2 Chapter 2: The New Kid in Town.

It was around 5:15 pm when I arrived.

The Kensington building looked dull with a little bit of fancy against the sun. Once inside, I saw the landlord, Mr. Gutierrez, sitting up front of his greeting desk.

"Hello Elena" he greeted.

"My aunt doesn't come back from work until 5" I respond back.

"I just wanted to ask if you could give your aunt this letter" Mr. Gutierrez reaffirmed as he gave it to me. "Just don't tell her who's it from".

"Sure, whatever".

Mr. Gutierrez has been attracted to my aunt ever since he laid eyes on her. For a man in his late 30s, he sure looked like he was 50. He had grey hair on his sideburns & always wore a golden crucifix on his neck, not to mention overweight (not trying to sound offensive or anything). Generally, he's kinda of a grouch, but never around my aunt and I.

I walked up the stairs, heading to apartment 47, the place known as my home. It was a fitting apartment for 2 people. 1 bathroom, 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, & a living room with carpet floor. I headed towards my room & placed the sphere under my bed.

"Sure hope my aunt doesn't find out about it".

The last time I brought something to the apartment was when I found a street cat when I was 8. The poor cat was lonely & I always wanted a pet. Unfortunately, my aunt hated cats, & Gutierrez had just discovered he had cat allergies. I was left with no option but to give away the cat. She told me he was going to be okay at an animal shelter she found along her path to work.

I hear a ding on the door, signifying that my aunt had just arrived from work.

"I'm home!".

I let my aunt in & help prepare dinner. It was a simple Spaghetti & meatballs.

"So...how was your first day of school?" She asked.

"Fine".

"Any new friends?".

"I met a lot of my old classmates from last year" I respond while chewing on a meatball.

"Have you joined a club like I told you to do?" She asked with significance.

Damn it, I completely forgot about that.

"Clubs aren't actually starting until...next week" I lie.

Well that's good to hear" she response. "You have more time to think about which ones you want to join".

"Why are you obsessed with me joining some clubs?" I ask.

"Its for your own good" she points out. "You need to have a social life. I don't want you turning up like some dusty relic by staying all day here or at the library".

"I have my interests."

"Of course you do. You draw & paint, you read who knows how many books, but that's not what life is all about, Elena!" She tries to explain. "My coworkers have their own children & you know what they do, they go out, they hang out, they have sleep overs, stuff that's real fun! Why can't you be more like them?".

"I don't know, because I'm NOT!?".

"That's why I'm asking you to change for once in a while" she kept on going. "Just try to act more like...a normal girl".

A normal girl?

What does my aunt know about being normal? All the time, I've tried fitting in with the groups and cliches at my school but nothing has never worked. Sometimes I want to yell at her & call her out for being upright ignorant. I love my aunt, but she doesn't bother to understand who I am. Girls at my school may love the color pink & talk about gossip & boys, but I would rather talk about...stuff that doesn't revolve around boys! Does she know that I would much rather play a sport than cheer for it? Or that I feel like I'm being forced to be Mexican barbie doll with a ribbon of perfection?

I went through the same usual morning as my aunt dropped me off at Gardner. I got more & more ridiculous notes on my locker as I hanged my backpack inside.

"CALICO GIRL" read one of the notes as I tore it off.

"The grievances of life itself" I began to mutter.

Out of all the names I found annoying, calico girl was the one that got to me the most. Being called after the ugliest type of cat a person could ever come in contact with, it sure feels insulting. Meanwhile, I had yet to get information regarding the clubs this year, & they're not so interesting.

"Now where do I begin?" I began to wonder as I looked at bulletin board for information.

Newspaper: Most the articles featured in the school paper look & feel dull because there's nothing interesting or new to report, and what is reported is just the average.

Chess: I joined in 5th grade just for the fun of it. Auntie wants me to be involved in other stuff so let's put that aside for a while.

Student Council: screw that.

Math Olympiads: screw that as well. I may be smart, but not that smart.

Environmental Club: sounds cool, but starts in March.

German: don't plan on visiting Germany.

Spanish: I'm already taking Spanish as a class, why would I still continue it though a club? From what I've heard, the club is either filled with a lot of white people or latinos who don't even speak Spanish that much. I'll think about it.

French: worth a try.

It was the only club left that got my attention, so I signed up for it. It's meeting was going to be next Tuesday, I better annotate that on my Assignment notebook.

Once I got to the history classroom, I found my friends in a little chat. I went towards my desk & sat there as usual. The only think I wanted to do at the moment was either take a nap or read Quijote. Mr. Klaus then appeared right before the bell rang.

"Attention class" he announced. "Today, we have a new addition to our class".

I looked up to see that right next to Klaus was the new student: a boy with dark blonde hair & fair, yet tan skin.

"Hello, I'm Felix Griffin, I'm 13 years old & I'm glad to be part of the academy" he told the class.

"That's good to hear" commented Professor Klaus. "Now, why don't you sit next to...Ms. Cruz on the right".

Felix then sits on the desk next to me. He turns around to face me, with a smile on his face.

"Hello, I'm Felix" he greets me. "Pleasure to meet you".

"Elena" I greet back.

The professor then began class with more events that lead to the American Revolution. As I start annotating, I can't help but notice that Felix stares at me. The reason behind it must have been my eyes, who else wouldn't stop looking at a strange girl with strange eyes. I don't know why, but I get strange feeling about him, but not in a good way.