French will be in italics! English will be in regular.
While Ulrich, Yumi, and Aelita chatted, Marina sat on her bed reading Speak, and Anna was hanging up her clothes.
"So, you want to get lunch?" Ulrich asked them, he had found out Anna spoke French, but Marina didn't, he had yet to hear her in fact.
"Sure" Aelita said. "Anna, Marina, would you like to have lunch with us?"
Marina nodded her head, and Anna replied a "Yes". Ulrich nodded, and Yumi smiled.
"Let's go" he said, gesturing to the door for Marina's benefit. He led them out and noticed Marina kept to herself, unsure of when to say. "Yumi, will you help me with English?" he asked her.
"Yeah, sure" Yumi said, smiling.
They walked out of the dormitory and found their way down the path and to the Cafeteria. The building was made of grey bricks and surrounded by the trees, autumn leaves everywhere. The five entered the building and got to the small lunch line. They each picked out their trays and found a table by the window. Marina picked at her salad, watching the leaves swirl, Anna ate rapidly, getting to know Ulrich, Yumi, and Aelita.
"So, where are you from?" Ulrich asked.
"New York, I spent two years in France, and I liked it so much, my parents agreed to let me come here in the exchange program" Anna said, taking a big bite out of her Italian sandwich.
"Hmm… I grew up in France, not much to say other than that" Ulrich told her.
"Yeah, so did I, and then I spent last year in Japan, its incredible" Yumi mentioned, smiling on her joyful memories.
"I grew up in northern France, in the mountains, then I moved down here after my parents died, then Jeremy's aunt and uncle adopted me, so I'm liking it here a lot." Aelita said.
Hands covered her eyes. "Guess who?" a loving voice asked.
"Hey Jeremy, did you get your computer set up?" Aelita asked.
Jeremy sat down and nodded. "Hello, I'm Jeremy" he greeted the new comers.
"Marina" Anna said, gesturing to the girl still watching the leaves through the window. "only speaks English"
"Hello Marina, I'm Jeremy" he said. Marina's head jerked to him at the sound of his English. She smiled.
"Hello Jeremy" she said. Ulrich paid close attention to her low alto voice, it sounding like rushing waterfalls, graceful, beautiful.
"I'm Anna" she told him.
"Hello Anna" Odd said as he sat down with a tray filled with food. He shook her hand and began to stuff himself. Marina looked in surprise at his tray.
"Will you leave some for others?" she asked, sarcasm ringing through her voice. Odd smirked and shook his head.
William walked up to them and sat down. "Hey guys, how was Japan Yumi?"
"Great, this is Marina and Anna. Marina only speaks English" Yumi said, gesturing to each girl.
"It's nice to meet you guys" William said. "So, Yumi, what's your schedule?"
Yumi handed William her schedule. "Great, you and I have class 10C, that's great!" he exclaimed.
"Which reminds me, what grade are you guys?" Aelita asked.
"Ninth" Anna said.
"Me too" Marina replied. Ulrich had picked up enough English to be happy about that.
"What class?" Ulrich asked.
"9B, Marina has the same" Anna told him. Ulrich nodded, happy.
Marina stood up with her empty tray, she pondered over what little French she knew. "au revoir"
They responded in a chorus of goodbyes. Marina smiled and left.
She walked out the door and looked around, wondering what she could do. She knew very well that the school was connected to a forest, that there was a rec. room with foosball and that the library was open. She decided on the forest and took off running.
Ulrich continued chatting with his friends until he was tired of watching Jeremy and Aelita make gushy, romance comments and faces, and Odd and Anna stuff themselves to the gills. He picked up his tray and dropped it in the bin before heading off to the rec. room to play foosball.
Marina had found a tall tree on which to climb. Now perched on a high branch, she looked around. She could faintly see the dormitories through the thick branches. She heard the steps of two others bellow. Peeking out from her perch, she saw a couple walking hand in hand, whispering softly to each other in French. Marina ignored them happily and went back to just being alone and happy.
Eventually she had gotten bored with herself and climbed down the tree, jumping from the lowest branch to the ground, landing clumsily on her feet. She walked to the campus, looking for the rec. room.
The walls were a light green, complimented by the light hardwood flooring. There were two vending machines next to her, and a sectional couch a few feet away facing a large TV. There was a pool table and a foosball table, along with several booths in the far corner. Marina noticed that several girls were watching a romance movie, and that some had even flocked a guy or two over to them, their boyfriends no doubt, and had them watching the movie with them, arms around them lovingly. The pool table was taken up by a small game between two tall, muscular guys with their friends cheering them on, the foosball table however was being played by Ulrich and another boy she had yet to meet. He had thick brown hair and cold chocolate eyes, he was tall, and had a few muscles. She walked over and watched as Ulrich massacred this boy's ego.
The two were so into the game they didn't notice their audience until Ulrich had won.
"Hey Marina" Ulrich greeted. Marina smiled and made a meek wave,
"Hello, I'm Theo" the boy greeted, standing over her, looking her up and down. Marina shied away from him and looked down.
"She doesn't speak French" Ulrich told him.
"Oh, what does she speak" Theo asked.
"English" Ulrich said, gritting his teeth slightly.
"Hello Marina, I'm Theo" he greeted. Marina nodded, and turned to Ulrich.
"Can I play?" she asked, pointing to the table. Ulrich nodded and placed the ball in the center. Marina placed her hands firmly on the handles, ready.
"One" Ulrich said, holding up a finger. "Two" another joined the first. "Three." Marina turned the handle, sending the ball flying her way. She took the handle to the left, and positioned the ball, striking it through Ulrich's defenses. Ulrich caught it last minute and shot it to through, sending it up the table, only to have Marina stop in three quarters of the way there. They began playing rapidly, neither winning, nor loosing, until Marina scored the ball into the goal post. Ulrich smiled.
"You're good" he said, smiling. Marina hoped he had meant it as something good and nodded.
"He's right, you are good" Theo told her. Marina smiled at Ulrich and prepared for the next play.
Ulrich placed the ball down and counted down with his fingers, saying each number with it. Marina stuck the ball forward and the play had begun. This time Ulrich won.
The game played out like that, one rarely made it ahead by more than a few points, in the end, Ulrich ended up winning, and there was a huge crowd watching them.
"So, would you like to go hang out?" Theo asked Marina. Marina looked at him, debating what to say. Biting her lip, she looked at Ulrich, eyes asking for help.
"Actually, Theo, I wanted to introduce Marina to a few of my friends, Jeremy and Odd still haven't met her yet" Ulrich lied.
"Oh, okay. He wants to introduce you to his friends" he told her, pointing his thump behind him where Ulrich stood. Marina nodded and walked over to Ulrich, nodding.
Ulrich led her out, leaving Theo to stand there, feeling slightly rejected.
"You lied?" Marina asked. Ulrich thought over what she meant. He shrugged.
"Oh, hey, there you are, I got to show you two something" Anna said, first to Marina in English, then in French to Ulrich. She took their wrist in her hands and dragged them to the dormitories, leading them to the boys' room. Marina sat on Jeremy's bed while Ulrich just stood there.
"Me and Odd are having a pie eating contest" she explained to each in their own language.
"Let the games begin" Odd declared in both languages. They held their hands behind their backs, each facing their separate tables, where two stolen blueberry pies laid, hot and steaming, so fresh that Marina's mouth watered, though she was at least five feet away from the tempting source.
Jeremy counted down in French, fingers held up for one in particular's benefit, from five. Once the last number was uttered, Odd and Anna launched themselves down, facing away from each other. The sounds of muffled bites, slups, and hums of enjoyment as the warm blue substance echoed through their tongs. They surrounding audience of five watched the two, excited to see Odd get defeated. Anna's head shot up first, her face covered in warm blue goo, from cheek to cheek, her nose covered, her chin dripping. She smiled victoriously, licking her lips in sheer pleasure. Odd's head jolted up, a frown worn well. His entire face was, like Anna's, cover in the warm goo from his pie. His dog Kiwi jumped onto the chair and into his arms, licking his cheeks, enjoying the juicy flavor, savoring it to his rather short memory. Everyone laughed, amused by their friend's companion.
"I thought dogs weren't allowed on campus, if I knew, I would have brought Zabian" she said, a shadow of miss on her pale cheeks. Ulrich looked at her in fascination, he had caught on to the words "cat; brought; and Zabien" figuring Zabian was the name of her cat, musing on the odd name.
"They're not, Kiwi's a secret" Odd explained. Ulrich was finding English a difficult language to catch on, though many a time he had heard is was so difficult because the English and Americans loved to complicate things, even if it was the personal opinion of a few of his former teachers, he'd now come to believe it…
"Well, we have a long weekend in which students can go back to their families for four days" Aelita told her.
Marina's face flashed with happiness and a strike of deviation.
"I'm hungry" Marina commented.
"Me too!" Odd declared, his New Zealand accent slurring through his words, though it was rarely heard through his French, it did slightly effect the way his English sounded, but the new comers found it funny, Anna especially…
"You just ate" Yumi commented. Ulrich felt slightly left out, he was only picking up slight bits of the conversation. He motioned to Jeremy to explain what he had missed.
"Marina and Odd are hungry" he told him. Ulrich smiled a thank you before looking upon the group who was now joking in the language so foreign to him.
"Why don't we go to the cafeteria" he suggested. Marina looked at him, pondering over what he had meant.
"Want to go to the cafeteria?" Anna asked her. Marina nodded and the group of seven set off.
Xox