After the death of my father, things in my life got extremely complicated. My mother had been gone many years before and she had taken my older brother down with her. My dad was all I had left. Once he was gone, I was nobody, with nobody.
It wasn't just that he'd left me with no one, it was also that he'd left me an extraordinary gift; a gift that I didn't want to have been placed into my hands.
"Ayase! Ayase Maeko!" Sakura's singsong voice yelled from the hall. "Are you awake yet, Miss Ayase?!" She pounded on my door and swung it open. Then, after crossing the room, threw my covers off of me and left, half-saying, half-singing, "Breakfast is ready! Hurry and get some!"
As I slipped into my school uniform, I muttered, "I regret letting you move in here! How stupid of me!"
Sakura, having heard every word, yelled back, "You regret nothing! Now hurry up! Big Sis wants you to school on time!"
Sakura was an old friend of my dad's. Ever since he'd died, she'd become my caretaker, my 'Big Sis'. She worked at the school as a teacher just to watch me there. She was always bright and cheery and eager to help. Every morning she'd walk with me to school, every day we'd eat free lunch on the roof, and every night we'd walk home.
When my dad passed away, he left me a huge estate and a lot of money. My newly acquired estate had been in my family for generations. It had three buildings, the main house and two guest houses. There was a large yard and in it a small family cemetery. It was here that I'd been up late last night visiting, causing me to oversleep.
When I got down the hall to the dining room, Sakura was sitting, hands folded under her chin. "Finally," she said as I sat down. She scraped eggs onto my plate and then her own as I put two pieces of toast on to each. After she poured herself orange juice and me milk, we dug in.
"You got in late, Miss Ayase. Visiting your old man?" She asked in between gobbles. I forked eggs into my mouth and nodded. She took a sip of juice. "A way to spend the month anniversary, I suppose." She bit into the warm buttered toast. "That was nice of you."
I choked back tears. "I miss him, Sakura." My fork fell to my plate. I lowered my head and just sat there. Sakura put her hand on my shoulder. "Sweetie, we all do."
I couldn't eat anymore, so I waited for Sakura to finish. Once she was, we headed to the front parlor where our shoes and bags were waiting for us. After slipping on my shoes and hoisting my backpack over my shoulder, I went to the door. Sakura soon joined me and we headed to school.
When we got to the large campus, we split. I went straight to homeroom. There, my best friends Rose and Aericka were waiting.
Rose was smiling brightly, and Aericka, anxious to explain, began, "Vince wanted to know where you were! He wanted to talk to you!" She exclaimed excitedly. Across the room Vince sat eying me. He got up when we made eye contact and pulled me into seclusion.
"Ayase, right? Your father died a month ago, didn't he? Sorry if it's a sore subject, but I need to talk to you about it." His perfect gray eyes narrowed. "Meet me behind the gym during math period. And tell no one." He walked away, his black curls bouncing.
The school bell rang. The teacher went to take attendance. I tried to ignore Rose and Aericka's attempts for my attention. In ten minutes, I was out of there and in Social Studies, without either of them.
When fourth period math came, I ducked to the stairwell and went to the back. Placing a rock so the door wouldn't lock me out, I dashed out and ran as fast as I could to the gym building. Class was held inside today, so I made it, without being seen, to the back of the building.
Vince was already there, leaning against the wall. "I half expected you not to show, but I guess you do have guts." He slid to the ground. I took a seat beside him. "What did you want, Vince?"
"I'm going to start out saying that you won't believe a word of it." He sighed and took a small box from his jacket pocket. "Your father wanted me to give you this. He wanted me to teach you."