Where the Sunflowers Grow Ch. 2

Chapter Two
Scouting

The next day was like every other Tuesday. Rachel was driven to school by Jenny’s mom. Jenny’s parents always woke up at the crack of dawn, so when Mrs. Samson offered to drive her to school in the mornings, Rachel wasn’t surprised, and gladly accepted the offer.
“Thanks for the ride,” Rachel thanked her friend's mom.
“It’s my pleasure,” Mrs. Samson said, smiling. “Have a good day girls.”
“Bye mom,” Jenny said, and jumped out of the car, slamming the door behind her. Rachel slammed the door right after.
They headed towards North Wood High and entered silently. Rachel heard her heels clicking against the tiled flooring and flinched from the annoying sound.
“You're not talking much. You met someone didn’t you?” Jenny looked at Rachel and grinned.
“No. How did you come up with that one?” Rachel raised an eyebrow, wondering how her unusually quiet disposition meant that another guy had come into her life. Another is the key word.
“Oh, well, you're acting different. Quiet.”
“Really? I hadn’t noticed,” Rachel scowled sarcastically.
“What's wrong with you?” Jenny shook her head angrily and started speeding up her pace, moving past Rachel.
“Jenny, wait. I’m just not in a great mood.”
“Really? I hadn’t noticed,” Jenny mocked.
“Seriously, I haven’t been in a good mood lately. It’s just more guy issues. You know me. I go through guys like I do milk duds. And I love milk duds.”
Jenny smirked, “Yeah, I know.”
“But, on the bright side, I met someone for you. His name is Jake and he’s really cute. He’s a junior too.”
“What’s wrong with him?”
“What do you mean?” Rachel shifted her backpack. They were reaching the stairs, and
her backpack was starting to feel extremely heavy. She got a better grip on the straps before she started climbing up the steps.
Jenny sighed and stopped for a second. She placed her hands on her hips and looked Rachel directly in the eyes. “I know you too well. You wouldn’t just pass up a cute, new boy for any reason. And he’s a junior no less!”
“Not my type,” Rachel said simply.
“What is your type? You pass up guys so easily. You never give them a chance.”
“Hey, don’t get on my back about this. I already told Jake that I was going to introduce you guys. See what a great friend I am?”
“No you didn’t!” Jenny exclaimed.
“Yes, I sure did.”
“I look like crap today,” Jenny panicked and ran her fingers through her perfectly straight, brown hair. Rachel rolled her eyes.
“Shut up. You have six hours to get prepared. You’ll meet him on the bus today. You might as well start preparing now. Your eyeliner is running.”
“Oh my gosh!” She ran off to the bathroom to fix her make-up. Rachel knew that Jenny would be fixing her make-up at least five more times before meeting Blonde Boy. Her friend was way too nervous about guys. Or maybe, Rachel wasn’t nervous enough.
She walked up another flight of steps and rushed to her locker. She wanted to find her group. Her group was made up of Alex, Brianna, Cathy, Debbie, and Jenny. As soon as she twisted her locker combination, she flung open her locker, and tossed her backpack in. Then, she swiftly made her way to the bench that her friends sat at. When they saw her, Brianna made a silly face and Rachel returned it with a frown. The rest of the group waved and called out her name. Everyone was there except Jenny. She was probably still in the bathroom freaking out about her eyeliner.
“Hey Rachel!”
“What's up guys?” Rachel asked, nearing the bench.
“The florescent lighting makes me look horrible as usual,” Alex commented and looked up at the ceiling. Rachel was so sick of Alex constantly acting so pessimistic, so she rolled her eyes, and ignored her.
“Well then,” Rachel started, “Are we going to do our usual scouting?”
“Yeah. We always do,” Brianna said with a smile. Cathy and Debbie nodded their heads yes. The group scooted over on the bench and Rachel sat down.
They began to scout.
Scouting consisted of one thing and one thing only. Boys were the top priority. Each girl in the group would find a guy and everyone else would have to rate the boy on a scale of 1 to 10—1 being the worst looking and 10 being the best looking. It was often times very easy, although every now and then Alex and Brianna would end up arguing about their positions. One would think that the guy was hot and the other would think he was not. Rachel had learned to tune them out since they argued so often anyway.
“Oh wow, he's an 8,” Cathy whispered to her friends and secretively pointed her finger in the direction of a pretty good looking senior.
“No way. He's a 9,” Brianna smiled, staring at the senior.
“Yeah. He's a 9,” Rachel agreed. Alex and Debbie nodded their heads too.
The senior had an amazingly built body and black hair with intense blue eyes. The gears in Rachel’s head immediately started turning. She got caught up into a fantasy of her and Built Senior Boy making out on a hill at 10:00 at night. The stars above them lit up their world, and the moon was full and bright as well. Even through the darkness, Rachel could still see his blue eyes.
“What about him?” Alex asked, nudging her head in the direction of a blonde haired boy. “Who is he? I've never noticed him before.”
“I would rate him a 7,” Debbie said, looking at the boy.
“Yeah, a 7 or maybe even an 8,” Alex finally decided upon.
“What grade is he in?”
Cathy decided to put in her best judgment, “I'm thinking he's a junior, but he could always be a senior.”
While her friends were talking about the next guy they scouted, Rachel was still in her fantasy world. At the moment, she and Built Senior Boy were rolling down the hill on top of each other. They were laughing in between kissing each other. It was so romantic.
“Rachel, what do you think?” Debbie wanted to know.
Rachel snapped out of her thoughts and looked bewildered. “What?”
“Look over there. What would you rate him?”
Rachel looked to where her friends were staring. She saw a bunch of obnoxious sophomore boys who she would never consider, and then she saw Blonde Boy. Why was he in the sophomore hallway? He seemed to be just standing there, in the middle of the hall.
“That's Jake!” Rachel exclaimed, and her friends looked at her confusedly.
“How do you know his name?” Brianna asked.
“Hold on a second,” Rachel told her, got off the bench, and walked over to Blonde Boy. When he saw her coming, he blushed and smiled.
“Hey,” he said, scratching his head uncomfortably. He looked very nervous.
“What brings you to the sophomore section?”
“Oh, umm...I don't know.”
“Okay, well I want you to meet Jenny. She'll be on the bus after school today. Will you be on?” Rachel asked him. She realized that he was in fact, very cute. He was wearing dark jeans and a green striped shirt that made his eyes stand out. He was very clean cut, and every time he smiled his dimples would show.
“Yeah,” he replied.
“Awesome. I'll tell her,” Rachel started to walk away. “I'll see-ya on the bus too.”
“Cool. Bye,” Blonde Boy turned around too and walked back to where he belonged: the junior section.
When Rachel returned to the bench, Jenny was there smiling psychotically. All of her friends were too. Rachel knew they wanted an explanation, but she was pretty sure that Jenny already knew who it was.
“That was Jake. He was the guy I think Jenny should meet.”
“That was him?” Jenny looked excited.
“Yes, that was him,” Rachel said proudly. She was glad that she had done a good job picking a target for Jenny. They seemed very good for each other, even if they hadn't met yet.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you! He is absolutely amazing looking. Is he nice though? Is his personality good? Or does it suck? Please don't tell me he has a horrible personality. But don't lie of course. I mean--” Jenny babbled.
Rachel eventually interrupted, “Your welcome.”
“But really. Is his personality at least decent?”
“Yes! It's fine,” Rachel huffed, getting annoyed.
“Good.”
“You've got to find a guy for me too Rachel,” Alex whined.
“Yeah, same here,” Brianna agreed.
Cathy already had a boyfriend so she didn't say anything, and for some reason Debbie didn't want a boyfriend at the moment. Rachel thought that she was weird, but didn't push too much. When Debbie decided something, no one could convince her otherwise. Besides, she seemed to be happy without a guy in her life, which was probably a good thing.
“You know me. I'll always try, but don't get your hopes up. It's difficult to find a good match for everyone,” Rachel explained.
Brianna understood. “Yeah, we know.”
Alex grumbled something and turned the other direction. She drifted off into one of her many pointless thoughts. No one knew what Alex thought about when she became spaced out. Whenever anyone asked, Alex replied the same as always, “Nothing.”
A moment later, the five minute bell rang, signaling the students of North Wood to report to their first hours. Alex and Brianna left first, following Debbie and Cathy. Jenny stayed on the bench for a second longer. Rachel stayed too.
“So,” Rachel tried to come up with a conversation.
“I have to ask,” Jenny interjected.
“Yeah?”
“Why do you try to fix everyone up with a date, or a boyfriend, or at the very least, a target? And then you don't even try to fix yourself up with anybody?”
“Well,” Rachel knew what the reason was. She had thought about it many times before, although she had never really told anybody. She never had been asked until now. “I'm just too picky. There's always something wrong with the guy. Or if I really like a guy, I make a fool out of myself before anything actually happens.”
“Oh,” Jenny frowned. “Don't give up.”
“Did I ever say I was?”
“No, but-”
“I'm Rachel. And Rachel doesn't give up. Don't worry about me. I will find my chance for love someday,” Rachel said dramatically and Jenny laughed. Looking at the clock on the wall, Rachel added, “I should probably get going. I'll see-ya later.”
“Yeah, later.”
The two friends both got off the bench and went to their first hours. Jenny's head was full of bubbling excitement because of the wonderful opportunity that she could have with Blonde Boy. Rachel's head though, was filled with confusing questions. Who would be her next crush? How would Algebra Buddy react when he saw her again? When would she find love? When would love find her? Rachel craved attention. She needed it. The fact that she wasn't getting any, tortured her mind for the rest of the day.