This was it.
Fixing her top button one more time and adjusting her tie, she picked up her school bag and made her way downstairs.
"Wow, someone looks smart!" Pablo exclaimed, grinning at her.
"Are you nervous, gatita?" Miguel asked her.
"A little." She spoke, not letting on how nervous she actually was.
"Well you're better than Diego, he managed to get in a fight on his first day." Miguel chuckled.
"That was only because some puny older kid thought they could pick on the new guy." Diego grumbled out, swinging an arm around Taiga's shoulder. "If you ever need me to beat someone up for you, just say the word."
"No, no, no. You will not be getting our little sister into a fight." Pablo intervened, making Diego back away with his hands up in surrender.
"Alright, stand by that wall." Leo spoke up, holding a camera.
Taiga quickly scurried over, eager to not keep him waiting.
"3...2...1..." and the shutter of the camera echoed.
She had never had this before - getting her photo taken on the first day of school. It was refreshing to have a family that celebrated the things that should be.
The only downside was that her and Rafael still hadn't made up. She had noticed recently he had been trying to occasionally talk or watch TV with her, but it was still very awkward between them.
And he was driving her to school.
Rafael began to leave the house so she took that as her cue to follow, her brothers wishing her 'buena suerte' as she left. Before she could close the door, Diego ran up to her.
"Me and Rafael have classes at the same time this morning so I'll be tagging along." He explained, making her smile in relief.
Now that Diego was there, the tense air between her and Rafael wouldn't be as painful to bear in silence. She slipped into the backseat, Diego joining her on the other side and Rafael already at the wheel.
"Shouldn't you be in the front seat?" She asked.
"And leave you shaking in your boots back here?" He smirked at her.
"I'm not shaking. Just slightly nervous." She pouted.
"Yeah, yeah." He said, unconvinced.
Rafael was watching from the front. He missed messing around with her and he had been trying to make up with her but it was difficult.
He had been so unfairly cruel and she deserved so much better and more. After all of his brothers had talked to him too, he eventually started to get it.
She's not ruined their lives or broken the way they used to live, she made it better. But he had a lot of pride and found it very difficult to admit when he was wrong.
He wanted to apologise. He needed to.
Eventually, they pulled up to her secondary school that was filled with children walking in. Some laughing, some clinging to their parents.
"Are you going to be alright, nena?" Diego asked her before she stepped out of the car.
"I'm sure I'll be fine. I hope." She laughed out nervously.
Just before she jumped out, Rafael turned to look at her.
"Buena suerte, hermanita." He said, a small smile gracing her lips as she nodded and left the two brothers in the car.
It was daunting - all these children that she didn't know. She arrived at the school office rather quickly as it wasn't too difficult to find.
The old lady peered up at her through rectangular glasses, a sharp glare in her eyes.
"What do you need?" She already sounded exhausted from dealing with people on a Monday morning.
"Um... I'm new. My name's Taiga Gonzalez."
"Ah, you're Taiga!" A voice called behind her.
A girl, not much taller than her, was smiling brightly at her. Her blonde hair was tied into a ponytail, a sparkling headband rested on top with glasses framing her face.
"I'm Amelia but please call me Amy." Her uniform was perfect, not a crease nor a wrinkle. "I'm here to help you around school!" She grinned.
Taiga nodded meekly, slightly overwhelmed by the girl's preppy personality. The tired office woman printed out a timetable for her, handing it over carelessly.
The bright girl, Amy, peeked over her shoulder.
"Your first class is biology, I can take you there if you'd like?" She offered.
"Thank you." Taiga smiled, still feeling rather shy.
The school itself felt huge, lockers lining the halls and classrooms dotted around and filled with children. Amy managed to speak throughout the whole thing, naming all the rooms and briefly taking her to her locker and teacher her how to use it.
When they reached her class, she observed the students sat at their desks, chatting away until they saw her, exchanging glances with each other. Being the new kid was difficult and she had experienced that in her family and now in this school.
A man dressed in a suit looked up at her from a messy desk filled with papers. His eyes were kind and seemed to have a smile and a shine in them as beckoned her over.
"Hello, you must be Taiga?" He stood to meet her.
"Y-yes." She stuttered out.
Talking with one girl was fine, but now there were over twenty five students murmuring about her, she'll felt much more anxious than before.
The teacher let out a hearty chuckle, one filled with a surprising amount of warmth.
"It's perfectly normal to be nervous on your first day, especially with these nosey kids." He smiled at the class. "My name's Mr Acaster but you can just call me Sir or Mr A."
She nodded, eased by his open and jolly personality.
"There's a free seat on that table, by Aurelia - give us a wave!" And a girl at the side of the classroom waved enthusiastically.
Taiga slowly walked towards where the smiling girl was sat on a table with two others. They were all staring at her, possibly out of curiosity but possibly out of confusion.
She had joined rather late in the year but she knew she could catch up. She had to in order to make her brothers proud.
As she came to stand in front of her assigned seat, the girl - Aurelia, she remembered - grinned at her. Her skin was a beautiful tan color, complimented by her bronze her with streaks of different coppers and brass.
"Hey there! I'm Aurelia like he said." She motioned over to the teacher. "But call me anything you want."
"Like Rory." The boy opposite Aurelia smirked.
"Anything but that." She sighed out, glaring at the boy with the blonde hair that could be mistaken for white.
"Alright, Rory." He emphasised.
She picked up a pencil and poked his hand that was carelessly laying on the desk, making him retract it sharply with a yelp of pain.
"What was that for?" He whined
"Taiga, this is Reid." She pointed towards the green eyed boy, still rubbing his hand. "Reid, don't annoy her."
"Hey! Stop abusing me."
"I'm not, you're just annoying." She eye rolled.
"You stabbed my hand!"
"You deserved it!"
"Alright, guys." The other boy sitting opposite Taiga intervened their amusing quarrelling that reminded her of how Diego and Rafael had been.
The one that had half managed to end the squabbling had beautifully curly hair, a raven colour paired with two blue eyes. The type of blue that mesmerised you and left a feeling of tranquility.
"I'm Gray. Nice to meet you, Taiga." He smiled despite the other two glaring at each other across the table.
"Likewise." She replied politely, still shy and intimidated by the new amount of people.
Being the new girl in the school definitely made her anxious, but she didn't mind the change of scenery from home. If anything, she appreciated it as it gave her something to do and kept her mind off of the other problems that plagued her mind.
"So, Taiga. What do you think of the school so far?" Reid asked.
"I'm much better at sleeping than socialising." She grimaced, making the others laugh.
"Don't worry, you'll get used to it." Gray reassured.
"Yeah! We'll throw you in the deep end and make you talk to everyone in the class." Aurelia joked making Taiga cringe.
"Knowing her cruel ways, she probably would." Reid muttered.
"Hey, I heard that, idiot."
"Before you two start fighting," Mr Acaster intervened with a knowing smile, "we're going to start the lesson."
The subject he was teaching was biology which Taiga soon learned required a lot of work to keep up with. Ideas about mitochondria, nuclei and photosynthesis flew in one ear and out of the other.
However, the confusion about the subject only motivated her to try harder in order to understand. If she couldn't succeed in academics, how else would she make her brothers proud?
Before she knew it, the class was over and the bell had rung, signalling for her to move along to her next class which she had no idea where it was.
"Can I see your timetable?" Gray asked her to which she nodded, pulling it out from her backpack.
"Let me see!" Aurelia demanded, skipping next to Gray and purposefully bumping Reid out of the way.
"Oh! We're in the same classes for almost everything." She grinned, nudging Taiga playfully, making her smile shyly.
"We've got Spanish together next - just follow me." Reid spoke enthusiastically, a victorious gleam in his eyes.
"Your sense of direction is terrible. Even you get lost after being here for a year." Aurelia sneered at him jokingly.
"Stop bullying me already, Rory." He glared at her, earning a punch in the arm.
"Stop calling me Rory, doofus."
"I've no idea how these two became friends." Gray discreetly whispered to Taiga, both of them amused by the two's quarrelling.
Eventually, the four managed to organise themselves and head off to the next class, Reid leading the way and offering for her to sit next to him to which she gratefully accepted.
"So, why'd you start school so late?" He casually asked.
Taiga knew he meant no harm but she wasn't quite sure how she could answer it. A lot had been going on in her life but she was hopeful that it was taking a turn for the better.
"Just family issues, that's all." She smiled politely.
"Man, I understand those. My older sister once broke her leg whilst we were on holiday so we didn't come back in time for the start of school." He started to swing on his chair. "I didn't mind though - not having to do school work is awesome."
As he grinned, Taiga couldn't help but smile along with him. Reid seemed to be the type that could cheer you up no matter what, even if he wasn't very tactful at times.
"It was my brothers that decided I should postpone it a bit longer."
"Oh, really? Older or younger?" He asked.
"Five older brothers." She smiled.
"Damn! Did they all go to this school?"
"I believe so. They like to brag about how many fights they got in."
"Wait... Five of them? They don't happen to be the Gonzalez brothers, do they?" Reid asked, eyes wide in anticipation for her answer.
"The very ones." Taiga grinned sheepishly.
"The Gonzalez brothers had a chink sister?" A new voice rudely interrupted from in front of them.
A boy with soft blonde hair was looking at them with a raised eyebrow, slouched in his chair and completely unbothered by the racial slur he had just used.
"Excuse me?" Taiga asked, baffled.
"Are you deaf as well as Chinese? Go eat a dog or something." He waved his hand in dismissal.
"Hey, listen here you -" Reid began to stand up, wanting nothing more than to hit the boy.
At that moment, the teacher walked in, silencing the class with their loud steps and domineering presence. Reluctantly, Reid sat back down but not without glaring daggers at the boy in front for the whole hour.
It wasn't too soon until the class ended, going rather smoothly for Taiga minus the racist child. She truly wanted a peaceful life but it seemed that no matter what she did, someone would always not like her.
"Hey, Taiga. You good?" Reid asked, walking out of the class with her, concerned.
"I'll be fine. But who was that?"
"Parka - a complete butt cheek as you can tell." He spoke with a murderous glint in his eye.
"Clearly not too smart either considering I'm half Japanese, not Chinese." Taiga tried to joke.
Reid cackled, clearly seeing insulting Parka as his favorite pastime. Soon enough, they bumped into Aurelia and Gray, waving enthusiastically and ushering them over.
"What are you laughing so creepily about?" Aurelia asked Reid.
"Nothing much, just the ways I'm going to murder Parka."
"Parka? What'd he do this time?" Gray asked.
"He was racist to Taiga out of nowhere. Like, bam, racism."
"What?" Aurelia gasped disbelieving. "You okay, honey?" She asked Taiga.
"I'm fine, just not looking forward to my Spanish classes as much." She grimaced.
"That idiot..." Gray mumbled out.
"I swear, one day I'm going to cut his balls off and feed them to his dog." Aurelia announced unabashed.
"Dang, woman!" Reid exclaimed, holding his crotch in a protective stance. "If anyone deserves it though, it'd be Parka."
They all laughed at his remark, the rude boy forgotten for a moment. However, a thought occurred to Taiga - would she tell her brothers?
If she did, undoubtedly they'd go after the boy and although he was completely insolent, she didn't want to make it into a big matter. On the other hand, should she keep it quiet then Parka would see that as a sign to continue.
But she had the support of three friends that she didn't expect to make so rapidly, although she was extremely grateful for them. They seemed easygoing and relaxed, something she needed in her life.
It wasn't too long until the school day ended and she was stood outside waiting for Diego and Rafael to pick her up. Mindlessly, she began kicking a pebble at her feet until her head shot up to the sound of a car horn.
She ran over to the familiar car and hopped in, ready to cheerfully greet her brothers until she realised that it was only her and Rafael in the car.
Who knew how this would go?
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Hi guys!
Merry Christmas 😊 I hope everyone is doing well and looking forward to the New Year. What do you think so far about the new characters? Thank you so much for reading, voting and commenting and this Christmas better be bomb for all of you!!
-Chisaki
Instagram: @hiranochisaki