Chapter 3

Sayuki managed to get through the 15 minute break on her own. She simply say down in a secluded area in the shade with a book in her hands. Further up from where she was sitting she saw Li take a place beneath the trees too. He seemed pretty frustrated. He kept his head down, like he was thinking hard. It was hard to take her eyes off him. What was wrong with him? He suddenly punched the ground and then she noticed a pair of shoes walk past her. It was one of the girls in her class. She was going up to Li.

"Hey," said a voice. Sayuki looked up. It was Madison, the girl from earlier. She knelt down next to Sayuki.

"Oh, hi," Sayuki replied.

"I'm Madison," she greeted. "Are you okay sitting on your own here?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine. I was just reading."

"That's a pretty boring thing to do during a break, ha! You can sit with us today, we can't have you being on your own."

"Oh, who's us?"

"Me and Sakura! There she is, over there talking to the other new kid."

"Oh, great, thank you!"

"Don't thank me, it was Sakura's idea. She felt sorry for you guys sitting all alone here. It must be really hard and scary for you. Moving so far. Especially for Li, he came all the way from...where was it?"

"Matsue I think."

"Right! My Uncle owns half the farms there. So where about do you live?"

"Oh, only down the road. Brownchest Road."

"Oh great. Not too far then. I live on the Upper North Estate. Well, my mom owns the Upper North Estate."

"Whoa, you must be rich."

"That's what people say. She owns a toy company. Sakura always comes round to mine. She can't stand it where she lives, ha ha. Her older brother picks on her non-stop!"

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"No, I'm an only child. Sakura's kind of like my sister, we're the best of friends."

"That Li is SUCH a jerk!" came a voice and Sakura stomped her way over and sat down.

"What happened?" Madison asked.

"I asked if he was okay and he came out with all this crap about not having time to waste on 'girls like me'. What's that meant to mean anyway, he doesn't even know me!" Sakura explained.

"That Li guy... he has issues," Sayuki said.

"Damn right," Sakura said.

"He kept glaring at me this morning, as if I had done something," Sayuki added.

"What a freak!" Madison said, shivering.

Just then the bell rang for 3rd period.

"We've got gym, come on!" Madison said, getting up. The girls took Sakura to the gym where they got her kit. After they had changed they all went out onto the fields. The boys were doing pe as well and they were also on the field. They were playing basketball.

"What are we playing?" Sayuki asked.

"Your favourite. Tennis! Let's play doubles!" Sakura replied, "Hey Rika, get over here and play with us!"

A girl with short brown hair came over to make the four.

Sakura served and the game began.

A while into the game and everyone could already see that Madison and Rika were out of it and it was now between Sayuki and Sakura. They kept up a conversation as the batted.

"Wow, you're really good at this Sayuki!" Sakura said.

"Thanks. My mom was into it when, urgh, she was at high school. I followed the trend," Sayuki replied.

"Cool so, urgh, what does your mom do now?"

"Urgh, she owns a flower shop. It's her whole life."

"Cool, Madison's into flowers. What about, urgh! Your dad?"

"Oh, him? Urgh! He retired from his job a few years back, now he just, urgh, wanders about when they tell him to."

"What kind of, urgh, job is that?"

"Well, don't tell anyone but he used to be in the, urgh, The Wolves!"

Suddenly everything went quiet and then there was screaming.

The girls all rushed up to Sayuki, screaming in her face.

"THE WOLVES?! YOUR DADS IN THE WOLVES! HER DADS IN THE WOLVES!"

"Which one?" Rika yelled.

"Matt Ishida," Sayuki replied, as people began grabbing her from all angles.

"HER DAD'S MATT ISHIDA! OH MY GOD, MATT ISHIDA LIVES HERE!"

Suddenly Sayuki felt a strong grip on her wrist and someone dragged her out the crowd. Sakura finally let go of her when they had made it out. The girls were now surrounding Madison trying to get information out of her.

"Did you tell Madison where you live?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah why?" Sayuki replied.

"Oh no, that's 1 thing they'll definitely ask and she'll tell them. She can't lie to anyone, it's terrible," Sakura sighed.

"Oh no... well I don't think my Dad would mind. He told me to tell people who my father was!" Sayuki laughed.

Just then Sayuki noticed the crowd disperse. She had never noticed the field had a small hill separating the track and the grass space. The boys were making their way over the small hill to get back into the school.

"Hey look," Sakura said, looking at the boys. Li was standing amidst the walking boys not moving. His eyes were fixed on Sayuki. When he noticed them looking back he quickly looking away and carried on moving, keeping his eyes down and his fists clenched.

"Whoa... you weren't kidding," Sakura muttered.