" So, this is the last floor. There are 2  chemistry labs,  2 PC classes, and 3 other classrooms with no special equipment that we use for all kinds of activities. Well, not all kinds of activities, if you know what I mean," Marie said and winked at me. I smirked at her.

" I see you know what I mean. Good, " she started laughing and I knew we're gonna get along pretty well.

I had to start laughing too because it was impossible not to.

We spent almost 20 minutes wandering around the school. It had 4 floors, and I already forgot what was on the first.

"Okay, so, I guess that's it. Toilets are at the end of the hall. You're definitely gonna get lost here, that's for sure. But don't worry, in the beginning, it happens to everyone. All the classes have their name written on the door so it helps a lot. Just remember to never enter the last toilet on the first floor. And don't ask me why, you don't want to know that. " She suddenly sounded very serious.

I wonder what happened there. Or still happens. I made a mental note to myself to somehow, SAFELY, find out.

" We should probably hurry up, otherwise we will miss the next class. It's a Geography. Do you remember where it is?" I looked at her with wide eyes, and if they could talk, they would say " Are you serious?".

She laughed again and shook her head. "It's on the second floor"

"Well, lead the way because if I would do that, we would end up on the attic"

The rest of the day was alright. I decided to stick with Marie, and she didn't seem to mind it.

All day she kept talking about teachers, classmates, and basically everything.

I wonder how it that possible that she has a voice.

I also noticed that everyone was acting friendly towards her. Like, not really the popular kid that everyone wanted to be friends with, but there also wasn't someone who seemed to hate her.

  "You have really beautiful hair. I would give up everything to have hair like you. Do you dye it?" she suddenly broke the silence while we were walking down the hall for our last class.

"No, I've never dyed my hair. This is my natural color."

"You've got to be kidding me. It looks like your head is on fire. But in a good way. Like woooooah!"

So far, no-one was ever so impressed by my hair.

Maybe because having ginger hair is not so special in where I come from. As cliché as it sounds, it's true. In our town, there was really a lot of people witch ginger hair.

But here, I barely see a redhead." Well, thanks I guess"

" Wait, I'm not done with the compliments yet. I also adore your eyes and freckles. I've always wanted freckles. And green eyes. Damn, you look like a witch! "

I looked at her, wide-eyed. This is the first time someone called me a witch. Am I liking it? I'm not sure yet…

" Ou, don't be offended. I was complimenting you, remember. You look like a witch, but not in a bad way. When I was little, my parents used to tell me that if I won't tidy up my room, a witch will come and take me with her. And if that witch would look like you, I wouldn't tidy my room. I would gladly welcome her and ask her to have a cup of tea with me. "

I was still a bit shocked.

First of all - what kind of parents say something like that to their kid?

And second - I still wasn't sure whether I like being a witch or not.

I mean - come ooon, they are scary and ugly and scary and ugly!

But I decided not to complain. I didn't want to lose my first potential friend. We entered the classroom and I immediately took a seat next to Marie.

I was following her like a lost puppy.

We still had like 5 minutes before the class was starting, so I decided to take a quick look at my phone. I found a message from my mother.

Mom: Hello 🍯, how's the day going so far? 

I couldn't help but smile because of the emoji. She only recently learned how to use them, because she is an old-school person and all these technologies are killing her.

Aila: So far, so good 🙂 how about you?

A few seconds later I received another message.

Mom: I can't wait to tell you at home. It's so wonderful here.

The smile faded from my face when I read the word "home". I'm not ready to call this place a home yet.

"Everything alright?" Marie suddenly asked. "Yup, all good."

" If I were you I would put that phone away for now. Our Spanish teacher isn't really a fan of those." I nodded and put my phone back to my backpack.

"So here are my most favorite students! Hope you're having a great day so far!" a short woman said when she entered the classroom and closed the door behind her. I figured that she's the teacher. To me, she didn't seem like a person who would have a problem with phones.

" Ah, is that a new face I see here? Cómo te llamas? " She was looking at me.

Sweet baby Jesus.

What do I do?

What about answering the question, Aila?

Good idea Aila.

" Me llamo Aila. " I said quietly.

" Oooo, tu nombre es muy interesante. "

" Gracias," Whole class was looking at me. I swallowed and tried to act cool. But the teacher kept asking me more questions so I had to keep answering them.

I didn't even realize that we spent the whole lesson by talking until the bell rang. The teacher wished us a good day and before she walked out of the class she gave me a huge smile.

"Where did you learn that?" Marie wondered, walking by my side.

"Uhmmm, at my old school, there were way fewer students, so the teachers could pay more attention to every single one of us. I always loved languages, so the teacher kept teaching me more than the others." I simply answered. I never actually realize that I was that good.

" Cool. Going to a school like that must have been really good. I wish some teachers could pay more attention to me. For example the new young PE teacher. " She frowned and twisted a strand of her hair around her pointer finger.

"You're unbelievable." 

"You're only saying that because you haven't seen him yet." 

"We'll see about that," I said and raised both my hands in a defensive position.

" You have a tattoo?" Marie said, looking at the letter tattooed on the inner side of my ring finger on my right hand.

"Uhmmm, yeah."

" What does it mean?"

"It's nothing. Just something I got done a long time ago."

"Long time ago? You're 16, and I doubt you got it done when you were like 9. C'mooooon, tell me what does it symbolize, " she pleaded.

And for a while, I was thinking about telling her the truth.

The truth that made my heartache.

No.

I wasn't ready for this.

" Maybe some other time, I gotta go. Thank you for the tour, I really enjoyed it. " I said and already started walking away.

" You're welcome. See you tomorrow, new friend." I heard her yelling from behind me.

New friend. She wants to be friends. She already thinks we are friends. I have a friend.

I left the school smiling like an idiot.

* * * * *

When I came home my mom was still at work, so I was alone with my dad.

I found him in the kitchen. He was standing behind the counter and cursing.

"Dad, don't tell me you're making pancakes again. Last time we ended up painting the whole kitchen…" I slowly approach him. When he heard me behind him, he jumped a little.

"Gosh kid, you startled me!" He was wearing an apron that had "Hot chef" written on it, and he held a bowl with melted chocolate in his hands.

"Sorry. So what are you up to?" I asked again because our kitchen apparently wasn't on fire. "I wanted to make you a" Welcome back from the first day at school cake " but you came early," he frowned.

I almost started crying.

This day turned out to be way better than I expected.

I'll definitely mention this in my diary.

_________________________________________

A/N - So Aila has a friend. If you like the story & you wanna know where is this gonna lead, please don't forget to hit the 🌟 button
Hope you're having a good day 😌