Episode 6

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The metal feet of the suitcase clicked as they hit the floor, followed by the loud screeches of old springs as Sara launched herself on to her new bed. "Sara, careful!" Linda warned with a slight chuckle as she wheeled in another suitcase. Though the young girl couldn't contain her excited giggles as she pushed herself back onto her feet, looking around the bare room that would soon be decorated and brought to life for her to live in. "I'm just so excited, I can't believe I'm actually boarding here now," she beamed, bending down to grab her suitcase once more. Setting it on the bed, she opened it pulling out a small picture frame that held a picture of the three of them; Linda, Simon and Sara. She walked over placing it on her desk carefully, "There," she said with a triumphant hum before turning to her mother. Linda stood there, a forced smile on her face, but nothing could hide the true emotion behind her eyes. She was excited for her daughter, happy that she was finally able to live at Hillerska, but that didn't keep her from being worried about her and saddened by the fact she couldn't see her as often any longer. Sara pouted as she walked up to her mother, wrapping her arms around her securely. "Mama, I'm not leaving forever. I promise I will visit as much as they let me," she tried reassuring her mother who clung to her. She could feel her mother's entire body heave as she let out a long sigh, Sara pulling back to see tears in her mother's eyes. "Mama!" She exclaimed, holding her face gently. "Let's not think about it now, hm? Let's just get you unpacked and set your room up. Your roommate could get here soon and I don't want it to get crowded in here," Linda said softly as he held onto Sara's hands, offering a more genuine smile.

A small knock was heard from the open door, Sara and Linda looking up from their tasks to see a petite young girl standing in the doorway clutching the handle of her suitcase. Her long, brown hair held tight curls as it cascaded over her shoulders, her hand coming up to tug at one of the coils as she stood there. "Hello," she finally managed to get out, her voice soft, almost intangibly so, as if she was scared to speak. It wasn't long after that a deep male voice could be heard from down the hall, "Karolina, I know you're excited but you can't go on ahead like that. I don't know where I'm going." The man behind the voice appeared in the doorway as well, stopping in his tracks when he noticed the other two in the room. "Oh, hello," he hummed out, gently nudging the girls shoulder to get her to move inside the room. She scuffled her way in, walking over to the unoccupied bed where she set down her suitcase, the man following behind her. After he emptied his hands he turned to face the others, a warm smile on his face. "Nice to meet you, I'm Stefan, her father," he explained, gesturing to the girl before extending his hand out to Linda. She fumbled with the jacket she was in the middle of putting on a hanger, letting out a embarrassed chuckle, before reaching out to shake the man's hand. "Linda, I'm her-..." "Sister?" Stefan interjected with a proud grin. Taken aback by Stefan's boldness, Linda glanced at her daughter who in return just gave her mother a confused look. "No... no, I'm her mother," she eventually corrected letting out a soft laugh. Sara looked between the parents, her nose scrunched up slightly before she turned her attention to her roommate. She tossed the pillow in her hands onto the bed before walking up to her, "Hi, I'm Sara!" She beamed, obviously excited about the whole situation as she shot her hand out. "Karolina, I'm Karolina," the soft spoken girl replied, a tiny smile on her face as she shook her hand. "Well, we better finish up so you can have the room to set up," Linda spoke up, looking around at the small bit Sara had left to take care. Stefan shook his head, waving his hand in the air, "Please, take your time, we don't want y0u to feel rushed. We will be fine," he assured before turning towards his daughter's side of the room, humming to himself as he began to help her unpack.

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"So you moved here all the way from Gävle... because your dad got this new job in Linköping?" Sara asked as she walked beside her new roommate, both of them heading towards the Manor House. Felice had told Sara to come over once she was done moving in so they could hang out before classes started tomorrow, even though they'd have a lot more time to see each other now that she was boarding. "Yeah, he got a promotion and they wanted him to move to that facility," Karolina explained softly. She was still rather quiet, not really speaking unless asked a question and even then she didn't say much. "And, like, what does he do? I know Hillerska isn't cheap," Sara stated with a small chuckle as she skipped down the steps, holding onto the railing in case there was any ice left on them. Karolina pursed her lips, twirling one of her stray curls around her finger, "Uh... he's some sort of developer or something. I don't really know what he does," she admitted with a shrug. "What about your mom? What does she do?" Sara continuing her questions to try and fill the silence of their walk. However, this question seemed to strike a cord with Karolina as she immediately stopped walking, her gaze dropping to her feet. When the echo of foot steps on the packed snow stopped behind her Sara turned around, seeing her roommate frozen in place, somehow appearing smaller than she already was. "Are you okay?" She asked, backtracking to stand in front of the girl. It was at that point Sara was able to hear the quiet sound of sniffling. "Karolina? What's wrong?" Concern taking over her previously bubbly attitude. It was quiet for a moment, for the first time since stepping outside, Sara was aware of the sting of the cold on her cheek. It was late in the day, the sun already setting, taking whatever bit of warmth it provided with it. "Can we... Can we just not talk about my mom," Karolina finally whispered out, slowly lifting her head to look at Sara. Tears pooling, threatening to spill over, the look in her eyes pleading for her roommate to understand that she didn't want to be questioned as to why she had reacted this way. Without a word, Sara nodded her head, feeling as if she had done something wrong. Maybe she shouldn't have been so focused on Karolina's family, and stuck to questions about her. Things she liked, if she was interested in the equestrian team, anything else really. "Come on, let's get inside, I'm starting to freeze out here," Sara encourage with an awkward chuckle, hoping she hadn't ruined a friendship before it had even really begun. The curly haired girl nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand, "Yeah, let's go."

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