"I'm laaate!"

A thirteen-year-old girl scrambled out the door of her aunt's house. Let me introduce you to Ayaka Hirahara. A great tennis player and singer: But dense and absent-minded. Blond hair arranged into two thin pigtails with the rest flying behind. Light sapphire eyes looked frantic.

"Let's see, Seishun Academy should be around this corner... yes! I made it!"

Ayaka skidded into the school grounds. A few people walking by stared at her oddly.

"Eight-thirty, I still have ten minutes!" she mumbled to herself as she walked into the main building.

"Class 2, first year...hmm," Ayaka studied a map posted on the front door.

Suddenly the front door swung open. Ayaka dodged the door swiftly.

"Watch when you open the door!" she shouted angrily.

"Sorry! My apologies!" A tall, light-brown boy bowed.

"Some start to the school year," Ayaka thought. The guy stood up and

Ayaka noticed that he was pretty good-looking.

"Do you need some help in finding your classroom?" he asked in a mild voice.

"If you aren't busy..."

"Then follow me."

Ayaka followed him, noticing how girls glared at her as she passed by.

"Class 2 first year? Ok, it's tight around the corner," he said as we walked over to the right side of the building.

Suddenly a girl with dark brown hair flew around the corner and tackled Ayaka.

"Ouch!" Ayaka exclaimed as she fell on the ground.
"Tomoka-kun! What are you doing to the new student!" The guy exclaimed.

"Shusuke-chan, that's Ayaka Hirahara-sama! She's my favorite singer!" Tomoka said excitedly.

Ayaka sighed and stated, "PLEASE don't tell anyone. I want to start the year off in peace, and that means no fan girls or fan boys crowding around me for the time being."

Tomoka bowed and apologized. Shusuke seemed a little miffed (since he liked listening to her songs also).

Ayaka dusted herself off and picked up her briefcase (or is it called something else? Please tell me if you know). She thanked Shusuke and walked into the classroom quietly.

"Ryoma-chan! Can you teach me how to play tennis?"

A group of girls crowded around a dark-green haired boy. He sighed and waved them away. Ayaka tightened her two pigtails and walked to her desk.

A few minutes later the teacher walked in and everything quieted down quickly.

The teacher cleared his throat and announced, "Good morning everyone. Welcome to class 2, year one. Hope you enjoy your day here among many others."

One by one, people introduced themselves. When Ayaka introduced herself, the green-haired boy grunted something.

Ayaka was speechless when the boy announced his name. The winner of four consecutive U.S. tournaments? Sure didn't look like it.

"Now that everyone has introduced themselves, lets pass around the math books. Today we will do problem 5 with a partner."

"Wanna be partners?" Ryoma asked quietly.

"Sure...?"

That was the start of Ayaka's long stay at Seishun Academy.

"Ack, piles of homework," groaned Ayaka as she arrived home.
Her aunt, Toto, greeted her with a, "How was your first day of school, Aya-chan?"

"I have to work now. Don't bother me, ok?" asked Ayaka. Toto nodded quickly and went into the kitchen.

Flip, flip, flip. Pages of homework went by.

"Aya-chan!! Dinner's ready!" called Toto.

"Coming!" yelled Ayaka. Quickly she stuffed her homework into her pack and rushed downstairs.

For dinner Toto invited over one of Ayaka's friends.

"Hey, Ayaka!"

A girl with black hair tied up into a pigtail greeted her as she came downstairs. Oddly the girl had gold eyes, like a tiger's.

Tonight, they had kitsune udon with a glass of soymilk.

"Itadakimasu!"

"Say Ayaka...are you going to join Seishun Academy's tennis team? I heard they're pretty good," questioned Yuuka (a.k.a. the black-haired girl).

She smiled and replied, "Yup, I'm auditioning tomorrow. Wish me luck!"

Just as the last noodle disappeared, the doorbell rang. Ding-ding-ding! (Like my alarm clock).

"I'll get it!"

Toto rushed to the door.

"Hi! Is Ayaka available?"

"Aya-chaaan! It's for you"

"Sorry Yuuka," apologized Ayaka quickly.

Yuuka just smiled and waved her to the door.

"Shusuke?"

The person smiled.

"I wanted to introduce you to some of my friends. Can you come now?"

"Yeah, just a sec."

She slipped on her sneakers and jumped outside.

Eight people waited outside (not including Shusuke). Ayaka noticed one was Ryoma.

A guy with cool sideburns stepped up, smiled, and introduced himself,

"Shusuke says you sing pretty well, Ayaka was it?"

"Gack! How did you-" Shusuke caught her eye. He smiled an apology.

"My name's Shuichiro Oishi. It's nice to meet you."

The two of them shook hands.

"Nyaa! Shuichiro-kun! It's not fair that you got to introduce yourself first!" the red-haired boy whined. A thin white bandage decorated his left cheek.

"Eiji...it's not that big of a problem. I can just introduce all of us at once," said Shuichiro patiently.

Ayaka giggled behind her hand.

Shuichiro took a deep breath and introduced all of them.

Ayaka ran the names through her head, "So Kunimitsu, Eiji, Sadaharu, Kaoru, Shusuke, Shuichiro, Momo-chan, and Ryoma?"

"That's right," congratulated Shusuke with a smile.

"Hey! Lets take a walk before the sun disappears!" Eiji said enthusiastically. Everyone liked that idea a lot, so off they went.

"A warm welcome to the new neighborhood Ayaka-chan!" Momo exclaimed