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"Every child you pass in the hall has a story that needs to be heard.
Maybe you are the one meant to hear it."  - unknown

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💫 Maya 💫

I felt really stupid for making everyone worry last night. I should've known they were guards. He won't find me. 

Going downstairs for breakfast, I take my schoolstuff with me. I wonder what school will be like. I never really had a lot of friends but the boys will probably not want to be seen with me. That's okay though, I get it.

During breakfast, I got a "Good luck and have fun, princesa."
"Pay attention to you teachers, mariposa." And a "Anyone bothers you, mi amore, you call me you understand?" I nod to all three of them and follow the twins and Hugo outside. 

There are a lot of cars outside but they walk straight to a big matte black car, it's really pretty and looks a little like a jeep but with smoother edges. Martín gets behind the wheel and Mateo gets in on the passengers side. 
Hugo walks around the car to the driver's side and gets in. I guess that leaves behind Mateo for me. 

The drive to school consisted mostly of Hugo talking about his teachers being annoying and his friends wanting to meet me. I just hope they are nice. 

When we pull up at this big, old style building that must be the school, all four of us get out. I notice all the smiles and nice-ness has been removed from their faces. They are looking around like they are about to kill someone. 

The few people outside the school look at us for a few seconds and then get back to their own things. Great, my brothers are popular. I've always stayed away from the popular kids. 

I just realise I subconciously called them my brothers. I mean they thechnically are, but I've only known them for a few days. And somehow it didn't feel weird to call them that.

Following the boys to the front desk I see an old nice-looking lady sitting behind the desk. "Can we get the schedule for Maya Sanchéz please?" She looks up and I see her eyes winden a lot. 
"Uhm, uh yeah sure. I have it here. If you need anything, just come to me okay sweetie?"

I give her a small smile and take the schedule from her. Hugo took the schedule from me and is reading everything aloud to Martín and Mateo. I don't really pay attention since I will just get the paper back. I will memorize it then. 

"You start with English with Mr. Hanson, preciosa. We will walk you to the classroom." I walk behind them and they drop me off at my classroom. There are not a lot of people since we are a bit early so I take a seat near the back. 

It's one big table with two chairs. Let's just hope a nice person will be next to me. There are like five people in the classroom right now and more are coming in but the bell hasn't rung yet. 

A girl with straight brown hair walks in. When she sees me, she looks a little lost. "Hi, I usually sit there. Is it okay if I sit next to you?" Oh shit, I am sitting in her seat. I guess it's only fair if she can sit next to me. She looks nice.

I nod and she takes her seat. "So, I've never seen you before. Are you new?" I give her another nod. "Well, I'm Aella, nice to meet you! What's your name?" I just look at the table. Aella is a really nice name. 

After a few seconds I realise I have a notebook and pens in my bag. I take them out and write down my name. "Maya? That's a nice name."
'Thanks, Aella is a nice name too!' I write down.

"So, can you not talk? Or do you choose not to?" I put up two fingers and she nods. 
"Either way, I'm happy to have you here. Mr. Hanson's class is so boring and none of my other friends are in this class. Oeh you should meet my other friends. Do you want to sit with us at lunch?"

Thinking about it, I think I heard Álvaro say to Martín to let me sit with them and their friends at lunch. I'm sure they don't really want that though. I'll just make it easier for the boys and sit with Aella, that way they don't have to say they don't want to and I get to make new friends. Sounds like a win-win to me. 

I nod and she smiles. "So why did you start today and not at the beginning of the schoolyear?"
'Just moved here' Is all I write down. I don't want to go into detail incase she doesn't really care. 

Just then, an old man comes in, he looks nice. His eyes roam over the class and when they land on me, I look down quickly. "You there, next to Aella." Shit, that's me. 
"Are you the new student?" I give him a nod but don't look up at him. 

"Go on, introduce yourself." Oh, so what Álvaro said isn't true, not everyone has been informed I guess. 
"She doesn't talk. Her name is Maya." I hear coming from besides me. Aella.
"Well, let's get on with class then. Open your book to page 37." 

Aella turns to me and gives me a smile. I point to the already written down 'Thanks' on my paper. "No problem, I got you."

Hugo wasn't lying when he said Mr. Hanson is boring, damn. That was the longest hour of my life. Turns out Aella and I have the next two classes before lunch together. Apparently it's two hours of math after one another. It's called a 'block hour'.

Our math teacher Ms. Pascal was really nice. She kept asking if she needed to explain something again because I missed the first month and a half. The second hour of math got by pretty quickly and soon we were walking to the cafeteria. 

I follow Aella to a table in the back corner where three people are already seated. "Guys, this is Maya. Maya these are my friends, Landon, Noah and Sofia." The boy she introduced as Noah is giving me golden retriever vibes, he looks really nice but very clingy. 
Sofia is looking at me with a smile and Landon is the first to say something.

"Hey Maya, how are you?" I look to Aella, hoping she will explain the situation.
"Oh guys, she doesn't talk. She can, but she chooses not to."
"That's okay, we will just do the talking for you" Sofia says with a big smile. 

I smile back and nod my head. Aella has taken a seat leaving two seats empty. I take the one next to Aella in the corner against the wall. It is a rectangular table with three seats on either side, one of the heads against the wall and the other having no seat. The side where Noah and Sofia are sitting is with their backs to the wall so Landon, Aella and me have our backs to the rest of the cafeteria. 

Seating: 
wall ----------------------------------
           [   Noah  Sofia
wall [
           [   Maya  Aella   Landon 

Opening my lunch box I notice a note on top. 'Have fun, make some friends and listen to your brother when you get home. I have a work emergency so I won't be back till tomorrow afternoon. Love you - dad.' Álvaro is gone today? And most of tomorrow? I feel most comfortable with him. 

While I was reading the note another three times to make sure I get the details right in my head, "You have brothers? That's cool! Do they go here too?" I look at the person who said it, Landon, and take out my notebook. 

'Some of them' is my answer. "Okay cool. So how are you settling in? Has anyone been a bitch to you yet? Just say the name and I will kill them, I mean talk to them." Sofia said with a smile on her face. She seems like the person who would do anything for their family and friends. 

I've never had anyone like that before.

While thinking about what to write I hear Noah say something from across me "Oh shit, Sanchéz brothers are coming here. All three of them. Did someone piss them off? It's never all three of them!" Wait, the Sanchéz brothers, those are mine, so why is Noah looking like he is gonna shit himself? My brothers are the nicest people I've ever met. 

"Maya, just don't look at them the wrong way and they will leave you alone okay?" I hear Landon say. A few seconds later, I see Martín, Mateo and Hugo standing at the head of the table where Landon is sitting. They look at me and then around the table.

"Maya, there you are. We couldn't find you before." Mateo says.
"Don't mess with her or I will personally take you down." I hear Noah say, I didn't see that one coming.

"If you brother can't take me down I doubt you can Noah. Good to know someone is looking out for Maya." Mateo says. 
This is not going well, I am writing down in my notebook that they are friends but before I can finish I hear Aella saying "What do you want with Maya?"

"Just making sure she is okay. Mateo, stop picking fights with kids." Martín says while looking at my notebook suspiciously. "What are you trying to tell us Maya?" I give the notebook to Landon to give it to Martín but he reads it before Martín can grab it. 

"'They are friends' why would they care? They just want to bully you Maya." 
"Hold up, why would we want to bully Maya? Dad would kill us." Hugo says.
Álvaro would probably not be happy if he found out I am not sitting with the boys. 

I go to stand up and get my stuff but Martín talks before I have everything, "Maya, you don't need to sit with us. I know you overheard dad this morning but you can sit with whoever you want at lunch. If you want to sit with your new friends instead of your brothers and their friends, no one can blame you." 

I look up and give him a smile, he knew exactely what I was thinking. 
"Wait, these are your brothers Maya?" Aella says while looking at me. I give her a nod.
Sofia adds "You are a Sanchéz. That explains the fact all three of them are here right now." while looking between me and my brothers. 

"We'll leave you to it now, Maya, make sure you are at the right parkinglot after school. The one right in front, we will find you there to drive home." I give Martín a nod and sit back down while the boys walk away, back to their own friends. 

"Okay that was wild. I guess I kind of see it now, you do look like them." Noah says while Aella and Landon agree with him. 

The rest of the schoolday goes by pretty fast. I have two classes with Sofia, Noah and Landon and the last class with Aella and Sofia. They are all very nice and welcoming. Aella and Sofia already said we really need a 'girls night' soon but I have no idea what that means.

Martín was right. I was standing in front of the school for a few seconds and he and Mateo found me. Hugo came a few minutes later while we were waiting at the car and Mateo and Martín were talking about some assignment or something. 

When we get home I realise Álvaro won't be there today and I freak out a little. I still have no idea what to do with all my free time.

A/N - a long one todayyy, almost two thousand words. Hope you enjoyed :)

Does anyone have any ideas or requests? I would love to have your ideas for bonding between Maya and the boys as well as Álvaro

I love you <3