DISCLAIMER: I will say this once and only once. I don't own Sky High or any of the characters except Ame. Got it? Good. I also don't own any of the music - it is based purely on what I am listening to at the time and/or what inspired the chapter. That's about all.

When you wish upon a star

Makes no difference who you are

Anything your heart desires

Will come to you

She sighed, glancing around the neighborhood. Raining. Just perfect. She loved rain - it usually matched her moods, from a soft shower of gentle disappointment and heartbreak to a harsh downpour of furious pain and hatred.

Her straightened brown hair shifted a bit in the breeze that blew past, ruffling the smooth locks and revealing her pristine, pale white skin. Her lips were a striking contrast, being a rich, bloody red that shimmered in a watery sort of way, her eyes black holes of an endless oblivion lined in the same dark black with a fine-cut precision. Quickly, she bowed her head, ducking under her hood of her pullover sweater. It was gray, her jeans a now soaked and slightly dirty deep blue, flaring out over her once new black converse. She glanced at her nails - chipped black with specks of red that she had dripped on due to boredom on the long plane-ride there.

A tall house stood out from all the others at the end of the road. It was a normal, two story house painted carefully into a light periwinkle. The garden was a rainbow display of flowers that wove their way up the wines to cover the pillars. Pink passion flowers, intertwining with rosary vine and devils ivy, sweetheart vine lifting the small pale-blue-purple blossoms of cape leadwort, even jasmine - all easy to identify. Around the ledges were asparagus ferns, bright orange croton, blood red poinsettia's, a bit of Japanese aralias, white sail plants poking above them and a few swirled red-orange-blended-to-yellow kefir lilies beside them. In the center of the lawns, meters away from such lovely motif, were matching white wash marble fountains, the exact same marble that made the academy. Spouting crystalline water, diamond like in the warm sunshine that fell around them, bathing the campus with a soothing atmosphere. Colorful pansies, snapdragons, and slipper flowers caught the reflection of the multihued prisms that splashed from the spring. To prove that nothing can be perfect, however, sakura blossoms spiraled around, dancing delicately in the light zephyr only to land gently on the glass surface of the water. Stepping on the walkway of crackled slate, she made her way to the unlocked door.

The inside was just as lavish as the outside. Carpets of expensive, deep crimson plush or rich chocolate and mocha velvet ran wall to wall, each patterned with different story of intricate weavings. The walls themselves were the same mocha color, albeit a bit lighter in shade - like the inside of a Mexican adobe house. The windows were French styled, opening with pristine white shutters that held six panes, columned in two's for the length of three rows, though they were so remarkably clean that it seemed like there was no glass at all, simply the bright streams of the suns rays. The mahogany staircase was polished to a glassy look - mirroring everything around it, it's stairs covered in a thick rug - like Hollywood's red carpet. A woman stood there like a hawk, her arched eyebrows raised unevenly to match her smirk.

"Welcome to my home, Ame. Your things are in your room upstairs, second room on the right - first is the bathroom. I'm afraid I won't be able to stay and help, I've been called to watch the release of a few of last years students who were serving time in juvenile court over the year. I'll be back in a few hours, and perhaps we can get to know each other a little better. Would you like to stay or come with me?"

"I'll stay, if that's alright. Wander around a bit to get a general feel of the area."

"That's fine. There's a phonebook in the kitchen, and a bit of money to order dinner in case you get hungry and I'm not back. I trust you are responsible enough for that." In a flash of blinding light, the lady disappeared.

Dully, Ame treaded up the stairs, entering the second room on the right and beginning to unpack her few boxes of things.

oOoOoOoOoOo

Blank, pristine walls surrounding her, the window seat closed off to stop the afternoon storm from washing the space in its blinding gray wash of light, a four-poster bed set in the corner with the drapes of gauzy white mist hiding whatever lay inside, and a polished ash wood arrangement of handcrafted, intricate rose-petal designed desk, a tall and narrow bookshelf, and a dresser on the opposite wall. Atop the dresser was a white rose, just blossoming yet already withering away. Dreary, really.

Just how she liked it. Her room was now perfect. All she needed was to finish alphabetically and numerically organizing her nine manga collections, the Harry Potter series, Lord of the Rings box set, and Winnie the Pooh assortment on the bookshelf and put her clothes into the dresser and she'd be finished. Not to mention setup her laptop (complete with speakers, mouse, and two controllers) on the desk, the cheap black-and-white TV along with the various consoles she owned (PS2, Xbox, Sega, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, and Atari) - then everything would be perfect. If one looked in her room, it would appear she was an extremely organized electronic freak that was spoiled and probably a bit strict, but that was far from true.

Ame was an orphan that had been put into foster care, yet was now the legal daughter of a woman named Powers. Her family had died in a bizarre accident when she was ten. That had been six years and twelve homes ago. The girl pondered once in a while what her life would have been like if her parents were still alive, and would shudder at the possibilities. Death, physical and verbal abuse leading to asylums or hospitals, and neglect. Not pleasant.

As she logged into her MSN account and turned up her music ("Wish Upon A Star", her favorite childish song) she thought of the same things, and then what her new school would be like. Only three or so months left of summer, after all.

She stood at her window, gazing up. It was dark, the stars shining brightly like some sort of romance movie where Juliet wishes for her Romeo. And, just as Fate would have it, a shooting star lit up the sky, soaring freely across the sunset horizon.

"I wish that I'll actually enjoy this year. How's that for sappy, Fate?"