Chapter 4

First Day of School

Chihiro woke to the beautiful sounds of birds chirping as she gently kicked off her covers. She rose from the bed, yawning and stretching. She walked to the window, and pink petals floated into her room from blossoming apple trees. She breathed in and could smell the sweet aroma. She put on comfortable clothes and walked downstairs. Haku joined her and she ate her delicious oatmeal. She jumped on her bike, slowly pedaling along the trail to her school…

Chihiro would've preferred that compared to reality. That was just a dream. This is how it really goes:

Chihiro woke to a clatter of dishes as her father accidentally dropped his plate. "WAKE UP ALREADY CHIHIRO!" he screamed from downstairs. Her mother was already in her room, ripping the covers from her bed, freezing every inch of her once perfectly relaxing warmth. "HURRY UP A STORM'S COMIN'!" her dad called. Of course, all her comfortable clothes were in the wash, so she put on the most uncomfortable clothes and an itchy jacket on top. She ran downstairs, almost tripping over the last step, and quickly ate her soggy cereal. She put on her backpack and rushed to her bike (which the back tire was flat) and pedaled hastily to school. Haku, who had no idea what was happening, trailed behind Chihiro, floating totally relaxed next to her the whole time.

Halfway to school, the sky was darkening. It showed signs of a great storm ready to start any second. Chihiro pedalled harder as she neared school. She was parking her bike outside the school when it started to rain. It wasn't gradual, like most storms, but once it started, you get the full blow. By the time she got to class, she was soaking wet and almost late.

Not a very good way to start the school year.

"Hello, class," the teacher at the front introduced when the bell rang. "My name is Mrs. Iken. Welcome the sixth grade. In my class, you must respect the rules. And if you read the whiteboard, you would know to not track mud or water into my classroom."

All the students giggled as Chihiro sunk in her seat, trying to make herself as small as possible. She looked up at the whiteboard and noticed it was filled with rules. And rule #24 said that it was prohibited to track mud or water into the classroom. Chihiro's cheeks turned red from embarrassment.

Chihiro sat at the end of her row. Right next to her was an empty seat. Haku took the seat, and for the first time, she noticed him.

While the teacher was going on about the rules, Chihiro whispered to Haku, "What are you doing here?"

Haku shrugged, "I was following you. What else was I supposed to do?"

"Um. Stay at home," she muttered angrily.

"My name is Ikari," the girl next to her introduced. "I won the drawing contest last year and the year before that and the year before that for the T-shirt designing contest for the school." Everyone clapped loudly when she was done.

"My name is Chihiro," Chihiro stated, aware that everyone was staring at her.

"Tell us about yourself," Mrs, Iken urged.

"I… um… like to ride my bike…"

"And you also like to track water into the classroom," Ikari added. Everyone laughed at this statement.

Everyone knew Chihiro. She was the #1 target of all bullies. She was not off to a good start. She was so embarrassed by now, she felt like crying. She looked down at her desk letting her hair fall over her face.

"It's okay," Haku comforted. "I bet you have many other friends that can help you right now."

"I don't have any other friends," Chihiro's voice cracked.

Haku patted her, "I bet you'll make many other friends this year. I mean, last year was so, well, last year. You'll do fine." Haku accidentally bumped Ikari.

"What?" Ikari asked the boy next to her.

"I didn't do anything."

"Did YOU do that?" she asked Chihiro, annoyed.

"I didn't do it."

"WHO'S DOING THAT!" Ikari yelled, standing up.

"Ms. Ikari. Please sit down," Mrs. Iken commanded. "And rule #13 states that you can't yell out in class. Also, in rule #29, it says no talking in class without raising your hand. Today I'll let you off with a warning, but next time you'll get detention."

Chihiro wasn't listening to the teacher, though. She was thinking about how great the school year was going to be.

She finally could enjoy it.

"Okay everyone!" Mrs. Iken. "Start… NOW!"

Haku watched everyone flip the paper and take the test. There was one extra test in his row, so he flipped his also.

He took a writing tool that Chihiro called a pencil out and stared at the questions. '2x+24=47 What is x?' one of them said. Haku had no idea. He glanced over at Chihiro, who was almost done with the problem. She subtracted 24 from each side to get 2x=23. Then she divided each side by 2 and got 11.5. Haku smacked his head. It was so obvious! How come he didn't think about it.

Haku tried to write the answer in the box but all that came out was little pieces of rubber. Chihiro grabbed his pencil and flipped it over. He realized he was writing with the wrong side.

Spirits were trained to the basics: addition, subtraction, multiplying, and dividing. They weren't taught that much in mathematics because they had to study a harder concept: magic. Haku stared at his paper, working out the problems, sometimes taking a look and Chihiro's paper to see how to do it. But towards the end, he was getting it himself. He even started to realize some mistakes Chihiro made. Soon he flipped his test over again and waited for the rest of the class. While he was waiting, he noticed a blank section called Name. Well, I have to fill out everything… he thought and put the name Kohaku.

Everyone passed the tests down to the end, where it was collected by the teacher. Then they all had a snack break.

"Wow," Haku breathed. "That test was hard…"

"I know," Chihiro agreed, getting the snack out of her backpack. "It was hard. Wait a minute. You took the test?" She was in shock.

"Yeah," Haku replied. "Why not?"

Chihiro facepalmed. "Because you're not supposed to! You're not an actual student! You're a spirit!"

"Oops," Haku smiled. His eyes sparkled. Chihiro couldn't help but smile also.

"It's okay," Chihiro comforted. "No one would notice."

Back in the classroom, the teacher was passing back tests. Soon it was Chihiro's turn as she walked up to the front and received her test. She had gotten an A. She smiled a bit, but she wanted an A+. She realized it was a silly mistake. She grumbled on her way back to her seat.

"And the only A+ was Haku!" Iken announced. Haku was about to get up, but Chihiro stopped him. "You can't," she murmured.

"Haku! The only 100%!" the teacher repeated. "Going once! Going twice! Going in the trash." Mrs. Iken slipped it into the trash. Haku, using his powers, lifted the paper out of the trash can and made it fly toward him. No one noticed.

Haku smiled. He had gotten full score on his first try. Yes, he did look at Chihiro's paper. But still. He was proud of himself.

"Good job," Chihiro whispered.

"Thanks," Haku replied.

The rest of the day went by quickly. But there was one thing very special about the end of the day.

"This is my last class," Chihiro smiled. "It's music. I play the violin."

Haku was amazed by all the different instruments on the walls. They were as tiny as a silver rod to a big, curvy golden tube. It was a wide-open space in the middle, and he realized that Chihiro wasn't by his side anymore. She had gone to get a rectangle case from another room. She came back and sat in the front. She unpacked as all the other kids filed into the classroom.

Haku stood in the front of the classroom, listening to all the instruments play music. It was very different from Spirit World music. Spirit World music often included frogs croaking, timers clicking, and ukuleles playing. Human World music included something called an orchestra and band playing. There were violins, cellos, violas, and basses in the orchestra and trumpets, saxophones, trombones, flutes, clarinets, and drums.

"I like it when you play that voilan," Haku whispered to Chihiro after an amazing song.

"It's called a violin," Chihiro corrected and began the next song.

The next song was very very VERY sad. It reminded Haku of home. As Chihiro was playing, Haku snuck into the corner of the room and started crying. It was very little at first, but after a really beautiful part, he collapsed in sobs. He tried to hold it back but he couldn't. Chihiro looked curiously at him during the rests but started back up again. At the end, Haku's face was wet with tears.

"Are you okay?" Chihiro asked.

"Yes," Haku answered, wiping away his tears. "It's just… It's just the song was… so, so beautiful. It reminded me of home. What was the name?"

"One Summer's Day," Chihiro replied proudly. "We've been practicing for a long time now. But don't worry, we'll get you back home. I promise."