"Athena,remember to always be at your best behaviour at all time. You're growing up as a young lady. Its time to let the brash and tomboy character aside." Mrs. Wijaya Kusuma was reminding her anxious daughter to be calm and composed. Which she could not do so at the moment because she was caught off guard by her parents' decision to enroll her to a local school instead of the usual private school.
Athena Wijaya Kusuma is a young girl getting to a new world of adolescence. She is used to her parents constantly moving from one country to another once every few years due to her father's job. She had no problems whatsoever in making friends or adapting to her new environment but she lacks in her language skills. Which was why her parents would enroll her to a private school especially for citizens of Country I to accommodate her who does not speak any English language. Unfortunately for Athena, her parents decided that it was time for her to experience the life of a foreign student in a local school.
'So that's why they were so keen to have got me a native English teacher to teach me English everyday!' As Athena just had her suspicions proven was sulking and circled her hand to her mother's arm while pouting her lips "Mami, why do you want me to study in this school? Its not fun." Her mother sigh internally and explained to her only child "How long are you going to be in your shell? You need to see the world as is and make new friends from around the world. Don't worry, you've made great progress with your English. You'll be able to make new friends and don't be timid,you're not a three year old."
Still not happy with her parents' decision, Athena could only accept her fate to remain studying in the school. She went along with her mother to the Principal's Office then get her approved enrollment form at the Academic and Administration Room led by the Principal before proceeding to her homeroom class. Athena was left to fend for herself once she reached her homeroom class. Her mother was led by the Principal on a tour around the school campus. Her homeroom teacher Madam Bourke asked her to introduce herself in front of the class and assigned her a seat at the back row. The seat behind her is empty. The class monitor later gave her a tour of the the school campus.
Athena was slowly getting adjusted to speaking and writing in English. A week has passed since her first day of school. To her surprise, her school consists many foreign students despite being a local school. Some are even from her home town. She was delighted to have made friends with them and talked freely without having to think of what to say.
The next day as she was on her way to school with a chauffeur, she saw a bus packed with people commuting to work and school. 'Why do people get themselves squashed like that? Wouldn't it be better if they took an early bus?' As her mind wonders,eyes widened. She was stunned. She saw a figure standing by the door of the bus. Tall,broad shoulders,a tanned skin and what attracted her the most was the back of his neck which looked mesmerizing with soft hair sticking out of it. As she was glued to the back figure in the bus,the car began accelerating leaving the slow bus behind and soon the bus was no where in sight. She was beginning to think how the boy looked from up front and where he was going.
The car soon reached her school and she went straight to the library while waiting for the school bell to ring. She picked up a few books but her mind was wondering aimlessly as she look through the window beside her. The school bell rang and she was startled,as she put back the books and made her way towards the school hall where everyone gathered for morning assembly. Athena soon found her classmates lining up and joined them. "Move,don't stand on my place." She was startled to hear someone speaking so rudely. When turned her head around to see who it was, she was stunned. She unconsciously put her hand over her mouth. It was the boy in the bus she saw this morning! while she was rooted to the ground, the boy moved to line up behind her and stood still. He stared at her, his brown eyes dazzled under the lights. His thick and shapely eyebrows looked like the crescent moon. A tall bridge nose and the thin slightly pink lips makes him look exotic with his tanned skin. "Look up front,its starting." Even his voice was like bell chimes, so pleasant to her ear.
Her shoulders was turned by the boy as she was not responding to anything he said. Her assembly partner giggled as she saw the timid Athena being mesmerized and circled her arms around her "snap out of it,Soushi is a no go. He's nice to everyone,don't get your hopes up." Athena smiled shyly as she lowered her head. Everyone returned to their respective classes after the assembly ended. Much to her surprise, Soushi sat at the seat right behind her. 'So the empty desk was his place!' "Yo kid, you new here?what's your name?" He asked her casually. Before she could answer, the class monitor came and introduces them to each other. "Soushi,this is Athena Wijaya Kusuma. She recently transferred here from Country I while you were away. I hope you guys would be friends and help her if there's something she needs help with. Since you're seated nearer to her than me. Athena, this guy here is Soushi Khan. He's also a foreigner from Country P. Be careful he could be rowdy at times but he's alright." The class monitor turned and left going back to his seat.
The day went by peacefully without any mishap. The next day as Athena was reviewing her homework, a girl came by to her seat and introduced herself. "Hello,I'm Shisha Antoine. You can call me Sha. What are you revising?" Shisha smiled.
"Oh,Hello. I'm reviewing Mathematics. There's some that I still can't understand."
"You can review them after school is over with the teacher. Or you want to review with me?" Soushi came joining our conversation.