Disclaimer: Refer to first and second chapter.
CoolGirlEmily– One, Sana has a bit of tanned skin. Two, her body has matured.
Chapter 4
Sana grabbed her school bag, a piece of toast in her mouth as a snack since she'd already eaten breakfast. Quickly, she slipped on her shoes and gave Miwa and Josh, who were at the door, a peck on the cheek before going outside.
Sana slowly walked on the sidewalk as she headed to the school, which was ten to fifteen minutes away jogging, but more than that if you were walking. It was only 6:50, but school started early for Jinbou Senior High. At 7:25, students were expected to be going to their classroom. School started at 7:30, and ended at 2:40. Students had to go to different classes for different subjects as well.
During the first few days, school is hell! Sana thought to herself. Being in the US for over four years had gotten her used to the middle school's and high school's map, and since she wasn't at either of those schools anymore, she'd had trouble for a while. However, Sana eventually was able to find her way about.
As Sana neared the gates of the school at about 7:15, she fingered her new mahogany hair nervously. No one would recognize her, right? If anyone did, she was going to be in deep trouble. Cautiously, she walked into the school grounds, glancing around for Fuka. When Sana saw her, she quickly walked over to her and tapped her on the shoulder.
Fuka turned, confused, but when she saw Sana, she squealed. "Kami-sama! Your hair's so beautiful!" She looked at the style of Sana's hair. "What the? What hair style is that, Sachiko-chan?"
Sana smiled and replied, "It's called a fishtail. It was pretty hard to do on my own, but I managed." She frowned. "Doushite? Does it look bad? I wasn't sure if it'd look good."
Fuka thought for a moment, then said, "Nah. It looks cute. Don't worry about it. C'mon, we gotta go; the bell's about to ring."
The bell rang as Sana followed Fuka through the school. She ignored the looks she got. It doesn't matter what they think, Sana told herself. She and Fuka opened the door to their homeroom, stepped in, and went to their seats. Students piled in, chatting energetically, before the sensei told them to quiet down.
The students tried to listen to the school announcements, but the intercom wasn't working properly. Therefore, sighing,the sensei went to his desk, picked up a piece of paper, and walked back to the front of the class.
He cleared his throat before saying, "Okay, first, there's going to be a game . . ."
Sana looked out the window, ignoring everything, but jerked her head toward the sensei as he read the last announcement.
". . . program for performing arts. Those who sign up will participate in a play. Apparently it's going to be Les Miserables." The sensei cleared his throat once more and said, "If you would like to be a part of the cast or crew, please see Mihara-sensei sometime during the school day. Deadline to sign up is Friday next week."
Conversations erupted from the students.
Sana looked over to Fuka. "Do you think I should sign up, Fuka-chan?"
"I dunno. Do what you wanna do. Of course, you should be good at acting if you try out. Are you?"
Sana smiled. "I think. I'm not sure, though. I haven't acted in a long time."
Fuka looked at her queerly, then said, "I think you should go ahead and sign up. You'll probably be better than others. So, what role will you wanna play? There's only a handful, and I'm pretty sure that the part of Cosette already has a ton of people vying for it. And you can't play a guy's part as far as I know. I'm not sure about Fantine or Eponine, though."
Sana grinned inwardly. "I'll try out for Fantine's part."
Fuka beamed at her, the said, "Oh, by the way, the school said that whoever signs up has to have a permission slip filled out by their parents."
Sana paled. There was no way she was going to go to her adoptive mom's house, waltz right in, and say, 'Konnichi wa, okaa-san! I'm back because I want you to sign this slip so I can do a play at school. Arigatou! Well, I gotta go step out of your life again! Ja!' No way. She would die if she had to do that. Meekly, Sana asked Fuka, "Fuka-chan, what if your parents aren't able to sign that slip of paper for several reasons? How would you get the slip signed?"
Fuka thought for a few seconds before saying, "Well, I guess you could try and get the slip signed by the principal. He's really understanding, and I'm sure he would sign it for you. You should ask him during break."
Sana nodded. That sounded like a good idea.
Unexpectedly, the bell rang and Sana had to go to her first class, Grammar. This is so not fair. I might not be able tobe in the play. Sana sighed. Oh well. Might as well make due with this unpleasant situation. I'll go to the principal and ask him to sign the slip at Break. I'm sure he'll listen to me.
Sana occupied herself with the thoughts of the movie and permission slip until Break, where she practically bounded out the door of her Biology classroom, into the hallway, and then into the office.
Sana walked up to one of the office administrators and asked to see the principal. The woman pointed to a door and told her to go right in. Sana thanked her and stepped inside the room.
The principal looked up, and as soon as Sana saw him, she sweatdropped. Is this guy everywhere? she thought to herself. Stumbling, she said, "A-aren't you the principal at the j-junior high school?"
The principal smiled before answering. "You must mean my son. He's the principal at Jinbou Junior High. My youngest son is the principal of Jinbou Elementary School. We look very much alike don't we?"
"Y-yeah."
"Please, sit down." As Sana did, the principal questioned, "What would you like? Is there something wrong?"
Sana sighed. "Well, yeah. You see . . . there's this play that I wanted to be in that the performing arts department will be doing. But the problem is, I can't get the permission slip signed because my parents aren't able to do so."
"Why is that?"
"Uh . . . You see . . ." Sana stuttered. Come on! I know you can think of one, Sana! "Well, they had to go back to the US to take care of some things and won't be back for a few weeks, and by then the deadline will have already passed."
"That is a problem. Hm . . . I guess I can sign it for you."
"Hontou? Thank you so much, sensei!" Sana exclaimed. She dug in her backpack and extracted the permission slip she had picked up on her way to the office. "Here you go, sensei."
The principal took the slip and signed it before handing it back to her.
"Now I just have to see Mihara-sensei and have her sign me up, right?" Sana asked.
"Yes. Good luck with the auditions." the principal replied.
Sana smiled at him, walked out the door, and then out of the office. She turned in the direction of the performing arts department and headed toward Mihara-sensei's room.
Once there, she knocked on the door.
"Come in," a voice called.
Sana stepped into the classroom and walked to the teacher's desk. Mihara-sensei looked up at her and smiled.
"Konnichi wa. You're here for the sign-ups, aren't you?" she asked.
"Hai," Sana replied. "The principal signed the slip for me since my parents wouldn't be able to and I thought I'd come sign up before I forgot."
"Okay. Let's see . . ." Mihara-sensei looked at a piece of paper that was posted on the whiteboard. She turned back to Sana. "I have all female roles open, so you can try out for any one since I haven't found anyone that could play the parts. So, which one would you like to try for?"
Sana looked at Mihara-sensei and answered, "I'd like to try for Fantine, the mother."
Mihara-sensei frowned. "That's a difficult role to pull off. Are you sure you'd be able to do it?"
"Hai," Sana replied. "I have a question, though."
"Okay. Nani desu ka?"
"How would we practice?"
Mihara-sensei sighed. "Well, I was thinking I could ask the principal if I and the cast/crew could use the first half of the day for rehearsing, then come back for the last half of the day. The students participating would be graded on this project to make up for the lost learning time. What do you think? Good plan?"
Sana pondered it for a moment, then said, "Sounds good to me. It's gonna confuse some students, though. Anyway, can you please sign me up for the Fantine audition?"
Mihara-sensei nodded, then pulled out another piece of paper. "What's your name?" she asked.
"Kitahoshi Sachiko."
Mihara-sensei wrote the name down on the sign-up sheet and replied, "Okay, auditions will be held soon. The bell's about to ring, so you might wanna get going. Goodbye."
Sana muttered a "goodbye" before walking out. She hurried toward History as the bell rang, meeting Fuka once again on the way.
"So, how'd it go? Can you be in the play?" Fuka asked.
Sana shrugged. "I got the slip signed, if that's what you mean, and I talked to Mihara-sensei." She looked around. "By the way, where are Hayama-san, Tsuyoshi-kun, and Aya-chan? I haven't seen them all day."
"Aki-kun probably ditched. Tsuyoshi-kun has a different class than you for Homeroom, Grammar, Biology, PE/Health, History, and Elective, so you will only see him during Math. Aya-chan's sick today with the stomach flu."
"Oh." That makes sense. But Hayama-kun ditched. I'm not even gonna ask why.
"Now, c'mon, girl! We're gonna be late!" Fuka exclaimed, pulling on Sana's hand. Over her shoulder Fuka told her, "Sachiko-chan, I know this is probably really random, but I think you'll get the part of Mako for the movie. You look like you possess that natural talent for acting."
Sana smiled at her. "Arigatou." I'm gonna do my best in the audition. I can't wait! Sana thought. But, I'm gonna have to talk to Josh about this. He's so overprotective sometimes. Oh well. I'll just explain to him and he'll understand. He usually does.
Glossary of Translations:
doushite-why?
nani desu ka-polite way of asking 'what?'
ja-see you. This is normally an informal expression used among friends and family. (Did I also already say this translation?)
arigatou-thank you. There are many ways of saying 'thank you' but this is the one I hear most often-next to 'arigatou gozaimasu' meaning 'thank you' or 'thank you very much.' (Again, did I already say this translation?)
hontou-really?
Les Miserables- The Miserable. It's a play that's been based off of the book by Victor Hugo. Wonderful play, go out and see it!