I stretched my arms over my head, yawning. My arm felt a little numb, I must've slept on it funny. The mirror in the corner caught the glare of the morning sun, inconveniently shining it right into my eyes. "Fuck!" I hissed as I covered my eyes to prevent myself from being blinded further. I edged closer to the mirror and, once I was out of the burn of the glare, turned the reflective surface around so that the rays wouldn't bounce off of it directly at me. I made my way over to my wardrobe, cautiously stepping over various bits and pieces that I'd failed to put back in their places. I picked out my clothes for the day and took them to the bathroom with me, ready to wear after I had a shower. "(Y/N), make sure you're ready for everyone when they get here!" My adoptive mother, Marcie, yelled to me from downstairs. She had been preparing all month for her new tutoring class, working all day, every day, and sometimes half the night too, preparing her brand new shed in the back garden for classes. She'd had it built specially for tutoring, and nobody had been allowed in there. She'd kept the interior a surprise for everyone, including me. The place was massive from the outside, but knowing Marcie, she had most likely filled it with things that had taken up half of the sitting space. I turned the shower on and hopped in, cleaning myself and making sure that the dirt marks that constantly appeared on my skin were nowhere to be seen.
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When the first person arrived, I was just combing my hair back into its usual style. I walked over to the door and opened it, allowing the first student access to the house. It was a guy who I wasn't really familiar with, but had been to the classes for around three to four months before Marcie announced that she'd be cancelling for a month. He went into the kitchen to sit down, the usual action for most of the kids. It was also Marcie's way of counting how many people had turned up for the day. I sat down on the stairs, waiting for people to show up. This was my usual position for the next half hour, so I always kept a book near the stairs so that I could pass the time. I picked up my copy of Ao No Exorcist and began to read, occasionally putting it down to let the other kids in.
After the arrivals slowed down and came to an eventual stop, I marked my page and headed into the kitchen. I counted how many people had turned up, coming to a number of twelve. Marcie had told me yesterday that there were supposed to be fourteen, including me. By that logic, there were only thirteen people here, coming to the conclusion that we were either missing a kid or that they just hadn't showed up and their guardians had failed to let Marcie know. I left the kitchen and went to the shed in the back garden, where Marcie was preparing her lessons, and knocked on the door. She opened up and seemed to immediately know what I came to ask about. "Don't worry, the new kid is on her way, I just got a text from her guardian letting me know that she set off a little late." I nodded and headed back to the kitchen, where I noticed a new face. It seemed that the new kid had let herself in, which I had no problem with. Less work for me.
Soon after, Marcie stood in the doorway leading out to the garden and clapped her hands, notifying the students that she needed their attention. "Alright, guys. You may or may not know that I've had a new studio built to cater to your needs. No more crowding in a circle outside! So we're all gonna go in there, and I'm gonna assign you to a place." Marcie pulled me to the front and whispered, "Go get the new kid and bring her up front. You're keeping an eye on her today, help her settle in." It wasn't anything new, it was what I had to do any time there was just one new kid joining the groups. If it was more than one, Marcie would take charge. She herded everyone out into the garden, allowing me to find the new girl, and then slowly proceeded to take people into the new studio. I located the new girl and began asking her the standard questions I'd ask for anyone, like 'What's your name?' and 'What happened for you to be here?'. I found out that her name was Noodle, a name that she'd apparently given herself when she was younger, and that her dad had sent her to the tutoring sessions instead of regular school so that it wouldn't coincide with her 'guitar practice' as she called it.
After finding out this information, I took her inside of the studio and was instantly fascinated with how the interior looked. The walls had been painted, most likely by Marcie, to look like a park, a cherry blossom tree on the far wall behind a large dark oak desk that I assumed was hers. Day-glow stars had been plastered on the ceiling, the wood that they had been stuck onto being painted a cool blue to match the background of the walls. Various sofas and armchairs lined the walls, a coffee table full of reading books in the middle of the seating spaces. All of the educational books, however, were shelved in a bookcase near the oak desk, kept safely away from the more fun books left out for people to read. A pile of cushions were left in the corner. I recognised them as my old cushions and felt a wave of nostalgia wash over me. A patterned rug was splayed out on the floor, running under the coffee table and countless sofas and chairs. Most of the kids were in their designated seats already, and it didn't take long for Marcie to direct both me and Noodle to our seats. Coincidentally, they were next to each other.
Once everybody was seated, Marcie closed the door and stood near the coffee table to that everyone could see her. She rubbed her hands together. "Time to get to work, guys."
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I rubbed my eyes, happy that the classes were over for the day. I didn't expect to talk to Noodle that much, but her dark eyes and slight Japanese accent seemed to draw me in. I said my farewells to everyone before heading out of the studio and returning to my room. I could hear someone ask Marcie why I never stuck around, her reply being, "He gets tired after hearing me talk my head off, he detoxes in his room for a while." I shook my head, even though she was right. Even though it wasn't because of her talking. I just didn't like being around people I didn't really know for too long. Most of the kids in the tutoring sessions had been around for about a year or so, but I still hadn't really talked to them or considered them as friends. Nobody really made an effort, there was always something keeping the natural conversation from flowing.
I went up to my room and stared at the assortment of random objects scattered on the floor, sighing. I decided then and there to clean up, getting to work straight away. It took about an hour, but finally everything was back in its place. All of my collectibles were on their shelves, any CDs lying around had been returned to their cases and put back in their piles near the CD player. The dirty clothes had finally gotten their place in the laundry basket, and my blankets were folded in a neat pile on the end of my bed. I hunted down some Blu-Tack to re-attatch the Mario Kart poster to my wall and used the left-over pieces to stick some old lights up around my desk, making the room feel a little more homely. I quickly looked around the room for one last check before heading downstairs to see what Marcie was doing.
To my surprise, her and Noodle were sat on the sofa in the living room, both holding cups of tea and talking about what sounded like music. I sat on the stairs and listened in for a minute.
"So you say you're in a band, right? (Y/N) always wanted to be in a band." I heard Marcie ask. "Yes, me, my 'dad' Toochi, my other 'dad' Murdoc, and Russel!" Noodle giggled. "So they aren't your real parents, like I'm not (Y/N)'s real parent either?" Marcie probed. "No, they technically adopted me when I turned up on their doorstep around five years ago. It was weird. But now we're all happy together." I stood up and entered the living room, Marie's face lighting up. "Oh, (Y/N)! Noodle was telling me about how she makes music too! She's in a band, and they have an album out!" She smiled. I nodded, a little surprised. "I didn't expect that, to be honest." I smiled, sitting down next to Marcie. Noodle sighed and stood up, taking her now empty cup into the kitchen and returning to pick up her bag. "I need to get going, they'll all be worried about me..." She gestured to the door. I stood up and opened it, holding it open for her. "See you later, Noodle." I told her receiving a nod and a smile in reply. I closed the door and sat back down on the sofa. Marcie got up and put her cup in the kitchen. "Right, I've got marking to do so I can actually tell the government I'm doing my job right. Not having them claim I can't tutor because of a silly illness." She retreated to her room with an armful of textbooks, leaving me on my own in the living room. I wasn't really sure what to do, so I just put on a documentary and drifted off on the sofa, holding a cushion close to me. It wasn't an eventful day, but not learning much for a month and then going straight back into it was always a struggle. So naturally, I was tired. I just needed to relax...