Rachel Takes the Lead Read online

  I went up the walkway, pressed the doorbell, and heard chimes ringing inside the house. An attractive woman with a pleasant face opened the door. She looked a little like Paige, only friendlier. From somewhere in the house, violin music was playing.

  “Hello. May I help you?”

  Before I could even introduce myself, she spotted Fifi. “Oh, my! Where did you find her?”

  “On a street, near where I live on Patton Drive. She wasn’t wearing a collar so I brought her home to my house for a few days.”

  “Come in, dear. What’s your name?”

  “Rachel Levin-Lopez.”

  She turned in the direction of a curved staircase. “Paige! Could you come down here, please? Have a seat, Rachel. Would you like something to drink? Lemonade, a soda?”

  “No, thank you.” I didn’t want to sit down either. I wanted to be out of there as fast as possible, even though it meant leaving my darling Fifi behind.

  A few seconds later, Paige came down the fancy stairs with a violin in her hand.

  “Mom, I’m practicing!” she complained. Then, when she saw me, her eyebrows went up.

  I’m pretty sure my mouth was already half-open in surprise as I realized where that pretty music had come from. “You play the violin?”

  She indicated the instrument in her hand. “Well, duh. What are you doing here?”

  Either of my mothers would have given me a very stern look if I’d spoken like that to anyone, but I guessed Mrs. Nakamura must be used to her daughter’s rude behavior.

  “She found Fluffy!” Mrs. Nakamura exclaimed.

  Fluffy. Fifi could sound like Fluffy to a dog. No wonder she’d responded so quickly to her new name.

  Fifi, Fluffy—whatever her name was, didn’t run to Paige like she always ran to me. She just stood there. Paige looked at the dog.

  “Oh.” There were no big, bright smiles, no shrieks of joy. Paige seemed to be processing all this.

  “I was just wondering today why I hadn’t seen her around,” Mrs. Nakamura said.

  I figured in a house this size, a dog could disappear for a week and people wouldn’t notice.

  “Why didn’t you tell us she was missing?” her mother asked Paige.

  “Um… I guess I forgot about her.”

  “Paige! How could you forget about your pet? You were supposed to be taking care of her.”

  “I know, I know,” Paige said. “But she was getting to be such a pain. I’d be on the phone and she’d be trying to jump on my lap. And she kept getting into my bed and licking me. Yuck. And then she’d need to go outside and I wasn’t in the mood for a walk. And she chewed my favorite shoes.”

  Her tone was upsetting me so much, I had to speak up. “Did you even bother to feed her?”

  “I didn’t have to. Lily did.”

  Who was Lily, I wondered. A sister? Probably a maid. It didn’t matter. Clearly, Paige hadn’t been very attentive.

  Mrs. Nakamura was frowning now. “Paige, when your cousin’s dog had puppies you begged us for one.”

  “I just thought she was cute.”

  Like a handbag, I thought. Or a new headband. An accessory.

  Now Paige’s mother looked seriously annoyed. “Paige, you do not deserve this dog. And if you can’t take care of Fluffy, we should give her to someone who can.”

  Paige just shrugged. It was an expert “I don’t care” shrug.

  “All right, then.” Mrs. Nakamura turned to me. “Rachel, would you like to keep Fluffy?”

  Fifi, I corrected her silently. But I only said, “Yes, please.”

  “Shouldn’t she have to pay me for the dog?” Paige asked.

  Finally, Mrs. Nakamura gave her daughter the kind of look any mother would give a child who’d said something rude and horrible. “No.”

  A few moments and a hurried phone call from Paige’s mother to Mom later, I was walking out the door with Fifi scampering by my side. I’d barely turned off the walkway when I heard a voice behind me.

  “Wait a minute,” Paige ordered.

  I turned to see her holding a dog collar in her hand. It was a neon purple color with the name Fluffy in rhinestones on it.

  “Did you make this for her?” I asked.

  She gave me one of those “you’re an idiot” looks, and said, “I ordered it online.”

  “Oh.” It seemed to me that she must have cared about the dog, to buy something like this with her name on it. And I couldn’t stop thinking about something else too.

  “You play the violin really well,” I said. “I thought it was coming from a music system.”

  She didn’t thank me for the compliment. “Listen,” she said sharply. “Don’t tell anyone about that, okay?”

  I was on the verge of asking “why not” when it hit me. Maybe around her crowd, playing the violin was as nerdy as playing chess.

  “Okay,” I replied.

  “And don’t tell anyone I gave you the dog.”

  Like it had been a gift! But I just nodded and repeated, “Okay.”

  And without another word, she turned and headed back into her house.

  I looked at the collar in my hand. In my opinion, it was ugly. I bent down and showed it to Fifi. She turned her head. I had a feeling she’d probably hated wearing it. Maybe I could contribute it to a rummage sale someday.

  “You’ll never wear it again,” I assured her. And as I headed for home with my new dog, I decided that this had to be the very best day of my life.

  Dear Diary,

  I wrote a long entry last night, because a lot happened yesterday. I gave a speech for the first time in my life, I almost lost my precious Fifi, and then I found out Fifi was mine for keeps. She is now officially Fifi Levin-Lopez.

  Important stuff happened today, Tuesday, too, but I don’t want to just report it. I want to think about it. What does it all mean?

  I started this diary on January 1. When I look back now at what I wrote then, every day sounded pretty much the same. I wrote about the grades I got on essays and tests, about books I read and TV shows I watched. I wrote about ideas for poems and stories, but I never got around to actually writing them. Pretty boring stuff.

  After I met Ellie and Alyssa and Kiara, my entries became more interesting. First, because of the spyglass. I’d never experienced anything magical before, and it was very exciting seeing these visions and trying to figure out what they meant. And then there was the friendship. I’d never had that before in my life either, not really. I’d always been a loner, and I thought I would always be a loner. Because I’m different, and I didn’t think I fit in with other people. But getting to know three other girls who are also different, in different ways, well, that was pretty exciting too.

  Things are changing a lot for me. It seems like I’m doing or thinking something new or different every day. When I met my friends this morning before school, they already knew about Fifi. I’d texted them the minute I got home from Paige’s. This was something new for me, sharing my news with people besides Mom and Mami, and knowing there were people other than Mom and Mami who were really interested in me.

  Going to classes was different today. I used to keep my head down and I tried not to be noticed. And I wasn’t. But today, people said hi to me, and even wanted to talk about my presentation at the assembly yesterday. I kind of knew most of them because they’ve been in my classes, but they were never quite real to me. They were just faces and names. (Actually, since I never looked people in the eye, I didn’t really know the faces all that well.) But some of them seemed nice.

  I thought it would be weird today, seeing Paige in homeroom. Not just because it was election day. Even though more people know who I am, and my speech was better than hers, she’s still the most popular girl in school, so I knew she’d win. But more because of Fifi, her old Fluffy, and what happened yesterday. I still can’t believe you could have a dog like that in your life and not want to take care of her.

  Paige didn’t say anything to me. She just hung ar
ound with her clique like she always does, and that was fine with me. But I found myself glancing in her direction every now and then. Now, knowing that she played the violin beautifully, I felt like she had become even more of a mystery to me.

  I talked to David Tolliver a little. I wanted to thank him for supporting me. Also, I’d kind of like to get to know him better. He’s different too—the way he talks, and dresses, and acts. I like his differences. Too bad he’s going to transfer schools. But he said it was just a possibility, so maybe he’ll stay.

  We voted for seventh-grade student representative after the morning announcements. We had real, official-looking ballots to fill out, and Mr. Greene told us to hold them so no one could see whose name we were checking. Then he collected them and told us he’d take them to the office after homeroom, where they’d be tallied by the end of the day.

  At lunch, I sat with Ellie and Alyssa and Kiara, as usual. But this time, when people passed us, some of them said hello. Alyssa wasn’t very friendly to them, and Kiara looked suspicious, but Ellie didn’t mind as long as they weren’t in the cool crowd. I wonder sometimes if everyone in the popular crowd is as terrible as she thinks they are. Maybe some of them are different, in good ways. Like Mike Twersky. Not that I want to become popular or anything like that. I just feel like I’m more interested in finding out about people than I used to be.

  In homeroom Mr. Greene told us the winner of the election would be announced by the last period, and it was. All day I was so sure that Paige would win that I wasn’t even excited at all. So when the intercom came on and Mr. Lowell’s voice said, “Good afternoon, East Lakeside, and your attention, please. This is a special notice for seventh graders. The results have been tallied, and I’m pleased to announce that your new class representative is Rachel Levin-Lopez,” I was stunned. I just sat there, I didn’t know what to do or say. Actually, all I really had to say was “thank you” a hundred times to people who congratulated me, and that wasn’t hard.

  So much of my life is suddenly so different compared to what it was a short time ago. I’m becoming independent, and I honestly believe Mom and Mami are going to be okay with this. I think I’m really getting over my shyness. When I think about going to committee meetings with teachers, I get nervous, but I think I can handle it. Ellie and Alyssa and Kiara will still be my best friends, but I might get to know more people too. Like David Tolliver. And one of these days, I’m going to stop just thinking about ideas for poems and actually write one.

  I’m changing, that’s for sure. And as I change, I have to wonder, will I still be me? I don’t think I’m a different person today than I was two months ago, for instance. I feel like I’m still me. So maybe what this all means is that I’m getting to be even more me! Does that make any sense at all?

  Yes, I think it does. Because if it didn’t make sense, I wouldn’t be feeling this way. Like I’m becoming the person I’m meant to be.

  I think I’m going to like being her.