Model in Disguise

34. Rachel Harris

Dedicated to: libraryhaunter
Thanks for that super long comment! I know you said you couldn't wait for Rachel to confront Susan, so I'm just here to say . . .
The wait is over. c;
Enjoy the chapter!
 

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      September 16th
       Susan Mitchell intervenes a necessary conversation between Agents R. Harris and A. Peterson, and the teacher Felix Howard.

       34. Rachel Harris
      Date: September 16th

The bell rings to signal the end of fourth period, and I catch Alex's eyes as the students around us leave the classroom. Ignoring my malfunctioning heartbeat, I make my way over to Alex and without speaking we understand each other completely.

        "Mr. Howard," Alex says. I trail behind him and we stop in front of Mr. Howard's desk.

        The man looks up, his eyes bright and a smile on his face. "Alex, Rachel, nice to see you guys. What do you need?"

        Alex looks over at me, and then opens his mouth to speak only for Mr. Howard to speak again.

       "Susan," Mr. Howard says, looking over Alex and me.

       Annoyed, I turn to see Susan standing right behind us, smiling innocently at the handsome teacher.

       "Oh, don't mind me," she says. And as she looks at me, there's a menacing look that wasn't there when she looked at Mr. Howard. I send her the same look back. "I'm just waiting for Rachel, so we can walk to lunch together."

       The expectant look she gives Alex, daring him to continue speaking, is enough for me to understand exactly what she's doing. She thinks if Mr. Howard sees that she's with us, he won't find anything wrong with Alex and I speaking to him in front of her.

       But only one of us needs to be there to have this conversation, and Susan wasn't smart enough to come up with a good enough excuse to be here.

       Without hesitation I smile briefly at Susan before feigning forgetfulness. "Oh no, I totally forgot about lunch," I lie, sending an apologetic look towards Alex. "I guess I'll meet you later then, Alex."

       I meet Susan's gaze with a hard glare and turn away from Alex to leave. Before I'm fully turned, I see Alex look in my direction.

       "See you later, Ray."

       I freeze.

       It doesn't last long, but for a second or a millisecond, my heart hammers against my chest and I pause. I'm happy that for that one second, Alex can't see my face, or my reaction to the childhood nickname that he's just called me.

       What. The. Hell.

       And then I'm moving again, following Susan out of the room and pushing aside the event that just happened.

       We head back to our dorm room, the room I haven't slept in for a couple of days, and it all looks the same. Susan's side is just as messy as it was before and mine is still just as clean. But there's a bottle of nail polish remover on my side of the room that I don't own. I push the door closed behind me.

       As soon as Susan and I are alone, behind that stupid pink door, the facade disappears.

       She's the first to speak. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" she says, her dark eyebrows raised. "Intimidating  a witness? That's low. Even for you, Rachel."

       I look at her. For a moment, I take in her glowing bronze skin and her dark eyes, and I tilt my head upwards at her.

       "Oh, are you done now?" I say, looking straight into her eyes. "Sorry. I wasn't sure if you were, since apparently you like to talk."

       She scoffs, and I ignore her.

       "Susan, I don't know what the hell you think you're doing, but it needs to stop. You have this insane idea in your head that I kidnapped Adrian and Mr. Masters and I don't know where you got that idea from, but it's not true. Going to the police to tell them Alex and I are the people behind the kidnappings is not okay.

       "And you think Alex and I are intimidating a witness? A witness to what? My last trig test? Alex and I went to ask Mr. Howard for some advice about Model Mayhem. You know, the biggest event of the first semester? Of the school that we attend? Did you forget why we're even here?"

       Susan returns my glare and crosses her arms.

       I shake my head at her, stepping closer with a challenging expression on my face. "You have no evidence, no witness, and to top it all off, it's simply not true. I'm on the right side of this, Susan, just like everyone else. I want to know what happened just as much as you do."

       Her expression wavers for a second, but she flips her hair and pretends that it doesn't. "I don't believe you."

       "Well that's not my problem, Susan," I tell her. "But you know what, I think that you should stay out of my way from now on. The next time you and the rest of the Cherubim decide to go to the police with a made up story about Alex and I, I will personally see to it that you're all put behind bars for the crime yourselves. Because I don't see a reason for a group of girls to make up a lie about anyone else unless they're covering up for one they've told themselves."

       I turn around to leave the room, and with my back towards her, I say, "Oh, and tell Natalia that she forgot her nail polish remover on my side of the room. It better be gone when I get back. And I will be back later. "

       Stopping at the door, I turn to look at her one last time. "This is my room. I'm not going to sleep somewhere else just become some stuck-up girl doesn't realize who she's up against."

       I wrench the door open and step into the crowded hallway, but before I close the door, I send Susan a smile. "See ya later, roomie."

       And as I walk away the smile fades from my face, and this is when I realize that Susan has just met Rachel Harris.

       And she should've met her a long time ago.

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Yayyyy another update!

I am on a roll, people.

So what'd ya think of the chapter?

I actually really liked writing it.

And Alex called Rachel "Ray". Totally didn't see that one coming, even when I wrote it. My fingers were just typing away and then I read what I wrote and I was like holy crap Alex.

Anyway! Comment whatcha thought, and point out any mistakes! A lucky commenter will receive a dedication, as usual.

Thanks for reading!

'AwesomelyBlaze