Bet on love (in English)

Chapter 1

Michaela

I'm going to new school for the first time today. I'm nervous and I'm a little scared. I will feel like a stranger who has snuggled into an already formed collective. How will the new classmates accept me? Will they like me? Will I like them? Will I find my friends there? And what about the professors, how do they look at the newcomers?! The questions chased me one by one. I couldn't answer the question from them. I was just comforting myself that everything would go well, there was nothing to worry about. The world is because of one girl of many millions of girls not going crazy.

I am from Kutná Hora and we moved to České Budějovice because of mom. Actually, to her boyfriend. He lives here, has the job, and didn't want to lose her, so I and my two siblings wanted/didn't want to follow my mother in the South Bohemian region. What else did we have to do?! We live in a newly insulated block of flats of eight floors. It is a 4 + 1 apartment, the rooms are quite small, but I am satisfied because I have my own room where I can stay and have some privacy. I haven't been able to unpack everything yet. That one day we were here wasn't even possible. I'm starting a new semester in another city, another school, and with other people. České Budějovice is cozy and very green city. The center is pretty foolish. But otherwise there is quite quiet. And I like it. But only if I do well here too. I had to say goodbye to my friends in Kutná Hora, and my best friend, Jeanette. I will miss her the most. I have known her since our elementary school and for the first time we saw each other, we said, "Yeah, that's her I want to be friends with for the rest of my life!" Now our paths have split, but I believe they will reunite. We promised to go to college together. And before we will graduate, we will visit each other regularly. What we wouldn't do for each other.

The school I am now preparing for is a general high school near the city center focusing mainly on languages. The class I am going to is a four-year course, and 31 students will be my new classmates soon.

I didn't just go to school, but also my brother Dominik, who goes to the eighth grade of elementary school and brother Simon two grades lower. Mom went with them to the school, even if they had a short way from the block of flats. But guys are guys. I had to take care of myself. I did not mind. I'm pretty big for that, and I've been grown up for months.

"Don't worry," Mrs. Houštecká, my new class teacher, reassures me. "My class is a bit crazy, but I think you'll fit in and they will love you."

She smiled encouragingly at me and motioned for me to follow her to the classroom. We left the headmaster and headed to the second floor of the majestic school. Every step was harder and harder for me to climb. At the end of the staircase, I paused for a moment to catch my breath and slow down the beating heart.

"So, here's your new class," she shows me tall, beige and chipped doors to the left. The tag "3.C" is affixed about halfway through the left half of the door.

"Can we?" I take a deep breath and nod. I'm not leaving my eyes from the door. I pull my bag over my shoulder more to the body, as if somebody wants to steal it, and go with Mrs. Houštecká inside. I look at the toe-caps of my white boots and I'm not interested in anything else. I can feel my face turning red and pale. When I stand in front of the board, the class goes quiet and Mrs. Houštecká settles down in her chair.

"You see, I don't even have to admonish you to be quiet today," Mrs. Houštecká smiles at her class. "So, we start. I introduce you to Michaela Pokorná, she moved to us from Kutná Hora and she is your new classmate from now."

One boy in the second bench at the door whistled admiringly and blinked at me. The other boys chuckled. Some girls curled up a haughty nose.