The next morning Novalee woke up to the sound of a crash on the other side of the wall. A knock sounded on her door before Uncle Ronny walked in. "You up?" He asked. She nodded and rolled off her new bed. "Get ready for school." He smiled as she looked at him in disbelief. He handed her a uniform that reminded her of a sailor .
"We have to go to school today?" she asked, hoping she was still asleep and this was a bad dream.
He nodded. "Yep, you both start your first day at Kaibara High School." Nova finally understood why she was woken to crashing sounds and resisting the urge to make some of her own. Ronny shut the door, allowing his niece some privacy. With a sigh she changed into the blue and white uniform. Much to her discomfort she realized that this skirt on this uniform was way too short. Grabbing a pair of black tights from her dresser she slipped them on and tied her hair up with a matching black ribbon. She grabbed her bag and met up with her sister in the hall.
She couldn't resist the urge to chuckle when she saw her twin. Haylirain was wearing the uniform but had rainbow knee socks, two wrists full of black bracelets, and black boots. She was definitely the rebel. The girls headed down to have breakfast and a short drive later reached the school. They walked in and went straight to the office. Novalee was extremely thankful that they had taken Japanese as their language class in their old school, which she was missing terribly at the moment. What they hadn't learned from school Uncle Ronny had been more than happy to teach the girls over the years, having lived in Japan most of his adult life. The secretary was nice enough as she gave them their schedules, until the two realized they were in separate classes.
"They can't do this to us!" She shouted.
"This really sucks Hayli, what are we supposed to do?" Nova agreed. They went back in and attempted to convince the secretary that to put them together, but it was useless. "Well, that means one thing. We are going to have to try and make new friends." Nova said with an uneasy smile.
"I don't want to make new friends." Hayli pouted. Nova gave her sister another smile before heading to her new classroom.
She walked in, her heart pounding. She tried to focus on the teacher who gave her an assigned seat near an angry looking guy with orange hair and a smiling brunette. The teacher took attendance and called out her name, "Ryan, Novalee." She stood up and all eyes were on her. She could feel her face turning red and her stomach doing flips. She avoided all eye contact and sat back down staring intensely at her desk.
It was lunch time and Novalee and Haylirain were eating yakisoba at a table by themselves. "I hate it here." Hayli growled.
"I know, but it will get better." Nova said hopefully. She was wishing with her whole heart that life here would be better than life back in the United States. It had to be.
"Doubt it." Hayli grumbled. The bells rang and the girls separated with hesitation.
Novalee was halfway down the hall when she realized it wasn't the right hall. She flipped around, her messenger bag swinging with her body, slipping off her shoulder and slamming into someone. "OhmygoshImsosorry!" She blurted out, looking up to see a lean guy with orange hair, matching eyes, and a scowl. He handed her bag back to her without giving her a second glance. "thank you." she mumbled and paused. "you have really pretty eyes."
"What!?" she had taken him completely by surprise.
"I like your hair too. I'm Novalee." she said smiling up at him. She knew he probably thought she was crazy, but if she was going to convince her sister and herself that life here could be good then she had to be brave and talk to people. This orange haired boy was a person so she was going to do her best to be his friend.
He opened his mouth to reply but didn't get the chance. Without warning a tall blond woman came out of nowhere and punched him in the head. "Damnit Kyo we are tired of waiting!" She shouted.
"Watch it, you damn yankee!" Kyo shouted back. Novalee took a step backward, concerned for her safety. Maybe befriending this guy wasn't such a good idea.
A brunette with large blue eyes and a girl with long wavy dark hair and dark eyes appeared from a doorway. 'They look just like dolls.' Nova thought to herself.
"Who might you be?" The dark haired girl asked, noticing her.
"Oh, umm, Im Novalee." she announced, nervously.
"Hello Novalee-san. Im Tohru Honda." The brunette with large eyes greeted her "And this is Saki Hanajima-chan." she gestured to the dark haired girl. She continued on with a smile. "It's so nice to meet you. We hope you like it here very much." Her smile was kind but slightly unnerving.
"Umm. Thank you Toh...Honda-san." She corrected, remembering her Japanese etiquette lessons.
"Yo, is this the new girl?" The blond asked, ignoring Kyo crude remarks to her.
"This is Novalee-san" Tohru told her, still smiling.
"Oh you can just call me Novalee, or Nova, or whatever, it really doesn't matter to me."
"If Kyoko were here, it would have been Nova-chan. By the way I'm Arisa Uohani." Said the blond.
"Who is Kyoko?" Nova asked.
They all just looked at her with sad smiles. "Kyoko is Tohru's mom and the one who named me Uo-chan." Arisa said.
"Aww that's cute." Nova blurted out. She noticed Tohru and Uo-chan giggle at her comment before heading into the classroom that was down the right hallway.
"How was your first day of school? Did you make any new friends?" They were back home and sitting at the dinner table with Uncle Ronny.
"I made a few...I think." Novalee commented.
"I had some guy in my class stalk me." Haylirain added.
"That doesn't sound too good at all." Uncle Ronny said, concerned for Hayli.
"I almost punched him in the face." She said matter-of-factly, surprising their uncle.
"Maybe he just thinks your cute or something. I'm sure he is probably nice." Nova commented with a smile.
"Pshh, whatever he is weird. So Uncle Ronny, hows the technology company business doing?" Haylirain asked.
"Very well, thank you for asking. But after working all day I would rather not discuss business at the dinner table." He said sternly.
They all turned as someone entered the room, that wasn't a member of the staff. "Dad!" Novalee cried out, excited that her father was going to join them.
"It's about time. We are almost done eating." Hayli criticized.
"I just came down to grab a plate. I have far too much work to do to just sit around and chat." He commented, piling some food on a plate and went back upstairs.
Haylirain slammed her fist on the table and stormed up to her room. Novalee looked to her uncle who smiled sadly and looked down at his plate in defeat.