The Undecideds (A book I'm writing with my oldest daughter, part 2)

     I posted the first chapter of a book I'm writing with my oldest daughter a couple of weeks ago.  It had hundreds of hits, and a lot of inquiries, so I thought I'd post the second chapter.  Once again this is very rough, and may be a little disjointed.

Chapter 2

The shower calmed her nerves, but her stomach still churned afterward.  Her mother insisted on her looking fairly kept for the special occasion, but Rachel wasn’t one of those girls who minded much what she looked like.  All she cared about was staying righteous and virtuous; a combination of her mother and father’s constant indoctrination.  She allowed her mother to put her hair up, even though she didn’t mind how it would look, or even if it was beautiful.  She just hoped it wouldn’t be time consuming.  She secretly wanted to put off the dreaded first day at a new school as long as she could.  She allowed her father’s angel to choose her outfit.  The sweet angel hummed a happy angelic tune as she joyfully dressed Rachel.  Rachel so wished she could speak with her without having to use her father as a translator.

Fully ready, Rachel yawned and picked up her ball of fur.  He seemed pleased with how she looked.  She smiled in appreciation, but passed no telepathic words to the furry ball of mystery.  There were rarely words between Rachel and her spirit beast.  They shared each other’s feelings, of course, but her spirit beast scared her more than anything else.  He would, ultimately, chose the rest of her life for her and reveal her true inner self.  Rachel was afraid of what secret inner thoughts he would expose to her parents.  She was so unsure of herself.  

Nathan, Rachel’s youngest brother, was just waking up.  He dragged his blanket down the hall towards the kitchen.  His spirit beast was a bouncing ball of furry happiness.  Nathan was a happy boy, too, but he always took a while to wake up.  The beast kept bouncing against his legs as they made their way to the breakfast table.  Finally, it elicited a smile and a laugh from little Nathan, and the two raced the rest of the way to the table.  Rachel envied their relationship.  She wished her and her beast had that much fun together. 

As soon as she had the feelings, she quickly repented.  Be self-loving, she thought.  The words echoed in her mind. No, she shouldn’t love herself.  It might make her turn vain, and then she’d get an unwanted spirit beast.  “Pegasus, angel, unicorn, light ball, or fairy,” she repeated over and over in her head trying to command her ball of fur to evolve into an angel beast.  “Even a manticore,” she thought with a laugh, but then she realized there were almost as many demon manticores as there were angel manticores.  “No, not a manticore,” she said out-loud as she looked at her beast.

“What was that,” her mother asked.

“Nothing,” Rachel said, biting her bottom lip.

                Catching her mother’s attention was the worst thing Rachel could have done at that minute because she suddenly found million last minute touches to do on Rachel before she practically carried her to the car.  Her younger brothers laughed and teased her the whole time, which lead to another ‘be’ lecture from their mother.  Before she knew it, Rachel was at her new school.  And even with all the priming and grooming, she couldn’t have been less ready to be there.

The school’s name was big: The Undecided’s Intermediate School of Arabelle.  Arabelle, was their city’s name.  Rachel stared at it, holding her ball and backpack tight.  Her stomach decided it was suddenly an acrobat; twisting, turning, flipping, and fluttering.

“Are you ready Rachel,” Her mother asked gently.  Usually her voice was overbearingly commanding, but pity was her virtue of choice at this time.  Her mother’s pity did little to help Rachel’s nerves.

Rachel nodded, feeling very small.  How she wished she could be in Elle’s perfect angelic school. It was almost normal to be an angel in Rachel’s community.  She lived in a gated neighborhood designated for those in the Angel Guild’s advisory council and staff.  At least at an angelic school she would know what to expect.  This school could have any number of spirit beasts.  Some could be partially developed.  Some might even hurt her or her beast.

                “Come on, let’s go in together,” her mother offered when she saw the look of trepidation on Rachel’s face.

“No thank you,” Rachel said, immediately.  The last thing she needed was her mother coming in with her.  She could almost hear the name “baby Rachel” ringing through the schoolyard.  “But I appreciate the thought,” she said, quickly as she plastered on a smile.  She looked nervously at her ball of fur.  Be gracious, she thought.  

“Well then, I suggest you head in,” her mother said, after a long moment.  Rachel detected a strain in her mother’s voice as she tried to sound patient, even though she was clearly pressed for time.

Rachel nodded, and slipped out of the car.  She was too nervous to notice she hadn’t kissed her mother goodbye.   Halfway to the building she remembered, so she turned around and waved at her mother.  Her mother smiled and waved, and then drove away. Rachel looked at the school one last time and ran in, holding her breath as if she were jumping into a cold lake.

                The school was crowded, and Rachel’s fear of not knowing anyone was proving to be true.  Nobody she passed looked familiar.  But on the bright side, almost all of them looked frightened.  The second year intermediate students were already picking on the new kids.  They obviously didn’t care about what effect their mean behavior would have on their spirit beasts.  These kids were far different from the kids at her angelic guild’s elementary school. 

Her first class was Herbology.  Good, something she was good at which took a lot of concentration so that she could forget about the butterflies in her stomach.  She quietly took a seat and started looking over the book on her desk.  Some of the kids noticed and gave her dirty looks.  She thought she heard someone whisper, “Goody, goody”.  Students were clumped in different areas; on desks, in corners, and by the chalkboard.  Several looked over in her direction, but no one waved, or smiled.  This was definitely not her friendly angelic elementary school.  She started to hate some of the groups of kids as she could hear their mean judgmental conversations, but she quickly repented when she noticed her spirit beast was paying attention to her feelings.  She dreaded having to be so… perfect.  She took a deep breath and stared ahead.  Just wait for the teacher, She instructed herself.  Be patient.

                The teacher finally entered, saving Rachel from her inner anguish.  All of the students hustled to sit down, timidly fighting over seats.  Rachel kept her head straight ahead until the class was settled.  When everyone had found their seat, she decided to see who she’d be permanently seated next to for the rest of the year.  She looked to her left and felt more relief than she had all day; a recognizable face.  At least she’s seen him before.  Rachel never bothered to make friends with him.  She wasn’t the friend making type, but at least she’d seen this boy before.  Was his name John?  She racked her brain to remember.  This was her chance to actually have a friend.

“Rachel,” she whispered, expecting him to hear over the teacher.  

“What’s your name,” she whispered when he didn’t respond.

He finally looked over at her and a spark of recognition lit his eyes.  “Do I know you,” he asked.

 She wasn’t surprised, and forced herself not to be disappointed.  She didn’t really know him either.  “I’ve just seen you around elementary school, that’s all.  I thought we could be friends,” she said looking ahead so the teacher wouldn’t know they were talking during class.  He was writing his name on the board; Mr. Hancock.

“David,” the boy finally whispered back, looking ahead as Rachel was.

                After Herbology, she finally turned to look at her new friend David.  She almost dropped her books when she saw his spirit beast.  It had long legs, almost five feet tall, and massive arms which hung down past the knees, but the beast hadn’t fully evolved yet.  It was just arms and legs attached to a ball of fur.  Rachel had to hold in a laugh at the comical sight.  Be respectful.  Be polite.  She reprimanded herself.  And she resisted the urge to make a comment or even ask about the beast.

David and Rachel walked together out of the classroom and down the hall, making small talk about the herb lesson.  Rachel learned how determined David was to learn every minute of every lesson.  He was extremely intelligent, but clumsy and awkward.  His beast was no better.  The lanky giant bumped into everything, and even fell down two times on the way to their next classes.  Rachel tried her best not to laugh, and concentrated hard on what David was saying so she wouldn’t stare at the awkward giant.

Listen to how devoted David was to his studies, she began to realize how impolite it was to talk to him during class.  “I’m sorry I disrupted your learning time,” She said quietly when David paused in his recount of the Herbology lesson.  “It was rude of me.”

David laughed. “Parents with Angelic creatures, eh,” David asked, guessing at her parentage by her kind and compassionate nature.

Rachel nodded.  “You don’t know the half of it. They have actual angels.”

David laughed even more. “My mother has a Pegasus.  She’s strict enough.  I can’t imagine having two angel parents and actual angels...”

Rachel smiled.  She was glad she made a friend.  At least someone would know what she was up against this year.  She wanted to be perfect for her parents, but normal at school.  Not too good that she would draw attention, but not so bad that she would end up like her older brother had.  Rachel had to hold back tears at the memory of her brother.  All she could remember of him was their trips to the meadows.  He was never evil when he was with her, but he must have done something to get that beast.  Since his banishment, she feared any type of rebellion or bad behavior.  She didn’t know if her parents were okay with a common animal spirit beast, but she didn’t dare take the risk of making any slight infraction without repenting. An angel was crucial… needed.

“You think a lot, Rachel,” David said.

Rachel snapped out of her thoughts.  “I’m sorry,” she said.  “I focus too hard on the ‘be attitudes’ sometimes, I guess.”

David just shrugged.  He knew how hard it was to be the kid of an angelic beast parent.  “My next class is Math, yours?”

Rachel stopped in front of the door she was dreading to enter.  “This one,” she said with a quiver in her voice.

David looked at the black and red plaque.  “Demonology.”  He smiled and nodded his head up the hall.  “I’m just two doors up,” he said as he casually walked away.

Rachel was glad to have made a friend.  She hoped there would be more.  She really hoped there would be girls who would talk to her.  Boys were fine, but it would be nice to have a friend she could really relate to.  It was hard enough with all the different spirit beast types around in this school.  Maybe there was another angel family girl out there. 

Rachel sighed as she pushed the door open; forgetting completely just which class it was that she was entering.