Chapter Two

Now that you know about me being an orphan and a genius, I should move on to the actually useful information. For example, what's my name and what do I look like. At this point, I could be anyone and you would just walk past me on a street without knowing it's me.

First feature everyone seems to pay attention to when they look at me is my eyes. I have what is called complete heterochromia: one of my eyes is dark brown and the other is blue. That is another rarity I have.

I've got it from my dad, which is a shame. There's nothing wrong with the eye color itself, it's just the fact it makes me look like my dad.

My appearance in general is darker than most of my friends. I have dark brown, nearly black, eyebrows and hair. I look more like my mother than my dad, and that is fortunate.

Not that there was nothing wrong with the way my dad looked. Somehow I just find it hard to see someone as good-looking if I don't like their personality. The same goes the other way too: I can find even the least wondrous looking people handsome or beautiful after I realize how nice they are.

Girls seem to like my appearance in general, so I guess I'm not totally abysmal. Speaking of girls, I play for the other team. I'm openly gay and most of my friends also fit in the LGBTQIA+ category. Okay, who am I kidding, they all fit in the category.

What else? My favorite color is yellow and I don't like violet. I'm mostly vegan, but I don't say no to milk chocolate if someone wants to offer me a piece. I like tofu curry, as spicy as possible. Coriander is the only food I simply can't swallow.

I like listening grunge and rock and my all time favorite is Pearl Jam. Eddie Vedder's voice and their lyrics are something you can't find from music nowadays. Just saying.

I speak three languages fluently thanks to my parents who spoke English to each other and made us talk their native languages when only one parent was present. Our home in general was a mixture of two cultures. We greeted half of our extended family with Wai and our mom cooked us dishes like Pad Thai and Tom Yum Goong. Then we went to a sauna and dad familiarized us with Karelian pasties and Fazer Blue.

And finally, my name is Daniel and I am 23 years old. That's pretty much everything I have to say about me.

Actually, I'm not that interesting and maybe you would rather hear about the fact I was currently sitting in my sister's car and we were listening some not so spectacular hit from radio.

Lina's brown eyes had a knowing, albeit sad look in them, even when she smiled. Her dark brown hair was tied on top of her head into a messy bun. She was as beautiful as ever in her immaculate way and she looked just like our mother.

She was still looking fragile in her peach colored tank top and yellow skirt, even though she was telling everyone she was fully recovered. She used to have bulimia, or it could have been anorexia, I'm not sure. We don't really talk about that kind of stuff. She does eat better these days, but I wouldn't say she's all clear.

In my opinion, Lina is the smart one in our family. Maybe not at school, but in life. She has dated three guys (less than me) and she knows what it's like to be in a serious relationship (I don't). She understands how the others are feeling just by looking at them. She has seen what it's like to be ripped from all one's rights when she was too sick to take care of herself.

I could continue like this forever, but maybe you got the point. She's smart in a way that's actually useful in life.

"So how does it feel, your new beginning?" Lina asked when we had already arrived to the countryside. There were fields and lakes wherever I looked.

"It's only going to be a year and then I'm back to my old life. So it feels rather pointless", I said and quickly added, after seeing Lina's face: "but it's also relieving."

Then we were quiet again. I was looking at the passing views and just plainly daydreaming. What was this year going to be like? Would it chance everything or would everything stay the same? Was I going to hate it there or could this be something I'll reminisce when I'm old?

Before I knew it, we were there, in a parking lot of my new school. The milieu was nothing like I had seen in my previous schools.

There was an old building with three wings: one higher, probably the dormitory, one with two and one with just one floor. A long driveway diverged from the road to the school yard. Around the building were green lawns and old oaks that were almost as tall as the dormitory wing. Foremost, there was this unreal lake view behind the building.

"Oh wow, now I kinda envy you for getting to live here", Lina sighed delightedly. I thought I didn't have that much stuff with me, but the box I was carrtying was heavy and there was still a handful of belongings for Lina to carry.

"I can help you with that", a tall guy with short bleached hair offered.

"Thanks", I breathed as he was already grabbing two heavy boxes. You know, books and stuff.

The guy had tattooed Hiraganas on his neck, right below the hairline. I couldn't help but think whether he knew what the tattoo meant or had he taken it simply because it looked cool. For once I kept that thought to myself, although it was mostly because I was out of breath from carrying the hefty belongings.

"Have you got the key?" the guy asked. He wasn't out of breath, I remarked, even though he had the heaviest boxes.

"Yeah, it's the room 4b", I told him.

"Oh it's right next to our room. There's five of us, you should stop by some day."

Then we were already on my new room's door and we set down the bags and boxes on the floor.

"I'm Joakim by the way", the guy said.

"I'm Daniel and that's my sister Lina. She's just here to help", I answered while I let my eyes examine the room.

"So you're not together?" Joakim asked with a hopeful smirk on his lips.

"Well it's not Game of Thrones, is it?" I commented absent-mindedly.

"Huh?" Joakim gave me a puzzled look.

"She's already taken", I sighed. It wasn't like this was the first time a good-looking guy asked me about my sister.

"I wasn't asking for her", he said and gave me a meaningful look. And just like that he walked away and shut the door behind him.

What just happened?

So that was the first interaction I had at my new school. Not bad. Like not bad at all. Maybe the year wouldn't be totally pointless after all. I couldn't stop thinking about it in the evening, when I was lying on my bed. Lina had left and I had already sorted most of my belongings.

The room or set of rooms was plain and quite small, but cosy. There was a tiny bathroom with a shower cubicle and a bigger rectangular room with two beds and tables on the opposite corners. There was also a kitchen, which was narrow, but functional.

The other bed was unoccupied and I hoped it would stay that way. Don't get me wrong, I'm an extrovert, but I don't exactly have good experiences with roommates. Nothing catastrophic either, I just prefer living alone.

I couldn't stop thinking about the conversation I had with Joakim earlier. I couldn't stop thinking about his warm and frisky smile or the way his pale blue eyes had looked at me after he found out Lina was only a sister to me.

Was I falling for him, nah. It was more like growing interest. I don't believe in love at first sight and I wouldn't call myself romantic either. But I was definitely curious.

I should have been thinking about the first school day, which was tomorrow. Then again I had my pencils, tempera paints and everything I was supposed to have with me. I had nothing to worry about. Except I did.

I had a fridge, an oven, a coffee maker and even a microwave oven, but nothing to use those for. It would be possible, albeit inconvenient, to skip breakfast, but I wouldn't make it without coffee.

So there I was, tying my shoelaces, even if it was five past eleven and I should have been fast asleep. I was feeling drowsy, but it was a beautiful evening and the open air refreshed me slightly.

"Hey you", a familiar voice awoke me from my thoughts. I was walking on an esplanade between the main road and a field. I halted and glanced over my shoulder. There was Joakim with two unfamiliar guys.

"Hi", I greeted them.

"Where are you going?"

"I need groceries", was all I could come with, thanks to the drowsiness. Or maybe it was the lack of social skills, but I prefer thinking it was because I was tired.

"And you know where the grocery store is?" Joakim was looking at me with a jocular grin on his face.

"Well, not exactly. But it can't be that hard to find, right?"

"You can walk with us, we're going to buy chips", Joakim pointed out in a way that indicated he wasn't really asking. Not that I was going to say no.

"Are those contact lenses?" a guy with  thick eyebrows and eyes so dark they were almost black asked, obviously referring my eyes.

"No, I have complete heterochromia", I shrugged. The guy gave me a puzzled look. "It's when you have different amounts of melaning in your eyes" I tried to explain. He looked even more baffled. "Never mind."

"So, the not so bright one is Fareed and that's Viljo", Joakim introduced. The third guy was short, or at least he looked short compared to his beanpole friends, and had shaggy blonde hair.

"Oh shut up", Fareed muttered.

"I'm Daniel." Somehow I had a feeling they already knew my name. We started walking again.

"You're not from here", Joakim pondered.

"Is there some certain feature everyone here have that I don't?" I asked.

"It's a small town and everyone knows everyone. Besides, I'm pretty sure I would remember, if I had seen you somewhere", he quickly righted and patted my shoulder.

Something about him made me feel self-conscious, so I quickly turned my gaze. I wasn't familiar with the feeling, since I was usually the extroverted one.

It was still clear like a summer night, even though there was a touch of autumn in the air. Fields, meandering sand roads and tall trees spread out around us all the way to the corner store.

The corner store was a nightmare to someone who has claustrophobia, since it was pretty much the smallest store I had ever seen. I was still able to find myself coffee, soy milk, noodles and cereals. Right from the top of the food pyramid.

On our way back to the dormitory Fareed and Viljo walked ahead us smoking and talking, rather noisily, about some hockey match. Joakim slouched next to me. We didn't talk much, but I felt strangely fortunate. After all it was my first day here and I had already met more than one new acquaintance.

Also, I could finally get some sleep and I wouldn't have to manage the first school day without cereals. And, most importantly, I had coffee.