Chapter 2: A Stranger from Kalvovia

When Mom pulled me from my swirling thoughts, it was with news that felt just as jarring as Maddie’s original announcement. In Maddie’s absence, we’ll be hosting Eliana Vasilieva, a sixteen-year-old exchange student from Kalvovia, who will be staying with us for the entire school year. And, to add another layer of weirdness, she’ll be taking over Maddie’s room. Maddie, meanwhile, would be living with Elaina’s family in Kalvovia.

I remember sitting there, still grappling with the reality of Maddie moving to a place I’d barely heard of, when Maddie casually mentioned that she would be leaving much sooner than I’d expected—less than a week after my eighth-grade graduation, in the second week of June. Their school year started nearly a month before ours, meaning she’d be gone before I had even begun to wrap my head around the fact that she wouldn’t be there for high school with me.

Now it was late July, and in about an hour, we’d be heading to Denver International Airport to pick up Eliana. The fact that this was happening just two days before the start of my freshman year made everything feel even more surreal. Here I was, still adjusting to the idea of Maddie being halfway around the world, and now I had to make room for someone else to take her place.

Mom had been in full-on prep mode for days, ensuring everything was perfect for our new guest. The house smelled of lavender and lemon polish and Maddie’s room—or rather, Eliana’s room—had been transformed. Every trace of Maddie’s personality had been packed up and either donated to a thrift store or tucked away in the attic. Posters of obscure indie bands had been peeled off the walls, stacks of books boxed up, and even the ceramic owl collection Maddie loved was carefully wrapped and stored. It was as if Maddie had never lived there, and that finality made everything feel ... too real.

I couldn’t help but wonder how Eliana would fit into all this. I kept replaying everything I’d read about Kalvovia over and over in my mind. What would Eliana be like? Would she conform to the articles’ descriptions—so comfortable in her ‘natural state’ that she wouldn’t care about clothes or personal space? Would she expect us to live like that too?

“Hey, Maddie” I had asked her a couple of weeks before she left. “About the whole ‘natural state of nothingness’ thing ... Are you seriously going to a place where people just, like, don’t wear clothes?”

Maddie had laughed that light, teasing laugh she always used when she knew more than me. “It’s not as weird as you think, Soph. Kalvovian is just more ... free, I guess. They don’t get caught up in the stuff we do here. It’s not like everyone’s running around naked all the time. It’s more about not being ashamed of your body.”

“But do they ... wear clothes at all?” I pressed. “Like, in public?”

Maddie shrugged, her nonchalance only fueling my curiosity. “They do when they need to, but it’s not a big deal. The point is that they don’t let material things define them. They live simply, closer to nature. It’s about freedom from judgment, you know? You’ll understand when you’re older.”

That was always the answer: ‘You’ll understand when you’re older.’ It drove me crazy. Mom and Dad backed her up, saying things like, “It’s just their way of life” or “They have a different cultural perspective,” but no one ever gave me a straight answer. I was fourteen now, practically old enough to understand anything, or so I thought. But whenever I pressed for details, they just brushed me off, as if I wasn’t ready for the truth.