Scholarly

January - The Thing About Starting Over

Hey, guys! Guess who's sick on vacation? *sighs loudly* since I'm too sick to do anything but sit around in the condo, I'm updating this. This probably sucks, but I hope you like it anyway.

Other than getting a clean slate to refill with better grades than whatever one got the first semester, according to ASA upperclassmen, the best thing about the second semester was the arrival of that year's group of foreign exchange students.

(At least, that's what some of Vivian's math classmates thought.)

Starting in January every year, several exchange students (all freshmen) would arrive in Aspen to begin their three-and-a-half years of attendance at ASA. Why they started at the second semester, nobody knew; probably, that was just how it had always been done. But it offered a bit of added interest to the students' normal routines. And they got their first look on the first day back.

There were six, some of the first-block Honors Biology students reported. Three were in the class. They were easy to spot – a pair of diminutive Asian twins, one staring at the floor and one staring at Ricardo with a flinty expression, and a lanky, smiling (Spanish? Italian?) boy in decidedly-not-ASA-approved red skinny jeans. Vivian grimaced – it'd take Mr. Olszewski about five seconds to catch that and it wouldn't be pretty.

"Welcome back, and happy New Year," he sighed. "Before we begin, I'd like to introduce our new students. Luca -" he gestured to Skinny Jeans Boy - "comes to us from Italy, and Kaori and Kana are from Japan. Luca, Kaori, and Kana, would you like to introduce yourselves?"

The twins (Kaori and Kana, apparently) stood up first.

"I'm Kaori, and this is my sister, Kana," the serious one began. "We come from Osaka, and...um." She trailed off.

"Anything else about you that you'd like us to know?" Mr. Olszewski asked.

Kaori looked uncharacteristically surprised but nodded and complied. "I play the violin."

Her English is ridiculously good, Vivian observed. It was pretty clear that Kaori was going to excel here. Her sister was a bit more of an enigma; she wondered if the same were true of her.

Apparently, so did Mr. Olszewski. "Thank you, Kaori. Kana?"

"My name is Kana," was all she said, staring at her shoes. Either she lacked confidence or her sister's command of the language – maybe both – but she had to be smart if she was in this class; she'd probably pick both up.

"Thank you, girls. You can sit at the back table on the right."

That was the desk behind hers and Vivian had to smile when she realized it. Kaori and herself seemed to be cut from the same cloth; Vivian had a feeling she might be someone she could stand getting to know. She and her deskmates turned to greet the twins. Kaori met their eyes intently and recoiled a bit when Ana lifted her head to reveal puffy red eyes.

Two weeks hadn't even been close to enough time for her to begin to cope.

"Now, Luca?"

Skinny Jeans Boy stood and made his way to the front of the room. "Hello, classmates!" He announced, smiling infectiously. "My name is Luca Marcello, I'm from Italy and I play football -I mean, soccer, isn't that the American name? - and-"

"Mr. Marcello, your pants are not ASA-approved," Mr. Olszewski cut him off. "If you are not aware, we have a uniform policy. If you haven't already, you're going to need to purchase a uniform, and I will be having a talk with your host family - "

"Oh, I know," Luca interrupted, grinning. "They said the teachers here do not make us follow the dress code."

Mr. Olszewski looked about ready to start spewing steam from his nostrils. "Well," he huffed indignantly, "I will definitely be having a talk with them about that. Your host family is mistaken. I'm sorry for any confusion they may have caused you. Now, please join Kaori and Kana."