The Girl Next Door Chapter 36

When they got home, Allison and Neal were there too. It was fun for the house to have lots of people again; it was so quiet most of the time, with just the three of them there, and now there were seven there, with Nikki coming in on Friday. Their house had seven bedrooms (all of them pretty big), and six would be filled for the weekend.
After dinner, everyone went upstairs, and went to their rooms. There were four bedrooms on the second floor, and three on the third floor. Allison and Bobby up on the third, the rest of them on the second, with Rachel staying on the pullout couch in the spare room between Kate and Neal’s.
“I haven’t played much in the last couple weeks,” Kate said, motioning towards her electric guitar. “Been pretty busy. But, after this weekend, I’ll have more time.”
Rachel sat down on the drum stool (Kate and Neal shared a drum set) and picked up the sticks, and started drumming away, her hair flying everywhere, just to get Kate to laugh.
“Nice,” Kate laughed after Rachel was done, “but stick with singing,” she told her, holding her hand out for the sticks, which Rachel gave her. Rachel jokingly pouted, and said,
“I guess you’re right.”
Kate’s parents had called this room the “music room” since Kate was about seven, when Neal got a guitar and set it up in there. Then, more instruments were added (another guitar, a drum set, and a keyboard), and so were posters of bands and hockey players. It was the room they could decorate anyway they wanted to, and they did.
“I am so nervous for Friday,” Kate confessed to Rachel as she sat down on the couch.
“Don’t be,” Rachel said. “I’m sure you’ll be great.”
“I hope so,” she told her.
“Girls,” Sarah said, poking her head in the room, “better be getting off to bed soon.”
“Okay Mom,” Kate said. “I better get going, I’ll wake you up in the morning.”
*****
The next day, Kate and Rachel woke up, got dressed in their khakis (no jeans allowed at Sewickley except on Fridays, the typical outfit there was khakis and a polo shirt), and went to school. They decided to walk, and crossed paths with the all of the Lemieuxs as they headed out the door. So, they walked down together, and then when they reached the school, went to their different places. A lot of people were excited to see Rachel again, but when Stacie came up to say hi, Rachel just ignored her, and kept on walking.
That afternoon when they got home, Kate did her homework, and then all of them except Tom and Sarah got into a car, and drove down to Castle Shannon to see the boy from Upper St. Clair play in a late afternoon game. The boy they watched was an exceptional hockey player, and Bobby went up to him afterwards to talk to him. Then they drove back home quickly to watch the Penguins lose to the New Jersey Devils, 1-2. Sidney, of course, did well, and he called Kate after the game. Kate talked to him first, and then the phone was passed around to Neal, Allison, and Rachel, so they could talk too. Then, the phone was handed back to Kate, and she walked upstairs to get some privacy to ask Sidney a question.
“Sid, can I tell Bobby we’re dating?” she asked him very sweetly.
“I don’t see why not,” he told her. “I mean, a lot of my family knows, but practically none of yours does!”
“Ya, I know, I can’t trust most of my relatives,” she told him, “but I can trust Bobby and Nikki.”
“Go for it,” he told her. “Just make sure…”
“They don’t tell a soul,” she finished.
“I better be going Katie, we’re heading out to the bus,” he told her.
“Okay, I’ll talk to you later,” she said.
“I miss you Katie,” he told her.
“Miss you too.”
“Good luck tomorrow, I’ll call you before the game.”
“Thanks! Talk to you then,” she said.
“Bye,” he said, and the call ended.