Belonging

"I'll see you tomorrow for your Science lesson, honey." Mrs. Crane says, smiling at me as I leave the class.

"See you." I whisper happily. Today hasn't been great, but Science club alone with Mrs. Crane made it a lot better than it was.

I go down to the exit, then to the car park. I look around, my eyes landing on the same car that brought me to school. I walk over to it and open the back door. My eyes widen when I see somebody already in there. They look up from their phone.

"Sorry, I think I have the wrong car-"

"Anastasiya?" He asks.

I pause, nodding.

"I'm your brother. Get in." He says.

"Oh." I whisper. Tentatively, I climb into the car, sitting across from him once I close the door behind me.

He puts his phone into his pocket and looks at me, his blue eyes pinned on me. His hair is blonde and messy, like he's been running his fingers through it. He's wearing a white shirt, the sleeves of which are rolled up to reveal his muscular forearms, littered in tattoos.

"I'm Aleksander." He informs me, "I would've come to see you earlier, but I got back in yesterday from the airport quite late and you were already gone when I woke up this morning."

"Oh. Sorry."

He smirks, "you don't have to apologise. I wanna take you out to get something to eat, is that okay?"

"Really?" I whisper.

He nods.

"Okay." I say.

He smiles. "Great. We can go now, unless you wanna get changed into your other clothes first?"

"I can stay in this." I whisper.

"Alright." He says. "Put your seatbelt on."

I strap myself into the car, and only then does it begin moving.

"How was your first day of school?" He asks me.

"It was fine." I lie. Already the thought of coming back here tomorrow fills me with fear and dread.

"Did you meet Angelina?" He asks.

I nod.

"Was she nice to you?" He questions.

"Yeah." I lie again.

"Are you sure? Sometimes she can be.. how do I put it?" He whispers to himself. "A bit egotistical."

I smile a little.

"But as long as she wasn't mean to you, that's all that matters." He tells me.

"She wasn't."

"Good." He responds. "Did you hang around with her, or other people?"

"Other people." I say.

"So you made friends okay?"

I nod, feeling bad for lying to him. However, this clearly makes him relax. He leans back in his seat. "Good." He repeats. "I wanted you to go to the same school as Danilo and Demian, but.. it was up to Petro."

"Don't they go to a boys school?"

"No, there's girls and boys there." He tells me.

"Oh."

"How was your Science club?" He asks.

"Good." I reply. "I was the only one there."

"How come?"