The Rise of Rachel Stark (11 page)

Harley Jones, the town cop, and
his three part-time deputies didn't have the resources or the
qualifications to deal with rowdy crowds. So the state patrol was
called in, and preparations were made to make sure that the peace
was maintained on Thursday and especially on Friday, game
day.

State police kept an eye on
Sheldon's home and the others who drew the attention of the
demonstrators.

So when Sheldon woke up Thursday
morning, he was surprised to see a state patrol car sitting on the
street in front of his home. He and Tabby spent the day picking up
egg shells and other debris on their lawns, and trying to clean the
raw egg off their houses.

Thursday passed without incident.
But in Steve Peterson's office at Chante High, the air crackled
with tension. When the school board convened for another emergency
meeting at 9 p.m., there was not a dry brow in the
place.

After considerable finger pointing
and unrestrained profanity, plus a complete lack of civility, the
board decided that if the four blankety-blank football "traitors"
did not change their minds by 10 a.m. Friday – a scant four hours
before the scheduled kickoff – Steve Peterson would call a special
assembly at the high school and give in to the traitors'
demands.

He would do so, of course, in a
way that did not seem like he was giving in to the traitors'
demands at all, but only that he was responding to "new
information" that the administration had uncovered that showed that
bullying, indeed, was becoming a severe problem at Chante
High.

There was not a single soul in
Chante, or in the state of Nebraska for that matter, who believed a
single word Mr. Peterson said. But they didn't care, so long as the
four traitors rejoined the team and the game was played.

Which is exactly what
happened.

Peace and order were
restored.

Football was once again king, and
all was right with the world.

And the final score was Chante,
48, Rockford, 3.

●●●

And so all was forgiven. As most
people predicted, the Chante Lions were runaway conference
champions. They were undefeated and never scored fewer than 40
points in any game. At the beginning of the season they were ranked
the No. 1 team in their class in the state, and they were ranked
No. 1 when the season ended.

The Lions piled up a number of
individual honors as well. Sheldon, Bull, Jimmy and Rodney were
first-team All-Conference selections, and were first-team All-State
selections as well.

Rodney, even though he was only a
sophomore, was named Running Back of the Year in the Chante Valley
Conference. He also won the Brogan Trophy, given annually to the
Chante Valley's best football player of the year, as voted by the
conference coaches. Rodney beat out Sheldon, who placed second in
the voting, for that honor. Sheldon couldn't have been happier for
him.

Progress was made on the bullying
front as well. The school made plans to hire a psychologist to
teach the students how to recognize bullying, what to do about it
if they witnessed it, and how to get help if they were victims of
it. Every student would be required to take 30 hours of training.
And a set of materials also would be created for students to take
home to their parents.

Chante's anti-bullying program was
the first of its kind in the state, and in fact was the only such
program in Nebraska for decades.

And even though the anti-bullying
program was not to get its official start until the beginning of
the 1966-67 school year, Steve Peterson organized a group of
volunteer ministers, doctors and educators to give weekly lectures
on problems that often arise for high school students as they
interact with their peers. The lectures began immediately, and
student attendance was mandatory.

Whether it was the lectures, the
promise of an anti-bullying program for next year, or Mr.
Peterson's bully pulpit, life for Rachel and other kids at Chante
High who had been victims of bullies, became easier.

In fact, Rachel got Tabby,
Sheldon, Bull, Jimmy and Rodney to go with her to Mr. Peterson's
office one morning to thank him for his anti-bullying
efforts.

"I'm the one who should thank you,
and I do thank you," Mr. Peterson said. "You woke me up to a
problem that I didn't want to admit existed. I owe you a huge debt.
All Chante High students, present and future, owe you a huge
debt."

It was a feel-good morning. Tabby
even apologized for the disrespectful way she talked to Mr.
Peterson during their first meeting.

"No need to apologize. I had it
coming," he said. "It was part of the wake-up call. Please don't
worry about it."

When their meeting ended and the
kids were walking out the door, Mr. Peterson called to
them.

"Oh, Rachel?"

Rachel turned to him.

"Yes, sir?"

"Thank y'all for
coming."

The kids laughed. Mr. Peterson
gave them a wide smile.

Later, the kids decided Mr.
Peterson was a pretty good guy after all.

Chapter Eight

The Rape

After the final football game of
the season in mid-November, the first night game in Chante High's
history (lights had been installed at the football field just days
earlier), Rachel and Tabby joined Sheldon and the guys for a
hamburger and fries at Larry's Diner.

Despite playing under the lights
for the first time, and in a light snowfall, it was another
blow-out win for Chante – a 63-14 clobbering of Eastview High that
sealed a second straight unbeaten season for Chante.

The restaurant was packed with
kids who had been at the game and were celebrating the win and the
unbeaten season. It was so festive and noisy that it was hard to
hear Little Richard belting out "Tutti-Frutti" on the
jukebox.

Before he sat down, Bull went from
table to table, booth to booth, shaking hands, slapping backs,
hugging the girls, and delivering the same line he had delivered
after every game of the season:

"Just another day at the office,
folks. Just another day at the office."

When he got back to the table, he
said:

"I just realized. That's the last
time I'm ever going to say that line. It hasn't sunk in yet, and
when it does, I'll no doubt turn into a slobbering, blubbering
idiot."

"Wait a minute," Jimmy said, "I
thought that's what you already were."

"You're lucky I left my tomahawk
at home. But one of these days, paleface. One of these days …
"

Samantha – Sam – the waitress,
appeared at their table and took their order.

"OK, is that it?" she
said.

"Just one more thing, Sam," Bull
said.

"Bull, don't do this," Jimmy
said.

"No, it's OK. Sam, answer me this.
Have you ever, like, bought a record or got one as a present or
something?"

Jimmy put his head in his hands
and groaned.

"Well, sure. Hasn't everybody?"
Sam said.

"Well, what did you do with
it?"

"What did I do with it? What do
you mean?"

Jimmy was giggling.

"Shut up, Jimmy. No, Sam, this
isn't a trick question or anything. When you got the record, what
did you do with it?"

"Brought it home?"

"No, but after that."

"Unwrapped it?"

"No, after that, after
that."

"Well … I suppose I listened to
it."

A triumphant grin spread across
Bull's face.

"Well, listen to it again,
Sam."

Sam knitted her brow, shook her
head and walked away.

"I've always wanted to say that,
you know?" Bull said, still grinning.

Jimmy was laughing so hard he
almost slipped under the table.

"Bull," Rachel said, "the line is,
'Play it again, Sam.' "

Bull's face fell to the
floor.

"Oh my god, it is, isn't it?" he
said. He smacked his forehead. "I am an idiot. I am a total idiot.
My life has been destroyed."

"That's OK, Bull," Rodney said.
"It was close enough for a town this size."

●●●

Next up was basketball.

After they had eaten, the six of
them climbed into Sheldon's car to take Rachel up to the cemetery.
Rodney was going to spend the night at Sheldon's house, because the
four boys had talked Coach O'Connor into opening the gym for them
so they could shoot a few hoops Saturday morning.

The quick drive up the hill was
spent mostly laughing at Bull's faux pas. They were still laughing
when they dropped Rachel off. She waved goodbye and watched
Sheldon's car disappear down the hill.

It was a clear night, and the full
moon was bright enough to leave shadows. Rachel pulled her coat
collar up against the November cold. The snowfall, she noted, was
heavier on cemetery hill than it was down in the Chante
Valley.

She had taken only a few steps
when she was knocked down from behind with such force that she
almost lost consciousness.

She tried to understand what was
happening as two men dragged her face down to a spot behind a
mausoleum, where they were out of sight from the road.

As her vision started to return,
she saw that the men were wearing ski masks. Neither
spoke.

Scream, she remembered reading
somewhere. Screaming is your best defense. But in a cemetery there
is no one to hear your screams. Her head was starting to clear, and
suddenly she knew what was happening.

She started to tell them to stop,
but one of the men slapped her face. When she tried to scream he
slapped her face again and again till she nearly blacked out. The
other man pulled up her dress and pulled down her panties. She
struggled, but they were like a pack of wolves devouring a
lamb.

One of the men knelt, pulled her
arms above her head and pinned them to the ground. The other spread
her legs apart.

"Hey, you're making snow angels,
honey," one of them said.

"Shut up!" said the
other.

Rachel lay still, her cheeks
burning with pain. Blood from a cut on her forehead rolled down
into her left eye. Do not resist, her semiconscious brain told her.
They might kill you if you do.

Then the man who spread her legs
apart raped her, and she could smell the alcohol on his
breath.

They switched positions, and the
other man raped her.

Then they stood up.

"Tell that stinking little brother
of yours – "

"Shut up!" the other man said.
They ran off, and she heard their car tires spin and spit gravel as
they sped off down the hill.

Rachel lay there for some time,
watching the moon, wondering whether it looked the same at this
moment in Tennessee. Maybe she could go home to Tennessee now. It
was better there.

Something bad happened. What was
it? She couldn't remember. Minutes ago she was riding in a car with
her friends. Yes. They were laughing. They were joyous. They were
cherishing each other, happy to be with each other, reveling in
their friendship.

And then they disappeared. Just
like that. She wished Tabby and her friends would come back and get
her, pick her up in their arms and take her home. Maybe if she
waited just a little longer they would come. Maybe if she lay
quietly in the snow, among the headstones and the dead, a miracle
would happen.

So she closed her eyes and tried
to sleep, but the pain kept her awake. And over and over and over
she heard the men talking.

"Hey, you're making snow angels,
honey."

"Shut up!"

"Tell that stinking little brother
of yours – "

"Shut up!"

"Hey, you're making snow angels,
honey."

"Shut up!"

"Tell that stinking little brother
of yours – "

"Shut up!"

They weren't men. They weren't men
at all.

They were boys.

And she recognized their
voices.

Danny Jackson and Oscar
Olney.

●●●

Rachel didn't know how long she
had been lying in the cemetery snow when she suddenly realized that
she was very cold. Then she remembered what she had read somewhere
years ago: If you are in a situation in which you might freeze to
death, do not let yourself go to sleep, like your body might want
you to do. Because you won't wake up.

When she tried to get on her feet,
she noticed her panties were still dangling from her right leg. She
pulled them off and stuck them in her coat pocket. Then she
struggled to her feet, but was not quite certain where to
go.

She looked around and finally saw
the path her body had made in the snow. She followed it to the tire
tracks not far away, then followed the tracks out of the cemetery.
When she got to the main road she remembered where she lived and
how to get there.