## my engl!sh teacher

01.

" raisa! are you awake? " my mama called. 

" da, mama, i'm coming down! " i responded. 

i was in front of my mirror in my bathroom. we had just moved from new york, where we lived with my mama's brother who raised me half the time. but my mama met a guy, his name is ivan, and he moved here- to denver, colorado. 

it is half way through the first quarter of the school year, so it'll be very awkward for me to start school. but hopefully i'll make friends.

my hair's in a low ponytail, my shirt's cropped, but I have high waisted flared jeans on, so it doesn't really matter. 

when i got downstairs, i shoved textbooks and my binder into my bag, and kissed my mama on her cheek.

" poka, mama! " i said, walking out the door. 

immediately, i noticed a pair of guys walking down my street. please, please don't notice me, i thought. that'd be so awkward.

but just my luck, they did. well, one of them did, and the other one stood there awkwardly, hanging behind his friend while he waved at me. i tossed my hand up back. then he started walking over, dragging his friend with. 

" hey. you new? i haven't ever seen you come out of that house before. " the boy said.

" pri- hello, i'm new here. " i replied.

" oh shit, are you a transfer student? what's your accent? " he asked.

" robin, you don't say that! " the other boy said. 

i shook my head and said, " no, i moved here from new york, but i was homeschooled. my family is russian so excuse me for the accent. "

" that's cool! how do you know english? " robin asked me.

" i had a tutor. i'm not really fluent though. " 

" finney tutors me in math and stuff, we could help you with english if you want! "

" we could? " finney asked.

" mhm, c'mon finn, you needa make more friends than me and gwenny. " 

finney signed. " yeah, sure. we can tutor you. but uhm, what's your name? " 

" my name is raisa. i suppose you're finney, and robin? " they both nodded, smiling.

" come on, let's go to school, i can show you the way. then we can show you around the building. " robin offered.

" raisa, what's your schedule? " finney asked. i hand him my paper with teacher names and class names, classroom numbers, the order.. all that.

finney nods his head. " cool. we have four classes together, and you'll have art with bruce. he's great at art, so that'll be nice for you. "

" who's bruce? "

" oh, bruce is another one of our friends. there's also billy, griffin, and vance. griffin and vance are brothers. oh, and my sister, gwen. but gwen and griffin are grades below us. " i just nod back.