"I've heard it said…That people come into our lives, for a reason, bringing something we must learn…And we are led to those, who help us most to grow, if we let them, and we help them in return…"

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Yamato Ishida…many people ("people" being the girls) thought that he was a total hottie. He had cold steel blue eyes, a lean body, and flowing blonde hair. It wasn't hard for a normal girl to fall for him. But I wasn't a normal girl. His physical features weren't what attracted me to him, it was his personality. Well, maybe his physical features a little.

Yamato went to the same school I did, Middleridge High. He once had a band. They weren't all too bad actually, they played good music. Anyway, he was slightly taller then me by about an inch or two. So that makes him…about 5 feet 7 inches. Yamato was about 5 months older then me. So he was 18, generally speaking.

My story on how we came to be best friends begins on a sunny Sunday evening. I was taking a walk in the park just to take my mind off of things. The moon was glowing, there was a slight breeze, and a few happy couples were taking walks.

"Hmph, fools…" I said to myself as I watched them make googly-eyes and kissy faces at each other. It was disgusting.

I just walked right on by and who to find but Yamato? Anyway, I just ignored him. He was playing football with his friends. I didn't think he played football but whatever. One of his friends threw the ball a little too far and I ended up catching it.

"Hey you! Throw that ball over here! Just try your best!" yelled Yamato with a smirk across his face.

That made me really angry. He was stereotyping girls! I hated that! I threw the ball as hard as I could, eventually hurting Yamato in the stomach. I smiled at the fact that I proved myself "worthy."

"You idiot!" I yelled back.

Yamato was obviously angry but I just ignored him and continued my walk and he continued his game. I looked at my watch and saw that it was around 8:00 pm. I figured that my walk was just about over and I left the park.

Little did I know then that he quit football at about the same time and went drinking his sorry ass off. Of course this was a coincidence. Anyway, I got home at around 9 and I opened the window looked out. The window was looking out onto the park. I didn't see Yamato there so I figured he got bored and left. It was so peaceful…

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. I jumped a little. I just rubbed my eyes and nonchalantly walked toward the door to open it to whoever.

'Darn, I was caught off guard…' I thought to myself as I looked at the clock. It was around 10.

I opened the door and was a little surprised when I saw Yamato leaning on my doorframe. He had grass stains all over his pants and his shirt was a little muddy. He looked as if he was dead.

"Yea?" I said a little too carelessly.

He mumbled something.

"Say that again. I can't hear you" I demanded.

"Camilla…can…I come…in…?" He mumbled.

I had nothing better to do then so I moved out of the doorway and let him inside. He came in and plopped down on the couch. I just stared but didn't do anything.

"So…why are you here, Yamato?" I asked as I got out a couple of sodas.

He mumbled something I couldn't hear. I was walking toward him to give him a soda when a rank smell reached my nose. It was then I pulled the soda back and realized that he had enough to drink. I found myself yelling at him.

"What the crap, Yamato! Why are you so drunk!"

He mumbled again. I got so fed up I punched him right smack on the cheek. It didn't seem to do much though because he was asleep. It made me really angry for the second time that day. I figured I couldn't do anything so I just took a blanket, covered him in it, and went to bed.

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My alarm clock went off. School was today. I stared sleepily at the glowing numbers that read 6:30 am. I hesitantly got up, brushed my hair, teeth, all that jazz. Then I remembered that Yamato was on my couch. I was relieved that he was still there. I didn't want him gone and having run around like a maniac all over town in the middle of the night.

I tried to wake him up by shaking him a little. He just groaned and flipped over. I figured there was no point so I made breakfast. The thing is, my parents live somewhere else. They're not divorced or anything. They're still Mr. and Mrs. Ashiru, they just left me on my own and pay my bills.

Well, in any case, I made a couple omelettes, put them on plates, and tried to wake Yamato again. This time, I shouted in his ear. I'm not so sure the other people in the apartment building appreciated the wake-up call but it woke Yamato and that's all that mattered to me.

He looked at me like a freak and said, "What are you doing here?"

I looked at him back and said, "What do you mean what am I doing here? This is where I live!"

I pointed to myself.

"Okay then, what am I doing here?"

I sighed and proceeded to tell him the story. After, he looked at his feet and looked as if he was guilty and his pride was hurt.

"I'm…really sorry…I didn't mean to do anything…I just…."

'God, he's cute like that..' I thought. Then I realized that I was thinking that I liked Yamato. I just shook my head and hoped that I would never think that thought ever again.

"Come on, get up. Breakfast is on the table." I said.

"Oh, thanks…"

"No problem. Now hurry up, we've got school in an hour and it takes 45 minutes to get there."

We ate in silence. Then I felt like as if I was being watched. And since there was nobody in the room except Yamato besides me, I turned and found that he was looking at me strangely.

"What are you looking at?" I inquired.

"Oh, nothing. Come on, let's go." He said. I raised my eyebrow but didn't give a second thought.

We walked to school, talking only a couple times just to point out the most obvious things. When we got to school, we went our separate ways and went to our first period classes. I had art, and our teacher was the worst in my opinion. Her name was Mrs. Jouler. I understand that she was devoted to art but giving a full analysis on each piece of art! I'll spare you the details.

It was finally lunch, my all-time favorite subject. I subject I probably would have scored an A+ at if it was given a grade. But whatever. Anyway, I ate my lunch quickly and was about to leave when somebody grabbed my arm. It was this freak-o weird nerdy kid. He didn't have glasses, but he still looked pretty dorky to me. He had red hair and he was a little lacking in the height gene. Also, he had an orange and white backpack that looked like it carried a laptop.

"Eww! Get off of me, you nerd!" I shouted at him. I knew his name was Izzy, I just felt like calling him a nerd.

He looked a little hurt. Like I cared about that crap. Anyway, he just calmly told me what he was told to do.

"Hey! It's not like I want to talk to you! I'm just here to give you a message!" He shouted back at me. I rolled my eyes. He continued.

"Yamato wants you to meet him at the Mocha Café after school." He announced.

'Ugh, what does he want?' I thought. "Okay, fine. Tell him I'll be there but I can't stay too long. I've got…uh…kendo practice?" I lied. I wanted to smack myself. Kendo practice! What a stupid lie. But I didn't give it another thought.

The weirdo kid rushed off and I walked to my locker to get my books. School was torture as it always was. But finally it was over and I had no homework, thankfully. I was just going to go home when I remembered that I was supposed to meet Yamato at the café. I sighed and turned around to walk to the café.

When I got there, I saw Yamato leaning against the counter sipping some sort of coffee. I walked up to him and we talked.

"Hey." I said.

"Hi."

"So…you wanted to talk to me about something?"

"Yea…this is kind of hard to say but…do you mind if I could room with you for a while?"

I was confused. One minute, we had no business with each other and the next, he wanted to room with me.

"Um…I don't mind that you room with me but…why me? I mean, there are plenty of people to room with like Sora, Tai, Izzy, Joe..."

"Well, it's a long story to tell…"

"I'm not going anywhere. Tell away!"

He then proceeded to tell me his story of why he wanted to room with me. His dad was having some financial troubles. Yamato of course wanted to help so he got a job. It backfired and the job ended up costing him A LOT of money. So now his family was in major debt and Yamato got himself drunk to make the pain go away. He also found out that unless they could make some quick cash, the Repo men would come and would practically strip their apartment of everything! Yamato wanted to help again so he and his dad agreed that Yamato should stay with somebody else just until they were back on their feet. He also said that the reason that he wanted to stay with me was because he didn't want his other friends to think that he was weak and needed to do this kind of thing. He wanted to keep his pride strong and alive. Moving in with one of them would only hurt it.

I just stared at him after he was done. I couldn't believe it! All this time I thought that Yamato was just like any other guy without many problems…I guess I was wrong. He noticed I was a bit shocked so he spoke again.

"That's okay, you don't have to." He chuckled a little bit for some strange reason.

"Are you kidding me! Of course I'll take you in! You think I'd let you off after that story?"

Yamato smiled at me and hugged me. I was a bit shocked.

He whispered into my ear while still hugging me, "I really appreciate all that you're doing for me…How can I ever thank you?"

I whispered back, "I think you just did, Yamato…"

The reason why I liked that hug so much was because, as you know, my parents were never home. Not in my childhood, not then, not ever. So I never got any bedtime stories, no hugs, no love at all.

Well, of course that afternoon, I gave a little tour of my…rather our apartment. After, he just plopped onto his bed and he looked like he was dead. He just lay there. I didn't mind so I went into the kitchen to make us some snacks. I ended up getting some chips and whatnot. We devoured them quickly. Then I suddenly remembered how he was going to get in without me. I went to a nearby closet and took out a piece of golden metal. I threw it in front of Yamato.

"Here, it's your key. Don't lose it."

He looked at me like I was insane for giving out my key.

"You loser! How are you going to get in if I wasn't here?"

"Oh…" He laughed at himself nervously. I rolled my eyes and left. "Oh! And you don't have to worry about paying rent, my parents take care of that stuff."

"Well, where are they?"

I didn't answer and walked into my room, closing the door behind me.