~ Jia-Ling | Lea ~
The Cantonese girl looked in the mirror. A usual look of boredom was planted on her face, and she sighed deeply. She tinkered around with her dark brown hair, and stared at her liquid gold eyes. She turned around, before grabbing her outfit for school.
As she grabbed the peach-colored floral dress, she looked at her thin legs and her pale skin.
She wasn't anything special, really.
Jia-Ling - or Lea; is a girl with six other siblings. All of them were adopted, and she was the latest one adopted, seven years ago, when she was nine. Her siblings are also of Asian descent: Chun-Yan is Chinese, Sakura is Japanese, Mei is Taiwanese and Kim Ly is Vietnamese, and from her two brothers, Yong Soo is from South Korea, and Ping is from Macau.
With six other siblings, she is usually ignored. Honestly, the only things Lea is truly known for is having homemade fireworks. Chun-Yan is an amazing cook, Sakura is an amazing writer, Mei is truly gorgeous, Kim Ly is very intelligent, Yong Soo is a terrific artist, and Ping is a social butterfly. They all have interesting traits, while Lea is just... there.
Lea is much stranger than them. She was born in Hong Kong, China, and her Chinese name is Jia-Ling, but was adopted by a British family, so she got her name changed to Lea. It turns out the British family had actually stolen her, so she was sent back to Hong Kong. That's when her adoptive father, Yao and his wife Anya adopted her; a Chinese man and a Russian woman. Lea wasn't into Mandarin, though, like Yao was. She liked Cantonese, and used it over Mandarin Chinese much more.
She put the dress on, and then grabbed her bag for school. It was the first day at her new American school. Over the summer, Yao and Anya decided that they were moving away from Asia, and here she was with her family, living in Santa Barbara, California. Her bag was an over-the-shoulder bag that was red with a white flower; Hong Kong's flag. She had a few panda clips on it, binders and supplies.
You could say that Lea loved to do as much as work as possible to keep herself occupied. It kept her from thinking about all the people who ignored and forgot about her existence, and occupying her head with thoughts of logic is an easier way to go, in her opinion.
She plopped herself down at the kitchen table, and waited.
Yao and Anya were already there, eating some waffles. Lea heard some footsteps, and turned around slightly. It was Sakura. Sakura's tiny frame but slightly large chest seemed to make her back ache a little, but Lea was sure Sakura was fine.
"Morning, Saki," Lea said lazily from her chair. Anya stood up from the kitchen table to out more waffles in the toaster.
"Ah - good morning, Jia-Ling," Sakura said, smiling softly. Lea's eyes smiled for what her mouth didn't. Lea appreciated being called her Chinese name when around her family, even if she wasn't noticed much. Lea nodded slightly, and waited for her waffle. She grabbed the gallon of milk and served herself some milk, while the ring from the toaster indicated the waffles were done.
"A nice girl at the market was selling these-aru. I think her name was Bella... I'm not sure," Yao mused as Anya placed the waffles on the plate in the center. Lea made a grab for one, and then she placed it on her own plate. She grabbed the maple syrup, and then put a nice amount of syrup on the waffle.
She quickly put the bottle down, and cringed when she heard Yong Soo's alarm... Gangdum Style.
Lea rubbed her temples in exasperation. He set his alarm off twenty minutes late, and to the worst song ever. She didn't even flinch when Yao yelled at her Korean brother.
"Yong Soo, turn that monstrosity off!" Yao yelled as Yong Soo probably fumbled with his phone. Yao rubbed his temples.
"Aiyaah... Yong Soo will never learn..." Yao muttered. Anya just smiled.
"He'll learn soon, da, Jia-Ling?" Anya said sweetly. Lea's eyes glazed at her mother's light purple orbs, before nodding slightly. Lea just grabbed a fork, and started stabbing her waffle, and taking a large bite when she finally picked it up with the utensil.
"Aiyaah! Jia-Ling, stop that!" Chun-Yan said. She had come down stairs, and she seemed to be tired. Sakura narrowed her eyes.
"Nene, be nice. She has to eat, doesn't she?" Sakura defended. Chun-Yan closed her eyes for a moment, and inhaled deeply.
"Jet lag... I'm sorry, Jia-Ling. I'm cranky, that's all..." Chun-Yan said, rubbing her forehead. She did seem sorry. Lea was at least thankful she got some type of attention from her family.
"Hello, the person who created the world has arrived!" Yong Soo shouted as he slid down on the stair rail. Anya was still smiling, but she walked over to him, and smacked him upside the head.
"Yong Soo, please stop that..." Anya said. Her purple orbs stared at Yong Soo's own, until Yong Soo blinked. He pouted.
"Mama...! That hurts!" Yong Soo said as he rubbed his head and blinked his eyes. Lea had seen enough, and only three of her siblings had come down to eat.
As Lea finished eating her waffle, she stood up, and moved to the couch in the living room. She heard Mei and Kim Ly, and Ping soon afterwards. After a few quarrels between Mei and Yong Soo, all six siblings ended up in front of the house. Yao was making sure all of them had what they needed, while Anya was starting the car.
"You all have pencils, right?" Yao asked, looking at his checklist. They all nodded.
"Eight notebooks?" The kids nodded again. Yao continued down the list until he was satisfied.
"Alright, get in the car." Yao said finally. Anya was in the driver's seat, so Yao made a pout at his wife, but otherwise let her drive.
It was a mess in the back of the car. It was a big car, and had nine seats; seven in the back, plus the two for the driver and passenger. Chun-Yan was behind Anya, Yong Soo was in the middle, and Sakura was behind Yao. Behind Sakura was Mei, behind Yong Soo was Ping, behind Chun-Yan was Kim Ly, and all the way in the corner, was Lea.
She sighed as she waited out the car ride.
~ Emil ~
"Emil, you have everything, right?" Nora pressed on, as she brushed her long, blonde hair. Even though she wasn't looking at him, she still had the serious tone in her voice.
"Yes, I do. I quadruple checked." Emil replied. Nora nodded, satisfied with his answer. She finished brushing her hair, and placed the silver cross clip in her hair. Nora turned around, and looked over her little brother.
"Hm..." Nora said. Her nimble hands went to fix his bowtie, and Emil rolled his eyes.
"Jeez, Nora. I'm not a baby." Emil said. Nora's dull blue eyes locked with Emil's strange violet ones.
"Maybe not physically, but you're still my little brother," Nora said firmly. "Besides, you can't tie these by yourself."
"Noraaaaaaaaaaa! Please don't tell anyone..." Emil said, blushing in embarrassment. A rare smile - tiny, but still there, grew on Nora's face, but it was almost immediately gone. The smile was dead, but Nora's happiness certainly wasn't. When Nora finished fixing his bowtie, the two siblings heard a loud crash in the living room. Nora groaned.
"Mathias is here," Nora stated. Emil frowned, but nodded.
"I didn't know that he just had the authority to just come in here -"
"He's my boyfriend. If he thinks he can do that, fine. I'll just choke him later." Nora said as she walked away from the bathroom and walked downstairs. Emil looked back at his sister, before sighing.
"I don't understand how someone can actually like that guy. I can't believe my sister is the one that likes him." Emil said, sighing. He followed his sister down, and when he got down, he saw Mathias assaulting his sister in affection. He was squeezing her waist and kissing her cheek multiple times.
"Oh my god, PDA alert." Emil said, covering the two from his line of sight. Nora rolled her dull blue eyes, and Mathias smiled cheekily.
"You know you love it, Emil! Seeing you older sister happy... you love it!" Mathias said, smiling as Nora smacked him away.
"You had your fun, now let's go. Eliisa And Berwald are waiting." Nora said. Nora grabbed her blue backpack, while Emil got his own plain black backpack. Mathias grinned when he stole Nora's backpack, but Nora quickly smacked him and got it back.
Emil's light hair blew in his face as he walked outside. The heat of the Californian sun baked the morning, something Emil wasn't used to. Being the person he was, he was not used to the heat. He was a creature of the cold, although he could withstand most hot weather; but it wasn't even eight in the morning. It shouldn't be so hot, honestly.
Emil's family lived a few blocks away from the school, so the three walked. Emil started thinking about how he didn't really have any friends besides his sister's friends, and how his only other friend, Michelle, moved away to Seychelles.
Emil was shaken from his thoughts when a familiar friend to the first three was approaching.
"Nora!" Eliisa shouted, running up to Emil's older sister.
Eliisa and Nora were best friends for a long time, and over the summer, Eliisa went to Finland. Nora and Eliisa had still texted and skyped, but it wasn't the same.
Eliisa embraced Nora in a tight hug, and the Icelandic boy watched as his sister cracked another small smile. He gasped softly. Nora smiled more than once within twenty minutes! Emil awkwardly stared as the two girls continued hugging, until Mathias nudged him softly.
"Your sister really missed Eliisa, huh?"
Emil gawked at him. "...No, Mathias. Of course Nora didn't; that's why she's smiling for the second time within twenty minutes. No shit, sherlock. Of course she missed her." Emil said, rolling his eyes. Mathias pouted, and when Nora stopped hugging Eliisa, he went and went straight to the whining.
"Babe~... Emil was mean to me..." Mathias said, snuggling into Nora's long, pale hair. Nora swatted him away.
"Not my problem. And don't call me babe." Nora said, rolling her eyes and keeping a neutral expression on her face as both Eliisa and Mathias snuggled against her. Eliisa suddenly unlatched herself from Nora's side, and went straight to Emil.
"You grew so much over the summer! You're so cute~!" Eliisa cooed. Emil blushed from all the attention he was getting from the Finnish woman.
"I only grew three centimeters… I'm not going to grow anymore. And I'm not cute!"
Emil fumbled under Eliisa's sweet words, and when he noticed Mathias video-taping him blushing, be blushed harder in anger. "Mathias, stop!"
Nora quickly grabbed the phone, and slid through Mathias's apps quickly, and deleted the video.
"Nora…!"
"Leave my baby brother alone."
As Nora and Mathias started bickering, Eliisa tried to stop them. Emil recovered from the blushing, and locked eyes with a girl. The girl was pretty; she had brown hair, a light pink flower in her hair, and a peach dress. He examined her a bit closer, and the girl stared back at him. Another boy - significantly taller than the girl, dragged her inside the school.
Emil had never seen before. Must be a new family or something, he thought. He quickly shook his head and looked back at his sister. She was wiping her cheek, and Mathias was rubbing his arm and pouting.
"You guys are already an old married couple, and you're not even eighteen yet," Emil said, rolling his violet eyes. "Try to get along more when you guys actually are an old married couple, though." Emil added, fastening his backpack.
He walked ahead, leaving Nora and Mathias behind.