Rachel Blanche

“Ohhhhh…..” groaned Rina, as she slouched on the desk; this meeting on the school paper wasn’t going so well. She and Anne still hadn’t found someone to replace Lois(the most important writer on the school paper).

“This is going terribly, if we don’t find someone by Wednesday, Principle Horn will be closing down the paper, for good. We just can’t let that happen.” sighed, Anne, desperately.

“Exactly. Maybe if we ask Horn, for an extra two days?” Rina suggested.

“I already have, don’t worry; and his answer was a “no”.”

“Shoot. Who in this school has the skill and time to get involved in the school paper that you know?” 

“No one. I don’t know everyone but still.” answered Anne, irritably.

Suddenly the two girls heard a knock, on the door. Surprised, Rina stood up and opened the door. The person who was knocking, was probably the most unusual person Rina had ever seen.

 It was a girl about the same age as her, which was not the surprising thing; the surprising thing was the fact that this girl was dressed like a complete hippy. Literally! She wore a long skirt and colorful skirt, with a white blouse, and peace necklace.

 Other than her rather colorful outfit she looked like an average teenager. She was of average height(which meant she towered over Rina), she had light brown hair that looked heavily brushed, and she had a touch of blush on her cheeks.

“Um, Hello.” said Rina after finding her voice.

“Hi. My name is Rachel Blanche; I just read your advertisement on the need for a writer on the school paper, so I came here to submit for the position.” answered the girl, cheerily.

“Alright, I am not exactly in charge when it comes to submitting positions. But my friend over here  is. Anne, I think we found someone.” announced Rina.

Rachel was quickly introduced to Anne. Then Anne got down to business, after checking Rachel’s writing ability, concluded that Rachel was a perfect fit. Though she was a little unusual and constantly said peace, she seemed like a really sweet and wonderful person, thought Rina. Someone you could be friends with.

“Oh goodie. I am so excited to begin writing with you two.” said Rachel, as she twirled her long hair, that was kept out of her face with a colorful headband.

“We are also.” said Rina and Anne in unison.

After two more minutes of chit chat, Rina had collected enough info about Rachel. She was fifteen, in grade ten. Her parents were musicians/sales people, and she had a younger brother named, she forgot that part; and her favorite subject was English. So far, Rachel seemed to be a pretty average nice girl, with a hippy side.

After the meeting was finished, and Rachel had left for one of her classes, Anne and Rina walked quietly down the school hall, to get to their last classes.

“Rachel, seems nice.” said Anne, breaking the silence.

“She does. She has a fun and goofy personality.” she answered, quietly.

“Yep! I think writing for the school paper has just gotten ten times more fun, now that Rachel has come along.” announced Anne.

“Agreed. We better tell Principal Horn that we found someone.” Rina replied.

“Oh yes, classes start in five minutes, so we have time.”

The two girls quickly walked toward the Principal office. Now Horn could not cancel the school paper, something that he always wanted to do, because he believed that Rina and Anne were too political when it came to their articles. 

Which probably was true, because there was a section on the paper called, “the outside world” which was a section on a lot of the global news that was going on, such as Martin Luther King, and the Vietnam war. That section had to be political somewhat because it was on the global news.

Rina quietly knocked onto the door. A grumpy face answered the door; Principal Horn.

“What is it, Yack and Harold?” he said, moodily.

“We won’t be long, but we found someone to replace Lois, for the school paper.” Rina answered.

“Good. Who is he/her?” he asked.

“Her name is Rachel Blanche. You might know her, she’s in grade ten.” she replied.

“I know her. Personally I believe that she is unsuitable for this role.” answered Horn.

“Mr. Horn. We checked her writing ability, and it is very good. Why do you think she is unsuitable?”

“Well, she has been having a reputation of someone who has gone through a lot of personality phases in life. Last year, she was a quiet and intelligent girl, but this year she has grown rebellious, and more of an activist, you can clearly see that in the way she dresses, I do not want her to be tainting the paper with her beliefs. Rebellious youth never end well, you probably know that well, Yack.” he said coldly.

Uggggg! Putting her sister into it! Seriously, adults could be less judgy. Rina thought, but she decided to keep her cool, he was the Principal not Mr. Herris, he had more power over the school. Besides he would gladly get her into trouble.

“If she writes anything too political, we will speak with her. But personally Rina and I would like to test her for a week, for proof, also I highly doubt that she would be any problem.” cut in Anne.

“Alright, I will let this go on, but if she does write something too political, she will be removed immediately. Deal?” he said as if this was the biggest nuisance in his already boring life. 

“Deal!” the two girls said in unison.

“Now get out of my office, I have work to do, and both have classes to catch.” he said moodily, and flicked his hand towards the door.

Rina and Anne, quickly left the office, it was no use staying any longer especially when your principal was not in a good mood. But why the stigma against Rachel? She seemed like a perfectly decent and sweet person, maybe a little weird, but still nice.

 Hippies had proven to be a more rebellious bunch, maybe that was why Horn disapproved of Rachel so much… But just because someone thinks a certain way doesn’t mean they will always use their beliefs in everything they do. But that again had proven not to be true, by Rina’s sister.