.:Chapter 1:.
A soft sigh escaped Miwako's frosty pink glossed lips as she walked through the parking lot towards school. Her chunky black high heels clicked on the steps as she approached the door, her stomach turning as the gates to her future loomed over her. Her small, gloved hand reached for the slightly iced handle with her final step, and a rush of warm air met her flushed face as she pulled it open.
It seemed like it was just yesterday that Arashi, Hiro and Miwako were the best of friends. This past summer was mostly spent hanging out together, discussing their futures, and discussing the various myths and rumors about high school. Arashi and Hiro seemed off, though. The tension seemed to grow throughout the summer until August, when everything fell apart. Arashi has pulled Miwako aside, wondering if he could speak with her.
"I love you."
"Miwako loves Arashi too…"
"No, Miwako, I really love you. I want you to go out with me—if you want, I mean"
"Of course! This makes Miwako very happy"
She remembered the smile that had foolishly spread across her face then, and frowned as she glanced at her school map. She headed for her locker.
"But Miwako…if you're going to be my girlfriend, you're mine."
"Don't be silly Arashi, Miwako's always been yours."
"But right now you're Hiro's too."
The smile in the memory faded to match her face now as she fiddled with her combination. It popped free, and she began loading all the fashion design and textile books she had in her bag onto the shelves"
"You can't have both."
"…"
"You have to choose."
She began crying at that point, when he'd told her she had to pick between het two life supports. She didn't think she could be complete without them both at the time. She had collapsed into Arashi, sobbing. He had carried her home on piggyback, explaining to Mikako and her mother that all Miwako had needed was her medicine. He had kissed her on the cheek as he whispered, "Tell me when you're ready."
Being "ready" sure as hell took long enough. The morning after the whole ordeal Miwako begged her sister to let her come and study under her for a semester, postponing high school until the January term. She felt like her home, her safe place, had been destroyed. She didn't know where she was supposed to be now, but being with some many raw memories as she started high school wasn't it. Her mother told Miwako to follow her heart, but her older sister had taken some convincing. When she had caught Miwako on the phone calling Arashi to tell him and interrupted an awkward, final-sounding goodbye to Hiro, Mikako had silently agreed. Now back from the Happy Berry atelier, Miwako felt refreshed. She let slip a satisfied "humph" of accomplishment as she looked over her books. They looked like they belonged in their new home. Maybe in time, she'd feel like she belonged somewhere too…
As the first bell rant, her heart skipped. Miwako selected the two books she needed for her first class of the day and hoisted her oversized rainbow bag over her shoulder. Pausing quickly to reapply her lip gloss in her mini-mirror, she noticed her barrette was crooked. Feeling rushed, she fumbled with it quickly and spun around as she clicked it in place. Her face immediately collided with a male's chest as a familiar scent washed over her. A sturdy arm caught her around her waist to keep her from falling backwards.
"Watch where you're turnin', eh?" he said, a wry smile tugging across his mouth.
Miwako's eyes were already lit up by the time she glanced upwards and yelled, "Arashi! Miwako missed you so, so much!" She threw her arms around his neck, minding his ear –to-lip chain as she did so, and giggled. Only good memories surfaced.
"Missed you too…" he murmured into her cotton candy pink curls before continuing with, "…Don't you have class first slot?"
She gasped, releasing her arms from his neck and dropping a few inches back to the ground. She popped one of her star-shaped medicines in her mouth (a yellow one this time) and said, "Miwako can't be late but….Uwah! Miwako doesn't know where her class is!"
Arashi laughed. It rang with good memories, genuine and reminding her of days much longer past than the latest summer, middle school, or elementary school even. She smiled grandly as he took her hand and said, "Here. I'll show you."
Her poufy white skirt bounced along behind them as he led her down the hall, deeper into the high school. Around one corner, then another she followed him until he smoothly opened a glass door and nudged her inside.
"Catch ya after class," he whispered in her ear. The bell rang as the door clicked shut, and she whirled around to say goodbye. She was met with her own soft reflection in the door—Arashi had gone as silently and suddenly as he had come.
Someone cleared her throat in the room, and Miwako turned, suddenly very aware of her position. She flushed and straightened her posture as the professor, a fierce looking female in a sharply tailored purple business suit, raised an eyebrow at her. The woman gestured to where the other students in her class were seated. Miwako's blush deepened as she met their eyes with hers. She quickly fluttered over to a seat in the small lecture room and sat down next to a girl with a funny winter hat on. The class went back to their murmuring and discussions momentarily before the teacher caught their attention with an eraser missile, aimed at a particularly loud boy in the back row. Miwako stared at the boy for a moment, struck by his girlish appearance, before he caught her looking and made a challenging face at her. She gasped and turned back around, catching the attention of the girl next to her.
"You a transfer student or som'fin?" she asked, pulling on and fiddling with the strings and puffball ends of her hat. She blew and popped a huge bubble, which burst a sugary strawberry scent into the air. Miwako slowly shook her head and responded, "No, Miwako's a freshman. Miwako's starting the year a bit late, you see." She said the last part with a touch of both embarrassment and a painful recollection of this summer.
The girl looked confused. "Miwako? Who's Miwako?"
Miwako's eyes widened, and her face became very serious for a moment. "No…" she said, "Miwako is Miwako." She gestured to herself as she said this, worried for the girl's comprehension. The girl with the hat stared at her for a moment, blinking, and then burst out into laughter.
"Silence! I will not tolerate my students amusing themselves and the expense of my examples, no matter how tragic they may be!" Their teacher's commanding voice boomed up to them, and both of the girls' mouths shut, backs rigid with attention. Luckily the professor was in the process of demonstrating a well-put together outfit and currently had an example of what her students should avoid at all costs. The outfit on the projection screen was pitiful, so Miwako was lucky to not have to create an explanation for her new friend's outburst. Miwako was terrible at lying, and she hated doing it.
The teacher's attention was drawn back to the attentive first few rows, so the girl with the funny hat continued. The top half of the hat had been cut off and sewn, exposing her short dreads that stuck out in every direction. Except for a few long ones that stuck out from underneath the headband-like hat and hung to the girl's shoulder, they were all perfectly the same length. Guessed the short top ones were all somewhere between three and four inches, and some had pretty glass beads on them.
"….Oi, you listenin' to me?" Miwako's gaze snapped from the glass decorations to the girl's bright blue eyes.
"Ah…"
"I said, what kind of girl goes walkin' around, talkin' in third person like it's completely normal and expects people to take her all serious-like?" she asked with an entertained smile, apparently still amused over her discovery of Miwako's dialect.
Miwako, realizing she was being asked a question, stammered back "Ah, um, Miwako is only talking like Miwako always has…." She offered her response up self-consciously, hoping she wouldn't be laughed at again.
A genuine half-smile spread across the girls lips as she leaned on the table, her chest leaning on her folded arms. She extended her right hand to Miwako, crossing it further over her left to reach as she said, "Name's Lively, Miwako."
Miwako took her hand slowly, looking shocked as she did so. As the other girl's hand clasped hers, she smiled. Miwako made her first high school friend. Lively grinned and a quick chuckled slipped out as she watched Miwako's reaction.
"It's good to meet you!" Miwako exclaimed, her long, curly pink pigtails bouncing with her enthusiasm.
A frustrated shout of, "Ladies, be quiet!" was drowned out by the bell, and the scraping of chairs and fluttering of papers filled the room as students rushed to get out the door. Lively grinned at her and gestured towards the door, the beads in her deep chocolate hair clinking once. "C'mon, let's go. What class you got next?"
They gathered their things and melded into the group of students leaving, slipping with the noisy throng out into the hallway. Miwako took out her schedule and handed it to Lively, saying, "Miwako doesn't know where Miwako's going. Yaza Arts is huge!"
"You're in luck, then," Lively said, handing the time grid of courses back to Miwako, "Your next class is with me."
The two girls headed down the hall together, Miwako's poufy white skirt rising and falling with each of her steps, Lively's dreadlocks making clinking noises every few steps. From the doorway they'd left behind, a tall lanky Arashi watched with a narrowed gaze. He didn't like sharing, especially not with ex-girlfriends.
Well that was chapter one. What'd ya think? I actually have a full plot line in my head for this, so overall it should be a pretty coherent story. I'm also aiming to make all of my chapters over 1500 words, so they'll be about this length, maybe a few words shorter at a minimum. I'm a full-time college student, but since I've only got 13.5 credits I have a lot of down time. Hopefully posting a new chapter weekly or bi-weekly isn't out of the question :D Hit me up with a comment and tune in for next week's chapter!
Loli