My French Exchange Student

Chapter One: The Flyer

Hey everyone! I'm Holly, and this is a story I'm writing. Tell me what you think!

Chapter One: The Flyer

"ROSE!"

"ROSE DID YOU HEAR?"

"What, Sera?" I yawned. I could not take this much bubbliness before 8:00 Monday morning. I spun promptly on my heel, crossed my arms, and waited. The flow of kids steadily streaming through the halls was daunting, but I saw my best friend's dark blond locks bobbing through the crowd. She emerged a bit later, out of breath and clutching a neon flyer.

"Did you hear??" She asked again.

"Well no, since I have no idea what you're talking about, so..." I replied.

"Fine, just read this," She shoved the flyer at me. "This will explain everything. I gotta run now, but I'll see you at lunch, okay?"

"Okay..." I answered slowly. Seraphina was acting weird, and I should know, I've been best friends with her for as long as I can remember. I opened my mouth to ask her about the flyer, only to see that she had disappeared into the crowd. I sighed, knowing that there would be no finding her in the large crowds of Lowood High. I walked slowly to my locker, reading the flyer as I went.

"HOST AN EXCHANGE STUDENT TODAY!", the title read.

That was all I could read at the time, as the warning bell rang and kids rushed off to their homeroom classes.

Crap!

By some crazy luck, my homeroom class was as far away as humanly possible from my locker, and of course, I get to sprint all the way there.

Stupid, stupid Rose! Keep track of the time!

I sprinted across hallways and turned a corner, then skidded to a stop in front of Ms. Collin's room, aka my homeroom. I looked down at my watch and sighed with relief.

Thirty seconds to spare, not too shabby... I thought, yanking the door open and stepping into the classroom. Ms. Collins looked up from her grading to give me her famous death glare, which actually happens a lot, as you could probably guess. I shot an apologetic smile at her and sat down in my usual seat. For the record, I didn't plan to be late, but fate disagrees.

Why does my locker have to be so far from my homeroom? What the heck was the administration thinking?

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. This was no time to whine about trivial matters. After all, I had a flyer to read.

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As I was slowly dying in AP Trigonometry, the bell finally rang. I jumped out of my seat, shoved everything into my bag, waved a hasty goodbye to my teacher, and hightailed it to my locker to grab my lunch. I only have one class with Seraphina, AP Biology, so lunch is the only other time that I see her at school. I rushed off to the cafeteria and looked around the crowded lunchroom for Seraphina.

There!

I neatly wove through the mess of tables, and arrived at my usual lunch table, lunch safely tucked under my arm. There weren't many of us, just me, Seraphina, Sam, Connor, Leia, and Otto. I plopped down in my usual seat, and promptly looked at Seraphina.

"Well?" I asked. "What's with the random flyer you shoved me this morning?"

"What?" She teased. "No hello?"

"Okay, fine," I replied. "Hi, Sera. Now, what's the flyer?"

"Ha ha, very funny," She said sarcastically. "Okay, so about the flyer, haven't you read it yet? All the info is on there Rose."

"Oh. I haven't read it, because of stupid classes," I mock pouted.

"Then read it right now!"

"It's pretty awesome!" Leia added.

"Yeah! I can't wait!" Connor agreed.

"Okay, okay! I'll do it! Just give me a sec..."

I pulled the flyer out of my pocket and started reading.

HOST FAMILIES STILL NEEDED FOR EXCHANGE STUDENTS FROM FRANCE:

Students from our "sister school" in France will be arriving Thursday, and returning to France four weeks later. We are in need of families that can host exchange students in their home. Please contact Lowood's guidance counselor if you are able to host a student in your home as soon as possible.

I looked up from the flyer. "This sounds awesome!" I said.

Sera clapped her hands excitedly. "I know! This is going to be great! So many new people!"

Maybe I could host a girl, I mused. That would be fun! But no guys. My mom would freak! I shuddered, thinking about her reaction to a boy living with us. It's just been me and my mom for as long as I can remember, and Sera too. They're my family, and they're all I need. Hopefully, I can get my mom to agree with this...