Hi! The name's Emma. I am rewriting a story I wrote and never finished in the past, so some of you may recognize it. This first chapter took me a while to write, but it's here! Enjoy!

Len slowly opened the door to Rin's room, his eyes adjusting to the dimness of his surroundings. With light footsteps, he walked over to the large window directly opposite from her bed and drew the curtains, rays of gentle light flooding into the room. "Rin, you have to wake up now. It's time for school."

The sleeping girl under the covers groaned and pulled her yellow comforter over her head. "Dad, just give me, like, ten more minutes. I'm exhausted..."

"I already gave you ten more minutes," he said, smiling gently and pulling the covers from over her head. "Get up. I made breakfast."

Len disappeared into the doorway once he saw his daughter sit up and put on her glasses, her blonde hair going in all directions from her usual flopping while asleep. He vividly remembered when she was afraid of storms and would crawl into his bed when she heard rain during the night. He would be awake, reading a book, and he would hear teeny-tiny little feet padding through the hallway. A small voice would call, "Daddy? It's raining. I'm scared," and he would plug in her night-light so she could sleep with him. All throughout the night, she would flip, flop, kick, punch, and unintentionally abuse her father in a sleep-induced haven.

Although he would have to chug about three more cups of coffee the next morning, he never minded. A little part of him was always happy that his daughter went to him in her time of need. After all, they only had each other. Rin was the sole reason that Len kept going with his life. In his eyes, Rin was the most delightful person in the world. Of course, she had her faults; she could be stubborn and lazy, and she adopted his trait of worrying constantly, but she was smart, kind, funny, and a shining light that guided Len through his life. Len, thirty-eight years old at that time, never spoke to his parents, as they had tried so hard to dictate how he lived his life. He didn't know what he would do if Rin felt that way about him, as she was always number one, always first.

Rin yawned three times as she dragged herself into the kitchen. Len was sitting at the table already, reading a book and drinking a cup of coffee, his eyebrows knitted together in concentration. He was still wearing the red T-shirt and gray sweatpants that he had slept in. She hungrily eyed the plate of bacon and eggs and was fully awake immediately. "Morning," she said, sliding into her chair and picking up her fork.

"I'm guessing that you slept quite well?" Len said, dog-earring his page and setting the book down.

"Like a rock," Rin replied, her words distorted by the heap of food in her mouth. "Dad, why don't you ever eat in the mornings?"

Her father took a long drink of his coffee and stood up to grab another cup. "I'm not usually hungry. I only make breakfast because you love it so much. Plus, you're so darn skinny... Your doctor said last visit that you're underweight."

"How do you drink your coffee black and not vomit?"

"I put a ton of sugar in it, so it's not technically black. How do you eat bacon and eggs every morning and not vomit?"

She nodded. "Touche. But I get cranky if I don't eat breakfast."

She scarfed down the rest of her food and stood up to put her plate in the dishwasher. As she ran back to her room to get ready for school, she thanked Len for the food.

At Crypton High School, after many referrals given for dress code violations, students were required to wear uniforms; collared of any color were allowed, with khaki or black pants for boys and khaki or black skirts for girls. A lot of people disliked this idea, but the students eventually got over it. Rin chose a yellow collared shirt and her typical tan skirt with some black Mary Janes.

Len drove Rin to school and dropped her off in front of her building. She sat down on a bench by a flight of stairs, her and her best friend's usual place to stay when the school got free time. After waiting for a good while, she was wondering where Gumi was. It was not typical for her to be late, but it was not impossible.

Suddenly, she heard rapid footsteps; upon lifting her head to look, she saw Gumi Megpoid bounding towards her, her shirt not tucked in and the laces of her sneakers coming loose.

"Am I late?! I'm late, aren't I?!"

Rin rolled her eyes and stood up, collecting her things. "No, chill out. The bell hasn't rung yet." She smiled gently and gestured for the green-headed girl to follow her into the building and down the hall.

"My mom is so obsessed with speed limits. I couldn't get her to bloody go for anything," Gumi said, adjusting her trademark goggles on the top of her head. "So, did you watch Project Diva last night? The cute guy went home..."

"You're boy-obsessed, you know that?"

"You can't say he wasn't cute."

"Well, he was, but you'd be the first to call on it."

Deep in their conversation, not paying attention to anyone else at the time, they didn't notice the fact that a group of terrifyingly preppy girls was staring at them. The group, harboring five hormonal teenage girls, was talking quietly, their eyes obviously positioned on Rin and Gumi. As the two friends passed by, one girl (neither Rin nor Gumi recalled her name) said, "Hey, why do you wear those goggles? They look really dumb."

Gumi ignored her.

They could hear faint laughing as they continued down the hall, walking this time at a faster pace. The bell rang, and the halls almost instantly became flooded with teenagers and a few teachers just trying to do work before the icky little things began crawling into their classrooms. At their lockers, Gumi and Rin took their time. Unlike many people in their classes, they were not constantly late.

"Did you tell your dad about what's going on?" Gumi asked, closing her locker gently and twisting a piece of her green hair around her finger.

Rin sighed and shook her head. "I haven't said a word." She looked in her math book to make sure that her work was still there and sighed yet again.

"Tell him. He'll help you. My mom helped me with what she said—"

Rin leaned on the lockers and closed her eyes. "It's fine. I'll be okay."

"No," Gumi said sternly. "You won't. Nothing good will come from just letting Miku continually be rude to you."

"I can't say anything. She'll tear me apart!" Rin shook her head and gave Gumi a look that just cried, Please, let's drop it.

At that moment, Miku Hatsune walked into the room, being followed by a meek-looking Aoki Lapis. "Rin, Rin, Rin!" the former of the two said, slamming her hands on Rin's desk. "Let me see your homework! I didn't do it."

Rin shook her head. "Oh, well. Sucks for you."

Miku scoffed and gave her a nasty look. "Don't be a prude about it. Just let me see it."

"No."

"You don't have to be a bitch about it, you know." With that, Miku sighed heavily and turned around, strutting over to her desk. When she sat down, it was quite obvious that she was talking about Rin—not saying good things, most likely—to her friends. Rin felt her heart sink, but she refused to let it show.

Gumi leaned forward and grinned. "I studied my brains out last night."

Rin chuckled, happy that her friend was here to make things easier. "You got any left for the test?"

Mr. Hiyama stood up and gave the usual talk about how cheating was unacceptable and passed out all the tests. He took up the homework and said that it would be taken for a grade, making Rin feel delightful. She could feel Miku's cold eyes staring at her from across the room as the tests were given out. Rin flew through it, not even feeling the need to check her answers.

She was a straight-A student. She found comfort in knowledge and embraced it whole-heartedly. Rin was the type of person who would instantly Google a question that had been bothering her and then spend an hour researching it. She was also very shy in class and did not like being the center of attention.

The day went by, and, in quick time, it was lunch. Rin and Gumi went to Mrs. Yowane's classroom to set down their books. The teacher herself, who taught history (Rin's favorite), entered the room and grinned at her two students, who were secretly her favorite, as well. "Hello, girls," she said quietly, brushing a few strands of her gray hair out of her face.

"Hey, Mrs. Yowane," Rin and Gumi said in unison as they started heading towards the lunchroom.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you," Rin said as they entered the lunch line, making disgusted faces at the gross-looking meat in little Styrofoam cups and going for turkey and cheese sandwiches, "Dad got another job."

Gumi filled the majority of her plate with carrots and snuck one into her mouth when the lunch ladies weren't looking. "Really? Where at?"

"Local news station, KVOC. Channel fifteen. He writes news stories. Same exact thing he does at the Crypton Chronicle, but whatever." Rin sat down in her usual spot at the end of the lunch table, watching people file into the large room.

"Did that just not pay the bills or something?" Gumi asked, her mouth fill of carrots.

"I thought it did," Rin replied, peeling an orange. "Now he has to work until three. He said that he would still make sure to pick me up every day, though. I'm worried about him. I knew he was tired all the time already, but now he'll be exhausted..." She sighed inwardly and propped her chin on the palm of her hand. "He says that I should focus on my studies and wait until summer to get a job, but I don't know. I want to help out."

Gumi grinned and shrugged her shoulders. "Well, he cares about you. He wants the best for you, you know that. He wouldn't get a second job if he didn't."

"You're right," Rin said. "Plus, he said that we would have more money to hang out more instead sitting at home all the time."

"See, he's trying! But you still haven't told him about Miku..."

Rin shook her head and hunched over slightly, feeling slightly ashamed. Miku's verbal attacks were getting worse. Plus, a lot of people were ignoring her and making fun of her. She'd heard people whispering that she had an eating disorder and cut herself—the typical high-school insults. She tried not to let it get to her, but it was discouraging when someone saw you eating very well and then assumed that you were binging. "I don't want to worry him."

"He would help you get through it. Just let him know."

"No, I'm not. He doesn't need to worry about me."

"He would want to know..."

"No."

If any of you remember the original, let me know!

I'm sorry it's short and shitty, but hey, at least I wrote a thing.

Constructive criticism is happily accepted!