7.

"May I come in?" I knock softly on the slightly open door that leads into her office. She looks up from her laptop and smiles, waving at me to come in.

"Have a seat," she gestures as she closes her laptop halfway and slides it aside.

"I spoke to a girl today," I start as I sit in her comfortable arm chair. "Kira, you know her, right?" I continue and she nods.

"So you and her mom were friends, huh?"

"Yes, that's actually true. I take it she told you I invited her to stay with us and further her studies, not?"

"Yeah. She said she's staying for a year."

"That's... what I said to convince her grandparents. I would like for her to stay longer. Let's say two, maybe three years."

"And what about her own parents?" Her expression visibly changes into a disturbed one.

"They are... no more," her voice sounds detached. Damn. I feel awful for her now.

"I'm sorry to hear that, mom," I tell her. What else can I say? I am not good with this kind of stuff. She sighs and wipes her cheeks with a Kleenex tissue. "If you don't mind me asking, how long ago did this happen?"

"13.. 14 years ago," she sounds uncertain. I just nod and look at the brown carpet. She pulls her drawer and takes out a pack of wipes and dabs her eyes with one. "We were very good friends, you know. I don't want to go into much detail. I just thought it's the least I could do."

"That's very generous of you, mom."

"I know," she beams. And she's back. "Guess what?" she hits the table surface with her flat hand and grins.

"What did you do this time?" I ask her. The last time she told me to 'guess what', she surprised me with a fitness tour. And no, not some fancy tour; this was a fitness tour that took place in the Bahamas. We had to run through mud, hunt for food and swim at night in some negative degree Celsius water temperature.

That was a crappy and yet life changing experience. I've learnt to better appreciate the warm water and instant food I get here. I also don't have to swim every night and end up catching colds.

She waves a brown envelope with the RPHS official stamp on it. "She'll be attending your school," she says proudly, hardly containing her excitement. The heck?

"That's...incredible." I am lost for words right now. Why? There's something not sitting well with me about all of this.

"Thank you. And I will personally go fetch her from the airport tomorrow." She puts the envelope back into the drawer and sips on water. I watch her idly as I lean back.

"Is my hair on fire?" she asks when she starts typing again on her laptop.

"You wish," I grin.

"Then?"

"I was just thinking of how awesome my mom is. And how anyone would be so darn lucky to have you."

"Thank goodness I'm only your mom," she winks playfully at me.

I should go write that Literature essay. "Good night mom," I get up and hug her. She hugs me back tighter and kisses my forehead.

"Take care," she says as I close the door.

***

I plank my laptop on my bed and draw the curtains. Given by the way the wind is blowing, there's definitely a storm approaching. I switch my laptop on and grin at the display picture of Miguel slimed by Ryan and I. I enter my password and log onto my socials. I look at Kira's profile; last seen was at 12:08. The time now is 21:19. She's probably sleeping right now.

I take my phone from my school bag and call an important person. It's picked up after two rings.

"Hey there. I'm good, yourself? I'm glad to hear that. You know me too well. Can you stalk someone for me? I need pictures. Yeah, I looked into their address, I'll send it via email. Her name's Kira Gonzales. With a z, yes. Aged 17, I'm guessing she's turning 18 later this year. I believe Dundee, Scottland. I'm not sure about the school, but she has Advanced Chemistry. Nope, that's all I know. Yes, via email would be just fine. Thank you," I end the call and sink into my bed as I start typing my English assignment in a Word Document.

Half an hour later I receive pictures. I scan them all and send them to my Google Photos drive. Automatically, they are saved onto my phone's gallery. So this is Kira Gonzales? She has a perfectly symmetrical face with brown eyes. Her complexion complements her brown hair. She has a pretty face and altogether beautiful.

There's a picture of her sitting with a group of friends around a table. She looks reasonably happy; they all do, judging from their smiles. Here's another one of her in an amphitheatre. The more you look at her pictures, the more you'll grow fond of her. Shut up, I wont. I have more girls to grow fond of, anyway.

I create an album and rename it to 'KG'. Kira Gonzales has her own album in your phone? Could be Kian Grand, you never know. I move all her pictures to it nevertheless.

I open the group chat with Ryan and Miguel, and then send them a full body picture of her. She's in brown shoes, peach skinny jeans, a pastel pink tank top with a white cardigan over to finish her look. She looks stunning to me. Ryan and Miguel come online, and after a few seconds they start typing.

Ryan - Who's the girl?

Miguel - She's soooo hot!!

Me - That's Kira G.

Miguel - No waaay!! Fire!!!

Me - Yeah man.

Ryan - How did you get her pictures?

Me - A little birdie send em.

Miguel - Send more pictures man!

Ryan - ^^ You piece of garbage!!

Me - I second that.

Miguel - Horse craps, you two!!!!!

Me - She's arriving tomorrow

Ryan - Someone's excited

Miguel- He's a stalker. An obsessed stalker.

Ryan - Can we go get her from the airport?

Me - Nah, mom's already going.

Miguel - Sucks, doesn't it?

Ryan - You know what else sucks, Miguel?

Me - Okayyyyy, guys. Bye, my phone's flat.

Ryan - Yeah, yeah. Miguel, get lost.

Miguel - Fine *storms out of the room*

Miguel - Or should I say 'chat'?

Me - you're stupid. ✌

I close the chat and look at her pictures again. I guess it wont be so bad living with her. She could be a nice person. A chat head appears on my screen.

It's from Ryan. You almost got excited, right?

Ryan - Inform me when she arrives. I want to meet her.

Me - Will do. Take care.

Me - And keep it in your pants tonight, would ya?

Ryan - Thanks.

Ryan - I'll try. No promises.

I shake my head as I close the chat and plug my phone and laptop on the charger. My last thoughts are of a beautiful English girl.

---

I jump up to the sound of my alarm going off. More to say, the tone is what startled me. It's Ryan and Miguel screaming. I don't even know why they recorded that. Or when, for that matter.

And I thought I changed my ringtone. Brainless idiots they are. I groan as I look at the time: 07:57. Dang it, I could have used those three minutes to sleep. They are toasted, I tell you.

"Who just sets the alarm 3 minutes before 8?" I mumble to myself as I get up and open the shower. I close the glass door so that the steam is trapped inside. Then I brush my teeth and get into the shower for ten minutes. After that, I wrap a towel around my lower half. I dry my hair using the shirt I wore yesterday and quickly get dressed.

"Hey," I greet my mom as I enter the kitchen.

"Morning to you too," she says as she takes a bite from her apple. I grab one from the basket in front of her. She gives me a scornful glare, but I catch the hint of happiness in her eyes. She clearly told me the apples are for her; I can have the grapes or other fruits. I am not a fan of apples myself, but I eat hers just to irk her.

"You excited for today?" she asks me.

"Uhh," I take a bite from my apple, "yeah."

"Faaan-tastic," she beams. I still don't know why she insists on pronouncing 'fantastic' like that. "I take it you wont have a proper breakfast?" she eyes my apple.

I smile and point at her. "Correct."

"Oh well then, I'll first go to the office and then the airport. The plane should be landing soon."

"So," I start by giving her my best smile. She chuckles and wags her index finger at me.

"Nope. You're still grounded, mister," she gets up and goes to the living room. I follow trail. If I knew getting 97% in BioGen would ground me I would have focused more on that test.

"But c'mon," I plead. "I washed my hair, made my bed and swept my room." She turns around and looks at me dubiously.

"Okay, maybe not the last two," I confess, "but I'll still do that."

She ignores me as she takes her bag and walks to the front door. I am still following her around.

"I'll think about it," she says as she steps outside and unlocks her Toyota Fortuner.

By the looks of it, I guess I was right. It's pretty cool outside and the interlocks are wet. There are still clouds though, but not as much as last night.

"Send my greetings to Dr Kernel," I wave her off with a smirk. She glares at me with a surprised face as her cheeks turn pink, and I struggle to hold my laughter in. Serves you right. She rolls her window up and drives out.