Chapter Text
“What did I get myself into?” Carina thought as she got up this morning.
That’s all she felt the last weeks. Carina, who was 17, grew up in Italy. She lived there her whole life and she loved her country. She loved the music, the food and the people. And now she was here. She was here because her father chose to come to the US because he thought that he would have more success with his research. Another factor of the equation was his new wife who was American. They met at a conference somewhere, fell in love, he divorced her mother and married Susan soon after. They tried living in Italy for a while but Susan was homesick. So of course, her father moved with her to the US. Carina joined them, although her mother and her brother stayed in Italy. The relationship with her mother was very complicated. It seemed like they lost their bond. The older Carina got the more distant she felt from her mother. So, she thought it might be interesting to go to another country, improve her English and explore the world. She just broke up with her boyfriend and wasn´t into someone else. In a year she would be 18 anyways and then she was free and could do whatever she wants. It felt right for her to go with her dad.
Little did she know that all she did when they arrived was to sit at home and wait for her father and Susan to get home for her to have company. She was stuck in the house. She didn’t have a driver’s license, because that’s something you do when you´re 18. At least in her country. She tried to walk to places, but the distances were different over here. Everything was far. The next store was miles away. And she didn´t had a bike yet. The next shock came when she was told that she had to do two years of high school for her to graduate instead of one. They didn´t approve some of the subjects she took at her school back home and so she was put back a year. That sucked. Carina was smart, like really smart, and she didn´t understand why the school systems were so different. It wasn´t her fault and now she would definitely have to stay here for at least two years.
They arrived 5 weeks before the new school year started. 5 weeks where she basically could do nothing. She tried to enjoy the beautiful weather; she was amazed by the pool this house had. She also read a lot and tried to distract herself with an art project she started, but she was getting homesick and she seriously considered going back to her mother. Her father and Susan tried to convince her to stay and at least to try to go to school. They told her that once she found friends it would feel more like home. But it was hard for Carina to believe it. Her mood got worse over the summer and especially Susan hat to experience what it was like to have an unhappy teenager at home. Carina snapped at her almost all the time. Overall, it was a very hard summer for Carina and her parents.
Today was her first day in the new school. She got dressed and went downstairs. She still wasn´t used to breakfast, it just wasn´t for her to eat in the morning. She took her reusable cup, filled it with coffee and told Susan that she would wait in the car.
Susan tried to make some small talk on their way to school, but Carina wasn´t into it and told her to leave her alone. She thought about how it would be to be the new girl in class. The new girl from another country. Usually, she was pretty confident, but she has never been in this situation before. Would she find any friends? Why was she worried all the sudden? She had the whole summer to mentally prepare for this situation but it seemed that her brain put this thought way into the back of her head until now. And now she realized that she would probably be stared at, what was she getting her self into. She hadn´t noticed that the car had stopped and that Susan got out. She must have called her a couple of times because now she was almost yelling “Just get out of the car now! Mr. Herrera will show you the school.” “I´m coming, no need to scream” Carina said as she got out of the car. She shook Mr. Herreras hand and introduced herself. “Bye Susan” and with that she turned around and followed the principle who started showing her around.
“Who is she?” Maya said. Everyone was staring at the girl who followed Andys dad inside the building. “She came here from Italy” Andy said “My dad told me that she would join our class this year. She came to the US a couple of weeks ago, but that´s all I know. Guess we´ll find out more about her soon” With that she took a look at her watch and urged the others to get inside. Class was going to start soon. Maya was disappointed when the class started and the new girl was nowhere in sight. Maybe Andy had misunderstood something. But then Mr. Herrera came into their room and the girl was right behind him. “Everyone. Please give a warm welcome to Carina De Luca. She will join your class and I hope everyone will make it easy for her.”
“Carina” Maya thought “What a beautiful name” “Stop staring at her” Andy whispered into her direction. “I mean… do you have eyes?” “Yes, but…”
“Maya, Andy! Did you hear what I just said?” both of them stopped and looked at their teacher. “sorry!” “I said ‘thank you’ to Amelia and Teddy who volunteered to show Carina around. Now would you please stop talking and follow my class” “Yes, sorry Mr. Webber”.
‘Great’ Maya thought. Of course, those two agreed to take care of Carina. As if they hadn´t already have anything. Both were in the Cheerleading team. Both of them were rich and they weren´t shy to talk about it. Teddys family had a history in military, there was one famous general or something, and Amelias brother was some kind of medical god. At least that’s what that one journal said, which Amelia ‘accidently” forgot in school for everyone to find it. Maya was pissed. Now she had missed the easiest chance to get to know Carina and she was sure that the other girls only volunteered to get even more popular than they already were. But it was only the first day of school. She would get her chance she made herself believe.
The rest of the day was boring. At least the classes. The breaks on the other hand were great. Maya got to catch up with her friends and Dean invited everyone to his parents’ house for them to have a reunion party on Saturday. She was excited for her first training with the track and field team of the school this afternoon, and she was happy to see everyone again. She really liked her team. They had a great spirit. Everyone was supportive and although Maya was by far the fastest runner, no one made her life harder because of that. They even celebrated her wins when she was at meetings and came home with a medal.
So later that day she was on her way to the locker rooms to change, when she heard someone approaching her. She turned around and there was: Carina. “You´re Maya, sí?” she asked. Maya could only nod. “Hi I´m Carina. Mr. Herrera told me that you can show me where I can change for training?” “yes… sure… just follow me” Maya stuttered as she continued walking. ‘get it together Bishop’ she thought “So, what is your specialty?” she asked, curious what the answer would be “I stared with running but switched to high jump soon after. I haven´t done it for a while now, but my father thought joining a sports team is a good way to get to know people, and since I don´t know anyone yet and I was lonely all summer, I hate to agree with him, but he has a point.” and with that she shrugged her shoulders, passed Maya and opened the door to the locker rooms.
Now that was a turn of events, Maya thought. She would spend more time with her than she thought a few hours ago. And with a huge smile on her face she followed Carina to change and to finally get outside to run.