Chapter 3: Karuta

After school, Francine wanted to explore the city together. I couldn’t believe this school, it had an entire buffet in the cafeteria and a garden in the courtyard, it was beautiful and I didn’t want to leave it in 2 months. “Hello Karuta, did you enjoy your school day?” Francine asked. “Yeah, it was fun, what do you want to do after school?” I asked her, she had become a close friend today. “Well, I wanted to shop for clothes to wear on Oktoberfest!” Francine said.

“Good idea!” I told her, we then walked down the street and Francine told me there is a mall nearby, I then felt something brush against my leg and I looked down. I saw a white and orange cat rubbing against my leg. “That is Kutchen, he is one of the outside cats that live here, he has an owner but likes to come outside and bug us students from time to time,” Francine said, she then rubbed Kutchen under the neck and he purred. “You try,” Francine said and I sat down to rub his cheek. “He is cute,” I said and then Kutchen scampered away.

The both of us went to the mall and found a store that sold traditional German dresses. It was crowded, since everyone probably wanted to find clothes for the festival but most people were polite when we said excuse me, one girl said a german swear word and Francine scowled at her. I didn’t understand what the word meant though. We then went over to the corner, where not as much people were browsing and we glanced at the dresses, it was the clearance section.

“Hmm, this is nice,” Francine said and she glanced at the price tag that had €150 on it. We then glanced at some accessories like headbands, some traditional makeup, etc. We had fun trying things in the fitting room until we settled on 2 dresses that cost €400 in total. After we paid and walked out, Francine breathed a sigh of relief. “Whew, that store was crowded!” Francine said. “Yeah,” I said, laughing. “But trying on clothes with you was nice!” I said positively. We saw Kutchen again in the mall. “Ahh!! What is a cat doing in the mall!!” I asked, this seemed strange, I thought most shops didn’t allow cats! “Uhh, most aren’t but that shop owner is actually Kutchen’s owner too so he lets Kutchen roam around here sometimes. I pet Kutchen again and then we both passed by. “Hmm, let’s get some coffee,” Francine suggested, she then led me to a coffee shop in the mall, it was a bit old, a lot of the wooden furniture was scratched and not much people were there except us.

We went to the counter and saw a girl from our school, I knew her, her name was Emilia, she had big blue eyes that usually had a lot of mascara on their eyelashes. She wore a white shirt and brown pants and a deep red apron sat atop her shirt. “Hey Emmy!” Francine said. “Oh hello Francine and Karuta, my dad wasn’t able to come to the shop today so I am working in his place, would you like some coffee?” Emilia asked. “Sure, can I get a espresso and Karuta would like her coffee black,” Francine said. “Thanks for ordering, not much people came toda6 because they are mainly shopping for Oktoberfest, I use the same dresses I used last year, they still fit,” Emilia said. Francine and myself sat at a booth in the corner and we chatted for a bit, later, Emilia came holding both our drinks on a tray. “Thanks Emilia, I-“ Francine started but then the coffee tipped over and spilled all over Francine. “Oh my god! I am so sorry!” Emilia said, getting napkins.

Francine walked over to the bathroom to get the coffee out of her hair and clothes, luckily it didn’t stain the traditional dresses we bought. I took my coffee (which hadn’t spilled) and sipped on it until Francine came back. “Hi,” Francine said, she was all clean but smelled like coffee. “I am so sorry, that was so embarassing,” Emilia said, putting her head in her hands. “It’s fine, do you have any perfume Karu?” Francine asked me, the fact that she only met me yesterday but is calling me nicknames made me confident in our friendship. “Sure, I have some perfume my dad gave me,” I said, handing the bottle to her and spritzing it on her. “Phew,” Francine said, “I am sorry for the mess,” Francine continued, noticing the pile of coffee that Emilia was cleaning. “No, it is all my fault,” Emilia said, looking really embarassed. She then made Francine another cup that didn’t spill on her and Francine drank it. “That will be €4 will that be card or cash?” Emilia asked, seeming to not remember the embarassing coffee spill. “Cash,” Francine said, handing her €4. We then exited the shop and continued to explore the Munich streets.

“This place is so beautiful!” I said, twirling around happily, not caring that people were staring. “Yeah,” Francine said, not seeming focused. “Well, I wanted to ask you, there are some after school clubs, like baking, pottery, painting and music, there are also sports, would you like to join any?” Francine asked. “Well, baking seems fun!” I said. “Sure, then let’s do that tomorrow,” Francine said, I then heard a ding! From my phone, I checked the notifications and noticed that the exchange student group chat had a new message. The teacher said, time to come back to the hotel!. I checked the time and it was 8:20. “Oh, you have to go?” Francine asked. “Yeah, it seems we have to go back,” I said. “Well, there is just one more thing we need to do,” Francine said, dragging me forward, we then arrived at a bus stop. “I need to get something from my house,” Francine said. I was wondering what she needed but the bus arrived and we hopped on, after 20 minutes, I got notifications like crazy saying Where are you Karuta?

I decided in case anything bad happens, I need to tell them where I will be “I am at Francine’s house, if I don’t come back in a few hours, call her parents,” I said as a voice message. When I arrived at Francine’s house, I couldn’t believe it, it was large and spacious. Her parents were outside on the porch. “Francine, is this your friend?” Her mom asked. “Yeah, her name is Karuta,” Francine said. “Would you like to eat dinner with us?” Francine’s mom asked. “No thanks, we just drank coffee and are going to ride my bike,” Francine said, she then brought her bike from the garage and it had 2 seats. “Why does it have 2 seats? Do you have a sibling?” I asked.

”I HAD a sibling. He passed away from a car crash,” Francine said, a tear fell from her eye and then we both rode the bike. It was really fun riding a bike together, the wind blew through my hair and I glanced at the sunset, it was beautiful. We kept riding and then Francine agreed we should go back or my class would call the police. After I got out from the bus stop, I noticed it was pitch black outside. “Want me to drop you at the hotel?” Francine asked. “Sure,” I said, we walked to the hotel in silence and once I arrived, I felt warmth in the heated hotel. “Bye Karu!” Francine said, I went inside and greeted the receptionist, I then went in the elevator to my room and saw my classmates. “Karuta!? Where were you!!!” The teacher shouted. “I was hanging out with my friend Francine, we went to the mall and found dresses for Oktoberfest and we met a cat…” I said. “Thanks for giving us a text but please tell us before hand that you will be late to come back,” Jared said. Why did this kid care? I wondered. After the lecture, I went on my matress and texted Angela. “This trip is so fun! I met a new friend named Francine, she is so cool!” I typed, I then waited for the few dots to appear and they did but then they disappeared. Huh? Weird.. I thought. Then I got a chat request from Francine and I texted with her. “Want to hang out again tomorrow, my parents really want you to have dinner with us!” She texted. “Sure,” I said, well this would be interesting.