The wind was blowing gently from the mountains while I just stared out the car window and held my head up with one hand. Actually, I love this view because it's been a long time since I tasted fresh air. All this time, just factory smoke and motor vehicles were all I could enjoy. But somehow my chest became more crowded.
"Alina, are you sleepy?" Mama's driving to Dad's place asked me.
Without turning my head, I shook my head. "Is our trip still long?"
"No," Mama said. "We're almost there. Grandma's house is in sight."
"Where?" I followed mom's directions, and sure enough, in the distance, I saw a village lined up on a hill with a house of colors. "Which one is grandma's house?"
Mom answered, "The one with the big wooden window."
"Don't all those houses look like they have big wooden windows?"
"No, honey. The windows are the biggest."
I tried to observe the houses one by one, but as the car took a hard turn, my view was blocked by the hills.
"Honey! Honey!" Mom shook Dad's body with one hand. "Here we are. Awake!"
"What?"
"Look at the view outside!"
"My goodness!" Dad quickly checked his eyes and then looked over at Mom sitting next to him, and I sat in the back seat. "It's been a long time since we visited here. Absolutely nothing has changed."
"Yes, it is!"
Letting my parents in on their nostalgia, I looked back at the sights. Some women walked on the sidewalk, carrying large sacks on their backs. I think those are the farmers back from the field.
Like most other villagers, the people on the site depend on farming to survive. Grandma had a yard at the back of the house that I later found out was going to be ours. Because Uncle Tom is not coming back.
A large plot of land might make us rich in the city, but in a place like this, even without a large plot of land, we wouldn't make any money. In a big city, a piece of land can be built for inns and rented at a high price, but back home, there's too much land to live on.
I'm not sure Dad and Mom can take care of their farm properly.
*_*
"Do you want to go to the cafeteria with us?" Tia, a short-haired girl who was sitting in front of me, and her friends asked me as soon as the break bell rang.
I didn't answer right away. I watched them one by one. They didn't look so terrible, but they seemed so friendly, which is why I decided to go with them in the end.
The cafeteria at this school is completely different from the one at my old school. They only had a few slices of bread and some vegetable soup. It's too sweet. Even so, since it's made using fresh vegetables, I'll buy it back another time, though it probably won't be every day.
"Alin, how's life in the city?" This question came from Zu, a bespectacled girl who now sits across from me. "Was it nice there?"
"Have you ever met any celebrities?" Mia made a scene. "Have you ever met a popular singer? Is it as portrayed by television?"
"My Goodness!" Tia realized it was strange and then shook her head. "Don't go crazy! Alin lives in the city, but how can she know everyone? There are too many people in there. The capital is too crowded with humans. It was impossible to recognize each other there. Isn't that right, Alin?"
I nodded and put a piece of dry bread in my mouth. "Sort of."
"Then why did you move to the village?" Mia asked very seriously. "Wouldn't it be more comfortable there?"
I smiled, trying to hide my disappointment. Besides, why should I show them sorrow?
"Because my grandmother lives here."
"Oh, yeah? Are your parents from here?"
"Whose daughter are you?"
I took a deep breath and answered, "Rose. My mother's name was Rose."
"My goodness! You are the granddaughter of Oma Jan?"
"You know my grandmother?"
"Of course." Tia answered with a big smile on her thin lips. "Your grandmother was a good person. She used to invite us to her house when we were kids. And, I guess, you're the one she always tells me about."
"Grandma told me about you."
Mia nodded confidently. "She says she has a beautiful, intelligent granddaughter. She also said, "You like to paint, just like your uncle."
"Really?"
I'm not buying it.
Grandma told people about me. It warms my heart. In light of all the years, I don't remember your relationship with my family very well. Because my parents didn't get their blessing. Even according to Uncle Tom, Dad and Mom had left this little village, but not on their own. It was grandpa and grandma who sent them away.
"You are indeed very pretty, Alin!" Mia touched my arm, then looked at my skin in amazement. Something clearly feels off. "Why is everybody in town white?"
"Isn't your skin white already?" I answered in a hurry to pull my arm away from her. "All of you are beautiful and fair. After all, you live in mountains where the air is pure."
"Ow, Lin!" Says Zu. "You have no idea how much teenage girls here have an obsession with white people and slim bodies. They even buy bleach cream and drink drugs from the Internet."
"Really?" I was kind of surprised to hear it, but I'm trying to understand how people think. I can't judge them, however, because there's limited access to information here. If only they knew how dangerous fake cream is to skin health.
At my old school, almost every day, teachers provided the students with education and counseling services. On the other hand, even during recess, inside the school cafeteria, you can see students casually smoking cigarettes. One of them was Leon. At the edge of her left hand was a smoke rising, while a flat foot rose to a chair. So rude.
However, I can't complain. It's the first rule of etiquette in a new place. Avoid being in conflict with strangers and sinners like Leon.
"Can I come to your house?" Mia asked eagerly.
"Go ahead," I said. "Like, when are you going to my house?"
"How about tonight?" This time, Tia's giving it to her.
"Good idea!" Zu is sipping that cold tea she ordered so well. "Especially since there's a fair tonight. It's not as much fun as the capital, but at least it won't make you lonely. Think of it as a welcome from us."
I nodded happily.
I didn't expect to make friends right away at school, although, to be honest, I was still quite disappointed that Dady had lied to me about the quality of this school. In fact, previous school scholarships were too lucrative to drop. But what can I do?
I have to start a new life. Working harder so that by the time I graduate high school in three years, I can get into the best college and go back to the capital. I was chasing down my own life there.
I hear a long bell, which means recess is over. My new friends and I were back in class, but when we were about to take the stairs, Leon suddenly stopped us.
"What do you want?" Tia turned a sullen face. She looked intently at him. "We're done here, Leon. So don't bother us anymore."
Leon's big friend tried to intimidate us, as if to signal that we needed to leave Tia and Leon together. Hurry up Zu pulls my hand, and so does Mia, who goes up to the second floor first. She looked so frightened.
What the hell?
"What about Tia?" I asked as we got to class. With breathless breath. It's a good thing you haven't come.
Mia replied, "She's going to be okay. Leon would never dare hurt Tia."
"Are they dating?" I asked.
Shaking their heads firmly. "It's hard to explain the relationship between the two of them, but it's obvious now that the two are not good."
"Oh!"
I just nodded my head. Teen relationships are tough. Angry young couple. Back in my old school, it was rare to find a partner. Almost all the kids at school prefer to pursue grades over couples. Especially if we're not children of the family's means, keeping a scholarship is the most important thing in life.
But maybe because we were very young. So it's not that much to think about liking the opposite sex.
"Have you been dating?"
I was surprised at Mia's question, but I shook my head.
"Really?"
"Yes. "There's no time to have fun in the big city."
"Isn't it supposed to be fun, like the drama?"
"My goodness, Mia!" Zu's back. She drank from Mia's plastic bottle. "Don't you imagine all the fun things in drama are true?" It's fiction."
"I wish it was real."
Then we laughed together, and Mrs. Lili got into class.
"Which Tia?"
"Still in the loo, miss!" Answered zu.