Selina was the closest to the door. She took the little girl's hand and had her crouch behind Esper's desk.
"Don't worry about it if you don't want to tell," Selina told Ariel, continuing the conversation as if nothing was out of the ordinary. She pulled Sandy over to stand on the side of the desk facing the door. Then she pulled Ariel close to Sandy and stood behind them. Their legs and the other desks made it hard to spot the hidden girl from the door.
"Well, uh..." Ariel uttered while she eyes rolled downward.
Out of the corner of her eye, Sandy saw the face of another little girl at the window of the back door. It was Annie. The black-haired girl only glanced once into the class before she turned away.
Sandy turned to look around the desk but could only see an arm and a foot from her position.
"Aw, but I really want to know." Esper twirled a finger around a strand of her curly hair. "No matter how boring it is. You can't have done nothing. Hey, did you eat something good?"
Ariel shot her a dark look. "I did my homework. Did you finish your homework?" she asked, hoping to change the subject.
Sandy was not concentrating on the conversation. She was curious about the girl behind the table. When she finally could not restrain herself any longer, she stepped out of formation for a look.
"Okay, I think she's gone," Selina decided. She bent down to the girl behind the desk. "You can come out now."
The Asian girl stood up.
"What did Annie want with you?" Selina asked as she leaned against another desk.
"Probably to torment me again. It's never anything good." The little girl looked up to Selina with a little smile. "Thank you. I'm Saki Aizawa."
The tall olive-skinned girl smiled back. "I'm Selina... Selina Garcia."
"I'm Ariel," said the blond. Then as an afterthought, she added her surname, "Peterson."
"Sandy Gould," the brown-haired girl introduced herself. Everyone was giving out their surnames anyway.
Then it was the turn of the girl seated on the chair. "I'm Esperanza Genaida Iduvina Valverde. Pleased to meet you."
"That's quite a long name," Saki commented.
"Yeah, my adopted parents found it a mouthful too," the girl on the chair told her, "Please just call me Esper."
"Adopted?" Sandy blurted, "You're adopted!?" That was the first she had ever heard of that.
"Yes, I am," Esper confirmed quietly.
There were questions that Sandy wanted to ask. Was Esper an orphan like she was? Did she ever know her parents? Sandy wanted to inquire but somehow, she felt that that was not the time to ask, not while there was someone present who was not a member of their little gossip group.
Sandy glanced at the little Asian girl.
After a brief moment of silence, Selina turned to Saki. "If you ever need a place to hide again, you can come here," she offered.
"Thank you," Saki replied. Then she stared deep into the eyes of the taller bespectacled girl. She spoke a few words that Sandy did not understand. It did not sound like Spanish.
"I'm sorry?" Selina said.
"Oh, sorry," the Asian girl apologized, "I thought you were Japanese."
Selina, Japanese? She could not be one, could she? Her olive skin was too dark for her to be an Asian.
"Oh," Selina said, "That's okay. Anyone can make that mistake."
Saki hung out in Class 9-B throughout the break, so Sandy never got the chance to question Esper further. Their little guest returned to her class just before the bell rang.
***
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