Familiar Ground

Nina didn't sleep much after that weird dream she had. With sleepy eyes, she rushed to school with Blanche and Eloise. they both arrived at school just in time before the busses left the school grounds with all the students that were in the last two greats. Eloise and Blanche took a seat next to each other on the bus while Nina took the seat next to them on the other side of the path. Léon ended up in front of her when she sat down. "Can I sit here?" He asked.

"I'm going to sit alone; you can sit with Martin," Nina answered.

"Martin is already sitting next to his girlfriend, my sister." Léon pointed in the direction of a girl with long dark hair up in a low ponytail with strands of hair beside her cheeks.

"Your best friend is dating your sister?" Nina raised her eyebrow.

"Yeah."

"And you don't find that weird?"

"Not really, we grew up together."

"Well, I still going to sit alone," Nina answered and sat down looking through the window. She didn't want to sit close to him, they were already spending too much time together for what she liked. She felt like she was going to attack him at one point. Léon was popular enough to find a different seat. They would all be very happy if they sat next to him, handsome, tall, and fit, every girl's dream. Nina looked at herself in the reflection of the window. She didn't care about him, she told herself that many times; she just wanted to make it through the day without losing control and being weird again. Nina watched the mountains and trees passing by, the steep edge of the mountain that led to a lot of sharp rocks at the bottom. The bus drove higher up the mountain, away from the village down below. She could see the curve that they were heading to, a curve next to a very steep edge. Minutes had already passed by when they left the school building and the village was far away by now and Nina couldn't even see it at the bottom of the mountain. It looked like the village was surrounded by mountains all around, one big bowl of trees and rocks. She has never seen it like this, she never even left the village before. So that was how tiny their village looked like when you'd be standing on top of the bowl. The buses were approaching the curve that turned to the right, but the curve ended with a

very sharp curve to the left that you didn't even see coming. A very dangerous curve the busses had to drive on and took it very slow. Nina looked at the curve and saw a car approaching them at full speed. She screamed when the headlights were getting closer and bumped her off the road and down the hill. The sharp rocks and trees were calling for her when they came closer and closer. Nina covered her eyes, terrified to look at her death when she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Léon asked who was standing up from his seat behind her, his scent going through her nose. Nina looked at him, surprised to see him, better yet to see him alive, all of them alive. The bus didn't go down the mountain and already passed the curve a while ago. What was that just now? It was not hard to ignore the whispers at the back of the bus, that same group of girls that were always around Luc. Laughing, staring at Nina, calling her names.

"What the hell was she doing?" Noella laughed, her bright red lips and her brown long bob that came to her shoulders.

"Did you see that; I nearly had a heart attack from her screams. Well, she is a freak after all." Edith glared at Nina, knowing that she could fully hear them talking, and went with her perfectly painted nail through her long highlighted blonde hair. Those two girls from Nina's history class again, always wanting attention and always wanting to make someone else feel bad so they could feel better about themselves. Always a group of four girls. Nina remembered one of those girls with her long dark cruel hair that was screaming at her when she was running with the boys back then. While the other girl with very long brown cruelly hair seemed to be there popped. How insecure can they be, they were already wearing too much makeup for what Nina liked. They probably need a putty knife to get all their makeup off their faces.

"Don't listen to them," Léon Said while he came to sit down next to her, and Nina noticed Léon's sister smiling at her for some reason. She turned back to Martin who smiled at Nina as well while Eléonore laid her head on Martin's shoulder.

"So, what happened?" Léon asked.

"Nothing!"

"That did not look like nothing to me." Nina looked out the window, the mountains passing by before she turned back to Léon. "I saw a car coming right at us and I fell down the mountains."

"You saw a car accident?" He asked.

"More like I was in it." Nina corrected him.

"So, you were in a car accident once?"

"I don't know, I guess."

"That's great, that means that you remember something from your past."

"But then I would have woken up in a hospital and not in some house," Nina said and looked back at the window. Nina wondered, if was she really in a car accident years ago. But for some reason, she woke up in Léon's bedroom instead of a car or even in a hospital bed. She didn't get a single thing about it. Where did Léon find her exactly? Too bad that she couldn't ask him, he wouldn't even know what she was talking about if she even tried. And why would she suddenly be interested in how he found his dog ten years ago?

"We are here!" Mrs. Noël yelled through the bus as the bus came to a stop. Nina looked out the window, but there was nothing to see, only mountains and trees.

"Didn't she say that we're here?" Sarina asked while she was chowing on her gum, her finger curling around in her dark long curls. And everyone else starts yelling in confusion.

"I don't see the Antique theater of Lugdunum," Noella yelled.

"Where are we?" Luc shouted when his voice broke through all the other voices.

"Calm down, we just have to walk a little before we're there." Mrs. Noël answered.

"Can't the bus get any closer?" Edith asked looking out the window unsatisfied with the walk she had to do, like she was not wearing the right shoes for a hike in the mountains.

"No, stop complaining and get out of the bus." Mrs. Noël yelled and got out of the bus, waiting until the bus was empty. The second bus arrived a moment later when everyone was out. Most of the last years were in that bus, except for Léon's sister Eléonore who wanted to sit next to Martin. Nina was glad to be out of the bus so she could finally breathe in fresh air so Léon's scent could disappear from her nose. Mrs. Noël was a fun teacher and very strict so no student could fool her and she needed to be like that when it came to what kind of students were in this school. The only fun thing in school was history except for P.E. of course and the only thing Nina was good at. Nina didn't know why they were complaining, it was just a few minutes walking before they arrived. Everyone went out of the second bus and followed behind their group. Nina's group especially had long faces with those girls constantly complaining that they would get blisters at the end of this school trip. While they were complaining, Nina was enjoying the amazing view they were all walking when they finally reached the Antique theater of Lugdunum. The only thing that Nina didn't like was Blanche and Eloise asking her what happened on the bus. Honestly, she just wanted to forget about the embarrassment.

As they got closer, the historical theater came into a few. Everyone gathered in front of the theater while Nina took a look at it all with sparkles in her eyes.

"Can anyone tell me who built the Antique Theater of Lugdunum?" Mrs. Noël asked.

But no one was answering her question. Nina looked at the historic place, with a smile on her face. This place felt so familiar. Without thinking, Nina raised her hand like a little kid, jumping in the air from excitement.

"Yes, Nina." Mrs. Noël smiled.

"Imperator Caesar divi filius Augustus."

"Correct and do you know when?"

"Five teen years before Jesus Christ." Mrs. Noël gave Nina an approving smile and carried on with the lesson. Two points for her best student in her history class. Nina walked further with Blanche and Eloise looking at the historical design. All the other students were taking pictures with their phones, not even listening to what Mrs. Noël was saying.

"How do you know all that?" Léon asked when he suddenly ended up next to Nina.

"I don't know, this place felt familiar as soon as we arrived," Nina answered while Eloise gave her phone to take a picture of her in front of the theater. Suddenly a girl was standing in front of her with a big smile on her face.

"Hey Nina, we never actually talked before, but I heard a lot about you and I doubt that my brother taught you that."

She was very tall just like Léon and had the same hair color. She still looked like the little girl from years ago. There was no mistake, those two are siblings and she was the one.

"Oh, hey Eléonore."

Eléonore looked at Nina surprised. "You know who I am?"

This was their first interdiction and normally Nina wouldn't know who she was. It

would be very weird if she said something like that. "Yes- someone must have mentioned you before." Nina repaid instead. Someone would have probably mentioned her before, right? It was at least better than telling her that she knew her ten years ago, only not as a human but as her brother's puppy. She pulled her baby pink sweater down over her blue high-waist jeans and she turned to Léon.

"Léon, have you been talking about me?"

Léon started laughing. "You're not that interesting, trust me." He looked at Nina for a moment, confused because he didn't get it either. He never even spoke out her name, only told her that she was dating his best friend. She looked at Léon who was not paying any attention to her and stepped closer to Nina instead. She whispers into her ear while she looks at Léon. It's the same familiar scent flowing into Nina's nose, softer with a little mix of perfume and a little different from Léon's scent. Only Léon's scent was stronger than everyone else like he put too much cologne on, too much natural scent.

"I think he likes you," Eléonore whispered and Nina looked directedly at Léon.

"What?" She answered surprised.

"Why else would he be hanging around you." Eléonore winked at her. He would be hanging around her because they had to study together, right? So that was what that weird smile was all about on the bus. Nina hoped that it wasn't true, he would be mistaken to fall for her. She looked at Léon who didn't have any idea what was happening.

"What did you just say to her?" Léon asked.

"Nothing," Eléonore answered and stuck out her tongue. "Just remember what I said Nina, you'll see." Martin came jumping around Eléonore's neck, dragging her away from them. But Léon followed behind her, screaming at her, "What did you say, it was about me wasn't it!?"

Nina looked at Eléonore and shook her head. Everyone walked further and it seemed that for the rest of the day, Léon was gone, trying to get Eléonore to talk. Nina stayed with Eloise and Blanche and followed the group into the museum. But the words from Eléonore were stuck in her mind. Nina was sure she was mistaken, he would never fall for a monster, a dangerous monster. Didn't he see that she was trying so hard to not tear him apart?