Dressed in her bathrobe, Rachel walked down the dorm hall carrying a towel and a plastic bucket containing soap, toothpaste, and shampoo. In the bathroom, she took up a position at one of the sinks and turned on the tap. Man, am I beat! She thought as she splashed her face with cold water. Getting up for a nine A.M. class on Friday morning sure is a drag when you’ve stayed up until all hours partying the night before!
As she patted her dripping face with the towel, Rachel heard a familiar—and detested—voice greeting her. “Good morning, Rachel,” Becky cooed sweetly.
Rachel made a face into her towel. Then she lowered the towel to give Becky a cool stare. “Hi, Becky.”
“Rainbow, remember?” Becky said with a smile, seeming to take pleasure in Rachel’s unfriendliness.
“Rainbow. Of course.” Rachel squeezed some toothpaste onto her toothbrush. “And how is your prism of personality this morning?”
Rainbow laughed airily as she ran a comb through her black hair. “Oh, I’m just fine. No, make that fantastic,” she amended. “I had the best night of my life last night. Want to hear about it?”
Rachel didn’t really. She knew that Rainbow had spent the evening with Ned—she’d seen them together at the party. Rachel had hoped that when Ned spoke with Rainbow he’d figure out that she wasn’t for real, but apparently it hadn’t happened that way. Just the opposite, in fact.
Rainbow didn’t wait for Rachel to reply. “I danced for hours barefoot under the stars with your very own cousin, Ned Wakefield,” she said. “I’ve been trying to catch his eye since the first day of school, and it looks like I’ve finally got him.”
“You had one date, and I happen to know my cousin’s very independent. I wouldn’t say you’ve got him.”
“Oh, no?” Rainbow’s lips pursed in a smug, self-satisfied smile. “You should have heard the things he was whispering in my ear last night.”
Rachel frowned at Rainbow. “Why are you so interested in Ned, anyway? I wouldn’t think he’s your type. Wouldn’t you have more in common with someone like Hank Patman?” Rachel said, naming the most stuck-up boy she could think of.
Rainbow laughed. “Oh, Hank’s OK if you’re looking for someone to shower you with diamonds and drive you around in a flashy car. But that’s not what I’m after.”
“What are you after?” Rachel asked.
Rainbow didn’t answer the question directly. “I knew Ned was the one for me on the very first day of Intro to Legal Process. We discussed a case, and Ned made some comment that Professor Young said was brilliant. Brilliant,” Rainbow repeated. “I’d already seen for myself that he was gorgeous. So he became the obvious choice.”
Rachel was still baffled. “The obvious choice for what?”
“A boyfriend,” Rainbow said, dabbing face lotion on one smooth cheek.
Rachel gaped at her. Rainbow caught her eye in the mirror. “You have to go after what you want in this world,” she continued. “You can’t settle for second best if you want to get anywhere. And I have plans. I plan to follow in my father’s footsteps. I plan to attend the best law school in the country. It’s certainly going to be convenient,” she added nonchalantly, “to have a boyfriend who can help make sure I graduate with honors.”
Rachel couldn’t believe her ears. This was the girl who’d been spouting off about women’s liberation at the SPAN meeting! “Is that what this—this—prism of personality stuff is all about? You just wanted to get to Ned so you can use him?”
“Did I say that? I didn’t say that.” Rainbow gave Rachel an innocent look. “Don’t be so uptight, Rachel.” She bent toward the mirror and began applying dark liner to give her eyes a slanted, exotic appearance. “As long as your cousin’s happy, what do you care? Live and let live!”
Rachel grabbed her bucket and stomped from the bathroom in disgust. Rainbow was an utter fraud... and she had her claws deep in trusting, idealistic Ned. Somebody has to tell him the truth about her, Rachel realized, and it looks like it’s going to have to be me.
* * *
Rachel wandered through the crowd at the outdoor concert on the quadrangle, oblivious to the music and the revelry. She couldn’t relax until she got a chance to talk to Ned. Judy grabbed her and pulled her into a crowd of people, their arms waving and their long hair tossing, but Rachel escaped. Then she spotted Ned.
“Hey, Ned!” she called.
He turned. “Hi, Rachel. Some party, huh?”
“Some party,” she agreed with false enthusiasm, bobbing up and down to the beat as if she were having a good time. “But it’s not as wild as the one last night. I saw you hanging out with Rainbow. I suppose you were talking about SPAN.”
“We talked about everything under the sun and moon,” Ned said. “You wouldn’t believe how much we have in common, Rachel.”
Yeah, right, she thought grimly. “Did you talk about your prelaw classes?”
“As a matter of fact, we did. We rapped about the paper topic for Kalben’s course. She came up with some great ideas.”
Rachel would have bet anything that the great ideas had all been Ned’s. Becky had probably just manipulated the conversation to make it look like she was contributing.
“I’ve never met anyone like her,” Ned continued, not picking up on his cousin’s doubtful silence. “We share all the same dreams and values. She’s like a soul mate.”
“Hmm. That’s interesting.” This was worse than Rachel had expected. “I’m actually a little surprised you two got along so well. I had the impression Becky was a very different kind of person. I mean, at the beginning of the semester she was hanging out with Hank Patman’s crowd.”
Ned narrowed his eyes. “What are you trying to say?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe just that Rainbow isn’t exactly what she seems.”
He shook his head. “I’m disappointed in you, Rachel. I thought you were more generous than that. It’s true Rainbow comes from a privileged family a lot like Hank’s, and her father is an ultra-conservative judge. But in my opinion that just makes her political commitment even more admirable. She wants to practice a very different kind of law than her father does. She wants to change things. As for being rich, she told me she’s decided to renounce all earthly possessions so she can be unburdened in her search for spiritual fulfillment.”
“And you believed her?” Rachel burst out.
Ned’s eyes flashed. “Yes, I believed her. I believe in taking people at their word, in trusting people.” A pained note deepened his voice. “I can’t believe you’d be so cynical. I thought you’d be happy for me, Rach.”
Rachel bit her lip and remained silent. She was afraid to offend Ned further, and if she said anything more she knew she would. She wanted to be happy for her cousin, she really did. And if Ned had met the right girl, she would have been. But Becky Foster wasn’t the girl for Ned—Rachel was sure of it.
Ned and Rainbow lay on the grass under a tree on the quadrangle. A feeling of deep peace filled Ned’s heart. “I’m so happy with you,” he told her.
“I’m happy with you, too.” Rainbow kissed the tip of his nose. “This has been a wonderful two weeks.”
The two had been together constantly since their first date. They met for meals, studied at adjacent carrels in the library, held hands at rallies and concerts, and just plain hung out. With every day, Ned grew more attached to Rainbow, more absorbed in his feelings for her. “Are you sure going steady isn’t too old-fashioned for you?” he asked. “It’s not the hip way to handle relationships these days. Seems like nobody sticks with an ‘old man’ or ‘old lady’ for more than a couple of days.”
“I’m not into the love-the-one-you’re-with stuff.” Rainbow smiled. “Unless, of course, I happen to be with you.”
Ned kissed her. Rainbow kissed him back for a few seconds, then pushed him away gently. “Come on, you promised you’d help me rough out my paper for Intro to Legal Process.”
“Your paper?” Ned sat up and ran a hand through his rumpled hair. He looked at the clock on the student union. “We can do it tonight. Right now I think we should gather all the members of SPAN and go to the rally. Our presence and solidarity could really have an impact.”
Rainbow sighed. “I’d love to go to the rally with you... what rally?”
“The rally to persuade the school administration to officially denounce the U.S. role in Southeast Asia! Everybody’s talking about it.”
“Of course,” Rainbow said. “That rally.”
Ned jumped to his feet, extending his hand to Rainbow. “You round up the girls in your dorm, and I’ll get the guys from mine. The rally starts at four. I’ll meet you there.”
An hour later, Ned and a bunch of his dormmates crossed the quadrangle on their way to the administration building. As they walked they were joined by dozens and dozens of others also heading to the rally. Arriving at the administration building, Ned caught his breath. It was an amazing sight. Hundreds of students and members of the faculty were gathered on the broad steps of the building. Some carried protest signs, and others were giving inspirational speeches through bullhorns. “Power to the people!” Ned shouted, thrusting his fist in the air.
He scanned the crowd for Rainbow and spotted her lingering at the fringes. “We’re going to block the entrance to the building so no one can come or go without hearing us out,” he told her, seizing her hand. “C’mon!”
She hung back. “It’s kind of crowded up there...”
“I’ll keep you from being crushed,” Ned promised.
Reluctantly, Rainbow followed Ned to the door of the administration building. The steps were packed with students holding hands to create an unbreakable human chain. Whenever an administrator appeared at the door, the students pressed forward, stamping their feet and shouting, “U.S. out of Southeast Asia!”
“Look, it’s the president of the college,” Ned said.
The president had appeared at the door. “Clear the steps!” he boomed. “Send a committee if you want to address a grievance. I won’t negotiate with a mob!”
Rather than abating, the chanting increased in volume. The president retreated. The students pressed forward and some began pounding on the door.
Suddenly, Ned heard the piercing shriek of police whistles behind him. “Clear the steps!” a cop bellowed through a bullhorn. “Bring the protest down to the lawn!”
Ned was willing to heed this suggestion, and so were many of the students around him. But they were so closely packed together, they couldn’t move quickly. Confusion developed as many students attempted to retreat while others continued pushing forward. “Cool it,” Ned urged his fellow protesters.
“Let’s get out of here,” Rainbow pleaded, tugging at his hand.
But before they could move more than a few inches, they were assaulted by a smothering cloud. Tear gas! His eyes stinging, Ned wrapped his arms protectively around Rainbow, who was bent over, coughing. There were cries and shouts; through his tears, Ned saw that the police had entered the crowd, wearing gas masks and using their billy clubs as prods to herd students away from the building.
It happened in the wink of an eye. Ned saw a fist fly. An angry protester had lashed out at a cop! Someone shoved heavily against Ned and he shoved back, trying to preserve his balance. The fight escalated rapidly. Concerned with shielding Rainbow from the fray, Ned didn’t have time to react when he was grabbed from behind and his arms were pinned. Before he knew it, his wrists were in handcuffs. “Hey, what’s going on?” he demanded.
All around him, students were being handcuffed and shoved down the steps to police vans. “You’re under arrest for disturbing the peace and defying police orders,” the cop snapped.
“I wasn’t doing anything wrong!” Rainbow cried. “Take these things off me!”
Her protest went unheeded; she was herded into the van along with the others. “I can’t believe this is happening,” she said fearfully as the van sped off. “What are they going to do to us?”
“Just take us to the police station and book us. We won’t have to stay long,” Ned assured her.
“Take us to the station and book us? You mean we’re going to jail?”
“I won’t let them separate us. They probably won’t keep us more than a night, anyway. There are plenty of witnesses to testify that we were trying to move peaceably away when the police gassed us.”
“I’m not spending a minute in jail, much less a night,” Rainbow declared.
“I’ll be with you,” Ned reminded her. “I’ll make sure you’re safe.”
“Oh, right. I’m really going to rely on you!” Rainbow snapped. “You’re the one who got me into this mess in the first place!”
Ned’s eyebrows shot up. “I got you into this? How?”
“By dragging me to that stupid rally! I should have known something like this would happen. This is what I get for hanging out with long-haired, hippie fanatics, most of whom haven’t taken a bath in a month!”
Ned stared at Rainbow. He felt as if he were looking at a stranger. Was this the girl he’d fallen in love with? “If you fee that way about them, if you feel that way about me... why did you get involved with SPAN? Don’t you believe in Students for Progressive Action Now?”
“You must be kidding,” Rainbow said. “That’s a bunch of baloney. You’re suckers to think you’re going to change anything with your little marches and rallies. Look how far you got today! I can’t believe I thought you could help me get ahead. All you did was help me see the inside of a jail!”
Ned shook his head, baffled. “I don’t get it.” He lowered his voice so the other students in the van, who were talking about calling lawyers as soon as they got to the station, couldn’t hear. “I thought we shared something, Rainbow. I thought we saw the world in the same way. I thought we cared about the same things.” I thought you cared about me, he could have added but didn’t.
“Well, you thought wrong. And I thought wrong, too. I thought it would be cool to hang out with a guy like you.” She laughed harshly. “And let me assure you, you’ve shown me a good time.”
Ned narrowed his eyes, trying to get her in focus. For the first time, he saw beyond the feathers and the beads, the silky hair, the velvet-smooth skin. Rainbow, whoever that was, disappeared, and he found himself looking at Becky Foster, whoever she was. But Ned still didn’t get it. He recalled his argument with Rachel. His cousin had tried to warn him; she’d suspected that Rainbow—Becky, rather—was putting on an act. But what could have motivated her? “Why did you lead me on, Becky? Why did you pretend to be someone you’re not, feel something you didn’t feel?”
“I thought we could help each other get someplace we both wanted to go,” she replied. “And look where we ended up. In jail! But as for leading you on, did I really, Ned?” Her gaze was steady and completely without warmth. “It seems to me I didn’t have to try that hard. You saw what you wanted to see in me.”
Struck by the unexpected and undeniable truth of her words, Ned fell silent.
When the twenty arrested students climbed out of the van at the police station, Rainbow quickly pushed her way to the front. “I’m Becky Foster,” she informed the officer behind the main desk. “My father is Leonard Foster. Judge Leonard Foster. I’d like to use the phone immediately.”
A few minutes later, Becky waltzed from the police station with her father. She sure didn’t hesitate to take advantage of his influence, Ned thought ironically. So much for wanting to be a free spirit, a different kind of lawyer than her dad! She didn’t even give a backward glance to Ned, whom she left behind to be charged and booked.
As he waited for a chance to call his parents, Ned’s anger grew. But now he wasn’t just hurt and angry that Becky had used him to get good grades. He was mad at himself for being duped. Ned gritted his teeth, remembering the papers and assignments he’d helped her with. He’d been so smitten, he’d almost compromised his academic integrity. How could he hope to become a political leader when he’d let the first pretty girl who blinked her eyelashes at him and told him what he wanted to hear make a fool of him?
If I want to be effective in the future, I’ll have to stick to business, Ned determined. He wouldn’t be fooled again.
