Oh Sœur! [FACE Family]

Michelle's New Friend

The summer ended with September, marking the start of school for children all across New York. Alfred and Matthew have just begun the seventh grade, while Michelle was making her first debut in public school starting with the second grade.

The boys didn't have as much adjusting to do. The classes became harder, and sports were now more competitive than ever. Their sister, on the other hand, was thrown into a new environment with a bunch of new people. Subjects she had never studied before, American things that were completely new to her, the list could go on forever.

Despite all these obstacles, after the first week, Michelle seemed to be doing fine. ESL helped her develop her English more, and she was quite popular in class. All the other kids seemed to love her hair and accent. Michelle was over the moon to be making so many friends.

"Papa, Matthew!" Michelle shouted as she ran towards her father and her brother who were picking her up from school that day.

"Michelle, bonsoir! How was school today, ma lapin?"

"It was good, Papa. Can I ask a question?"

"Of course, bébé. What is it?"

"Can my new friend sleep with us tonight? You let Alfred's friends come Friday. Today is Friday. Can my friend come?"

"You want a sleepover? I guess we could do a little something... Matthew, would you and Alfred mind babysitting for a bit? I'm really held up with orders right now."

"We can handle it, Papa." And by we Matthew meant himself. Alfred had to go to another set of tryouts today, so he was going to be absolutely wiped when he got home. Not that Matthew minded that much, he always fine with doing favors for Papa. His father has always been running an online baking business and with the end of wedding season, the orders just keep piling and piling up.

"Yay! Come, Emil said you have to speak to his papa! They went to the tree." Michelle cheered, dragging her father by the hand over to the big oak tree in front of the elementary school.

Sure enough, there stood a boy around Michelle's age with platinum dirty blond hair. His hair was so light it almost seemed gray. Standing next to him was a man with light blond hair, presumably his father. Michelle and her family approached the two.

"Ah, hello. You must be Emil's father. I'm Michelle's father, Francis. Nice to meet you." Papa smiled, shaking the man's hand.

"Nice to meet you too. My name's Lukas." the man spoke with a strange accent, returning the handshake. "So, I assume Michelle's told you about this sleepover they want tonight. I'm completely fine with it, and if it's too much trouble for you, I can have her at our house."

Papa shook his head, "Oh thank you Lukas, but that's okay. We'd be happy to have Emil over tonight! What time were you thinking?"

"Well, I was-" Mr. Lukas was interrupted by Emil tugging at his pants. He bent down and Emil whispered something in his ear. He shook his head. "Det er for tidlig. Ikke vær frekk."

"Hmm?" Papa interrupted.

"Oh, sorry. Emil just asked if he could come over now, but that would be too much trouble."

"Now wouldn't be too much trouble for me, as long as you're okay with it." Papa reassured him.

"Are you sure? I guess I could leave him with you and go grab his things and drop them off later."

"That sounds great! Actually, my husband gets home from work around six, how about you and your spouse join us for dinner at six-thirty?"

"That works out. My husband gets off work around then too."