rachel

part 10

12 years old

First day of 6th Grade. I'm so excited to see everyone. There is a buzz in the air! 

In walks a new boy. Wait what? 

We've had 10 kids in our class always. Now there 's 11?

He has brown hair. It's longish on top and he has a cow lick in front. It makes his hair stand straight up. He is tall and skinny. His dark eyes bounce from person to person. Our eyes connect and my heart does a back flip. He's beautiful. 

"This is Alex. He moved here from Tennessee! Let's give him a warm welcome!" 

He says 'Hi' and has a confidence about him. I wonder how many times he's been in this exact place. Staring at a bunch of new kids in a class where everyone is friends and he's the outsider. I look down at my desk because I feel my neck turning pink. Mary Kate elbows me in the ribs and waggles her eye brows. I give her an eye roll and a grin. God that girl. 

After day one you'd think that Alex was part of our class the last few years. He fits in and immediately hangs with Matt the most. I'm just a little jealous. Ok, a lot jealous. Jealous that Matt gets to hang out and talk to the kid who has my heart fluttering? Jealous that this new kid is stepping in on my best friend? I'm not sure. I decide to fade into the background, where it's nice and safe. I'll come out when I'm ready and sure that it's safe to do so.

~6 weeks later~

Our class is on a field trip. We are visiting the science museum in Boston and staying in a hotel. A hotel with a pool! 

We're splashing around in the pool and playing Marco Polo. My tween girl heart is fluttering at all of the maleness all around me. All of the boys have board shorts and their chests on display. Alex is gorgeous. He's tall and skinny but still has defined pecs and abs. He's athletic and swims and chases people so easily. I'm so self conscious. I've got a two piece on and I feel naked. At least the water is up above my chest. You'd only be able to see me if you can see underwater. Oh my goodness can any of these boys see underwater? I'm immediately overwhelmed and feel my chest and neck turning pink. 

"Let's get out and just watch the boys." Sigh, Mary Kate and her boys. I agree to get out with her and walk over to the stairs. I run up them and run to my chair and throw my towel around my body, glancing around  at the boys but they aren't paying attention. Thank god. 

"Will you ask Matt if he likes me? And ask him out for me?"

I scrunch up my nose. 

"Why? Ew."

"Rach you need to ask someone too. How about Alex? Ok, you ask Matt for me and then I'll ask Alex for you." I turn pink so fast. It's like a super power except one that I have no control over and one that I do not want. At all. Mary Kate starts giggling and puts her hands over her mouth. "Oh my gosh. Rachel, you like Alex? You totally do because you are so pink right now!"

Can I become invisible? Right now? Please?

The boys start getting out of the pool. Matt and Alex walk over our way and grab their towels. They chat about the games they were playing in the pool. Mary Kate waggles her eye brows at me and makes a kissy face. I die a little inside. 

We leave the pool and head back to our rooms to change. Our teacher said that we can watch a movie. The class agrees on 'The Matrix' and because me and Mary Kate have the largest room we'll be watching it in there.

Everyone brings blankets and pillows from their own rooms and we make a giant nest on the floor in front our TV. Pizza boxes litter the tables. 

I'm laying on my stomach with my chin in my fist and I'm scrunched between Peter and Alex. I can feel Alex's warmth next to me and I subconsciously get pulled closer into his side. Like a magnet. His elbows reach into my space and I'm hyper focused on his bare arm, that I study it. The hairs. The freckles. The veins. 

Shoot. What's happening in the movie?

Once the movie is over the boys pick up their stuff and head back to their rooms. Mary Kate and I get ready for bed. 

"Let's sneak over to Matt and Alex's room!" Mary Kate is a recipe for disaster, all the time. She stresses me out with most of her ideas. My common sense is no match for her though, she always seems to convince me to walk on the wild side and to leave my comfort zone by the curb.

"What? No. We'd be caught and get in so much trouble." The voice of reason. Reasoning Rachel, always the one thinking two steps ahead. 

"No we won't. It's late enough that everyone is sleeping already."

"Ya, including Matt and Alex."

"No way. Alex said to come over after the movie." I sit straight up in my bed. 

"What? When did he say that? Mary Kate we can't do this." I'm nervous. It's an anxious nervous. I don't want to get into trouble but I really want to see the boys. It doesn't take much to change my mind, this is an opportunity that even I can't pass up.

"Ok, fine. Let's go." My heart races as I peek into the hallway. It's clear. My heart jumps into my throat as we step into the hallway and silently close our door. We tiptoe down the hall past two doors and knock quietly on the boy's door. It swings open and Alex is standing there, shirtless, in a pair of shorts that sit low on his hips. My mouth goes dry. I'm frozen in my spot.

Mary Kate pushes her way through and jumps onto a bed. I jump onto the same bed. The boys are sitting on the other. Matt hits Alex in the head with a pillow and Alex grabs another pillow and starts attacking Matt. Mary Kate and I laugh and try to muffle it with our hands, the boys are dreamy. Pillows fly across the room, hit us, and knock us over. We pick them up and throw them back. It escalates quickly. All four of us are standing on the beds and jumping and throwing pillows back and forth. How we haven't woken up the entire hotel floor is beyond me. 

We are laughing so hard our stomachs hurt. We decide to watch another movie and flip through options on the TV. Mary Kate is laying down on her stomach next to Matt happy as a clam. I'm laying down next to Alex. I'm trying so hard to act normal, to act like it's not a big deal. I'm hyper focused on the bare skin of his side and how when he moves the muscles bunch under his skin in different ways. What movie are we watching? I have no idea. 

Around midnight Mary Kate and I make our way back to our room. We are both snuggled in our beds and ready to fall asleep.

"I love Matt." Oh, how she falls so easily.

I think I love Alex.