Transformation, the beginning

La donna che sa tutto, 20

The next day we stay inside during lunch break. We sit in front of a classroom,  it's just Indira, Sylvana and me. Jade went to the dentist and Daniëlle is retaking a test.

Indira and Sylvana sit beside me, they are reading their Dutch grammar and spelling rules, they have a test after the break. I just sit there and drink my water.

Five minutes before the bell rings a group of boys walks by us. They are Mihno, Kendall and a few other boys from my class. When Minho sees me, he smiles briefly and I smile back.

I wait till they can't hear us before I nudge Indira and Sylvana.

"That's Kendall, that boy with black hair and that blue shirt." They follow my gaze and look at him too.

"Want to see his faceee," says Indira and pushes her glasses up.

"I have never seen him before," Sylvana says when they finally stop walking and turn around. I haven't either before this year. Sylvana leans in to have a better look "Oh, he is nice, really Jade's type. She always falls for boys who are completely opposite from her. Opposites attract, right,'' Sylvana says. 

Indira disagrees, ''I have seen him before, he is always playing video games on the computer." 

Many kids from my class pass by and smile when they see me, except for Gina's group they completely ignore me. Last come Diaro and the whole group. When they walk by, Diaro looks up.

"Hey," he says and smiles.

"Hey," I say back. 

Indira and Sylvana look up immediately.

"Is he in your class?" 

I nod, and look at Diaro. I know why they react like that.

"Is he new too?" Sylvana asks with her eyes on hi,.

"No, I don't think so," I answer.

Sylvana smiles "Well he's cute."

"Yeah, he is," Indira agrees and takes a bite of her cookie. 

I never looked at him like that but I guess he kind of is.

When the bell rings I enter the classroom. Only one hour left then I'm done. I sit all the way in the back in the corner where Jade and I always sit. Only now I'm all alone.  All the girls sit on the other side of the class. The classroom slowly fills up. Diaro and his friends are the last to enter the classroom so they fill the empty places. When he sees me he smiles and sits next to me. We talk about what kind of business we would like to start in the future. He tells me about the restaurant his parents own and that we work there on the weekends. He plans to take over the restaurant after college.

When the teacher walks in we stop talking. The remaining of the hour we stay focused on the lesson. In the last 10 minutes, someone started to message him. He grabs his phone quickly and kept on texting, it must be important because his face turns serious when he saw the first message. When the class is over he walks away without even looking at me.

Once I get home I do my homework. I lay down on my bed, reading the messages I have.

To my surprise, I see a message from Pablo. He and Daniëlle are the only ones who talked to me after that last training. I get that, they are busy and probably annoyed with me.

Pablo:
Hai C, how are you feeling?

I feel relief when I click to open the chat. He is not annoyed with me. Pablo was the person I got along with the best. We always had to dance the duos and because of that, we spent a lot of time together. 

Me:
Great...my ankle feels better.

Pablo:
I'm glad to hear that! Do you miss us already?

Me:
Yessss, I really do. Well, I miss dancing. How is the duo with Tabora going?

Not being able to dance is annoying but it annoyance me less than I thought it would. Maybe because I was busy, obsessing over other things.

Pablo:
Uhmmm lets not talk about that...

Tabora is an amazing dancer, I'm sure it will be fine. They have enough time.

Pablo:
Let's just say, I really miss you.

I smile, I can't image dancing a duo with someone else than Pablo so I kind of get it.

Me:
Is it that bad?

Pablo:
Yesss, I'm waiting for her now, we were supposed to meet at 8 o'clock.

I look at the time now, it's 8:25

Me:
Ohwwww

Pablo:
Yeah...

Pablo:
Well, she just walked in with a Bershka bag. I have to go, wish me luck (I really need it.)

Me:
Good luck!!!

I toss my phone on my pillow. I stare at my ceiling with a blank mind. The house is silent, my brother is already sleeping and my mother and sister are in their rooms. It is getting dark outside and I feel my eyelid getting heavy.

I'm in a stuffy small living room. Rays of sunlight enter the room through a small dusty window. In the middle of the room is an old wooden table with eight chairs around it. My clothes stick to my body and my throat is dry. My eyes meet the eyes of a woman about 40 years old. She smiles at me, and I return the smile. She has pitch-black curly hair and a beautiful floral dress on.

Two big men, I have never seen before, enter the room with their hands full of books. When I look next to me I see Jason, he looks tired and his hair is all messy. He smiles encouragingly at me and grabs my hand. I smile back and then look at the people.

I clear my throat, "We need your help."

The woman nods and opens a very thick book.

"There is a lot information in book. Here you find answer.'' The woman point at a book.

''We look in other books." With we, she meant her and the two men. She points to the chairs. The woman's English isn't very good, she is from Italy, you can hear that right away.

We sit down at the table. The seats are made of cheap wood with splinters. I'm wearing shorts and a  tank top with thin straps, but I don't care, I'm tired and have to sit down. I let go of Jason's hand to take the bottle of water that one of the men brought. The bottles do not look clean but I am thirsty so I do drink.

The woman turns the book to us so we can start reading. This is the thickest book I have ever seen. Jason turns the first page over where the text starts. You see a picture of a woman, so large that only 1 sentence fits underneath it.

''La donna che sa tutto'' The woman who knows everything. She must be the author of the book.  Seeing the photo, made Jason stops drinking. He places his hand at the corner of the page and looks with wide eyes.

"That is my ..." he tries to say but gets interrupted.

"Cira?" I hear a man's voice behind me. A shiver goes down my spine at the sound of that voice. I know that voice, but I haven't heard it in a long time. My palms begin to sweat and my heartbeat starts to rais. I turn around ...

''Beep beep beep,'' My eyes fly open and look around. I'm back in my room...It was a dream. I turn fo my alarm,  grab the glass of water my bedside table and gulp it down. My clothes stick to my body. I don't know why but my eyes are filled with tears, I'm trying hard not to cry.