Fire Alarm

“Buzz, buzz” the fire alarm was clearly hearable in the school's courtyard.

Mika?”

“Present!”

“Mona?”

 “I am still alive miss”

“Miss Mona, this is no time for jokes. You are in big trouble!”

 "Where was I again? Nia?” the teacher continued checking if all of the students managed to get out of the school.

“Fortunately everyone made it out on time. Please wait here quietly with your classmates until you get instructed to go inside again.” The teacher added with a strict voice. After the teacher was done taking the attendance list, Ti grabbed a distracted Mona by her arm and dragged her in front of the teacher. 

“My sincerest apologies, I will never let this happen again.” Ti-chan apologized while a tear was dripping down her cheek. 

The teacher took a deep breath and said: 

“I’ll let you off the hook, but you have to pay better attention to what your classmate is doing Ti.” in an attempt to clear down a clearly distressed Ti.

“Mona, you on the other hand are in big trouble. You should never leave a pan on the stove unattended. This will not only get you fired but maybe even arrested.”

Mona bowed and also made her own apology to the teacher, finally grasping the gravity of the situation.

“I am so sorry miss, I won’t make a mistake like this again.”

 “You shouldn’t apologize to me, but the headmaster for setting this palace of education on fire. Please visit his office as soon as we are allowed inside again. You better show your gratitude for being able to receive this sublime education at his marvelous facility and he may have mercy on you.”

The headmaster's office

“Knock, knock” sounded through the hallway as Mona knocked her hand gently against the century-old wooden door.

“Am I allowed to come in Mister Headmaster?” she asked after a short silence.

“Let yourself in young lady” the headmaster said with a deep and calming voice. A nervous Mona entered the room and closed the door behind her.

“Please have a seat and tell me what’s on your mind.” While she was about to sit down in a big leather chair, she noticed a row of old black and white pictures.

 “You are a curious young lady aren’t you? These are pictures of all the headmasters going back to the founding of this establishment.”

After that, he directed his attention to the girl in front of him and asked: “So what brought you here today?” Mona nervously explained to the headmaster she was the cause of the fire alarm earlier that day.

“Will you expel me now?” is what Mona asked the headmaster at the end of her explanation.

The headmaster ignored her question and said “So you said your name was Mona right? I heard quite a lot about you, you are the particular student aren’t you?”

"Yes that is me” Mona said with a lot of doubt in her voice, not quite knowing what the headmaster wanted her to answer.

“Do not worry about getting expelled. The reason you are here is to learn, and sometimes it is necessary to make mistakes in order to grow. What I want you to do is cherish the little time you have here in this academy and make the best of it. Use your curiosity to explore all this school has to offer and do not be afraid of making mistakes. Believe me, failing to do so will make you regret it for the rest of your life.”

 “Now excuse yourself and tell your teacher I accepted your apology. She will come up with an appropriate penalty for you.”

“Thank you Mister Headmaster, I will remember,” said Mona while leaving the office. She was relieved the headmaster accepted her apology and took his words to heart.

 A cold but generous stranger

Relieved after her positive conversation with the headmaster, Mona went back to culinary class to apologize to her teacher once more. As her punishment, Mona has to help the teacher prepare the ingredients used for the class for the next two weeks. In class, most of the girls have reheated the meals they were working on before the fire alarm went off and are now getting ready for dinner. Since Mona and Ti’s meals burned they have nothing to eat besides a granola bar Ti found on the bottom of her bag.

“Here, have this half” said Ti to Mona after she updated her about what happened at the headmaster's office.

“I will be starving” Mona responded with a sight, taking her half of the granola bar from Ti. Both of them felt too ashamed to ask the teacher for more food after what happened earlier that day.

 Then they suddenly saw one of their classmates approach them, a girl with long golden hair wearing two pig tails. She stopped at their table, handing over two plates of curry.

“You can have some of mine since my partner is absent today.” the girl said. Ti thanked the girl for being so kind to them, while Mona had already started eating her portion.

“My name is Nia by the way.” the girl said hastily just before going back to her own table

“But don’t think we will become friends or something.”

Lunchbreak

“It looks like our table is still of limits.” said Ti to Mona and Serena as they were looking for a place to eat during the next lunch.

“Let’s make a bet if the bucket is still there on summer break, I’ll give you all a candy bar. Otherwise, I’ll receive one from you.” Mona joked to the other girls.

 “Deal.” said Ti and Serena nodded in agreement.

“Hey, there is Nia, let’s thank her for sharing her meal yesterday.” The girls walked over to Nia’s table to thank her after that Mona went to sit down at the table. After seeing this, Nia reminded Mona that they were no friends in an aggressive voice.

Shortly after, she reconsidered and said: “Alright, just for this one time.” Across the table from Nia, there sat another girl with greenish hair. All this time, she has been staring at Mona.

“So who are you?” Mona asked the girl, unaware of what to think of her.

“Ehm.. so my name is Rose, Nia’s roommate. And where do I know you from?”

“I am Mona, the girl who set the school on fire.” Mona responded in a self-loathing manner.

“Mona, you shouldn’t joke about that!” Ti reacted annoyed.

 “Cool, so you are a school delinquent he?” responded Rose in a relaxed voice, in an attempt to lighten the mood a bit.

“And you?” Rose asked while turning her head to Serena. After seeing Serena getting really nervous, Mona replied “That’s my roommate Serena, she is not much of a talker.”

“She really isn’t I see” said Rose.

 “Can I ask you a question? Do you know anything about this school’s robotics club?” Mona asked.

Nia crossed her arms and responded: “Robots? Do we look like nerds or anything?”

Mona sighed: “Well it was worth a shot…” Luckily the awkward situation was cut short by the ringing of the bell.