"So, why do you go to this school? I mean like… what are you good at in particular?" Cass asked as we walked to the dorm building.
"Uhh, well, I'm good with my hands. Wait, that came out wrong. I mean… I build and stuff. It's not really a talent, but…" I trailed off.
Cass just nodded silently, and took a glance at the graffiti on the wall.
"You know, I don't understand why people do that." He said quietly.
"Do what?" I asked.
"Graffiti. It's disgusting."
"Isn't graffiti considered a kind of modern art now?"
"That isn't." He said, pointing where someone had written "upper fløør is før queers".
"Oh yeah, I saw that earlier. It's weird. Who even writes O's like that?"
"Norwegians, but that's not the point. It's more of a gang kinda thing here I think. I've been trying to figure out who did it. The paint won't come off either, I would know. I've spent hours scrubbing it. I suspect Skilaki, but I'm really not sure." He sighed.
"Who's Skilaki?" I asked, as we walked into the building.
"I am Skilaki," said a voice from beside me. I jumped away as the girl I had seen earlier leaned in, smirking. Her headphones were hanging around her neck along with what looked like several interwoven silver necklaces.
I looked over at Cass, who was shielding himself behind me with a look of panic in his eyes.
"Go away!" He said feebly.
Skilaki ignored him, instead walking closer.
"So, I'm curious. Why was I brought up in conversation? Hmm?" Her black glossed lips curled disdainfully.
"He was telling me about all the students at this school. I'm new. My name is Jack McKinley." I said, covering for Cass.
"Pleased to meet you, Jack." Skilaki said, raising her painted on eyebrows as she shook my hand.
"Are you a vampire?" I asked stupidly.
She giggled rather uncharacteristically.
"I love it when they ask bold questions." She said, smiling at Cass as if she was sharing a joke with him. Cass didn't smile back.
"I'm not a vampire, though I do happen to be a fan. I'm actually just an ordinary goth."
"Have you read Twilight?" I asked.
Her smile faded and her expression became blank.
"No." She said simply. We stared at each other for a couple seconds, and then she turned around and went down the hall, grabbing her laptop from the couch on the way.
"I did not like that at all." Cass shuddered.
We ran up the stairs quickly, and walked to our dorm without a word.
"This school is weird." I commented after Cass had shut the door.
"It's not that bad most of the time." Cass said, but I heard him mutter "Oh, I hate her." under his breath.
"So… why do you go to this school?" I asked.
"Hmm?" Cass said absently. "Oh, I go here for the language courses. I live in a pretty rural area most of the time, and my old school only offered Spanish and French, both of which I was completely fluent in by fourth grade. So I started learning German and Portuguese off of the internet, and I learned Mandarin from my next door neighbour, and I picked up some ASL from another neighbour, and it kinda just went from there." He shrugged.
I was astounded. I could barely speak English properly at times, and this small kid was at least trilingual at the age of nine.
"How—how many languages do you know then?" I asked.
Cass thought for a moment, then began counting on his fingers.
"English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Norwegian, Italian, Mandarin, Japanese, Cantonese, American Sign Language, British Sign Language, Braille, Greek, Russian, Hindu, Croatian, and Portuguese. Wait, no, I already said that. I meant Punjabi. I'm not entirely fluent in that one yet though. And I'm also learning German Sign Language, Ukrainian, and Gaelic. So that's… twenty languages? I lost count. Something like that." He paused thoughtfully.
"How do you even learn all of those?" I asked, even more amazed.
"I don't know. Good memory? They get easier once you know how languages work, with word order and all that. Do you know any other languages?"
"Bonjour mis ami. Tu es mon frère. Arc on ciel. Poubelle. Gâteau. That's about it," I laughed.
Cass grimaced.
"Please don't ever go to France." He said, patting my arm.
"Really? I was thinking of living there." I joked.
I couldn't tell if Cass was about to laugh or cry, but it was somehow very hilarious and in a matter of minutes we were both sprawled on the floor giggling like idiots.
"Please—please don't go to France though. Seriously." Cass said, wiping a tear out of his eye.
"Maybe I'll bring you with me so you can translate." I suggested jokingly.
"No no no, I speak Quebec French, not France French." Cass said. "Parisians would hate me if I spoke it there. I'd be better speaking English or German to them."
"Or you could bust out in full on Cantonese and surprise everyone."
Cass laughed and leaned backwards onto the carpet.
"You know, you're pretty funny, Jack." He said.
"Dank." I replied.
"It's pronounced danke." Cass corrected.
"Dan-kuh." I repeated.
"Don't go to Germany or Austria either." Cass advised.
"Point taken."