Chapter Ten

The vacation period is over and Marina has to wake up at 5:50 a.m. to get ready for school. She wakes up with her cell phone ringing, takes a shower, and puts on her new uniform: a white blouse with buttons in the front, a black pleated skirt, 3x4 socks, and black sneakers. She chooses to let her hair down, which is long, straight and black in color, and grabs a black coat, because it is cold outside.

After thirty minutes, she is ready and picks up her backpack and goes downstairs for breakfast.

When she arrives in the kitchen, she finds Sandra making the coffee, while Miguel is reading the newspaper.

She approaches to where they are and Miguel notices her arrival and says:

"Good morning daughter. Are you excited to go to your new school?"

"Somewhat-Says Marina"-I hope I can make friends.

"Yes, you will, for sure- Sandra says, handing her a cup of coffee." -The people there are really nice. Here, drink your coffee and eat something so I can take you to school.

"Okay."

They eat breakfast in silence and Miguel gives her a kiss on the forehead and says:

"I'm going to work, take care."

After he says this, he approaches his wife, gives her a kiss and leaves the house.

They finish breakfast at 6:35 a.m. and Sandra gets the car keys while Marina does the dishes and goes to the bathroom to brush her teeth and put a light pink lipstick on her lips.

After ten minutes she leaves the house and gets in the car to go to school.

Sandra speeds her vehicle and they arrive at 7:00 a.m. on the dot.

She hugs her wife and enters the school.

The school is full of students and as soon as she enters the woman asks her her name and then hands her a piece of paper telling her her class.

She goes to the second floor and finds her room at the first door on the left with the sign written 1001CN.

She enters the room and hands the paper to the teacher. He introduces himself by name Felipe and says he is the history teacher. Marina introduces herself and sits in the first row at the first desk.

She decides to take advantage of the fact that the class hasn't started yet to read the school rules. The paper is small and doesn't have many rules, but because it is written in bold letters, she decides to read it:

School Rules

1- It is forbidden to use cell phones during class;

2-The time limit for arriving is a maximum of 15 minutes. If you exceed this limit, you will receive a warning and will start the second half at 7:50 a.m.

3- It is forbidden to hang around at school;

4-Whoever is a minor, may only leave with the authorization of the person responsible;

5-Whoever disobeys the rules mentioned above will be suspended and/or expelled from the institution...

She continues reading until someone approaches her and says

-Hello, are you new here? Pleasure, my name is Diego.

-Hello, yes, I'm new here.

He shakes your hand and says:

-What is your name?

-My name is Marina.

-Beautiful name.

-Thank you, are you new here too?

-No. I have been studying here since I was little, but I don't have any friends, because they say I am too nerdy.

The boy is very dark brown, wears glasses, and is very handsome. She decides to ask him to sit with her and he accepts.

The class starts at 7:30 a.m. and the teacher decides to use his class time to do a dynamic with the class.

The room was quite full and the teacher asked:

-Good morning students, for those who don't know me my name is Felipe and I will be your History teacher and to start our class I want you to write about what you think of the student who is next to you. No more than five lines.

As Marina was next to her new classmate, she had to write about him.

She thought for a while and started: "His name is Diego. I don't know his age, but he seems like a nice person. He is handsome, dark-haired, and wears glasses. He said that people call him a nerd, but I think it's charming that a person is studious. I hope we will become great friends, because I am new around here and he was the only one who talked to me."

Marina finishes writing and reads the note aloud and ends up discovering that he is 16 years old and has never failed any grade, only that he entered school late.

The boy reading about Marina makes her happy, because she is well praised: "Her name is Marina, she is a very pretty girl, white and with straight hair. I'm glad she talked to me, because I thought she would ignore me like everyone else does. She must be pretty smart and quiet, but it seems like she is sad about something, but she tries not to show it. I hope we can be friends."

The class applauds and the dynamic continues. The history class ends at 08:40 and the teacher leaves the room.

Marina takes a moment to review her Zap messages and has a message from her friend that reads:

"How is it going at school?"

"It's being cool, I met a boy and we became friends. Have you heard from your cousin?"

"Yes, he's fine."

Just as she was about to answer, her new friend appears and says:

"Do you like the new school?"

"Yes, it's quite nice."

"I was wondering if you wanted to take a walk with me in the city?"

"Yes, after all, I don't know much around here".

"Students, sit down, we're about to start Religion class," says Professor Luiza.

The boy sits next to Marina and the teacher fills the board with homework.

The class ends and the students go to break.

They go to the cafeteria and serve themselves with rice, beans and chicken and look for a place to sit.

Minutes later, a white boy arrives, with straight hair, black eyes, and very handsome.

He greets the boy and looks at Marina and smiles back and Diego looks at both of them and says:

"Marina, this is my cousin Lucas. Lucas, this is Marina. She's new here."

"Nice to meet you and welcome"-Says Lucas.

"The pleasure is all mine"-Says Marina.

"Can I sit with you?"

"Yes, of course-Marina says."

Diego looks at them both and remains silent. The boy sits with them and they talk about different subjects.

The bell rings and Lucas asks for the girl's zap and she gives him her number and his friend remains silent.

They go to the classroom and he doesn't say anything. Marina notices and says:

"Why are you so quiet?"

"It's nothing."

"Since your cousin arrived you've been like this."

"It's because he always wants your undivided attention."

"Relax, I'm not going to stop talking to you because of him."

"And the tour is on?"

"Yes, of course."

The class ends and they leave the school.

Marina sends Sandra a message saying that she is going to see a little of the city and she says: Okay, honey, have fun.

***

Diego drives her to the bus stop and they get on the bus going to the mall in town.

They arrive after twenty minutes and get off the bus and enter the mall.

The place is not big, but it has some small stores and a movie theater, and they are going to watch a movie.

They get to the 1 o'clock in the afternoon section and their friend says:

-Do you want some popcorn?

-Can do.

-I'll buy some then.

While he goes to buy the popcorn, Marina receives a zap from Lucas who says:

"Hi beautiful, what's up, doing what good?"

And she replies:

"Hi, I'm fine and you? I'm at the movies with Diego and you?"

"I'm fine. That's cool. I'm already working. Come by when you get out. I work at Casas Bahia which is near the movie theater you're at."

"Okay."

Your friend arrives and the two of them enter the movie theater. They watch "Like I was before you" and stay there eating popcorn and drinking Coca Cola.

The movie ends at 3 pm. They leave the theater, have an ice cream and go outside the mall, but before they leave Marina asks if there is a bookstore nearby and they go there and she buys the Twilight Saga Book, which costs 60.00.

She asks them to wrap it up and they give it to her and her friend decides to buy a book of the movie they watched, but he also buys the sequel called "After you" and asks them to wrap it up too.

They leave the mall and Diego says:

"I bought it for you"- he hands her the books as a gift- "I hope you like it."

"Thank you, but you didn't have to."

"I'd like to, but what about somewhere else?"

"I have to go home, it's getting late."

"Then good, bye. I'm going that way," he points to the right side, "because my house is nearby.

"Okay. Bye."

Marina goes toward the store where Lucas works and when she gets there she sees him wearing a gray uniform that she deduces is from his work.

When he sees her, he opens a wide smile and walks towards her and surprises her with a hug that lifts her off the ground and says:

"I'm glad you came. I have something for you. I hope you like it."

He goes to the counter and picks up a little box that has red wrapping on it and hands it to her. She opens it and sees several chocolates from Blacksmith Rocher and says:

"Oh, gee, thanks."

"Did you like them?"

"Yes, I love it. And hugs him."

They stare at each other for a while and after five minutes, he is released from work and offers to take her home.

Marina accepts and they drive to her house.

They talk to each other on the way and she finds out that he lives with his grandmother, since his father abandoned him when he was small and his mother died in childbirth.

He is 17 years old and works at Casas Bahia as a young apprentice.

Marina thinks it's only fair to tell him about her life, and after she tells him about her life, he tells her that if she wants he will take her to see her sisters again, and she is very happy.

After forty minutes, she arrives home. He hugs her and she goes into the house, takes a shower, puts on jeans shorts and a beige blouse, puts her hair up, and goes downstairs to the kitchen and makes a hot misto with mango juice.

Then she goes to her room and listens to music, does her homework, surfs the Internet, and falls asleep after a few hours.

Before she knows it she hears her cell phone ringing and sees Lucas' name on the screen and answers:

"Hey Marina, sorry to call you at this hour, but I just wanted to know if you wanted to go to my grandmother's birthday party tomorrow."

"Yes, of course, what time is it?"

"6 pm. I'll come by your house to pick you up or you can come by my work and I'll take you and bring you home."

"Okay, it's a deal. At school we'll talk more about it."

"Ok, good night, beautiful."

"Good night, Lucas."

He ends the call and she gets out of bed and goes downstairs to dinner to find everything dark.

She turns on the light and sees that there is lasagna in the oven and rice in the pot. She decides to heat up the food and have dinner, since it is 11 pm and she has overslept.

After five minutes, she puts her food away and sits down at the table and eats her dinner in silence.

When she finishes, she washes the dishes and when she was about to go up to her room, she sees something different moving at the door and she comes closer and sees a kitten.

Marina opens the door and takes the little cat in her lap. He is all white, all furry, and since there is no one around, she decides to take him for herself.

She feeds the kitten and puts him in her room, but he won't stop meowing and she decides to let him sleep in bed with her.

As she was going to sleep she receives a message that says:

"Marina, are you going to school tomorrow? It's Diego."

"Yes,I'm going and you?"

"Tomorrow is my grandmother's birthday and I was wondering if you wanted to spend the day with us after school?"

"Is the same grandmother yours is Lucas's too? "

"Yes, why?"

"He's invited me to your grandmother's birthday party in the evening, but I'll spend the afternoon with you if you want."

She listens to a moment of silence until he sends a message that leaves her a bit confused:

"Then let it go. Tonight you go. Have a good night."

Marina doesn't understand, but just replies with a "We'll talk better at school" and puts her cell phone on top of the dresser and goes to sleep with the feline by her side and thinks: I have to find a name for you and she ends up sleeping and this time she ends up having a good dream.

Marina dreams that her parents are alive and are living in the same house as before in seven lagoons with her brothers and her friend near her, but suddenly Lucas appears and says: -Marina, I am really liking you, I know we have known each other less than two days, but you are already becoming someone very important in my life. And she says: -I don't even know what to say. At this moment he approaches her and kisses her. She responds to his kiss, but they stop the kiss when Diego appears and says: -Get away from her Lucas, because I met her first and then his friend Jura appears and says: -Get out you guys, because no one is going to play with the girl I love and he approaches Marina and they have a passionate kiss and she says: -I thought I didn't like you, but the truth is that I love you.

She wakes up smiling and thinks: "What was that dream? Do I love him? I have to text him to clear that up and it will be tomorrow."