Chapter Text
"Agatha."
Agatha looks up from her hands when she hears Lilia's voice, noticing that they've arrived at school. Agatha looks at Lilia patiently, it's her first day of school and she knows Lilia has things to say. Agatha has only been with Lilia a month and 3 days (she counts) yet Lilia's grown fond.
"Be careful, Agatha." Lilia eventually says, to which Agatha replies with only a nod and gets out the car, turning back to face Lilia to shut the care door.
"And don't do anything stupid!" Lilia all but shouts as she reaches over and hands Agatha her phone.
"Goodbye, Lilia." Agatha says, not verbally acknowledging the phone despite how grateful she is for it.
Agatha sighs heavily, slamming the car door before starting to walk towards the school door. She starts to get slightly more confident... until she runs into someone. or did they run into her?
"¡Mis disculpas! I'm so sorry, are you okay?" a woman frantically asks as she holds a hand out to help Agatha up. The woman seemed around her age. She looked weird or- no, she was just pretty. Wavy dark brunette hair, her clothes looked weird. Gothic but green, Agatha liked it. She continued to take her gaze over the woman before realizing she should reply and-
"Oh, I-I'm fine." Agatha mumbles, taking the woman's hand and grabbing her phone. "Um.. Thank you? For helping me up."
The woman laughs, a hearty laugh, and smiles. They both stand in silence before the woman speaks up.
"You seem nervous. Are you sure you're okay? I'm Rio, by the way. Rio Vidal!"
The woman -Rio- seems welcoming, if a bit weird. Agatha stares at her almost starstruck, fumbling her words around before replying.
"Agatha. Um... I'm Agatha. Agatha Harkness." She pauses, pocketing her phone and crossing her arms, "You uh.. You speak Spanish?"
Rio chuckles again, nodding a bit eagerly at the question. "¡Sí! ¿Y tú?" She asks, sensing Agatha's main language is neither English nor Spanish.
Agatha nods, she speaks the language less than she understands it but that must count for something, right?
"Uh.. Si, yes. A bit." Agatha fumbles, the pronunciation, but its still understandable.
"Hm.. What's your mother tongue, Agatha? You fumble both English and Spanish." Rio looks cute when thoughtful, Agatha thinks. Wait- she can't think that, she doesn't like girls!
"Oh! Latin. You probably don't believe-" Agatha starts before getting rudely interrupted by Rio's hand on her mouth, her eyes gleaming with excitement.
"I believe you! That's soo cool! Teach me, please!" Rio practically begs and Agatha is once again (rudely) interrupted before she can speak.
"Rio, please stop torturing the poor girl. Pequeña Flor, she's obviously nervous!" Another woman says as they drag Rio slightly further away. They look just like Rio but older. However, the woman's hair is short and wild, they're wearing an over the top suit with long, gold nails.
"I'm Lenny. Lenny Vidal-Busker." The woman introduces themself, holding their free hand out for Agatha to shake,"and this- is my sister, Rio. She's a bit weird.. and stupid, sorry."
Agatha takes Lenny's hand and shakes it, shifting on her feet nervously. The three stand in silence until the bell rings, startling Agatha who drops Lenny's hand as they start to walk away with a wake. Agatha gets ready to walk to her class (not that she knows where that is) but a hand on her wrist stops her.
"I was actually sent to find you. Extra credits to be a guide, you know?" Rio smiles, offering a hand out to hold Agatha's,"It's easy to get lost in the halls."
Agatha hesitates but accepts Rio's hand, following her into the halls. Agatha's unpleasantly surprised to find the halls are packed. Far more than she expected, she's never seen so many people together. Rio almost instantly noticed Agatha's increased nervousness and starts to silently lead Agatha away from the crowd.
Rio's surprisingly patient, Agatha finds.Rio puts up with all of Agatha's stupid questions about classrooms and specific lessons. They continue to walk around, Rio only talking to answer a question or introduce a room. The school is confusing. It's big and confusing and Agatha still doesn't know what lesson she has first! The two eventually land at the Principles office last, standing in front of it silently.
"Go in, i'll stay outside." Rio says as she nods her head at the door, loosening her grip on Agatha's hand but not letting go, leaving the option to Agatha. Agatha hesitates before speaking, she doesn't want to seem stupid but she liked Rio's presence.
"Come with me?" Agatha asks, tightening her grip on Rio's hand, "Lil- uh, Ms. Calderu won't mind."
Rio stares at Agatha, debating what to do before sighing. She nods, squeezing Agatha's hand in an act of comfort before they walked into the office and shut the door behind them.
"Agatha." Ms. Calderu states as she hears the door opening, perking up before continuing, "... and Rio. I see Agatha has taken a liking to you?"
Rio only nods, not used to seeing Ms. Calderu so soft and calm, nor used to being invited to someone's meeting with the principle. She let's go of Agatha's hand and sits down on a chair opposite Ms. Calderu.
"I need my timetable, Ms. Calderu." Agatha says as she follows Rio's movements and sits down next to her on a seperate chair.
"Well.. for one? You will actually be in a class with Ms. Vidal here." Ms. Calderu starts, pausing to make sure she words everything correctly, "Rio, I am assigning you as Agatha's key person and tutor. Effective immediately."
Ms. Calderu let's the words sink in before opening her mouth to continue. She doesn't even get to utter a sound before Rio interrupts her with a crude "WHAT?!". Ms. Calderu sighs, she supposes she should have expected that reaction from Rio. The girl barely has a filter, after all.
"You're a smart girl, Rio. And also confident. I think that's what Agatha needs in a friend. At least, from a mother's point of view." Ms. Calderu shrugs, uttering the words like they're simple.
"Lilia- uh, can I call you that here? anyway, does that mean I'll be with Rio almost all day, if not all?" Agatha asks, this school just seems to get more confusing by the second if you ask her. Ms. Calderu -or Lilia- just nods and leans forward, clasping her hands together.
"Yes, you will. You two will at least be I'm the same class all the time. Besides your vocal pedagogy or Rio's medicine and health care." Lilia pauses, carefully debating her next words,"I'm giving you two a free day. I want you two to spend some time together so that I came assess if you two will do good together."
Lilia stops talking, motioning at the door. Rio us the first to get up and step outside the room. Agatha slowly follows her movements, standing up ready to trail behind but stopping at Lilia's voice.
"Be careful, darling. Don't be shy? Ms. Vidal won't bite." Lilia smiles comfortingly before continuing, "And text me if you need anything."
Agatha nods, standing in front of Lilia for a few seconds before taking.deep breath to calm her nerves and turning to face the door, starting to walk out.