The Rise of Rachel Stark (8 page)

●●●

At 2 p.m. the next day, Friday,
the Chante Lions took the field for their first football game of
the season. The opponent was the Ashland Tigers, one of the Chante
Valley Conference teams that most people thought might be able to
challenge Chante for the conference championship.

The Tigers won the coin toss and
opted to go on defense.

Standing in the end zone waiting
for the kickoff was Rodney Stark. The Tigers had hardly heard of
him and knew little about him. All they knew was that he was a
sophomore and brand new to the Chante team. So they weren't
particularly worried about him. Had they known more, they might not
have kicked the ball right to him.

Rodney took the kickoff 2 yards
deep in the end zone. He came straight up the middle, broke one
tackle, then another, cut to his left, juked one defender, leaped
over another and streaked untouched down the sideline for a
touchdown.

It was a school record 102-yard
kickoff return for a touchdown.

On Rodney's very first play as a
Chante Lion.

On Chante's second possession,
Rodney weaved his way through defenders for a 33-yard touchdown.
Later in the first quarter, Bull rammed it home from 8 yards out.
In the second quarter, Sheldon threw two touchdown passes to Jimmy.
By halftime the score was Chante, 35, Ashland, 0.

Chante's second- and third-string
players, including running backs Danny Jackson and Oscar Olney,
played most of the second half. Even so, the final score was 56 to
0.

Coach O'Connor awarded the game
ball to Rodney during the coach's post-game talk to the team in the
locker room.

The coach referred to Rodney as
"102 yards and a cloud of dust Stark," a phrase that quickly spread
all over town.

As had become their habit at the
end of most school days, Sheldon, Tabby, Bull and Jimmy escorted
Rachel and Jimmy up to the cemetery.

The football game was replayed on
the way up, but when Sheldon pulled into the cemetery, Rachel asked
him if he would turn off the engine.

"Uh, sure," Sheldon said. He
paused. "What's up?"

Tabby was the first to sense
something was wrong.

"What's the matter, Rachel? Tell
us," she said.

Rachel bit her lower lip, fighting
back the tears.

"I told myself I wasn't going to
cry," she said. "Now look at me."

Jimmy put his arm around
her.

"I'm really sorry, Rache," he
said. "But, honestly, we didn't know you were an Ashland
fan."

The explosion of laughter blew the
tension in the car to smithereens, and Rachel was laughing the
loudest.

"Oh, I love you guys – no, I love
y'all so much. I can't tell you." She wiped her eyes, but they were
tears of laughter.

"All right. I'm OK now," she said.
"I'm going to get serious again in a minute, and I'm not going to
cry this time.

"I was going to apologize for
being such a downer right after you had such a great game today,
but then I realized that with friends like you, apologies aren't
necessary."

"Absolutely not," Bull
said.

"The thing is, I need your help. I
feel like I'm a crybaby and a tattletale, but I need you to tell me
what I should do."

Then she told them the whole
story. The snubs, the taunts, the giggles, the pointing, the put
downs, the angry stares, the thefts, and then yesterday, soaking
her clothes in the toilet and throwing them on the floor of her
locker.

"Good lord almighty," Sheldon
said. "I can't believe it."

"Me neither," Jimmy
said.

"You know, I kind of thought
something like that might be going on," Tabby said. "But I didn't
know … I mean, there are some real jerks in this school, but
usually if you just ignore them they'll go away. Because all they
want is attention."

"And you've had some of this too,
haven't you, Rodney?" Bull said.

"Well, with a couple of guys,
yeah," Rodney said. "But nothing I can't handle. Most guys have
been really nice."

"But this is serious stuff," Tabby
said. "I mean, stealing stuff out of your desk? Throwing your
clothes in the toilet? That's criminal. I mean it. Rache, if I were
you I wouldn't wait. If I were you I would go the principal's
office first thing Monday morning and tell him everything you just
told us. And if you want, I'll go with you as your support person.
This just makes me as angry as hell."

Rachel nodded. "I think you're
right. And I would love it if you came with me. I'm not sure I
could do it alone."

"It makes all of us angry, Rache,"
Bull said. "And if you need character references or something, we
are here for you."

"Can someone explain something to
me?" Sheldon asked. "From everything I heard, Rachel, you knocked
'em dead at the Chanteuse tryouts. I mean, people were crying,
standing ovation, all that. Everybody in school was buzzing about
it, for a week or more. I think they would have elected you student
body president or something. Then all of a sudden things turned
sour. What happened?"

"I'll tell you what happened,"
Tabby said. "I'll tell you exactly what happened. The girls who got
accepted into the Chanteuses, and all of us who already were
members, love Rachel. Actually, I think most of the kids at school
like Rachel. The problem is that the girls who didn't get accepted
into Chanteuses hate her. They're blaming her for their own
failures. There's probably what, 10 or 15 people, out of maybe 200
kids in high school, who are causing all the problems for Rachel. I
think I could name most of them. Really."

"That's pretty much what happened
to Rodney with Danny Jackson and Oscar Olney," Bull said. "Rodney
beat them out for the first-string running back spot. And now
they're trying to get revenge. Or at least they were. Which kind of
makes me think. I'll probably get into big trouble for saying this,
but sometimes I think girls are bigger bullies than boys. You know
what I mean?"

"I don't think you'll get into
trouble for saying that," Tabby said. "I think you could make a
very strong case for that."

"Well, I agree with you, Tabby,"
Rachel said. "But then I'm not exactly an unbiased
observer."

"You know what it is, don't you?
Everybody?" Jimmy asked. "You know what we're dealing with, don't
you?

"The human pecking
order.

"Yeah, there are some jerks in
this school. But they don't pick on Tabby, because her dad is a
banker and has been the mayor of Chante for years. They don't pick
on Sheldon, because his dad owns the Ford dealership in town. Heck,
they don't pick on anybody who has money, or whose parents have
money. They don't pick on me anymore, because I'm 6 foot 4 and a
big football jock. They don't pick on Bull anymore, because he's 6
foot 2 and weighs 240 pounds and is a big football jock. And after
what Rodney did on the football field today, I don't think anybody
is going to pick on him anymore.

"So who do they pick on? They pick
on poor people. How do I know this? Because I see it every day,
yes. But also because I've been there. And Bull has been
there.

"I had an alcoholic mother. She
drank herself to death because she just couldn't face life without
my father, who was blown up by a land mine in the Korean War. We
never had any money, because my mother spent it all on booze. So
people called me names. And they told me to my face that my mother
was a drunk, a slut and a whore. And it got to me so bad that I
could hardly talk. Literally. I stuttered for years.

"And Bull committed the sin of
being born an Indian. Having brown skin is bad enough, but don't
you know that all Indians are drunks and lazy wards of the
government, just waiting for their monthly handout so they can
drink, get in fights and kill each other? Let's pick on them. Let's
kick them while they're down.

"So why do they pick on the poor?
Because they think the poor are lesser beings. Because it makes
them feel superior. Because they need somebody to blame for
everything, and the poor are easy targets.

"So yeah, Rache, we're with you.
We are so with you."

●●●

At 8:30 Monday morning, Rachel and
Tabby walked into the principal's office.

"Good morning, Mrs. Wright,"
Rachel said to the principal's secretary, who was seated at her
desk.

Mrs. Wright looked up at
them.

"Good morning, girls. Hi, Tabby,"
she said. Tabby nodded.

"Is Mr. Peterson in?" Rachel
asked. "We'd like to talk with him for a minute."

"He's at a faculty meeting," Mrs.
Wright said. "But he should be here soon. Have a seat."

"Have you met Rachel Stark, Mrs.
Wright?" Tabby asked.

"Oh, no, I haven't," the woman
said. "Glad to meet you. Are you related to Rodney Stark by any
chance?"

"He's my brother."

"Oh, my. Well, he is some football
player."

"Yes, he is. I'm very proud of
him."

"As you should be. And Sheldon is
some football player too, Tabby."

"Yes, he is. I'm very proud of
him."

They all laughed.

"Well, have a seat, girls. Mr.
Peterson will be here shortly."

Mrs. Wright went back to her work.
Rachel and Tabby sat down on the vinyl couch near the door to the
hallway.

"I hate waiting," Rachel
whispered. "I get cold feet very easily."

"Is that why your leg is bouncing
up and down?" Tabby asked.

The girls giggled.

"Believe it or not," Tabby said,
"this is my first time in the principal's office."

"You're kidding."

"Not kidding."

"You must be a really good
girl."

"No, I just never get
caught."

The girls giggled.

"Me too," Rachel said.

"You too what?"

"This is my first time in the
principal's office." Rachel paused. "How come when you say that, it
almost feels like you're saying, 'This is my first time in
detention'?"

"Yeah, or, 'This is my first time
in a police lineup'."

The girls giggled.

The next thing they heard was Mr.
Peterson's booming voice.

"Good morning! Are you girls
waiting to see anyone in particular?"

"Yes sir, you," Rachel
said.

He laughed.

"Well, come on in."

The girls followed Mr. Peterson
into his office.

"Have a seat," he said. He stood
behind his huge walnut desk.

"Now, Tabby I know. But I haven't
had the pleasure of meeting this young lady."

"I'm Rachel Stark."

He reached across his desk and
shook hands with Rachel.

"Rodney's sister?"

"Yes, sir."

"Wow. Where did that guy learn to
play football like that?"

"I don't know," Rachel said.
"Guess it just comes naturally."

"Exactly. The moves he makes on
that field, you can't coach that. You gotta be born with
it."

"Guess so."

"I also understand, Rachel, that
you have a beautiful singing voice."

"Yes, she does, Mr. Peterson,"
Tabby said. "Unbelievably beautiful."

"That's what Mr. Nelson tells me.
That's wonderful." He leaned back in his chair, put his fingertips
together and said:

"Well, what can I do for you girls
today?"

Rachel took a deep breath, then
told him the whole story. He nodded from time to time as she
talked, but his face displayed no emotion.

When Rachel finished, he leaned
forward and put his hands on his desk.

"And just what is it you would
like me to do?" he asked.

Rachel was floored. It was a
question that came right out of the blue, and she had no idea how
to respond. But Tabby came to her rescue.

"Mr. Peterson," Tabby said, "I'm
with Rachel today because I have personally witnessed some of the
things she is talking about. There are girls in this school who are
trying to make her life miserable. I know that for a fact. I could
give you names, and I will if you want me to. But it seems to me,
and we have talked this over with Sheldon Beasley, Jimmy Blaze and
Bull Evenshot, and they agree, that some of the things that have
been done to Rachel are criminal.

"Stealing, for example, is a
crime. Taking someone's clothes out of their locker and throwing
them in a toilet, if it is not a crime, it should be. And the same
goes for harassment.

"Frankly, Mr. Peterson, I am
shocked that you would ask Rachel what it is she would like you to
do. We came here for help. We thought you would tell us what you –
"

"Now wait a minute, young lady,"
Mr. Peterson said. "Hold on just one minute." He got up and closed
his office door, then sat back down.