Chapter Six: A New School
If there is one thing that remained absolutely the same, it would have to be the busy city. Fortunately we aren't smack dab in middle, more along the outskirts. It reminds me of Odiaba in a way. It was always busy there, but mom and I didn't live in the heart of the city and neither did Matt and dad. Mimi seemed like she couldn't get enough of it.
She took us to the high school that her and Matt would be attending and then to the middle school where I would be going. I did not like that plan. I was going to be separated from the only people I knew in America. Mimi told us that she just graduated from that school last year.
"It's a really nice school." She told me. I guess my fear must have been evident on my face.
Matt didn't seem to like the idea of being separated either. He gave me a saddened look as we walked away from the middle school and down the sidewalk. Well, at least we had a week to prepare for it.
Mimi dragged us around the neighborhood, showing us where kids from school hung out, where to get good buys, where not to get good buys, some famous spots of the area, etc. I tuned Mimi out and looked around. There was a park much like the one back in Odiaba, but no playground toys, just a bunch of trees and benches. It was mainly the only green spot in the vicinity. Kids seemed to entertain themselves in there though, there were a few playing tag, running around their parents.
I stared at them for a moment and wondered, "Were Matt and I ever able to do that?" I suddenly felt a little jealous towards them and looked away, back to Mimi's pointing and explaining. My brother looked lost in his own world, but occasionally he spit out a few hmm's and oh's. Abruptly, Mimi came to a halt and whipped around to face us.
"What's with you guys!?"
The two of us looked up aghast at the suspicious faced girl. "W-what do you mean?" Matt asked coming back to reality.
"You haven't shown as so much as an interest in this place never mind try to make a conversation with me!" She replied heatedly. Matt and I exchanged semi-guilty looks.
"Mimi-san, it's not that we're not happy to see you..." Matt began. "We're just kind of homesick... I guess."
The three of us stood in silence for a few minutes watching the passing businessmen and traffic jams that occurred during rush hour. Those little kids I saw in the park now passed us with their parents tailing them, hand in hand. I inwardly cringed. I just wanted to go home. Go hang out with Davis and Kari at the arcade...
"I understand how you guys are feeling." Mimi spoke up quietly. "When I first moved here I didn't want to really associate with anyone either. All I wanted was to go back to Odiaba where all my friends were, but I couldn't."
She paused for a moment pondering what to say next. "It's only your second day here so I don't blame the way your feeling, but you should try to enjoy yourselves while you're here. New York's not so bad and the people here are quite nice, so... Just give it a chance, okay?"
"Yeah." Matt responded.
"Okay." I agreed. We walked around a little while longer with Mimi acting a bit more enthusiastic before heading home. The paint should have dried by now.
Mimi gave us a few more pep talks about New York and walked us a back to our apartment complex. We stood outside the parking lot for a few minutes chatting before she said she needed to get back home to babysit the kids next door.
"Here's my cell number. Call me about English lessons. You're going to need more improvement before school starts up again." Mimi told us with a wink as she used a flyer posted on a streetlight pole as scrap paper.
"Okay, will do." My brother replied pocketing the piece of paper. "But don't you need someone to walk you home? It's not really safe for someone to walk home by themselves..."
Mimi smiled at my brother but shook her head. "Nah, I'm a lot tougher than I used to be. Or look for that matter." Matt didn't seem convinced but let the girl go down the street and out of sight.
As we entered the apartment building we noticed the smell of paint had died down and someone was in the house. Matt immediately walked in front of me and stuck his arm out in a gesture telling me to stay where I was. Quietly, he tipped toed down the hall toward the kitchen and leaned up against the left side of the wall before peering in. His body sagged with a sigh and with a roll of his eyes he summoned me.
"It's only dad." He said.
"Oh." I reply walking in.
"Hey kids." Dad greeted while unpacking groceries. "While I was out I thought it might be a good idea to pick up some grub. Ironically, there happens to be a Japanese super market store not to far from here, but I did buy some American things to. Should probably live the experience, ne?"
"...Yeah." I smiled looking up at Matt. He only shrugged before helping dad put the food away.
"What do you say about t.v. dinners tonight? Something easy to make." Dad suggested. Matt and I agreed to it before looking at the options.
"Macaroni and cheese?" I questioned looking at the orange, cold box.
"And... 'Hot Pockets'... What the hel-" (dad gave Matt a stern look) "-heck- are 'Hot Pockets'?"
Dad shrugged. "I really don't know, they looked pretty good though." Matt gingerly put the box back down on the table.
"I think I'll pass on the... 'Hot Pockets'." He replied in English. I nodded in agreement.
"The macaroni and cheese doesn't look /too/ bad." I admitted. "Kind of an odd concept though."
"Americans love cheese." Dad replied opening the orange mac and cheese boxes. "But apparently you guys do too. I've seen what you put on your pizza." Matt and I grinned at each other before unloading the rest of the groceries.
We migrated over to the living room (a whole five feet away!) a few minutes later and turned on the television. We settled on a weird game show type thing called Jeopardy. It was actually fairly interesting although I didn't know any of the answers. Dad knew a few and our small family cheered when he got an answer right. However, most of the times he was wrong.
"What's that smell?" Matt asked sniffing the air.
"Smells like something's burn-- CHIKUSHO!!!" Dad jumped up and ran to the kitchen, throwing the oven door open. He shouted after that and whipped his hands up and down. "Chikusho, chikushoooo..." He whined. [1]
Matt and I got up and ran into the kitchen too. "I'll take care of the dinners, you tend to dad." Matt told me.
Dad was now blowing on his fingers. "Looks like a minor burn." I said having grabbed dad's hand. "Run them under cold water, I'll see if we have any aloe gel."
"That's why you use mittens dad." I heard Matt tease as I walked to the bathroom. Yup, even in the bathroom we had some boxes. I figured the first aid kit would be in one of them.
Having found the aloe gel in the first aid kit I grabbed a towel and returned to the kitchen. "Come here dad." I beckoned him over to the table. I gave him the towel and he gingerly dried his hands before I applied the aloe on his finger tips.
"Ah, doumo arigatou and gomen about dinner." Dad said looking at the burnt remains of the macaroni and cheese that Matt had pulled out of the oven. [2]
"Well, so much for that." Matt sighed. "I'll cook us something, you guys go watch t.v."
"No, you guys should go relax, I'll cook." Dad protested. My brother and I merely stared at him.
"Dad, you can't even handle a t.v. dinner..." I proclaimed softly.
"We really don't need the apartment burned down on our first night being here." Matt smirked. "Lets wait a couple days."
"Yamato." Dad said sternly.
"I was just kidding." Matt exasperated before searching for a pan. "Can't take a joke..." He went on to mutter.
"So, did Tachikawa-san show you around the neighborhood?" Dad asked changing the subject of his cooking skills.
"Yeah, we saw the schools we'll be going to as well." I replied settling in the living room.
"Oh? Is that so? Are they nice?"
"I guess..." I said uncertain.
"We haven't had the 'grand tour' of them so we really wouldn't know." Matt added sarcastically.
"/Yamato/."
"Gomen, gomen."
"You'll be starting next week. Nervous?" Dad asked coming to sit in the living room with me. I nodded sheepishly, Matt didn't answer. "Don't worry about it, everything will be fine. Although, joining the language club is still mandatory."
"We know. Mimi has also volunteered to give us English lessons." Matt told our father as delicious smells wafted throughout the house.
"Mmm, smells good." Dad noted.
"It should be ready in a few." Matt replied.
"How does work look?" I asked dad.
"Not bad. Mr. Kenjai is very nice, as well as the other staff members. There should be no problem fitting in... Well, with the exception of my English skills, they're a bit rusty." Dad answered.
I nodded and patiently waited for Matt to finish cooking. In no time dinner was ready and dad and I flocked to the kitchen. The three of us ate together with casual chat. Dad told me I should call mom and let her know we were doing well and he was going to be hooking up the computer in the living room. Matt said he was going to be in our room unpacking.
He seemed rather depressed and I suddenly felt bad. I've been so wrapped up in myself I really haven't paid any attention to see how the move has affected him. What did he have to go through during our last week in Odiaba? I stopped fishing through my bag for the phone card long enough to look at my emotionless brother out of concern. He wasn't the easiest person to get to open up, even to me.
"Did you find the phone card yet?" He suddenly asked opening his suitcase and unpacking some of his clothes.
I shook my head. "No. I'm still looking."
"Takeru!" I heard dad shout from the living room. I got up and walked out of the room.
"Yeah?"
"I found the phone card. It's on the kitchen table." He replied plugging in some wires into the wall from the computer.
"Arigato!" I replied picking the plastic card up and walking over to the phone.
Placing the phone on my shoulder (and squishing my head on it to keep it there), I raised the phone card to see what numbers I was dialing. I punched in the 1-800 number before dialing mom's home phone number. After a few rings the phone picked up.
"Moshi, moshi." A female voice tiredly greeted.
"Mom?"
"T.K.? Is that you?" Mom asked seemingly now awake.
"Yup, we made in to New York safe and sound." I replied with a smile.
"Thank goodness, I was worried about you guys." She replied before yawning.
"Tired?" I asked.
"Yeah, but that's to be expected at seven in the morning." She said. "At least you didn't call me at three in the morning, eh?"
I laughed. "I'll have to keep the time difference in mind. It's eight p.m. here."
"Thirteen hour difference." She muttered. "So how are you? Is it nice there?"
"It's not bad here, Mimi came over earlier today and we repainted the apartment. It looks nice now."
"Ah, Tachikawa Mimi right? How is she?" Mom asked. I heard her take a sip of coffee over the phone.
"Same as always. She going to be giving Matt and I extra English lessons." I replied twirling the phone cord around my hand.
"How's Yamato? Can I speak to him?" She asked eagerly.
"He's here, hold on a second." I put the phone down on the floor (having nowhere else to put it) before going into the room my brother and I shared. "Hey Matt, mom wants to talk to you." He looked up at me from the floor grimacing a bit.
I didn't really know why, but Matt and mom never really got along. I guess it would have to do with when we were younger. We didn't get to see each other very often and maybe since I was younger I just accepted that our parents were divorced (because I was too young to really comprehend why they were) and had no hard feelings against either of them. But Matt, he's a different story... It's not like mom pushes him away, she's always asking how he is and stuff...
He got up after a moment a walked over to the phone. "Hello." I heard him say. I walked over to the doorway of the room and watched his conversation. He was leaning against the wall, phone propped on his shoulder uh huhing it and examining his nails.
"Yeah, we're fine mom... I'm fine! /Really/!" He tried reassuring our mother on the other end, but judging by his expression he seemed pretty peeved. "I gotta go, dad needs help." He handed the phone to me.
"Mom?" I asked the silent phone nervous. After a brief moment of silence she spoke up.
"You guys take care, okay honey? I'll come visit you guys in June, I'll take some vacation time."
"Okay, I look forward to that." I smiled.
"I love you."
"I love you too. Try not to work too hard." I warned. She lightly laughed before the both of us hung up.
Having placed the phone back on the hook I looked over to where my brother stood, looming over our father. I couldn't hear what they were discussing over the noise of the television, but I had a feeling it had to do with Matt's behavior toward our mother. I sighed before slinking into our room.
~*~
The rest of the week went by in a hurry. We managed to unpack all our belongings and identify that sour smell that had been lingering in mine and my brother's room. Apparently the people who lived in our apartment before had some cats and had the litter box in our room. They never bothered to properly clean the carpet. I think I may have puked upon learning that information... Regardless, we got it cleaned.
Mimi and Michael got us adjusted to our neighborhood so we could at least walk from the convenience store back to our apartment complex and not get lost. They also took the majority of the rest of their spring break to help us with our English, as well as teaching us the differences between American schools and Japanese schools. That wasn't too hard to grasp. It'd be like a minnie vacation to us, going to school at seven-thirty and then getting out two o'clock. Not a bad deal if I do say so myself.
I was still nervous about going to the middle school by myself. Matt seemed pretty nonchalant when it came to school, but then again, he had Mimi and Michael to help him out. I was on my own... I really miss my friends, especially Kari. For awhile I was afraid to go online and have her instant message me. I was afraid she would have rejected my note considering she seemed pretty indifferent when I gave it to her.
I was wrong though, she accepted it with open arms. I've been smiling for days. However, she also told me it caused a little trouble with Daisuke.
"But it really didn't have to do with you! Just... well, I'm actually not really sure what it had to with." She had told me online.
As long as everything was okay back home I was glad. I talked with Daisuke too, he's okay and admitted to having been out of character. But he told me he had no hard feeling against me and actually congratulated me. It was a little weird, but I knew he had been sincere about it. I haven't had a chance to talk to anyone else though, too much of a time difference. Will have to stick with email.
But now, the dreaded day had come. It was our first day of school. The alarm had gone off at 6:10 a.m. waking me from us from our slumber... Actually, it was dad who got us up, our alarm had woken him. It was just as well though, he had to get ready for his first day of work and drive us in until we got the bus schedule. Matt was the first to use the bathroom. I think he was in there for a half an hour. I hadn't been sure if he fell back to sleep in the shower so I opened the door to make sure he was still alive.
Of course he was. He was standing in front of the mirror styling his hair. "You could've told me you were done with the shower." I said turning the hot water nob on.
"Gomen." He yawned. "I'll get you a towel." He left the room and I striped and got into the bathtub/shower. A few seconds later he knocked on the door before entering. "It's on the sink."
"Arigato."
~*~
About twenty minutes later the three of us had piled in dad's company car and were on the way to the high school to drop off Matt. Matt screamed cool. He found it odd not having to wear a uniform having gotten used to it after five years. I had only been on my second year of uniforms so it hadn't felt /as/ awkward. Matt was wearing a pair of beige colored pants and a button-up, black t-shirt. He left a few of the buttons at the top undone. I rolled my eyes, he was sure to be the new heart-throb of the school. I wondered if he really /did/ like all the attention.
I just dressed casual. A pair of dark blue jeans and a black long sleeved shirt. Matt said black was the thing to wear on the first day of school. I'd take his advice. Well, except for the hat advice, he couldn't change my mind about wearing it. Same hat I've had since... I was nine maybe? I've lost count how long I've had it.
"You guys will have to take the bus home, I'm working late." Dad said as we came to a halt in front of the gigantic high school.
"Sure." Matt replied not really listening. I think his nerves were kicking in.
"Matt!" A female voice rang out. I looked out the backseat window to see who it was. I should've guessed, it was Mimi. Matt seemed relieved as the girl bounded over to our car, Michael at her heels.
"Good morning Ishida-san, T.K." Her and Michael greeted. "Ready for your first day of school?" Mimi directed at me.
"Err... Sort of." I replied.
"Don't worry about it, you'll be fine." Mimi winked at me. "Oh! I asked one of my friends to keep an eye out for you. They'll keep you in line."
"Um... Thank you?" I laughed uncertain if that was a good thing or not.
"See you this afternoon." Matt said shutting the car door with a reassuring smile to me. I tried to smile back with the same courage he had, but couldn't manage it. We drove away and to my place of doom.
Dad tried talking to me, but I tuned him out trying to get a grip. I felt pretty silly about being this nervous, but my stomach wouldn't listen to how ridiculous it was. My first day of attending Odiaba Elementary, back in sixth grade, was like this. The only difference was I knew /someone/ there. I knew Kari attended the same school so there was a chance that I'd be in her class. But this was different, Kari wasn't there this time. No one was.
All too soon the car ride came to an end. "You're going to be fine Takeru." Dad declared turning in the driver's seat to look at me. I nodded with a nervous gulp. "Just head straight for the office, if I remember correctly they said through these door and then all the way down the hall on the left."
I grabbed my back pack and got out of the car barely managing to smile at dad as he drove away. I looked up at the tall intimidating building. It was all bricks except for a glass hall way type thing that connected one part of the building to the other. Concrete steps lead up to the glass doors where I could barely make out the shapes of kids and lockers. I gulped, pulling myself together, and took the first step up the stairs.
My very existence here as we know it all rested on my first impression on everyone. It was bad enough I entered a school where I knew no one, was more than half way through the school year, but I was also in the school's last year, eighth grade. I opened one of the glass doors and entered. Not many noticed me being wrapped up in their own conversations, others did, raising an eyebrow as to who I was. I kept looking straight ahead and walking to where I hoped the office to be.
Could I possibly survive my first day?
To be continued...
~*~
Author's Note:
[1] Chikusho means pretty much 'shit' or 'damn'.
[2] Doumo arigatou means 'thank you very much' and gomen means 'sorry'.
So how do ya like me now? Tee hee. I'm soooooooooooooooooo sorry about not updating in such a long time!! I got so wrapped up with the play back in April and then a little bit of writer's block. My main problem was really calculating the differences between Japan and America's schools and the age/grade difference. I also had to figure out how I wanted this chapter to play out. I couldn't have it the way I wanted it to be sadly, but I'm quite happy with this chappy ^_^.
So, while this fic was on my hold list I started /another/ fic, which I thought I'd finish in a day or two. Yeah right. I should know myself by now, I can't write anything short. In any case, it's a side story to this one. I have Music Chick to thank for the idea, she wanted to see what Kari's reaction to the letter Takeru gave her back in Chapter Four. So I got an idea for it and started writing it. It's almost thirty pages now, sheesh!
That fic is The Trouble Causing Letter. In case any of you are interested. It's kind of funny actually, I thought the readers for this would have flocked to that, quite the opposite actually. I'll try to have the next chapter out A.S.A.P., so that'll probably be some time next month. It'll be from someone else's perspective... **Cackles**
My thank you's go out to: bishonen4ever Ace, Music Chick, Silver Angel, and DF! Thanks a lot guys!!
Eraya ^_~