Days of Rain

Everything started that year when we got back to school. I was walking down the hallway when I recognized the wavy blond and pink hair I saw every year.

“Rachel! Hi! Eeeeeeeek! It’s been forever! I missed you so much over summer break!” I exclaimed, maybe just a touch too loudly. Everyone had gone quiet. The only sound was the occasional footstep, echoing from down the hall. “Whoops,” my ecstatic smile had turned into a nervous, shy, and scared face. Everyone in the hallway turned and stared at me. “Sorry everyone, I… Ummm… I…”

I gave Rachel a look that said, help me! Help me! I can’t talk right now! Not in front of all these people! I was the one who did the thinking, Rachel did the talking. She began explaining what happened to an angry teacher whose eyes were peeking out from the top of her newspaper and glaring at us.

“We are so happy to be back at school, we just overreacted a little,” Rachel lied. The teacher glared again and hid back under her newspaper. That teacher was Miss McLacey. The librarian. It was probably her last year at the school because she was 73, so we all tried to be nice to her. If she was any other teacher we would have both glared back, turned our heads, and flipped our hair. It’s kind of our thing.

Once Miss McLacey turned away, Rachel and I gave each other huge hugs. Even though it had only been about four weeks since we had last seen each other, it felt like it had been forever. We started catching up on all of the things that happened after we got back from performing arts/music camp. (I play the piano and Rachel sings.)

“Scarlett! You’ll never believe what happened!” Rachel said, rather excited.

“What?! Tell me tell me tell me!” I quickly responded. I knew it had been something good, because her eyes lit up and she started twirling her hair repeatedly, very quickly.

“Well, my parents surprised me and took me on an unbelievable tour of France! We went to Paris, Nice, and Lyon. First we flew to France which was about six and a half hours. We toured all around there for a week. Then, we drove down to Lyon which took about four hours and 15 minutes. We toured and stayed there for another week. Then, we drove to Nice which took about 4 hours and 20 minutes. We stayed there for a week. Then we flew back home. It was so fun!” Rachel was speaking unnaturally quickly and was now panting because she was out of breath.  “And- oh!” She continued, after she caught her breath. “Guess what happened!” Rachel was jumping up and down. She pulled her hair back behind her ear, letting her beautiful golden earrings sparkle in the sun light beaming out from the window.

“New earrings?” I guessed, wondering whether it was that or a haircut.

“No silly, my first earrings! I got my ears pierced! Eeeek!” Now it was my turn to jump. I pulled my hair back behind my ear, to show her the same exact pair of earrings glistening in my ears.

“Me too!” I squealed. And then at the same time we both said, “And they’re the same pair! Eeeek!” Then we did our twining handshake. It’s when you shake the other person’s hand once, pull it back, and then shoot your hand back into the middle and wiggle your fingers while saying “twin day!” I was so happy to have my best friend back. In fact, I was so happy, I nearly forgot I had to go to class. That was until the bell rang, screeching in my newly pierced ears.

Rachel and I ran to homeroom together. I checked the sign on the classroom door to make sure I was in the right place. I was. Ugh. My teacher was called Miss Gareth. She was the strictest, and meanest teacher in the entire school. The only thing good about her class was that Rachel was going to be in it as well. I tried to think of that as I walked into the classroom, my slow steps in unison with Rachel’s. We did not say a word. I slowly shut the door behind me, so it wouldn’t slam and disturb Miss Gareth. (She was looking the other way, and I much prefered it being that way.) Her head stayed turned in the opposite way until, Wham! One of Rachel’s books fell out of her arms and landed with a great big thunderous thud on the ground. It was a hardback book. It was her textbook for history, our longest, heaviest textbook. I gave Rachel a horrified expression. Maybe Miss Gareth didn’t hear it? I thought to myself, trying to put comforting thoughts into my mind. Who am I kidding? I frowned. She definitely heard it. As Rachel bent down to pick up her book, Miss Gareth turned around. She pointed one of her long shriveled fingers at me.

“You! Sit there!” She barked at me. I nodded my head and quickly hurried over to my chair. I was not ready to have an argument with my teacher on the first day of school and land myself in detention for the week. And I especially did not want to get into trouble with Miss Gareth, that week would turn into a month. I quickly looked away from Miss Gareth’s pale face and blushed with embarrassment. Rachel had now picked up her book and was standing at the front of the class, shaking with fright. I beckoned for her to come and sit next to me, but found myself too late. Miss Gareth had already started speaking to Rachel. “You girl. Sit over there,” Miss Gareth said with a glare, first to Rachel, and then at me. Rachel looked like she was on the verge of tears, but she’s not the type of girl to give up without a fight. Or at least a question.

“Umm, M-M-Miss Gareth, may I p-p-please sit over here in-in-instead?” She managed to stammer out. Small tears were forming in the corners of her eyes, but she wiped them away with the back of her hand. A few seconds later, I heard a pitter-patter on the windows. It was raining. Well, drizzling. Hmm. That’s odd, I thought to myself. It starts drizzling the second her eyes start drizzling with tears? No, it’s probably just a coincidence. She can’t be. She couldn’t be. Franny told me there wasn’t another one that she knew of, but to keep my eyes peeled. These people, they are out of the ordinary. They are special. My parents were a weather wizard. They died as one. Before they died, they said something to me about another one. I had always looked, just to see if my parent’s prophecy came true. But no one else that I had suspected came even have as close to how Rachel fit in it. She was perfect for it. But she can’t be. I can’t believe. I won’t believe it. She’s not a… not a… Miss Gareth’s booming voice cut off my train of thought.

“You are thirty seconds late to my class and are asking me for a favor?!” Miss Gareth’s face was all red as she spoke. “You better sit down now, or else you will be finding yourself in detention tonight. And what’s your name?” “R-R-Rachel.” She stammered. The tears were streaming out of Rachel’s eyes now. The rain got heavier. Just a coincidence, I thought, just a coincidence… Miss Gareth made a note in her notebook. I caught a glimpse of it. It said: Rachel – punish her. She talks back, arrives late, and does not do as she’s told. Rachel was still standing there, hesitating to move, despite of Miss Gareth’s orders. “I said, sit down over there, NOW!” Miss Gareth suddenly yelled. She caught me by surprise and I jumped. Rachel did too. She reluctantly sat down on the other side of the room. What a great start to what would become the most twisted, and unfortunate year of middle school. I sat through the rest of the class not even daring to let myself cough, sneeze, or breathe heavily.

I was walking down the hallway trying to find Rachel when a short girl with dark-brown hair in a perfectly neat bob walked up to me. She looked familiar, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on where I had seen her.

“Hi!” She spoke in a rather excited voice. I heard it, but it didn’t process into my mind correctly. My mind was blank and I wasn’t really paying attention. I kind of completely zoned out. But then an ambulance went by and the loud beeping brought me back to Earth. That was when I realized that she had spoken to me.

“Uhhh, hi?” I responded, in a curious voice. I had seen this girl before, but I didn’t know where from. It was giving me the creeps. Something about where I knew her from was really bothering me. I couldn’t take it any longer. I had to ask her. “Where do I know you from?” I asked her. It came out kind of abrupt and rude. “Um, sorry. I’m really tired today,” I quickly covered up my mistake before she could open her mouth and say anything else. I changed my tone and repeated the same question. “So, where do I know you from?” I tried to put this sweetly, because she seemed friendly. And being mean to a nice person puts you at the lowest standards.

“Huh,” she said, completely dismissing the fact that I was rude to her.  “Golden brown and blue hair, blue eyes, blue fingernails, everything’s blue! That’s peculiar…” Uhh… Hello! I’m standing right here! If you want to make fun of me, don’t do it to my face! In fact, don’t do it at all!  She kept speaking. “Ah ha! I sit next to you in homeroom! My name is Della. What’s yours?” She stuck out her hand indicating a handshake. Ohh, she wasn’t trying to make fun of me, she was just listing my wonderful traits in an odd tone. I stood there for a few moments before realizing I was supposed to shake her hand. High fives are more my style. And besides, I had only met her once in homeroom, and now we are shaking hands?  But she cut off all of my thoughts, because I hesitantly reached out my hand to shake hers. Ut before my hand reached hers, she grabbed mine and gave it a firm shake even before I could pull it away. After that awkward handshake, I thought I should break the ice. Introduce myself to her, so that I don’t feel like such a stranger in her mind.

“I’m Scarlett,” I said, nervous at first, but stronger at the end. “Nice to meet you-Dello?”

“Dell-a,” She said with a grin. I nodded and turned on my heels to walk away, when I heard her voice call my name.  

“Scarlett! Wait! I’m new here. I was wondering if you wanted to hang out and do homework after school with me?” I stopped walking away from her and walked towards her. She seemed nice enough, and kind of lonely, so why not?

“Sure, that would be lovely. You can come to my house. We can walk home together.” I said, trying to help her out. Also, she was carrying a copy of A Wrinkle in Time In her hand. That’s my favorite book! I was feeling very pleased with myself until the bell rang for lunch. That was when I remembered that I was looking for Rachel. I started trying to speed up my conversation with Della. “Oh, and before I go, I should tell you that I only live with my grandma. My parents died in a fire many years ago. My grandma took me in. But that’s beside the point. She’s super nice. Her name is Franny. She makes the best chocolate chip cookies. Would you like some?”  

“Sure! That sounds great. See you then!” And with one little peep over her shoulder, she blended in with the massive crowds of people trying to go to lunch. And very shortly I did too.

Four minutes and 47 seconds later… I walked into the cafeteria to the familiar ear-piercing gossip that was going on. I searched everywhere for Rachel but couldn’t find her. I stood there for a while. Then as I was about to go to the lunch line to get food so I could stall until she got there, I felt someone’s fingers tap the back of my shoulder. I spun around to face the person.

“Rachel! I was looking for you all over!” I exclaimed. Thank god she came. I would have had to get some food. The school food is gross. I go to the salad bar every day to eat. It’s not the school’s food, it’s from this company called Salads Today! Plus, it’s free. But I was about to get into line for the school food. “Where should we sit?” I asked her. All of the tables were full. But out the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of a hand beckoning for me and Rachel to go over there. I nudged Rachel and pointed to the waving hand. Rachel nodded at me, as if to say, let’s go. Both of us slowly walked over to the hand wondering who it could belong to. We sat down on the metal bench.

“Scarlett! Hi!” Della said through a mouthful of her turkey sandwich.

“Hi! Oh, Della meet Scarlett, Scarlett meet Della.” They shyly waved, Della blushing, (she had a bit of turkey hanging out of her mouth. Not an ideal first impression.) I turned to face Scarlett.

“Scarlett, I met Della in the hallway, she sits next to me in homeroom.” I spun around to face Della. “Della, Scarlett and I have known each other for a while now. We are really close. ”

“We’ve known each other for fourteen years, and have been best friends the entire time. Rachel said, twirling her hair. It’s what she does the first time she meets someone for the first time. After the introduction to each other, there was silence for a while. Then Della and I started talking and getting to know each other. And we talked and talked and talked. It felt like we had been talking for twenty minutes! I had just realized that Rachel was sitting right on the other side of me being silent. I felt so bad. So I turned around to talk to her when I saw a new face. Her eyes were staring hard into mine, like she was trying to look into my soul.

“Hi! Who is this?” I nervously asked Rachel. I gave her the look that said she was freaking me out. Everyone had turned to look out the window. For a brief moment I looked too. It looked like it was snowing, but it was probably just hailing, because it was the middle of summer.

“Oh! Sorry! Silly me. Scarlett meet Rebecca, Rebecca meet Scarlett.” Rachel introduced us. “I met her in the hall, she seems nice,” Rachel whispered to me, in a shy but stern voice.

“Who are the rest of those people?” I asked Rachel. About six more kids were hovering over us, looking like they were anxiously waiting for me to say something that said I knew who they were. But I really didn’t.

“Those are Rebecca’s siblings.” Rachel said, quite suddenly. She had been staring off into space for quite a while. But she snapped back and did respond.

“Oh. I don’t mean to be rude, but there’s not a lot of chairs left.” I tried to put as nicely as possible. I know it was kind of mean, not letting them sit with us but, what could I have done? There was nowhere for them to sit at our table.

“We can make room.” Rachel said, nearly before I finished speaking. Her smile had turned into a frown that was aimed directly at me. I looked at our tiny cramped table, trying to think of a solution, but there wasn’t one. Our table was full. I smiled, trying to ease the blow.

“Why? Your friend gets to sit here, so why can’t mine?” She shot at me, curiously, like she was interrogating me instead of just asking a simple question.

“Rachel, I didn’t mean it like that it’s just that-”

“No. You want them gone, then I will have to go as well. Come on Rebecca, let’s go,” She said with a glare. And then she did something I had only ever seen in my most terrifying nightmares. She flipped her hair at me and stormed off with her new friend Rebecca and all of her six siblings. I started crying. I put my head down on the lunch table, but out of the corner of my eye I could see lightening, streaking down from the dark cloud-filled sky. She had just gotten really angry. And lightning, being the first sign of deep anger confirmed my guess about Rachel being a weather-wizard. Lightning struck again. I let my head go limp, and didn’t even bother to stop the tears from soaking my shirt. It felt like days had passed. After a while I felt Dellas hand on my back, trying to comfort me. I kept crying. This was my first real fight with Rachel. We had never even had a tiny argument argument occur before this. Ever. And as the days past, I started seeing less and less of Rachel. It was like she didn’t want to be friends anymore. I did though. I wanted to talk to her, to have my old friend back. But that old friend had left. All I wanted was for Rachel to accept me and my mistake, (If you can call it a mistake). I just wanted to talk and work things out. But clearly, that was not what Rachel wanted. And I didn’t want to make her even more angry at me, so I wasn’t about to apologize to her and get her all aggravated again. So I wasn’t going to be the one to apologize, not unless it was for a very good reason anyway.

And the weeks went by. We didn’t speak to each other, or even acknowledge each other. It was like we didn’t know who each other were. I started hanging out with Della more and more, and Rachel started hanging out with Rebecca more and more. The surprising thing was, I had fun. And I didn’t miss Rachel as much as I thought I would. The more I got to know Della, the more I liked her. Soon enough, we were besties. And the weeks still went. Rachel and I were not talking. It was like a whole new world, not talking to Rachel. A few times, I walked downstairs into the kitchen in my house ready to go to school with her, when I remembered she wouldn’t be there. She stopped walking to school with me ages ago. The closest we have ever came to speaking in the last three months was when she and I locked eyes in the hallway. Her gaze was as hard as a rock, her face showing no sign of forgiveness. I shot her the same look back. Then she spun on her heels and walked away like nothing ever happened. Three months later, the day before winter break, and no interaction between us has occurred. Usually I would be overjoyed for a break at a time like this. But this year is different. I really do not want to go on Winter break. I want to stay home. Because, well, every year over winter break Franny and I go skiing with another family in colorado. And that family is always Rachel’s. I didn’t want my winter break to be miserable because of her, so I tried to clear things up before hand. As I was walking down the hallway (rather quickly so I wouldn’t be late for class), I stuck a note in Rachel’s locker. It said:

 

Dear Rachel,

I am looking forward to our trip this year.

That was a big fat lie.

I am very sorry for being somewhat exclusive to you, Rebecca, and all six of Rebecca’s siblings.

Another lie. She should be apologizing to me. Not the other way around.

I hope we can push all of that behind us when we go skiing together. Can we be friends again? Please?

Love, your old friend,

Scarlett

That bit was true. I wanted her back. I wanted to be friends again. And so, I slipped the note into her locker and walked off to get a drink of water. But as I bent over to take a sip, the bell rang. And my teacher for my next class was Miss Gareth. So I couldn’t be late. My slow trudging walk turned into a sprint. I pushed open the door to the classroom expecting to see Rachel sitting at her desk passing notes to Rebecca, when I saw her standing up, holding a note in her hand. The top read:

To: Rachel

From: Scarlett

She held it out for me. I took it, feeling puzzled. I was about to ask her why she handed it back, when Miss Gareth started turning her head around. I sat down in my desk. I spent the rest of that class in total confusion, counting the seconds until it was over and I could leave that miserable classroom.

When we arrived at the ski resort, there was an awkward tension between us all. Me and Rachel weren’t speaking, Franny and Rachel’s parents were speaking, (they were both on separate sides of our argument), and to try to seem strong and independent, I wasn’t talking to Franny either. I think Rachel had the same idea with her parents.

The first day skiing was one of the worst days of my life. Franny is too old and has hip problems, so she can’t ski. Usually I ski with Rachel and her parents, but, well, our argument was still in progress. We still weren’t speaking. I skied for an hour all alone, but then I realized there was no point skiing by myself, I could only go down one slope otherwise I would get lost. It got boring after a while. When I got back to the ski resort and into my room, Rachel was there.

“What are you doing here?” I asked her.

“Same as you. This is just as much my room as it is yours. We‘re sharing.” She kept her eyes glued to the ground.

“Oh,” I moved over to sit on the bed next to her, as a friendly gesture.  But as soon as I sat down, Rachel stood up. “Listen. I know you are mad at me, but you don’t have to be mean to me.” I was so annoyed. Rachel rolled her eyes. “What happened to us? We used to be besties, and now we can’t stand to be in the same room together! All because of one stupid argument!” Rachel was staring at the ground. But I could see a small tear run down her cheek and land on the carpet. It sunk in, disappearing into nothing, only a tiny wet mark. A minute passed in silence. More tears fell. From both of our eyes. We both looked up at the same time, eyes locking. Then Rachel sat down on the bed next to me. We sat there for a while. Then Rachel said, “I’m sorry. For everything. I shouldn’t have been so hard on you. You were right. There wasn’t enough room at the table for all of her siblings.”

“No, I’m sorry. I wouldn’t let your new friends sit at our table. I should’ve pulled up some chairs.” As I stared down at the wet carpet it reminded me of that time we went ice skating. She fell, and as I bent down to pick her up I fell too. We were sprawled out on the ice, laughing. Our tears are our friendship. The bed is the ice. The struggle is the fall. But the laughter is the survival at the end of it all. The laughter is the end of the story. The laughter is the part where we get up. And so, we sat on the bed in the little hotel room, laughing, being friends, standing up.

Rachel and I became closest of close friends again. We were also besties with Della and Rebecca, (and all of her six siblings.) The rest of middle school was a joy, even in Miss Gareth’s class. I ended up really liking Miss Gareth. The longer I was in her class, the nicer and warmer she got. Think she ended up liking my class too. The rest of the school year flew right past us. I had no worries. That was until, I remembered something Franny had told me a while ago. I would have to leave at the end of the school year. Not to a different school, country, or town. To a different realm. To the forest of lost souls. In the wizarding realm.

Yes, I am a wizard. And yes, there is such thing as the forest of lost souls. Now, all of this wouldn’t have been so bad if I didn’t have any friends at school. But I do. I would have to leave Rachel, and Della, and Rebecca, all to go on a quest to find my parents. (They are alive, just they had to travel to the wizarding realm shortly after I was born. I stayed with Franny, who is actually my aunt, disguised as my grandma. My parents didn’t want my aunt being there, because she was really close with my parents and lived with them for a while before they “died”. So she pretended to be my grandma.) I know I’m going to have to leave soon with Rachel to go on the quest to find my parents but- oh! I forgot to mention! Rachel’s coming too! Normally only people with wizarding powers can travel to the wizarding realm, but they made a kind of exception for Rachel. Rachel does have a power. The weather reflects her emotions. I was right! She is one of them. Just like my parents! When Rachel gets upset it rains. When she is angry it hails. My power is magic. I’m I wizard, I do spells. Just like everybody else in the wizarding realm. But we can’t tell Rebecca and Della where we are going. I had to tell them that I was moving to France, and Rachel had to say she was moving to England. And so, we set off to the wizarding realm with only a couple of snacks, a bottle of water each, and of course, I had my wand and my spell book. Franny did a spell to get us there. Only, I think something might’ve gone wrong, because when we got there and opened our eyes, we weren’t in a town, or any civilization at all. We were in the middle of what looked like an endless forest. I clutched Rachel’s hand to calm myself down. We were both shaking. After what had seemed like an hour, I said,

“Well, we are here now. Might as well get moving,” I tried to act as brave as possible. It was the most difficult task I have ever done.

“Let’s go,” Rachel said. We both nodded nervously, but without concern. We walked for a week. Everything was going just as we assumed until we heard a roar coming from the forest. It kept roaring and the sound got louder and louder. Then me and Rachel ran as fast as we could out of that forest. Only, we never made it out of that forest. It as like it was endless. Literally. We were trapped inside an endless forest. The only thing left to do was sit, pray, wait, and hope that someone would show up and help us. We sat there for ten days. Then, as I was about to pass out from starvation, I heard a voice.

“Hello children,” it said, in a scary and mysterious manner.

“I’ve been waiting for you, I thought you would arrive today. I had a… feeling,” the voice continued. A massive roar surrounded me and blocked out all other noise. A shriveled hand grabbed me, stuffed me into a sack, and gagged me. My head whacked against something cold and hard. Everything went black. That’s the last I can remember. About anything. That’s the only thing I can remember.