Samantha - Rebecca being weird part 2

Okay, so on with what happened yesterday. Usually; Lilyana, Melanthe and I  walk home together (unless we have better things to do), but yesterday I decided that I had to talk to Rebecca, which meant staying late. I knew that for whatever reason Rebecca might skip school, she'd never, ever miss ballet. She throws her soul into her dancing, so I knew that no matter what; she'd be there. So I did my homework in the library until six, which was when her class got out. I grabbed my backpack ad ran into the courtyard; hoping beyond ope that I hadn't missed her. But no, there she was,

Walking down the schools long driveway, her purple hat stark against the gloomy late afternoon. I could see the silver gleam of her ballet bag over her shoulder. 

" Hey! Rebecca!" I called, cupping my hand around my mouth. She didn't turn around. "Rebecca!" I shouted again, and I winced at how loud and annoying it sounded in the crisp fall air. Still she didn't turn around, or speed up, or give any indication that she'd heard me - which of course she must have. I sighed in exasperation, and began to run after her, short puffs of air exploding into the chilly afternoon, my footsteps pounding on the asphalt. 

Finally I caught up to her. I stepped in front of her, panting, blocking her path. 

" What the hell, Rebecca?" I said, grabbing her arm as she tried to get around me. She flinched, yanking her arm out of my grasp. 

 " What?" She said, her tone bored, as though she hadn't skipped school for no reason whatsoever.
" What do you mean, what? You know perfectly well what!" I said angrily, mentally groaning at how   parent-ish I sounded.

" I was sick, Samantha." She said, in a well-duh kind of voice, rolling her eyes. But she refused to meet my eyes, her large hazel orbs sliding down my face to focus on the ground. 

" Come on, Rebecca. Where were you today? The teachers were freaking out, like, totally."She shrugged.

"Yeah? So what. I'll just tell them I was sick, okay?"

" But you weren't. This isn't like you."

" Samantha  - " she started, then stopped. "Nevermind."

" You weren't sick. You were at dance, right? I challenged, knowing how weak an argument that was. That girl would probably go to her dance class if our house was on fire. Mercifully, she let that pas without comment, saying only:

" It doesn't matter, Samantha. Really." She turned as if to go.

" Come on, Rebecca." I said, exasperated. "What the hell is going on? 

" Do you ever feel restless, Samantha?"

"What?" I said, surprised. " Er....yeah, I guess."

" Like you can't stand to be here anymore, like an ache so deep inside of you that you can't go anything about it. And sometimes you can't control yourself anymore, and it's like you're falling, but you don't know where, or why. You don't know who you are anymore." Her voice was low, but her words sounded foreign to me.

" What are you talking about, Rebecca?" Maybe she was sick. Like, delirious, or something. "Do you feel ok?"

" Like you're being chased," she went on "but you don't know what's chasing you, and nobody else can see it but you, and even you can't sometimes. And its like you can't go on another moment, you have to run, or escape, but you know you can't.  You know you can't get rid of whatever it is that feels so wrong. And you know that you shouldn't feel this way; that it's wrong - that you're wrong, somehow. But you do."

" Are we still talking about why you weren't at school?" I asked, confused. "Because are so going to be in so much trouble if you don't have a legitimate excuse. " She sighed. 

" Listen, never mind, okay?"

"Huh?"

" I was sick, alright?"

"Rebecca, what..?"

" Today. i stayed home sick. Just....leave it at that."

" Rebecca, I don't-?"

" Drop it, okay, Samantha. I shouldn't have said anything, I just....." She stopped, and shrugged, scuffed her shoes on the rough pavement. " I thought maybe... it doesn't matter." 

"  Rebecca, wait!" I called, still confused. What was she talking about. But she was gone, her bright hat disappearing around the corner; and i knew he wouldn't be home for dinner. 

Samantha

Samantha - Rebecca being weird again part 1

Rebecca isn't at school today. And I don't mean she's sick, or something. She got up with the rest of us; skipped breakfast like she always does ( "Dancers are thin, Sammy.") and went out the door a half hour before we do, like usual. She likes to go in early to practice in the studio before classes start. Anyway, we have A block together; and she wasn't there. I wasn't worried or anything; because maybe she was talking with the principle about something; or got held up in the studio, or was asked to show some new kid around. (We all have to do that at some point.) But then after C block, Melanthe caught up to me in the hallway.

" Samantha!" She called. I turned around, and saw her running towards me; her long red hair twisted into a bun, her ams full of books.

"What?" I replied, shifting though my binder to make sure I had my D block (math) homework.

" Samantha, have you seen Rebecca?" She pulled on my arm, and I looked up. Her huge green eyes looked alarmed.

" What? No - she wasn't in A block."

" She wasn't in science either." Melanthe said, frowning. "Do you think she went home sick?"

" Maybe.... she seemed OK this morning, though."

" There's a cold going around. Maybe she has that."

" Yeah, maybe. That must be it......" I said, grinning. Melanthe didn't look to convinced, but she shrugged and headed off to her D block French class. (Which Rebecca should have been in to.)

But it was during Melanthe's D block French class that we realized that something was wrong. Of course, I didn't, because I wasn't there, but Melanthe told me over lunch.

" Samantha, you will never guess what happened during French!" Melanthe said, sliding into the seat next to me, and plopping down her lunch bag.

" What?" Andrea asked; swallowing a bite of turkey sandwich. " Are you sitting with us today?"
 Here I guess I should explain that the four of us don't usually sit together at lunch, with the occasional exception of me and Melanthe. I sit with my best friend Andrea, my friends Casey, Sophia and Dezzy, and another girl named Lucy, who is more Andrea's friend then mine, and plays basketball. Lilyana sits with Ani and another girl; a shy, pretty redhead named Delia. Melanthe divides her time between us, and a loud, popular table of girls that I don't really know very well. Rebecca goes to the library; I think, or the studio.

" Yeah. Yum, can I steal a chip, Drea?" Melanthe reached over the table and grabbed a Cape Cod Potato chip from Andrea, whom she insists on calling 'Drea.'

" Hey!" Andrea protested; swatting her hand away. " Eat you own food, you little theif!" She said, pulling her chip bag out of reach. Melanthe laughed, and took a bite of her apple, which she had taken out of her brightly striped lunch bag along with a piece of cold pizza and a bag of halloween oreos; which my mom had gotten as a special treat the other day.

" ANYWAY," I interrupted, "What happened, Mel?"

" The office called about Rebecca."

" Wait.....what?" My stomach dropped. " She's not, like...."

" What? Dead? Do you think we'd be sitting here if she was?"

" No." mumbled Andrea through a mouthful of goldfish.

" So what did they call about?"

" Oh, you know." Melanthe waved her hand in the air. " Hello Miss Reinstein; this is Dorry from the main office called to see if Rebecca Rubin is in class. That type of call."

" And she's not?" Sophia butted in. " You mean she skipped? Why?"

" No clue." I said dully, pushing at my sandwich.

" Wow, Rebecca?" Said Casey, shoving her dark blond hair out of her face. " She's in my Language Arts class. Never thought she'd skip."

" Neither did we, really." Melanthe said, grinning at Casey as though they shared a special, private joke. " Little Miss Perfect most of the time."

" Boy, will your mom be pissed." Andrea said, pushing a chip at me over the table. " Remember when you skipped that test, Mel? Her mom went nuts!"

" Wait; why would Samantha's mom go nuts if Melanthe skipped school?" Casey interjected.

" Mellie and Rebecca board with Samantha. You know; through that program the school offers." Andrea explained.

" Oh yeah. Jeez, Rebecca's in for it then. Daphne - you know Daphne Halti?" We shook our heads. Mostly, Lucy moved in different circles then we did. She was part of the (small) sports program; while we were all majoring in the arts; which was what the school was for; being a preforming arts school, and all. But there was a sports program, and there were students who moved exclusively in that area, like Lucy. Then there were students like Andrea; who did both sides. Andrea was here mostly for soccer, basketball and hockey, but she also did theatre; which was how we met.

" Daphne Halti? The tall blonde on upper school basketball team?" asked Andrea; referring to the team for 10th, 11th, and 12th graders.

" Yeah. She boards with Lindsey Masenari, right? And she skipped to go into the city with her boyfriend, and they got caught."

" And?"

" She almost had to go back home."

" You mean get kicked out of the program?"

"Yeah. They come down real hard on kids in the Boarding program. But she'd done it before."

" Rebecca hasn't."

" I know." Casey said.


Ok, I am officially freaked. Where the heck is Rebecca? She wasn't there when we got home today; and it's almost three now. What is going on? Is this like what happened this summer, when she never came home that day? What is up? I mean; she hasn't seemed that off in the last couple days. No more the usual. She's been in one of her mopey, sullen moods where she won't talk to anybody. She gets like that a lot, but we've stopped paying attention. It's just who she is. But now I'm a bit worried. Where is she?

Freaked out,

Samantha

Melanthe - studying and moving

So today Samantha and I decided to study together for the History test. She is a lot better then I am at this kind of thing, so I was kinda hoping she'd help me a little. Well, a lot. Because, okay, fine, I am really, really, bad in History. I mean, come on! All those dates. It gets a bit boring. And what on earth is the point, anyway? Answer: There is none. Anyway, enough of me complaining, Rebecca says I complain to much. Well, we can't all be as stoic and distant as you, Rebecca.

" Hey, Samantha?" I asked.

"Yeah?"

" Whats the deal about moving?"

"What do you mean?" She said, surprised, clearly wondering how we'd gotten from Paul Revere to moving.

" Well, at the beginning of the summer your mom said we would be. Moving, I mean."

"Yeah." She said slowly, sounding nonplussed.

" And......we haven't." Well, duh, i told myself, inwardly groaning for having stated the obvious, again, like all the girls say I always do. 

"I thought you'd be okay with that, Mel."

"What do you mean?"

" I thought you didn't want us to."

" I didn't! But only because either me or Rebecca would have to stop boarding with you guys......."

" And Rebecca put up such a big fuss." Samantha finished.

" Exactly." I grinned. Then, as the grin faded, "So?" I prompted. Samantha sighed, and scribbled down a few notes in the brief interval of silence that had taken over the spacious loft bedroom. 

" I don't know, Mel."

"Don't know what?"

"If we're gonna move." She said, not looking at me. 

" Why not?" I gasped, surprised.

"The house got sold to somebody else."

" The one your mom was looking at?"

" Yeah."

" Well - that could be a good thing, right? Your mom could find another house with a different setup, so that Rebecca and I could keep boarding with you."

" Yeah, I guess so." Samantha nodded, glancing back down at her notes. 

After that, we settled down into the (for me) complete boredom of studying.

I thought back to the beginning of the summer, when we'd first gotten the news that we were moving. I'd been pretty scared, because there was a chance I'd have to find another family to board with. And I didn't want to. Still don't want to. To tell you the truth, I love boarding with the Parkington. They were also one of the very few families that could afford to board not one, but two girls. Me and Rebecca. And then Lilyana, Samantha's cousin; whose family also lived with them. When I first arrived from Canada, it had been a little scary. Rebecca hadn't come yet; so I was the first and only boarder with the family. It took a little getting used to, for me, used to being an (almost) only child; because I had to deal with not just Samantha and Lily, but Samantha's sister Sara, and Lilyana's sister Melanie. But then school started, and Melanie went off to boarding school, and things settled down. pretty much. Then Rebecca came, and she pretty much changed everything. Livened things up, you might say, with her moods, and fights, and overall strangness. But I've gotten used to it. And I would really hate to not be boarding here anymore. So I hope that Samantha's mom finds a new house (Close to this one, I hope, because all our friends live her) that has a loft bedroom for us. 

Melanthe

Samantha - Homework!

AAAH! How is it the third day of school, and we have homework already! How is that even possible? I just can't believe it. Aren't we supposed to be slowly getting back into school mode; not jumping in headfirst? Sorry. Just getting a bit panicked. It's just so strange to be back in school again. Like summer never happened. Once or twice, I've found myself heading towards my old locker, or classroom, or saying "I'm in 7th grade." It's just so weird.

Anyway, i know this is going to be a super short post; and I'm sorry. I just wanted to say that we probably won't have very much time to blog during the school year. So maybe, lets say, once, maybe twice, a week? That might be the max. Oh, and here are some pictures of us on the first day.

XOXO

Samantha

Lilyana - First Day of School

Hi guys. As you know, yesterday was the first day of eighth grade for us. It was, as first days go, pretty uneventful. Samantha and I are in the same homeroom, which is awesome. Samantha's friend Andrea is also in our homeroom, which is great for Samantha, I guess. I'm disappointed that Ani isn't in my homeroom, and is only in one of my classes. I wish i could see her more. Ani and I are both very shy; so it's harder for us to make friends, and talk in class. It's easier when we have each other. But the really annoying thing (For me, anyway) is that Andrea is in almost ALL Samantha's classes. That is so unfair.  But I guess I shouldn't complain; Melanthe has it worse then I do - Maddi doesn't even go to our school! She goes to the public school; and we all go to a private school. But Melanthe doesn't really care very much. She's such a social person; that she will already have twenty new friends by the end of the week; whereas I'll be lucky to make one new friend by the end of the month. I know everybody is different; but why do I have to be so shy, and people like Samantha and Melanthe are so outgoing? What decides all that, anyway? Genes? My dad is a very outgoing man, and my mom is too. So where do I get it from?

Speaking of my dad; I got a letter from him today. He told me all about the horses, and how they're doing. One of his mares; Auburn Mist, is going to have a foal in the spring! I am so excited. But it's still weird that I'm not going to be there. I just can't process the fact that all that - all my old life - is over there, while I'm still here. None of the other girls have this problem. Melanthe never really talks about missing her family (She does tell us a lot about them, and her sister Kira), and she's not even been here a year! And Rebecca just never talks about her family in general, but I don't get the feeling she misses them very much. I know that it's different - Rebecca and Mellie chose to come here so they could study at Sutton, and I was forced to move here - but I still don't understand. Is it weird to miss my father so much? Is it wrong? I just don't understand why I can't stop missing him so much. I think I'm crazy, or something, but sometimes I wonder what would happen if he got sick, or fell off his horse, and I wasn't there. If I never got to say goodbye to him. I don’t think I could live with myself then. And then there’s his girlfriend – Grace. Who he's seeing a lot, he says. Do you think he'll tell me if they get engaged? He wouldn't keep it from me, would he? Would he? Because I get the feeling he's hiding something from me. Like there's something he's not telling me. I don't know why; but I'm scared.

Lilyana

Melanthe - Hate school.

I cannot believe that it is almost school! i just can't! I hate, hate HATE school. It is the worst thing ever! And I mean ever. I cannot see how anybody (Rebecca) could like it! It is horrible! All the talking, and the teachers, and the tests i always fail. It's the worst place on earth. It truly is. I mean; it's fun cuz you get to see your friends, but the academic side of it sucks. I'm just not good at it! I can't do it, I just can't. I am horrible at everything. I suck at math, I can't spell, and I'm useless at science. Utterly useless. It's just a waste of time to go at all, because I know that I'm going to fail. I wish we didn't have to go.

Melanthe.

Samantha - Almost school...

I cannot believe that school starts in five days. Five days. Summer is almost over but from FIVE DAYS! Where did it go? I have no,no, no, idea. I just don't. Last I remembered, it was the beginning of July, and we were talking about moving. Whatever happened to that? Not a lot. We still don't have a buyer for our house, so, who knows? So what happened this summer? It seems like it went by so fast! Like a millisecond! So much happened, but it seems like such a short time that it happened in! I'll miss summer.

And then we'll have school. I don't dislike school, exactly. Not like Melanthe does. But I don't like it either, like Lilyana or Rebecca do. It's just...school. Inevitable, but not horrible. I'm not a bad student - I get good enough grades - but school is boring. So, so, boring. It is such a waste of time! They go blah, blah, blah, and we just sit there, bored. And they don't even notice! Like.....what? Why don't they see that we are all asleep? I guess they don't. Oh well, to bad for them. I can't believe that in a week I'll be in the classroom. It's just strange. Homework, friends, teachers, classes.....eh. Just school. I do want to try and pack as much as I can into the last days of summer. Before we are herded up and crammed into hot classrooms like sheep penned up for slaughter!

Anyway, on to other things. Firstly, Rebecca. Who has ben acting totally weird lately. As if that's a surprise. But weirder, I mean, then usual. She's all giddy sometimes, and she'll spontaneously do a piroette or something in the hall, or walking down the street. She spends a lot of time on the roof; not just at night, but during the day, too. I don't know what she does up there. She plays her guitar, or dances, I know, but a lot of time we just hear quiet. Sometimes I look out the window and crane my head up to ask her something, but she's not there? Where does she go? She hasn't talked to any of us much for a while. Not since the pageant, I think. She did through a book at me yesterday when I asked her to clean up her papers, which was weird. I just backed out into the hallway, and closed the door. She is just to strange for words.

TTFN

Samantha

Lilyana - Report cards and Rebecca Weirdness

Ah, the great day of report cards have arrived. I’ve always cared about my grades, and so I work hard, and therefore get good grades. To me, that’s all there is to it. Some people moan about studying and never do their homework, but then they wonder why they get Cs. They don't get that you have to work for it, strive towards it.

So anyway, the thick letters thumped onto the doormat one after the other this morning, along with some bills and a American girl magazine. Four, one for each of us. I wanted to open mine right then and there, but I didn’t, because we usually like to do them together. Why so much ceremony? Well, Sutton is very big on grades. You have to maintain a certain average to keep studying there, and if you don’t you may get suspended. If you have really bad grades, you might not even be allowed back! I know that sounds really harsh, but because this is a school for the arts; we don’t have as much time to spend on schoolwork, so we need to be really smart. I know that there are some people that find that unfair, and when I think about it, it kinda does. It does seem kind of demanding, but I guess its what they have to do. Anyway, I brought the letters into our loft bedroom, where Samantha was playing with her American Girl Doll, Nellie. She’s the only one of us that has an American Girl Doll, but we each have a My Generation. I could also see Melanthe, sitting on her bed and doing her nails this sparkly turquoise color.

“Samantha! Melanthe!” I called. Samantha looked up from dressing her doll.

“What is it, Lil?” She asked, brushing her bangs out of her eyes. Samantha hates her bangs, she says they are babyish. I say they’re really pretty, but she’s always pulling them back and clipping them up.

“Our report cards came!”

“Ooh, really?”
“Yeah, here.” I passed her the one with Samantha Parkington on it in a loopy scrawl. “Hey, Melanthe, catch!” I said, tossing one up to my redhead friend, who caught it with her palm, her nails still being wet.

“Where’s Rebecca?” asked Melanthe. “Don’t we open them together?”

“Yeah, where is she?” I echoed.

“On the roof.” Said Sammy, with a ‘What could I do?” shrug.

“The Roof? Of the house?”

“Yeah, the house. Well, kinda." she amended.  "That low bit where the attic stops.”

“But what is she doing up there?” I asked. This made no sense.

“And how did she get up there?” Melanthe said.

“She went through the window in Melanie’s room, i think. You know, you can just slide down to the lower part of the roof, where its flat before it drops to the garage. I don’t know what she’s doing now, she was playing her guitar before, I could hear it. But it stopped a while ago.”

“Um….ok. I’ll go get her.” Melanthe slid off her denim comforter, and padded across the room, going out into the hall. She poked her head around the door of a room slightly down the hall. “Rebecca!” We heard her call, then again. “Rebecca!”. This time an answering response I couldn’t make out. “What is it?”

“Our report cards came. We’re waiting for you in the bedroom.” This time we could hear Rebecca’s response.

“All right, I’ll be there in a sec.” She sounded annoyed. No different then usual.

Melanthe came back into the bedroom, and was met with interested faces on all sides.

She shrugged.

“She was just up there with her guitar, Ok? Nothing weird.”

“…..OK.” I said, not sure if that qualified as 'Nothing weird."

Rebecca came into the room then, her guitar in her arms. She put it on her bed, and accepted her letter from Samantha. Things went jut as they always did from then, but something about Rebecca unsettled me. I don’t know what it is, I don’t know what she was doing up there. Not drugs, or anything bad like that. She’s too focused on her dancing to do anything like that. But I still wonder.

I guess I should post our grades on here. Our teachers would hate that, they say grades are our own business and nobody else’s. Nobody pays any attention, they rip them open the second they leave the classroom, trading letters and comments. And we all care, about our own, and about everybody else’s. So here goes. 

Lilyana –  Math-A-, Language arts-A, social studies-A, Science-A, Computers-A, spelling-A, handwriting-A.

Samantha –Math-A-, Language arts-A, Social Studies-B+, Science-B, Computers-A+, spelling-A-, Handwriting-B+

Melanthe – Math-C+, Language arts-A-, Social Studies-A+, Science-B-, computers-B, Spelling-C, Handwriting-A+

Rebecca – Math-A+, Language arts-A+, Social Studies-A+, Science-A+, Computers-A, Spelling-A+, Handwriting-A+

Rebecca had fantastic grades! I mean, she studies so much, so that’s no surprise. She doesn’t talk about herself or her past, or her anything very much, but it seems like her old school had higher standards then this one. It must have been a really good school. Anyway, I was pleased with my grades, and I do know math is my downfall. Just way to many rules and numbers. I like rules in real life, but on the paper, and with all the symbols it doesn't make as much sense. I want to try and study some over the summer, because eighth grade math is much harder. Melanthe was really upset about her grades, although it is true she’s not the best student. I’m going to help her a bit over the summer, because if she gets a C again, she’ll have the school to answer to. Happy summer!


Lily