Everyone in Woodbridge had an obsession with the heterosexual notion that unless anyone is involved with anyone of the opposite sex they were in the danger if being outcast. Allen did not buy the theory, but was none the less intrigued.
“Out of all the Girls here in this school, who do you like?” asked Rachael, as if Allen had to decide on a model of car at a dealership. “Don’t worry, the information is strictly confidential and it is just a survey to determine and ascertain your preferences.” Said Rachael and Neal nodded in agreement. Allen, felt like the deer in front of a speeding truck on a moonless-night with no clue. He was never frank with his feelings, let alone making known his preferences in the opposite sex! If he lied and pointed out some poor girl, he knew that they would try their level best to hook him up with her. To make matters worse, Neal was assured him, “you have to give us a reply”. He did not want to alienate his new friends upon whom his existence at Woodbridge depended- nor did he want to “spill the beans”. The fact was that ever since he saw a certain girl he had developed a sort of a crush on her, but that was before he knew that she was seriously involved. Allen thought, “How could life be so cruel? How could she not know?” So, making the wise decision Allen decided to lie through his teeth. “No, no one I met here and /or saw did catch my fancy.” Neither of his new two friends believed him but after a few minutes of prodding they left Allen alone. Allen had just avoided a catastrophe. That was the last time he ever thought about it. Real life, Allen noticed was not as forgiving and easy as the movies and this question still seems to haunt him…
Rachael on the other hand had materialised to be a big problem in Allen’s life as both Allen and Rachael were competing for Neil’s attention. He had to face her every day, even talk to her and somehow mask his true feelings… Allen figured out a way, he would fight with her at every opportunity he got, he would completely alienate her. He would get her to be mean to him. But, to Allen’s bewilderment the task seemed easier said than done. She was not that easily scorned. She kept forgiving him some times out of her own benevolence and sometimes due to Neal.
Things went on this way and soon everyone knew that Allen hated Rachael’s guts and Rachael absolutely abhorred Allen. Poor Neal, he was the victim of this constant bickering between two of his most trusted friends.
Allen, in his master plan to estrange Rachael from his life started planting stories about Neal in her head. Which he found was pretty easy. Just a simple, “So Neal, who was that girl we met at the coffee house, the other day” uttered within ear-shot distance was enough to cause a domino effect. Rachael, at the prospect of another girl taking even a fleeting interest in Neal would go ballistic. Typically poor Neal would be grilled for about half-an-hour in front of his peers. He had a hard time balancing his social dignity and explosive relationship with Rachael. She was the typical specimen of the “Girl-friend”. It was difficult to know where Neal ended and Rachael began. Their lives were entwined; their dreams seemed to be straight out of a Mills and Boon Novel. Everyone just wished that Rachael would find her own Identity and passion.
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