Having finished her school day which went by about as well as she expected, Astrid had first hung around a while at school before going home and preparing some food. Realising she was running low, and after a phone call with her father, she'd gone to the local bank to draw out money.

Now, with enough to let her do some shopping, she was wandering around the aisles of the grocery store. Reading a small list she had written for herself and being entirely lost with the strange way the Americans seem to order this huge store. Murmuring complaints to herself in Norwegian as she browsed.

"Need help?" Mariana seemed to have come out of nowhere.

There was a pause at the sudden voice, and the girl turned to look at the surprise person.

"Do you work here? I am learning my way around, where do you keep the breads and the...bakery items? Is that correct?"

The small list she had in her hand was written entirely in Norwegian so likely not of much help

"Yes, I work here." Mariana nodded. "Follow me...breads are on lane 2 next to the vegetables." Her voice was monotone at best.

"Oh good. This place feels like a maze" Astrid commented as she followed.

"Bread...next to the vegetables? Why?"

"My guess is freshness..." She shrugged and pointed up. "The lanes have signs. Only produce and bread don't have signs."

Astrid did look up, and frowned.

"I see...so until I memorise the layout I need to keep looking up high. At least that makes things easier to find, thank you."

She looked back at the other girl, studying her.

"You look familiar. I think I saw you in a class?"

"Yes..." She nodded. "I seat on the back... rarely seen, but it's how I like it."

"Oh, right" Astrid commented as she made a mental note of aisles.

"I don't think you do a good job. You kind of stand out a lot in the class."

"Eh... my attire allows me to blend into the shadows. Besides I scare the wrong crowd." She shrugged. "Even some of the costumers here... they see my makeup and clothes and go the other way."

"There is a difference between blend in and make people look away" Astrid shrugged "in a class where everyone looks somewhat average, someone dressing so very different to try and not be noticed often stands out more to me. A classroom isn't a room full of dark corners after all, you would blend in more trying not to look different."

She paused as she noticed the bread.

"There we go...now to work out where the baking section is after...I thought I saw a sign for it."

"eh... I don't follow fashion so... what of it. I don't really care." She shrugged. "Go down second to the left? anything particular you need?"

"I don't care about fashion either. I just come from a place where standing out is a bad thing" there was another shrug "so I know a little about blending in."

Astrid put a loaf of bread into the cart after turning it a few times to check it.

"I'm going to do some baking this evening to have for lunch tomorrow. That school lunch was just...awful. I just about remember the recipe, plus I need to buy food for the week anyway, so decided to do a shop."

"That is why I bring my own lunch. Mom makes me chilaquiles or rice with pozole..." The girl shrugged. "I should bring some flour home."

"What is chilaquiles? I don't know that one" Astrid started moving towards the baking section to look for flour "back at home the lunch prepared at school was much better and given out for free too. It was certainly a step back coming here in terms of food quality."

"Tostadas cut in quarters with salsa, pulled chicken, refried beans with onions... or Pico de Gallo. Usually. we put a fried egg on top but not for lunch." Mariana explained. "Nana, que su alma descanse en paz, used to say that too... 'Mexican lunches were far better'."

"That sounds nice. Does this store sell recipe books actually? I might be able to fit some into my budget so I can do variety in my cooking while I learn" Astrid reached up to the top shelf to get down a decent sized bag of flour "I've never tried Mexican, it isn't common back in Norway."

"Next to the registers... they are stacked with magazines." Mariana shook her head. "I don't recommend any... I can bring you some of Nana's recipes to school and save you the money."

"Oh? That would be great thank you" Astrid smiled a bright smile, reaching up for a second bag of flour "I will have to look at other stores for recipe books then. You said you wanted a bag yes?"

"I think you might want to check the library. I will be going there tomorrow evening. There is a poetry session going on." She nodded at the question, picking up the bag.