First Day

"You've got everything in your bag? Ready? Ate breakfast? Brushed your teeth? Are your shirts perfect? Have you done your hair?" The moment Helia stepped out of her room Monday morning, her mother bombarded her with questions.

"Morning mum," She greeted her mother once the questions subdued and continued, "I've gotten ready but I haven't had breakfast."

"I'm sorry, baby. I'm just so nervous." Mare waved wind with her hands to her face, where slight traces of sweat existed.

"Mum, I'm the one who's going to school. Not you." Helia walked past her mother and went to the bathroom to wash her face. Mare followed.

"But I'm your mother."

"Which means what?" The girl wiped her face and applied some cream to not experience the dryness. "You need to relax. Even I'm not that nervous." She patted her mother on the shoulder.

And that was a big, fat lie. She was nervous. In fact, she wanted to not get out of her bed this morning if it wasn't for the ribbon and the thoughts of her parents being sad because of that. She very much influenced the family's emotions, which meant that her emotions affected her parents' moods and her grandparents' moods easily. She didn't want that on a Monday morning or the first day of a new school.

"Breakfast is ready!" Helia's grandmother screamed from the kitchen, and everyone gathered in the dining room.

Neo was already in his dark blue suit as he began working last week. His work was stable and he was not busy as before which gave him more time to spend with his family.

Next to Neo was Helia's grandfather, Mio, wearing samue (A monk's working clothes that can be worn by ordinary people too) and talking with his wife, Belle, or she preferred to be called the Japanese version of her name, Suzu, preparing the plates and arranging the food.

"Morning, my granddaughter." Suzu danced to Helia, forgetting she was talking with her husband and kissed the girl on the cheek.

"Morning, ma. Morning everyone." Helia smiled and sat in her seat. Her grandmother didn't allow people to interfere with her cooking or anything related to food and so the only thing they could do was wait patiently.

"Ohayo, Helia," Mio spoke softly. He had a clean-shaven head. Combined with the clothes he was wearing, he looked like a monk more than a monk.

"Morning, Helia." Neo greeted his daughter as he kept down the economical newspaper down. He then continued to discuss something with his father-in-law next to him.

"Mamadukes, what did you make?" Yes, Mare calls her mother motherdukes because Suzu would ignore her if she wasn't referred to that way. "It smells amazing."

"It's salt and vinegar harsh browns, tomato and cream turnovers and pears porridge hot," Suzu replied as she served everyone the right amount and put the pans and pots away in the kitchen. "Helia, your lunch is chickpea, spinach and chorizo frittata with avocado sandwiches."

"Thank you, ma."

"You're welcome." The grandmother finally settled down in the seat. "Now let's put our hands together. Itadakimasu."

"Itadakimasu." Everyone dug into the hot food and sighed. Mio, who had eaten this kind of food since his marriage, was still amazed as Helia, who got to know this food last week. Suzu ceased to surprise everyone.

"I think it was a slittle salty." The chef commented as usual on every meal which Mio replied with,

"No, it's not, hon. All is perfect."

"Aww. Thanks." All of them knew that she just wanted to hear that from her husband. "Helia, eat up quick. You have to be at the school as soon as possible."

The girl stopped and asked, "Why?"

"That's just how this country works." The grandmother shrugged her small shoulders and continued, "Besides, there is nothing wrong with arriving early but everything wrong with arriving late. Time is money."

"I'd make sure to follow that."

"That's my daughter." Suzu winked playfully and left her own daughter in confusion.

Mare pressed her fingers at the temples and wondered, "If Helia is your daughter, what am I?"

The grandmother looked at her daughter with an oh-please face, waved her hand and turned back to face her granddaughter. "You keep eating, child. I won't allow leftovers."

"Motherdukes, are you going to answer me?" Suzu didn't even try to look at Mare when the question was asked. The daughter turned to look at her old father and asked him instead. "Dad, why did you marry motherdukes?"

Mio smiled kindly and warmly at his daughter and wife's little drama and resumed eating as if nothing bothered him.

"Why aren't you answering me, dad?!"

------

Helia took a long stare at the students wearing the same uniform as her passing by. Hundreds were looking alike in her eyes and she got a hard time distinguishing the faces.

She wanted to return the ribbon before the morning assembly and the only way to that was to wait for the girl, Takanashi, behind one of the big sidewalk trees like a stalker near the school gate.

She was sure many people noticed her and thought she was a creep. If she wasn't wearing the uniform, there was no doubt that someone would have called the police.

Helia waited for the girl for as long as the time allowed but in the end, she didn't show up. She ended up being late to the morning assembly line for the class and had to go into the auditorium with the second grades.

Many had confused eyes and weird looks from the first time seeing a foreigner, or to be more specific, a black person. Obviously, the last time she came, she drew a lot of attention to her and today, she became a hot topic.

People were drawn to her beauty, her colour, and her nationality but the topic they whispered the most was about her sitting together with Takanashi. Some of them even turned to look at Helia with a mix of shock and disgust after hearing about the Friday lunch incident.

Helia rolled her eyes from hearing that and silently waited for the teachers to start their speech.

The principal wore the same lame beige suit with an almost-neon yellow tie. He looked like the perfect model for which colours don't go well.

She watched the principal talk but the pink watch on his wrist reflected sunlight straight into her eyes so she had to squint her eyes or just face down. Her focus was gradually attracted to the simple patterns of the wood and barely heard what the man was saying on stage. Something about the dorm, reconstruction, first exchange student of the school, unavailable, six months...

She only came back to her senses when everyone around her clapped for the principal for the 'wonderful and inspiring speech'. She clapped along with others and waited for the end as she stared into space.

Helia and others stood in the auditorium for twenty-five minutes until the bell rang and it was time for the first lesson.

As she walked back to the class with her fellow classmates together this time, the stares she thought had died down once again came back alive, more intense.

No one came to talk to her or disturb her on the way back. They quietly whispered among themselves as they threw glances, got surprised and sh*t.

When the group reached the class, Helia saw her bag outside of the room and remembered she didn't know where to sit yet. So as people got inside the class, she waited for her homeroom teacher outside of class as she pretended like she was looking for something in her bag to avoid eyes.

A while later, she saw a woman carrying several books in her hand, walking. Her hair was dyed light brown which didn't go well with her bland face. But she guessed that the teacher knew she had a bland face since she tried to hide the fact with a heavy load of mak up, making her look like the first victim that died in a horror movie after drunk-crying.

Her nails were painted red and were long and sharp as if they were bloody spears. She also wore a matching coloured skirt that was a little too short for her age. Even her top had a huge cut in the middle, almost showing her cleavage. Overall, she looked like she was trying her best to attract eyes and look young.

Helia greeted the woman politely and bowed when the woman approached but the woman just gave her a side glance as if she was annoyed and entered the class without returning the greeting. As she passed by, she smelled sickly sweet as if she was trapped in a vanilla extract for days or something.

'How rude and smelly.' The girl thought and followed the woman.

The woman was her homeroom teacher who was a woman in her early thirties called Hara and was also an English teacher.

Ms Hara briefly introduced the newbie to the class and almost began the class if it wasn't for Helia asking where her seat was going to be.

The teacher visibly sighed and looked around the class. She pointed at the corner seat, near the window where nobody occupied and didn't wait for Helia to settle down and began taking the record of attendance.

'Why do I feel like I'm hated by this teacher?'

"Heria Knight."

"Hai," Helia replied from the seat. "It's Helia. Not Heria." The teacher read her name so proudly with an R, probably trying to impress her non-English student that she can pronounce English names coolly.

All who thought the teacher pronounced the name correct looked at the woman either chuckled or looked disappointed in her.

Ms Hara seemingly got upset that her English got pointed out. She huffed to conceal her embarrassed state and resumed calling out names.

'Helia, you don't need to think. She HATES you. That's for sure.' Helia's inner self shook her head as she sighed. Everyone could see that the teacher was not fond of the newcomer.