She spotted someone sitting at her usual table, and studied her for a few moments, nervous about what she was going to find out.
The girl looked like if Barb had a sister. Definitely a Harris...but it wasn't her...well, old her. This girl's hair was a different shade of brown and styled differently. But...there was something familiar about her, as if Rei had seen her before somewhere. She wasn't dressed in Barb's clothes either. She wasn't dressed in anything fancy, but the colors were definitely brighter than she preferred.
She sat down. "I...called you," she said, in her new very distinctive English.
"Yeah. What do you want? I mean...you were really weird on the phone," the girl asked her, rudely.
"Sorry...my English is not...always perfect," Rei said.
"Well, if you are going to live here..."
Rei felt a bit annoyed by that. "How many languages do you speak?"
"I don't..." the girl took a few seconds to get the message.
"I am Rei Meshida."
"Sarah Harris," the girl said.
Rei squinted at her...Two years younger....shrink the chest...brown hair...Fuck...I've been replaced by the head cheerleader...
"I don't have time for this," Sarah said, after Rei didn't respond. "I have to practice before class."
"What practice?"
"I'm on the JV Basketball team," Sarah told her. "I'm the star player...well I will be....when they give me a chance."
Okay...different life, but some of old her carried over. But she doesn't seem to remember.
"Well...good luck," Rei said. She paused for a moment. "Did anything happen yesterday after school?"
"Oh...is that what this is about?" Sarah said. "I didn't do it on purpose...I just didn't like her getting in my face, so I pushed her away. It was self-defense. Is she like a friend of yours or something?"
"No...it is..." Rei used the lie she'd told her mother. "I am to interview other students for my English class...to help improve my speaking...You were one of them."
"Well, find someone else...I'm not interested," Sarah said, finishing her breakfast and gathering the tray. "Honestly...you want to fit in around here...just watch what everyone else does and do that...And...burn those clothes." She dumped the tray in a nearby trash can and headed out, leaving Rei perplexed.
So...Sarah McMillan was now a freshman trying to claw her way to the top. She was now a junior...and Japanese. Where was the original Meshida teen?
