Chapter Four: Transfer student

"Good morning, everyone. It's a pleasure to meet all of you. My name is Katya Orlova. Please just call me Katya." Everyone was impressed, despite her being a foreigner; her speech was near-perfect, and honestly, you wouldn't be able to tell it wasn't her native language. "Good, you can go ahead and have a seat in the empty seat in the back."

It kind of makes me jealous, too. I wonder if she's lived here before? Maybe she's just good with languages? If only I were that good, then I wouldn't have to study that much. She looked right at me as she headed for the empty seat in front of me. Her bright blue eyes looked, how do I put it, like they were seeing right through me.

I don't know, it's hard to describe, but it's like she was judging me, but not in a harmful way. More like she is curious about me. It actually made me slightly blush. Wait, is she looking at me because of my messy bed hair and dark circles under my eyes? I quickly tried to brush my messy hair, but it was pointless; my hair still had a mind of its own.

She gave a slight smirk as she sat down. It made my face blush even more. Why was this getting to me? I mean, the track girls make fun of me all the time, but I can easily ignore them. So why is this girl making me so self-conscious? Is it because I'm intimidated by her beauty? No, it can't be anything like that. I'm just tired. Right?

What the hell is going on with me? Maybe everything is finally getting to me? The track girls, the school, the farm... "Fujiwara!" I panicked and stood up. "Yes!?" I accidentally yelled out. "Read page twenty-two! And pay attention next time!" Everyone in class started laughing as I fumbled through my things to find the book.

After getting my book and opening it to the right page, I started to read. "Ge cossed mhe tule nicked sneet..." The class broke out in laughter again at my failed attempt to read the foreign language. "Fujiwara, you need to study more!" "Yes, sir," I said in a defeated tone.

"Oul..." The teacher coughed slightly to hide the fact that he couldn't say her last name. "Katya, please read page twenty-two." She stood up and began to read. "We crossed the blue bricked street..." She continued to read with an elegant voice and didn't miss a word. Even the teacher was impressed. Just how many languages does she know?

The class continued, and while others also failed to read, none of them got laughed at. Granted, it wasn't too surprising after all, everyone likes to pick on the poor farmer girl, who always looks like a wreck. It's not like I'm ugly or smell disgusting or anything, it's just I'm an easy target for them to bully.

If I had the time to fix my looks, I have no doubt that I could, at the very least, look half as beautiful as Katya. Well, that's probably a stretch. After all, she looks like a foreign model, so it would be hard to compare her to her. Not that I really care, but you know a woman is always judged by her looks, and frankly, I haven't had the time to deal with mine.

The bell rang, and then everyone quickly crowded around Katya. "Wow, you speak like you live here." "How many languages do you know?" "Are you a model?" "What's your phone number?" Before Katya could even answer, the teacher walked over.

"Katya, the nurse needs to see you. Fujiwara, show her where it is." After saying that, he left, and my classmates stared at me with hostile intent. Katya stood up and looked right at me. I froze for a second, then she asked. "Well, are you going to show me where it is?" I panicked and stood up. "Yes!" One of my classmates whispered something into her ear.

It probably was something bad about me. I ignored it and clumsily walked towards the door. I turned around to make sure she was following me and noticed she had a smirk on her face. It again made me blush. I quickly turned around to hide my face as I continued towards the nurse.

We went down the stairs, but I stopped partway to make sure she was still behind me. When I turned around, I not only saw her behind me, but I also saw her still smirking about something. It was making me uneasy. I hope she won't add to the list of people who bully me out of boredom. "What's a matter?" Katya asked. I quickly turned my head to hide my embarrassment and started walking again. "Nothing."

"You know, I can tell you're quite different from everyone else." I stopped walking so fast that I almost tripped. Huh? What does she mean by that? "You're quite the hard worker." "What?" I quietly blurted out. "Your hands." I looked at my hands to see that they were full of cuts and calluses.

"You have the hands of someone who works hard. That's not somethi... F..." She stopped mid-sentence and made a pained grunt as she grabbed the railing and her stomach. Her almost-perfect façade vanished if only for a few seconds. "Are you okay?" I asked.

She steadied herself, and her face quickly returned to having that prideful smirk, but at the same time, it looked like she was hiding some pain. "I'm fine, I just lost my balance." It didn't look like that. "Are you sure? I can help..." "I'm fine," she said in a stern tone. "Look, I can find the nurse from here." "But..." "You should head back to class," She said in an angry voice.

What's her deal? Does she really not need help, or is she so prideful that she thinks she doesn't? She glared at me, then proceeded to walk past me. I should just do as she asks, but what if she doesn't make it to the nurse? Plus, how could I live with myself if I don't help?

I quickly caught back up to her and walked by her side. "What are you doing? I told you..." "You're clearly injured. If someone needs help, then help them." She glared at me. "What?" "You said it yourself, I'm a hard worker, so I'm not leaving until I get you to the nurse."

"You... fu..." She again grunted in pain. "See. Now let's get you to the nurse." She glared at me with annoyance, but begrudgingly accepted my help.