Chapter 3

No matter what, Katherine's middle school life had officially begun, and she had moved into the dormitory where Lily was staying.

At first, Katherine thought she could skip grades continuously as she did in elementary school, but at this moment, she truly experienced the differences in American education.

During the first history class, the teacher asked them to write a report. The content of the report was to imagine themselves as a dictator and describe how they would rule the entire country and set the final outcome.

Is this not the outline of a novel?!

—But cruelly, this was the reality.

A report of at least 8 pages!

Unfortunately, this was true, and it couldn't be any more real.

The class was completely different from elementary school and Chinese classrooms.

In class, 7 or 8 students sat around a table, and the teacher sat in the middle to teach. Classes started at 8:30 in the morning and ended at 2:30 in the afternoon.

The troublesome homework didn't stop there.

The second challenge Katherine faced was to write a family tree within seven generations in a week.

Katherine's grandparents and great-grandparents had already passed away during World War II. How could she find them? The teacher didn't care about these details. To get an A, she had to find them. If her grade dropped to a C, she would have to receive extra academic tutoring. Katherine had a lot to do and no time to deal with this.

However, this turned out well. Katherine made a call back home, and Bruce and Emma mobilized. Although her parents had passed away, there were still other relatives in the family. A few long-distance calls to Europe, and they sent back some documents, finally completing the task.

In the first two weeks of her new school, Katherine encountered a "welcome challenge." Fortunately, the troublesome homework only happened twice. After the start of the new semester, the homework became more normal.

Katherine had heard before that American homework was strange and unusual, and elementary school was very relaxed with almost no homework. But now, she experienced the "divergent thinking" of Americans.

Although this matter was over, there was still something that troubled her.

Joining a club.

"Join the gymnastics club? I thought you would want me to join the photography club?" Katherine looked at the flyer Lily handed her with a smile, feeling a bit puzzled.

"Don't you want to capture your beautiful moments in photos? Besides, I don't know much about other clubs. The chess club, astronomy club, literature club—honestly, these sound a bit headache-inducing to me. But I have the best relationship with the gymnastics club."

It seemed that school clubs in America, Europe, and Japan were all well-organized. In Katherine's mind, the best middle school clubs were probably in Japan, and the best university clubs were in America, with sororities and such featured in movies. However, it seemed that American middle school students were also very enthusiastic about club activities.

Katherine had seen movies depicting American middle school life before, but in this "key middle school," the scenes from the movies were almost non-existent. Katherine didn't know if it was because of the short time, the school, or the movie's fabrication.

But one thing was similar to the movies: American middle school was indeed a troublesome place.

"I can do ballet, but I'm not familiar with gymnastics."

"But I think you'll like it."

Katherine rolled her eyes: "You don't look like a traditional American."

"There's no such thing as a traditional American, and my parents are British immigrants." Lily answered nonchalantly.

"Then you don't look like a British person."

"That's why my parents immigrated."

Forget it... Let's just play along.

Unable to resist Lily's repeated persuasion, Katherine finally chose the gymnastics club. Lily immediately became excited and pulled Katherine to visit the gymnastics club.

"By the way, Lily, why do you like photography so much?"

On the way, Katherine suddenly asked.

"Although my father is a photographer, I had no interest in photography at first. But later, I fell in love with Elvis, and I wanted to be a photographer to get close to Mr. Presley, even becoming his personal photographer. But then, I started to enjoy using the camera to record all the beautiful things I could see. I suddenly realized that photography is such a wonderful thing~"

It took about ten minutes to walk from the dormitory to the gymnastics club's training area. The venue looked nice and large, but only seven girls were practicing there, and it seemed that the instructor was not present, so they were practicing on their own.

"Hey! Bonnie!" Lily excitedly waved at the girl who seemed to be the leader.

"Lily!" The girl walked over.

This girl named Bonnie, though not particularly beautiful, had a good physique. Her tight clothes and leggings completely outlined her curves.

"This is Katherine, whom I told you about. Katherine, this is Bonnie, the president of the gymnastics club."

"Hi, Katherine."

"Hi, call me Kate."

The gymnastics club had very few members, which was probably related to the small number of students in the school. After all, the school had only about 300 students, and there were already over a dozen clubs. Not everyone was interested in joining a club. In fact, if it weren't for Lily's encouragement, Katherine wouldn't have joined this club.

But who knows, she had seen various clubs on TV many times, and she was very interested in this popular thing abroad. A little experience probably wouldn't hurt.

Although Lily enthusiastically brought Katherine to visit, because the instructor was not present, joining would have to wait. So Katherine sat on the side and watched them practice, while Lily took out her camera and the flash kept going until she finished a whole roll of film.

Katherine watched them. To be honest, gymnastics seemed different from ballet, but it didn't seem too difficult. These girls seemed to have some foundation, but they weren't very professional.

In America, it's very common for people to start dancing from a young age, but they follow a regular path of going to university, working, and living like ordinary middle and high school students. They don't let dance affect their academic studies. On the contrary, because they have a special skill, they become preferred candidates for admission to prestigious universities. Many of the main performers in top ballet companies like the New York City Ballet were trained this way. Many of them also have degrees in other fields from prestigious American universities. So, even when these performers end their dance careers, they can choose another profession based on their expertise, such as becoming an architect, lawyer, or even a doctor.

...

Warning: The following content may cause discomfort. Please prepare mentally before continuing to read. If you feel uncomfortable, please stop reading. Of course, certain scenes may not appear immediately.

[Page Flip AD Start]

[Page Flip AD End]