by: Emma Sheedy
Chapter One: The Ride Home
Fifteen-year-old Sora Takenouchi awoke with a start, quickly looking around until she remembered where she was. She never had slept well on planes. She sighed and opened the plastic shade over the window. She snuggled into her seat, wrapping the blue blanket around herself. She stared gloomily out . Just then the heavy blanketing of layered cloud parted gracefully, letting the sun in as if it were royalty they had to bow to and make way for. It was then that she got her first glimpse of the sky. Today the sky was a crisp, ice blue, that seemed of unlimited depth. Sora had only seen that shade of blue in one other place. Sora shook her head. 'Don't do this to yourself' she thought 'don't keep day dreaming about him. Besides, you don't have a chance. He likes Mimi. If only he would come to realize that Mimi doesn't truly love him. I do. It's my fault, really. I should tell him how I feel, but I'm afraid that will ruin what little friendship we have'.
Sora was on the plane because she had just been to visit her father for a long weekend - he was on yet another business trip. When Sora said goodbye to Matt last Thursday she had no idea how much her heart would ache without him. So she had had a crush on him. She had gotten crushes on millions of guys before, it was nothing new. But after they'd parted, she had wanted to see him more than anyone else. It was then that she realized she didn't have a crush on Matt, she was in love with him. She now had mixed feelings about going home. Since no one appeared to be paying any attention, she did something she almost never did: let her emotions win, and her bright red eyes shed their tears.