<Past>
"Class, this is our new student Luke. Please make him feel welcome," Grace's teacher Mrs. Rivera said to her first grade class one Friday afternoon. New student was the word that made every single first grader give their full attention, which didn't happen often. They lived in a small town in Minnesota where hardly anyone ever moved to or from. All the kids had known each other since birth and would probably know each other till the end of high school. Some maybe beyond that.
"Hi Luke," All the kids said in unison. The mysterious boy gave a bashful wave back.
"Luke, you can sit across from Grace at that back table. Grace, raise your hand," Mrs. Rivera instructed. Grace was extremely excited. Grace was one of the more shorter kids in her class with thin caramel brown hair that fell just past her shoulders and baby blue eyes.
"Hi Luke!" She said again with a big smile on her face as he sat down. Although everyone was excited about the new boy Grace was probably the most excited. Grace was usually a genuinely shy girl so actually talking when she didn't have to was especially abnormal for her. Sometimes the kids in her class would joke about how no one hardly ever hears her talk.
"Hi," He replied timidly. Grace took account of the way his voice sounded different.
"Hey, what's up with your voice?" The boy sitting next to Grace, Taylor asked.
"Um..."
"Luke came from Australia so he has and Australian accent," Mrs. Rivera said noticing the conversation and explaining for Luke.
"What's an accent? Is it like a disease or something?!" Taylor yelled walking across the room to squirt way more hand sanitizer than necessary. Grace looked at Luke who looked as if he might cry.
"Not at all Taylor. People from different countries have accents, it's just the way that you speak. You even have one. In fact Luke probably thinks you talk weird too," Mrs. Rivera tried to explain to Taylor.
The rest of the day was pretty typical for a first grader and soon enough it was time to go home. Grace walked out of the school doors and straight to her mom who was talking on the phone to most likely someone from one of the places she worked at. Grace's mom was a single mom struggling several jobs, while trying to make her journalist career take off.
"Mama, guess what!" Grace said tugging on her mom's hand as they walked to their car.
"One minute honey," Her mom replied.
"But it's realllllly exciting!" Grace's mom however continued to talk on the phone and ignore Grace. It was not that her mom didn't love Grace. Most of the time when she ignored her she didn't even know she was doing it. Grace was extremely mature for her age. She was never an inconvenience or a trouble child making it very easy for Grace's mom to get caught up in other things while Grace acted like a shadow.
"Fine I guess you don't care..." Grace murmured under her breath suddenly not as excited anymore. By the time Grace's mom got off the phone they were in their small white house and Grace was eating goldfish while coloring in her princess coloring book at the table.
"Okay. Now what did you want to tell me?"
"It doesn't matter anymore," Grace was quite a stubborn child as her mom was the same way, Grace's mom knew that she wouldn't get it out of her anyways so she didn't ask again.
"Anyways, I made a casserole for the new owners of the house down the street. Would you like to come bring it over with me?"
"Yeah. Sure," They walked down the street together as Grace told her mom about school. When they knocked on the door Grace was surprised to see Luke answer the door. Although it shouldn't have come to much of a surprise considering no one hardly ever moves to their little town. Luke looked from Grace to her mom and turned around yelling for his mom.
