I walked out of the department store in utter shock. I couldn't believe that there was no such thing as an apartment there-my dad was very good at planning normally. I had been very impressed by his knowledge when I was young. Of course, he wasn't around me much, so there was a chance that he was always like that and I just never knew. It had always been mostly Mom and I taking care of ourselves. I was a little shocked that mom had not answered the phone when I had called. She must have been taking the trash out or got caught talking to our very friendly talkative neighbor. I really began to miss home. I began to walk around aimlessly, for the first time in my life having bitter thoughts about my father. Eventually I sat down on a park bench as my luggage was so heavy. I drifted in and out of sleep due to jet lag overcoming me. Before I knew it, I woke up and it was the dead of night. Suddenly feeling very uneasy about being in the open in the night-even if it was Japan-I gathered my belongings to take shelter for the night. I eventually found an enclave of trees that I walked into and set up camp. I huddled against my luggage on the uneven ground and felt the cold wind on my back as I shifted in and out of sleep.

I woke up at the crack of dawn, with all my limbs aching and my back screaming with discomfort. I pulled out my hand mirror and winced at my dark circles. I applied as much makeup as I could, until I felt satisfied with the look. Figuring it was time to head out and find the school, I brushed the branches out of my hair and gathered my belongings. I walked back to the station and asked for directions from a nice station manager, and he kindly explained to me the whole route I was to take. I swiped my Pasmo and found the right train and sat down in an empty section with a huge sigh. Everyone looked up at me for a moment with a slight look of disturbance before returning to whatever hand held electronic they possessed with renewed intense interest. For thirty minutes I rode and switched trains, and rode the last one for 10 minutes before getting off at where my school was supposed to be. I walked for ten more minutes until I saw the school. Carefully I approached the gates, suddenly aware of how awful I must look in the clothes I left America in and how smelly I must be due to no shower and the night in the woods. This was going to be fun.

I went inside and entered the administration office. All the teachers stopped what they were doing and looked abruptly at me-some with true evidence of worry, and others with obvious rage, annoyance, or embarrassment. The most worried of them all approached me quickly.

"Are you the exchange student from America?" she asked.

I nodded, not wanting to say much because my throat was sore from sleeping in the cold.

"What happened to you?" She asked-all the teachers seemed to lean their ears closer to our conversation.

I don't know what came over me to lie to her, but I did. "I just got in this morning."

"Oh." she looked confused. "I thought you arrived last night!" with that, all the other teachers seemed disinterested and continued to do their work.

"Well that explains how you look and all your luggage. You can place your things here and take it home with you after school. For now, let me take you to the nurses office-we have a shower there, and I have your uniform here. You'll be late for homeroom, but that's as expected if you didn't get in until this morning. I'm really impressed that you're here this morning at all.

I nodded and opened my suitcase to grab my makeup bag quickly. I zipped it up and followed her.

As we walked down the hall, several students stared, and when I passed,they whispered to each other. We finally reached the Nurses' office where the teacher explained the situation and politely excused herself to her homeroom. The nurse was very polite in showing me where the shampoo and conditioner was as well as the soap. As soon as I was alone, I sighed a huge sigh of relief. I stripped my clothes and stepped into the warm water. My aching limbs soothed just a little bit under the heat of the shower. I didn't dare take too long, however, since I didn't want to make a grand entrance into my new class.

By the time I blow-dried my hair and reapplied my makeup however, I was considerably late. I got out and the nurse explained to me how to get to class 2-A. She apologized profusely that she couldn't take me herself, but she had an extremely ill student at the moment that she needed to attend to. After reassuring her that it was okay, I headed out into the hallway to find my class. I found it easily enough, and cautiously opened the door. The student who was reading at that moment paused and looked at me, as did the rest of the class.

"You must be Laura Gaizka,"the teacher stated.

I nodded. "I'm sorry for being late."

"Its quite alright. I heard that you arrived this morning." I nodded my head to the lie.

"Well, we will have to put off introductions until tomorrow since we already began the class. I hope you'll understand."

More than delighted, I nodded my understanding.

"You can take that seat next to Ms. Honda over there, if you will.

name sounded familiar. Regardless, I was just ready to sit down and not be the object of attention. I quickly did so, and stared at the desk as the student began to drone on.

"Laura!" I felt an eraser tip gently nudge me. I looked up and saw Tohru's happy blue eyes staring back at me.

"We're in the same class!"

I nodded, relieved that I knew one face in this classroom.

Suddenly her face turned to concern. Why did you say you got here this morning? she mouthed.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I hate confrontations," I whispered back. It wasn't a total lie. I told a lie earlier to avoid the confrontation in the office, after all.

She seemed satisfied with this, and went back to listening to the reader.

A few days went past, and I had tried to call my mother several other times. I could never reach her though, and I began to get very worried. What if something had happened to her? I hadn't found a place to stay yet, so I picked the woods behind the school. I had to wait for everyone to go home before I went there though, so no one would become suspicious of me. During those times I waited in Starbucks, enjoying the little bit of luxury I could muster within those walls. The nights were cold, but I could deal with it. I developed a cough but thought nothing of it. My throat stayed sore, but it was obvious that it was caused by the cold outdoors. In school, Tohru had introduced me to her friends, Saki and Arisa. They were very entertaining, and accepted me as one of theirs. They had explained to me that Tohru was their best friend because she had accepted them even though they were despicable people in nature and personality. "We love her," Saki had told me, embracing Tohru's head. "Hey, share the love!" Arisa had complained, and grabbed Tohru too. Tohru's eyes began leaking tears,and she reached for me and pulled me in the center.

"and whoever loves Tohru," Arisa began, "we love too" finished Saki. I was overwhelmed with happiness with the presence of new friends, and enjoyed the next couple of days, able to forget my current circumstances for just a little bit.

One day, my throat hurt more than ever, and my head throbbed.I went through the day not really knowing what was happening around me, feeling like I didn't really care about anything. It was a strange feeling.

"Laura! Laura!" I snapped to attention when I realized Arisa was calling my name. I looked at her.

"Your face is red, are you feeling okay?" I nodded my head. I didn't really need attention.

Saki and Tohru began fussing over me as well, and I zoned out again.

I didn't realize what was going on until the end of the day. Apparently they had taken me to the nurses' office, but I had wandered back to class.

By the end of the day, I was able to come around enough to assure everyone that I was okay and that they should all go home. Finally everyone did, and I headed to my little hideaway in the woods. Nothing felt better than to curl up, no matter how uneven or prickly the ground-and fall asleep. I did almost instantly, and had the most bizarre dreams. Dark shadows chased me with axes, and dogs barked right in my ear...and lots of growling...I felt something wet touch me. Ew. That felt more than a dream. I opened my eyes woozily enough to realize it was a real dog, and a ferocious one at that. It eyed me with demonic pleasure and I stood up quickly. My vision blackened at the corners and I had a pounding mattered more than getting out of here though, so I left my stuff and began to run. I felt like I stepped on everything sharp that existed in the woods, but I knew that dog's teeth were sharper-and probably disease-ridden. I ran and suddenly stumbled down a hill, at which point I rolled violently down and couldn't stop. I splashed into a small creek-or pond, who knew. I was so disoriented. I heard a voice shriek and call someones' names. The voices came closer, and someone was doing something about the rabid dog. I felt someone grab a hold of my shoulders and pull me out of the creek.

"Its going to be okay, Laura.." I couldn't make out anything else but I faded out of consciousness immediately after that.

Sure has been a while since I've written anything. Last time I wrote was a few years ago, I believe. Anyway, fun fact.

Laura's last name, Gaizka, means Savior! I wonder what that means for the story~ I look forward to reading your feedback~ I value every opinion!