AllFreeNovel
Share Us
As Raina gathered her clothes for the day, Gracie sat down at her desk and picked up a pair of pliers.
It took Raina only a few minutes to use the bathroom and brush her teeth, surveying her closet to decide what to wear. If she was at home, Raina would usually put on a dress, brush her hair until it shined, and finish up her outfit with a nice pair of flats. At school, Raina didn’t bother to go to all the effort, especially since she wasn’t going anywhere. There was no synagogue to pray at, no neighbors to enjoy lunch with, and no parks to walk through. Instead, Raina pulled on a black skirt and one of her nicer tops, admiring the pearl collar in the mirror. She carefully applied tinted chapstick, smacking her lips together. A matching headband was the finishing touch before she gathered her pajamas and tossed them in her clothing hamper.
“I’m going to pray now,” she told Gracie, who nodded.
Prayers took Raina less than half an hour, and when she finished, Raina kissed her prayer book and placed it on her nightstand. It wasn’t something she did every day, but Raina made time for prayers every Shabbos morning.
“Should we go down to breakfast?” Gracie suggested.
Raina shot a quick glance at the clock in the room. “Um, sure. We can either eat in my kitchen, or I can grab something and we can go to the dining hall.”
“Your kitchen works.”
“I think we have cereal,” Raina offered. “Tehilla put it on the list, but I haven’t checked the cabinets.”
“Cereal sounds great.”
“Or we have muffins. Yaakov made pumpkin muffins Thursday, and I’m sure you can have one.”
“Anything is good.”
“Oh, we might have cookies. I don’t know if they’ve been eaten, though.”
“I’m sure whatever you have will be great,” Gracie said firmly.
Raina managed a smile. “Let’s see what we have.”
She held the door open for her friend. With a nod of thanks, Gracie sailed out of the room, Raina following closely behind her.
“What did you think about the college information session we had this week? I sent my mom pictures of the packet they gave us, and we’re going to video call my dad to go through it,”
Gracie asked as they made their way through the common room.
Nicole was seated near the fireplace, talking on her phone, so Raina focused all of her attention on the conversation, ignoring the other girl. She didn’t need to worry about Nicole and her drama this morning.
“Aww, that’s nice,” Raina said carefully. “I showed it to my parents, and all my mom said was that I needed to hurry up and get started.”
“As much as I respect authority figures, I don’t get your mom sometimes. Early decision is, like, half a year away. You have plenty of time.”
“She wants me to start working on the personal essay, but I have absolutely no idea what to write about.”
“You have time,” Gracie repeated. “My mom said we’ll start looking in the summer; she wants me to take the SAT’s first. But that’s also not until later in the year.”
Raina nodded before freezing when she caught sight of Jesse across the room. He’d sat down next to Nicole before looking up and meeting her gaze. Their eyes stayed locked until Jesse looked down, scooting closer to Nicole. After Raina had shut Jesse down at lunch a few days ago he hadn’t tried to bring it up again, but the topic had loomed above them like their very own Montague/Capulet feud. Their only conversations since had been about their English project or the now administration-approved bake sale.
“Come on, let’s go,” Gracie muttered, seizing Raina’s upper arm and dragging her away. “Let’s get you away from him and get some food into you.”
Raina swallowed, shooting Jesse one last glance before Gracie pulled her out the door. When they reached the kitchen a few minutes later, the two girls tucked into a quick meal of sugar cereal and pumpkin muffins. Raina ate her muffin in silence, smiling and nodding as Gracie talked, thankful for her friend.
It would have been easy for Gracie to take Nicole’s side, just like Jesse had. After all, Gracie had known the other girl for longer. Instead, she’d stayed impartial and remained friends with both Raina and Nicole. It was just like Raina had argued during class; sometimes, you didn’t have to choose.
So why couldn’t Jesse have learnt that lesson?
* * *
Jesse groaned and dropped his head into his hands. A few tables away, Raina sat with Gracie. Neither girl was paying attention to their food, instead whispering and giggling over something Gracie was holding. He’d gone to their usual table at dinner, but the two girls had opted to sit elsewhere, and Jesse didn’t like it. The table felt empty with only Jesse and his cousins occupying the many seats.
Theo pushed his spaghetti around on his plate, dropping his fork to level Jesse with a flat stare. “You need to man up and talk to her.”
