The soft pitter patter of sneakers was all you could hear in the clean and empty place. The automatic sliding double doors open for me I step in front of them with my suitcase quietly rolling behind me. I pause to I put my hand up in the air as the sun immediately hit my face full force. As I look up into the clear blue sky decorated with a few white blobs of clouds, a slight breeze blows through my long hair. Then a low and loud rumble could be heard as I spot a plane take off from the ground. The sign above me read: Narita International Airport. I readjusted my duffle bag on my shoulder while rummaging through my jean pocket. Pulling out a small piece of badly folded notepad paper, I held it in my hand as I approached a taxi parked right by the curb. The driver immediately pops open the trunk of the car and helps me with my luggage; he opens the back door and I get in.

"Arigato," (Thank you) I thanked him as he shut the door and walked to the driver's seat.

"Doko ni?" (Where to?) He asked me as he started the engine. I hand him the piece of paper with the address of my new apartment on it.

"Yosh," (Okay) and he was off. I prop my elbow on the armrest and lean on my wrist to stare out the window.

I'm here alone. In a whole new country. Sure, I know the language but that doesn't mean much. I have my loving foster parents to thank for this situation of mine right now, they adopted me just for the publicity. How ridiculous, even though behind the scenes they were always evil. Not parent material, could care less what they did with me but ironically, cared a lot about what I did. Japanese was my second language, next to English—thanks to the strict schoolings they forced me to go through. I grew up in New York City so I speak English first and foremost. Starting at a young age, I went to top leveled—expensive—education school system rather than regular public school. Also includes advanced preparation schooling on the weekends and summers—forced, obviously.

I'm currently going to start my first year of High school here in Japan, even though I am 15 years old and should be a sophomore back in the States. Well Eastern education systems are a lot tougher than the West, no matter what private schools I attended I guess.

The cab got off the major highways and started to roll through residential streets. He stopped in front of an average looking 25 story high apartment building.

"Koko de wa," (Here we are) he said to me looking through the rearview mirror. I searched my pocket for currency that I had exchanged while at the airport. Pulling out a 1000 yen bill, I paid him. He was about to hand me my change but, I was already pulling on the latch to get out.

"Sore o iji," (Keep it) I said while smiling. I open the door to step out and go towards the trunk. He looked young, probably a college student and he was earning money part time. I thought to do him a favor as he was so nice to me. He quickly got out of the driver seat and was helping me with my luggage. He started to shift through his pockets for something. Thinking he was about to force me the change from the ride, I was ready to protest, when a card was shoved into my hands.

"Nippon e yokoso, anata no nihongo wa totemo yoidesu. Anata wa doko ni noru hitsuyo ga aru baai watashi o yobidashimasu." (Welcome to Japan, your Japanese is very good. Call me if you ever need a ride anywhere.)

I looked down on the card and there printed was, "Taxi Service. Futaka, Renji. 083697523."

"Arigato Futaka-san!" (Thank you Mr. Futaka) I said smiling.

"Sono nani…" (Its nothing…) He paused, not knowing my name yet.

"Ah, watashi dake o yobidasu Miki Futaka-san" (Ah, just call me Miki, Mr. Futaka) I said.

"A Miki-chan, shite watashi dake o yobidasu Renji." (Miki-chan just call me Renji) He smiled and then bowed.

"Bye bye," he waved as he walked back to the driver's seat and I watched the green taxi take off into the quiet roads.

Turning around I faced a bigger problem; lugging my luggage behind me, slipping on my duffle bag and carrying my other small bags, I headed into the main lobby. The security desk directed me to my room number that was written on the set of keys that my foster parents gave me. Going up 6 floors on the elevator and making a few turns down the hallways. I finally reached the golden plate that etched the letter and numbers F210. Putting my key in the hole and jiggling it a bit, the door opened up to some musty air.

I moved everything past the door way and set it in the living room first while I got a feel of the place. It had two bedrooms, one bathroom, kitchen/dining room and a living room. Already fully furnished and with ready to use basics, like pots, pans, TV, fan, AC, lighting, hangers, dressers, mirrors and everything else possibly needed. I sighed out loud, the rent must cost a fortune and the amount of money getting sent to me per month is not going to cover this whole place.

I stopped dwelling on the fact that I had to make my own living somehow and started to unpack my things because, school started tomorrow! My foster parents said that the school I was enrolled in wasn't far from the apartment. I could ask anyone for directions or just follow the stream of students.

Let the unpacking start! First I picked a bedroom then I hung and folded all of my clothes in the closet and dresser. Sorting all my shoes into the shoe closet near the door and put all bathroom necessities in the appropriate spots in the bathroom. I decided to leave any other small stuff for afterschool tomorrow. Checking the time, it read 8:45PM on the wall and I was already feeling exhausted. Turning off all the overhead lighting, I crawled onto my queen sized bed and set my cell phone alarm to wake up for school tomorrow. I fell asleep with thoughts about tomorrow, the first day of my new life here.

I woke up from my peaceful sleep to a blaring noise by my ear The noise so recognizable for fifteen years that I formed a hatred for it—the dreadful alarm. My phone kept ringing with the most annoying tone, as well as vibrating, on the bedside table. Grumbling into my pillow, I reach over to grab my cell phone and turn the first alarm off. Blearily I opened my eyes to see the time, 7:36 AM it read, sighing I rolled in bed. Turning off all the other 5 alarms set to ring in the next 30 minutes, I closed my eyes savoring the last few moments.

School started at 8:05AM I thought to myself dreadfully. Rolling a bit more to get the last few seconds of comfortable sleep, I finally get out of bed and did my same morning routine. Shower, brush my teeth, wash my face, fix my hair and change my clothes. The bathroom mirror reflected a girl with dark brown eyes, tanned skin and long black hair. Walking out of the bathroom I went to pick out a good first day outfit. I choose a pair of fitted dark jeans, light grey button up blouse with rolled cuffs, black skinny tie and I was ready to go. I picked up my dark blue Jansport book bag, tucked my cellphone in my back pocket and headed towards the door where I first took off my sneakers. Putting on my grey high-tops Converses, I set out the door, down my apartment and out the lobby.

I saw a stream of kids with suitcase like book bags and uniformed clothing. I looked at myself and back at the crowd, I stood out…only…just a bit…I tried reassuring myself. Boy was this going to be a long day, I thought as I started to follow them. Light talking amongst group of friends were heard all over the peaceful streets of streaming kids but, I got anxious when I overheard them whispering about me from behind. Saying how stupid I looked, looking like a boys uniform.

Well excuse me for not knowing that only boys can wear ties around here, thinking to myself in spite. I decided to turn around, and I saw a medium length black hair girl with another one with light brown hair, both looking at me with surprised faces.

**Note - all dialogue is in Japanese, but to make it easier it's written in English. Except if the dialogue is in bold, it is her/anyone else speaking in English**

"Hey, you two," I started.

"If you think you're so smart and whispering, you're not. So keep any further comments to your small brains." Stomping off to school, I left the crowd around them that started to laugh.

Now I got myself more noticed by people, hurray, I thought sarcastically. I don't especially like to be noticed, I like to blend in most of the time and not cause a scene—if necessary. The school gates was in sight, turning in I saw a grand building—with a golden clock tower on the very top.

Well, hello high school; checking my cell phone, which read 8:03 AM, I went inside and followed the signs in the halls towards the main office.

"Excuse me, I am new here and I need my schedule?" I said over the countertop to no one in particular—anyone helping me would be fine.

"Oh yes, your name please?" A rather plump lady with short dark curly hair asked me, typing away on her computer.

"Kimero, Michelle." I replied with a smile—never piss off office ladies in the school system.

"Welcome to Japan," she handed me my schedule and a small index card. I said thank you and looked at my schedule.

I was in classroom 1-A, I had English III—wait, what?! With the Juniors?! Damn my background of American decent.

Then History I, Geography I, Science I, Japanese I and Math II—hey hold up, math TWO?! With more older kids? Well technically the same age as me.

Class was about the start and I had to find my homeroom first. I followed signs on the walls that led me to homeroom 1-A. I slid the white door open and entered the room—there was silence while people stared.

I stick out that darn much? I thought dolefully to myself as I approached my Sensei. I handed the teacher the index card from the office, which explained I was new, transferred and all the good stuff.

"Welcome…to…Japan!" the teacher said very slowly in English with a Japanese accent. I had to smile and almost laughed out loud.

"Thank you Mitsuki Sensei. I hope you take care of me while I'm here," I bowed and used my ultimate polite parent charming Japanese skills.

Mr. Mitsuki seemed surprised at first but, then called for the whole classes attention, "everyone? Please take your seats; I must introduce a new student which will be joining our class. This is Kimero, Michelle." He held my shoulders and presented me at the front of the classroom.

"Uh…Hi guys…? Well…you can just call me Miki, I hope we all get along and I can become friends with you all this year." I bowed to the class while they applauded a bit.

"Sensei, where do I sit?" I looked up at him.

"Anywhere with an open seat is fine Miki-chan," he said, going back to his podium opening a black folder. I picked a seat at the far end of the classroom near the windows, which had a good look over the fields outside.

Roll call was going on; I guess homeroom is no different no matter what country you're in. Mitsuki Sensei was talking about the first semester of this year and all the other good stuff—personally I paid no attention until I heard the bell chime.

Huh, they had chimes instead of bells here, who knew? So much better than the States.

People started to stand up and shuffle around but, I had to go somewhere else—English III. As I got up and collected my book bag, some people approached me.

"Hi! I am Satsuna, Makiyo!" She had cute short light brown curls around her face.

"I'm Katano, Taka." A boy with short black hair said with a smile.

"And I'm Fuma, Chiyo—just call me Chiyo!" A big smile hung on her face as her bangs rested on her forehead with medium length dark brown hair.

"Ah hi, I'm Miki, nice to meet you guys." I said a bit hesitantly, wondering why they were approaching me.

"Miki-chan? No need to be so formal! We're all going to be friends from here on out, right Taka-kun?" Chiyo said brightly while smacking his back with more force than necessary.

Before I could say anything else the chimes rang again, "ah! I have to go to class, sorry guys, I'll see you in the class after!" I said as I made my way out the door and into the halls.

"Ah—okay Miki-chan…" I heard Makiyo say faintly from the room. Now the problem is to find my English classroom, which my schedule says is in 3-C. I turned a few corners and found a staircase, going up two flights of stairs; following more arrows on the walls, leading me to classroom C.

I took a deep breath, slid the door open and walked in with all the confidence I had. Everyone stopped working and looked up from their desks, even the teacher stopped writing on the board. I got a bit nervous—well, a bit, is an understatement. They all looked at me like an alien, I guess that would be a natural reaction, judging by my clothes, age and how I was late.

"Excuse me but who are you?" The teacher said as she put down the chalk.

"Ah…I'm new here and I was assigned to this class, I'm sorry for being late, I couldn't find the room." I replied nervously, looking through my pocket for that darn index card.

I gave her the note and she beamed at me after reading the whole thing. Looking like she was proud I could be in such an advanced class as a freshman. Tasaki Sensei was her name and she turned to the class which was already quiet except for a few whispers.

"Class, we have a new student, her name is Michelle and she's a freshman from the United States. Please make her feel welcome!"

"Everyone can call me Miki," I said.

People started to murmur and whisper to each other. Gosh people, way to make me feel more uncomfortable, I thought to myself in front of the class.

"Take a seat," she told me.

"Oh I can speak Japanese," I told her in the most polite voice I could come up with—adding in my perfect Japanese accent. I looked around the room, finding the only available seat left in the class.

I walked down the aisle, sat down and looked who was next to my desk. This tall looking guy with short spiked up hair, who was apparently eating behind a textbook? I snickered to myself. Tasaki Sensei started off with some simple reading; I borrowed a text book from her today. She called on a guy that was next to me, hiding very obviously I might add. He stuttered the words and didn't know how to pronounce the next word: abundant. I decided to help the poor guy out.

I whispered as best as I could, "a-bun-dent!"

He still didn't get it so I did it again and again—people started laughing and I think that Miss. Tasaki became annoyed with my "whispering."

"Well, since you seem to know this, read four paragraphs Miki-san." The class snickered, and oh'ed at me. I almost laughed out loud—this must be some joke, I thought. This baby book? You got to be kidding me—oh well, beggars can't be choosers. I stood up and began reading smoothly; when I was done everyone was looking at me, including Tasaki Sensei who looked surprised.

I had an innocent smile on my face, as if I could take anything she wanted to throw at me. She stopped the reading session and we moved onto writing lessons. I was once again called on to do some sentences on the board. Sighing as I got up from my seat, I went towards the board without my notebook and answered the sentences. I wrote in script and sat back down. Then the whole class exploded into murmurs.

"What is that?" I heard people saying, referring to my script.

Tasaki Sensei was surprised and I heard her say to herself, "Advanced Placement English level Five…" she looked back at me asking how I knew this—I thought it would have been obvious.

"I came from the NYC, I grew up there and lived there all my life—you expect me not to know script? That's third grade English material." I spoke in English.

The chime rang and class was dismissed. The classroom emptied out and I was the last one to leave, sliding the door close behind me. In the halls, I heard gossip about the "new transfer American Girl," I didn't know how I was supposed to feel about that. So I ignored it and moved on to my History I class back with my fellow freshmen. Going back down to the first floor, I met up with Chiyo, Makiyo, and Taka outside of the room.

"Miki-chan, where were you!? You weren't in English class, skipping isn't very good, did you get lost? Could you not find your way? Did any of the upper classmen trick you?" Chiyo-chan shot me with ten million questions at once, grabbing my arms and shaking me.

"Chiyo-chan, please calm down. I don't have English class with you guys, I didn't skip and no I did not get bullied by upper classmen." I had to laugh a bit at her over worried expression.

"Then what class did you have? Block two is always English I for our class." Taka-kun asked curiously.

"Oh, I didn't get a chance to show you guys my schedule. I have English III upstairs."

"WHAT?!" Chiyo-chan almost fell due to shock. Makiyo-chan caught her and told her to calm down.

"Can we see your schedule Miki-chan?" Makiyo asked me politely. I rummaged through my book bag's front pocket and found it. I handed it to Taka-kun and they all looked it over at the same time.

"You have Math II?!" Taka-kun's surprised face looked up from the paper at me.

I scratched my head, "yeah…I will die in that class, hahaha." I said nervously.

"Miki-chan is subarashi ne?" (amazing, right?) Makiyo-chan discussed with the other two. While they nodded their heads furiously while returning my schedule.

"Well never mind this; I have class with you guys right now. We can't stand here all day!" I said while pushing them towards the door, forcing them through. The same routine went thoughout all morning long in all the freshmen classes until math came into play.

I had Math II next, in 2-D. Waving bye to all three of my new friends; I went up the stairs, past a few doors and found 2-D. I slid the door open and it looked the same as when I went to English III. I gave the teacher that index card again and he told me to take a seat next to some weird looking dude near the back.

He looked intimidating—I think Takisawa Sensei said his name was Kaidoh, Kaoru. The chimes rang and Takisawa Sensei told us to do some warm up problems he wrote on the board first. They were okay, I thought to myself as I scribbled the answers in my notebook. About twenty minutes later he started to call on people for the answers.

"Kaidou-san? Number six please."

"Uh…247?" His raspy voice had a sense of nervousness to it.

"Incorrect, anyone else?" Takisawa Sensei moved to another student, as embarrassment was clearly written on Kaidou-san's face. I tried to make myself blend with the class, so he wouldn't call on me. Though, it never works, does it? He called on me. Signaling for me to answer.

Hesitantly I responded, "263?"

"Correct, who else had trouble on that?" He asked, and a few raised their hands. Well this is no shy country, I thought a devastatingly to myself

"Michelle or Kimero-san, why don't you come up and show the class how you solved it?"

I stuttered trying to come up with some excuse as to not go up. But I figured that I had no choice and decided to face my horrible fate. As I walked up the aisle and lifted a piece of chalk, I could feel everyone's eyes on my back. Which totally did not help. I swallowed and began to explain as I did it step by step again on the board.

"Excellent, Kimero-san" Mr. Takisawa said to me.

"Miki is just fine Takisawa Sensei," I said then bowed, putting down the chalk and hurrying back to my seat. Feeling my face turn red out of embarrassment and being shy.

"Kaidou, why don't you try number seven then?"

"Umm…78?"

"No, Miki-san?" Damn, why me again?

"128..?" I said with a small voice.

"Correct, Miki-san, why don't you tutor your classmate Kaidou-kun?" Right then I felt eyes burning right through my head. I looked at him out of the corner of my eyes and he seemed angry.

"Uh…uh…" I didn't want to get beat up by this guy; I could feel the whole class tense up at Takisawa Sensei's question too.

"Mr. Kaidou needs this, he's falling behind and I can't delay the class just for him." What was a girl supposed to do?!

"Uh, okay…Takisawa Sensei." I gave in, although I could feel Kaidou didn't seem too pleased with this. His glare was on me for the rest of class. The chimes rang again and the whole class started to move out of the room.

I looked over at his desk while he collected his stuff in his bag, "so um…want to do our homework together…if you need any help…and stuff?" I asked wearily.

"Tch!" Was his response, he got up and walked away, flicking me off. How arrogant, I thought. I'm just offering my help, but if he doesn't want to that's fine. The rest of the morning was spent with my fellow freshmen class and my new found friends. Which I found out are long time friends from Middle school. Chiyo-chan I could tell is like the energetic, overly curious, ditzy and loud friend. Makiyo-chan is more the quite, level headed, calm and smart one. And Taka-kun is the one who gets bullied by Chiyo and taken care of by Makiyo. Hahaha, this will be one very interesting school term I thought to myself.

The chimes rang and it was finally lunch time. Chiyo, Taka and Makiyo all had lunch boxes ready, though I did not. So they told me to go buy lunch at the cafeteria and they would all be in homeroom eating their lunches when I got back.

"Okay, thanks, see you guys!" I said as I walked out of the room.

"Better hurry Miki-chan, the line gets really long." Makiyo yelled after me.

On my way to the cafeteria, after getting lost with all the confusing arrow signs, I came across a poster.

ATTENTION ALL SEIGAKU TENNIS PLAYERS!

PRACTICE AT LUNCH, MEET OUTSIDE AT 12:40PM 6/3/14

Tryouts will be held at 4:30PM today after school