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CHAPTER TWO song: smalltown boy — bronski beat
THE SCHOOL GYM was packed with students. They talked loudly as they took a seat in the stands in front of the basketball rink, not knowing what they were there for.
Rachel waited patiently by the doors, nervously tapping her foot on the floor, shuffling through the papers she had wrote the night before for the tribute.
She bit her thumb nail, already feeling the anxiety of talking in public— the fabric of her clothes suddenly feeling too tight around her. She immediately regretted wearing a turtleneck, she felt as if it was choking her like a rope. The light blue skirt that finished right above her knees wasn't making her comfortable either but she had wanted to look decent. Half of her hair was tied back with a ribbon the same color of her skirt.
"Miss Anderson, are you ready?" asked the principal, he was the only person left to get in the gym besides Rachel.
"Not really" She replied shaking her head as she sighed "But it's fine."
"I'm sure you'll do great." Bob encouraged her with a smile "Let's go in."
They both stepped in the gym. As soon as they saw the principal, the secretary and other teachers quickly started to shush the students through the microphone.
Rachel saw Mary Anne's parents standing there too, the mom had clearly been crying and was still trying to hold back the tears as she blew her nose while her husband comforted her. The same picture of Mary Anne that was on the memorial on her locker, was now in the gym in a bigger size— an assessment of flowers, candles and other paper decorations around it. In front of it, in a small table, laid her cheerleader uniform and accessories. Which she wasn't going to be able to wear again.
She felt nauseous as she walked up to Mary Anne's parents. Rachel used to spend so much time in their home... So much she even had a few hygiene things there in case she'd unexpectedly spend the night, like a toothbrush, gel and shampoo, deodorant... Now all of that was gone. She doubted she'd ever step in their house again now that Mary Anne was dead.
She missed the sleepovers and the pancakes her dad used to make them both in the morning. She missed playing boardgames all together, hearing Mary Anne's mom sing from upstairs, going on trips with the family like she was part of it too, the embarrassment on Mary Anne's face when her parents would pick them up from the cinema on a Saturday night blasting music with the windows rolled down...
"Rachel, thank you so much for being here." Mary Anne's mom said to her grabbing her hand with both of hers "This was supposed to be my baby's last year of highschool..." She sniffed "And we're here instead of her." The mom cried.
"I'm sorry." Rachel almost whispered "I wish I could experience it with her. I miss her so much."
The husband pressed the mom onto his chest, muffling her cries, pressing his lips together completely devastated to hear how broken his wife was "We miss her too."
