An ungodly 14 hour flight, a four hour bus trip, and I’m finally within reach of a bed at a host family’s house. I thought I’d fall asleep standing up until a flash of red hair caught my eye… one of the girls left with her host mom- shit, did I hear her name? I didn’t.
Our first set of classes started the following morning. We’d all been split into different groups based on our grasp of the language, and Jodi was in a different level than I was. I saw her chatting with a group of other girls in the courtyard at lunch, and walked up to her. She introduced me to her new friends.
“So you’re all in the same classes together?” I asked.
“We actually met Jodi through-“
“Me.”
I turned toward the voice and- red flash from the day before. She held out her hand; it took me a moment to snap back and accept her handshake.
“H-Hi.” I sputtered.“Colby; nice to meet you… Ken, right?”
“How did you know?” Colby nodded her head at Jodi.
“Jodi and I sat next together in class, and she told me about you.” Colby smiled.