For the next couple days, Rachel mostly just hung out at Pretty And Pink with Vanessa. Ruth still had to do some work to register Rachel to go to school, since she'd be going in as a new student. But it turned out Pretty And Pink was a nice place to be. The cafeteria served good food three times a day, and there was a game room where you could play board games or video games with your friends. The only thing Rachel had to keep in mind was to stay out of Maddie and Hattie's way.

By the time the following Monday rolled around, Ruth had managed to go through all the paperwork for Rachel to go back to school. Much to Rachel's surprise, it was at Old-Timey Middle School-the same school where she'd gone as Randy! So when Rachel got to school, she was excited. All her old friends and classmates would still be there, and...okay, no one would know she used to be Randy, but it would still be nice to see them, right?

The first person Rachel ran into was Otto Henderson. Otto was a guy Randy had known since elementary school, and had had several classes together over the years. "Hey Otto!" Rachel exclaimed.

Otto looked at Rachel with a puzzled expression. "Uh...do I know you?" he asked.

Rachel chided herself. What was she thinking? Nobody here would recognize her! "Maybe," she said.

"You do look kind of familiar..." said Otto.

"Well, I am new here," said Rachel.

None of this made sense to Otto, but he wasn't one to question it. "Well, welcome to the school..." he started.

"Oh-I'm Rachel."

"Rachel," Otto repeated.

After that, Rachel saw several more familiar faces, but she did not attempt to make conversation with anyone. Her exchange with Otto had left a disappointed taste in her mouth. It should've felt nice to see all her old friends again, but to have them not even recognize her just...it hurt. And as the day went by, the pain slowly increased. By lunch, Rachel felt like she had a big, sad hole inside her.

"Hey."

"What-hey me?"

"Yeah, you."

Rachel looked up to see Vanessa standing in front of her in the lunch line. "Oh. Hey...Vanessa." Seeing her bunkmate brought some comfort to Rachel. At least SOMEONE here acknowledged her.

"How's your first day here?"

"Oh, it..." Rachel wanted to say it was horrible, but she stopped herself. "It's great."

"Nice," said Vanessa. "Are your classes alright?"

"Yeah, except for Math..." Rachel trailed off when she saw someone enter the lunchroom. It was a boy her age with curly blonde hair, gray eyes, and a thin body frame. Rachel recognized him immediately. It was Jesse Pindle-her best friend from when she was a boy!

"Jesse!" Rachel exclaimed, completely forgetting her regime of not approaching anyone she recognized. She ran for Jesse and pulled him into a deep hug. She wasn't sure why she was hugging her guy-friend. Maybe it was a feminine instinct to hug people? Regardless, it felt so good to see him again. He was the last connection she had to her old life, perhaps the only one she could-

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Jesse said, shaking himself out of Rachel's hug. "Who the fuck are you?"

"Oh, Jesse, I'm so sorry," said Rachel. "I'm just...kind of excited."

"But...why?"

"Excuse me!" said a new voice. Rachel turned and saw the only two people that could ruin the moment: Hattie and Maddie. The twin girls clad in matching white shirts and black skirts were strutting toward Rachel and looking at her the way an FBI agent would look at a criminal.

"What-Maddie? Hattie?"

"Uh..." Jesse stammered.

"She's with us," said Maddie. "She's our new roommate at our foster home."

"Oh," said Jesse. "So she's another one of you."

"No!" Rachel protested. "I'm not like them, I-"

"Come with us," said Hattie. "We need to talk."

Rachel reluctantly left Jesse and went with Maddie and Hattie to the other side of the cafeteria. "How do you know him?" Maddie asked.

"What?"

"How do you know Jesse Pindle? We saw you run up and hug him. Clearly you know him."

For a few seconds, Rachel just stood there, trying to think of an answer. She couldn't tell Maddie and Hattie she was a boy and was friends with Jesse. But what other excuse could she use? Lots of different ideas bounced around in Rachel's head, each one dumber than the last. But when she saw Maddie and Hattie staring her down, waiting for a response, anger started to rise in her.

"It's none of your business," said Rachel.

"You're our roommate now," said Hattie. "It IS our business."

"No it's not."

"Yes it is."

"No it's not."

"Fine, be like that," said Maddie. "But you stay away from Jesse Pindle. He may not realize it yet, but he is ours."

"What do you..." Rachel trailed off when she realized what Maddie meant. "You guys...like him?"

"Yes," said Hattie.

"But...how are both of you going to have him?"

"That's not your concern," said Hattie. "Just don't try to hook up with Jesse. Capiche?"

Rachel scowled, but she said "Capiche."

"Great. That's all we want to say." And with that, Maddie and Hattie left Rachel.

***

For the next little while, Rachel was even more down in the dumps. She'd tried to reconnect with Jesse, only to get shot down by her roommates Maddie and Hattie. Jeez, Rachel hated those bitches. She'd never liked them before, but now it was ascending to a level that could only be called "hate." Rachel made a mental note to talk to Ruth about getting transferred to a different dorm at Pretty And Pink.

The last class Rachel had that day was Science. When she came in, she wasn't paying attention to her classmates' names or faces. But when the teacher sat her down at her table, Rachel was surprised to see that her lab partner was-

"Jesse?"

"Oh hey..." said Jesse. "You're that girl from lunch who..."

"Yeah," said Rachel. She was starting to feel embarrassed by that whole ordeal. "Sorry about that."

"I don't mean to be rude here, but who are you?" Jesse asked. "I don't think I've ever seen you before."

"I...thought you were someone else," Rachel lied.

This made no sense, but neither did anything else. "Whatever," said Jesse.

"Look, I'm sorry if I offended you or anything," said Rachel. "In fact, if you want to switch lab partners-"

"No, it's okay," said Jesse. "Everyone else is already taken anyway. And besides, I just lost my old lab partner, so I kind of needed a new one."

"Oh, you did?"

"Yeah," said Jesse. "His name was Randy, and he was my best friend. But he died in a fire while I was on a cruise last week."

Rachel didn't know what to think. This was her that Jesse was talking about, but he didn't know it! But what Jesse said about Randy dying with the rest of his family in the fire...was that the official story? Had the police/firemen/whoever concluded that Randy had gone into the burning house with Freddie and ended up dying? It hurt Rachel to hear that her best friend thought she was dead. And what hurt even more was that she couldn't tell him that she wasn't. Well, she would've liked to, but now didn't seem like the time.

"That's horrible," said Rachel. "I'm sorry about your friend."

"Thanks," said Jesse. "Those girls Maddie and Hattie said you were their new roommate at Pretty And Pink Foster Care. Did you lose your family, too?"

"Sadly, yes," said Rachel. "They died in a burning building."

"Wow, what a coincidence," said Jesse. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, it sucks," said Rachel. "And now I'm stuck with Hattie and Maddie."

"I know," said Jesse. "I hate them so much."

"And the worst part? Both of them have a crush on you."

Jesse's jaw dropped. "They WHAT?"

"Yeah. That's why they pulled me aside at lunch. They told me not to move in on you."

Jesse looked like he'd just swallowed a live cockroach. "Those bitches are in love with me? Ugh. Just...just ugh."

"I know," said Rachel. She knew Maddie and Hattie would be furious at her if they found out she'd told Jesse their secret, but she didn't care. Those girls hade made lots of other people hurt, so now Rachel was gonna make them hurt.

"Well, I'm definitely not gonna date either of them," said Jesse. "Thanks for warning me, Rachel."

"Oh, no problem," said Rachel. "No problem at all..."

To be continued...