Sellavie Elementary. The only school in Berrymarrel. The only one. Because of how small the community is, it only supports basic elementary education.

It has it's good parts and bad parts. The good one is that there are little to no teenagers around, most of them live on campus or with family members in the city. The bad part is that the few teens are around are absolutely insane psychos who get some sort of sick kick out of literally kicking babies around.

Berrymarrel is a small town, it doesn't have many fun places for a kid, the few that are available are full of psycho teens. This leads to the main issue plaguing Sieglinde and Lucia, they have absolutely nothing to write about.

They each filled pages with small introductions. They wrote a bit about how their uneventful summer went. They wrote tidbits about their day to day…In the span of a week, they've only managed to fill out two pages.

"We're screwed. Utterly screwed." Sieglinde muttered. "I cannot believe we have to do this just because I found it unfair that we had to sit there and do extra work while the other morons got to go home with zero judgment."

"Lin, if you keep calling them morons behind their back, they're gonna hear it someday."

"They should hear it, I want them to hear."

Lin & Luc were at the library, one of the few places they could go. The place was empty pretty much anytime, any day. Aside from them the only frequent visitors were seniors who pick out one book and then try to read it all in one day, without reading glasses, because they're trying to convince themselves that they don't need them yet.

It's not private or anything, but it became their go to hangout spot whenever they want to escape their households.

Lucia chewed at the pink eraser end of her pencil. "There has to be something we could write down…Would it really be that bad if we got a little emotional?"

"I don't want Ms. Hanagaki knowing about the deepest crevices in my head. Do you know what happens if you let adults like her know too much about you? They use it, the most vulnerable parts, they squeeze it whenever they want just to break you down."

"C'mon, that's not true…"

"Is it? What about Mr. Mel then? When he found out that Sunshine's grandpa died he wouldn't stop bringing it up even though it clearly made her uncomfortable."

"He was trying to wish her well! He kept telling her stories about how kind he was and how he was inspired to become a teacher from that guy."

"People who have suffered a loss don't want to hear about how great their DEAD family member was. He should've just given her a candle or something instead of treating gym class like a funeral ceremony."

The braided girl sighed, doodling on the edges of the journal's pages. There were about a million different topics swirling around in her head that she'd usually write about in a regular diary. She couldn't write down any of it, not just because of Ms. Hanagaki…but also because of Lin.

They're best friends, yes, absolutely…still, there are some things that she doesn't want the blonde girl to know. Surely Lin feels the same. Lucia wanted to write about her family issues, but that wasn't for Yumeko to know about in detail. Lucia could write about her…special feelings…but that wasn't for Lin to know about, yet. Then there's all this weird puberty stuff that's she was starting to face brunt of, but she doesn't want either of them to know about that. She doesn't even want to learn about that stuff herself.

All these things her mother has been putting on her, she wouldn't shut up about it. "Never use tampons, use pads instead" what does that even mean? What are those things and why are those the only things that could help whenever she inevitable starts to develop a organ that rots and implodes every month?!

Lucia slammed her face down on the table, as usual the librarian was fast asleep so she didn't get in trouble for making too much sound. "Ugh…I don't want to grow up…"

"Wow- What? Where's this coming from?" Sieglinde asked.

"It's our last year at Sellavie…Maybe even our last year in this town together. My mom is already talking about sending me to Italy."

"I- Italy…?"

"To get more closer to my roots, or something. I could spend time with grandma and stuff…but honestly I think she just doesn't wanna deal with me growing up."

"Can you even speak Italian?"

"Non sono fluente, ma posso parlare frasi di base."

Sieglinde couldn't understand any of those words, but they sounded authentic. She always knew that Lucia would drift away, but she didn't expect to be quite so literal. "I…Um…That sounds nice. My brother went there once, he said the weather was nice."

"…I haven't been there in years. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see my grandma and relatives!…It's just…" Lucia's grip tightened, her pencil nearly snapping. "I haven't been there ever since dad died."

Sieglinde chewed at her lip, she knew just how much Lucia loved her late father; their former teacher. He was so kind, an eccentric man but sweet and patient with the kids. When he left it hurt everyone, especially Lucia.

Or so Lin has been told. She doesn't remember the man herself.

There are some old photos with him that she has, class group photos, but her memories of that man were long gone. They've disappeared ever since.

Ever since.

Ever…

…Huh?

"Sup' Luc."

A third voice suddenly chimed in, Lucia gasped with surprise before grumbling in anger. It was none other than the guy Lucia hates most, her cousin: Michael.

"I heard you talking about Italy, you're going too?"

"What are you doing here." Lucia responded, not in a genuine question way and more in the tone of "Fuck off, this is our spot."

"Auntie told me to get you, it's important apparently…also I'm here to borrow some new DVDs for the club."

Lucia tilted her head. "Important?…Uh, I'll go then. Let's brainstorm tomorrow some more, Lin."

"…"

"Lin?"

"Ah- Yeah. Tomorrow…"