It had only been a couple of weeks since the Scheinert family had moved to the UK.
It was safe to say that Eleonore wasn't happy about it.
Having been ripped away from her home, her friends... even her extended family was so much farther away now...
Eleonore felt lonely. These past few weeks she had only really spent time with her parents... everything was so different here. Having grown up in the German countryside, the British city life was... An adjustment. There were always so many people out and about at all times...
Wherever you went you got shoved, the British people weren't nearly as polite as Eleonore's English teacher used to say. Only when it came to the things Eleonore was doing wrong.
The other day she had accidentally walked the wrong way in the train station, and everyone had given her the death stare- British customs were weird... Eleonore struggled with adjusting.
So she spent most of her time holed up in her room. But that would come to an end soon enough.
School would start up soon... a new school, even more rules to learn. Like the ridiculous school dress code. Eleonore was still coming to terms with the fact that she would have to wear a blazer and a ridiculously small tie everyday... School uniforms were not a thing in Germany...
She had already tried her uniform on... it didn't look flattering on her at all.
Eleonore was short but chubby, so the uniform just didn't seem to fit right...
The skirt was either too long or too short... at least the Blazer was a nice fit, to her at least.
It was a bit too big, but she liked it that way.
She liked the dark blue colour of it too... it went well with her dark blond hair, and green eyes.
Eleonore was just glad she could wear her favourite Star shaped hairclip.
She had gotten it for her eleventh birthday, from her big brother, because she had been really into astrology back then.
Even now, almost seven years later, she still wore it almost every day...
Right now, Eleonore tried to forget about the fact that she would start school in a few days, and just tried to focus on playing an old Nintendo game. She was in the middle of a Pokemon battle, when there was a knock on the door.
["Ellie, I'm going shopping, are you coming with?"] It was her mother.
Eleonore shook her head. ["No thanks. I'm busy."]
Her mother sighed. ["Come on, Ellie. You have to get over it. We moved, and you will have to get used to it. Now get up, or I'm taking your DS."]
With a groan Eleonore got up. ["Fine. Geez."]
Taking the underground still felt weird.
In her old village, they did not have that.
Her mother seemed to be in her element. She grew up in the city, she was more adjusted to this.
Her older brother would love this, she also thought.
Before Eleonore's parents got together, he had lived in Vienna, with their mother, and his Dad.
He was still a city kid at heart, even having lived in the countryside for most of his life.
Jakob had stayed in Germany.
Lucky him.
Since Eleonore was just seventeen, she had to come with her parents. Jakob, being twenty-two, had a bit more say in the matter...
Even shopping was weird.
A lot of Eleonore's favourite food wasn't even available in grocery stores here.
Germany and Britain sure had some differences...
It was only a couple of days later that it was Eleonore's first day in a new school.
In the morning she was so nervous that she couldn't even eat a bite of breakfast.
She felt silly in her uniform. Back home she would never have to wear something like that. At least everyone would be wearing it...
Eleonore's Dad offered to drive her to school for her first day, since he could tell how nervous she was.
["It will be great, Ellie."] He said. ["You will find so many friends-"]
Eleonore crossed her arms. ["I had just found friends at my old school last year. How long do you think it will take in a country where everyone will laugh at the way I talk?"]
Yeah, she was still angry.
Having to move so far away...
And all that just because her parents wanted to open their business here, hoping for it to work out better than it had in Germany. A record store. Opening it up in Camden town was not the worst idea they ever had, yet Eleonore still wished she could've stayed back in Germany like her brother...
Soon after, Eleonore was walking through the hallways, consulting a map of the classrooms a secretary had handed her when she had come to report for her first day.
She had hoped to get a little more guidance, but the very busy secretary had just handed her the map and that had been it.
So now she was just trying to find her way there.
It was... a little bit difficult.
There were so many classrooms... this school sure was bigger than her last one...
When she finally arrived in her classroom, most seats were already taken.
From the looks of it, most people seemed to know each other...
With a sigh, Eleonore took a seat in an empty chair by the window.
She felt so out of place... some people had such strong accents that she couldn't even understand them...
"You're in my seat."
Eleonore needed a second to react. This was the first time someone had really spoken to her today.
When she looked up, a tall brown haired girl with grey eyes was standing in front of her. "You there. With the stupid hairclip."
Eleonore's hand immediately went to her Star-shaped hairclip. "I... sorry." She said, unsure. "I thought that- sorry."
"Why do you sound so strange?" the girl asked, looking at her.
Eleonore didn't know what to say. Well, this was going great.
"Leave her alone, Meryn . She's new." another student said.
Eleonore just quickly grabbed her backpack and fled to the back of the class, to find another empty seat.
With a sigh, she sat down.
This was worse than what she had expected.
The day seemed to drag on forever.
Even just the time until lunch seemed like an eternity.
When the teacher had asked Eleonore to introduce herself, she had not only accidentally addressed her as "Frau", as you would in Germany, but also as soon as she had opened her mouth and started talking, two of the girls had started laughing.
One of them had been that girl Meryn, that had already made fun of her earlier.
She had immediately wanted to sink into the ground and disappear...
And during lunch time... well, she didn't really know who to sit with in the cafeteria.
So instead she sat in the stairwell, eating her sandwich and reading a book.
"You're... uhm... what are you reading?" she suddenly heard a voice behind her.
Again, Eleonore flinched.
She kind of... just wanted to be left alone, now.
But then she cleared her throat. "Uhm... it's a book about time-travel... but it's in German, so..."
A girl sat down next to her. She had long black hair, an almond complexion and was wearing glasses.
"My name is Willow. I saw you in class earlier... and that Meryn, well that she... you know."
Eleonore shrugged. "I expected people to laugh... don't worry about it. I'm Eleonore."
Willow smiled. "Hi Eleonorie. It's nice to meet you."
Eleonore laughed. Close enough. She knew her name was a mouthful.
At least she was finally talking to someone friendly.
"I just wanted to know if you were alright. You ran off quite quickly after class."
Eleonore nodded. "I'm fine... no worries. But... thanks for checking in..."
"Would you like to sit with me and my friends?" Willow then asked.
Eleonore considered for a second.
But once she thought about sitting at a table with people, interacting with even more people that could potentially laugh at her and the way she talked...
She declined. "No... thank you, but I'm fine here..."
Willow smiled at her. "Alright. If you change your mind, we're in the cafeteria."
Then she got up and left.
Eleonore sighed.
Willow seemed really nice... but who knew if her friends were too...
After the school day had concluded, Eleonore tried to take the underground home... it was also quite confusing.
Everything kind of was, wasn't it?
Eventually she arrived back home, after only getting lost once.
["How was it, Ellie?"] her mother asked, as Eleonore walked into the shop.
["Shit."] Was all Eleonore answered, before she walked up the stairs leading up to their flat.
She was still pissed.
All she wanted to do was to go home... her old home. But her parents had sold the house after the move... She could never go back...
Eleonore had just taken her blazer and tie off and had fallen into bed, when her phone rang.
It was her big brother.
["Hey little shooting Star! How was it?"]
She sighed. ["Don't call me Star. I've heard enough of that today..."]
["So it didn't go well?"] her big brother asked.
No it didn't. It really didn't...