"Georgie, you need to get going."
"Can't I stay just a little longer? We're on the last chapter of The Secret Garden."
"Sweetheart, it's your first day of school in Japan. It'll look bad if you're late," she purses her lips.
"But, it's Friay. Nobody starts school on a Friday. Can't I just skip and spend the day with you?"
"Hun, you've been in this hospital everyday this week! That's not healthy for a teenage girl. Besides, there is going to be a representative from your class showing you around. You have to go."
"But you aren't doing well today."
"Georgie, I'll be fine. The doctors know what they're doing and I've got a nurse waiting for me at the push of a button. You don't have to worry so much," she says weakly. "You need to get going or else he'll think you stood him up. He'll be there at 6:30."
"Alright." I can't really argue with her. The doctors say that she can't get too excited or she'll wear herself out. "I have the 4:00 to 11:00 shift, so I probably can't see you tonight. But I'll try to come back tomorrow morning."
"I swear to god that you aren't a normal teenager. SLEEP IN TOMORROW IT'S GONNA BE SATURDAY FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD!" she yells in her thick accent from the Bronx. Sometimes I'm glad that I lived in Colorado instead of New York. I think I would sound funny if I talked like my Aunt Matty.
"Fine, I'll come in the afternoon," I say wrestling my burgundy locks into a ponytail.
"You're killing me kid. Come over here. Lemme help," she gestures me to her hospital bed. I sit on the chair next to her and she untangles my hair from the rubber band without any effort. When she strangles it back in, she runs her fingers over a cut on the back of my neck. "Where did this come from?"
"Oh, it was late last night and I tripped. But I don't know what I scraped myself on. Funny how things like that happen," I lie. Okay, I didn't trip. But how do you tell your Aunt that her new husband is an abusive drunk? I know that he's not doing it for no reason. Ever since Aunt Matty checked into the hospital, it's really brought Jin down. He's drank away all of his issues, but he snaps pretty easily. And since I'm the only one home, he takes some things out on me. I should just hit back or at least defend myself, because I know that I could knock this guy on his ass. But something just doesn't feel right about it.
"Georgie, promise me you'll be more careful? I don't want you to hurt yourself. And please go get a coat after school, it's snowing," she says worriedly. I look out the window and the snow is coming down in thick white flurries. Oh geez, I really do need a coat.
"I promise. I'm going to head out. Love you," I say giving her a quick kiss on the forehead.
I get out of the hospital and start walking towards the school. I wonder what kind of person the rep is. Most likely some studious goody two shoes with a comb-over type of hairdo.
I turn into the school and nobody is there. Am I early? It's already 6:30. I guess that he's running a little behind. Oh Mr. Rep, please get here soon. I already have goosebumps on my legs.
Fifteen minutes later I'm penguin huddling against a wall and gritting my teeth from the cold. And then I hear the snow crunching a few paces behind me. "Oh my goodness! How long have you been out here?" there is a strangely handsome boy standing in front of me with dark silver hair and amethyst eyes that almost glow. He's holding an umbrella over me and I freeze for a moment.
"I've only been out here for five minutes max," I smile through chattering teeth."
"You must be freezing, you only have a sweater," he says, wrapping his red scarf around my neck. "Let's get you inside."
"T-thank you," I shiver. He takes a key from his pocket and sticks it in the lock. Then, like a gentleman, he holds the door open for me. "Thanks... Again," I chuckle.
"I'm really sorry for the wait, I accidentally slept in."
"Oh, it's fine. It happens to everybody," I try to put him at ease a little.
"You really need a jacket though."
"I know, but my paycheck doesn't come in until Monday. I'll just have tough it out until then," I say giving him an overly enthusiastic thumbs up. Ugh, I'm such a dork sometimes.
"Are you sure?"
"Don't worry about me, I might not look it, but I can get through any storm."
"Maybe I can learn a thing or two from you about being tough."he smiles halfheartedly and leads the way.
"Oh, thank you," I say trying not to blush. This guy probably has all sorts of girls beating down his door. I'm going to be smart and not get involved with that.
"Well, we should probably start the tour, Miss Sanchez," he smiles.
"Miss Sanchez? You don't have to be so formal. Just call me Georgie."
"Oh no, I couldn't possibly." He's really polite.
"Alright, so long as you're comfortable with it, you can call me whatever you want for now. But we're going to have to get on a first name basis eventually." Then we walk up and down the halls, finding my classes and all of that good stuff. We pass a janitor and he nods at us and I bob my head back.
When we turn into the hall I hear this huge SQUEAK and then this guy is on top of me! He looks really panicked and just stays there for a minute. I don't know what he's waiting for something but he's starting to get heavy. "Losing... Air,"I gasp. Then he raises himself to the point where he isn't crushing me with his body weight , but his face is only a few inches away from mine. "Are you okay?! Are you hurt?!"
"I'm okay, how 'bout you?" This is awkward, please get off of me.
"I'm fine," he says scrambling to get off of me. I sit up and rub my backside, because I landed really hard on my butt. Then I feel the buzz of pain. Every bruise, cut and banged up bone aches. I wanna cry or wince or something, but I can't do it in front of anyone.
Then we kind of sit on the floor in an awkward silence. I have no idea what to say to him. This is just a weird situation. I think whatever I say will just make things worse. He clears his throat to break the quiet. "We should probably go to homeroom, so you can meet the teacher," he says without looking at me.
"Okay, sure," I say picking up a couple of notebooks that I dropped. Aw man, they're all wet. I guess the janitor must have been mopping.
The rep seems kind of dazed. I don't know what his deal is. He's acting like it's the first time that he's come in physical contact with anyone. He keeps on staring in a weird way. I don't really know a good word to explain it. I guess he sort of seems shocked. But I don't know why. Girls must be planting hugs on him morning,noon and night. I just don't get it. Something's not right here.
We come into the classroom and there is a male teacher with short, spikey hair and a goatee. "Ah, you must be Georgie," he says over-enthusiasticly. "I trust that Yuki has taken good care of you."
"Yes sir," I say quietly.
"Why are you being shy?! Aren't you excited for your first day of high school?"
"Oh yes sir, it's just that things are different here. And I don't really know how everything works yet and it's sort of a scary experience. But I'm also very excited at the same time! Um, it's a complicated emotion," I ramble.
"You'll be fine," he says patting a big bruise on my back. "The kids here are pretty decent. So you shouldn't have any problems. Ya know, unless you cause them."
"Oh, I won't sir." At least I know my classmates will be nice. I shouldn't be so tense.
"Good. The bell should ring right about-" Then, there is a huge ding pulsating throughout the school. "Now," he says with a satisfied look. It's impressive that he knows exactly when the bell will ring without looking at the clock!
Before I can blink, a bunch of people swarm the classroom and take their seats. I don't know what to do, so I just stand there like a lump.
When everyone is settled, the teacher starts the new girl rant. "Class, this is our new exchange student from America! She's only been in Japan for a couple of weeks , so you need to cut her some slack. I expect you to be nice and show her around and all of that crap." The class breaks into a symphony of 'oohs' and 'ahs' and other various whisperings. Then he looks down at me. "Go ahead and introduce yourself," he says nudging me even closer to the class.
With my knees shaking and my palms getting moist, I force myself to say," H-hello. I'm Georgie Sanchez and I'm really excited to be joining your class." Then I bow awkwardly, I'm still not used to that gesture. Then the whispers shift from from wonder to speculations about my awkward accent. They're lucky that I speak any Japanese at all, I'd like to see them speak English with a spot on accent.
Damn, I stick out like a sore thumb. I don't even have a uniform yet. It's not like I don't hate the sailor outfit with a fiery passion, because I DO, but it would be nice if I could blend in a little better. I tried to at least look relatively similar to all of the other girls by wearing my good button up blouse and a navy skirt that I found at a second hand store, but it's not working. The fact that I'm walking around in socks because I don't have the dumb school slippers is completely throwing off my mojo. And there's also a big hole in the toe.
Then I'm snapped out of my mini-crisis when the the teacher starts talking again."Well then," he says. "You are seated in the back row in between Yuki and and the synthetic orangette."
Then the kid stands up to shout," How many times do I have to tell you that this is my natural hair color!"
"Sit down Mr. Sohma, or else I'll have to write you up again!" the teacher shouts back.
"Oh come on! If anything, you should be giving this girl crap about her hair! Aren't Americans supposed to be blonde?! " What did I do to him?"There's no way in hell that is her natural hair color. She's probably wearing colored contacts too!"
"But this is my natural hair color." I retort. I try not to get angry, but this jerk is pushing my buttons.
"Who do you think your fooling! You probably dyed it." Damn dude, calm down. Didn't anyone teach him about indoor voices in preschool?
"Hey I'm not 100% white okay, I'm Hispanic so my hair is naturally darker. In case you haven't noticed, Sanchez isn't your stereotypical American name." I know I shouldn't let him get to me, he's only picking on me because he feels alienated, but he is making me feel weird. People used to give me funny looks. But nobody's really ever tried to make me feel bad about being different.
"What about your eyes then?" he fumes.
"What about my eyes?" Ooh Georgie, you're just adding fuel to the fire.
"They're violet, that's insanely weird ."
"I don't know why my eyes are like this, but I thought they were kind of neat." There is only one other person in American history with violet eyes, and that's Elizabeth Taylor; so I think I'm entitled to feeling kind of freakin' special.
"You're no better than me! You're just a freak!" He shouts. Before I can say something I'll regret , the teacher cuts in.
"Kyo! You're taking it too far," the teacher raises his voice. Then he realizes that he's making a scene and sits down. Wow, I've been in this school for five minutes and my existence is already pissing someone off. Thats a new record.
I already miss home. I miss my loft in downtown Denver, next to the art museum. Heck, I even miss the homeless people that would hit me up for change every other day! Then I snap back to reality when the teacher says," I can move you to a different seat, if you want."
"It's no big deal, sir. There are always gonna be people who don't like you, it's just a part of life," I grin.
"If you say so," he says looking concerned. Then, I make my way to the back of the room and sit in between the flaming orange head and the rep. This is going to be an interesting school year.
After a couple hours of the lesson plan the teacher calls for an off block. "Alright, you guys have from now until lunch to do whatever the heck you want. I have a meeting to go to, so don't burn down the school while I'm gone." Then he leaves. I figure that nobody's looking so I take out my headphones and a sketchbook. I only crank the volume to half blast so nobody can complain about hearing my music. Then I open my old leather bound sketchbook to the next clean page and start drawing the classroom because god knows that I need to practice perspective.
I have the basic layout of the room done, but it looks pretty bland, so I decide to put people in it. My classmates are kind of a lively bunch, and they're great at making gestures and over the top poses, so I loosely copy whatever they're doing onto the paper. Just as I finish the little sketch of Yuki talking to a group of people on the other side of the room, I think that I'm ready to start inking my picture.
I take exactly two seconds to grab a pen out of my bag; then out of nowhere, some girl snatches my journal off the desk. "What the heck is this," she says with utter disgust.
"It's nothing, can I just have it back," I say, taking a bud out of my ear.
"It looks so stupid that it's hilarious. Is that supposed to be the Prince?"
"The what?" What is she talking about?
"The Prince, right there," she says pointing at the little doodle. Wow, this guy has a fanbase. That's not freaky at all.
"Yeah, in the very corner of the paper, the rest of the class is in it too" I huff. What's this girl's deal. I get it, the rep is a attractive. But there's a fine line between having a crush on someone and being creepy; this girl is flirting with that line."Please just give it back."
"Why do you even want to keep it? You draw so terribly," she whines. If I draw so terribly, why does she want it?
"Come on, can't I just have it back. If its that much of an eyesore I won't open it in class." she doesn't answer me at all this time. Instead, she just walks over to the trash can and by the time I can scream," WAIT, DON'T," she throws it to the bottom of the bin.
"Don't be such a baby about it," she sneers. And then she walks away. What is her issue? My dads' dog tags were in there!
I scramble to the trash can and start digging through papers, but I can't find my book! "Oh geez, it has to to be in here somewhere!" Then someone behind me clears his throat.
"Miss Sanchez?" aw man, it's the rep!
"Oh, hello," I say as naturally as possible. Oh, who am I kidding? There's nothing natural about digging through the garbage!
"Miss Sanchez, is something wrong?"
"No, not at all! Why do you ask?" Ugh, could I have made it any more obvious? I am such a dork.
"Well your hand is in the trash for one thing."
"Yeah, I sort of dropped a book in there. But it's not a big deal!" Okay, I know that girl was sort of being a snot, but I don't want to be a narc.
"Miss Sanchez," he says in an interrogative tone.
"Huh?" That sounded intelligent.
"You know that I saw her throw your book away, right?" Why didn't he just say that in the first place?!
"Oh," my voice cracks. "How much of that did you see?"
"Everything after she said 'What the heck is this?" Then he starts sorting through discarded papers and broken pencils with me.
"Oh, you don't have to help me. I'll probably find it in a sec," I say, fumbling through trash.
"I could've told that girl to give your book back, but I just stood there and watched. The least I can do is help you find it."
"You don't need to beat yourself up over it, though. You've already been so nice to me."
"I have?" he says with total shock.
"Well, yeah. You came to school early to show me where all my classes are-"
"But I was late." this guy is only seeing all of the negatives.
"I still appreciate the gesture, though. So thank you so much," I smile. I can't help it, he's been so nice. He's probably the first nice person I've met in Japan.
"Um, you're welcome," he smiles slightly. Then he hits something solid. And to my complete joy, he holds up my sketchbook. "Is this what you were looking for?"
"Oh my gosh! Yes, thank you so much!" it's safe! Then without thinking, I check for the dog tags. My hand flies to the inside cover and I feel them with numb fingers. Then I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding in.
"Why do you have dog tags in there?" Damn, I should've waited to look for them.I guess that the truth comes out now.
"They were my dads'. His submarine was attacked three months ago in the middle east and he didn't come home. "
Then he looks like a deer in the headlights and his eyes are huge. "I'm sorry for asking. I didn't know-"
"Hey don't apologize. These things happen. Even though he isn't physically here, I keep him alive in spirit," I smile at the memory of him. I don't have many memories of him, but the ones I do have are good. "Anyway, thanks for helping me. I feel bad that I don't know your name. What is it?"
"I'm Yuki Sohma," he says, still with a stunned expression.
"Well then, Yuki, I really owe you one. So if you ever need a favor, go ahead and ask," I say. Then the lunch bell rings.
"Well I'm going to go to the cafeteria before the lunch line gets too long. Maybe we can talk again soon?"
"Sure, and thanks so much, again," I cheeseburger grin. I think I might have a friend.
Then I sit back down at my desk and take an apple out of my bag. I know it's not much of a lunch, but it's better than nothing. It's nice and quiet in the classroom, so I'll just stay here. And just when I think I that the room is mine, I'm dead wrong. Of all people, Highlighter Head sits next to me. So I just stare at my apple and avoid eye contact at all costs.
"Is there something especially interesting about that apple?" Then I just stuff my earbuds in and ignore him. I don't even have music on, but maybe he'll leave me alone. "Do you have to be like that?"
"Look, I've been getting the impression that you don't really get along with "freaks" so I think I'll be going." Then I get up to leave.
"Wait, I wanted to apologize," he says grabbing me by the forearm. And I immediately squeak because he grabbed a bruise. Instead of letting go like any normal person, he gives me a curious look and I freeze. He starts to roll up my sleeve and I try to slap away his hands, but it doesn't do me any good. So he reveals a big black bruise. I open my mouth to make an excuse, but he keeps my arm clenched in his big fist and moves my hair out of the way so he can see the cut on my neck and says, "What the hell?!"