Chapter Text
“So how are your morning classes?” Danny asked Laura casually as they walked together to the lunch hall.
“Oh, they’re all right. I have a creative writing class after lunch, and that sounds like it’ll be really fun!” Laura chirped cheerfully, adjusting the messenger bag at her side.
"That’ll be good, one of the girls on our team took that class last year and she said it was great!” Danny replied, scanning the lunch room, “Have you seen Susan or Perry?”
“I think they’re over there!” Laura smiled, bouncing happily over to the table where the two girls sat. As she walked, she noticed a girl dressed in black sitting alone. Laura didn’t recognize the girl, and when she saw the patch on her bag, she figured she must have been an exchange student. Laura made mental note to talk to her later.
“What is Susan pigging out on now?” Danny laughed, looking over at the two. Perry was laughing, covering her face and Susan was stuffing her mouth happily with some sort of food, probably something Perry had baked over the weekend.
“I’m not sure, but it looks really good!” Laura laughed, and she sat down with Danny across from Susan and Perry.
“How are you even tasting it?! You’re practically inhaling it!” Perry complained, nudging Susan’s arm.
“It’s really-” Susan started to say, but Perry smacked her shoulder again before she could get very far in the sentence.
“Don’t answer with your mouth open, Susan! Take your time.” Perry laughed as Susan gave her a goofy grin and swallowed.
“So what did you make for our hungry little monster this time?” Danny asked jokingly, gesturing to Susan.
“Oh, well I just adjusted the lemon cake recipe some and I added brown sugar to the lemon topping to make the top a golden brown.” Perry explained happily.
“Wowie! That sounds really good, are there any left?” Laura exclaimed, “Or did Susan eat them all?”
“Believe me when I say that I tried very hard to eat them all.” Susan laughed, licking her lips and wiping her mouth with the end of her sleeve.
“She really did! There are a few left, though. Don’t worry!” Perry smiled, pushing the small dish over to Laura and Danny.
“Thanks Perry, you’re the best!” Danny thanked before grabbing one of the small cakes and taking a bite, Laura picked up hers and looked past over Perry’s shoulder. The black-haired exchange student was still sitting alone, and an idea formed in Laura’s head.
“These are really great!” Danny complimented as Susan nodded with a laugh, wiping crumbs off her jacket.
“Thank you!” Perry smiled, and turned to Laura, “Are you going to eat yours..?”
“I was.. But I think there’s someone who wants it more.” Laura replied, Susan looking up with joy in her eyes. She seemed genuinely disappointed when Laura got up and headed over to the table that the exchange student sat alone at. Danny sort of stared in confusion, and Susan was making a little pouty face as Perry laughed.
Laura sat across from the girl, who was currently buried in a book, and smiled, “Hi! My name is Laura, you must be new to the school! I have a cake for you!”
The girl slowly looked up from her book, and stared blankly at Laura, “Hallo..? Was heißt das? (Hello..? What does that mean?)” she said questionably, lifting an eyebrow and glancing at the lemon cake. The girl also had a thick and noticeable accent that Laura recognized as German.
“Oh! Uhm… Right. German?” Laura asked, her face red, feeling a little awkward, and proceeded to try and make up for it by trying to speak german, “Guten Tag!”
The girl stared for a minute before bursting out into laughter, and Laura looked down, realizing she had probably butchered the pronunciation, “What… Uhm.. you… Ugh! Was hast du gesagt? (*gay stuttering* What did you say?)”
“Uhm.. Uhm…” Laura was more than confused now; she really should have thought this plan out more. Then she had an idea; she ran up behind Susan and grabbed her phone out of her hand before heading back to the table. Susan just sat there and stared at the empty space between her hands.
Google translate could help, right? Apparently not, when she typed in what she heard, all that came up was; Vas you said, but she figured the girl must have been asking what she said, so she typed out a reply and began to slowly read it out, “I.. Ich tra.. tra-u.. rig. Mein name ist Laura. Ich.. Habe ku.. Ku.. Chin? fur Si-e!”
The girl sighed, trying to figure out exactly what this Canadian had just told her in a very butchered German. This lunch period was going to be longer than expected; at least the girl was cute. She figured, judging by the cake and what she had said that the girl wanted her to eat the small cake, and so she did. It was actually really good, even though she had no idea what it was.
"Der schmeckt echt gut. (This tastes good.)" She replied with a gentle smile, but secretly hoped that the girl would go away. She had no idea how to speak any proper English and this was going to get embarrassing soon.
Laura decided, since the girl had smiled, that she liked the cake, and really hoped that's what it meant. "So, what's your name? Where are you from?"
"Name...?" She sighed, vaguely remembering the word, and wondered if the girl realized just how overbearing she was being, "Ich bin Mircalla Karnstein (I am Mircalla Karnstein). Ich.. made in Graz." She didn't really like the name Mircalla, but figured that until the girl could actually speak some German, she would use that.
"Oh! What a pretty name! I'm Laura, and uhm-" She was cut short by the rigging of a bell.
"Tschüss! (Bye!)" Mircalla said quickly, grabbing her bag and heading out of the lunchroom as Laura stared, watching the way her sleek black hair swayed as she walked, it was almost entrancing.. But an angry Susan quickly snapped her out of the trance when she reached down and snatched the phone out of Laura's hands.
"So who was that?" Susan asked grumpily.
"Oh, just the exchange student, or maybe she moved here. I don't know. She's from.. Graz? I think." Laura answered, wondering where Graz was in Germany. She later found out that it wasn't in Germany, and that Graz was in Austria.