Hey Niki

The next few days passed without anything happening; my uncle told me on several occasions to treat the house like it was my own and not to ask him whether I could do simple things. He constantly tells me that it's my home now so I shouldn't be asking whether I can have something to eat. To ease the situation I've resorted to spending most of my time in my bedroom and only coming down when he comes up asking about food. It feels a little rude but I'm sure he understands that I'm still a bit sore over what happened with my mother.

On the Tuesday I started at my cousin's high school. Monday was mostly spent with the head teacher. He went over everything basic that I needed to know about the school and tried to put me into classes that were somewhat like the ones I was in back at my old school. A few of the classes were full so I had to go into different ones that weren't at the exact level I was working at. He also asked whether I would be interested in any of the activities the school offered and after looking over them I told him I was interested in joining the Chess Club.

Thanks to my mother I was doing well at school. She pushed me a lot when I was younger but never too much that I would end up resenting her over. She just wanted me to do something with my life because she never managed to do it with her own one. I know first hand what she means so I'll never slack and let myself drop in school. I couldn't do that to my mother, not after everything that she's done for me.

My uncle dropped both of us off outside the school and told Tomos to watch out for me and make sure that I settled in comfortably. I think he forgets that I'm older than Tomos is. It could also be the fact that Tomos is his own son and I'm not his daughter so he feels the need to make sure that I'm always okay. I don't blame him then. Most people would prioritise someone else's child like that because you can never be too sure just what the parents will say if anything happens to their child. If it happens to your own then you'll know straight away and can deal with it.

When my uncle drove away my cousin looked at me. "Do you ever wear your hair differently?" he asked and gestured to the plait that sat on my shoulder. I picked up the end and started toying with it.

"Not often. Only on occasions. Why?"

He shrugged. "Just wondering," he replied. I pulled my timetable out of my pocket and unfolded the paper. "You can always change your mind and hang around with me and my friends, Niki. They won't mind, honest." I smiled and shook my head. I appreciated his want to look out for me. It was sweet.

"I'm fine, Tom. Besides didn't I tell you? I'm joining this school's Chess Club. I'll probably make friends with some of them and if not I still have the people in my lessons," I told him only to be greeted with a sigh. His father probably told him before that he had to make sure that everything went fine with me otherwise he'll be held responsible. I would say something to him but I don't want to seem rude. "If it makes you feel better, if I don't make friends with anyone within this first week I'll hang round with you and your friends. Okay?" I said to try and make him feel a bit better.

"You promise?" he questioned and I nodded. "Okay then. Just know, even if you do get friends with others, I'll still be looking out for you. I won't necessarily intervene if anything happens, but only if it's nothing too bad and I know you can handle it. I know that you're older than me, Niki, and that you probably don't want me to look out for you, but you know that I wasn't raised that way," he explained.

I laughed and ruffled his hair. "You're a good kid, Tom." He just scowled and flattened his hair. I gave him a smile before waving and heading towards the building. I knew he wouldn't be heading into school yet but I wanted to make good impressions on my teachers. I value what my teachers think of me because I know that if they have a truly negative opinion on you then that can affect how your year turns out which in turn can affect what grade you get at the end of it. In other words, I try to be a teacher's pet. Get into their good books and stay there all year.

My first class was Music and because I got there early the teacher didn't bother to announce to the class that I was new. I was glad about that because I didn't do too well in big introductions like that. It's mostly why I chose to join Chess Club. That probably won't be too big of a club so I won't have to have the company of too many people. It might push my limit, but I think I'll be able to handle it. I handled my father's funeral and that had several hundred people there because my father's side of the family is quite big and he also had his colleagues from work there too.

When I say my father's side of the family is quite big I really mean it. He has five siblings, two of whom are female. Between his two sisters there are seventeen children ranging from the age of three to twenty-two. The twenty-two year old has a child of her own. His eldest brother has married three times and between the three wives he has ten children, one of whom died during birth. His other two brothers have five children between them. My father's side of the family is extremely family orientated which is why most of them have quite large families of their own. The only reason I'm my father's only child is because my mother refused to have another one and there was no way my father would go off and have a child with another woman.

My mother comes from a family of three, my Uncle Dave being her only brother. Her sister travels a lot because she decided that having a family wasn't for her. Both my mother and her brother have only one child. It's because they were brought up with the notion of having one child and making sure you can fully support that child before they bring another one into the world. They were taught to be money conscious and to make sure that they could always support their family. I guess that's why my mother's family don't judge her on what she did. They understand that she was doing exactly what she was brought up to think: support her child in any way she could.

The day went by quickly and after every lesson I went up to my teachers and asked them that if they ever had any extra work they could set, whether they could set it for me even if they didn't set it for anyone else. Most of them were surprised with the request and some said no because they didn't want to put too much work on my shoulders. The few who said yes explained that if I started getting behind in the lesson or any other that they became aware of they'd stop it. I understood but knew that I wouldn't get behind in any of them. The thing that most of my teachers don't get is I have too much time on my hands and I'd rather be doing something in that time then doing nothing at all. I might not be an athletic girl but I prefer to be always at it rather than lacking.

True to his word Tomos didn't bother me at all, but I did notice that he glanced at me several times during lunch and in our forth class which we have together. It's not to say that we wouldn't speak to one another, just that today we didn't and we wouldn't unless we had to or it was something that couldn't wait until home. I'd tell him if I went home early and he'd tell me if he did as well.

At the end of the day, instead of meeting up with him to wait for my uncle, I headed back into the school building and down the Maths corridor. It was where Chess Club is held. Tuesday and Thursday are the days that I have to stay after school which means on those days I have to walk back to my uncles' house. Of course today he would be picking me up, as would he be doing on Thursday, but on Monday Tomos and I are walking to and from school so that I know the way for Tuesday.

There was three other girls in Chess Club and I made the forth. The boys outnumbered us seeing as there were six of them. For the majority they were nice and friendly. There were only two of them that I didn't get along with nicely but it didn't mean that we hated each other or even disliked the other. We just didn't get along but were civil and could have a conversation. One of the girls in the group was a girl called Alexandria and she's in my English class. She told me that she sits two rows behind me and quite often gets overlooked because she's so quiet. I ended up speaking to her for most of the time and by the time we left, I had made a friend.

My uncle was on time with picking me up today. I found him parked in the same place he dropped us off in the morning. He was tapping his fingers along to the beat of the song that was playing from the radio but stopped when I got in. "How was your first day, Niki?" he asked and started the car.

I shrugged. "It was okay. Nothing that I wasn't expecting."

He nodded and we stayed in silence for the rest of the ride. My aunt had dinner ready by the time we got back so I stayed downstairs and ate with them before excusing myself upstairs to do my homework. I didn't come down until the following morning.