d a n i e l
A U G U S T ( J U N I O R Y E A R )
"You guys go ahead and go to class, I'll catch up," I tell my best friend, Macy. I bend over, grabbing my books for my first-period class, English with Ms. Franklin. I set off down the hallway but get stopped by, who I assume to be, a new boy.
"Hi," I say, smiling.
He smiles. "Would you be able to tell me where Ms. Franklin's class is?" He asks me, and I can tell he's not from the states.
I laugh softly. "You're not from here, are you?" I ask him.
He shakes his head. "My mum decided to pick up and leave Cheshire to come here... she was born and raised here, moved to England and met my dad, so I was born and raised there... She had other reasons of course, but..."
I nod. "Yeah, do you need to put your stuff in your locker?" I ask him.
"Yeah,"
"Okay, I can wait for you and then you can walk with me to Ms. Franklin's classroom, she's my first period, too,"
"I'm Leo, by the way," he says as he puts his stuff in his locker.
I smile. "Daniel,"
When he's got his stuff in his locker and his stuff for class, we walk down the hall towards class again.
I open the door and hold it for him.
"Ms. Franklin?" I say.
"Hi boys! Oh, I see you found our new student!" She says.
I nod.
"You can go ahead and sit down, Daniel, thank you for helping him."
"Of course,"
I sit in my seat in the front row beside Macy.
"You guys can do whatever, I'm going to get our new student caught up," Ms. Franklin says.
The class immediately breaks out in chatter, and I turn to Macy.
"He's cute!" She whispers.
"He's British!" I whisper back. "He's super sweet, too, we should let him sit with us!"
"Alright students, this is Leo Green, he's your new classmate! Leo, you can sit here," Ms. Franklin says. She leads him to the seat beside mine. My heart does a mini flutter. STOP THAT!
🦁🌁
Lunch approaches quickly. I catch up with Leo at his locker and invite him to sit with Macy and I. He gratefully accepts and follows me to the cafeteria.
"I'm Macy, by the way," Macy says as Leo and I sit down at the table.
"Leo," he says, smiling.
"How long have you been here?" I ask him.
"We flew in on Thursday," he says. "I'm still a little jet-lagged. Back home, it would be five o'clock."
"Is your mom British, too?" Macy asks.
"No, just my dad. My mum was born and raised here. She moved to England for Uni and never moved back. She met my dad and had me."
"What made her decide to move back?"
I look at Macy.
"There were... a few different reasons, but one of them was that she missed being here, and her parents. My mum and dad have been split up for a few years now, I think I was in year 8 when it happened,"
Macy and I nod.
"Would you wanna come over this weekend?" I ask Leo at his locker after school is over.
"I'd like that," He says as his phone rings. "Pardon me,"
He steps away from me to take the call, coming back when it's finished.
"Do you know if the bus takes people home?" Leo asks me.
"Do you need a ride home? I can take you home," I say.
"You would do that?"
"Of course!"
Leo follows me to my car and puts his stuff in the backseat, giving me his address, which I recognize.
"I actually live like five minutes away from there," I tell him.
"That's cool!" He says. "Do you play any sports?"
"I play football and baseball,"
"American football? With the brown ball?"
I laugh. "Yeah,"
"D'you wanna come in?" He asks me when I pull in his driveway.
"Sure," I say.
I follow him in the house.
"Mum! I'm home!" Leo calls when we walk into the entryway.
"Hi, sweetie! Oh, did you already make a friend?" His mom says (without an accent) as Leo and I walk into the kitchen, where she is unpacking boxes. She smiles at me. "I'm Maria,"
"Daniel," I say, smiling back at her.
