Like fallen leaves [English version]

Chapter 1

Laura got out of the car as fast as she could, turning at the last moment to wave at her mom. She was late for her first day in her new school. If that wasn’t messed up, she didn’t know what was.

She ran up the stairs of the entrance to the Swalley High School, her heart jumping in her chest. As soon as she was in the building, she froze. There was no one in the corridors, and all the classrooms doors were already closed. She was really late. Her eyes roamed the walls, searching for the list that would tell her in which class she was.

Finally finding it, her eyes went up and down the sheet, before finding her name: Laura Phiri, room 6, second floor.

The young girl immediately turned and went towards the stairs. She hated being late.

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Before finding the right classroom, she had to go and humiliate herself by going into the wrong one. Laura couldn’t believe how unlucky she was…

She opened the door, peered inside and spoke slightly out of breath:

“Sorry. I’m late.”

Everyone turned towards her, and some students started smiling viciously and laughing. Then the teacher asked her name. When Laura said it the teacher frowned lightly but simply told her to take a seat.

The lesson started again, and then Laura saw what was written on the black board. She wasn’t supposed to be taking a Maths lesson. She was supposed to be in Literature and History. Laura groaned inwardly before raising her hand timidly. When the teacher, a young man in his thirties, turned towards her, he raised an eyebrow before asking:

“Yes?”

Laura cleared her voiced and shyly said that she was in the wrong classroom. This time, everyone laughed, except the teacher who only rolled his eyes. Laura got up from her chair and hurried out, nearly tripping twice.

Her face red from shame, she finally reached her classroom, where her teacher, Miss Lonefield, asked her to explain why she was late. Laura lost herself in explanation, every students in the class laughing at her.

Laura sighed. It was only the end of her first lesson and she was already exhausted physically and emotionally. She felt out of place and ashamed, and it was only her first day in Swalley High School. She had moved in with her mother, Jessica, three weeks previously, in a little house. Before coming to live here, in Swalley Town, they were both living in New York City with John, Laura’s father. But, one year ago, John and Jessica had divorced.

Jessica’s job had been enough at the beginning to feed them both, but slowly, it hadn’t been enough. Living in New York was expensive. Very expensive. They had searched for a town where they could go and had finally settled for Swalley, a small town in North Minnesota.

Then they had had to choose a house. That had been harder. Jessica wanted something downtown, so as to be close to her job - she was a waitress.

But Laura wanted a house just outside of town so she could have a garden, and go outside in the forests whenever she felt like it. Laura also wanted to be able to go out and paint the nature, and she wanted to feel the grass beneath her feet, as she read a book on a lounge chair.

After months of persuasion, they had finally choose the house outside town, when Laura had exposed the fact that the house in town would be “way much expensive”. The young girl had then praised herself for weeks for finding this great argument.

When they had finally moved in the house, Laura had suddenly been very aware of a fact she had completely overlooked. She was going to go into a new High School. That was… Something. Laura never really had any friends before. She was kind of a lone wolf. She was clumsy and way too emotional. So, the young girl was anxious about what people were going to say about her. The student in her old school in New York City, all knew her and her quirks, so it was okay. They would laugh at her once or twice a week, but not so much.

And now, she had to go, and start everything again.

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With her book in front of her, Laura walked towards her locker without looking where she was going. She arrived at her locker and opened it absentmindedly, taking out her things and putting in what she didn’t need. Absorbed in her book, she closed her locker and turned around to go to the exit. It was finally the end of the day.

And, that was when her life took a different turn. Laura never had a moment of respite, there was always something going wrong in her life. It was like the law of Murphy. Everything that can go wrong, will go wrong. So, Laura wasn’t so surprised when she bumped into someone. She was mostly ashamed.

The force of the shock was quite surprising and she fell backward. But she didn’t touched the ground like she expected as two strong hands steadied her. However her shoulder bag had fallen to the floor, and everything in it had scattered on the floor. There were books everywhere, her sketchbook opened to a page where several people were drawn. She opened her eyes, wondering when she had closed them. The sight that met her eyes was breath taking. Standing in front of her, still holding her upright, was a handsome young man, with beautiful blue eyes, looking at her worriedly.

“Are you okay?

“Yes, yes, I’m fine! Oh my god! I’m so sorry!”

Laura hurriedly bent, blushing madly, and started picking up her books. Strands of hair were falling in her eyes, and she placed them back behind her ears. She spoke while continuing picking up her things:

“I’m so clumsy! I’m sorry, really! Are you okay?”

While she apologised over and over again, he crouched to the floor to help her gather her books. He reached out to pick up the sketchbook and she reached for it as well. Their hands brushed, and they looked up, their eyes meeting. They stayed like this for several seconds, before the magic broke, and the shame took over. She blushed again as she stood up, readjusting her bag on her shoulder. She took the sketchbook from him and thanked him before muttering:

“Goodbye… Err… Thanks for the… Um… Help. And sorry for the, um, little accident.”

She laughed nervously, said goodbye again before turning around and leaving the building.

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Laura opened the door of the High School, wind rushing on her face. She breathed in heavily, fresh air feeling in her lungs. It was good to feel the nature like this. It wasn’t the same in New York. Here she loved it. And at the moment even more. Because it was autumn.

She looked around her. There were beautiful trees, with leaves falling down their branches. The sun was setting, and the light was beautiful. It was amazing.

A car pulled up in front of the school, and the window of the front door opened. Laura’s mother peered outside the car and called Laura.

The young girl went to the car and upped in.

“How was your first day sweetie?”

Laura closed her eyes briefly, opened them again and smiled widely.

“Great. It was great.”

To be continued…

Ambre P.