"Nice to meet you, I'm Vanessa Balan"
[A few weeks later]
I was walking through town for the umpteenth time until I reached a beauty salon near Crestmont, the old place where Hannah worked. A lady attended me very kindly and made me a hair treatment, which eliminated any curl I had in it. I paid her and went to Monet's. The aroma there was pleasant and calm. There were a group of boys sitting together at one of the tables throughout the center of the establishment. For a moment they looked at me and continued with theirs. Except one. I kept waiting in line until a girl with several tattoos and some piercings attended me.
"Welcome to Monet's, what is offered?", she said.
"Ehm, give me a cappuccino and a triple American, please", I let go.
"It's ten dollars and fifty cents", I gave her the money and sat down.
I opened my suitcase while the other guys behind me were talking. I was curious to know who they were because they seemed familiar to me. I sat a few meters from his table, all in order to hear at least their names. To hide, I took out my computer and turned it on. Moments later, I started a video call with my best friend, Tatiana and, with her complicity, we started talking in Romanian as long as nobody understood us.
"Vanesa do you know what time it is?", she said in a growl.
"I know, Tatiana," I said back, "I'm in a cafeteria so I need any information or something you're going to tell me to tell you in Romanian."
"Nessa, it's three in the morning."
"I know Tatiana, but I need your help urgently. I think the people who murdered my sister are behind me. And besides that you owe me this favor for covering you while you were partying with Daniel."
"Your sister hadn't killed herself?", she asked.
"Yes, but I'm talking about your stalkers. I can't give you more details because I'm supposed to be a protected witness."
"Vanesa, sometimes I don't understand you, but the director is furious. You have not attended classes, your average will go to the floor--"
"Oh please," I growled, "I can't contact her at three in the morning, Tatiana. I'll write her later and give my excuse and what I need to enter the school in the United States"
"Wait a minute", she said, "Are you going to stay over there? Vanessa, really, your sister's suicide is leaving you wrong. And you should take a break after this--"
"You know, you're the only one of all my friends in Moldova who calls me Vanessa when she's serious. Even my parents don't do that".
After this Tatiana started talking about school and her love life, which left me with arcades. I didn't want to remember the moments I had spent there while I am on the other side of the world solving my family problems. From one moment to another, the boys moved from their seats and each one left, except one.
He was an Asian boy with black hair and brown eyes. The chair was too small for him which made it look like an ogre trying to get into an elevator. The girl who had taken my order arrived with the drinks I ordered and left without further ado. At least I had a few days to go to Liberty High and start this whole game. But I was curious to know who this boy was who was watching me for a while.
I felt the boy move from his seat and leave, giving me a moment of peace. I was back on the call with Tatiana for another 10 minutes until I hung up and returned home. That moment for me was sort of too awkward, since the boy seemed to be completely paranoid and distrustful.
Upon arriving home, my mother was preparing dinner while Dad was upstairs. Seeing how my hair was, she stopped everything she was doing and loomed into my position.
"What happened to your hair?", she said, "Tell me that at least you will not change the way you dress. I need a little normalcy in this house."
"No, mom", I let go, "This is just so they don't point me as Hannah's twin while we carry out the whole plan. I'm going to wear contact lenses to cover the blues of my eyes, and I changed my hair style to make it less like her."
"It suits you", she smiled at me, but his disheveled hair and dark circles from days ago seemed to make her more forced, "Your dad is upstairs accommodating certain things that we need to carry for the evidence in the case."
"For me, take everything. It makes me sad to see how my sister's room is completely empty with no trace of her."
"I forgot to tell you that tomorrow you start classes at school", he said and I almost fell out of my position, "They changed the date and they will give you a guide through the campus, I hope your plan goes well. Dennis told me that you better practice your birth papers and certain other things so that you have in everything in life that you are supposed to have."
"Okay, just the papers left me in the mail a few hours ago", I released.
"If they ask about your parents, you must say that they are dead and that you are taking care of us while some help arrives from your family remaining in Moldova."
"I'll be talking tomorrow on the way to my new life, I guess", I smiled, "Mom, everything will be fine."
"I hope so", he said and attended the kitchen.
[...]
I didn't know what time it was in the morning, but I was sitting on the outskirts of Liberty High. The glances and the murmurs were to be expected, after seeing a group of exchange students in the halls and now in the stands of the school. There were five new ones, which I didn't learn their names for being distracted watching the classrooms.We were about to enter the building with a man, whom I can recognize as Mr. Porter thanks to the tapes, and an Asian girl I had seen yesterday at Monet's. Her name was Courtney, the same girl who broke my sister's reputation. Mr. Porter took a boy from class, Clay Jensen to be specific, to be given guidance by the institute. You could tell how upset he was when he had to do an unexpected tour.
"Clay, Courtney, these are the exchange students who will accompany us this semester", said Porter, "These are Jhene, Fynn, Mahla, Deep and Vanessa."
He pointed out respectively. I let out a ladino smile so as not to remain the only one in the group.
"They are from the Honor Council and will give them a tour of the school."
"The walk of initiates", Courtney said with a clearly feigned joy, "And all the secrets they have to know."
"This is going to be fun, I guess ...", I released with a super weird accent and a fake smile.
[...]
Who am I gonna lie? Clay Jensen does not work for tours. It was uncomfortable and boring! We had been walking most of the time for stupidly necessary things but nothing incredible: the gym, the library, the parking lot ... nothing in the other world. Well, until we got inside the school and Clay let out a funny pout.
"Oh, wait!", exclaimed the boy, pointing to a couple of students he recognized from Monet's. The Asian boy looked at us oddly until he looked at me and was perplexed, "It's Justin Foley and Zach Dempsey! Star players at Liberty High School. Hey Justin, where is my bike? Justin stole my bicycle."
He looked with a certain tone of irony. I tried to act normal, but I couldn't.
"Now it got good", I laughed softly.
"I feel that boy is weird ...", Jhene told me.
"Yes, I also feel the same", I replied.
"What the hell?", Justin demanded, "What are you doing?"
"I'm giving a tour to the new exchange students. They must know who the school owners are, right?", Clay responded.
"Clay ...", Zach interposed.
"Of course, let's continue. Where it was? Oh, the auditorium", he ignored him completely and continued to stop in a locker, "But before entering, I want to show you something great."
"Clay, let them--", Courtney tried to articulate but Clay ignored her too. Good boy.
"The lockers, look!", he raised as he approached one, "They all look alike, right? This one did not", he pointed to a specific one.
"Excuse me", some girls said next to me and approached to the front.
"This is special", Jensen continued, "It belonged to a girl who killed herself."
Hannah ...
"Clay, please--", Courtney told him, without success.
"I don't know about you guys, but I started to be more interested in what he's going to say", I whispered.
"Do you see all those posters of "Don't kill yourself" on the wall? They were not there before. They put them there because she killed herself."
I didn't know whether to laugh or cry right now. I felt good because I faced everyone in the middle of the whole school, but I felt bad for everything my sister had to go through alone.
"And why she did it? Because all the boys here treated her like shit!", he shouted and I left blank. Trash was the least you could describe.
"Jensen, enough--", Justin challenged him but Clay continued.
"But nobody admits it! They paint graffiti in the bathrooms and put up a memorial. Because that's how this school is! Everyone is so nice until they take you to kill yourself! And sooner or later the truth will come out. Right, Tony? You know the truth."
Now I am interested in this. I went ahead to see the only acquaintance I had. I was surprised about the situation until he saw me peek out. He looked at me in amazement and then looked back at Clay.
"Clay!", exclaimed Mr. Porter, posing as the whole crowd, "I think you should come with me now. Go to class! All of you!"
Clay took a few seconds, laughing under his breath, then raising his head and saying "Welcome everyone to Liberty" and leaving with Mr. Porter. I went back to where the rest of the new ones were, waiting for them to say a comment about "I don't want to be here another day" or something similar. They would save their tiredness.
"That boy gave me the most uncomfortable feeling possible", Mahla said.
"Honestly, he made me want to run away", Jhene said, "But my parents already paid to move here. I can't do anything else if there are more boys like him."
"I liked him", I said and everyone stared at me like I was a weirdo, "He reminds me of all the screams in my country, I'm sorry if it sounds strange. Moldovans are ... special."
"I think that girl was someone special for him", Deep released, "Now we have to go through our lockers."
"Well!", I exclaimed, "After this, I invite you all to a cafe at Monet's, to get to know each other better. Now, to the principal's office", I sentenced with an applause and we went as a group to the main office.
[...]
It was lunch and I had sat down with my group of exchange students. None of us knew each other well, but it was the only option we had for not being alone. I introduced myself as Dennis instructed me: Vanessa Balan, 17, born in Chisinau, Moldova, on August 12, 2000. Mahla told us she was transferred from an American school in Ohio, where she lived when she was a refugee from Syria. Deep moved a couple of weeks ago, just like me.
On the other hand, Jhene came from England and was only for an exact semester because he would return to his homeland after his father's work in the city. We ate our quiet lunches until some of the same boys who were present at the informal presentation of Clay arrived at our table to "apologize" for all the fuss that had happened.
"Guys, we are really sorry for the whole scene that happened a while ago", Courtney said.
"It's nothing," Jhene released and looked at me, waiting for me to say something to support the entire group.
"Seriously, it's nothing," I said, showing a well-behaved smile and my invented Romanian accent. "It's not something I haven't seen before, isn't it? Is he always like that?"
"No", Zach answered, "Clay has always been the kind of guy who's always quiet and doesn't comment anything"
"Exactly!", replied a short, dark-haired girl, "He has been hurt since Hannah's death, just like everyone else."
"He took it to another limit, though", Courtney said.
"We're so sorry, we don't want them to get a bad impression of this high school," said Zach, sitting next to me. What's he up to?
"Într-adevăr, băieți. Suntem bine (Really, guys. We're fine) " I let go in Romanian, but I immediately put my hand to my mouth, "I'm sorry, sometimes I mix languages."
"Don't worry, beautiful" a blond guy said behind the whole group, "Someday we'll see Zach speaking in another language, too."
"What's that supposed to mean, Bryce?" said the boy next to me, but now I wanted to run away. I had just talked to my sister's rapist and wanted to throw up.
"No offense, buddy, but you haven't learned any languages in everything we've been around," Bryce laughed.
"I think it's still good that he doesn't know, it may be that he is better in other things", I interposed before watching another fight, "Anyways, we can do another day less ... uncomfortable, right?", I tried to say to overshadow the fact that he already knew everyone by the tapes.
"Yes, just let us know and we'll do it ourselves, okay?", Courtney smiled and several of them left. Everyone but Zach.
"Hey, Zachy!", Bryce exclaimed from his seat, "Are you coming with us?"
"Wait a minute!", he replied and then he noticed my group of new friends, "I think Jensen already made it clear, but I'm Zach. Dempsey, Zach Dempsey."
"I'm Jhene", said the brunette.
"I'm Deep ... They are Mahla and Fynn."
"I'm Vanessa Balan, nice to meet you", I extended my hand and Zach shook it gently.
"It's nice to meet you and welcome to Liberty High", we smiled and he left.
"That ... was ..- very strange", I sentenced and ate another bite of my food.
[...]
Zach Dempsey's POV
After lunch Alex, Jess, Coutney, Justin and I went to the gym. It was our free time and we had to know what we would do with Clay. He didn't want to hear about another suicide or if some of the exchange students took what he said wrong. Marcus did not arrive but that did not prevent Courtney from starting to square and make conclusions about everything.
"Clay is completely crazy", Justin said.
"We're playing with Hannah's rules", Courtney replied, "It's not fair for the tapes to come to light because Clay went nuts."
"He won't do anything public about this", I tried to defend him.
"Looks like he could," she murmured.
"Clay is only sad, alright? Leave him--", Alex released and began complaining about his abdomen, to which Jessica reacted immediately.
"Your stomach again, Alex?", she asked, "Come sit down."
"His stomach again?", Justin replied without understanding what was happening between them.
"He loved her and she died. He's devastating, just give him time", Alex finished.
"He's not sad. Clay is looking for ven--", Courtney tried to clarify, but Alex interrupted her.
"And we deserve it", Alex complained again, to which Jess orders him to sit and Marcus finally appears through the door.
"Man, you're late!", Justin demanded.
"I talked to Tony. He says he'll take care of it", Marcus said.
"And what does that exactly means?", Courtney asked paranoidly.
"Tony is an idiot!", Justin shouted, which I interrupted.
"He's not an idiot", he looked at me strangely.
"He's an idiot, a bastard and a douchebag", he stressed for the second time.
"They are the same thing, man" I counterattacked.
"No, there are nuances of meaning"
"Right..."
"Tony won't do anything, for fuck's sake! We have to deal with this. Let's finish the damn bastard."
"That's insane", Jessica interposed.
"I don't know ... What if we make it look like suicide?", my friend suggested and I denied. Did that really come out of his mouth?, "Isn't it tragic? Like two lovers with no luck, or something like that--"
"Mature, Justin!", I exclaimed irritably.
"Are you telling me to mature, you ... mom's little boy?", No, he didn't.
"Yes, I'm telling you", I looked at him seriously and went back into my nebula.
I really couldn't stand being in this situation, but I was also one of the causes.
"One thing", I said, "If something had been different at some point, perhaps this would not have happened."
"I don't know, we'll continue with this later", and Courtney left.
Moments later the others did the same and I was alone in the place. All until a girl with long, coppery hair and dark eyes arrived skating and left her suitcase in the bleachers on the other side. She was speaking in another language with her phone in hand and began to skate around, without noticing my presence.
"Ugh, Știu, Tatiana. Nu this noapte în Moldova? (I know, Tatiana. Isn't it night in Moldova?)", she growled, "Clopotul clasi următoare goes suna oricând, give nu știu când va fi. Nu am adus a ceas. (The bell of the next class will ring at any moment, but I don't know when it is. I didn't bring a watch.)
There's something about this girl that doesn't fit me well. I don't know why. I couldn't stop watching her skate, just like yesterday at Monet's- when she arrived and started speaking in the same language. Something inside of me wanted to talk to her but I didn't want to go through the same thing as Hannah. I think that thanks to her all my insecurities are at the top.
But no. Not this time. I got up and walked to Vanessa, who saw me drop something on that tongue and hung up. He looked at me again and smiled.
"Zach Dempsey", released, "What brings you here?"
"It's my free time", I explained, "And you? I doubt you're the type of girl who escapes from clasees just for skating."
"I'm not", she smiled, "It's also my free time, I have French after this. Worst of all, I don't know anything about that, I come from a country where Romanian and Russian are mostly spoken."
"So that's the language you spoke", I released with a smile.
"Yes...", she lowered her head, "And Bryce betrayed you by saying that you know how to speak any other language, huh?"
"You are right. He's a good friend, but he never fails to leave me in sorrow.", I couldn't tell her the truth even if I wanted to.
"Friends are always like that," she let go and continued rolling with his skates around me. It seemed to amuse her.
"Did you skate when you lived in your country?", I asked.
"Yes, in Moldova most teenagers go by car or by public transport, but I had no money to spend on extravagance. So I saved about a hundred leis to buy these beauties", she pointed out her white skates.
"Those are cute, my younger sister would love it."
"Do you have siblings?"
"One, yes. Her name's May. And you?"
"I had a younger sister, but she died in an accident a couple months ago," she stopped dead, causing her to almost fall if I didn't grab her.
"Gotcha", I told her and she got up quickly and apologizing, "Are you distracted sometimes?"
"Sometimes falls short, Zach. I am all the time", she replied with a laugh. The bell rang and we both looked at each other for a few seconds, "I think I should put on my shoes..."
"I must change to practice the team..."
"See you later, maybe?"
"Yes, if you want to. See you later...", I said and ran away. I watched Bryce and other boys come towards me with a smile from side to side.
"Our Zachy got a girl!", Walker exclaimed.
"Now what?", I replied, "Bryce if you approach Vanessa--"
"Wow, calm down buddy. I'm not doing anything to her", he raised his arms in peace, "But at least invite her to one of my parties, to get to know her better! She's the European sensation!"
"Don't you dare--" I threatened him, but I restrained myself when I saw how Vanessa came to us.
"Uhm... hello, Bryce. Hello also to you...", she greeted everyone innocently, "Zach, would you help me find the French room, if you don't mind?"
"Sure, Zach," Bryce repeated, "Why don't you help the pretty girl look for the French class?"
"Do you need help with your skates?", I approached and went with her, accompanied by the cries of others.
"I don't need help with skates, Zach," said the girl.
"Are you sure?", I asked and nodded.
"I'm very sure that the skates fit perfectly in my backpack", Vanessa replied with a certain tone of obviousness.
"Oh, of course", I looked at the floor, "Although we can continue chatting, the French room's a bit far"
"I think it's fine, but at least look where you're walking", she laughed tenderly.