The Usual Rules

Chapter 17

Rachel bit her lip and stuck her head around the door frame gingerly. She could see Emily laying on her stomach in the middle of the bed unmoving, but JJ was nowhere to be found. Rachel could hear the blonde woman's voice and deducted that she must be in the bathroom. Rachel remained where she was and listened closely, keeping her eyes glued to the brunette the entire time. Rachel hadn't let Emily out of her sight since she had arrived home the night before.

She had been terrified when Emily came in and showed her the cut on her back. There was a large white bandage covering it. Emily insisted that it didn't hurt, but as Rachel watched her closely the rest of the night she noticed her wincing slightly when she thought no one was looking. Rachel had been imagining all sorts of bad things that could happen. She was waiting for Emily to just start bleeding from her back the way her mother had bleed from her wrists. Rachel did not want Emily to take that bandage off. In fact, she was sure that they were going to need a much bigger one and had spent the rest of the night – while she was supposed to be asleep – making a bandage like thing out of some sheets. Her plan had been to sneak into their bedroom after they were asleep and wrap Emily's back tightly with it. But by the time Rachel had finished and tip toed down the hall, she could still hear voices from behind the door. She was cold, so she lay down outside the bedroom on the floor, and wrapped herself up in the sheet. That is where Emily and JJ found her the next morning when they woke up. Rachel had simply told them she was going to the bathroom and brought the sheet to keep herself warm and she fell asleep on the way back. Neither woman looked like they believed her, but Rachel refused to offer up any more information and ran downstairs to get breakfast.

Rachel decided that she was going to have to keep Emily alive. JJ was doing a pretty good job, but after seeing Emily she didn't seem as concerned as she had before. Rachel didn't understand why. One of her thoughts was that JJ just didn't care. That maybe she had fallen out of love with Emily and they were going to get a divorce like some of the kids in her class. That was not something Rachel liked one little bit. The other day at recess, a boy named Tommy told her that his parents were divorced. He had two dads which Rachel found pretty cool since neither of them looked scary to her.

"Why?" Rachel asked as she kicked herself forward on the swings. Tommy, right beside her did the same, attempting to get himself higher. He didn't like being beaten by a girl.

"They fell out of love. That's what they told me. But Dad says parents can't fall out of love with their kids. Its not possible. Which is good, 'cause I got real scared for a minute."

Rachel swung herself higher and higher and then flung herself into the air, expertly landing on her feet. She spent most days at recess on the swings and had become quite good. She frowned at Tommy, who was still trying to get enough momentum to jump. "Yeah, but Emily and JJ aren't my moms, they're my...well I live with them." Rachel had been struggling to find the proper word for them as of late. Now that she was involved with the other students more, they asked about her life more often. Rachel hated being unsure about anything, it made her feel stupid.

Tommy took a deep breath and jumped, he slammed into the ground with a thud and yelled out in anger. He was not very adept at jumping off swings. "Well, aren't they your parents though? I mean you live with them and they're the grown ups that take care of you...I think that's what a parent means."

"But I already had parents. I don't think you can have another set." Rachel said bitting her lip. She very much hoped that statement wasn't true.

"I think you could." Tommy said thoughtfully as Rachel helped him up. The two of them began playing together at recess a few days before and were becoming good friends. Tommy was scrawny and little like Rachel and the older boys never let him play kickball with them.