Riko didn't think; she just slammed the door closed before leaning against it, as if that were enough to keep the people she had seen inside, inside. She looked at her paper then at the door's number, yes, this was the right room. She looked at the clock in the hallway, then at the paper. Yes, it was also the right time; Riko read everything on her schedule as if it would give her some hint or clue about why there were kids dancing in her P.E. class.

First period P.E. … credit. Riko blinked, it didn't say just P.E. it said P.E. credit. Why didn't it have a name? Why did it only say P.E. credit? Riko's hand was shaking as she ran through the conversation she had just had with Dr. Wakaoji through her mind.

"First Period P.E." Riko groaned;

"Is there a problem?" Wakaoji asked

"First period PE," she repeated, before sticking her tongue out. "Ew," Wakaoji laughed before shaking his head.

"I'm sorry, but there was only one opening in a PE credit class." Dr. Wakaoji said still chuckling. "It's a tough class, but I think you can handle it," He said with a wink.

Riko's mouth dropped open. He got me, Riko actually chuckled with realization. Dr. Wakaoji probably had taken in account how thin Riko was and put her into a dance class, something that didn't matter if she was small. And apparently ballroom was a P.E. credit. Riko found herself touched from Wakaoji's thoughtfulness; even though Riko had never tried to dance before, she had always thought it was stupid and wussy. On top of that she hated socializing let alone being in direct contact with people. Riko's eyes narrowed in agitation as she debated running away from the class and never coming back. She was so wrapped up in her escape plans she didn't notice when the door opened behind her.

"Umm," A voice suddenly said behind her, Riko jumped with a yelp before spinning around.

A girl stood in front of her, her hand rested lightly on the doorknob. She had beautiful long, brown hair and really pretty brown eyes. Riko could only stare at this person in wonder, It was like she was standing before a model...a model with a kind face, the girl smiled.

"Hey, Are you joining our class?" She asked, her voice was sweet, like her face, Riko swallowed unsurely. Before she could answer though, her schedule was pulled from her hand.

"Apparently, Micky," Riko spun around to see Izumi staring boredly at her schedule,

"Izumi! I was just sent to look for you," Micky (?) said brightly, she was suddenly beside Riko, her hands curled around Riko's arm. The dark haired girl led a stunned Riko towards the room. "My name's Mitsuki by the way." the brunette chirped.

"M-Moriko," Riko answered reflexively, even though the girl latched onto her arm intimidated Riko.

She's too happy... Riko thought, Izumi followed them in, a strange smile on his face. Riko tried to focus on him, but there was no sign of the boy she had been irritating the day before. He must have been having an off day, Riko thought with some disappointment. School was going to be boring... Well, if she could survive the dance class.

"Takuto! Meroko!" Mitsuki called to two of the students in class, the two teenagers turned at her call, they smiled at her brightly.

"Hey Mitsuki!" Then their eyes turned to Riko, she turned her eyes to the ground as the two studied her face then they turned to Mitsuki and then Izumi, as if searching for an explanation for Riko's presence.

"Who's she?" Takuto asked, he studied her, his eyebrows knitting together in curiosity. "You look familiar," he said slowly, Riko tried not to roll her eyes, but she failed.

"Yeah, we somewhat met in the counseling office yesterday," Riko said as she gently pulled her arm out of Mitsuki's grip, Takuto blinked with confusion.

"We did?"

"Don't you remember?" Izumi came up behind Riko and gently patted her head, "She called you a delinquent?" Riko glanced up at the blonde boy's face. There wasn't so much as a flicker of emotion but Riko suddenly knew. No...she thought to herself, That smile is too fake to be his real feelings, Riko remembered Takuto's reaction to Izumi getting annoyed at Riko. He doesn't show his emotions?

"Heeeeeeey," The pink haired girl was suddenly in front of the two of them waving her arms around angrily, "How long are you going to touch her Izumi?!" Izumi grinned at the girl before leaning his cheek against Riko's forehead.

"Why? Jealous?" He asked,

Meroko's face flushed a dark scarlet before she turned away with her nose stuck up in the air. Riko pushed Izumi away from her irritably,

"Keep away from me you damn jerk," Riko hissed,

"What did you say?!" Meroko turned back to Riko, her eyes flashing and her whole being slipped into defence mode at Riko's words.

"I called your boyfriend a jerk. What of it?" Riko snapped back, she didn't even wait for Meroko to respond as she turned away. "I'm outta here,"

She had taken only one step when she suddenly walked into someone's chest. She probably would have fallen over if the person hadn't grabbed onto her arms to steady her.

"Woah. Are you alright?" A soft, gentle voice said,

"Hello Eichi, how'd the meeting with the teacher go?" Mitsuki asked, Riko looked up at the boy she had run into, with surprise she stared at him.

Eichi was blonde and had a kind face, he and Mitsuki had similar aura's of kindness surrounding them. His gentle eyes stared at her with open surprise at Riko's sudden movement. Riko looked away, her face turning red.

"Sorry, wasn't looking where I was going," Riko muttered, without letting him respond she ducked away from them. Riko wasn't sure what to do now that she had escaped the group of friends so she headed straight to the back of the class where everyone had dropped their stuff. She dropped her messenger bag then plopped down pulling her knees up to her chin, watching her new classmates. Riko judged by the looks and glances she was getting, her classmates were intimidated by her.

"Alright you guys!," A pretty woman clapped at the group that Riko just escaped, "Enough chit chat and get back to practicing. We'll be working on these moves for the rest of the hour so don't slack off," The woman didn't seem to notice Riko, which was fine with her, if she could go through the whole class ignored then she'd consider herself accomplished. Mindlessly, Riko crumpled the late excuse note in her hand, knowing that it wouldn't matter all that much if she handed it in or not.

Riko managed to go throughout the entire class ignored by the teacher and most of the classmates. If anyone did glance her way, they would tend to look away very quickly, or glare at her. At one point her teacher made eye contact with Riko, but then she looked away, the woman's pretty smile seemed to dim. She seemed to look almost afraid...

When the bell rang Riko stood up and started to leave, relieved that she had been mostly ignored. As Riko walked she plotted, coming up with ways to avoid the class forever was halfway out the door, and halfway through a brilliant plan to hang out on the school's roof during first period, when someone suddenly wrapped their arms around her waist. Riko squeaked in surprise before looking over her shoulder, wide eyed, with a growing sense of irritation, only to see that it was Mitsuki, the brunette had an excited smile on her face.

"So, what's your next class?" She asked, Riko wondered if Mitsuki knew what personal boundaries were as she pulled out her schedule.

"Math," Riko answered as she looked down and tried to unlatch Mitsuki's arms from around her waist.

"Hmmm." Mitsuki looked at the schedule still in Riko's hand, either ignoring or not noticing Riko's attempts to get free. "My next class is in that direction, want me to walk with you?" Mitsuki offered with a sweet smile.

"I'm good," Riko answered, her voice completely flat, "Now... would you please let me go?" It seemed that the brunette had no intention of doing so, Riko finally just started walking, girl accessory and all. Now that they were moving the girl unwrapped herself from around Riko and started talking.

"This wing is made specifically for dance and Physical education classrooms. We don't have a gym so sports are held on the grounds outside." As Mitsuki gave Riko a rundown of where which classes were, Riko stared ahead of her, her expression void of emotion. There was no point to trying to get this girl to go away, so Riko just ignored her. Well she tried to anyway.

Anytime it seemed to Mitsuki that Riko was zoning out or tuning her out, she would suddenly grab Riko's arm tugging on her in a friendly manner. Riko growled slightly but managed to not turn her head and bite the happy girl.

Honestly by the time Mitsuki announced they were at Riko's math class, Riko felt like patting herself on the back for restraining herself.

"Hey, I'll meet you out here when you're class is done alright?" Mitsuki finally said.

"You don't have to-" Riko started, but Mitsuki was already skipping away, humming to herself. Riko could only stare at her in disbelief. What had she just dealt with. She couldn't tell if Mitsuki was really just a happy angel or was actually a disguised demon. For all Riko knew, Mitsuki could be like her brother… Riko sighed before stepping into her class, her eyes shifting around to take in the surroundings, it was a standard classroom, lines of desks, people already sitting around, chatting about this and that. After the PE incident, Riko half expected to walk in to see the math students doing headstands or baking, but no, everything looked normal so far. Riko sighed softly, slowly she moved to a desk in the back of the classroom. This school was different from her old one, not only was it casual dress, but the students traveled to different classes instead of the teachers. It was odd, but a bit refreshing, Riko didn't have to worry about her legs going numb after every class this way.

"Hey!" a voice startled Riko out of her thoughts, slowly she looked up through annoyed eyes to see a blonde girl standing by her proclaimed seat. Two other girls stood nearby, their arms folded in exact replica of the blonde, Riko looked to them in disbelief. Was there seriously a posse of girls who thought they owned the world.

"What?" Riko asked flatly, The main girl tipped her head to the side, her steely eyes glared at Riko openly.

"What do you mean, what? You stole my seat bitch," The girl said angrily, the other two nodded in agreement.

"Oh boy..." Riko heard a male voice mutter, Riko's eyes narrowed before looking up at the girl without moving.

"I don't see your name on it," Riko answered calmly, the blonde girl seemed to grow agitated at this.

"You must be new," she said shortly,,

"What if I am?" Riko countered, the blonde girl's eyes narrowed before she leaned forward, so that her breath hit Riko full in the face.

"Well then listen well newbie," the girl said in a low voice, "This school? My town, what I say goes, and if I say that is my seat? Then that's my seat. Get the picture?" Riko only stared at her boredly. Yup… this was a posse alright.

"Your breath smells like fish," she said honestly, the blonde reared back, her face flushing a bright red as she threw a hand over her mouth.

"Wh- Why you little...!" The girl began, her eyes growing angry, one of the guys tried to hide a laugh behind his hand, he had clearly overheard What Riko said. The blonde girl whipped her head to look back at him angrily and he silenced himself quickly. The blonde turned to Riko again, looking ready to explode, when.

"Alright Sayuki take a seat, we're about to start," A handsome man said as he entered the classroom. Riko looked to him curiously, he hadn't even glanced at the two of them when he had entered, so how did he...? The blonde girl, Sayuki, seemed to blush harder before plopping herself down in the seat closest to her… Right next to Riko. Riko groaned softly as she was surrounded by the other two as well. Riko looked over her new math teacher as he wrote some things on the board, she couldn't help but wonder if all the teachers at this school were freaking good looking. With a quick glance at Sayuki's bright red face and her focused eyes on the desktop in front of her, Riko figured she noticed the math teacher's good look's as well.

A small smirk made it on her face. So the bully had a crush on the math teacher… Nice. Riko sighed softly as she played with her hair, this was going to be

a boring class…

Soooooo I'm not dead.

I'm also starting to write again.

I'm going to try and update a few of these stories: Dewdrops on Roses, Scarlet Autumn, and the Twelve Days of Christmas. I also plan to finish The Devil's Eye.
Thank you all for being so patient with me. And I'm really sorry that its taken me so many years to get back on my feet. Love you all

-Esther