Chapter 2

I didn't care that over 500 people watched me right at this moment, all I cared about was my best friend I hadn’t seen in ages.

“Liss!”, I shouted again.
And this time I was a 100% sure it was her! Without thinking I ran to her and she ran to me. Lissa engulfed me in a big hug and for a long time I just hold her close to me.

“God, I've missed you Rose”, she whispered in my ear.

I laughed silently into her hair.

“You have no idea how good it is to see you!” , I replied.

I took a good look at her and found some little changes in her. Her hair was longer, her eyes a bit darker, but she looked good. She always did. I remembered how we met when we were three years old, barely four.

*Flashback*

“Be a good girl, okay?”, my mum asked.

“Yeah, mummy”, I rolled my eyes.

“I'm serious Rose”, she repeated herself for the fifth time.

“I know mum, I'll behave. Promise.”

It was my first day at the kinder garden in England. We moved here last week. My mum had to work and my dad also, so they sent me here.

I didn't really care. It wasn't any different back in Turkey. They always had to work and I stayed alone at home. Not always alone, but still.

My mum left with a last kiss to my cheek.

There was a little room with many desks. Some kids already had picked a place to sit. One girl stood out the most. She sat in the far corner and she actually looked quite scared. Every other kid talked with someone, but she sat alone and looked frightened from her left to her right. I had the immense urge to punch everyone who scared or tried to hurt her. She had long platinum blond her and bright green eyes. She was pretty!
I went over to her desk and sat down beside her. She looked really scared and when I sat down she went rigid. I just sat there and let her try to relax. I hoped she would get used to me being beside her and realizing I wouldn't hurt her.

When our teacher came – Angie – she said we could go play outside. The girl next to me wouldn't talk to me, so I tried to make friends with some of the other kids.
I made some friends and easily forgot about the girl. But then I heard a cry. When I looked over I saw her, cornered by some stupid girls who made fun of her shyness. They were three. Two brunette and one with black hair. The one with black hair talked.

I ran over to them and heard a bit of the insults they threw at her.

“- can't talk, huh? Are you deaf or what?”

“Shut up!”, I shouted.

All the three girls, and the one crying turned to me. They all got wide eyes and wondered what I did.

“What?”, the girl who insulted the crying one asked.

“You heard me!”, I snarled. “Shut up or I will make you!”

Now she looked scared. She began to stutter, but she couldn't utter a word. After a while of her not answering, she huffed and stalked of. I just rolled my eyes at her. I mean she was barely four and acted like she was seven. I mean please!

Then I looked at the crying girl. She hadn't stopped. Her cheeks were red and she opened her mouth, but then closed it again, This happened four times, but she never actually spoke.

“Your welcome”, I laughed and ran back to my other friends.

Close to closing hours my mum still wasn't there to pick me up. All the other mums and dads were already there, but I still waited. It felt strange and I was sad, embarrassed and just wanted to hide and cry.
Where was my mummy? I asked myself time and time again.

“Aw, Mummy forgot you? You know maybe she did it on purpose”, the black-haired girl from before snarled at me.

This time I didn't have a witty comeback. I was scared something happened to my mum and that was why she didn't was on time. What if she got into an accident?
“Leave her alone”, a tiny voice, I could barely make out, whispered.

The girl in front of me looked behind me. There she was, the blond girl, who had been harassed before by the girl in front of me.

“What?”, she laughed, “You can talk now?”

“Y- Yes!”, she stuttered a bit louder now. “She is my friend. Leave her alone!”

She shouted. She actually shouted this one sentence so god damn loud, everybody looked at us.

“Fine. Then YOU will be next tomorrow!”

And that's when I punched the girl. I didn't know what came over me, but from that moment on, Lissa and I were inseparable.

*End of Flashback*

“Excuse me”, I heard the voice of a man.

I was pulled out of my memory and turned around only to see an older man on stage glaring at me. His hair was a light brown, but here and there were some gray streaks.

“Who the hell do you think you are?”, he practically growled.

When he thought he was intimating, he was wrong! He looked ridiculous. He showed his teeth like he was some sort of animal. With his few gray hairs and his cheeks as red as a tomato, he looked like he would collapse every moment with the lack of oxygen. He should really relax his jaw if he wants to keep it ...

“Rose”, I said confidently. “Rose Mazur.”

“Oh”, another woman said behind Mister 'I'm pissed of and show my teeth'. “You're the new student?”

I nodded and she smiled at me. While talking to me she went down the stage.

“Hello, my name is Mrs Petrov. I'm sorry for this welcoming. You must have been confused with no students around school.”

She laughed lightly and I couldn't help but join in.

“Yes, it was a bit weird.”

I laughed lightly and she smiled warmly back at me.

“And I presume you already know Miss Dragomir?”

She had a knowing glint in her eyes and smirked. She seemed like a cool teacher and I already liked her. She wasn't young, but not as old as the 'I'm pissed' man. She looked proud and confident, but nice none the less. She had short gray hair and was a bit taller than me, but not by much.

“Yes”, Lissa squealed.

She beamed at the teacher in front of us and put an arm around my shoulders.

“Well then, I think Vasilisa would be the best choice as your guide around these halls, am I right?”

She smiled kindly at us both and giggled. I really, really liked this woman already!

“Thank you Mrs Petrov”, answered Liss.

“No problem, sweetie. Have a good day Mrs Mazur.”
Liss and I both nodded at Mrs Petrov and exited the gym. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Mason staring at us, like we we're some celebrities. Grinning I shook my head and laughed lightly. When the doors closed behind Lissa and me, we both began squealing like crazy, hugged again, jumped up and down and told each other nonsense. It was great to have her back and to already know at least one student here.
I have to admit we acted a bit childish, but we really didn't care.
“Oh Rose, it's been so long”, Lissa sighed.
“No shit, Sherlock”, I laughed.
She laughed along with me.
“You look so different, but still the same. I mean the hair color, but no, it's a bit darker than before. You're taller and damn, you have curves girl, and I mean look at your boobs, there a huge!”
“Lissa!”, I shrieked outraged.
“Sorry”, she said and went on as fast as before. “But seriously, I mean look at them and your eyes, they're are so -”
“Lissa!”, I laughed. “Take it down a notch and take a breath.”

“Sorry”, she mumbled and did as I said.
“Good”, I said smiling. “Now: How have you been?”

Lissa smiled and the next half an hour we talked and talked and talked about everything that has happened to us. We talked about old times and stuff. She gave me a tour of the school, talked about her new friends and just everything. But she never mentioned her parents and that confused me.
“Liss? Is something- ? Is something with Andre, Rhea and Eric?”

Her lips began to tremble and she looks away from me.

Wrong question, Rose, I chastised myself. Stupid!

“Hey”, I tried to comfort her and put a hand on her shoulder. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry.”

“No, no, it's okay”, she said shaking her head.

She looked me in the eyes and I noticed how watery her eyes became.

“They died. My parents, they are dead”, Lissa said. “I just … Rose, I miss them so much, it's only been two years and Andre and I -”

“Shh”

I hugged her and Lissa cried on my shoulder. We stood like that for a long time, until her tears finally stopped. I felt awful for bringing this up so I desperately tried to find something to keep Lissas mind off of these things. And while she cried into my shoulder I came up with something.

“Hey Lissa?”
“Yeah?”, she sniffed.

She looked at me, her make-up was smeared and her eyes seemed dull. She looked so vulnerable, I almost began crying myself.
“What did I interrupt back there?”

Lissa gave me a half smile, grateful for changing the subject. She tried to make herself look presentable again and explained it to me.

“Oh, that”, she rolled her eyes. “Some welcoming speech. Last year there was a fire in the auditorium, that's why it's held in the gym. The tall guy, did you notice him? Whatever, doesn't matter. He was one of the few students who helped getting the fire out. He and a few others just got a speech, some honor medal and stuff.”

“Wow”, I breathed.

Gorgeous and selfless. He was like a perfect man, like a god. I shivered just thinking about this guy.

-o-o-o- Make Me Smile?! -o-o-o-

I bet it wasn't necessary, but Lissa took her time showing me around. In the end we were finished close to Lunch time. Yummy, my favorite part of the day!

Lissa looked perfect, like before and there was no sign that she had been crying. Laughing we went into the cafeteria and got into the line for food. I was really eager to get something to eat! I was starved!

“Eager much, Rose?”, Lissa giggled.

“Girl, I'm starved!”

And with perfect timing my stomach growled.

“Wow, sounds like an animal”, Lissa said with big eyes.

“Told ya' I'm starved! I'm actually craving food at the moment!”

“You sure it is food you're craving?”, whispered a deep voice into my ear.

Surprised I turned around, ready to tell the guy to back off, but then the words died on my tongue.

“Holy shit!”, he cried as he saw me.

“My thought exactly”, I answered.

“Rose!”, he cried laughing and scooped up into his arms.

It was Andre, Lissas big brother. Almost instantly he began – much like his dear sister – to interrogate me about everything! It was funny to see how similar he and Lissa were.

“Can't breath!”, I managed to choke out.

“Sorry”, he chuckled and put me down. “Gosh, you have grown up.”

His eyes roamed over my body, from head to toe. He stooped a little too long at my chest, if you ask me, but I couldn't be sure.

“And man, have you grown up quiet well”, he said approvingly.

Okay, I could be sure ...

“Andre!”, Lissa chastised her brother. “You perv!”

“Sorry, but I'm a man”, he chuckled and winked at me. “See you in a few.”

And with that he walked on to a table, where already a few people sat. The tall guy from earlier was among those people. When Andre arrived everybody stopped talking and greeted him with welcoming smiles. He sat next to a blond girl. Her hair was really curly and she looked younger than him. A lot younger! She looked almost like a doll, probably, what? 15?

“Liss, is -”

“Yeah, that's his girlfriend”, Lissa confirmed my suspicion. “Her name is Mia and no, she isn't 14. She is actually 16.”

“I was going for 15”, I grinned.

Lissa giggled and finally we could get our food! The thing is it was all so ... fried. It looked disgusting! Everything bathed in oil! There were fries and cheeseburger The fries looked already wet and the cheeseburger looked like they sweat oil and ketchup out. Really not my thing!

I may be not the most healthiest eater, but this was even too much for me!

Instead of going for the disgusting stuff, I found something way better: Desserts! Jackpot!

There were brownies, cupcakes, donuts and apples. I picked three put of these four, guess which I didn't pick? Right, the brownies! NOT! Who picks an apple, when they can get something with chocolate on or in it?! Apparently Lissa. She picked an apple and an cupcake with pink icing on top. I, myself preferred the chocolate version.

“Come on, I will introduce you to some of my friends”, Lissa smiled.

With our food we followed Andres earlier way through the crowd and stopped at the table he already sat at.

“Hey guys. Listen!”, Lissa shouted.

Everybody stopped talking and looked questionable at her. When they noticed me they gazed went from questionable to curious. I avoided eye contact with any of them, instead I looked at Andre, who smiled brightly.

“Guys, this is Rose. You probably remember her from earlier. She was my best friend in kinder garden and now I got her back.” Lissa smiled brightly at me and I smiled back. “Rose, you already now my smart ass brother.”

“Hey!”, Andre shouted offended and the others laughed.

“The girl next to him is Mia, his girlfriend. The boy next to her is Mason.”

“We already met”, Mason interrupted. “Hi Rose.”

“Hi Mase”, I smiled back.

“Oh, okay. Well. Next to Mason is Eddie, then comes Viktoria. Then there is Adrian, next to him is Viktoria's brother Dimitri and last but not least: Christian. He is my boyfriend.”

Lissa smiled again and sat down next to her boyfriend. The only place available now was the one between Lissa and a girl she didn't introduce.

“Liss”, Andre warned her.

“What?”, Lissa snapped.

Andre sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

“This is Jill. She is our half sister”, he introduced her.

I sat down and looked questionable at Jill. But with a closer look I could see that she had the same eyes Lissa and Andre had, a jade green. I have only seen those eyes at one other person: Eric Dragomir.

“Hey”, I smiled.

“Hey”, she replied shyly and played with her hands in her lap.

“Eric?”, I asked in Andre direction.

He only nodded and dropped the subject. This time I actually took the hint and stopped myself from asking other questions.

Silence engulfed the table and I already felt out of place, like an intruder.

“So”, I think Adrian began.

He looked at me and for he while he just kept starring. It crept me out a bit, when he didn't say anything after that, but then he finally did.

“Do you often bark into school assemblies?”, he asked an quirked an eyebrow.