“Athalya, do you want me to drive you to school today?” asked her grandfather as Athalya was finishing eating breakfast.

“No, it’s okay. I’ll take the bus.” She explained as she put her empty bowl in the sink and pulled a little at the hem of her pajamas.

“I’m going to get ready for school now.” She said, as she hurried up the stairs and to her room. She opened the closet and took a pair of dark jeans, a grey T-shirt and some clean underwear before she headed to the bathroom next door.

She got out about ten minutes later, showered and fully dressed and went to her room, putting her PJs under her pillow and putting on her socks as she sat on the edge of her bed. Not bothering with make-up, she tied up her hair, slid her schedule in her pocket and headed back to the kitchen.

“I’m off to school!” she said, kissing her grandparents’ cheek and grabbing her backpack.

As she reached the bus stop, she waited behind the small crowd, she was slightly later than usual and the bus was starting to get crowded. She bit the inside of her cheeks as she realized that maybe she wouldn’t have a proper seat. Sighing, she waited and when she stepped in, her eyes quickly scanned the available seats. She saw the same kid as the day before, looking at her, he made a motion for her to come and he got up, letting her sit by the window.

“Thank you” she said, her voice low as she sat down, cheeks red in embarrassment.

“No worries. I’m Johnathan by the way, you can call me Johnny. You?”

“Athalya.” She replied, briefly looking at him.

“You’re new in the neighborhood, no?”

“Yes, I just moved here.” She said.

“Cool! Do you like it here?” he asked.

“It’s not bad.” She said with a shrug. “A bit early to tell.”

He nodded in understanding. They fell silent after that, until they reached the school.
“See you after school? I’ll save you a seat.” He said, as they both got off the bus. She nodded shortly and he shot her a smile, heading his own way.
She adjusted her backpack on her back and started to make her way towards the school. She was about to walk into the hall when she saw Valary standing underneath a tree, with her friends. She would have kept walking if Valary wasn’t waving at her. She took the earphones out and put everything back in the front pocket.

“Hey.” Said Valary, smiling at her. She was standing next to Matt, he had his arms wrapped around her shoulder.

There was a chorus of “Hi, Hey, What’s up?”

“Hey.” She said quietly, she felt awkward standing there. She wasn’t one of them and she couldn’t understand why they were talking to her.

“So, what do you have today?” asked Val, smiling warmly at her.

“Huh…” Athalya trailed off, taking her schedule out of her pocket and looking at it. “Double math and then English. Then lunch break and then French and History.” She explained, looking up from her schedule to see Zack looking at her.

“I’m sorry but you will have to deal with Jimmy in English. He wasn’t here yesterday because he skipped, but I have a feeling he is going to show up in a minute.” And just as he finished his sentence, a tall boy, wearing a bright orange kimono came towards them, running.

“Hey ya!” he said, waving at everyone and crushing Val in a hug.

“Athalya is with you in English, please don’t make her get a detention like you did with Matt in biology.” Val said, looking up at the tall boy. He nodded.

“Yes ma’am!” he said, and then turned to smile at Athalya who had a surprised expression on her face as she was looking at the orange thing Jimmy was wearing.

“Don’t mind him, he thinks he is badass because he’s wearing a kimono when in fact it’s just a bathrobe.” Said Zack with a smile as Jimmy flipped him off.

The bell rang announcing the start of a long day in school.

“Damn…” muttered Justin, rubbing his eyes. “I’m going to fall asleep.” He muttered, yawning. Athalya looked at him and smiled before she focused on her feet, following Val and Matt.

“You don’t talk much, do you?” asked Zacky as he walked next to her.

“I’m still getting used to the whole thing.” She explained, lifting her gaze to look at him briefly before she looked at her shoes once again.
“It’s ok, it’s Friday.” Said Zacky, patting her shoulder.

It was still unfamiliar to her as she walked to her locker, briefly waving at Val and her friends. They kept asking her to have lunch with them but it was difficult for her, the whole situation was getting harder.
She thought she was doing ok, but she wasn’t. The little things in her everyday life reminded her of her, of her absence.

It had only be three days since she started school here, five days since she left her old house, a week since… since… She shook her head briefly, trying to shake away the thought.

The day went by in a blur, she spent half of the day trying to hold back her tears, skipping lunch. She thought she could keep on avoiding everyone, but she forgot she had history. She realized it when she saw the Jimmy guy walking in, followed by Matt and Val. He walked up to her and sat down next to Athalya as Matt and Val sat at the table in front of them.

“I didn’t see you at lunch.” Said Val, turning around and looking worriedly at Athalya’s pale face.

“I wasn’t hungry.” She replied, looking down immediately.

Val looked at Jimmy, expecting him to light up her mood. He kept cracking jokes for the whole period, making faces, anything he could think of. She gave him a forced smile once. When the bell rang, she swallowed the lump in her throat as she shoved everything in her bag.

“Have a nice week-end” she said, tears in her eyes and she rushed out of the classroom, blinking away the tears.

During the bus ride, she listened to Johnny’s comments about the high school and what to do in Huntington during the weekend. As soon as the bus stopped at their street, she got off, waved at him, faking a smile and hurried to her grandparents’ place.

She dropped all of her things in the hallway and ran to her room, slamming the door shut behind her. She only took the time to turn on her stereo and threw herself on her bed, burying her face in the pillow, crying her eyes out.

When her grandparents got home, they were surprised by the mess of shoes, bag and vest on the floor. They shared a knowing look and Suzan made her way upstairs, lightly knocking on the door. She received no answer but twisted the knob and walked in.

In the bundle of covers on the bed, she could only discern her granddaughter’s hair and her shoulders shaking with sobs.

“Oh sweetie.” She whispered, going to lower the volume and sat down on the edge of the mattress. Athalya barely looked up, blinked at her grandmother and crawled towards her lap, breaking down in tears again, her hands gripping her grandmother’s skirt, soaking it with every tear in her body.

“I can’t do it.” She said, between sobs. “I can’t do it without her.”
Suzan softly caressed her granddaughter’s head.

“It’s been a week since… I-I-I miss her so much.” She said, her voice strangled as she kept sobbing.

“I miss her too sweetie.”

Athalya raised her head from her grandmother’s lap and sat up, tears rolling down her face. They starred at each other for a few seconds before Athalya wrapped her arms around her grandmother’s torso and hugged her tight. She felt a few drops on the top of her head and she hugged her grandmother’s tighter when she realized that they were both crying.
Hearing nothing from his wife or granddaughter for a while, David walked upstairs and gently pushed the ajar door opened. He let out a heartbreaking sigh as he saw his granddaughter curled up by his wife lap, both with a tearstained face. As she saw her husband, Suzy gently unclasped Athalya’s fingers from her skirt and grabbed a pillow to put under her head, then she got up and slowly walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

“I got started on dinner.” Whispered David. “You’ve been up here over an hour, I was starting to worry. How is she doing?” he asked, even though he knew the answer.

“She cried herself to sleep.” Whispered Suzan, wiping her own cheeks. “I thought she was doing ok since she got here but she probably kept everything to herself. I think she’s scared, she’s all alone now.”

“We’re here.” Said David.

“I know, but I mean… She’s sixteen, turning seventeen in a couple of days. She’s been attached to the hip with her mother since the day she was born. Shania did everything with Athalya. Her world’s revolved around Athalya, and the other way around. The kid spent her last year taking care of her sick mother, until the very end…”

David wrapped his arms around her wife, kissing her temple.
“She’s a strong kid, give her time.”

“You’ve seen your daughter’s will Honey, [b]he[/b] is supposed to take care of her… But how are we supposed to tell her when she’s in this state?” asked Suzan, distressed in her voice.

“Just give her a couple of days, let her grieve.”

“It’s been exactly a week since the funeral.” Said Suzan, David rubbed his wife’s back.

“We will all sit down and talk about it when the time is right.” Said David, nodding to himself.

---

It was Monday morning.

Suzan walked into her granddaughter’s room, opening up the curtains and windows, looking at the mess of pictures and cards on the floor.

She found it hard to believe that her only child was no longer on this earth. It had been a little over a week only, the wound still fresh for everyone. Crouching down the best she could, she gathered the pictures and cards in a pile, resting it on the bedside table.
[i]Poor kid[/i] she thought, recalling how Athalya had spent her whole week end in her room, crying herself to sleep and then waking up screaming because of nightmares. She had tried to get her to eat at least one decent meal per day but seeing her granddaughter crying while trying to swallow the food had made her heart ache even more. The pictures had been laid on the wooden floor, forming a semi-circle. Athalya had spent a lot of time in the circle, starring at the pictures, trying to remember every inch of her mother’s face.

Suzan did her best to clean up the room a bit, meanwhile worrying about her granddaughter, thinking to herself that she was in no state to go to class.

Athalya had drunk a glass of orange juice and a cookie before she grabbed her bag and headed for school. Her grandfather had insisted to drop her off, worried about his granddaughter’s state of mind.

“If you don’t feel well, go to the infirmary and I’ll come and get you.” He said, squeezing his granddaughter’s hand. She nodded, not even able to smile as she got out of the car.

Heading straight for her class, she took a sit by the window, there was only one chair at her table and it didn’t matter. Staying alone today was fine for her she thought as she took out her book, note book and pencil case, waiting for school to start and praying it would be over soon.
Students started to flow in, happily chatting about their weekends. Soon enough she caught sight of Val, Matt and Jimmy. Val and Matt sitting together in the seats in front of her and Jimmy, stealing someone else’s chair to sit down next to her. Pretty much the same set up as the last Friday.

“Yo!” he said, cheerfully, holding up his hand for a high-five.

She starred at his hand for a few seconds before he grabbed her right hand and made her palm smack his.
“Yo!” he said in a small voice, trying to mimic hers. She looked at him, her face blank and pulled her hand out of his hold.

“How was your weekend? We didn’t see you anywhere, not at the park, the beach or the mall... Matt wanted to knock at your door but we weren’t sure if you were home or if you had left for the weekends with your parents.” Said Val. Athalya swallowed the lump in her throats, [i]parents…[/i].

The bell rang, the teacher walked in and they all turned to face the blackboard.

Jimmy pulled the book to the middle of the table and leaned on his elbow, looking at Athalya as she was doodling on her notebook, frowning to herself.

It was halfway through the lesson when out of nowhere, she grabbed her pencil case, notebook, shoved everything in her bag and left class in a hurry.

She did not go to the infirmary and instead headed home, alternating between running and walking, all the while trying to hold back the tears.

It didn’t work and she arrived home with tears running down her face. She walked past her grandparents watching TV and hurried to her room.

**

When the doorbell rang, David had been upstairs for a while, trying to comfort Athalya when she refused to come down for lunch.

Suzan opened the door and was surprised to see a young man, maybe slightly older than her granddaughter, but mostly taller, with glasses.

“Can I help you?”

“Hello Ma’am… huh… Is Athalya here? I’m her classmate. She left class in a hurry this morning and forget her history book. Just got out of school, so I thought I would bring her the homework, in case she wants to start on them, they aren’t due before next week, but huh… yeah.” He said, trailing off, rubbing his neck nervously.

“Thank you…” she trailed off, not knowing the kid’s name.

“James, but call me Jimmy.” He said, holding out his hand. Suzan shook his hand, amused. “Is Athalya all right? She didn’t seem well the last couple of days, I mean Friday and then today when she left…”

As if on cue, Athalya was making her way down the stairs, her eyes red and puffy, still sniffing.
“Sweetie, your friend Jimmy is here.” Said Suzan, all smiles, as Athalya looked up, surprised, almost losing her balance down the stairs.

“Oh hey.” She said, blinking.

“He brought you your homework and your history book.” Added Suzan.

“Thanks…” whispered Athalya, heading for the kitchen.

“Why don’t you come in Jimmy…” offered Suzan, stepping aside and letting him walk in. “You can explain the homework to Athalya. I made some muffin, or maybe you prefer cookies?” she asked, hushering him in the living room.

“Huh… muffins are fine, thank you ma’am.” He said, sitting down on the couch.

He heard some protests coming from the kitchen and he could only guess they were from Athalya. Sitting on the couch, he took his time to look at his surroundings. The living-room was neat and well decorated. He scanned the walls for picture and saw one on the TV table. He pushed his glasses further up on his nose and tried to get a good look at it. He was about to get up when Athalya walked in, with muffins and ice-tea.

“Help yourself.” She mumbled, putting everything on the coffee table.

Jimmy looked at her, not knowing whether he should be amused or worried. He grabbed a muffin and started eating while Suzan brought some glasses.

“If you need anything, I’ll be in the kitchen.” And she left, just like that. The look of despair that crossed Athalya’s face when she saw her grandmother leaving the room was too funny for Jimmy to contain his chuckle.
She turned to glare at him.

“What?”

“The look on your face.” He said, smiling big. “It was funny.”
She shrugged, unamused.

“Oh yeah, history!” he said, wiping his hand on his jeans and reaching for his bag, taking out the book. “You left in a hurry, I didn’t know where you lived, so I asked Matt. Turns out you live not far from my best friend, Brian. You should meet him, you two can hang out.”

“I don’t …”

“It’s ok, I can introduce you guys.” Cut Jimmy, putting the book on the couch. She looked at him from the armchair she was sitting in and got up to pour some ice tea in the glasses. “He’s pretty cool, not like me cool but it’s allright… Oh yeah! Homework!” he said, taking out his notebook. “If it wasn’t for you leaving class like that I would probably have skipped the other period but I figured you might need to catch up. Teacher was amazed when I asked for two copies of the exercise sheets and I asked Val for the rest of your homework.” He said, rummaging through his bag and taking out a wrinkled piece of paper, putting in on the couch as well as his agenda. “Can I take another muffin?”

“Help yourself” she said, moving to sit on the couch, taking the wrinkled piece of paper in hands.

“That’s algebra. You need to do the whole page for next Monday.” He explained. “Might even have a test on today’s lesson. As for History, you need to learn the lesson too.”

“Oh no…” she whispered, looking at the paper and then picking up her book.

“It’s ok, it’s pretty easy.” He said, moving closer to her, slightly leaning over her shoulder. “I can help you if you need!”
She looked at him, not knowing whether she should accept or reject his offer.

“Highfive?” he asked out of the blue, holding out his hand. Then noticing he had some crumbs on his hand. He use his other hand to swipe the crumbs and then held it up again.

Her lips briefly curled up in a smile and shyly smacked her palms against his.

“Yeah! Little Frenchie!” he exclaimed, wrapping his left arm around Athalya’s shoulder, taking her by surprise. Her cheeks flushed and she awkwardly tried to wiggle out of his grasp.

Suzan was smiling to herself as she heard the exchange between the two teenagers, before making her way upstairs to see what her husband was up to.
David was sitting on Athalya’s bed, a few pictures in hands. He had picked them up from the floor.

His eyes were red and puffy when he looked up at his wife.

“My baby girl…” he whispered, his fingers lightly touching the picture. “My baby…”

**

“That’s a nice friend you’ve got.” Said Suzan, while Athalya was still in the living room, looking at the exercise sheet. Jimmy had left about half an hour after walking in, giving the basic information to Athalya. She had been trying to do the exercises eversince.

“He’s not my friend Mamie, he’s just a classmate.” She said, frowning at the paper and erasing some answers.

“Well, he very thoughtful one.” Suzan replied, sitting on the couch as her granddaughter was sitting on the carpet, using the coffee table as a desk. “Are you sure you don’t want to sit at the dining table or your desk?”

“Oh no” she said, briefly looking up. “I’m fine here. I like sitting on the floor.”

“Have you heard from Daniel?” asked Suzan, feeling anxious.

“No…” she trailed off, dropping her pencil. “Not since the airport. Did he call when I was at school?”

“Not since I called him to let him know you arrived safely.” Explained Suzan, fidgeting with her hands. Her husband peaked in the living room.

“Is now a good time?” he asked, looking at his wife and granddaughter.

“A good time for what?” asked Athalya, frowning at their strange behavior.

Suzan lightly shook her head while Athalya was looking at her grandfather, her head slightly tilted to the side.

“I meant…” started David, “Are you done with your homework? There was this program on TV that I wanted to see…” he added, sharing a look with his wife and walking further in the living room. Suzan moved a bit so her husband could sit down.

“Oh, sure!” said Athalya, blushing slightly, thinking to herself that she was an embarrassment, as she gathered her stuff and then took off some cushions, making more room on the couch as she scooted close to her grandfather, resting her head on his shoulder as he turned on the TV.

Notes

Thank you for the comments, subscriptions and votes. It means a lot! I hope you liked this chapter. I'm a bit confused as to how highschool works in the US, it's not the smae in France, so sorry if it's not coherent. Thanks again for reading.