“I don’t know. I don’t know, okay? My parents want me to go to out of town with Shani”

A

pparently, Tehillah took even more time curling her lashes than doing her hair.

“Do they really let you wear makeup in Toras Banos?” Rachelli asked, trying to sound casually interested. It was only seven in the morning, but Tehillah left to school super early. The alarm went off at six fifteen, an hour before Rachelli usually woke up. Now, irritation made her reckless.

Tehillah glared at her. “Go back to sleep, little sis.”

“Hey!” Rachelli sat up, indignant. “I just asked you a question!”

“So, are you going to run and tell on me that I’m wearing makeup to school?”

Rachelli ignored the question. “If it’s not allowed, why are you doing it?”

Her sister laughed, not the twinkly kind of laughter Rachelli enjoyed with friends. The sound was incongruous in the soft pastel shades of the bedroom. “Nobody in school bothers you about these little things. They have bigger problems to worry about.”

Rachelli curled up again, and watched her older sister pull on a sweatshirt and grab a small designer bag that couldn’t hold much more than her lunch.

When the door slammed shut a minute later, it felt like the walls breathed a sigh of relief, too.

*****

Of course, after all that Rachelli slept through her alarm clock and was late to school. Thankfully — and surprisingly — Mrs. Hertz wasn’t on time, either.

Etty waved her over.

“You’re lucky Mrs. Hertz isn’t here yet.”

“Mrs. Hertz has something against me.” Rachelli frowned, and pulled out a banana. “Breakfast,” she explained.

“So what’s doing? With your grandmother and everything?”

Rachelli pulled a face. “Please,” she moaned. “Give me a break from that, okay?”

“Sure.” Etty subsided.

“You’re going to Toras Banos, right?” Rachelli asked suddenly. “I mean, all your sisters went there.”

“Um, I think so. Why?” But her voice was un-Etty-like, it was guarded and a bit hesitant. “What about you? TB like Tehillah? Or dorming out of town, like Shani?”

Rachelli crumpled up the banana peel, suddenly annoyed. “I don’t know. I don’t know, okay? My parents want me to go to out of town with Shani.”

Etty’s freckled face crinkled in sympathy. “Oh.” Then, delicately, she added, “But you know, Toras Banos does have a big variety of girls… it’s a community school. Like my sisters are always saying there are different groups… I mean, I can understand your parents.”

Just then, the room went quiet. Mrs. Hertz swept in, slid her brown suede bag onto the desk, and began taking attendance.

I don’t want to dorm, Rachelli scribbled on a scrap of paper. I won’t know anyone there. Anyway, if Toras Banos is good enough for you and everyone else, why can’t I go there too?

She looked over at Mrs. Hertz. Rachelli’s lips tightened, remembering her uncle’s wedding last year, the awkward dancing with her future mechaneches and the downhill slide from their very first day in eighth grade.

“It’s like she has to prove she’s not favoring you,” someone — Shiffy, maybe, who sat behind her — had remarked a few days into the year.

“Well, I hope she leaves me alone soon,” Rachelli had sniffed in response.

But it had only gotten worse.

(Excerpted from Mishpacha Jr., Issue 768)