𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒

06. 𝐀 𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊-𝐓𝐎-𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐋

Los Angeles, CA, USA
October

ALANA ALEXANDRA MILLER

After giving me a brief glance, Sabrina asks, "Do you really need me to help you find your class?" She points to a door behind us and adds, "Because my class is right here."

"Oh no, I'm okay," I say, and she nods before entering her class.

I start walking rapidly in the direction of the Spanish class I saw yesterday, and as I get to the door, I hear heavy breathing behind me. I turn around my head, and I see a tall boy who appears to be over 6'0 right behind me. I take a look at him, and I see that he has chestnut brown eyes and dark brown curly hair. He's dressed in a dark gray sweatshirt and a basic pair of black baggy jeans. I also notice that there's two silver chains hanging around his neck that contrast with his tan skin, and he looks like he just ran to get here.

I quickly turn around, feeling his hard stare on me, and I knock on the door. A few seconds later, a tall platinum-blond woman opens the door, and when she sees the boy behind me, a big smile forms on her face.

"Hey Lucas, did you have a great weekend?" Ask the teacher.

"Yeah," he replies coldly before making his way into the classroom and sitting in an empty seat near the back of the class.

After giving me a quick look, the teacher asks in an unpleasant way,

"Are you in the wrong classroom?" She says

"Uh, no, I'm a new student," I respond timidly.

"Oh yeah, I forgot that you were coming today." She says in English, and I can detect a slight Argentinian accent from the way she talks. "Well, come on in," she says impatiently, and I enter the class.

I honestly think that it was a mistake because, as soon as I walk into the classroom, I feel every student's gaze on me.

This is exactly what I didn't want.

"Since I always do the class plan in alphabetical order, all the students behind Dayanna on the attendance list need to move one desk." The teacher tells the class, and it soon fills up with complaining teenagers.

After about ten students change places, the teacher tells me to go sit in an empty place near the back of the class, and I quickly head towards the desk.

Once I'm settled, the teacher begins to take the attendance, but suddenly, the door opens, and three loud boys enter the class. I recognize Ethan as one of the boys, but I obviously don't know who the other two are.

When the teacher sees them, her face lights up, and she has a big smile forming on her lips.

"Oh, hey, y'all, we're almost late." She tells the boys as she begins to start small talk with them.

It is the first time in my life that I see a teacher this excited to see her students, but I don't think too much of it until Ms. Diaz winks at the guys and starts giggling while touching Ethan's shoulder.

"Ew, why is she doing that?" I hear the girl sitting next to me whispering.

From where I'm sitting, I can picture her disgusted expression, and to be honest, I think that most of the students in the class, including me, feel the same way as her.

I slightly turn my head towards the girl, and I try to discretely look at her. She is a brown-skinned black girl with brown-doe eyes so dark that they could almost be mistaken for black. She is wearing a natural-looking makeup that looks perfect on her, and her hair is in medium-length goddess braids that are falling over her shoulders. I can see that she has a small gold nose ring on her left nostril, and I notice that she is tapping lightly her midnight blue acrylic nails on her desk. I also see that we are wearing the same Van Cleef necklace except hers is black and gold, while mine is white and gold.

I don't know if you realized yet, but I'm pretty good at observing people.

I decide to stop looking at her before she thinks that I'm creepy, and I try talking to her since she seems like a nice person.

"Hi, um, I really like your hair." I say hoping to start a conversation.

"Oh, thank you; I really like yours too." She says, turning her head towards me, looking surprised that I talked to her.

"Thanks," I answer.

"So what's your name?" She asks me.

"My name is Alana, and you?." I say.

"Oh, I love your name; mine is Dayanna."

"Your name is really pretty too," I say.

"Thank you; I appreciate it," she replies, smiling.

We stop talking for a moment, and the three guys who were previously talking to the teacher in the front of the class all head towards the back of the class. When Ethan sees me, he looks surprised and changes direction to go sit right behind me.

"I didn't know you were in this class," he says, sitting down on the chair.

"It's the first time that I'm here, so it's normal."

"Yeah, no shit, but I mean, I didn't know you knew how to speak Spanish."

"My grandmother is Colombian, so I learned Spanish from her." I say, turning my head towards him.

"Oh, that's cool," he says.

"You two in the back," says the teacher loudly, pointing me and Ethan. "Stop talking; I'm taking the attendance."

I turn my head back towards the teacher, but I don't focus on her taking the attendance until I hear my name being called.

"Alana Miller?" She says, looking around the class, and I raise my hand. "Dayanna Miller?" She continues, and the girl next to me raises her hand.

The teacher continues to slowly take the attendance, and when she finishes, she announces that we have a pop quiz. She asks Ethan and the boy named Lucas from earlier to help her hand out the pop quizzes, and I hear Ethan sigh loudly behind me before he unwillingly stands up to help the teacher distribute the papers.

Soon after they started giving out the papers, the professor approaches my desk and puts the quiz sheet on my desk.

"This test will allow me to see your skills in Spanish since you decided to miss the entire beginning of the school year." She says in Spanish.

I ignore her condescending tone and nod before pulling a mechanical pen out of my light blue pencil case. I quickly glance over the paper, and I start to easily answer the quiz.

After about fifteen minutes, all the students have finished giving back their test to the teacher, and Ms. Diaz starts talking about the history behind Spanish and how the language evolved. I look at the electronic timer to my right, which allows me to see that there are 30 minutes left to the class, and I sigh lowly, looking back at the teacher who was swiping the page of her PowerPoint.

''Spanish or Castilian is a language that was brought to the Iberian Peninsula by the Romans around the 8th and 9th centuries and comes from vulgar Latin spoken in the Cantabrian region of Spain after the decline of the Roman Empire.'' The professor says in Rioplatense Spanish, which is a dialect often spoken in Argentina and Uruguay.

I concentrate on what the teacher is saying until the end of the lesson, and when I notice that some students are starting to pick up their things, I quickly glance at the clock and see that the class ends in a minute. I start picking up the few things I used for the lesson and put them back in my bag.

A few seconds later, the bell signaling the end of the first period rings, and instantly almost all the students in the class leave the room. I take my airpods out of the side pocket of my bag and put them in my ear. I also take out my phone from another pocket of my bag, and I start my playlist.

I then head towards the classroom door to leave the class and go to the central stairs, which are the only stairs that I know but also the stairs where most of the students go, so it takes me forever to get to the first floor given the number of students.