I finally have another chapter to post for you guys. Sorry it's a bit late, but I had to finish up with school, and then my boyfriend visited for 2 weeks so I had no time to write. However, I was able to finish it, and I think you'll like this chapter. Read and Review please.
Chapter 3: And the Gears Spawn the Idea
The first bell of the Friday morning rang at Orange Star High. It was the first of three tardy bells. Pan could hear it in the distance as she landed on the outskirts of Satan City. She knew she still had twenty minutes to get to class. She was supposed to meet up with Shane and walk to school with him and his younger sister. It was a daily ritual they'd done ever since middle school.
Walking briskly, she was lost in thought. Hmm…. Homework's done… I think… must go to Bulma's after school, need to talk to dad later… go to grandma and grandpa's…maybe even head to my other grandpa's… So of course she didn't see a girl walking toward her.
Crash! Both girls flew backwards. The other girl lost the papers that she had been carrying in her hands. Pan sat up and rubbed her head slightly. "Sorry…" she muttered. "My fault."
"My papers!" cried the other girl. "Catch them! I gotta have them for my chemistry class!"
Pan jumped to her feet and began snatching papers. A breeze began to blow lightly and the papers swirled and danced in the air, just out of Pan's reach. She added some ki to her jumps and was able to grab all of the papers before they flew over the buildings. "Here you go," she said to the girl with a smile. Now that she could get a good look at the girl she saw that she was about 4'11", and had a wiry frame. She was a freckled girl with long blonde hair pulled back by a headband.
"Thanks," said the girl. "I needed those for a project due today."
"Aren't you a bit young to take chemistry?"
"Oh no, not at all! I skipped two grades and am in my tenth year at Orange Star High. I'm Setsei by the way."
"Hehe. I'm Pan. I'm in my tenth year as well at Orange Star, but I don't recall ever seeing you."
"That's because I just moved in last week. And you may not have noticed me because I'm so short. Nobody ever does."
"Well, it was nice meeting you Setsei, but I gotta go meet a friend before school. I'll see you around." Pan waved and took off. She looks familiar, but eh, probably'll never see her again.
She walked in a northeastern pattern until she reached Thomas Lane. She turned to the right and walked three houses down. Thomas Lane was a kind of upper class neighborhood where the people still acted like everyone else. Sure they had two and three story homes with two car garages and a car for each driver in the family amongst other things, but they were still some of the nicest people to know. Pan stopped in front of the house with the number 235 beside the door. This house was a tannish three-story house with a two-car garage. A swimming pool glistened out back. On the porch sat a blonde haired boy and a younger girl who had caramel brown hair.
The boy immediately jumped up upon seeing Pan and stuffed something into his book bag. "Hurry up, Shane. We'll be late. I can't have anymore detentions this month, or dad will ground me!"
"I'm coming Pan. Chill out. You're a bit late anyway."
"I met some girl named Setsei along the way. Accidentally ran into her."
"You mean that really smart girl?" piped up Shane's younger sister, Jun. "I see her around sometimes. She never wants to hang out, though I've asked her."
"I think that's her. Anyway, we'd best be off."
Shane laughed. "Come on Jun before mother here grounds our butts."
"Shane! I will kick your butt for that remark!"
Shane smirked. "Well you'll have to catch me first." Of course, he knew that he was no match for Pan's speed. However, he figured that she was a bit groggy. He shot off down the street, leaving his sister and Pan in a daze.
"What the… hey! You can't do that!" She was about to take off, but knew it wasn't wise to leave Jun behind. "Come on Jun, climb on my back."
"But Pan… I'm too heavy for you."
"Just climb on or I'll leave you behind. You don't want that happening now do you?"
Jun shook her head and climbed on to Pan's back. "Hold on tight. You might fall off otherwise."
Jun wrapped her arms and legs around Pan's body and laid her head on Pan's shoulder. "Fast?" she asked.
Jun had no time to hear Pan's answer as Pan took a deep breath and shot off down the street. Jun closed her eyes as the blurred view made her dizzy. She held on tighter to Pan. She runs this fast? Sheesh…
Shane turned to look behind him and only could see a fast moving dust cloud coming his way. Crap… Better head off to school and hide…she'll take Jun to school if she can't grab me. Shane ran faster, his backpack bouncing from side to side. Unfortunately his backpack had been unzipped some and with all the bouncing his backpack was doing, it came unzipped all the way. Shane suddenly noticed the flying swirl of papers around him. "Oh shit!" he cursed. He stopped in his tracks and turned to grab the papers.
Pan looked up ahead and saw that Shane had stopped. What the?! Curses! Pan quickly began slowing down. She almost bumped into Shane, but stopped suddenly. "What the heck Shane?"
"Just grab my papers! I really need them!"
Pan set Jun down and leapt to grab the papers. Second time today. Stupid me getting there at the wrong moments. She shoved the papers at Shane. "I'll see you at school. I need to walk by myself for a bit."
Shane gave her an odd look. "O.. Okay… I'll take Jun to school and see you there then…" He stuffed papers in his bag and zipped it.
Pan nodded. "Don't worry about me." She turned and walked down the road. As soon as she was about twenty meters away from Shane, she sighed deeply. She had really just wanted to get away from Shane. She couldn't handle his hyperness this early in the morning. She sighed and headed on to school, dreading the boring day ahead.
"And so you see class, Anne only wanted to be loved by a family. Now, I want you to spend the rest of the period writing two journal entries. You will put yourself in the shoes of an orphan. I don't care how old or what time period or where you are. The first entry you will write will be before you are adopted by a family. The second one you will write will be a few months after you have been adopted. Each journal will be at least a page minimum. However, more is always better. These will be due tomorrow at the beginning of class. Use good descriptions. Let's see if anyone has as good of an imagination as Anne Shirley eh?"
Pan was zoning out as Setsei Tetsuki talked. She had read this book so long ago. However, she was one of the three out of a class of thirty that had already read Anne of Green Gables. Setsei Tetsuki had decided that the class should read this book for a taste of Canadian literature. Pan just thought that the book was lost on her class, but didn't speak up for fear of being reprimanded.
She pulled out a few pieces of paper and grabbed her blue ball point pen. She considered the different time periods that she could use. She didn't want to use a period too long ago because she didn't know much beyond fifty years ago to write journal entries. She decided to go back thirty years ago. Not much was different then, unless you lived in the city. Lets' see…I don't want to do a city girl. I've never lived in the city before, only visited. I think I'll stick to the countryside near where Grampa was found. Heck, some people out in that area still live in the dark ages. Now that I've got a time and place, I just need a girl's name and an age…Let's see… I don't want her to be as old as me, but I don't want her to be too young either. I'll make her.. twelve. Yes, that seems like a good age. And she will be named… Ruki.
With an idea in mind, Pan began to write. It took her awhile, as her mind veered in different directions, but she accomplished the task. She had two different papers laying in front of her, and was satisfied with both of them.
March 18
Dear journal,
My life is so very boring. Miss Caterski gave me this journal for my birthday. It is the only thing I got. She was the only one to remember me as well. The other orphans ignored me. I guess they thought that I was some weird pest. Prissy tried to steal this journal away from me. She is very rude. She thinks she is better than everyone. I wanted to remind her what she got for her birthday two months ago, but I held my tongue. I didn't want to get in trouble on my birthday.
Life here at the orphanage is dull. It is located in the woods outside of Satan City. I have never been to the city. I hear it's awfully nice. Such nice things that can be bought with money! Prissy is always talking about how she's been to the city many times, before she came here. I just tell her to shut up and throw something at her. She usually runs when I do that. She's so chicken.
My only friend here besides Miss Caterski is Taka. He came here almost a year ago, and I was the first person to befriend him. No one else liked him very much. I don't know why. He was very lonely, and I would just talk with him forever. He never got tired of it. I was surprised. I am usually one person who doesn't shut up. Taka still listens though. He helped me get back at Prissy last Christmas by sticking a fake spider in her serving of mashed potatoes. We both had detention for a week, but the prank was worth it.
Today Miss Caterski mentioned that people who want to be parents are visiting tomorrow. I can't remember the word she used though. She tells us we have to clean up nicely. We also have to clean the whole orphanage with her later. Mr. Gasaki is going to help us too. I am not looking forward to this. I want a nice family, but I don't want to leave Miss Caterski and Taka. I don't think I could live without Taka. He needs someone to talk to, and no one else seems to listen to him. I know. I'll help him find some parents tomorrow, ones that will listen to him and take good care of him. I don't mind leaving him if I know he'll be taken care of.
I don't know if anyone will come for me though. No one has ever wanted me since I came here over six years ago. I used to cry when the parents would leave. I thought they didn't like me. I know better now though. They liked me, but I just wasn't for them. The orphanage is a better place for me though. I get to be myself. I do hate how it's crowded though. All of us older girls are in one big room. There are twelve bunk beds in our room. I sleep farthest from the door on the top bunk. Thankfully Prissy sleeps nowhere near me. That girl is just a pain. Her bunk mates have told me. She's always bragging about something from her past life. My bunk mate is a girl named Erinako. She's very shy, and never talks to anyone. I've tried to talk with her, but she just turns away from me. She has no friends except for those imaginary ones of hers. She stays outside whenever she can and plays underneath the big oak tree.
I gotta go now. Miss Caterski is calling for me. I think she wants us to go clean the rooms. Blech. I'll write more tomorrow after all the people leave.
Ruki
June 2
Dear journal,
I am so sorry that I haven't written in you for so long. There's so much to tell and so much that has happened to me! But let me start from the beginning.
March 19 was the day that the parents came to visit all of us. I hung back with Taka. We looked at all the grown ups that passed us, trying to find good ones for Taka. He was being very shy and reminded me of Erinako. He kept pushing his glasses up on his nose, and I knew that he was nervous. We didn't get to stay hidden for very long though. Miss Caterski saw us and told us to go talk to the adults. We did as we were told.
We tried to stay away from the old people. I don't much like them. They always seem to smell funny. Taka agreed with me. A young couple saw us together. They started to come over, and Taka tried to hide behind me. They began to talk with us. The woman seemed very polite and the man tried to be very funny, but he didn't do so well. I laughed at his joke though, to make him feel better. They were really nice. They even slipped us some chocolate candy and told us we were very good kids. We saw them walk off and talk to Miss Caterski. We just walked away and sat under the oak tree. Taka pulled out a magnifying glass and began to watch the ants on the anthill nearby.
An hour later, Miss Caterski found us under the tree. I thought she was going to punish us for not listening to her, but she only smiled at me. She told us that the couple, who were Mr. and Mrs. Gaillara, wanted to adopt us. I was very happy, because that didn't mean that I had to say bye to Taka. He was pretty happy too. We went inside and packed together our few belongings. Then we went home with our new mom and dad.
After we got home, we were shown our new rooms. We each had our own. There was a bed against the wall, with a desk opposite it, as well as a dresser. There was a closet too. The rooms didn't have much else. The walls were still white. When I asked why, Mr. Gaillara said that we got to paint our own rooms any color we wanted. We also got to go shopping the next day for new clothes and to buy some special things of our own. I got some books, teddy bears, some sketchbooks and pencils, and a cat poster. Taka picked out a lot of bug stuff to help him study. We get to go shopping each week for a few more items until our parents decide that we have enough. They are very nice to us.
We didn't have to go to school, since the year was almost over. We went to register for the fall though yesterday. I've never been to a public school before. The orphanage always hired someone for the year. Taka and I will both start middle school. I will be in the 7th grade, and he will be in 6th. I don't think we'll see each other often, but I'm not going to tell him that. He's so happy now. I don't want to be the one to ruin that.
Mom is calling me now, so I need to finish up. We are all going out to dinner tonight because dad got a promotion at work. We are to be going to some fancy place so I have to wear a dress, and Taka has to wear a suit. I don't much like dresses, but I'm not going to say one thing about that.
Ruki
Pan sighed as she read over her two entries again. She thought they sounded kinda dumb, but she could care less. The period was almost over, and so was the school day for that matter. Laziness was kicking in, as it does for every student at the end of the school day.Just then the last bell stirred her out of her daze.
"All right students. Place your journals on my desk. I'll grade them over the weekend and hand them back to you on Monday. I hope these will be better than the last writing assignment. I will not grade easy, as you all well know."
Half of the students didn't hear him, and those that did didn't care. The only thing the students cared about was leaving the school building as soon as they could. Pan gathered up her books and shoved them into her bookbag. Just as she turned to leave, a girl came up behind her. "Hey Pan. Kept your papers in your bag since this morning?"
Pan recognized that voice as the new girl she'd met that morning. "Not really," she answered in a monotone voice as began to walk.
Setsei looked concerned. "What happened?" she asked, curious.
"Nothing," Pan answered in the same voice.
"You seem depressed, but I won't press any further. I'll see you Monday then," Setsei responded with a cheery smile and walked off into the emptying hallway.
Pan sighed. She hadn't meant to treat the girl that way. Everything just came out wrong. Maybe the book they'd read in class had had some effect on her emotions. That's weird though… It never has before.. But then again, I'd never had that talk with dad. I kinda feel like Anne.. But only orphaned from my mother. At least we have that in common. We both never had a real mother. Though, she eventually thought of Marilla as a motherly figure. I never had that. None of the women in my life have been that close to me…. I wonder…
Pan forgot all about meeting up with Shane. She walked down the street, deep in thought with the small idea she'd came up with. The trees blew gently in the breeze, and the businessmen criticized her for walking in the middle of the sidewalk, but she didn't notice. Would it even work? It should, but dad would be so angry with me. I'd be in so much trouble. But… then again, it'd be worth it to know…
As she walked, she blindly turned left onto Rain Lane. It was a miracle she even remember that she had to go to Bulma's, or even was able to walk in a daydream. Pan headed down the fancy house-lined street, her feet intent on the big set of rounded buildings in the distance with the big Capsule Corp. logo plastered on each one. Maybe she could have some of her questions answered there.
Well, what'd you think? No song for this chapter, though I am planning to use more as I find them. If you know of a song that I may be able to use in the future, give me the name and artist so I can look up the lyrics. I'll give you credit for finding it if I decide to use it. Ta-ta for now. Review please.