The following morning with a partly sunny forecast, Aizivaishe and Mufaro grab their school uniforms for Appleton, their new school. The school uniforms looked similar to the ones that their parents wore when they went to school in Zimbabwe with the plaid skirts and suit vests with the Appleton logo on the right corner of the vest. The logo had the letter A in cursive with the apple in the center. The family can thank the British for popularizing the school uniform that has been used in everything from Halloween costumes to pop culture as a whole.

"Why couldn't we pick our clothes? This looks like it came from a first grader." Mufaro asked.

"I know, right? Especially the logo; they could have done better than just a cursive A with an apple in the center." Aizivaishe agreed.

"Well, if that they want, you're going to have to accept it. Zvino chiuya! Iwe hausi kuda kunonoka pazuva rako rekutanga kuchikoro." Fadziso demanded, clapping her hands with the girls moving their uniforms off their beds. Now come on! You don't want to be late on your first day of school.

The girls knew that they were attending a new school, but they didn't think of all things they would wear uniforms. Not only do they live the reality that the characters from their favorite movies and shows where the protagonist attended a private school where academics were more important than having a social life. Unlike Appleton, their public school allowed them to wear whatever they wanted but at least for Aizivaishe, she didn't have to recycle the same clothes because Fadziso would chastise her for repeating the same outfits while her father also disagreed with her choices, he had the belief that it was better to be middle-class and neat than rich and raggedy.

"I don't know, it's not bad. They can do better with the logo though. It's not like private schools want to do something different with their logos. They just want a good reputation." Aizivaishe reasoned.

"How am I going to make friends with this stupid uniform? I'm not even British. I know for sure, those people will be prissy and snobby. I prefer to be an American student where I wear what I want without consequences." Mufaro declared.

"Um, I don't know. Whatever you say, don't come back crying back to me when you go to the principal's office for breaking the rules." Aizivaishe joked.

"It's not like I don't follow the rules. It's that I don't agree with the clothes and it looks ugly. I prefer to wear what I wear." Mufaro disagreed.

Despite her reservations, she puts on her white shirt that Fadziso had ironed along with Aizivaishe's shirt. Aizivaishe does the same and looks at her shirt before putting on her vest and skirt. With the uniforms on, the only problem was the kind of shoes to wear since the school didn't provide the shoes, unlike most private schools. Sneakers would only be used for PE, so it was a no-brainer that dress shoes will be the prominent choice. Mufaro goes to the closet to pull out her sneakers and flat shoes and pulls out Aizivaishe's sneakers and dress and shoes to give to her.

"Do you think we'll both have PE?" Aizivaishe asked.

"What do you think? Of course, we will! We don't have a choice but take the class that you don't like. Do you want to be miserable or happy? As much as the class sucks, it will help you." Mufaro sarcastically answered raising her arms in annoyance.

Aizivaishe looked down at the ground as Mufaro puts on her uniform and brush the edges of her hair. She slowly puts on her uniform and shoes and grabs her chapstick. She looks at the chapstick and puts it on her lips with the lingering thought that her father not being there to wish her good luck on her first day and the following days. While she was familiar with the school attended for 3 years, it was a new ballgame as her old school was mundane but familiar nonetheless. What would Appleton look like? Would it be like an old-school building or a modern school?

"Vasikana, tine maminitsi gumi nemashanu kuti tiende! Bata chingwa chekudya uye ngatiende!" Fadziso commanded with her thunderous footsteps getting a reaction from the girls to be quick and steady without being yelled at. Girls, we have fifteen minutes to leave! Grab some bread to eat and let's go!

The girls put on their shoes and grab their jackets to run downstairs all while preventing each other from getting severely injured from falling down the stairs they have been known for being reckless as they often slid down the stairs or the railing. They throw caution out of the wind and proceed to slide the railing with a stabbing pain in their heels once they stop their fall with their shoes. Thankfully, their shoes weren't damaged as they thought as their mother repeatedly told them whatever they do, never mess up their shoes. They run to the kitchen and shove each other out of the way to go to the fridge first.

Even though the girls had different views on education, the two things they can agree on are that the best part of school was lunch and study hall where they can socialize after four classes with the two class they like and the other two they don't like. Mufaro grab the bread and pull out two for each other.

"Hurry up, we don't want crumbs on the floor to attract ants." Mufaro said as Aizivaishe start to take a bite off the bread. Aizivaishe grabbed a napkin to hold the crumbs there. While their old home did have an occasional rat problem from crumbs or any other unknown reason, it was more modest than the other homes in their old neighborhood. In a Zimbabwean house, it was never a good idea to imply that someone is poor as they take pride in their reputation. They run to grab their backpacks and leave for the door. They lock the door and run for the car with Mufaro in the front door and Aizivaishe in the back.

"Are you guys ready?" Fadziso asked with the girls nodding their heads. With the head nods, the car backs out of the driveway and the first day of school, here they come.

After arriving at Appleton, Fadziso places the car on park and beams at joy that her girls would be back in school to offload the stress of her work and to continue to move forward in spite of everything that happened for the past three months.

"Girls, we're going to be okay. Your father may be gone, but he lives on in spirit. If anyone asks you where you're from, just say you're from St. Paul and you just moved here three months ago because well, we need a change in scenery. Whatever we have going on, we must keep it to ourselves. Always." Fadziso pleaded.

"What if the school looks up that information?" Mufaro asked.

"Still, that's no one's business but ours." Fadziso said, putting bass in her voice to make sure the girls obey their mother and not criticize the cultural traditions because it would break the privacy code.

Aizivaishe looks down as she didn't want to lie and her introverted nature helped her through her old school and Appleton might be her new hope. She leans over to kiss her mother on the cheek and Mufaro does the same, taking their mother's promise to heart. They exit the car and walk toward the entrance of Appleton.

Once the girls enter the school, they go to the principal's office and sit down to get their schedules.

"What classes do you think you'll get this year?" Aizivaishe asked.

"I hope it's math or chemistry. I know you're going to get English." Mufaro replied as the Appleton structure started to set in for them. The principal's office had the Renaissance feel with the décor and furniture with modern picture frames placed behind the principal's desk and anywhere that had a drawer. The structure at their old school was simply an average modern school with shelves of accomplishments and the history of how the school had evolved over the past 20 years. From the looks of the principal's office and the hallways, it seemed like Appleton had been around since forever.

As the girls wait for the principal, the loud footsteps boomed through the hallway with the girls knowing the footsteps were not kids running, but an adult with only adults wearing shoes that makes loud noises. The door opens and a young white woman with medium-length brown hair placed in a bun and carrying folders of flies.

"Good morning, girls. How are you doing?" the woman asks, smiling at them. The girls look at each other, wondering if the smile is fake or genuine.

"We're doing good. How about you?" the girls replied together.

"I'm good, thank you for asking. I'm Principal Crafton and I have your schedules on one of these folders. Before I pull them out, how do you pronounce your names?" Principal Crafton asked.

"Moo-fa-ro" Mufaro said first as many people would have trouble pronouncing it until she takes action to help and people would somewhat forget about it.

"A-zee-vay-she" Aizivaishe slowly said with Principal Crafton slowly nodding in bafflement and amusement as she slightly grits her teeth to her unlike Mufaro. She looks through her folder and stops when she sees the M file and pulls out Aizivaishe's schedule first to give her. She also pulls out Mufaro's schedule and gives it to her. They look at their schedules: for Aizivaishe, English first period, science(biology second period, physics third period, chemistry fifth period), lunch fourth, economics sixth, and math seventh. For Mufaro, chemistry first, math second, English third, lunch fourth, government fifth, home economics sixth, and seminar seventh.

"Here are your schedules. If you have any questions, please let me know as my office is open. You're free to go." Principal Crafton said before walking away.

The girls get up with their backpacks in their backs and lunches and schedules in their hands and open the door with them looking at each other with wide eyes and their mouths wide open.

"Did you see that?" Aizivaishe asked.

"Yeah, so? I'm sure that's how she introduced every student on the first day of school every year. It's kind of weird, but it is what it is. We just met her and might have to get used to her for the rest of the year. All I'm trying to do is avoid getting trouble and going to her office." Mufaro reasoned with slight sarcasm.

"No, seriously. Principal Crafton was weird like she's never seen people with names that are difficult to pronounce before. If we were Asian, like I don't know, Chinese or Japanese, it would be much easier. But we're black Zimbabweans." Aizivaishe somewhat agreed.

"Whatever, I'm trying to avoid her for the wrong reasons. I'm sure you'll do the same. The only person she hasn't met was Mom. You know if anything happens to us, you know who they'll call." Mufaro said.

"Do you think it might change later?" Aizivaishe asked.

"I don't know, I guess. Maybe she has a different way of communicating with her students. I don't want to keep going with this conversation. Principal Crafton is just weird and that's the end of that." Mufaro groaned.

A short encounter with Principal Crafton was like a gazelle having a soft shell on the outside with a predatory nature on the outside. Maybe Aizivaishe was getting too ahead of herself or she was making all of it up as Mufaro acknowledges that the weirdness but chooses to ignore it just as it didn't affect her as much. They split up to go to their lockers with Mufaro going to the left and Aizivaishe going to the right. Mufaro waves goodbye at Aizivaishe before walking away.

With all of her belongings in her locker, she sighs and opens the door to her English class where five students are sitting down with four of them are talking to one another. She walks to the one student who's sitting by himself and sits next to him. He had medium brown complexion with brown wavy hair, making it obvious that her, Mufaro, and the student the only black students in the school where everyone else was white.

"Hi, is this seat taken?" Aizivaishe asked, looking around.

"Oh, not at all." Her classmate replied, looking up at her as she sits down next to him.

"Where is Ms. Belden?" she asked.

"I'm not sure. Maybe she's at a meeting or she's not here." He shrugged.

"I hope she is. I also hope she's much nicer than Principal Crafton." She added.

"Me too, Principal Crafton was weird around me for whatever reason, but liked my mom." He said, making Aizivaishe not the only one to notice Principal Crafton's behavior.

"Is your mom black?" she asked.

"Yes, she's an Afro-Dominican. People think that she's mixed, but she's not. I'm mixed though because my father is black and white." He clarified.

"That's weird but cool. I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Aizivaishe." She introduced herself.

"How do you pronounce it?" he asked.

"A-zee-vay-she" she pronounced slowly with the student moving his head slowly to understand.

"That's cool. Is it Arabic?" he asked.

"Shona. It's a language in Zimbabwe and it means God knows." She replied.

"That's even cooler as I'm sure your family have dope names. I'm Booker." He extends his hand for a handshake.

"Well, it's nice to meet you." Aizivaishe shakes his hand. With Booker willing to talk to her, maybe the first day of school wouldn't be so bad.

"It's nice meeting you, too. I wonder if Principal Crafton acts like that when people different than her or she's a nervous wreck, but I hope she warms up." Booker said before they turn around when the door opens. Instead of Ms. Belden, it's a black woman with her box braids in a bun with a cup of coffee and a folder. She walks toward Aizivaishe and sits down on a desk.

"Good morning, Aizivaishe. How are you doing?" the woman asked.

"Good morning. How do you know my name?" she asked.

"I'm your learning specialist, Mrs. Jenson. I'm familiar with your name as I'm from Zimbabwe. When your mother enrolled you and your sister here, we had a long conversation in Shona about your old school not having the best accommodations, your father's death-" Mrs. Jenson let on before Booker turned his attention to both of them.

"I'm sorry to hear about that. What happened to him?" Booker asked with Aizivaishe covering her eyes with her hands as the Zimbabwean culture didn't allow anyone to spread bad news around others.

"I'm sorry, Aizivaishe. I should've not mentioned it. Damn it!" Mrs. Jenson stomps her foot in frustration for bringing up his death as it went against Zimbabwean culture to mention death of someone that wasn't a family member or friend.

"It was pancreatic cancer. He was struggling with it for a year and passed away four months ago. It was hard on all of us and I don't want to think or talk about it. Can we not talk about it, please?" Aizivaishe offered calmly before covering her face on her desk.

Something that was meant to be private for Aizivaishe and her family could possibly spread across the school and would cause Principal Crafton to call her mother with her unleashing her anger out on her, something that she wanted to avoid. It wasn't like grief was a normal thing for everyone to go through, but different cultures had their own way of processing it with some being private about it and Zimbabwe being one of them.

"I hope you can forgive me, Aizivaishe. I promise I won't mention it again. Zvakanaka?" Mrs. Jenson begged. Okay? Because Mrs. Jenson spoke to her mother, it could be a deal-breaker for the potential relationship between the Zimbabweans or her mother would forgive her.

Aizivaishe thinks long and hard even without her being in a school setting, her privacy was still violated. She was a child who was used to following the rules and it was better to keep it to herself. The learning specialists at her old school were at best well-meaning and at worst ignorant and clueless but for Mrs. Jenson, something about her was indescribable as being a Zimbabwean learning specialist was something that was rare in Zimbabwe with the belief that disability was a tragedy for the families and nothing to be proud of.

"I forgive you," Aizivaishe replied blankly as if she had no choice. Mrs. Jenson smiles at the approval with the possible relationship between her and her mother still intact. Aizivaishe pulls out her notebook and pencil in case Ms. Belden needed the class to do a writing assignment and because they just met, every learning specialist has their strengths and weaknesses and English might be her strong suit without her even asking.

"Oh, thank goodness. Well, anyway, for the rest of the year, I can help you with English, math, and chemistry. Even for subjects I'm not the best at, I can try my best and have someone else help with those subjects during study hall for the rest of the year. If you need any help, you can come to my office. Because it's the first day of school, it's basically introducing the teachers, principal, and all the other staff members. I also promise I won't bring up your father in the future. Deal?" Mrs. Jenson proposed as if she was making a deal for something far more sinister.

Aizivaishe looked up and down at her before shaking her hand. The deal was sealed and the school year might not be bad.