It had been well over three weeks since Elain began her new school, and though it that long, she could at least go to all of her afternoon classes now, she even had a blank period after lunch which she used to travel to the school and head to the library to go over notes for an upcoming class.
That was until one student kicked her chair to get Elain’s attention.
“Hey!”
Elain jerked and turned in her seat to a Caucasian girl with dark curly hair and matching eyes, wearing a baggy hoodie dress and skinny jeans with flip-flops, all seemed to be some type of brand-named clothing but Elain didn’t care.
“Yeah? What is it?”
“You’re in my seat!” the girl stated.
What? She thought dully. “I’m sorry, what?”
“You.Are.In.My.Seat!” she punctuated the word as put her hands on her hips, glaring at Elain angrily.
“Riiiiight.” She said prolonging the word. “Look it’s just a chair, there are plenty of places to sit. The library isn’t even busy right now.”
She folded her arms across her chest and continued to glare at Elain. “It’s not just a chair, it’s my chair! Now move your Indian ass out or you’re going to be sorry!”
Elain was shocked, but just for a moment before she stared at the girl blankly. Not this shit again. She thought as she sighed. “That’s not what I am.”
“What?”
“You said I was Indian, I’m not.”
The girl scoffed. “Uh, yeah you are! What else would you be?”
Oh my god. “Uh, no, I’m not Indian, or whatever you think I am. I’m actually black, but I really don’t think me sitting in this comfy chair has anything to do with my skin colour in this conversation. Just saying.”
The girl balked at this. “You’re not black. You don’t even look it when you compare it to other black people I know in school. Come on; you’re Mexican or Arab, aren’t you? You gotta be, you look it.”
Elain didn’t want to respond as she lightly gripped the elbow of her right arm; this wasn’t what she wanted to deal with while still trying to get used to her new school.
Just then another girl with Asian features with dark brown hair in a short bob with a neon blue highlight on the right side popped out of an aisle of books and looked at the questioning girl and charged into the conversation. “Hey, Emma! When the hell did you become the master authority of deciding if someone is their race?” she demanded as she strode over to them. “I’m half-Asian, but I’m shit at math, and I don’t know everything thing about my home country because my Dad was born here when my grandma immigrated. Does that make him or even me less Asian? The girl here is who she is, fuck off with your bullshit. And news flash, girl, we all don’t fit neatly into a fucking box, especially if we’re mixed. Get the fuck over yourself.”
The girl named Emma stammered, then noticed many other students watching, waiting to see what would happen, so she turned and muttered. “Fuck you,” and left.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” the other girl said before looking at Elain. “Hey sorry for butting in like that. I just thought you might need some help since she was saying that crap.”
“No, thanks for that. I was kind of hoping to avoid it, or not hear it, at least for a while.”
“Yeah, I get that.” she then held out her right hand. “Victoria Cho, but everyone just calls me Vic or Vicky.”
Elain took Vic’s hand with her left. “Elain Ortiz, but you seem to kind of know who I am already… that’s a bit weird.”
Vic shrugged. “I know a lot of kids here since I’m part of the editorial department of our school’s newspaper. I tend to have a pretty good eye for faces. At least, that’s what my S.O says. Plus, I heard from the teachers that we have a new student from the States whose taking things slow with online classes. Was I wrong?”
“No, you’re not. I’m from the States.”
“Neat, what part?”
“Manhatten,”
“Cool,” then the look on her face changed. To an expression of teasing interest. “Hey, you’ve been around the school, right? Want to see my favourite hang out during lunch?”
“Uh, sure?”
Vic then proceeded to take Elain to another part of the school where the larger classrooms were located for the trades, such as art, woodworking metal shop and auto.
“Ta-da! My hangout spot!” Vic proclaimed when she dramatically opened the door.
“The art room isn’t a hang-out spot.” A tall person with dark red hair in a messy bun and freckles said in a rather dull tone as they placed down a large plastic bin on a wooden table splattered with layers of dried paint. “You know that, Vicky.”
“But when else am I going to see you?”
“After school? Before school?” the person said, then quickly added while pointing an accusatory finger at Vic. “And no, messaging me at midnight does not count as either one of those.”
Vic slumped her shoulders and pouted in response. “Boooo…”
The redhead looked to Elain. “Hi, I’m Robin Howell, sorry about Vicky. She can be a bit out there sometimes.”
“No, it’s fine, she helped me earlier with another girl, so I don’t mind.”
“It was Emma again!” Vicky proclaimed from the other end of the room while looking at some of the pottery.
“Oh, yeah, her. I can see why; Emma has always been the kind of person to define someone’s race or gender rather heavily. Claims to stand up for those who are less off but takes it waaay too far. Makes a big fuss when you don’t conform to her views, but that could be said with a lot of folks with a bunch of different things.”
“Yeah, I hear you.” Elain agreed.
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“So,” Vic prolonged the word drawing Elain’s attention. “Besides dealing with that clusterfuck of a situation, you like the school?”
“It’s fine, I’m just surprised how accommodating the teachers are.”
“They weren’t at your old school?” Robin asked.
Out of habit, Elain gripped the sleeve of her shirt that hid her graph. “No,”
Both Vic and Robin glanced at each other before Vic spoke up. “Say, uh, we haven’t gotten anything to eat yet. Do you want to join us? There’s a pretty cool café just outside the school, and the teachers let us go buy lunch there. They have really good hot chocolates and the best brownies. Just saying.”
Elain looked at them hesitantly. “I don’t want to waste your time.”
“It’s not if we’re asking,” Robin stated. “Besides, I need a break, and I know Vicky hasn’t had anything to eat since she’s been working on that upcoming deadline for the paper.”
“Hey, reporting the news, accurately, and properly is a serious deal!” Vic proclaimed. “No way in hell am I going to let myself be accused of Fake News, like that old president that looks like a balding orange.”
“Oranges don’t have hair,” Robin stated.
Vic folded her arms across her chest looking proud. “Exactly,” then looked at Elain. “So? You in or what?”
Elain thought about it for a moment and then smiled. “Sure, why not?”
“Awesome! Off to the café of wonders!” Vic proclaimed.
“Can you not call it that?” Robin asked with a sigh.
“Never!” Victoria replied with a laugh.
* * *
The rest of Elain’s day went well, and even though there was a slight bump in the midst of it, she didn’t expect to become such quick friends with Vic and Robin. They were down to earth, mostly, and pretty chill.
It made Elain think of Rebeca and the others back in the States. She had wanted to send her friends a message but didn’t know what to say, she didn’t want to be so painfully awkward, but then any message would be.
And she didn’t want them to feel guilty either, what happened to her was not something they should blame themselves for, since they had, and Elain hated that.
Still, she had to send something…
God, I’m an idiot. She thought as she got off the bus and walked up the street to her house, she didn’t need to watch Amalie today, and in all honesty, she liked being able to go to and from school on public transit. Just something about letting herself enjoy the walk from the bus to her new house was enjoyable.
“I’m home,” Elain said when entering the house, seeing Kaya in the living room with the TV on doing school work.
“Welcome back,” Nate called out from the kitchen, as he was doing his own studies on the kitchen island. “Dad’s in the basement and Mom’s still at the hospital.”
Elain paused when setting her backpack down and noticed the pile of mail that was left haphazardly on the island’s countertop. “Wow, that’s a lot.”
“Yeah, there’s something in there for you, with some real fancy handwriting.”
Elain picked up the envelope in question. Fancy handwriting was right. Though it didn’t take a genius to know who it was from.
“This is from Mr. Hilmarsson,” Elain said as she looked at the back, noticing that Alastor merely put: From your neighbour A.H on the back using his initials. Where did he learn to write like that? The style reminded her of letters written from those during World War 1 and 2. It was so elegant and sophisticated. The man had to have been a high-ranking noble in his past life to have such fancy penmanship. “He did tell me that he’d send a check for watching Amalie after school when he needed to go out.”
“He sent you a check?” Nate whistled. “How much did he give you?”
“Probably a hundred bucks or something like that.” She said as she used a letter opener that she grabbed from the stand that held various knickknacks and other things like pens or scissors. “I mean, I’m only keeping an eye on her for at least three to four hours a day during the week. Maybe I can buy a new game or something.” She said with a laugh as she opened the letter, only for her smile to fall, her heart nearly dropped into her stomach as the colour from her sink slowly began to turn pale.
Her brother paused from her homework and frowned in confusion. “El? What’s wrong?”
She then bolted out of the house.
“Elain, where the heck are you going?” but Elain didn’t respond as she quickly made her way across the street to the man’s house.
Alastor was currently in the process of making dinner when he heard a frantic knock at the front door. When he opened the door, he was greeted with a confused expression on Elian as he smiled at her. “Good evening, Miss Ortiz. What may I do for you this fine night?”
She held up the check. “I think you added a zero when you didn’t mean to.”
He took it and merely looked at the check still with that same smile. “I see nothing wrong with it.” He says as he hands it back. “I told you that I would pay you well for your services, and I meant what I said. I’m not about to go cheap just because of your age.”
“But this is way too much!” pointing to the check that was now back in her possession. “There’s no way I can accept this amount, Mr. Hilmarsson.”
He tilted his head, still holding a subtle smile. “Now, why is that? I paid you for looking after my daughter. I think the rate is adequate. And besides, had you worked the weekend, if I didn’t get off, I would have paid you more.”
That made her heart nearly stop. “Please don’t do that, Mr. Hilmarsson, really, you don’t have to pay me so much. Just how much are you giving me for every hour?”
“About sixty dollars an hour, the woman who I hired before, Lauren, I was paying her at least one hundred dollars an hour. And the check is for every week. If it were biweekly, it would have been much more.” He paused when seeing her shocked expression, then added. “If it makes you uncomfortable, why not put it in a savings account? You can use it whenever you are with Amalie on the weekends if I need you. Which I might for the whole weekend coming up, or even use it for your family or something you wish to save up for yourself in the future like college or university if you wish to go. That’s the only compromise I’m willing to do because I have no intention of paying you any less.”
Just how much money did this guy have?
“But…” he held up his hand to stop her.
“No buts, I’ve decided to trust you in looking out for my daughter, and my trust is something I never give out easily.” His smile turned soft. “It’s thanks to you my daughter is even smiling again. A genuine smile that I feel like I haven’t seen in so long.”
She looked at the check warily before looking back at him. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, now I’m just about finished making dinner. Would you care to join us?”
“Oh, no, that’s okay. I was just taken aback by the amount, and I wanted to be sure.”
“You deserve it,” he says to her with a teasing smile. “Never think otherwise.”
She looked at him with surprise as a smile came to her face. “Thanks.”
“There is nothing to thank me for. If anything, I should be thanking you.”
Elain continued to smile, albeit with slight embarrassment now. “A-anyway, I should get back. My family is probably wondering why I ran out like a bat out of hell. Tell Amalie I say hi, and text or call me when you find out when you need me for the weekend. I’ll bring over the show Avatar the Last Airbender for her to check out.”
His smile broadened. “I’m sure she’ll be delighted.”
With a quick goodbye, Elian made her way back across the street, where her brother was leaning up against the porch for her. “What was that all about? Was something wrong with what he gave you?”
“No nothing like that.” She said as she headed in and into the basement where her father made half of it a part of his office. “Hey Dad, tomorrow could you take me to the bank in the morning? There’s something I need to do.”
“Sure, what is it that you need to do at the bank?”
“I received a check from Mr. Hilmarsson for watching over his daughter, and I want to put it in my savings account.”
“That’s a good idea, it’ll rack up in no time, be sure to thank him for it.”
“I already have, also Mom called. She said to order out, you okay with pizza?”
“Sure, anything with meat and garlic.”
“Alright,” she then headed back upstairs, and then to the second floor, pausing in the living room to see her brother and Kaya watching the first season of Avatar the Last Airbender again for the umpteenth time. “Hey Nate, could you order pizza? Dad wants the usual. An extra-large with ground beef, extra bacon slices and roasted garlic.”
“Sure, garlic sauce too, right?”
“Yup, got to keep those pesky vampires away somehow.” she then headed up the stairs and into her room, when she closed the door, she pulled out the folded check from her back pocket, Elian still wasn’t all too sure about accepting this, but given he was so genuine about it, it eased some of her concern.
Still, getting such a large amount of money to watch his kid for only four or five days in the week seemed excessive, but since he was paying her sixty bucks an hour the total did add up. She just never expected to get one thousand and two hundred dollars from it. It made her wonder briefly how much money the man had but stopped that line of thought knowing full well it was none of her business.
She wasn’t about to pry into such a kind man’s life.