I Dream Of Flames

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Isla

I don't remember much from the time of the police questioning to the drive to school, everything flew by in a surreal blur. As we left the airport, I was expecting a taxi to take me to school, so I was utterly confused when a whole line of police cars showed up at my gate. They were all surrounding a black minivan, which held a driver in a suit. I sat down in the leftmost seat of the back row, and an officer followed me in, leaving little space for me to fit comfortably. After the stress of the morning, I was exhausted, and I still had a full day of school ahead of me. I pressed my forehead against the cool window and watched the scenery of the city fade to a suburban town. Without even dropping my bags at my host family's house, I was dropped off at my new school. I read the sign saying: SunnyBrook Highschool.

As I approached the double doors, a wave of fear washed over me. I hadn't been nervous on the ride, but now, all I wanted was to be back home with my family. I gathered up my courage and pulled open the door. I made my way to the front office, which was thankfully located to the left of the entryway. I stood for a few minutes at the desk before she noticed me. 

"Oh, you must be the new student I heard about? Don't go setting things on fire." She said with a smile as she handed me a slip of paper and a schedule. 

I felt a lump in my throat and tears welling in my eyes. How could she be so insensitive! And, how much had the officers told the school about the accident? Questions swarmed around in my mind as I walked to class. I walked into the class and all conversation stopped. 

"Hi? I'm Isla" I said nervously. 

The teacher pointed me to a seat beside a boy named Nash He had a mop of black hair and deep brown eyes. He welcomed me to the school and tried to make conversation, but all I wanted was to sit and listen, so, I put a finger to my lips and nodded, pretending I knew what he was saying. I guess I agreed to a tour because he met me at the doorway and walked me around the school before stopping at the lunchroom. I had nowhere to go, so I sat down next to him. I noticed that his lunch didn't look very good, so I offered him one of my churros. 

"Your mom must be a great cook!" He exclaimed. 

"She was, but she died in a house fire a few days ago," I replied. 

We sat in silence for a few minutes, but we did compare schedules. Turns out we have all but one class together! I think I made a new friend! But, I was still concerned about my host family. Would they be mean or nice? Would they have kids or not?  Would they serenade me with questions about the fire? Did they know about the fire? I was nervous, to say the least. 

When the lunch bell rang, I walked to class with Nah, it was math, my best subject back home. Like before, Nash had an empty seat next to him. I wondered why, but ignored the nagging feeling and sat down next to him. The teacher passed out review tests to see what we learned last year. As I looked at the paper, I realized this was stuff my tutor and I had gone over two years ago! I immediately knew this class was going to be a breeze. I finished the test in fifteen minutes, tops. But I couldn't say the same thing for Nah. He didn't finish until five minutes before class ended. I felt a little bad for him. 

I was in my last class when the office called my name over the loudspeaker, I got scared. I was worried it would be another police questioning, but it wasn't. My host family had just come to pick up the bags that had been left in the front office by my escort after I went to class. They looked friendly enough. 

"Hello, Isla!" The woman exclaimed enthusiastically, "We are your host parents, we won't be able to get you for a little while after school, so we wanted you to meet us before, okay?"

"Alright," I said quietly.

So, I walked back into my class, greeted by the sound of "oooh"'s from my classmates. If only they knew why I was really here. Then I bet they wouldn't be so mean. Or maybe they would've, I couldn't really tell. Science was the only class I had without my new friend Nash. It was pretty interesting, but altogether, it was just another mediocre class. The bell rang, and a stampede of pumped-up highschoolers began raging through the main hallway to the door. I tried stepping out, but I got knocked over. Maybe I was just weak, but my old school was never like this. I met Nash at the front door to say goodbye.

"My parents aren't coming for a while, so I'm walking downtown if you want to come."

"Me neither," I responded. 

He couldn't know about the fire or the whole exchange student thing.  Not yet, not now. Someday soon.