Half a Heart

-Maria:
It's been a couple of days since I got my jersey from Araz, and now Barcelona seems to get closer and closer, but I haven't been able to take it all in because of the stress that school's putting me through at the moment. We're reaching midterm and that means finals are coming, so that's got me busy, not to mention the never ending pressure from home. On the bright side, my aunt and cousins have finally left, it's been a tiring couple of weeks and I'm way too happy that they're gone. I break out of my reverie as math class ends. Maths is the only subject I could care less about, and fortunately my family don't have that same amount of expectations from me when it comes to math, I just need to pass it. I look around and spot my friends and make my way over to them.

"Maria!" Olivia, one of my best friends, says grinning widely. I smile and hug her and the others.
"So I heard that you're aunt and cousins finally left." Olivia said and I just smiled and nodded. Olivia smiled once more, and joined the others in their conversation. What I really admire about Olivia is her character, she's a tiny girl, even tinier than me, but don't let that fool you, she has a very big voice and always makes sure that she has a say in what's going on, she never lets people see her as invisible. So you could say that she's the total opposite of me in every way. One more important thing about her though, is that she never hovers over you, if something's wrong she listens and sometimes helps, but also understands when you want to be left alone.

"So, I think that since we're going to Barcelona, you need to share your notes from class with us!" Anna says and winks at me. I just laugh and shake my head. I love my friends but I knew that there was no way that they'd share notes with us.

"Why do you even try Anna, you know the answer already." I say giggling. She just laughs and bumps my shoulder.
"So Anna, I expect you to sit next to me during the games and explain everything that happens, considering the fact that I won't even understand half of what's going on." I said staring at Anna who laughed loudly and nodded.
"You have nothing to be worried about midget." she said happily. Midget, that's what everyone call me recently, Araz was the one who started and everyone else just caught up on the trend. Now I really don't mind, actually I think it's funny. The nickname's obviously used since I'm so short, seriously though I'm the shortest girl in class, and in my family with my 160 cm of shortness. It's not something I dwell upon that much though, since my height makes it easier for me to blend in and do what I do best, be invisible.

After a long tiring day at school I finally got home and collapsed on the couch. Letting my mind relax for the first time all day, I suddenly realized that I'm leaving for Barcelona in just five days. I smiled at the thought and slowly got up to eat dinner.

At the table sat my family, engaged in what seemed to be an interesting conversation. As soon as I entered the kitchen, they smiled and then continued with their conversations.

"So you're leaving in just a couple of days sweetie, have you spoken with your teacher and done all the extra studies that you're going to miss whilst you're gone?" Mom asked me whilst looking at me expectantly.

"Yes, I have, there's only a little bit that I'm missing out on, and I'll have it done before I leave, I just need to do some research for it first." I replied dryly and poured some soup into my plate. She nodded and smiled at me proudly. The rest of dinner went on rather uneventful, this was just dinner like always.
I sighed, I can't wait until school's over, I'm so very sick of it, everything seems hard, even the subjects that I used to find easy and fun.

A couple of days later.....
I smiled as I zipped up my bag, I was officially packed, and by tonight I'd be on a plane to Barcelona. I grinned at the thought of being away from Sweden for a weekend, go to the beach and just relax for once. After showering I pretty much had nothing to do until Anna and her parents picked me up. So I opted for watching titanic. Around the end I was a crying mess and suddenly there was a knock at my door.
"Come in!" I said loudly and in came my mother and told me that they were here to pick me up. I grinned and grabbed my bag, rushing down the stairs and meeting Anna.

"Well hello there midget!" she said smirking and hugging me. I just laughed and hugged her back. I turned to my family, and hugged my little sisters and kissed them goodbye. About to leave I was stopped by someone poking my back.

"Were you going to leave without hugging me goodbye?" Araz said pouting, I smiled and hugged him tightly. Someone cleared their throat behind us and I let go of Araz for a minute, it was mom.
"Well goodbye then Sweetie, remember what I said and I love you !" she said and kissed my cheek, I sighed and hugged her before leaving the house with a final "goodbye".

I was jolted awake by the Anna shaking my shoulder, I'd fallen asleep in the car and now we were at the airport. I smiled and got out of the car, following Anna and her parents inside the airport to check in.

By the time we had checked in and left our baggage, it was almost time to board the plane. So we quickly rushed through security control and made our way to the gate. The flight was going to be around four hours, and that's ok I guess, the only tiny little problem is that I'm terrified of flying. So I gulped and shut my eyes tightly as the plane started to move and didn't open them at all until we were up in the air.
I couldn't believe it, in a couple of hours I'd be celebrating my 18th birthday in Barcelona!