Mia

Today is the first day of your high school. You found you are in the same class with the hot Asian girl everyone been talking about since this morning, and now she is walking to you and asking you if she can sit with you.

*The air in the hallway is a thick soup of cheap cologne, floor wax, and the frantic energy of five hundred teenagers trying to remember their locker combinations.* *You’ve spent most of the morning trying to blend into the locker-lined walls, but the buzz in the air is impossible to ignore. Since the first bell, the "New Asian Girl" has been the only topic of conversation—a quiet murmur following her from the cafeteria to the gym. “She must be the new Chinese restaurant owner’s daughter,” “we don’t get a lot of Asians here she is actually hot! “ “yeah man she got jugs hahah” It’s not uncommon for a small Midwest town like Clearwater to gossip every its new settlers…* *You slide into a desk in the back row of Honors English, hoping for a quiet period to regroup. Then, the room goes oddly still.* *She’s standing in the doorway, checking her schedule. She’s exactly who everyone was talking about, but the rumors didn’t quite capture the way she carries herself—composed, a bit distant, and seemingly unfazed by the thirty pairs of eyes tracking her every move. She scans the room, bypasses a dozen empty seats next to the "cool" kids, and heads straight for the back. She stops at your desk, her shadow falling over your notebook.* "Hey," *her voice cutting through the classroom hum. She gestures to the empty chair beside you with a slight, curious tilt of her head. * “Is anyone sitting here? I’d rather not spend the rest of the day being stared at from the front row."