulder and slung it over his. "Who'd you think I was?" he asked as he began to walk slowly to class.

She pointed at her bag. "What are you doing? I can carry that myself."

"But this way you have to talk to me." He flashed her his cute dimpled smile. "So who did you think I was?"

"The –sons of anarchy."

"Excuse me?" He stopped and stared at her.

She sighed, forced to stop, too. "Madison and Addison."

He threw his head back and laughed, so loud that everyone around them gawked.

"Shh," she hissed at him.

"That's just too perfect." Shaking his head, he wiped his eyes.

She grabbed her bag from him while he was still laughing. "They deserve that nickname. They're horrible."

"They are," he agreed.

She looked at him suspiciously. "Really?"

"I've seen how they treat you. They've been acting mean to every new girl since kindergarten, but if it makes you feel more special, they're especially mean to you."

"Great," she muttered, hitching her bag closer.

"They feel threatened by you."

She rolled her eyes. "Right."

"They do." He touched her arm. "You're smarter and prettier than they are."

Her stomach twitched nervously and she froze, not sure what to do or how to reply.

Aaron just smiled at her. "Let's go inside so we're not late."

Nodding mutely, she followed him in.

She spent all of class staring at his head, wondering why he was so nice to her. She had no answer for it.





Rachel stared at the friend request, not sure what to do.

Aaron Hawke wants to be friends on Facebook.

Why? He had plenty of friends. He didn't need her. Boys like him didn't hang out with social pariahs like her.

She pulled out the lyrics she'd written and looked at them. She'd sat outside Romantic Notions today but there wasn't any sign of Griffin Chase. She needed to talk to him. She knew if she asked him to use even one line of her poem it'd be enough to change everything.

Her email pinged with a new message. Frowning, she looked at her inbox.

It was from her dad. She stared at it, stunned. He hadn't sent her an email since—

Well, it'd been a really long time.

She clicked it open.



———————————————————

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Subject: In case you don't remember, this is your father.



Dear Rachel,



I thought maybe you and I can go out to dinner one of these nights. Maybe Friday? We can catch a movie afterward.

The thing is, I never see you. I know this is my fault, and I'd like to fix it. Our world was crushed after your mom died. It was my job to put it back together, but I didn't know how to do it. I thought I lost everything when Wendy died, but I was wrong. I still have the world, because I still have you.

I'm sorry. I should have tried harder. I want to change this. Maybe you can meet me halfway? I think your mom would have wanted that.



Love,

Dad

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Rachel stared at the letter. There were so many feelings inside her—all of the stages of grief that the therapist had taught her, only all at once.

But the two biggest were sadness and anger.

He didn't know what mom wanted. Mom wouldn't have wanted to move to San Francisco—everything was in New York. Mom would have hated it here, with all the slow-walking, happy people on the streets. She'd have hated the –sons as much as Rachel did. And you couldn't even buy a decent bagel here.

The only thing Mom would have wanted was a special song for her, sung by Griffin Chase. Rachel knew that, and she was going to make it happen.

She swallowed her tears. She wouldn't cry. Tears didn't help. They only made you feel sick. She had to do something.

She deleted the email.

She'd find Griffin Chase. She would.