Finally, I have continued the story! I get stuck a lot… My bad… Turns out, Sissi is a real name (If this is common knowledge, then I apologize, but I didn't know, okay?). It means [insert meaning here]. Now we're going to find out how Elisabeth became Sissi.

Sissi trudged into her new school Monday morning, shoulders slumped, head sunken, and her eyes exhausted from last night. She'd only had three days. Three days left with Herb and Nicholas and all the other friends she had made. It wasn't enough time. If she'd been given three weeks, it wouldn't have been enough. Didn't her father understand? Didn't he remember what middle school was like? How could he not know how much it hurt to leave your best friends behind? Maybe he didn't have friends. If that was the case, then he must have assumed that Sissi didn't either. What a stupid thing to think. Even after she had told him, he still never would have grasped how important her friends were to her. But maybe it wasn't like that. Maybe he did know. Whether or not he cared was a completely different question.

Already she heard whispers. Other kids would look at her for a moment without recognizing her, and then they would figure it out. She was the new kid, and the new principal's daughter. There was little resemblance- Sissi had much more of her mother in her- but it was pretty obvious that it was her from the way she'd wander around, with no idea of where she was.

Herb and Nicholas had told Sissi they'd do their best to get into Kadic next year. But wasn't it your first year in a school that mattered most? Whatever the students here thought about her this first year would be what they thought forever. And as much as Sissi wanted to make a good impression… She just couldn't do it anymore. She didn't know anyone here… She was too busy feeling sorry for herself to meet anybody. She thought that maybe she would find a friend in her roommate, but her father didn't even allow her that much. Maybe she had privacy. Maybe she had a whole room to herself, enough to make it look like home. But all it really did was emphasize that she was alone.

Sitting by herself at lunch was bad enough for Sissi. But since she was at a boarding school now, she was alone during breakfast and dinner, too. Occasionally some nice kids came and sat with her for a few minutes, but since Sissi didn't really feel like talking, she gave the impression that she didn't want people around her. So they left her alone. It was impossible to express what that felt like. The handful of quiet people at her old school came to mind. Now she understood.

After a week, Sissi had pretty much adjusted to her new environment. Well, except for the fact that she'd made a total of zero friends. But she'd just about gotten over all her old friends. She had summer vacation to see them again, after all. Now it was time to make new friends. But it was easier said than done. Sissi had become the quiet girl. Or at least, that was what people thought. She just felt weird about walking up to a random person and talking to them, and even weirder about suddenly adding herself to a table. So she really had no idea what she was doing.

Just walk up to someone and say hi, Sissi thought to herself, wandering around outside before dinner, looking for anyone, what's the worst that could happen, really? Just say hi.

"Hi," said a voice from behind.

Sissi nearly jumped, then turned around. Standing in front of her was a boy. He was an inch or so taller than her, with light brown hair that hung just below his ears, and were it not parted in the middle, it would be covering his eyes. He was a little bit skinny, but… He was actually kind of cute.

Sissi looked around for a moment. "Uh…" she stammered, "You are talking to me, right?"

"Yes, I'm talking to you," said the boy, "My name's Christophe, but pretty much everyone just calls me Chris."

"Hi," said Sissi, "My name's Elisabeth… But all of my friends call me Sissi."

"Would these friends be from here or your old school?" asked Christophe/Chris.

"My old school," said Sissi, a little embarrassed, "I don't exactly have friends here…"

"Well, then, I'm honored to be the first."

"Are you new here, too?" asked Sissi.

"No," said Chris, "I'm just one grade higher than you. That's why you don't recognize me."

Sissi smiled. Usually upperclassmen didn't even acknowledge younger people's existence. But Chris was even willing to make friends with the new kid. He was really nice.

"It's great to meet you," said Sissi.

"So why do your friends call you Sissi?" asked Chris.

Sissi froze. This wasn't something she wanted to talk about to someone she'd just met… It wasn't something she liked to remember. She'd gotten so used to that being her name, she just… Sometimes she forgot where it came from.

"…It's a long story," said Sissi with a sigh, walking over to a tree and leaning against it.

"What do you mean?" asked Chris.

"I don't want to talk about it." Sissi wasn't even making eye contact now.

"If it's embarrassing, then okay. You don't have to tell me."

"It's not that. It's just… Not many people have asked me that, and I've only had to explain it like once, and it was hard enough the first time, and just thinking about it, even, and I just met you-"

"We've got to get to know each other some time," said Chris.

Sissi sighed. He was right. Only her closest friends knew where her name came from. This was what would bring them so close together.

"Sissi was my mother's name," Sissi began, "My grandma would call me 'Little Sissi' sometimes… I was a lot like her, I guess. Most people would still call me Elisabeth, though… Until my mom… I was only eight… It just became my name."

"What happened to her?"

Sissi's voice was choked, but that was as far as it would go. "It was cancer… I know she was my own mother, but I thought since everyone else was just falling apart, I… I had to be the strong one… Taking on her name was my way of doing that… Just to be her for everyone else… And it was also to make sure I'd never forget her." Sissi didn't break down after that. It had been four years, after all. She'd learned to accept what had happened. But all the same… She still missed her mother more than she could possibly express.

"You don't look like you want any sympathy," said Chris, not in and insensitive way, but more understanding, "But you do look like you could use some dinner buddies. So what do you say?"

Sissi smiled. "Sure."

"Though most of my friends have little to no manners… Maybe it'd be best if it were just you and me."

Sissi agreed, not doubting a word of that. She didn't really care about how many friends she had… He was enough.

The time had come for the first school dance since Sissi had arrived at Kadic. The only reason she really went was to keep her father happy. She'd always go to the dances at her old school, just to be with friends, but here it was a bit different… The boys were much more assertive here, and when asked to dance with someone she didn't really know… Well, frankly, Sissi had no idea how to say no. She felt very uncomfortable. A trick she had learned to avoid this would be to literally hide in her circle of friends, but that wouldn't work when she only had one. How was she going to do this? There wasn't anyone here she was really willing to dance with except for…

"Hey, Sissi," said Chris, interrupting her train of thought.

"Oh, hey!" Sissi greeted back, pretending to be comfortable with her surroundings and failing miserably, "Fun dance, right? I want some punch! I'll get that now…"

"Just a second."

"Heh?"

"Listen…" said Chris, sounding a bit nervous, but confident, "Do you want to dance?"

Sissi's eyes bulged. How…? Why did…? He really…? She couldn't even think in complete sentences.

"Well, I don't know, I mean, I'm not much of a dancer, and even though I do take dance classes I'm still really clumsy and I could step on your foot or-"

"I don't care about how good you are. Do you want to?"

Sissi smiled. "I'd love to," she replied, more sure of her words than she'd ever been. And just as a slow song came on, they started to dance.

That was when it all began.

Me ends it with a sinister line :D