The group had all introduced themselves, one by one. Michael and Leon and Henry and Raven and Lillah and Raphaela and Spark, she recalled in her own head, the very English pronunciations sounding like familiar things, pronounced wrong. Her mother had been popular in town, and had wanted her to make friends. She'd probably suggested that she befriend a few of them when they were new in town. She never had. She was still sat trying to fix the words together as Michael talked. He was quite talkative, but seemed friendly, although half of his words were nonsense to her.

Justine looked around the group to check the names were in her head, that she wouldn't forget them, in case she needed to know them. It wouldn't do to offend anyone unnecessarily. She'd heard some of them mentioned when people were talking with her parents. She closed her eyes, trying not to think about them being gone. Her whole life had burnt out in minutes. "I," she had to pause, trying to fit the English together like a puzzle to be solved as she tried to join in. "be Justine." 

The mistake went unnoticed by her as she pieced together what else she would have said, had her cheeks not been burning in childish embarrassment at the stupid pause in the middle of her introduction. '[I]My parents did make... Drink. [/I]'. She swore under her breath at the missing word, hunching up in shame. She despised English almost as much as she hated America now. 

She let the spotlight move on, forcing a weak smile to hide how humiliated she felt. It wasn't even like she was the only immigrant there, since Leon, or one of them, spoke Spanish and English fluently. It made her seem foolish, like a child, and that weakness could kill her. Nobody had any choice but to put up with each other now, so it was best not to irritate them with her frankly appalling grasp of their language.