Chapter Text
Riri liked the fall. It’s content. It's not too cold, but not too hot. She didn’t like the summer. The feeling of clothes clinging onto damp bodies and the absence of the familiar structure school gave her. She hated the winter. They were always spent in stuffy suits and dresses and consisted of balls and galas and fundraisers. She loved the spring. Specifically those transitional weeks between the cold and the heat. Flowers bloomed. She didn’t sweat. She didn't need a coat. It was two weeks of an illusion of bliss.
But now, it’s fall. Specifically November, when all the trees were halfway dead and the cold started to shift into the type where it nipped at her fingers and nose and the tips of her ears. If Kira were here, she’d do the thing they’d been doing since they were little. She’d take Riri’s hand in hers, intertwine their fingers tightly, then shove them into the pocket of her coat. For, “maximum body heat,” she’d say.
The cold in Washington was different to the kind in Canada. In Canada, the cold seeped into your bones, it made you feel like the cold was invading your body, and you must ward it off with layers and layers of clothing. Here, in Washington, it didn’t do that. Instead, it seemed to blanket over you. It only nipped lightly, never biting.
Riri had yet to experience winter here; she’d evaluate how she felt about a winter in America when she gets there.
The driver her mother called for is five minutes early. She slipped into the backseat that smelled of leather seats and the pine air freshener that hung around the rear-view mirror. There was a divider. Riri didn’t close that, not until she was sure that the man driving her was actually taking her to her new school, just in case.
The school was… much less extravagant than St. Dominic’s. Riri noted that the students here walked with no uniform. She looked down at her own outfit. Her jacket, a black skirt that reached her knees, tights, and her boots. She wasn’t quite sure what to wear or expect. Her mother wasn’t much help, neither was Kira. Her mask wasn’t present. She didn’t really need that anymore.
The front office was boldly labelled, well… front office. She was thankful for this considering she wasn’t given a map of any sorts, nor any kind of direction.
The front office lady made her sit in a room she claimed was the counselor's office for a good fifteen minutes before said counselor finally entered.
“So, Riri,” she started, typing things onto her laptop Riri thought was probably for show—what could she genuinely be typing—before looking at her with a smile. “Your schedule is mostly done. We just need to sort out electives. Would there be anything you prefer?”
Riri shrugged. She didn’t take any electives at St. Dominic’s.
The counselor was clearly unsatisfied with her answer. “Right, well let me see what classes have space. Hm, are you physically active?”
She was, but opted for shrugging again. It had been a while since she did a proper workout. She hadn’t had time with court and the move.
“Alright, then.” With a press of a button, the counselor's printer came alive. She handed Riri a paper with her name in the corner, her student ID number, and a list of classes printed next to class and building numbers. Mostly honors classes, a single AP class, and an elective named with an abbreviation she didn’t know the meaning of. “If I could ask you to step out for a moment, Riri, a student should be there to greet you soon.”
Riri did so, sitting in the uncomfortable chairs the front office provided. A few students who had arrived at school late were checking into the front office. No one batted her an eye.
It was weird, to be ignored. To be seen as just another student now. She was so used to people shying the other way upon seeing her. It felt a bit uncanny to be seen as she is now.
Another student stepped into the front office, from a door that seemed to lead into the school rather than from the main entrance. This student’s eyes zeroed in on her as they approached her.
“Riri?” She asked upon reaching her.
Riri stood. With a nod, she offered a handshake. It seemed as though the girl didn’t expect it at first. She did accept it though. Riri mentally noted that maybe this wasn’t a common formality here.
“I’m Mary. I’m supposed to walk you to your classes, so just follow me.” Mary flashed a quick smile before turning back towards the door she entered from. Riri followed, stepping into the halls of her new school. They were empty, considering the first class of the day had already started.
“Can I see that?” Mary pointed towards the schedule in Riri’s hands. Right, she kind of needed that. As Mary read over it, Riri took the brief silence to take in the shorter girl.
Mary was what Riri could only describe as pretty. Ribbons holding her braided hair in pigtails, a slight pout on her face as she read, with long lashes and shimmery lipgloss.
Why was the hallway hotter than the front office?
“Wow, they really put you in JROTC,” she snorted, handing the paper back to Riri.
“JROTC?” She echoed, looking at the elective with the weird abbreviation on the paper.
“You know, the military class? It’s truly one of the most American classes you can take.”
Riri frowned. “I’m not American.”
“Oh, well congrats. You practically are now. They make you march and everything, it’s crazy.” Mary turned on her heel, starting down the hallway. “We’re in building one right now,” she stopped in front of a pair of double doors, pointing to the little sign next to it. “These little plaque-thingies are your best friend. They always have the building number on it. There's one next to every classroom door of course. There's nine buildings in total.”
She pushed open the double doors, exposing them to the outside. “This,” she gestured towards the large space of grass surrounded by buildings, “is the courtyard.”
The courtyard reminded Riri of the one at St. Dominic’s despite it not being as big. It did come close though. St. Dominic’s didn’t have nine buildings however. She supposed that made sense. There was only a student population of two-hundred there. Here, she assumed there were about two-thousand.
“Buildings towards the end are the gym and Auditorium, behind them is the football field. The buildings are luckily numbered in order, starting from where we are of course, with three floors each,” Mary explained.
“What are they doing?” Riri nodded towards the group of students lined in rows near the end of the courtyard.
“Oh, those are your JROTC buddies. They’re marching.”
Riri tilted her head in confusion before bringing her attention back to Mary.
Mary began leading her down a sidewalk, entering another building. Before she knew it, she was in front of a classroom door. “First period ends in…” Mary checked her phone, “thirty minutes. I’ll probably be here waiting once you get out.”
“You’re going to stand here the whole time?”
Mary cracked a smile, one that definitely did not make Riri nervous. “No, I have to go to class too. I’m just supposed to walk you to every class, unless you’ve got this.”
“No,” she said sheepishly, “sorry.”
“I’m just messing with you, good luck.”
And with that, Mary left. Riri did not watch her walk down the hallway until she left the building, the click of her Mary Janes echoing in the empty space.
It didn’t take long for the teacher to open the door after she knocked. Thankfully, she did not have to do the humiliation ritual of introducing herself to the classroom. This was supposed to be a human anatomy class, but Riri didn’t see much learning going on. People chatted as they worked on a worksheet Riri was yet to receive.
The teacher did eventually place one in front of her, giving her brief instructions. She didn’t find it very difficult. In fact, she finished within fifteen minutes of receiving it. Was this really what she would be doing for the rest of the school year? She tried to not make any judgements just yet, it was only her first day.
She never did have any close friends at St. Dominic’s, but she felt weirdly lonely here. It was the absence of Kira that made it feel like a different kind of loneliness.
The thirty minutes flew by. The bell rang and students quickly flew out the classroom, heading to their next.
As expected, Mary was there waiting, leaning against the wall next to the door with a tote bag now in hand. “Hey,” she said, lifting herself from the wall.
“Hi,” she said back stupidly. She really needed to have more interactions with people her age, she was becoming increasingly more awkward by the hour. Thankfully, Mary didn't seem to notice this, and if she did, she chose not to comment on it.
The first four classes of the day seemed to meld into one. The hallways of the school were large, yet still seemed to not hold enough space for students to walk past one another easily. Mary told her that the school had a bit of an overcrowding issue. That, and people apparently walked slowly and held up walkways.
Riri talked minimally to the people around her. In her fourth period, she did end up finding someone she did enjoy talking to. A girl named Wendy, who also seemed to be an introvert like her. Mary had explained to her how to navigate the school physically, but Wendy told her a lot about the social aspect of the school. She claimed that people tended to keep to their own groups. Not like the typical cliques you’d see in movies, but there were usually circles of people that hung out and never really strayed far from them.
After fourth period was lunch. To her surprise, Mary was not waiting for Riri after class this time.
Wendy had offered for Riri to spend lunch with her and her friends. She politely declined, she didn’t think she was ready for that much interaction yet. Instead, she opted to roam the halls, memorizing the grounds. Some people ate in the hallways, others seemed to be roaming as well. She passed by the cafeteria that held way too many people for her liking before stopping at a pair of doors that caught her attention.
The school’s library. Curious, she pushed open the doors. St. Dominic’s library was small and mostly unused. This library however, was much bigger and housed more students than she’d ever seen occupy St. Dominic’s library. She scouted the area for an empty table.
Tucked away behind some bookshelves was an empty table for two. Satisfied, Riri settled into the space. She was used to not eating lunch. The mask usually prohibited her to do so, causing her to lose an appetite for the meal altogether. Now, it was a habit to not eat until dinner.
Content with her own little space, she briefly checked her phone. Three messages from Kira.
рыбная девушка 🦈: Good luck.
рыбная девушка 🦈: I don’t know what time American schools start. Sorry if this is late.
рыбная девушка 🦈: I love you.
Riri: I’ll send you my schedule in your time later. I love you too.
Riri pulled out a book she brought from home. She always carried one on her, just in case. Only soft chatter filled the library, allowing for the environment to be relaxing. She needed this after the whirlwind of navigating to her classes all day.
Her peace was quickly interrupted by a loud thump on the other end of the table.
“I am so, so sorry. My stupid AP lit teacher kept me after class because she refused to round my grade.” Mary dropped her water bottle and keys down next to where she had thrown her tote bag onto the table. She let out a heavy breath, “and then it took me forever to find you. Luckily, I was supposed to bring you to the library anyway. The librarian up front has to print you a student ID.”
With a nod, Riri stood and let herself be directed towards the front of the library where the librarian printed her a student ID. The photo on it was outdated, her yearbook photo from last year. In it she still wore her mask and St. Dominic's uniform. She politely thanked the librarian before retreating back to her space with Mary in tow.
“I hope you don’t mind if I study here. I can leave if you want.” Mary said, shifting on her feet once they made it back to the table.
As much as Riri did want to be alone, she nodded once again. Mary had shown her kindness, it was only right she returned it. The rest of lunch was spent in a comforting silence as Mary flipped through her textbook and Riri read. She didn’t mind her presence as much as she thought she would.
“Can I ask you a question?” Mary asked softly after some time, her voice barely disrupting the quiet atmosphere. Riri encouraged her to continue with a tilt of her head. “Why are you wearing a mask in your ID photo?”
“To cover these.” Riri pointed to the large scar that stretched from the edge of her nostril to the end of her jaw. Other little scars littered her face, but none were as deep as the obvious one. She didn’t see any point in lying. They were there on full display, anyone could put two and two together.
“Really?” Mary’s eyes followed the curve of the scar. “It’s kind of badass.”
“My father didn’t like seeing it.” Riri’s own confession took her by surprise. Mary didn’t show any signs of surprise though, she just hummed in acknowledgement.
“And… I'm guessing this is some kind of rebellion?” It almost sounded teasing, but Riri knew better. Mary was being genuine in her question.
“No. He’s dead.” The words slipped from her mouth, easy and true. Nothing about that statement made her feel anything anymore. It was simply a statement.
Mary’s eyebrows shot up. Her lips curled into something resembling a smile. “I’m not-“ she stifled a strangled noise coming from her mouth with her hand, “I’m not laughing because he’s dead, I swear. I just… didn’t expect that.”
Riri could feel the beginnings of a smile tug at her own lips. Mary’s was infectious. “You can laugh. He wasn’t a good person.”
Mary took a breath before speaking again. “I’m not going to do that because I’m a good person in comparison. I think. Okay, I have a second question. What’s with the fancy blazer?” She picked up Riri’s ID to squint at it closely. “Saint… Dominic’s? Was it some kind of catholic school?”
Riri shook her head. “It was my old school, in Canada. I’m not religious, are you?”
“Nope. My entire family is catholic so I go to church, but I’m not much of a believer.”
Riri nodded at the information, the comfortable silence overtaking them once more. It wasn’t long until the bell rang again, causing Riri and Mary to pack up.
Riri’s fifth period was pre-calculus, and it was shared with Mary. The seating of that classroom was done in pairs, two people per table. Mary, to Riri’s surprise, sat alone. So, she sat with her… friend? Riri wasn’t sure. They got along nicely, but it was still too early to tell.
Her next class was JROTC. Mary dropped her off at the courtyard with a not-so-reassuring thumbs up. Thankfully, she had Wendy. Their teacher—or sergeant—ordered Wendy to teach Riri drills one on one.
Riri found this class to be extremely weird. A bunch of teenagers pretending to be cadets in the military, learning military drills, and memorizing the amendments. Wendy told her it was just a program to give people a second option after graduation. If they chose to enlist after, they’d automatically be given a higher rank. It didn’t really matter to Riri, she didn’t plan on enlisting in the military.
After seventh period, the last class of the day, Riri was pleasantly shocked to find Mary waiting for her.
“I used you as an excuse to get out of class early,” Mary shrugged, exiting the school with her. “How do you get home?”
Riri pointed to the sleek black Bentley parked by the sidewalk. Mary mumbled something under her breath Riri couldn’t decipher before talking again. “Well, it was nice meeting you Riri, I have to catch the bus. I’ll see you tomorrow?"
With one final nod, Mary began in the opposite direction.
—
“How was your first day?” Kira asked as she shrugged off her blazer. Riri positioned her phone against her vanity so she could stay visible in the video call as she pulled her hair down.
“Loud, stuffy, and… not as bad as I expected.”
“Oh?” Kira sat at her own vanity to match, discarding her headband, “and did my antisocial sister talk to anyone at her new school, or did she avoid everyone as usual?”
Riri gave her a glare that did not translate well over the phone. “I did. A girl named Wendy, and a girl named Mary.”
“Only women, how on brand of you.”
Riri frowned. “What does that mean?”
Kira rolled her eyes before picking up a hairbrush, “You know what that means Riri.” She brushed through her hair before pulling it back into a loose ponytail. Riri wished she was there to brush it for her.
“You have a girlfriend,” she pouted—a typical younger sister mannerism—before beginning to brush through her own hair.
“Yet you still manage to outgay me.” Kira smirked, "maybe you’ll find one of your own over there.”
“I seriously doubt it.”
Kira scoffed. “Have you no faith in yourself Riri?”
“No.”
“Zero optimism, how attractive of you. I’m sure the women will come flocking,” Kira said flatly.
Riri pulled her hair into a loose ponytail as well, mimicking Kira’s. “I don’t recall you having any optimism about your crush on Yumeko last year.”
“Not my point. I’m going to change then go to Yumeko’s dorm. Do you want to call later?”
Riri shook her head. “Go ahead, I’m going to shower. It’s late for you anyway.”
“Only three hours ahead. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Я люблю тебя и скучаю по тебе.”
“Спокойной ночи. Я тоже люблю и скучаю по тебе,” Riri said softly before ending the call.