Before I begin I would just like to point out a blunder I made…I said I'd be able to get it all done by the last week in October…but obviously that hasn't happened because I forgot that I had to write the June chapter (this chapter) because I stopped sooner than I planed in the last chapter because it was getting too long and I was tired… so here it is…
June
The gates were Kaie's first impression of the school - large and imposing made of rock and metal.
The car made its way down the winding driveway on a paved, yet forest route. The school was still not visible and Kaie beginning to regret not looking up the school on the internet while she had been at the hotel.
Finally emerging from the trees Kaie caught the first glimpse of the school. Or to be more accurate – schools.
Her confusion must have shown on her face for Kirkov said, "Our school is really a network of five schools under the same name. Each school speaks only one language so it is easier to learn the language. The dorms groups are made up of four candidates from each school to enforce the feeling of unity."
Kaie nodded even though she hadn't understood most of that. He spoke way too quickly and with an accent she wasn't used to. She may have been one of the top of her class but her weakness had always been understanding the language with different accents and slang.
The car stopped and Kaie got out. She was standing in front of a large but stately building that looked to be two stories tall. Kirkov walked straight into the building along with the driver and Kaie followed closely behind.
"This is Vanova, Kiska. She is enrolled in the summer programs, correct?"
The receptionist nodded and handed Kirkov a pamphlet, and he in turn handed it to Kaie. Kaie looked at it and read it over. Thankfully reading had always been her strong point. The pamphlet explained the different summer programs that the school offered.
There were many choices for the programs – everything from sightseeing to courses in different languages to make-up courses or gardening.
Meanwhile Kirkov and the receptionist were continuing their conversation.
"Kirkov she does not have the required courses. She still needs to complete this math course and this science course."
"Very well. She is with us till June next year so she will complete them in summer school. I do not know how eloquent she is in Russian so she will have to take the test and if necessary take a Russian course as well."
The receptionist nodded and typed away on her keyboard. After a moment she stopped and said, "I will print off the grade 10 exam for her to complete. She can complete it in one of the spare rooms."
Kaie was motioned to come so she followed Kirkov not knowing what was going on. As soon as they were out of sight of the office Kirkov said in brisk Russian, "We are unclear as to the Russian you know so we need you to complete a test."
They arrived at an office and so Kaie sat at the desk. She was handed the test and a small box with a button on top. "Press the button when you are done." He said then left Kaie.
Kaie – understanding only complete test and press done – started the exam. It was excessively challenging. It was a difficult paragraph and even harder questions.
For example: In line 3 where it states "He hast futilely declared" is also a line in which poem?
Kaie had no idea – she hadn't heard of most of these poets. So closing her eyes and pointing to a letter she circled it and went to the next question which was just as difficult. Kaie clenched her teeth in frustration. How was she supposed to know this stuff? It took her ages to understand what they were saying and once she did understand she had no clue what the answer was.
Kaie skidded through the test and overall was sure of only five questions and that was because they were all pertaining to an article about beyblading and she could guess accurately on those.
She let out a long depressed sigh and pressed the button. Almost immediately Kirkov entered and began talking to her. He then poised a question to her and she had no idea what he said.
"Could you please repeat that slowly?"
He did so, but Kaie still had no idea. She realised it was due to the fact that she was translating in her head rather than thinking in the language because she hadn't adjusted.
Kaie answered the best she could but Kirkov didn't look especially impressed.
So this torture continued for half an hour. By the end Kaie was ready to hop back on any plane and leave.
The questioning stopped when he began marking her sheet. She kept her eyes down as he marked. She didn't want to know how she was doing. She knew it was badly.
Kirkov handed her the test. "Vanova, these results are very disappointing."
Kaie looked at the paper and was shocked to see a 36 circled in big red bold letters. "I thought I knew Russian better than that." She said quietly.
"Pardon?" he asked.
"I said…I though I did better." Kaie said pausing to properly conjugate the sentence.
"Is your first language English?" he asked
Kaie nodded. He got up and Kaie followed him back to the office. There was a rapid and quick conversation between the tow and Kirkov declared; "You will complete an RSL course during June. It starts tomorrow."
Kaie nodded. Immediately a young woman entered the room. She was about 5' 8" and had disturbingly blue eyes that raked over her soul. Kaie did her best to hold back a shiver.
"Vanova, Kiska. She is your new ward and does not speak Russian very well. She will be with us until next June and will be taking a RSL class during June and will participating in the summer programs as well. Ensure all her forms are in on time.
Vanova – this is Ms. Clarova"
The lady nodded and motioned for Kaie to follow. Kaie took a deep breath and followed.
"Tell me about yourself."
Kaie mentally heaved a sigh of relief. She could easily understand this accent.
"I'm fifteen – my birthday is coming up. I don't really have any hobbies except that I enjoy singing. My first language is English, but I think my first words were in Russian. My Russian is pretty bad because I haven't used it since December when I took the final exam."
"Why are you here?"
Kaie was silent. "To learn Russian." She said and left it at that.
They reached a dorm house and Kaie was lead inside. The common room was very nice and cosy. A medium sized television was in one corner and opposite it were three couches all clustered around the table.
Ms. Clarova lead Kaie up the stairs to a room and the far left end of the hall.
"I'm afraid that you are the only student here for now. The next student won't arrive till the middle of July. Generally the students go home at least for two weeks in June, though most don't return till the week before school resumes on August 15th. And at the beginning of the year you move dorms anyway so don't get too moved in."
Kaie nodded, so Ms. Clarova handed her a folder and left.
Inside the folder were around thirty sheets. The first one was the information on the RSL program and was written in English. She began in two days and continued till July 1st – on which she wrote the exam which would determine what Russian class she was in – normal or extra help.
The next one was about the summer programs and was six pages long. Following it was the translation into English.
There was a map of the school, which Kaie immediately placed on her desk, a course list, and the rest of the pages were information about the school in Russian and English. She looked over both, and was interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Come in." Kaie said
"I forgot to tell you that you Russian class starts tomorrow. Because your first language is English and we do not offer have an English school here you will take the class tomorrow. Meet at the office at 9:00 sharp. We will leave if you are not there."
Kaie nodded.
"Dinner is at 7:00 tonight in the main hall. You will sit with the зеленый цвет (green) house. Look for me."
Kaie nodded again and was again alone. She quickly strode over to her desk and removing a pencil from the drawer she wrote that down on the back of the school history.
Kaie spent the remaining time till dinner reading the history of the school. The school was set up based off a ring road – like Disneyland – and the office was in the center. Off different branches were the student dorms, the teacher and guest dorms, the Japanese school, the Chinese school, the Korean school, the German school and the Russian school. According to the paper they had all been independent schools. However due to 'financial constraints' they had amalgamated under a Russian name (since they were in Russia) and each building retained the name of the school.
This had meant that the dorms became higher quality and more students could attend the school, and all the resources could be shared. The common language was Russian – so everyone at the school was required to take some form of Russian.
The students took all their courses in their chosen language but were required to take another language, generally Russian, as well. If Russian was your first language you took either Japanese, Chinease, German, or Korean.
In one short sentence it explained that English was not offered at the school because Vince Academy was an English only school down the road – and if you wanted to speak English you went there.
Kaie almost screamed in frustration. WHY HAD MR. DICKENSON PLACED HER HERE IF SHE COULD HAVE GONE TO AN ENGLISH ONLY SCHOOL!
Then it hit her – just as hard and fast as the realisation had hit her – if they spoke English the chance was greater that they would know who she was. After all she had been blading on an American team and probably many of them were American. Also the scholarship was for learning a different language…
Kaie sat on her bed. She was going to have to grin and bare it. Kaie glanced at her pale reflection in the plain mirror over her bedroom sink. It looked as though she would just be bearing it…no grinning.
She looked at her watch and decided she had better go now because she would need the extra time if she got lost. After a quick pit stop she was on her way.
She found her way with little problem and was thankful that no one was wearing their uniform as it was Sunday. Kaie found the table and ate the food quietly with no conversation and did not say a word to anyone. She returned back to her own dorm-house and did not speak as she changed into her boxers and tank top.
Kaie brushed her teeth and lay down on her hard bed. As she lay there she felt tears slip down her face onto the pillow. She rolled over and breathed in the musty sent of the pillow. Kaie closed her eyes but the tears continued to fall. Sometime she fell asleep, the tears pooled under her cheek on the pillow.
Kaie woke up to a cold, yet bright day…and her alarm. She hit it and it was silent. Kaie dressed in grey pants and a bark blue sweater, then wrapped her hair in her gray ties and headband and finally put on her fake glasses.
Her sad gray eyes stared back at her from the cheap mirror and she looked away. Grabbing some pencils from the drawer of her desk she made her way to the office.
Kaie was acknowledged by Ms. Clarova and about ten other students. Five minutes passed before the bus arrived – in which two more girls arrived. Then the bus departed and Kaie left through the gate that she had entered the day earlier. Kaie could hardly believe that today was the sixth – and all she had left on the 1st at midnight…so really the second. She had only been gone five days. Five out of three hundred and sixty five. 'Three hundred and sixty left.' Kaie thought as she was jostled around in the school bus.
The bus halted as they pulled up to an imposing school. Kaie felt her stomach knot up. She filed off with all the others expecting the worst as they were led into the school. Their footsteps echoed ominously as they walked down the stone halls. They turned and entered a room where a man was sitting in his chair reading the newspaper. Every student went to a desk and stood by it waiting for the teacher to stand.
As was customary in Russia they stood until the teacher stood and allowed them to sit. Once they were seated the man began talking in fluent Russian, the words flowing off his tongue. He spoke with a slight accent, but Kaie understood his every word.
"How many of you understand what I am saying?" he asked after a while. He had been talking about the current affairs and how they related to Russia, so Kaie and four others raised their hands.
The remaining five looked curiously at the other students and at the teacher. The teacher yelled in rapid Russian causing all the students to sit up and wince at the sound of his voice. An older man entered the classroom. The teacher then switched to English and said politely, "The five of you who did not raise your hands can you please go with Mr. Eckstein." The five of them looked at the other students and then gathered their things and left.
Once they were gone the teacher said in English, "You will not all be my pupils for the month you are here. We split into four groups of two or three so we can better meet your needs. So I will be spending the next two hours asking you questions to determine where you belong."
Every one of them winced. Two hours of questioning. "By the way…" he said in English, "My name is Mr. Saough."
And for exactly two hours he fired questions at them and wrote something down each time. It only took about half an hour to really determine who should be in which group. A boy and a girl obviously had some Russian but were not as strong as Kaie and the other two boys.
At the end of the two hours the same conclusion was reached by Mr. Saough as well. He called in Mrs. Sapura and she took the boy and girl leaving Kaie with two boys. There was a short time left before lunch so they introduced themselves.
Keith was the first boy and he had flaming red hair and was in Russia because his mother spoke Russian so he was spending the summer here – he was spending June learning Russian then was living with a home stay family for July and the first two weeks of August.
Ryan was the other boy and had brown hair with blonde streaks. His entire family was Russian and he was the only one who wasn't fluent in Russian so he had taken it at school and now he wanted to test out his Russian to see how good it really was.
When Kaie's turn came she had already formulated a story, "My name is Kiska Vanova. My first language is Russian – but I only spoke it until I was four. Until I was fourteen I spoke only English so I took Russian in school to re-learn my native tongue. I am going to school here until next June."
With that they all went to lunch.
The day continued with the tree of them learning Russian and speaking it and reviewing what they knew. Ryan was the best of the tree and Kaie and Keith were fairly equal. At the end of the day they all got back on the bus and returned to school.
That night at dinner they all sat together speaking in Russian and English in quiet tones. None of them would ever admit it but secretly each of them was grateful to the others for being there because it meant they could talk to someone in a language they understood.
The rest of the month progressed just the same with all ten of them growing closer. They left at an ungodly hour and worked until four then returned to the school and hung out. Sometime during their month the dining hall became empty with only them and a few others as many graduated.
At the end all were much more fluent and all had learned an immense amount. On the last day they had a party and no one spoke a single word in English. Even Kaie had become happier.
Until they all had to leave. On June 30th – the day after the party everyone departed. Seven were flying home, two were leaving on home stays (Keith and Zack), and Kaie was left alone as they all drove off.
The day was cold and as Keith drove away with his home stay family Kaie felt a weight fall on her shoulders. She had to spend July making up courses – Science and Math – then in August she would spend the two weeks before August 15 doing various activities that she had not yet decided on.
Kaie's room was cold as usual so she turned on the heat and fell into a deep sleep and did not wake up until the following morning.
DONE!
Reviewers:
Princess Fey – Thank you as always for your review!
Rebecca – Sorry it is late… Tell me what you think.
Smoke Angel