If the first chapter doesn't seem to have any relation to this story, that's ok. That chap was written over my summer break and it was supposed to be a full fic, but because of lack of interest by my classmates, who were supposed to be in it, I stopped it. The real story, which starts this chapter, is the spawn of the original story. It has different people, same setting, same general idea, and many other characters that will be inserted later. Now, let's start the story!

Claire stood at the bus stop on the morning of the last day of school before Thanksgiving break, in her hand was a large yellow envelope bulging with the papers inside. She looked down at it for what must have been the millionth time since she had found it in her mailbox yesterday. Looking up she saw a girl wearing kakis and a black shirt visible through her unbuttoned jacket with waist length auburn hair pulled back in a simple ponytail.

"Kilana!" Claire yelled as her friend walked over. "You have no idea what I got in the mail yesterday!" she said once the other girl was close enough and before Kilana could ask what had made her so excited Claire held up the envelope. "We're going to Japan!"

"No way!"

"Yes way!" Claire dug around in the envelope for a minute before pulling out a black piece of paper. "Listen to this.-

Dear Ms. Morgan

You and a number of your friends have been selected o participate in a new program that allows young Americans to learn about different countries and part of their history, culture, and traditions. Please choose no more then 10 friends to accompany you on your first trip to Japan for a hands-on-look at the island's past and a lesson on one of its most infamous legends.

This trip will only last the Thanksgiving holiday weekend and cost $50 per person. You need no RSVP, simply come to your school, Millbrook High, at 7:30 am on the morning of Friday November 26th with the included forms signed by your parents or guardians if you wish to go.

I hope to see you all soon,

GK

Claire finished reading the flowing silver script and handed the latter to Kilana. The second girl read it over as a third girl, Becky, joined the group carrying her usual armload of books (it had actually decreased in size when she had finished Grapes of Wrath some weeks earlier) that hid the front of her jacket and whatever shirt she was wearing over a pair of blue jeans.

"Hey Becky! Guess what!" Claire said excitedly to the junior.

"What?" Becky asked with big eyes and a smile.

"We're going to Japan!" Kilana answered as she finished the letter.

"We are?" Becky questioned, now looking to the sophomore.

"Yes!" Claire said as she bounced up and down a bit. A thought hit and she started going through the envelope again. After a couple seconds she pulled out two small packets of paper and handed one to Becky and the other to Kilana.

"Those are the permission forms. We don't have to pack anything because whoever's doing this is supplying most of what we'll need. They did highlight as very strange sentence on the second page though."

"Hold on." Becky said as she tried to put her forms away and hold on to the black letter Kilana had also handed her.

She eventually got it all under control and was reading the letter herself when the middle school bus pulled up. After the bus had left, she finished and handed Claire the letter with a big smile on her face.

"Yuri got to go over the summer, now I get to go! Ha! I'll have to ask my mom though."

"I probably have to ask too, but for $50, heck, I'm sure they'll want to come too." Kilana said.

"Who else are you going to ask to come?" Becky asked.

"Everyone that sits at our lunch table basically." Claire said as she looked down at the envelope again.

"What's this?" Kilana questioned as she pointed to a highlighted section on the second page of the permission forms.

"That's the strange thing I was talking about." Claire said.

"Let me see." Kilana showed Becky the highlighted bit of form that read –

'If you choose to bring items of your own on this trip please refrain from bringing CD's, CD players, radios, other such electrical devices, plastic or glass containers, and most other modern man-made items. The only exceptions are diabetic, asthmatic, or other such needed medications.'

"Why wouldn't they want us to bring technology to Japan? That's where most of that stuff is made!" Kilana objected as the high school bus pulled to a stop.

"I don't know." Claire said with a shrug as she got behind her friends. "Hey Kilana, could you not tell Clara about this yet? I want to tell everyone else at lunch."

"Ok" Kilana responded as she went to sit next to Clara at the back of the bus, everyone thought the two of them were twins when they really weren't related at all.

Claire sat in front of Becky in the middle of the bus and they talked about what they could do in Japan and which legend they might learn about.

As the bus reached the bottom of the hill that marked the end of their neighborhood, Claire's eyes drifted out the window and she saw something that made her laugh. "Beck, look outside."

Becky looked out the window, but the bus had already turned and the sight could no longer be seen so Claire tried to explain it.

"There was a FedEx guy stealing a trashcan!"

"A FedEx guy?"

"Yeah, I saw his uniform. He was wheeling a trashcan down the street."

Becky was quiet for a moment before she said simply, "That was random and quite odd."

"I know," Claire apologized. "Sorry, continue please." And so they continued to talk about the trip until they reached their school.

Yay! The FedEx guy thing really did happen this morning. I don't know if he really was trying to take it or not, but it sure looked that way. I'll try to write the second chap this week and have it up by next weekend. Ok, I'm done now. Later all!