After 45 minutes of listening to Mary talk about the class and what we will be doing, the 3 o'clock bell rang, signaling the end of the school day. Lee spun around in his chair and smiled at me.
"Hey, so, we have this thing that after school every Monday we go to Yogurtland. Is that cool with you? It will be you, me, Emily, Eliza, Christian, and my friend Shawn." His smile reached his eyes and I couldn't help but giggle at how excited he was.
"Yeah of course! But what is Yogurtland?" His jaw dropped and he swung his backpack over his shoulder.
"Hurry. You have to try this delicious dessert of frozen yogurt."
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Emily and Christian were waiting for us at the car, Emily already in the driver's seat. Lee groaned when he saw that he and Christian would have to be sitting in the back instead of driving in the front. The boys swung their bags into the backseat and hopped in as I copied them and jumped into the passenger seat.
"So Livi," Emily questioned. "How was your first day of school in America?" She turned right out of the school campus and sped down the street, making it clear she wasn't an amazing driver. I gripped the car door and held on while Lee and Christian were also holding on for dear life.
"It was pretty good. It was a lot different than my school back home." She made a sharp turn left into a shopping center that contained about 5 different stores. She parked not-so-gracefully in front of a store called 'Yogurtland'. Eliza and a boy I didn't recognize were sitting at one of the tables outside, waiting for us.
"Hey Shawn! This is Livi. Livi, Shawn." Emily motioned towards the boy and it clicked that he was Lee and Christian's friend.
"Lovely to meet you, Livi. How do you like America so far?" He smiled at me with a dazzling smile and I was in shock for a minute by how gorgeous he was. Was it an Alabama thing to be born gorgeous?
"It's a lot different than home, but I really like it so far." Emily reached for the door and swung it open, revealing 10 metal boxes attached to the wall and a station full of candy.
"So Livi, this is frozen yogurt. You chose your flavor then you add whatever toppings you want." I observed all of the options, finally settling on french vanilla and chocolate swirl. I filled my cup and added on oreos and granola. I looked around to see everyone else piling on different candy toppings and filling their cup to the brim. We put the cups on the weight machine and payed for our frozen yogurt. Emily bounded outside to grab a table outside.
It was nice to sit around and really figure out who these people are that I will be spending the next school year with. Emiy was definitely free spirited and extremely intelligent. She knew what she was talking about and didn't care what people thought of her. Lee was relaxed at all times and hilarious. Everything he said made me laugh. Christian and Eliza were so similar that I would be shocked if they weren't dating. I learned that they had been dating for a year and a half. Even though I hadn't met him at all, I really enjoyed getting to know Shawn. He was so funny and so sweet to me. He always tried to include me in the conversation and really seemed flirtatious.
After an hour, we decided we should probably head home. Christian and Lee sprinted to the car to make sure that Emily wasn't driving us home, and for that I was grateful. As we hopped into the car, Emily let out a high pitched squeal.
"God Emily! What the hell was that?" Lee shouted, having to have slammed on the brakes as we were backing out.
"Oh my GOD Livi! Did you notice anything while we were at Yogurtland?" She grabbed my arm and looked at me with a sparkle in her eyes that made me laugh.
"Other than the fact that frozen yogurt is my new favorite food? Not really." She dramatically groaned as stopped at the stoplight.
"Livi, Shawn was totally flirting with you the whole time. He likes you!" Lee turned as the light turned green and jerked us all to the side. "God Lee are you trying to kill us?" Emily shouted and leaned back smiling at me. I couldn't help but shake my head and laugh at her.
Maybe he did like me, I don't know. But I don't think that he did, I mean I had only known him for like an hour. That'd be kind of nice, considering how sweet and cute he is. I mean, I definitely wouldn't say no if he asked me out.
We pulled into the driveway after dropping Christian off and unloaded ourselves, trudging into the house. Rae was sitting in the kitchen on her computer. She heard us walk in and her neck snapped up and broke into a wide smile.
"First day! How was it? Livi, did you meet anyone new and exciting? Get yourself a boyfriend already?" I couldn't help but laugh at her last comment.
"New and exciting, yes. Boyfriend? Unfortunately not. Still working on that one." She smiled and turned back to her computer. Emily nodded at the stairs, saying that we should go to her room. First day homework was always easy, so we finished in an hour.
"Hey Liv," Emily said as I was finishing my last math problem. "Want to go on a tour of Clayton? It's not very big but I mean it's only five and we're done."
"Yeah sure! I'll slip on some thongs and we can go." Emily looked at me with a shocked face.
"Sorry what?" She started to laugh at me as I sat in confusion.
"Don't say thongs. Here in America thats underwear." I began to laugh as well and we ran downstairs and hopped into the jeep.
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It was a hour long drive to explore all of Clayton, which she was correct in saying it was a small town. We ended up walking around downtown and looking in the shops. I saw multiple clothes stores that I knew I would have to come back to.
When we got home, dinner was being placed on the table with chicken and mashed potatoes. It was nice to eat as a family again. I knew that once I returned home I would miss the meals, but I already began to miss my family.
After dinner, I went to Emily’s room while she was taking the dogs on a short walk before night. I pulled out my phone and began to dial my dad’s number, knowing that with the time difference, he would be up.
“Liv! How is America! I miss you girl.” I started to tear up because I missed my dad, but I was having fun and I knew I would visit at Christmas.
“Hey dad. It’s great. I miss you too.” I sniffled and laid down on the bed.
"So how is it? Any new friends?" He questioned.
"Yeah a few. Theres this gir-"
"So sorry honey, I have to go. I'll call you later. Love you bye." He abruptly hung up the phone and hurried off to do whatever he had to do. It seemed to always be like this - ever since Mom died he's never had enough time for me. I couldn't help the tears that flooded my eyes and poured out. My throat involuntarily let out a strangled cry and at that moment the flood gates opened.
"Livi, are you okay?"
