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The cafeteria buzzed with the loud chatter of students, many of them catching up after not seeing each other all summer. Richter Belmont, his brown lunchbag in hand, looked for a place to sit. His attention was brought to the new girl in his class. Richter thought he remembered that her name was Annette. She was sitting all alone at one of the tables in the corner. Richter, being a very friendly child, decided to approach her.
“Umm, excuse me?” he asked politely. “Is it all right if I sit with you?”
Annette blinked in surprise, not expecting to eat with anyone today. “Oh, umm, yeah, sure!”
Richter grinned and sat across from her. “Thank you! My name is Richter Belmont, and my pronouns are he/him! You’re Annette, right? What are your pronouns?”
Annette was a bit taken aback by Richter’s introduction, but she appreciated his thoroughness. She replied, “Yes, I’m Annette. My pronouns are she/her. We’re in Mr. Olrox’s class together right?”
Richter nodded. “Yup! I sit in the second row, a few seats away from you. What do you think of Mr. Olrox so far?”
Annette shrugged. “He seems ok. When he asked me to introduce myself, he didn’t force me to share anything I didn’t want to share. That was pretty cool of him.”
Richter considered this. “Guess I hadn’t thought about that. That is pretty nice. But I’m still annoyed that he gave us homework on the first day."
Annette grimaced. “Oh yeah, I didn’t like that at all.”
“I mean come on, we were literally on summer vacation yesterday! At least give us a day to get used to being back in school!”
Annette nodded vehemently in agreement. “I know! My mom and I are still unpacking from the move!”
“Oh yeah, you said you moved here from Haiti, right?”
“MmmHmm.”
“I don’t know a whole lot about Haiti. What’s it like?”
Richter noticed that Annette’s smile faltered a little.
“You don’t have to share if you don’t want to!” he said quickly, heat rising to his face. “I’m sorry if I came on too strong. My Mum says I do that sometimes. I get really excited about things I don’t know and ask a lot of questions.”
“No no, it’s fine,” Annette assured, the smile starting to return. “I love talking about Haiti. It’s my home, the most beautiful place in the world. It’s just… most of my family and friends are there. My auntie and cousin Edouard live in the next town over, but I haven’t gotten to see them a whole lot since I’ve been here. My auntie told my Mom about a job here. She actually got it, and she said it was too good to turn down. So now we’re here. I’m happy for my Mom but… I really miss home.”
Richter listened carefully, sympathy rising as he observed the sadness in Annette’s eyes.
“I’m sorry,” Richter said genuinely. “It must be really hard to be far away from what you’ve known your entire life.”
Annette nodded and sighed. Richter’s mind raced; he didn’t want Annette to feel sad on her first day, especially not by a subject that he brought up. He needed to think of a way to cheer up Annette. But he barely had any time before…
“Richter Belmont!” a familiar voice squeaked beside him. Richter jumped in surprise and turned to the side.
“Oh, Maria!” he exclaimed. The young girl narrowed her eyes.
“You were supposed to check on me at lunch and see how I was doing,” Maria started with a frown on her face. “That’s what Mum and Auntie Julia told you to do. But we’re 10 minutes into lunch and I’m the one who had to find you!”
Richter’s face dropped. His mums had asked him to do a lunchtime check-in with Maria and he had completely forgotten. “I’m soooo sorry, Maria, I got distracted! Are you all right?”
Maria’s frown switched into a bright smile. “Yeah, I’m great! First grade is a breeze so far!”
Richter exhaled. “Good. Don’t scare me like that, Maria.”
Maria giggled mischievously until her eyes met Annette’s. Richter sprung into action, trying to be the gentleman that his mother taught him to be.
“Oh, right! Annette, this is my little sister Maria. Maria, this is Annette. She’s in my class and just moved here.”
Maria smiled cheerfully and waved to Annette. “Welcome to Machecoul, Annette! It’s nice to meet you!”
Annette mirrored the smile, finding the little first grader pretty cute. “It’s nice to meet you too, Maria!”
“I really like your hair! It’s so pretty!” Maria said, admiring Annette’s locs. Annette grinned with pride.
“Thanks! Your hair is pretty too!”
Maria beamed at the compliment.
“Oh, yeah! Richter, Mum wanted me to give you this!” Maria gave a small Tupperware container to Richter. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped.
“Is this one of Auntie Tera’s double fudge brownies??” Richter was practically salivating, barely able to contain his excitement.
“Yup! Mum said she wanted us to start the first day of school on a ‘sweet note.’”
“Annette, you have to try this brownie. My Auntie Tera makes the best sweets! Oh wait… do you have any food allergies?”
This Richter Belmont was certainly an unusual boy. Annette once again appreciated his thoughtfulness and shook her head.
“All right, then you have to try this brownie! Thanks, Maria!”
“No problem! Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to lunch. Jacques went to the zoo this summer and he promised to show me his pictures of the tigers. See you later!”
Richter began splitting the brownie in half as he and Annette said their goodbyes to Maria. Richter handed Annette her half. When she bit into it, her eyes grew three times larger.
“Oh…my…gods…” Annette said in astonishment, savoring the chocolately goodness.
“Right??” Richter asked after swallowing his bite of brownie. “Auntie Tera wants to open her own bakery one day. She can definitely do it.”
Richter and Annette were silent for several minutes while they indulged in their brownies, their mouths too full to talk.
After sharing dessert, Richter and Annette fell into easy conversation about some of their favorite things. It turned out that the two children had a lot in common. Annette liked video games just as much as Richter, and they swapped Roblox usernames across the table. They also learned that they both loved to play soccer and basketball (“we should play a few games during recess!” Richter suggested.) They also shared more details about their family lives and the people they loved.
“How old is your cousin Edouard? Is he close to our age?” Richter asked curiously.
“Yup! He’s in Fourth Grade just like us!” Annette answered. “He goes to a special arts school though. He’s training to be a professional singer. He wants to sing in operas when he grows up.”
“Whoa, that’s hardcore,” Richter said in amazement. “I have no idea what I want to be when I grow up yet. I don’t even know what I want for dinner tonight.”
Annette laughed and Richter felt his heart swell. He liked the sound of Annette’s laugh. And he liked that she was starting to feel more comfortable around him. Seeing Annette happy made Richter happy.
The 5-minute warning bell sounded, and the children knew that lunch was almost over.
“Guess it’s time to head back to class,” Richter said as he started to clean up his spot. “I’ll walk back with you. Umm, I mean if you want me too?”
Annette felt a small blush creep up her face. “I’d really like that. It’d be nice to walk back with somebody.”
Richter beamed and thew his trash away. Annette followed suit before following Richter into the hallway.
“Thanks for sitting with me,” Annette continued. “I honestly thought I’d be spending most of the day alone since I’m the new kid. But it’s been really nice talking with you.”
“Anytime! I really liked talking with you too!” Richter answered happily. “If you have any questions about this school, feel free to ask! I can also give you a tour of the coolest places around town!”
“I’d love that! I haven’t had time to explore yet.”
Richter and Annette’s eyes met and they shared one more smile, happy to have found each other in the din of the first day of school.
Annette climbed into the passenger’s seat of her mother’s car at the end of the school day. The two immediately hugged each other.
“There’s my sweet baby girl,” Esther greeted lovingly, placing a kiss on her daughter’s cheek. “So, how was your first day of school, Annette?”
Annette fiddled with a piece of paper in her pocket, the one on which Richter had written his Roblox username. The memory of Richter’s exuberance and kindness made her smile.
“It was pretty good. I made a new friend.”