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Post by ANASTASIA SOKOLOV on Sept 28, 2013 13:09:10 GMT -8
If it had been any other monday, Anastasia would have been going to school. She would have had less than two weeks to graduation, and probably would have been taken to some kind of party or celebration on the 25th, when she would have been able to celebrate being free of school. She would have graduated, would have been able to move on with her life.
Instead, she was going to end up doing it all over again. She hadn't officially graduated in Russia, and if nothing else, her education was a sticking point. She was supposed to fit in, to try and get used to life in America, and one of the easiest ways to do so would be school. School would get her out, get her talking to people, and it would help improve her limited English. She had been taught it, but she had never had cause to use it, and when she did spoke it came out stiff and overly formal. She needed to improve it, and school was like a fast track to that. She had no illusion about it being easy (because she was entering in the last year of school with an accent thick enough to choke a donkey), but she was entirely confident she could do it. Almost all of the material they'd be covering she already knew, with only American History and English being unexpected. Everything else she was quite confident she could manage--she'd already managed it at home in Russia, after all.
All that confident wasn't helping her not be nervous as she was told to wait in the corner of the office. A tour guide would be there soon--a student to guide her around the school for the first half of the school day. Then she'd eat lunch, and then she'd go home. There was no point in trying to start in an American School so late to the end of term. She would hardly have time to sit down before she'd be forced into exams, and she had no illusions about how well she would do in an exam written entirely in English.
She looked orderly, if nothing else. Her hair was held up at the back, her bang in one eye, her face impassive. Her clothes were distinctly average, with jeans and a light blue t-shirt, and until she opened her mouth she could easily have been any other student at the school. |
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Post by ALLISON SUMMERS on Oct 18, 2013 18:26:01 GMT -8
College was a few years away. Her grades sure weren't going to get her anywhere so Allison planned to impress them with her rich array of extracurriculars. In all honesty, she just looked at the activity board, wrote her name down for things and waited for someone to come get her. Not the most effective strategy but it got things done. That in no way explained how she ended doing touring. It was Monday morning, everyone's favorite day of the week, and Allison couldn't look more beautiful with those attractive bags under her eyes and her hair sticking up in the most appropriate places. She was truly a piece of art! So as she gracefully dragged her feet down the hallway in clothes she had randomly pulled from her drawer…she was wearing clothes, wasn't she? That did make her pause but the moment passed quickly as she continued her way to the office. She had nothing against new kids, really she didn't. They were cool and all especially if they were hot exchange students but today was really not her day. Lost in her train of thought she didn't even notice when she reached the door. Well she did but it was after she ran into it. A bruise to compliment her bags would make her fit to model for Da Vinci. Inhaling deeply she straightened out her back and her lips painfully pushed up into a smile. All she has to do it get through the day. Allison curled her hands into fists and she shook her hips for good measure. She could totally do this. "I got this." she muttered to herself. She grabbed the handle and pushed it open so hard it swung and hit the back wall. Hopefully, it didn't leave a dent because she sure as hell wasn't paying for anything. Head held high, shoulders back and with a mega-watt smile Allison walked in like she owned the place. What she saw ahead of her was pretty surprising. Her body collapsed in on itself as she stared at the absolutely average girl in front of her. No wild hair, no weird twitch, no peg legs and she wasn't six feet tall. Overall, she was boring. This was the best they had. This was what they had to offer her. She could only shake her head and sigh, internally of course. Might as well get it over with. With a hop in her step she made it over to the borin- blonde, she made it over to blonde girl and thrust her hand forward. "Allison Samantha Summers; junior and class of 2014!" She brought her index and pointer finger to her head before pointing them off towards the ceiling with a wink. "I'll be your guide for the morning." The hand fell to her hip and rested their as she cocked her head to the side. "Anything you want to see first? We got a wicked football field. I've heard the library's filled with books," She frowned and shrugged her shoulders. "Not really my scene but it's okay if you're into it. I'm not here to judge." Totally judging you. may 14th; 8am |
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Post by ANASTASIA SOKOLOV on Oct 23, 2013 7:53:53 GMT -8
tag • date • time • notes Anastasia wasn't thinking about what she was expecting. If she'd stopped to think about it, she probably would have assumed the tour would be done by an adult, but a bit of scrutiny would point out the flaws in that idea. There were hundreds of students and only a handful of teachers. It wouldn't make sense to pull a teacher out just to show her around. A student would know the area just as well as a teacher, and would probably be thought to be more approachable then a teacher. On that front, at least, the staff were wrong. Anastasia probably would have done better with a teacher, someone adult and mature, who probably wouldn't giggle at her accent.
It was a legitimate concern for her. She wasn't exactly a fan of America as a whole, but apparently her accent was overly thick and occasionally difficult to understand. It wasn't like she was trying to sound odd, but to her everyone sounded odd. The way American's spoke English seemed rushed, seeming to trip over themselves. It was a struggle to keep up with some people, and Anastasia was finding she didn't enjoy it much at all.
She stood up when another girl approached her, looking haggard and perhaps a bit distracted. Anastasia mistakenly assumed she was simply there to take her to the tour, but that mistaken assumption was quickly corrected. The girl was talking too fast for Anastasia (which was unfortunately any speed other than slow), and she took a moment to process it. Allison. That was the girls name, although if you'd asked her to repeat the rest she'd have faltered. Or was it Allison Samantha? She honestly couldn't tell, and she forced herself to clear her throat before speaking, trying to diminish her accent--which did very little. From the moment she spoke there couldn't be a single question about where she was from.
"It is nice to meet you." She gave the girls hand a brief shake before letting her hands fall to her sides, listening to the rest of it. Football? It took her a moment to process that she didn't actually mean football, but instead meant some weird version of rugby. That was what Americans thought of as 'football', even though that didn't make any sense. Why name a sport football when you didn't use your feet with the ball?
"I think... a general tour would be fine." She didn't care about the football field, but she did need to know where they'd be eating lunch, where her classes would be... all the regular stuff. |
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Post by ALLISON SUMMERS on Oct 27, 2013 17:55:50 GMT -8
Allison paused. And blinked. And blinked once more. Russia? She was from Russia? How awesome. She totally takes it back. This was perfect. All boys would be all over this and she was totally going to play with this up. A new female student from Russia. Of course, she expected something slightly different but the boys would get over it. Tall and skinny was out anyway. Men needed women with some muscle. It would help people realize that women didn't need to be Barbies to be beautiful.. or something like that. The school counselor recommended the female students read books about self-esteem and inner beauty and wonderful things like that. And there goes her train of thought. Back to the tour, what did she even know about this school anyway? She liked to skip on occasion and when she did come she slept or ended up in detention. Allison could give her an in-depth tour of the detention room. It has a great view of the field, very long and boring as fuck room and the teacher is an ass-wipe. That's a great way to interest a new student. She clapped her hands together and gave a curt nod. What was the closest building? Cafeteria! Allison walked towards the door and opened it beckoning the girl out. "The cafeteria is a short walk away." She could do this. Allison learned all this crap on her first day, none from a oh so very nice tour guide but whatever. How come they decided to put this in the works now? She sure could have used it. She brought her fist up to her lips and cleared her throat before continuing. "Okay, I really don't recommend the cafeteria's food. It's shit. We have pizza aka bread with cheese, salads aka spinach in a bowl, the bread is hard, chicken tenders don't taste like chicken and well I just recommend getting food outside." Allison so deserved an award for this. She was giving so much insight into her school. Things you definitely don't learn from the school's brochure. Allison decided to get her personal business out of the way. "So," she chimed slowing down her walk ever so slightly. She wanted to give unknown Russian girl as much time as she needed to answer this important question. Finding out her name was pretty important too but she could get to that anytime. "What's Russia like? I mean, how does it compare to America? People always say America's boring compared to just about anywhere but I've never been outside the country so I wouldn't know." She couldn't wait for her gap year, she's going to travel the world and get cultured. may 14th; 8am |
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Post by ANASTASIA SOKOLOV on Oct 28, 2013 16:35:27 GMT -8
Anastasia was used to following instructions, and she trailed behind Allison the moment the other girl started to walk. She'd yet to even introduce herself, but then she was also entirely unused to having conversations in English. It had simply entirely escaped her mind as she focused on memorizing the layout of the buildings. It was an old trick her father had taught her, making a nice little mental map as she walked, but she had to abruptly stop as Allison started talking.
It wasn't necessarily that she was talking fast so much as that she was including a lot of slang and sayings. Anastasia didn't know what 'aka' was, although she could take a guess, and the food being 'shit' confused her. It was literally shit? Only no, that didn't make sense. Not even American's would serve actual shit for food. Would they? Her brow furrowed as she tried to keep up, having to focus intently as she listed off all the food. At the very least she had stopped, letting Anastasia catch up. Alright, she could manage--she'd gotten the jist of it anyway. The food was bad. Don't eat it. Got it.
The next set of questions were probably not supposed to be part of the tour, and Anastasia paused, trying to determine the best way to answer. "I do not really know. I have only been here for a week." She commented, giving a little shrug. "Your schools are different. I would have been finished if I had stayed in Russia." And who knew what else was different?
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Post by ALLISON SUMMERS on Nov 22, 2013 17:00:43 GMT -8
Tsk, tsk, tsk. They didn't even let her tour someone that would be coming to her grade. Was she the only one that signed up for this? That idea actually scared her. If chess club had more participants, she was so out. Her classmates would give her hell over this. They've been trying to get her into cheerleading for ages but it just wasn't her thing. She had long lost the ability to do the splits. She wouldn't mind reconsidering though. Did they have cheerleaders in Russia? She should totally ask her that later. Seniors are also so scary. It didn't help that most of them were taller than her but then again who isn't. Most of them were snotty as hell. They went to a public school, it wasn't like they were in Gossip Girl or something. She'll never get them. Allison was kind to any and all except maybe an occasional freshmen or nerd or footballer or teacher's pet or stoner would get on her nerves. Then again wasn't that most of the student body. The cafeteria doors were in sight just as she was about to open her mouth. "Why the sudden move to the States,…uh?" She would has said her name at the end if she knew it. Allison pursed her lips and knocked the door to her side with her hip. It flew open to reveal a big but empty room. "Yeah, everyone's in class right now but word of caution." She squinted her eyes and raised an eyebrow. "Watch where you sit. It will define you here." Allison leaned back on her heel and whistled. The echo that came back made the corner of her mouth twitch. She had never been in here when it was empty. Kind of sad. "You know you never gave me your name right. I don't want to call you Blondie or Miss.Russia for the rest of the school year." may 14th; 8am [/quote] |
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Post by ANASTASIA SOKOLOV on Nov 22, 2013 17:16:35 GMT -8
Anastasia understood tact, and she was generally extremely polite. Even so, that was stretched thin after the move. At the best of times, Anastasia could be a little bit too to the point with things. She wouldn't directly bring things up, but she'd definitely answer questions that were asked to her. She didn't answer Allison's question right away though--she let it simmer for a moment, entirely unaware that she still hadn't introduced herself to the other girl.
The thought of where she sat mattering wasn't entirely alien to her, although she wasn't used to it being said so clearly. Such things--cliques and whatnot--certainly existed in Russia, but Anastasia had never been friends with anyone who took such things seriously. None of her friend would have given a warning like 'watch who you sit with' as Allison had so bluntly done.
Miss Russia didn't sound too far off, and Anastasia's lips went into a firm line, annoyed with herself. She really hadn't said her name? She still didn't have a good feel for the flow of an English conversation just yet, and she gave a little nod of her head a sort of apology. "I apologize. English is... still difficult." She cleared her throat. "My name is Anastasia Sokolov." If her accent had been thick before, it was enough to choke a donkey when she said her name. "I've moved because my parents died, and my guardian lives here." No beating around the bush, no 'passed away'. In part it was because Anastasia's English was too stiff and formal for such things, and in part it was because Anastasia didn't see the point. Her parents hadn't passed on anywhere. They were dead. She had a sneaking suspicion that it would be more accurate to say that they'd been killed, but she wasn't quite privy as to how they'd died. Probably killed though--it went with the line of work.
She could still guess what was coming though. Inevitably a lot of 'sorries', which she was dreading. Being sorry didn't change things. Things would remain exactly as they were, no matter how many condolences she was given. Mostly she was hoping Allison would simply move on, and she did her best to steer the conversation away. "Where would the... I don't know the word. The people who like sports sit then?" Because of all the cliques she'd seen in the very, very few movies she'd watched, that was the group that she was most likely to fit in with, even if she'd have preferred to avoid them all together.
ALLISON SUMMERS | MAY 14TH, 8AM |
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