The Crank Call
Chapter 4 - The Crank Call
"What do you mean, we can't hang out anymore? What did they tell you Jessica?" Rachel asked in confusion.
"They don't want me to hang around you because they think you are going to cause me harm. They get nervous whenever I am around you, and they cannot handle the stress. They are putting up with enough stress already with school work and all." Jessica sighed.
"Well.. I honestly don't blame them for reaching that conclusion. Tommy didn't trust me, and I wouldn't trust myself either."
"I'm sorry Rachel. I guess we can still hang when they are not around.."
"Yeah, I suppose, but it just won't be the same. Also, it would be selfish to even take the risk. Don't worry about me Jessica. Again, I'm going to be moving out, and I will have a fresh start by then. I will miss you though."
"Yeah, me too."
Jessica could not believe this. It seemed like all hope was lost.
"I'll be honest with you Jessica; I've always sort of envied you. You seem like such an innocent person. You seem like you are always happy. You have a boyfriend, and everyone seems to respect you. Me? I'm all just looks. I'm an empty husk."
"Yeah well.. you have to earn those things Rachel. I know I've been easy on you, but you need to face the harsh reality. If you want to earn all those things, you have to do more than just apologize. You need to prove to Beth and Amy that you have changed. Even if you cannot change the past, you can still learn from it and try to create a better future. You still have a chance Rachel."
"Hmm." Rachel thought for a second. "You're right. I just have to show them that I've turned over a new leaf. If I can do that, I wont have to move out."
A smile made its way on Jessica's face.
"Don't worry. I'm sure everything will work out in the end."
"Thank you for everything Jessica. I would have been ten times more miserable if it weren't for you."
"Mmh, don't mention it."
"Jessica, come in! We gotta study, remember?!" Beth howled out from the window.
"Okay, I'm coming!" Jessica yelled over at Beth, and then turned back to Rachel. "Well, see ya Rachel."
"See ya..," Rachel replied.
Jessica looked over to check if Beth was gone, and then gave Rachel one last hug. Rachel savored it, because she felt as though this would be the last time she will ever converse with Jessica. It may also be the last time she will ever receive any kindness or affection for a long time.
Rachel watched Jessica as she ran back to the house. A frown made it's way onto her face again, and she let out a long and depressing sigh. She then sat back down on the sidewalk, and lit her cigarette in despair.
About two weeks passed. Rachel was hoping time would help drain the disdain her roommates had for her. Unfortunately, not much has changed. She did try doing more chores around the house, and even helped them find the remote that went missing, but it didn't help much. The other roommates no longer seemed all that angry at her, but they still showed some signs of contempt. Beth could not shake the feeling that Rachel was up to no good, despite the fact that Rachel had done some of Beth's chores for her. Beth sat in the living room next to Amy as they watched the television.
"Hey, don't you find it strange how Rachel is acting all nice all of the sudden?" Amy asked Beth.
"She is obviously just trying to build up our trust so she can use us for something. She can act nice all she wants. She will never gain my trust."
"Yeah, mine either. Wouldn't it be sad though, if she really was trying to earn our friendship for real?"
"Yeah well, she should have thought of that before she did all those terrible things. If Tommy won't trust her, why should we?"
"Oh, good point."
Beth had to admit that in a way, she did begin to feel a bit sorry for Rachel as well. For a while it seemed that Beth never really saw Rachel as even another human being, but more of a sociopath, with no sense of guilt or penance. For once, she was beginning to question whether Rachel really has some humanity left in her. Perhaps, Rachel really could change. But Beth could not take the risk of trusting her. Beth never really believed in second chances, and was not very keen to trust others.
All the roommates have finished the exams that they were cramming for during the past few weeks, and so they had more time to relax and enjoy themselves. Rachel however was trying to call her new potential roommates, but they would not return her calls for some reason. Something was up, and it was making her nervous. She could not relax, and she found it hard to sleep.
The other roommates have all agreed to go down to Panama Beach. They even thought of going with Lucy and Tommy. Lucy didn't have to go to college now that she had her job and lived with Tommy. However, Lucy still promised to visit her old friends now and then. Of course, Rachel couldn't go. Even if Rachel got on the good side of all her roommates, she would not dare go anywhere with Lucy or Tommy involved. Right before Lucy and Tommy drove down to pick up the other roommates, Rachel walked into the foyer to give her goodbye's.
"Hey guys.." Rachel murmured with her hands behind her back.
"What is it now, Rachel?" Amy crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.
"Um, I just.. want to say, I hope you all have a good time. I promise to keep the house in good shape while you guys are gone."
"You are not coming with us, Rachel." Beth frowned, with her arms also crossed.
"It's okay, I understand. I'm just hoping that maybe sometime in the future, we could.. w-we could.. ugh, never mind."
Rachel walked into her bedroom and shut the door behind her. Beth raised an eyebrow. Jessica felt a tinge of sadness. She knew that Rachel really felt ostracized. She didn't know what to do. It seemed like the other roommates would never forgive her. Beth shook her head, and decided that she had to get to the bottom of this. She walked towards Rachel's door and sighed.
"Rachel, we need to talk." Beth asserted.
Rachel sheepishly opened the door. Beth walked inside and closed the door behind her.
"W-what is it?" Rachel asked.
"I want to know why you are acting all nice all of the sudden," Beth asked. "What is it that you want from us?"
Rachel sighed. "I-I just want to make things right. I just.. want us to be together as roommates again. I was hoping I could make things up to you guys."
"And.. you expect us to believe that?"
"I don't blame you for not believing me. I've done a lot of terrible things and you have every good reason not to trust me. I'm sorry for misjudging you for your looks Beth. There's nothing wrong with how you dress. The only person who is the stereotype here is me. You probably see me as nothing but some disgusting, stuck up blonde."
Beth couldn't help but chuckle a little under her breath at Rachel's humility, but she was nonetheless still somewhat angry with her. "Well, what do you expect us to see you as? Do you honestly think a few chores around the house are going to make up for the fact that you cheated on our friend Tommy since High school, and tried to manipulate Lucy, and made fun of me for my looks? Do you know how much bullying I had to put up with from people like you?"
Rachel dipped her head in shame.
"I wish there was a way I could prove I've changed. You have no idea how much it hurts, to know that everyone hates you. I'm just sick of being hated Beth. I just wish you guys would give me a second chance."
Beth's look of contempt slowly turned to a look of disappointment and grief. She really could not help but feel sorry for Rachel. She didn't know what to think. She let out a long sigh.
"You know, If you hadn't done all those bad things, we could have been friends. I'm sorry Rachel, but I just can't trust you. You will just have to move out and find some other people to room with. We will promise to treat you with more respect, but I don't think we can ever be friends."
"I understand." Rachel sighed. "I have other people I am planning to room with, so that should not be a problem."
"Alright, then it's settled. Maybe next time, you won't make the same mistakes. Now me and the others have to leave for Panama Beach. Take care.. Rachel."
"Goodbye."
Beth slowly closed the door behind her and met up with Amy and Jessica to wait outside for Tommy and Lucy. A few minutes later, Tommy's truck showed up, and the rest of the roommates left to go to the beach. Rachel couldn't help but feel heartbroken by Beth's blatant rejection. Nonetheless, she had pretty much expected it. Rachel lied down on her bed with a bored and solemn look on her face.
"Looks like this week is gonna be hell on earth for me," Rachel thought to herself. "I gotta find some way to entertain myself."
Normally, if Rachel was bored, all she would do is find some guy to hook up with. However, she was not in the mood. Not even close. Especially after the past few weeks of drama. She was drained. It was probably for the best, since she had just recently began to worry about having an STD. She did get syphilis once, but she was worried about getting something worse.
The only other option was to watch television, but the television originally belonged to Beth, and she did not want anyone to touch it without her permission.
Since she was out of options, she chose to just leave the house and go to the college. Hopefully she would find some club or activity she could join into. She eventually joined a painting group, a CPR training seminar, and god forbid... the math club. Unfortunately, they weren't all that satisfying. Eventually she encountered the college campus cleanup crew.
The college campus cleanup crew was on the bottom of her list of fun things to do, but it was the only thing going on at the time.
She walked up to the classroom where they were having their first meeting. Rachel peeked through the door, and saw many of the students in these ugly looking suits. She started having second thoughts, and was about to leave. However, she was stopped when the announcer called out to her.
"Hey you, young lady. Yes, you behind the door. You can come in if you want. You don't have to be shy! We need all the help we can get."
Some of the students giggled.
Rachel hesitated, but her mind said, "yes," and she slowly walked in.
"Dammit Rachel, what were you thinking? All the other students are going to notice you wearing one of those hideous outfits. They are going to see you picking up garbage like some blue collar slave. They are going to tease the hell out of you!" Rachel thought to herself. "But I guess it is too late. If I back out now, I'll look like a total jerk. I guess I have no choice. Well, at least I can make myself worth something."
Rachel took a seat next to some of the other students. To her dismay, one of the students looked over at her with an unpleasant look on their face, and moved their desk a little bit away from her.
"Okay now. Today we are going to cover the outside Kinesiology area. We are going to clean up all the garbage and put them in the black containers. You will all be given these blue outfits to help keep you safe from the hazardous germs and filth from all the trash you will come into contact with."
The announcer yammered on and on. Rachel finally got her suit and her tools, and all of the students walked down to the football stadium to pick up trash from underneath the bleachers. After Rachel had already filled a whole trash bag, she went over to the black containers lining the outside of the bleachers. On the way there, she saw some students chatting. Some of them looked over to her and then went silent.
Rachel also noticed some students trying to dig out some large chunks of plastic from out of the ground. They looked like they were struggling.
"Hey guys, do you need any help?" Rachel asked.
"Um... no. We are fine thank you." One of them said in a quick and monotonic voice.
Rachel sighed. She hadn't expected that so many students would know about her. Then again, she pretty much was the school slut.
After throwing the trash away, she noticed one other student sitting down by herself, not appearing to do anything. Rachel walked up to her.
"Hey, what's wrong? Are you okay?" Rachel asked.
"I'm just a bit tired is all. You seemed a bit glum while you were picking up trash. Are you alright?"
"Yeah.. just... I'm tired as well... Actually." Rachel sheepishly grinned.
"Hey, wait a second. I recognize you! I think I saw you at that one church I used to go to."
"Ah, So you are Catholic?"
The girl paused for a second.
"Um... I was a Catholic. I just recently turned atheist. What about you?"
"Well, to be honest, I kinda left religion too. I honestly really struggled to believe. I really couldn't think of one logical reason to choose belief over skepticism. The only reason I continued to believe in the first place is because I figured that I could use the pews as an excuse to get away with whatever bad deeds I do. If I stole from someone, or lied, or cheated, I just asked for forgiveness. I thought that maybe that would be enough for me to go through life and be happy. But I later learned that that is not how the world really works. I learned it the hard way when I realized that I actually wanted to respect people more. I came to the conclusion that I actually had to earn my forgiveness instead of praying to an imaginary being in the sky that may or may not exist. I decided to leave the Catholic church for good after that."
"Oh, I see."
"What made you want to leave?"
"Just Logic and reasoning." She smirked.
They both laughed together.
"By the way, my name is Rachel. What's yours?"
"Audrey, Nice to meet you."
They shook hands, and both cleaned up trash together until the end of the day.
(Quick note: This is not the same Audrey in Original Life. This is a made up character.)
When Rachel went home, she was happy to finally make another friend. However, she knew that at one point she would have to learn about her past. She figured things wouldn't go so well after that. It was lonelier than ever, since all of her roommates were staying out in a hotel at Panama Beach, including Lucy and Tommy.
She tried to call her new potential roommates one last time before going to bed. Finally, the phone picked up.
"Hello?"
"Hey Rachel, how is it going?"
"What the hell? I've been calling you for weeks! Why haven't you picked up? I needed to ask you guys if you managed to find out where to meet up to look for apartments!"
There was a long pause and some giggling.
"Umm, actually, Rachel... this was a prank call, and we weren't actually planning to room with you. But that's okay. I'm sure you will find some other roommates who will put up with you. Then again, you probably won't."
Rachel could not believe what she was hearing. She was starting to become furious. She was fuming with rage.
"Maybe if you chose to move in with some men instead, you would have gotten a lot more lucky eh? See ya later, you dirty cheating slut!"
"You fucking jerks!" Rachel screamed into the phone.
There was nothing but hysterical laughter coming from the receiver.
Rachel slammed the phone down in anger. This time, she didn't even feel depressed. She was just flat out angry.
She ran over to her room, and kicked the door open. She picked up her pillow, and started punching it as hard as she could. She clawed at it and tore it to shreds as she screamed with anger.
After a few minutes, her temper tantrum had finally ended.
She laid down on her bed, staring at the ceiling with a tired and worn look on her face. She was almost entirely out of energy.
"It's just one bad thing after the next. First, I lose Jessica, and now this happens. I'll probably lose my friend Audrey next," Rachel murmured. "Maybe that nightmare I had a few weeks ago, really wasn't a nightmare after all. Maybe it was all still a reality. Maybe this is my punishment, in its true manifestation. I am forced to face disaster after disaster, up until the end of time."
Rachel was about to fall asleep right on top of her mattress, even without the covers over her. She didn't have the energy or will to get under them. She just fell into a deep sleep. It was the only relaxation she could get.
The next morning, Rachel woke up and made herself some coffee. She heard some people talking outside of her house. She looked outside and saw that her roommates had made it back home. She wanted to go out and greet them. However, the smile from her face vanished when she saw Lucy and Tommy coming out of the truck as well.
"Guess I ought to stay inside, "Rachel thought to herself.
She was still mad at Lucy. Even though Rachel had changed her attitude, she still could not forget the day Lucy humiliated her in front of all her roommates, and the fact that she won over her ex-boyfriend. She remembered all the nights Lucy and Tommy kept her and everyone else up while they had their fun. It was pure torture for her.
"Man, I wish it didn't have to end so soon." Said Tommy from out of the drivers seat of the truck. "If only it could have lasted a bit longer."
"Yeah, at least it was a good break from all the stress. Maybe we should go again someday!" Amy suggested.
"Probably not for a while. We still have work to do ourselves," Lucy replied.
"C'mon, we got to get our bags back in and head straight to class!" Said Beth.
"Alright alright! I'm getting them," Said Amy, carrying her suitcase out of the back of the truck.
Tommy came out to help the others get the bags into the house. Lucy stayed outside and checked on the truck, which was making a strange sound.
Rachel watched Lucy curiously from her window. Nobody was outside at the time except for her. Lucy opened the hood of the car and started trying to locate the mysterious noise. It sounded like a strange buzzing sound.
Rachel glanced back at her clock to see when she had to leave to class. She realized she still had a couple of hours until her next class.
She looked back through the window again. A look of shock and horror crossed her face. She did not want to believe what she just saw.
Lucy was lying flat on her back in front of the car. She wasn't moving.