Faire Exchange: Chapter 13

Nadia puts her foot in her mouth… or does she?

I’ve been wanting to start adding illustrations, so here we go. Hopefully, all future chapters will include one, but I hope to go back and add some for the previous chapters as well.

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The cafeteria was much quieter after school that day. The smaller kids huddled closer together, whispering in awe about how the new elf was taking over the school. But other than Nadia, only a few fifth graders hung around, and those that did weren't speaking to her. Hardly anybody did, especially since lunch. Diane and Lian avoided her. Zoe Walters didn't normally hang out with Nadia, but after what happened to her ponytail, she gave Nadia a look of such fiery contempt, it could have left burn marks. Nobody wanted to go near the one girl in school Rina considered a friend.

At least she still had Gregg. When the bell rang at the end of the day, he still patted her shoulder and said "See you tomorrow," then gave a thumbs-up on the way out.

Maybe the other kids would come around. Eventually.

Nadia sat at her table doodling in her notebook. It was a drawing of a gorilla leaning back against a tree.

She saw the shadow on the table and felt the presence gravitating behind her just before she heard the voice. "That's very good."

Rina leaned over, eyebrows raised at the drawing.

"H-hi, Rina."

Rina's hand started to glow over the page. "Maybe I'll—"

"Wait wait wait—" Nadia snatched the notebook, flipped to a drawing on the back of a page of history notes. "I drew this earlier, in case you wanted one. You like it?"

Rina bent down, analyzing it carefully. "What is it?"

"A shark. Do you have sharks in Faerie?"

"I've never seen one. But I like it. Thank you." Rina's hand glowed again. For a second Nadia expected it to light the whole notebook on fire. But the magic did exactly what it had done it art class that morning, peeling the shark off the page like a sticker. Once it was lifted up, Rina rolled it up and tucked it behind her ear. "Thank you, Nadia. I'll make something great out of it. You'll see."

"Good," Nadia said. "Can't wait." The girl who was costing her all her friends was thanking her. This was some week.

"Want to head outside?" Rina gestured toward the door.

"Sure." Nadia packed her notebook and headed out with Rina. The littler kids watched them with admiration. The few fifth graders—a pair of girls from Mrs. Horn's class—watched with noses twisted in disgust and whispered to each other. Nadia was with Rina, yet she was more alone than ever.

"Today was fun, wasn't it?" Rina said in the hallway. "I'm starting to like those Halley and Paul children." Rina chuckled at herself. "Did you see how Zoe chased her brother?"

"Ha ha, well, I saw how she looked later." And Nadia could see herself getting punched in the face by Zoe if they saw each other right now. "It made me glad I don't have very long hair."

Rina chuckled further. How could anything like that be so funny? Rina's hair was long and silky itself. How would she have felt if the same thing had happened to her?

But what chance did Nadia have to convince her of anything? "How do you like living here so far?"

Rina's laughter, then her smile, faded and died. "Like it?" Her brow wrinkled, and her mouth turned down. "I hate it."

Nadia shoved the entrance door open.

"Everything's so drab," Rina said. "And the edges are too straight, and the animals are less interesting, and you can hardly go meggle and pard anywhere. Last night a girl at the home got lost coming back from a store right down the road. That would never happen in Faerie! I shouldn't be here. My father never should have sent me."

Could it be? Was this some of the true Rina finally starting to show itself? The thread seemed to be sticking out. It just needed more of a tug. If Nadia could get away with her question this morning, then… "Is that why you've been been lashing out at everybody?"

Rina's ears twitched like a cat's. "Huh? Lashing out? It's not like I've hurt anybody."

"But… yesterday, at gym…"

"Nobody got hurt too much. They looked bored, so I thought I'd liven things up."

"What about Martin? The flower on his nose?"

"He shouldn't have touched my ear."

"Okay, what about Zoe?"

"What about her? She's annoying, and she just got a free haircut. And it wasn't even me who did it."

And what kind of trouble was Zoe's brother going to get into? "Maybe you've been hurting people more on the inside."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you've only been here a few days, and now the whole class is afraid of you."

"The littler kids aren't. You aren't."

"Well…" Nadia was afraid of Rina. Right now the thought of that hand glowing again made Nadia sick with dread. "You don't treat me the way you treat the others."

"I like you."

Why, because of the phone? Didn't Nadia deserve better? "But you don't like anybody else?"

"Should I?"

"Maybe not, but maybe you could treat them better. Maybe if you do, you won't feel so much like you don't belong."

"But I don't belong." Rina flung her fist down, flapping her cape behind her. "I didn't even go to school in Faerie. I had tutors, and my mother introduced me to scholars from all across the land. Now they want me to sit still for six hours with human children who don't even know magic, in a land where it feels like everything's made of steel? I'm suffocating."

"I understand, Rina, really, I do. My parents came here all the way from China before I was born. And sometimes they felt like they didn't belong, either. I've felt it, too. There are people who get really stupid around Asian people. But there are also people who are really nice, and smart, and understanding. And if I acted out like you do, and didn't give people a chance, I wouldn't have anybody, not even Gregg."

Nadia finally clapped her hands over her mouth. She'd hardly paid any attention to what she was saying, and now she was probably going to go home as a frog.

Rina simply stood there, and thought, and said, "Where is China?"

"All the way on the other side of the world."

"Were your parents forced to leave?"

"No. They wanted to go to an American college. That's where they met."

"You see, though? They wanted to come here. You? This is your home! The only reason I'm here is because Mother and Father sponsored this asinine exchange. They can't pay for it and leave their daughter out of it, oh no!" Rina began to rub her eyes. "Sometimes I wonder why they supported the exchange so much. I'd do anything to go back… Anything…"

Anything… like terrorize an entire fifth-grade class? Was this all so she could go home? Was Rina trying to get herself expelled?

Nadia found herself stepping closer and taking Rina's hand. "It's okay. I'm sure they love you. I'm just saying, until you do go home, see if you can make the best of it. Can you at least try to be nicer to people?"

"Why should I?" Rina said. "When I'm gone, I'll never have to worry about any of them again."

"But they'll remember you. Rina, do you realize you're the first Wyrdnin anyone here has ever seen? Maybe this is a chance to show fifth grade how great Faerie really is."

Rina's face lifted up. "That's an interesting thought. How great Faerie can be…"

"Right, then you can make even more friends, and they can see the side of you that I'm seeing. Maybe Earth can start to feel like home."

Rina's eyes flicked away. "Hm…" She twitched her ears and pointed her nose up with an air of obviously fake confidence. "I'll think about it. Of course, I know one person I don't need to convince, besides you." She giggled.

"Who's that?"

"Your friend Gregg."

A coach's whistle tweeted in the distance.

"Gregg?"

"I can smell the pheromones all over him." Rina swept her hair back and let it blow in the wind. "He's attracted to me."

Nadia's shoulders went slack. "A… Attracted?"

"I'll figure out what to do with him later. And I'll think about what you said, Nadia. You'll still bring your phone tomorrow?"

"S-sure." Gregg? Wasn't he trying to ignore Rina?

"Good. I better go. Galen, the caretaker, promised to order us something called 'pizza.' It sounds… interesting."

"Y-yeah, you'll love it."

"Goodbye, Nadia Xu."

"See you tomorrow, Rina."

"Tomorrow." And Rina vanished.

Nadia climbed up and sat on the concrete wall by the front steps. Mama would be here before too long. Nadia couldn't believe it, but she was already starting to miss Rina. If only they could hang out like this longer, without worrying about classmates. Maybe Rina would like to come over for dinner sometime.

Nadia got all the way home before she realized that not only had she directly criticized Rina three times, but she'd completely forgotten to call her Lady Rina…

…and Rina never said a thing.