"Hi, what can I do for you today?" The receptionist asks me with a smile.
"I'm Luna Westbrook, I'm new," I reply and she nods slowly.
"Oh, you're the new girl. Let me get Principal Arvings." She gets up and goes to knock on a door.
"Yes, Karmen?" I hear a voice ask.
"The new girl is here. Do you want her to come in your office?"
"Yes, I already told you that." The voice responds in a frustrated tone.
"Luna, come on over." I quickly walk over to her then into the office.
"Hello, Luna. How are you today?" Principal Arvings asks.
"I'm good, thanks." I sit in a chair across from his desk.
"Wonderful. Now . . I was looking through your files and I noticed that you've been moved around quite a lot, correct?"
"Correct, but I've had almost all A's despite the constant moving."
"Very much so, but you don't stay in places for long." He's already judging me and I've only been here for maybe ten minutes.
"That's going to change this year. I have a very kind foster mother and I plan on trying my hardest to stay here."
"I hope so. This is a very prestigious school and we don't want anything, but the best. Is that understood?" He's giving me a cold stare.
"I understand completely."
"Good, Ms. Santos will give you your schedule then you'll head to your first class."
"Alright, have a good day." I give him a fake smile then go back to Karmen.
"Your schedule is a bit different than most people's schedule, but that's because you've done so well."
"I don't have a science type course?" I look at her with a raised eyebrow after scanning the paper quickly.
"Yes, you've done all you need to do. You could be done with your math course by the end of December."
"Really?" I'm really happy to hear that and it makes me excited.
"Yes, Math, English, and History are the only things you need to complete. You've done plenty of electives so those won't be that big of a deal for you."
"That's great, but how will I complete the school day?" I glance down at my schedule and see that I only have a few classes.
"You'll only have to come in in the morning or afternoon, depending on what works best. You should really talk to Mrs. Tennen, your guidance counselor for the year."
"Am I able to do that now?"
"Yes, of course. I'll give her a call."
I wait patiently as Ms. Santos calls the guidance counselor. I hope I can figure all this out. I've done really well in school, considering all that I've been through. I'm trying to keep my grades up so I can go to college which is something I really want.
"Her office is above the library. Here's directions to help you." Ms. Santos hands me a slip of paper.
"Thanks." I follow the instructions and end up in the library. I ask the librarian and find a set of stairs that lead to a platform with a door.
"Come in!" A voice calls out after I knock and I open the door then I walk in.
I look around and my eyes widen at the room. There's a huge window on the side with a bunch of knick-knacks on the window sill. The desk is a corner desk against the left wall with an outdated phone on the corner part. There's no chairs except for the hanging chair which is the chair for her desk. Instead of actual chairs in front of the desk, there's a purple egg shaped thing on the the floor.
"Hi, I'm Luna Westbrook. Ms. Santos sent me."
"Yep, we have to talk about your classes." Mrs. Tennen smiles politely as she sets up the seat for me. I sit down and she does the exact same thing to an orange one.
"I don't have that many and I was wondering how that would work."
"Well, I was looking through everything and I see that you know a lot of languages. Now, a lot of them you have learned from the many different homes you've been to, correct?"
"Correct."
"I'll have to have someone check your accuracy on these. It won't be too hard."
"The ones I remember best are French, Italian, Arabic, Russian, Chinese, German, Punjabi, Romanian, and Greek. I know a few words in Dutch, Czech, Hungarian, and Portuguese, but that's about it."
"Jeesh, that's a lot." She's grinning in a proud way and it makes me feel happy.
"I've been in a lot of different places with a lot of different people. I had to know how to speak to them." I shrug like it's normal for me.
"Anything else I should know that isn't on record?" She's being serious and I try and think of anything else.
"I adapt and learn very quickly."
"I'm sure. Well let's talk about everything. Would you like some tea?"
☼☾☼
I get home at around two-thirty, stressed and ready for a nap. I don't have much homework just yet, but I know that'll change. I'm going to try and get ahead like I always do which shouldn't be that difficult. I know that people will probably bully me for it, but I couldn't care less. I've dealt with worse than bullying so I know I can handle it.
I decide to start on my Calculus homework before anything else. I turn on some music and start working through it. It's not as hard as I expected and I'm done within forty minutes. English and history are just as easy so within two hours, I'm completely done with everything. I smile to myself, glad that I'm already doing so well.
I walk downstairs to start supper for Kira and I. She'll be home in thirty minutes so I'll try to get done by then. Luckily, I'm good with cooking so I figure something out within a couple minutes. I get done as she walks through, making me proud.
"Mhm, what smells so good?" Kira asks as she walks into the kitchen.
"Pizza pasta with garlic bread." I reply as I get two plates from the cupboard.
"That sounds fantastic. Let me go change and I'll be right back down."
"Okie dokie."
"So how was your day?" Kira asks as she enters the kitchen in pajamas.
