elizabeth's hatbox

six;

noah,

today, in the morning, regardless of my protests, dad dropped me off at my new school. he takes good care of me now. mum has grown detached after your death, really. now all she does is sit and stare, and manage to utter a few words every now and then. she seems lost. i can't blame her, it's only natural. you were her favorite.

so it's sort of just me and dad now. i miss mum, but dad suffices. he's amazing.

dad had to dash for work after he left me at school, so for a while, i felt alone again. i felt isolated and stranded in the middle of a thousand faces, but still lonely. that's when a pretty girl walked up to me and smiled in the warmest of ways. her smile was genuine; something i hadn't witnessed from anyone but dad after you'd gone.

she greeted me and held out a hand. "hi, i'm breigh. breigh saintcroix, you must be new."

"i am. i'm sara-emmaline."

"such a pretty name. nice to meet you!"

i didn't reply, because to be honest with you, it wasn't nice to meet her. she made me feel meek and insecure, which, considering how polite she was to me, is a very mean thing to say. i managed a fake smile. i said, "saintcroix, you said? and this is saintcroix academy. so you must have something to do with the board?"

"you're a smart one, aren't you?" she laughed. "yes, my grandfather started this school. that's how i know you're new. it might sound creepy, but i've been waiting for you. you seemed nice."

"i am nice," i asserted. she laughed again. "so you're french?"

"no, not exactly" she said, and started walking. i followed her. "i'm mixed. my grandfather was french, but my grandmother was english. and my mum's 'murican." she smiled, and it was contagious. for some reason, i smiled too.

now that i think of it, noah, breigh's nice. i think it might be safe to call her my friend.