During her stay in town (it had been a few months since she arrived), Samantha decided to make friends with her brother's best friends, since it was easier for her to make friends that way, plus she already knew them a little beforehand.

Because of this, she became closer to Erin.

Already during the class period, a professor had warned that he was going to take a test next week and that they had to study, the typical thing.

Samantha started to study at home those days, although she already knew well the subjects that were coming, studying alone did not seem good to her, it bored her. That always happened to her before going to town, but now she had people to study with, even though...

"Let's see... I could go study with James, but... No, I don't think that would be the best thing to do, since he also seems a bit studious... With Mat? ...No, no, no, no, no. Not with him... Hmmm... With Erin?"

- Right, Erin is something... I could teach her and understand a little more at the same time. Yeah, I'll do that. - Samantha said to herself.

She went to see her at three o'clock. It was a Sunday. She brought her things to study the assigned subjects. As she stood outside the door of the house, which was also a two-story building, she rang the doorbell. The door was opened by a woman who looked to be no older than thirty.

She had long, straight black hair and a brunette complexion.

- Well, what have we here? - the woman said, laughing. - A friend of my Erin's?

- Eh... Err... Well, yes! Good afternoon, I came to study with her.

- Oh, really? She didn't tell me anyone was coming.

- It's... It's just that I didn't tell her in advance...

- Come on, dear, don't be so shy. Here, come in, come in. - said the lady, as they entered. Her English pronunciation was not very good. They arrived at her living room, which had a table, some chairs around it; besides, there was an armchair that was a few meters away from a television... It looked like a living-dining room. - Sit on the couch, I'm going to call Erin. Oh, and tell me, what's your name?

- S-Samantha, Samantha Reagan. - said Sam.

- Hmmm... What a pretty name. - she replied. - Well, I'm going to call her now, okay?

The lady went to call her, to the second floor. While Sam sat there, waiting. Erin came down after a while.

- Hi.

- H-hello... - Samantha answered a little shyly.

- Hey, don't be shy. - said Erin, as she went to the couch. - So... Thank you for coming. Now, shall we get started?

- Yes.

They started studying together, after going to the table. Samantha was explaining some things to Erin that she didn't understand, and after doing so, she seemed to understand more.

- Is it really like that? - said Erin. - Oh... Thank you!

- Uh... Yes. - said Samantha, who was being... How do you say? Hmmm... Erin was sort of hugging her, wrapping her arm around Sam's neck. She was smiling.

They continued to study.

.

..

...

After about an hour, Erin's mother came to see them, bringing some snacks and drinks. She was accompanied by one of Erin's sisters... For your information, she had four siblings.

The little girl’s name was Elen, and she was seven years old.

- Here you have! - said Erin's mother, laughing.

- Thank you very much. - said Samantha,

- Thank you, mom. - said Erin.

- Well, have fun! - exclaimed her mother. - Hey, Elen, come on.

- Okay, mommy. - said Elen.

- But mom, we're studying! - said Erin.

- Same! - replied her mother and left with Elen.

- Well...

- Erin...

- Yeah?

- Your mom is really nice! - said Sam.

- I guess she is. - Erin said, looking at the floor, her index finger on her lip.

- But... There's something that's been bugging me a little bit about her... - Sam said.

- And that is? - said Erin, somewhat aggressively,

- I-it's nothing bad, but... It's just that... She looks so young. Does she do anything to look like that?

- Oh, that? Well... - Erin said, a little uncomfortably. - Well... Not really.

- Oh, really? - said Samantha, surprised.

- Yes... Well, um... you know?

- ?

- She's... Eh, it doesn't matter. - said Erin, who seemed a little nervous about saying this, but now she's not. - She's thirty two.

- ¿!32!?

- Yeah... Don't think about it too much.

- I-I understand...

What? I don't want to think about it anymore either, but... Okay, well, I'll give you more context, if you want. Erin is Peruvian-American. Her parents met when her father traveled to Peru, when he was 17. At that time her mother was 15. Things happened and they finally got married a year later, with her and her parents' consent and... This is kind of weird, I know, but that's how it happened...

Well, after that, they continued studying without any inconvenience until six o'clock. Samantha kept thinking about how old Erin's mom was during all that time... The thing is, everyone knew about it, except her.

They finished studying at 6 and Erin showed her to her room, which was on the second floor. It had a bed, a table next to it, a closet, and... It was a mess, so to speak. Oh, there were also musical instruments. She had an acoustic guitar, a recorder, a transverse flute, a quena, a keyboard, a violin, a bass... Wow, there were several... Incredible.

- Errr... Sorry for the mess. - said Erin.

Actually, Erin didn't want to show Sam her room, she wanted to show her the instruments she knew how to play (she also had instruments she didn't know how to play yet...).

She showed her that she could play several of the instruments she had, which included the guitar, most of her wind instruments, and the keyboard. Erin also sang and Sam commented to her that she sang beautifully, hearing that made Erin quite happy. Sam was there until seven o'clock and then said goodbye to Erin and her family.

This experience was fun and enjoyable for Sam.