Sorry in advance for switching in and out of past and present tenses. I wasn't really thinking about it and I'm too lazy to edit all of it. So sorry if you find these errors in the next few chapters. Enjoy :)

Reviews are nice, too. ^^

"Tsubasa! Stop playing in the garden. It's time for dinner." My mother yelled from the open door, waving me inside.

"One second!" I called out, watering the newly-planted seeds.

Ever since my family and I have moved here, this old garden I found in the backyard is the only friend I have right now. I've never had an interest in gardening or nature none-the-less. But something about this tiny plot of soil was special, magical almost. So, I told my parents I was going to plant some vegetables back here. Back in the city, we always got our food from the stores and never had the need, or space, to have a vegetable garden. There was a rosemary plant sitting in a small pot by the kitchen window, though, for 'emergency use.' Now that I think about it, I never did catch my mother using that rosemary. I always saw our cat, Haru, chewing at the stems. Or maybe Haru is the reason she never used it. I'm not sure, I guess either one works.

I stood up and brushed off my gloved hands. My clothes looked ruined and my knees were smudged with brownish black.

I groaned because I knew my mother was going to scold me. My father could care less; he's a care-free kind of guy, which I don't get why he would marry my mother who's so uptight most of the time. Maybe she wasn't always like this. I shook the thought out of my head and ran back to the house.

I pulled off my shoes and socks before coming inside and made my way to the bathroom quickly. Towel in hand, I washed my face and knees fiercely to get off the dirt that was caked on. After, I ran to my room and changed into different clothes and brushed the hair out of my face.

There was a knock on my door and I opened it to find my little sister standing there with her hands on her hips. She was tapping her foot on the ground and giving me the come-to-dinner-now-or-else-mom-will-blow-her-top look. I sighed and rolled my eyes. Aika usually tried acting like mom, sometimes even scarier looking. Although, the quality of the act was always between okay and a standing ovation.

"Sorry, I just had to get cleaned up first. I'm coming, okay?"

"Enough with the excuses. Let's go, missy."

"Mhmm."

How she amuses me so.

We walked to the dining room and sat down. The rest of the night, well, my mother wouldn't stop nagging me about being late for dinner. At least I didn't come in covered with germs.

The next morning, I woke up early for school and then told everyone else in the house to get up, too. I took a shower and made everyone breakfast PLUS their lunches. I ate quickly before anyone even got to the table and decided to spend the next half hour studying to keep my mind off things, even though I already learned this stuff back home.

My goal was to actually stop thinking about another horrible day at school. I mean social-wise, not educational-wise. My mother might actually give me a lecture on going to school for the lessons and not for friends - not that I have any friends here – for evening thinking this – not that I have anyone to tell.

We only moved here because my father's company is opening a new office near the country. I think it's pretty nice out here, but I would never have agreed to come if I knew how lonely it would be. Of course, we'd come here anyway, my objection or not.

Aika is definitely making more friends than me, that's for sure. Every night before we go to sleep, she talks about her friends and how wonderful it was to move here. And I can't even escape the chatter since we have to share a room. I guess I can live – it's not like I'm dead right now.

"Mom! I'm going to go to school early! Where did you put my bike?" I shout throughout the house, too lazy to go find her whereabouts. I start packing up my books and find my shoes sitting by the back door.

She shouts back at me, apparently too lazy this morning, also. "It's sitting right next to–"

I spot the blue handles as I open the door. "Found it! Thanks, bye!"

I straddle my bike that I got for my birthday last year and see my dad come up to the doorway.

"Thanks for the lunch, Tsubasa. It looks delicious." He smiles at me.

"At least someone appreciates my work around here." My dad smirks and I let out a small laugh. "See you later."

I kick off with my bike and struggle a bit to get it going on the grass. I quickly get the handle of it and turn around the corner to get to the front. I make my way down the pathway and onto the small, rocky road.

"Ah, freedom." I sigh contentedly and breathe in the fresh air. I let my arms up like I'm flying and keep my legs peddling. At first, I was an expert at the look-ma!-no-hands thing on the smooth city streets but when I got here, the craggily path threw me off in a second. I didn't give up though. After a week's worth of hard work, I got it down pat.

I pulled up in the school parking lot in twenty minutes and locked my bike at the rack securely. I saw another girl just getting to school, too. I believed her name is Chihiro. From what I've seen, she's the quiet but strong type. Her presence is incredible but it seems that no one is really her friend, just mere acquaintances.

"Hey! You're Chihiro, right?" I ran up to her and she looked at me, surprised.

I decided that I'm going to try to make friends with her. I mean, how long am I going to stay friend-less in this place? And it looks like she needs a real friend, too.

"Yeah, I am. And you're the new girl." She gave me a small smile.

"Sure am."

She looked at the floor as we walked into the building. "So, how do you like it here?"

"It's really nice. Definitely not like Tokyo but it's grown on me."

"I was upset when I moved here four years ago. It took a lot for me to like it." Her eyes glazed over and she looked almost distant.

"I didn't know you were the new girl once, too. Huh, what made you change your mind?"

Chihiro stopped walking and looked back at me warmly. "Let's just say that a journey takes a long way."

Cryptic, much? Oh well. At least she turned out nice.

"Oh. Well, do you maybe want to hang out later? I don't know anyone else around here."

"Sure. I'd love to." She grinned at me.

Has anyone in this town even tried to become this girl's friend?

"Great. I'll give you my address at lunch and then you can come around whenever you can. As long as it's after 3:30 because I need to tell my family you're coming over first. And don't worry; they'll let you stay over because they know I've been having a hard time making friends here." I rambled on like a complete loser.

"Cool." Chihiro didn't seem to notice though. "I need to go to the library first after school anyway. I guess I can ask to call my parents with the school's phone while I'm at it to tell them where I'm going. They won't mind, either."

The day didn't go nearly as slow knowing that I had somewhat of a friend now.