Days Gone By – Chapter One

Hige leaned back in his chair as the teacher droned on about astrophysics. His mind drifted about in boredom when out of nowhere his chair slipped and he fell onto the floor. The entire class broke into a fit of laughter, though this type of stunt wasn't unusual for Hige.
"Again Hige! God, how many times has this happened this week?" a classmate exclaimed.
"About 5 times now!" another classmate shouted out as the class started laughing again.
"Get back into your seat Mr. Azuma, enough of your shenanigans!" exclaimed the teacher as he tried to calm down the class.
Hige mumbled something under his breath as he pulled his chair back up and sat down again.
"Why do you always do that Hige...?" whispered Toboe, scribbling on the front of his binder.
"I don't know, it's a bad habit I guess..." Hige mumbled off as he looked outside the window.
After another hour of class, the teacher announced that they would be receiving a foreign exchange student from America. He said that she should arrive sometime next week.

On the way home, Hige, Toboe, and Kiba waited in their usual spot for Tsume to come pick them up from school.
"Hige, did you get the notes from class today? Or were you just dozing off again?" Toboe asked.
Hige just jabbed Toboe in the side with his elbow, "What ELSE do you think? That I was SERIOUSLY paying attention to that dolt?" Hige exclaimed sarcastically, "I know more than HE does..."
"You ALWAYS think you're smarter than the teachers... and look what your grades are..." Kiba chimed in.
"He's right Hige," Toboe laughed.
"It's not MY fault that they hate me!" he yelled, lying back on the tree they were standing at.
Just then, Tsume drove up in his car.
"You guys better get in quick this time or I'm leaving without you..." Tsume exclaimed tiredly as the boys shambled into the car.

A week later, Hige and Toboe walked into their classroom to find all the students sitting in their desks quietly.
"Weird..."mumbled Toboe,"No one's ever this well-behaved."
"Must be something goin' on." replied Hige, walking to his seat.
A few minutes later, the teacher stood and began talking.
"Students, today Miss Emma Smi...Sumi..."
"Smith." said a voice from outside the door, "Sorry if it's difficult."
She walked in and bowed to the class, "Nice to meet you all."

The girl had short auburn hair, tanned skin and bright blue eyes—causing her to stand out quite a bit from her classmates. She was also rather thin and, as Hige noticed, was well-endowed.

"Wow...her Japanese is good." Whispered Toboe, leaning towards Hige.
"Y-yeah...wow." was all Hige could get out as he watched the new girl walk in.
"I'm sorry to say, that the only available seat...is next to Mr. Azuma..." the teacher stated in a melancholy tone.
In Hige's mind, he was celebrating; however, he remained straight-faced.