I didn't know how I survived the next day of school either.

The first three hours passed without comment and I could hardly believe my luck. But when I was sitting - alone - in the cafeteria, Mira came past my table and 'accidentally' knocked my bag off the table, spilling the entire contents all over the floor. While Mira and her gang couldn't stop laughing, I crawled around on the floor, red-faced, collecting my things. I felt like the whole school was watching me. After that I just ran away - into the girls' toilet. I asked myself for the hundredth time - why always me?

I only went to the fourth lesson because I knew that Mira and Mike hadn't chosen the course and I had some peace and quiet there. Not that anyone there would like me, not that. But no one there bothered me either. You could say this was my favorite course.

***

The fourth hour passed surprisingly quickly. We had just talked about the test we got back and lo and behold, I had actually gotten a B-.

Luckily for me, the last two sports lessons were canceled and I left the school building earlier than expected - but not without running into Mike and his friends.

"You're probably glad that sports are canceled, aren't you?" Mike laughed spitefully and blocked my way.

His friend joined in the laughter. "That would be far too tiring for Miss Piggy!"

"She's already sweating," they giggled.

I couldn't take it anymore. "You know what? Shut your damn mouths! Find your own life or whatever," I yelled, quickly running past them, surprised at where I got the courage from. I tried hard to suppress the tears.

“Miss Piggy is about to burst with anger,” Mike called after me and I could still hear her laughing. But I just kept going.

***

I decided to go to Starbucks to buy a double latte. Fuck the calories, I need this now.

I looked at my watch. I still had a good hour before the viewing appointment. Maybe I could still go to the bookstore?

I quickly left the café. I was writing Leah a WhatsApp message when I suddenly ran into someone - and spilled the contents of my cup all over their T-shirt.

“Are you crazy?!” a teenage voice snapped at me. “Don’t you have eyes in your head?”

"S-sorry, I didn't mean to... well, I didn't see you and..." I stuttered and started looking for a tissue in my bag. I finally found one and quickly rubbed his white shirt. But it only made things worse. I felt my cheeks burning.

“Oh come on, let it go,” he said annoyed. And finally I dared to look at his face. And I was surprised that he didn't look angry or angry, but rather amused. His piercing blue eyes looked directly at me and a grin slowly spread across his face.

"You look a little overheated," he finally said, which only made me look even more 'overheated' and I looked down.

"I'm really sorry," I mumbled and hurried away embarrassed. God, something like that could only happen to me.

I took another look at the clock. Twenty minutes had passed. Forgetting the coffee, the guy, and my embarrassment, I set about finding the street where my new home might be.

I was surprised when I stopped in front of a large house. Was I right here ? I checked the house number again, but everything was fine. I looked at the house in amazement: it had apparently been newly painted white, because no paint had peeled off anywhere. It had lots of windows and it just looked...gorgeous.

But where were Dad and Sally? Maybe Dad just accidentally gave me the wrong address and this wasn't our house? I had just finished the thought when Dad rounded the corner with Sally and a man who appeared to be the realtor.

"Aria, hey," he greeted me and turned to the broker. "This is my daughter Aria."

He held out his hand to me. "You can call me Alex, I'm your broker."

I smiled and finally we finally entered the house. And it was like I said - simply fantastic. The hallway was large and bright and right next to the front door was the large kitchen, with fancy cabinets and everything. The living room was also big, although not as big as our current one, but I didn't think it was that bad. In addition to the kitchen and living room, on the lower floor there was also a small bathroom and a small terrace on the other side of the house. The stairs then led upstairs and there were many small and medium sized rooms and a large bathroom. Sally suggested that the smallest room could become Dad's study and we didn't object.

"Which room would you want?" Dad asked, putting his arm around my shoulders.

"Can I just choose one?" I asked and I was surprised that Sally replied: "Sure, choose the one you like best. After all, you should feel comfortable."

A small smile spread across my face. "Could I have that room there? With the balcony?" I pointed to the room next to the bathroom.

“Good choice,” the realtor said with a wink and my dad agreed.

"Then this could be our bedroom, right Toby?" Sally asked, pointing to the largest of the rooms. "Oh and the room next to Aria could become a guest room and the one next to ours could become something like a leisure room. We could buy a small TV and put my bookshelf there and something like that. What do you think?" She beamed at us.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Sure, why not?"

“What do you think about us moving in soon?” my dad asked me.

And strangely enough, I didn't object to it and I found that I was kind of pleased.

“Woah, you have such a great view here,” Leah exclaimed enthusiastically from my new balcony.

I called her this morning and asked if she could help me carry the boxes and she came straight away.

"Could you hide me here? I'm sure a small bed will fit in here, I don't need anything else," she sighed. "Mum caused stress again yesterday."

I looked at her worriedly and adjusted my black glasses. "What happened?"

"The school called and complained about my absences... and how when I'm there I don't pay attention... or sleep or never do my homework." Leah rolled her eyes and I started laughing. "I'll get you the bed."

I was throwing some pillows on my bed when my dad called me.

"Wait a second, I'll be right back," I said and ran down the stairs.

"What's de-" I stopped myself as I stared into two piercing blue eyes. A boy with brown hair and a leather jacket was standing in the hallway and he seemed as confused as I was.

That wasn't...was it? The coffee guy?

“Shit,” I blurted out. What did he want here? I was just a question mark.

“Daaad?” I called out hesitantly, still looking at him.

"Ahh, there you are." My dad came over with a glass of water and an angry looking Sally and handed the drink to the stranger.

What was actually going on here?

"I'll keep it short," my father began. "This is Damian. And he's going to move in with us."

There was a long pause, no one said anything. Sally continued to look angry and upset, Dad had a hand on Damian's shoulder and this Damian? He looked around calmly.

And then the penny dropped and I laughed briefly. "It's funny, Dad. You're kidding me, I understand." But judging by my dad's expression, which seemed confused and worried, he wasn't trying to tease me.

He should actually move in with us?! Why? Are we starting a shared apartment now or something? This could only be a bad joke.

“Do you even know him?!” I shouted, a little louder than I intended.

Sally sighed loudly. "He's my son and-"

"You have a son?!" I asked in shock. Sally and a son?

“Did you know that?” I turned to my dad, who nodded immediately. "When were you planning on telling me this?" I could not believe it. Why had I never seen him with Sally?

"Aria? What's going on?" Leah called, coming down the stairs and looking curiously at Damian, who hadn't said a word until now. She looked at me questioningly.

My dad, who no longer looked happy but rather overwhelmed, now also sighed. "How about we sit down first?" he suggested and pointed to the couch that was still crooked in the living room.

I sat next to Leah and waited impatiently.

The still angry Sally looked at her son and started to explain: "So yes, Damian is my son and we wanted to tell you two-" she glanced at me, "but... it somehow turned out "Not devoted. Well, whatever - in any case, the gentleman here is expelled from his boarding school-"

Damian interrupted her. "I told you it wasn't my fault! He set it up," he said with a shrug and leaned back.

However, Sally was undeterred. "-and now he's here."

"And I thought, since you've always wanted siblings, he could move into the guest room," Dad chimed in. I instantly turned bright red. Did he think I would see Damian as a brother just because he was moving in? I turned to Leah, who had been listening intently but was now grinning at me in amusement and raising an eyebrow. When I chanced a look at Damian, I noticed him watching us - or rather Leah.

"Aria? What do you say?" Dad asked me, waiting.

"To be honest -"

“Does she think it’s great,” Leah interrupted. Huh? What was that about?

I was about to object when Dad clapped his hands happily and Sally also looked a little relieved. "Okay, then I'll carry your suitcases up, Damian," Dad announced and Sally said she would order something to eat now.

After the two disappeared, Leah also stood up. "I'll go now too."

"What, why?" I asked. She couldn't leave me alone with that!

"Mum wanted to talk to me, you know, about my impossible behavior." She winked at me and stalked to the front door.

The door slammed shut and I was wondering if I should just leave now when Damian grumbled:

"By the way, the coffee stain didn't come out."

The hope that he had forgotten the incident yesterday and that he would no longer remember me was dashed and my face flushed again.

"You can give me your shirt right away, then I can, um, put it in the washing machine." I remembered that the washing machine hadn't even been connected yet. "Then can I try to find out somehow?"

"Well, I threw it away. It didn't make any sense after all," he said.

Great , I thought to myself. I messed up his t-shirt.

"Tell me, do you always blush so quickly or is it just me?" Damian asked with a grin on his face.

Immediately the comments from Mira, Mike and his 'gang' flashed through my head, which they threw at me whenever possible.

" Ohh, look, there's the little pink pig" or "Look, it looks like a tomato - red and round!"

Without another word, I left the living room and ran up to my room.