SummerHill Secrets, Volume 2 (34 page)

“You’ve gotta be kidding—like what?”

We put our heads together. “He’s nuts about Rachel.”

“No way.”

“It’s true.” I went on to explain that he’d stopped alliterating around her. “I tried to get him going twice this morning. No response. Couldn’t even get him interested.”

Chelsea shifted her pile of books from one arm to the other. “How do you know he won’t start again?”

“That’s what I wanna check out,” I said. “At lunch, let’s see what happens.”

“Great idea.” She was grinning now. “I’ll invite Jon to sit with us. We’ll throw around some phrases…see if he plays along. Maybe he’ll want to show off for her.”

“It’s genius!”

She nodded. “For once, Merry, you’re right about that.”

Genius?
I thought. What a wondrous word.

Rachel was curious about everything, it seemed. She thumbed through my three-ring binder, reading all my homework assignments before each class. She was also quite taken with some of the posters of actors or music stars plastered inside various lockers. Other things, too. Like tiny vanity mirrors and shelves for hairbrushes and makeup supplies.

“A school locker’s like a mini home away from home,” I tried to explain. “A pit stop…to check your face. You know, to see how you look before rushing off to class.”

“Pit stop,” she mumbled, trying on the word for size, I suppose. “Tell me about home free?”

I was surprised she’d remembered to ask. I did my best to describe a baseball game, with all three bases loaded.

“Oh jah, Amish play baseball all the time,” she said. “I know…you must be talkin’ about stealing home?”

“Well, sorta, only it’s a little different when you say you’re ‘home free.’ It really means that you’re almost where you want to be. You’ve almost accomplished what you set out to do.”

“Ach yes, Merry. I think I see what you mean.” Then she giggled.

I wasn’t sure if she caught the connection between the ball game and the phrase. But she was having a good time here at school. A good morning, at least.

It would be entertaining to see what happened at lunch—that is, if Jon joined us. I wanted to start thinking in terms of alliterating most everything. Warming up in my mind, so to speak.

I wished that Lissa and Ashley knew about lunch with Jon. They needed the most work on speaking alliteration-eze off the top of their heads. Still, I hoped that maybe today could be a practice round…or better. Since Rachel would be eating at our table, maybe her presence would distract Jon. Again.

Suddenly I wondered what Levi would think of all this alliterating madness. Probably he’d find our mind-bending game silly, though harmless enough.

Thinking about Levi, I decided to write a letter later today, after I returned Rachel safely home. It had been several weeks since I’d taken time to write. Besides, I owed my Mennonite friend a letter.

Switching mental gears from Jon to Levi had nothing to do with Rachel’s coming to school today. Nothing to do with Jon’s obvious interest in her, either.

Nope. I had plenty of friends. Besides, why
should
I put all my eggs in one fickle Klein basket?

Everything happened too fast.

Chelsea, Lissa, and Ashley had seated themselves on one side of the lunchroom table. Rachel and I sat on the other side.

I was trying to explain our word game to Rachel, who nodded and smiled, keeping her comments few and far between.

“You just use the same beginning sound in as many words in a row as you can. Sometimes, we’ve even put a twenty-second time limit on it…or less.”

“Oh” was all she said. She seemed distracted by the cafeteria hubbub taking place around us.

We—Chelsea, Lissa, Ashley, and I—began warming up, getting ready to catch the Wizard off guard, when he waltzed over.

“Sorry so late,” he said, carrying a lunch tray.

I didn’t have to guess where he’d want to sit. Politely, he asked if Rachel would mind if he sat next to her. She blushed sweetly and scooted over, closer to me.

Jon took her response as a “yes” and proceeded to set down his tray.

Chelsea got things going. “Ever wonder what words work with all
w
’s?” she asked, looking directly at Jon.

He turned to Rachel, ignoring the bait from Chelsea. “She talks funny, doesn’t she?”

Smiling, Rachel said nothing.

I spoke up. “I say we have a practice round of alliteration-eze. And while we’re at it, why wait till next week for the championship?”

“Go for it,” Chelsea cheered.

“And may the best woman win,” offered Lissa. A little weak with only two
w
’s in a row, but she was trying.

As for Ashley, it appeared that she was more taken with trying to decide if Jon was falling for Rachel than attempting to alliterate sentences. Fine with me. From what I’d observed, Jon wasn’t about to make a big verbal impression on any of us. Maybe it was because Rachel was keeping mum, following my orders. After all, how easy
was
it to converse with someone who remained silent?

Or perhaps Rachel’s demure demeanor had locked up the Wizard’s brain. (The silent woman appeal does it every time!)

Whatever it was about Rachel Zook, Jon couldn’t—or wouldn’t—attempt to alliterate. At least not today.

It was more than frustrating. It was exasperating, and Chelsea told him so. “Look, Jon, we’ve been preparing for this word game thing of yours. Are you gonna play or not?”

He shrugged and glanced down at his plate. For the longest time, he stared at it. Then when I was sure he was going to cut loose with a yard-long sentence of silliness, he shook his head. “I’m bored with it, I guess.”

“Bored?” Ashley piped up. “How could anybody be bored?”

I clapped for her. “Three
b
’s in a row—even one inside a word. Not bad.”

“Atta girl, Ashley,” cheered Chelsea. But it was Jon we were bribing—tempting him to play.

The Wizard was caught up in his new interest, however. “Would you like some ice cream?” he asked Rachel.

“Thank you,” she said simply. And he was up and out of his seat.

I shook my head. “A marvelous mind is such a sad thing to waste.”

“Meaning?” Lissa asked, reaching for a straw.

“The Wizard went a-walking,” Chelsea said, giggling.

“He’s horribly hard to handle,” I spouted off. “Has to have his handicap.” I wanted to say he’d forfeited his chances at the championship, but it wasn’t really up to me to decide these things.

When he returned with the ice cream, he asked Rachel about her Anabaptist beliefs. Probably because she was wearing her veiling.

I wondered if now was a good time to set him straight—reveal all—and say she was Amish. Surveying the situation, I noticed that Rachel was particularly enjoying the attention. It would be heartless of me to pull the plug on their budding friendship.

Still, I wondered how Matthew Yoder might feel if he could see the two of them together. I didn’t have to guess, really. Watching Jon talk to Rachel with such animation—was it admiration, too?—seeing her nod or gesture bashfully, without saying much of anything, I knew exactly how Rachel’s young Amish beau would feel.

Truly horrible!

“I told Jonathan Klein the truth after school,” Rachel said as we hurried upstairs to my bedroom.

“About being Amish?”

“Jah.” She smiled broadly. “Honestly, it feels awful gut to talk normal again.”

“To say what you’re used to saying? The
way
you’re used to saying it?”

“For sure and for certain,” said Rachel.

We scurried into my bedroom, and I closed the door. The conversation was headed in a very secretive direction.

“How did Jon react when you told him?” I had to know.

“He said he wasn’t all that surprised. That I had a softspoken way ’bout me. Somethin’ he admires in a woman.”

A
woman
? Give me a break!

“And he wanted to know if he could come see me sometime.”

I was as silent as if the air had been punched out of me. “Did you say he could?” I asked, reaching for a bed pillow and hugging it.

She shook her head. “I didn’t know what to tell him, really. If Matthew gets wind of this…”

I was hesitant to ask. “Does Matthew love you, Rachel?”

“Jah, I think so.” She paused for a moment before going on. “He’s talking marriage someday, but I’m not for sure ’bout my feelin’s for him, ya see. He’s gonna be baptized come next fall, and I…I…Well, I don’t know yet what I want.”

“I think
I
know,” I said softly.

We were quiet for a time. She, sitting across from me on my desk chair, still wearing my sweater and jeans, and I, crossing my legs under me as I sat on the bed. The silence became awkward, yet I did not burst out with any more questions.

Outside, the wind blew hard against the windows, and the crows in the field across the road called back and forth.

At last, Rachel spoke. “Today was the first I’d ever let myself look from the outside in—from outside my Plain world, all the way back to the way Mam and Dat raised me.”

“I thought so,” I whispered. “You wanted to experience a taste of modern life. Right?”

She sighed a long, deep breath. “I’ve lived a life separated from the world all these years. I guess I just hafta see it for myself.”

“How does Jon Klein fit into all this?” I ventured, half scared of what she might say.

Her face burst into a radiant smile. “To be honest with ya, Levi got all this a-stirred up in me,” she admitted. “I never woulda thought of such a thing as doin’ what I did today—goin’ to public school and all. Or becoming friends with an English boy.”

“Levi’s leaving SummerHill has changed things for lots of people,” I said.

“Jah, it has.” Again she was silent. She got up and went to stand in front of my dresser mirror, reached for the brush, and began to undo her hair, making it Plain again. “Ya know what, Merry? I’m awful glad Levi did it. It was just what I needed to get me thinkin’ ’bout my own future.”

“So you might decide to go modern, then?”

She turned suddenly. “What do ya think it would be like, Merry?”

“To leave your church and your family?” I couldn’t even begin to comprehend what she was saying.

“No…to follow your heart like Joseph Lapp did.”

So it was the wayward Joseph—his forbidden photograph—that was at the core of Rachel’s restlessness.

“I don’t know, really.” I wondered what I could say to make things right for her. “Sometimes a girl has to follow her heart, as long as her desires line up with what God has planned.”

“Oh, divine providence? Jah, I know what you’re sayin’.”

But I wasn’t so sure she did. The strict Amish view of such things didn’t always jibe with basic Christian beliefs.

“Getting back to Jon,” I said a bit hesitantly. “Does he know you’re my neighbor?”

She nodded, smiling. “
Now
he does.”

“So you must’ve told him everything.”

“Jah, even about the pictures in the hayloft. He’d like to have one—when they’re developed, that is.”

I gasped. She’d fallen hard and fast. And now Jon Klein was going to be the recipient of my handiwork. Oh, what was this world coming to?

Totally stressed, I headed for my walk-in closet, where I kept snack food in several shoe boxes. Rachel’s eyes widened when I offered her some raisins and other goodies.

“Denki,” she said, taking some thin pretzel sticks.

“If you keep talking about your plans, I’m afraid I’ll eat up my whole stash of munchies,” I told her.

“Ach, how come?”

I explained that stress made me hungry. “Always has.”

“Oh.” She nibbled on the snacks. But it was the faraway look in her eyes that worried the socks off me.

Rachel talked me into letting her wear my best jeans home, under her Amish dress. I must’ve been out of my mind to let her, but she pleaded so desperately. How could I not grant her yet another wish?

After she left for home, I sat down with my best unlined stationery and penned a letter to Levi. Partway into it, I was struck with the notion that maybe he could help guide me through this thing with Rachel. Of course, I had to be cautious how I worded this section of the letter. I didn’t want the guy rushing home from college to confront his sister.

Monday, February 23

Dear Levi,

Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve written. Things are so hectic here, beginning with homework. Another thing: My dad’s been sick this past week. His doctor ordered him to stay home, but he was so bored he tried to help me with my schoolwork non-stop. Having my fifty-year-old dad hover over my every algebra problem, well…it was difficult, to say the least.

I was wondering. What would you say to an Amish young person to encourage them in their beliefs? That is, if the person seemed too eager to experience the outside world. Would you tell him or her to pray about it? To follow his or her heart? What? I need your advice, Levi. I’m concerned for someone. Will you pray that I’ll do the right thing?

Oh, I almost forgot. Last Saturday, I baby-sat for your little niece, Mary. What a doll! I’m delighted that your brother and sister-in-law were the ones who adopted her. I can see that God definitely had His hand in Mary’s future.