Usagi sat in her window seat, staring at the booklet she held. Reading over and over again about Nova Scotia. Had she made the right choice? She liked the way British Columbia looked too, with all those mountains and huge forests of huge trees. But she couldn't change her mind now. She was already in the air on her way to her destination. I kinda wish Mamo-chan were coming with me though… No! We broke up remember? That's why I'm going on this vacation, to get away from him and try to get over him. Did I do the right thing though? Could I have handled it differently? Maybe I shouldn't have been so harsh. Maybe I should have…. No! Stop it! Stop thinking about him. I'm going on vacation and I'm going to enjoy it.

She had never been so far away from home before, let alone by herself. But she was looking forward to it. It would give her sometime to think, to be alone and not have anyone interrupt. She could anything she wanted, when she wanted. She wouldn't have to wait for other people to make up their minds and comprise her plans with others. She was free to do her own thing all summer. It was extremely exciting. If it was so exciting then why did she suddenly find herself in the washroom crying her eyes out again? She took a deep breath and look at herself in the mirror. This hurts so much. Why can't I just let him go? I don't want it to hurt anymore. Then followed a stream of tears again. She still loved him. Of course she did. It had only been two weeks since she broke up with him. Will she ever stop loving him? Probably not. He was her first everything. Well, maybe not everything but she was sure that if things had worked out he would have been. He was her fist boyfriend, her first kiss, her first long-term relationship, her first love. But he threw that all away. And for what? A white powder that gives you the illusion that everything is fine in your life and you can accomplish anything. She felt ashamed. Why was she not able to give him that feeling? Maybe it was her fault as why he turned to it.

"Oh my god," She muttered to herself quietly as she gazed into the mirror, "It was my fault. I was pushing him to hard. I was always on his case. I was demanding perfection from him," She looked into the mirror again, and knew she was deceiving herself, "No. That's not the case. I'm just looking for someone blame. Right? Or was it my fault?" She took a deep breath and splashed water on her face and wiped her eyes. "I don't wanna think about this right now. I wanna think about the fun that I'm going to have this summer." With that, she opened the door and returned to her seat and continued her reading.

There was only a month and a half left of summer and she has had a blast all summer. She had gone to the beaches, saw the sites, volunteered at a summer camp for disabled children and went shopping… a lot. Now she sat in her hotel room, surfing the Internet on the laptop her father had bought her for the trip so she can email her family. Normally, she hated pop-ups, but this time one of them caught her eye. And She took the chance to look at it. It was advertising a local university. It had listed some of the courses it offered and one held her interest. A drug and alcohol counselor. She had never really thought about what she wanted to go to college for. But this sparked her interest. She couldn't help Mamoru but maybe she could help other people with their problems. She immediately clicked on the link and started researching. She got a little discouraged when she discovered that she needed higher grades in the high school courses she needed in order to even be considered for this course. But then she got an idea. She picked up the phone and dialed the number offered on the site. She inquired if there was anything she could do to get the grades she needed to be accepted. She was thrilled to hear that they did offer courses that she could take again to raise her marks. They even offered to help hook her up with a student visa, since she needed one if she was to study outside of her country. They set up an appointment for her meet with some counselors to help her through the process. She hung up the phone with a big smile on her face and immediately hung up the phone to inform her parents of her plans.

Usagi looked around at the apartment that the university had helped her get. She had spent the rest of her vacation redoing those courses she needed to get into that program and she had received her student visa. Usagi went into her bedroom and laid out some clothes on her bed for tomorrow. After all, tomorrow was the day she was to start her college career. Her father had emailed her back saying that he and her mother were thrilled that she had found something that she wanted to do. Though her career of choice wasn't exactly what they expected. But he was glad to support her. And glad to pay for her schooling and anything else she needed for school, including her apartment.

She was so excited about her new life. Everything was going great, except for one thing. She still hadn't gotten over Mamoru and cried herself every night to sleep thinking about him. She still felt as crushed as she did the day of the break up. She always found herself wondering how he was. If he was still addicted, or if he had made a true attempt to quit. She found it hard to sleep at night with these thoughts running through her mind, which was always restless. She found herself now sitting on her bed, clutching her pillow and letting her tears flow into it. She missed him. She missed his kiss, his sent, his touch. She missed him so much that sometimes she felt empty and vulnerable. But she couldn't think of him now. There will plenty of time to wallow in self-pity. Right now she had to think of her big day.

Usagi sat in the cafeteria alone at an empty table, looking over her schedule. She was totally unaware of the two girls looking at her.

"She looks new." One of the girls said pointing in Usagi's direction.

The other looked in Usagi's direction, "Yeah she's in most of my classes. Must be studying the same thing. Let's go say hi."

"Becky I don't know…"

"Lex, You gotta take some chances in life. No wonder you don't have many friends."

"I do too!"

"I mean besides everyone from high school. Have you made any friends since? I don't think so. Come on." Becky got up and led the way, "Hi." She greeted Usagi with a smile and sat down across from her, the other girl sat beside Becky. Usagi smiled politely and waved, "I'm Becky and this is Alexis, or Lex as most of us call her." Usagi smiled again and let out a small hello, "You can speak English can't you?" Becky asked politely.

Usagi sighed wearily, "Enough to get me by." She answered in her thick Japanese accent, "I'm sorry I don't mean to be rude. I just don't know anyone from around here."

Becky smiled, "That's why we came over here, to say hi, introduce ourselves and ask if you wanted to hang out after school."

"After school?" Usagi was taken by surprise.

"Yeah. We don't bite I promise. You look like you can use some friends. So what do you say?" Becky smiled.

"Sure why not. I don't have anything else to do."

Becky chuckled, "See? That's great. Nothing better to do than hang out with us." She gave Usagi a friendly grin.

"Oh! I didn't mean…"

Becky waved her hand, "It's okay. It was a joke. So meet here after classes?"

Usagi nodded, "Okay."

Becky and Alexis got up to leave, "great." Becky said, "See you then. Oh! What's your name anyway?"

"Usagi."

A couple weeks went by and Usagi was building a great friendship with Becky. They now sat at their usual table in the cafeteria, Becky was looking at the classifieds in the paper, Alexis was digging in the bottom of her pudding cup trying the get the last bit out and Usagi was writing a letter to her friends back home. Alexis looked over to Becky and asked, "What are you looking for?"

"Well, now that I've gotten rid of that nutcase roommate of mine I'm seeing if people are for or to be roommates. As you can see I'm not getting very far."

"I don't think she was the nutcase." Alexis retorted.

"Yes, she was. She wasn't as wacky or crazy as I am, therefore she's clearly a nutcase."

"You're looking for a roommate?" Usagi piped up.

"Yuppers. No luck so far." Becky answered.

"Well, I was thinking of getting one. I feel guilty that my father's paying for everything while I'm down here, so I was thinking of ways to make it less expensive. So if you're interested we could move in together."

Becky's eyes went wide, "That's a great idea! If you'd like I can move in your place, since you've already got a two bedroom (for reasons I still don't understand), plus the rents cheaper and it's closer to school. Plus you wouldn't have to worry bout moving your stuff, since your life has already been up heaved enough, I'm assuming."

"Usagi smiled, "Sounds great. We can work the details out after school."

Becky nodded, "Great! And---" Becky stopped abruptly, "oh god!"

Usagi's eyes furrowed, "What is it?"

Becky motioned behind Usagi with her head; "It's Cassandra. She's a friend's of ours ex. But for some reason she still thinks that she's still 'in' with us. Or acts like it anyway. She's been trying to get back with him ever since he broke up with her. I just hope she's not coming over here. Oh! Thank god she walking the other way. I hate people like her."

Usagi frowned, "People like her."

"Yeah, you know that popular snobby type? Thinks she's better than everyone else."

"If she thinks she's better than everyone one else, then why does she still hang around you guys?"

"To try to get back with her ex," Alexis explained, "She only wants him back because---"

"Lexis! Please! I don't want to hear about that!" Becky interrupted, "Yeah she cheated on him and broke his heart. I can't think of anything worse than being betrayed by the one you love."

"Tell me about it." Usagi thought aloud.

Becky and Alexis looked at each other, than at Usagi, "Okay," Becky began, "Spill. Tell us about the bastard."

Usagi looked back and forth between the two with her eyes, "About who?"

"The guy that broke your heart," Alexis answered, "Who was he and what did he do."

Usagi looked down at the table; "He wasn't who I thought he was. He betrayed me and stepped all over my heart."

"Yes," Becky urged, "But what did he do?"

Usagi sighed, "I really don't want to talk about it."

"Okay fair enough. Hey! You know what? One of our friends is in a band and he's performing at the local bar on Friday. We're all going, you wanna tag along? You'll get to meet new people, make more friends, you know, the whole nine yards. Come on. Do it for me, your new roommate."

Usagi thought a moment and then sighed, "Alright. What do I have to lose?" She glanced up at the clock, "Well, I gotta go to class. I'll see you later."

"Bye." Becky waved and watched Usagi leave.

Alexis turned to Becky with a look of suspicion on her face, "What are you planning?"

Becky grinned from ear to ear, "What?"

"I know you. You're planning something."

"You're right, I am. Look, she obviously got her heart broken pretty bad. I mean, she wouldn't even talk about it. And the band is full of single guys…"

"Dan's not single," Alexis reminded.

"Dan's never single."

"Hey!"

"Well, it's true. Anyway, we just have to ask around to see who's looking. Though I have one in mind. We know these guys. We know that any one of them will treat her right. We just gotta talk to them and make sure that she doesn't know it's a set up."

"You're thinking about asking Damon, aren't you?"

Becky grinned again, "Oh! Come on. He's a nice guy. She's a nice girl."

"I think that you should just stay out of it. Remember the last time you tried to hook Jo up? Was he a pathological kleptomaniac, who liked to sleep with women 30 years older than him?"

"Okay, that was one time---"

"And the guy before that who was a pyro and almost set her hair on fires?"

"Oka---"

"And then that guy with the weird fungus fetish?"

"Okay. You've made you point. But this is different. We know them both, and we know that they're both pretty decent."

"We've only known Usagi for a few weeks. For all we know she could be a pseudo masochist, with a fetish for beastiality and human fecal matter."

Becky grinned; "Only if we're lucky."

Becky was all moved in to Usagi's apartment now. And to celebrate they went out and got makeovers. Usagi decided to something drastic and cut her hair. She only got it cut to just below the middle of her back, but it was now considerable shorter than what it was before. After they got their hair and make-up done, they went shopping for some clothes to wear to wear that night at the bar. Things were certainly going to be interesting. If only Usagi knew.

An: Kay, I know that some of the events in this chapter went by REALLY quick. But I needed to get to the point. I really didn't feel like writing a chapter that went: "And she did this… and then this happened and then and then and then." And I'm sure you didn't want to read something like that. I hope you enjoyed it. And the next part is going to posted really soon.

Please review.