The Wolves in the Woods

A Foreigner in the World

Half of the time I don't know what they're talking about; their jokes seem to relate to a past that everyone but me has shared. I'm a foreigner in the world and I don't understand the language.

— Jean Webster

***
Amaia starts her first day at Dupont.

***

"... hey Amaia?" Andres asked.

"What is it, Andres?" Amaia replied. She shifted the bags in her arms while Andres worded his question. Their grocery run was a success. They had gotten everything they needed for tonight's dinner. So what was Andres wanting to ask?

"What was that about?"

Amaia paused. The bags of groceries were still in her arms.

"... you got me," she admitted. What in the world was that? That scene could only be described as a rock concert clashing with a discordant orchestra. The racket from the fight was still ringing in her ears even now.

"Whatever it was," Andres said. "I don't think they had the whole story."

"Gee, you think?" Amaia fired.

"Yeah," Andres said. "I mean." He paused, glancing up at the sky for some reason. "Even threatening to call their parents didn't do anything." Amaia studied the sudden seriousness on her brother's face. "You'd think they'd back down after, but they didn't. They were so sure they were right." Amaia hummed. "Then there was the total lack of respect for two people who were clearly adults." His eyebrows furrowed in the middle. "No matter how you look at it, it wasn't right." He looked at his sister. "Do you think the school board knows anything?"

"... I don't know," she admitted. "If they did, they're doing a poor job handling it." This was way beyond a simple disagreement. This was a full-blown verbal assault. In the presence of the victim's parents, no less.

"Whatever's going on," he said. "It's already clear nothing is being done about it." Amaia hummed again, musing over her brother's words. "If they were doing something about it, this never would have happened." No disagreement there. "What do you think is going on?"

"Corruption, more than likely," she mused. "How deep it is, it's too early to tell." Speaking of. "What about their parents? Do you think they know anything?" Andres huffed.

"If the threats a while ago are any indicator, they might have called them already," he said. "Odds are, we'll be running into some disgruntled students tomorrow." Better watch their backs, then.

"Great..." Amaia grumbled. "What a way to start a new school." She had no idea what their guardian was thinking asking them to come here. There was obviously something wrong, but where to start. "What's our next move?"

Andres paused to think. "Well, let's start by getting these back to the house." He lifted one of the heavy bags. "Or else Mireya won't let us have supper today." Amaia's eyes snapped to him. Blazing. Despite that, Andres's eyes were glowing with mischief. Or actually glowing. He dashed down the street cackling like a maniac. Deftly dodging passengers and sliding down the sidewalk like his favorite rocker. Amaia quirked an eyebrow at his antics. Thoroughly unimpressed yet unable to do anything. With a sigh, she picked up the pace to make sure he didn't break anything.

"Smart aleck."

***

Whose bright idea was it to start school this early in the morning? As if getting home just to run another errand wasn't enough. Now the universe wanted to punish her by denying her precious sleep right before her first day at Dupont. In the form of a yowling, howling cat Salomon managed to chase off before it could wake anyone else. What, did she have a cosmic bullseye on her back or something? It'd explain a lot of things that had been happening to her lately.