Welsh

Beck’s POV

Hera isn’t like most of the girls I know. She’s different. Not too girly but not a tomboy either. She’s just in between I guess. I still don’t get why I never saw her after the day she took me to my English class. On that same day I also had Welsh. Since she’s in my welsh class, then why didn’t she show up to the lesson on that day? I didn’t see her until Thursday. Where has she been for the past 3 days?

“So I’ll start the conversation on the day and say ‘Swmae. Fy enw i ydy Hera’. Then you’ll say ‘Swmae Hera, Beck ydw i’. Okay?” Shera is writing down some stuff while telling me this.

“Uuumm… Okay. What does that mean?” I ask her.

“It means ‘Hello, my name is Hera’ and then you say ‘Hi Hera, I’m Beck’. Nice and easy.”

I don’t mean to offend anyone, but Welsh sounds like gibberish. I don’t even think I can remember what to say for the test day. I’ll probably just end up embarrassing myself.

“Look, I know it’s not easy but I did ask Miss. Sanger if you could have a script on you just for this test, since you are new and have zero experience with the Welsh language. She said yes. So you don’t have to worry too much. Just learn how to pronounce the words right.” Shera hands me a sheet.

I take it from her and try to read what it says. I honestly have no idea what any of this means and I don’t know how to say any of these words.

Shera notices my furrowed eyebrows and how I can’t read this. She’s about to say something when someone stops her by calling us down for dinner.

“Come on then. Let’s go eat.” she tells me, leading us out of her room and down to the dining table.

“I got some Chinese.” A man who looked in his late 40s says. This must be Shera’s Dad.

“Dad. This is Beck. He’s my Welsh partner.”

“It’s nice to meet you Mr. Ross.” I say, shaking his hand.

Mr. Ross clears his throat and says “Same goes to you Beck. You’re not from here are you?” This is like the millionth time someone has asked me that.

“No sir. I’m from the states.”

“Okay then. Have a seat and let’s eat.” He offers me a seat next to him.

Shera has a really big family. There’s 6 kids. I’m sitting in between Hera and her Dad. In front of me is Bella, and next to her is Gabe. A set of twins, who I don’t know the names of, are sitting next to Hera. Then I heard the front door open.

“I’m back.”

A boy who looks similar to Hera walks into the dining room and takes a seat by game.

“Oh yes. Springrolls.” He says.

“Beck, this is my twin, Finn.” No wonder they look similar.

“Oh. Hey. You’re the new kid from America.” Finn says, while eating his springroll.

“Yeah. I’m Beck by the way.”

“This whole time I thought your name was Ben.”

I laugh at that. “Nope. It’s Beck.”

“So how has your time in Swansea been, Beck?” Mr. Ross asks me.

“It’s been great so far, but I haven't really gotten the time to explore this city yet.”

“We can take you,” Hera’s little sister, Bella says. She’s so cute.

“That’s nice of you Bella. I’m looking forward to that day.”

***

After dinner I helped clean up. I learnt that the twins were Irene and Scarlett. There are two sets of twins in this family. I’m now back in Hera’s room. She was sitting on her bed while I was on her chair by the desk.

“Hey can I ask you a question?” Shera looks away from her phone and faces me.

“Sure.” She answers.

“We bumped into each other on Monday but I never saw you after that. We’re in the same Welsh class. Why didn’t I see you there on Monday?” I questioned.

“Oh. Remember when I told you I was called up to the office?” I nod in response.

“Well it was because I didn’t show up to any of my Chemistry lessons last week. So Mrs. Owen put me in BSU for 3 days.”

“What’s BSU?” It sounds like some sort of disease or something.

“Like over here, if you get into fights or mitch any classes they put you in isolation in the BSU. Honestly, I never really knew what it stands for. But yeah. You just stay in this room for the rest of the school day and go home later than everyone else. Your time there depends on what you did.”

“What does mitch mean?” I’m trying to understand all the Welsh/British slangs they use here, but there’s just way too many.

“It’s like skipping. You know when you say skip a class. That’s basically mitching a class.”

“Right.”

“Have you ever had a Jaffa Cake?” She reaches out to get something from her desk.

“No? I don’t think I have.”

“Here. Try one .” I take the biscuit from her hand and take a bite from it.

“Is this a biscuit or a cake?” This thing is called a cake but looks like a biscuit. It’s confusing.

“It’s a cake. Hence why it’s called Jaffa Cakes.”

“It’s pretty good.” It really is. These biscuit-sized cakes had orange jam in them and chocolate on top.

“When do you have to be home?” I checked the time on my phone and it’s already 8:48.

“I guess I should get going now.” I get up from the chair and grab my coat from Shera’s bed.

“Oh...Okay. Is someone gonna pick you up or do you need a lift?”

“Nah it’s fine. I can just walk home. My place isn’t that far from here.” I tell her.

We head downstairs and Shera opens the front door for me. I thank her for dinner and helping me out for Welsh.

“You’re welcome. I guess I’ll see you on Monday then.”

“Yeah. Bye.”