Our First Day

Chapter 1. Enjoy!

*BUZZ* *BUZZ* *BUZ-- I slap my hand down on my digital alarm clock, a cat-shaped figure that my mother bought for my thirteenth birthday--when we still lived in England. My mum had let me finish out my ninth grade year before deciding to move the three of us -- my mum, myself, and my little sister, Kiki -- from our quaint little town in England to a town a little bigger in Japan. I was devastated when I found out that I would have to leave all of my friends, especially Liz, and my medium-sized public school to attend some small, elitist, private school in Japan. At least my old school, no matter its larger size, made it easier to hide and not be the main topic of gossip. The kids at that school could be brutal. Maybe this new school will have nicer kids? Or, maybe they'll just be meaner. Probably the latter. As I toss my wool blanket my grandmother gave me for my parting gift to the side, I roll out of bed, taking my new uniform from my closet and carrying it with me to the bathroom. There, I dress myself and scoff at the white, ruffled blouse, and modest, tan skirt that hits just above the knee. The wool cardigan makes the uniform a little better, as does my black satchel as it hangs off my shoulder. Light brown locks hang down just past my shoulders, with a slight curl at the end. My cool, blue eyes are just barely visible through the thick lenses of my glasses. I take a deep breath, remotely satisfied with my appearance. I left the bathroom and headed for the kitchen, where I could hear my mum fixing breakfast for my sister -- an elementary-5th-year. Kiki complains, as our mother fixes a bowl a cereal for her, that her uniform is stiff and itchy. Indeed, it does look that way. The white blouse is similar to mine, but is more constraining because of how tall Kiki is, and how fast she grows. At ten years old, she is just under five foot; she towers over her peers. However, she still looks (and acts) her age, as evidence by her plump, rosy cheeks, and just a childish face in general. Her pleated skirt doesn't look anymore comfortable as she fidgets with her clothes, as our mother tells her to stop wrinkling her uniform. A light-bulb goes off above her head as I enter the room, and an annoyed look crosses her face, "Why can't my uniform be like Caroline's?" She points to me, "It's cute!"
"I assure you it's not," I answer, shaking my head, "I'd much rather not wear a uniform." A light smile crosses my mum's slightly wrinkled face, and she brushes a brown lock of hair, with a couple strands of gray, out of her eyes. "You'll get to wear one when you're a high-school-1st-year yourself," my mum pats Kiki on the head as she sets a bowl of cereal on the table, "for now, don't grow up two fast." My mum looks at her watch before looking back up at me with an anxious look, "It's 6:47."
"Huh?"
"School starts at seven! You need to hurry, or you'll be late!" she tosses lunch money at me and I instinctively catch it and stuff it in my bag before running out the door. It was slightly annoying that high-school students started early than everyone else, but I couldn't do anything about that at the moment. I can barely pay attention to my surroundings as I race down the sidewalk to school, and a figure moves into my line of sight as a sprint down the pathway. Unable to stop, I collide with the figure, a tall boy with midnight black hair and warm brown eyes. We both fall to the ground with a thud, and I begin to feel a great pounding in my head and ringing in my ears. I look to the mysterious boy to find that a small spot of blood has collected under his right nostril, but he looks at me with worry in his eyes, "Sorry, I should have been watching where I was standing" His accent wasn't Japanese, but some European accent--perhaps, French?
"Oh, N-no, I should have been watching where I was going," I start before gesturing to his bloody nose, "what about that?"
"This?" he wipes the blood away with a firm swipe, "It's nothing, I'm fine"
"What's your name?" I ask, attempting to change the subject.
"Jabir," he sighs wistfully, "it means 'one who comforts'."
"My name's Caroline," I chuckle lightly, "although, I don't know my name's meaning."
He smiles, "You're British, aren't you?"
"Yes; I wonder how you could have ever figured that out" at that, he smiles.
"You're Japanese is superb," he claps his hands together, "I've lived here for two years, and even mine isn't that good." I lower my head, and avoid his gaze; truthfully, I thought my language skills with Japanese were still a little shaky, hence the reason I have my mum and sister speak it when we are all together. Jabir looks at his wrist, where a gold watch is latched around it, and his eyes widen, "Oh, gosh. It's 6:57," he bites his lip, "I need to get to school"
"So do I," I look sideways at him, "do you go to Rose Prep, by any chance?"
He squints his eyes before a sly grin creeps up on his face, "how did you know?"
"I go there too; I'm a 1st year."
"Me too!" he lets a smile creep out across his face, "So we better get to class!"
"Agreed." And the two of us run to school.

It's 7:02am when I reach my homeroom class, Class 003. The class is small, with only about a dozen students; most of which are poster-children for typical Japanese high-school students. Well, all except for a girl with a pink streak in her hair sitting in the front of the class, shrouded from the world as she reads each word in her book; a girl with a single ponytail and cold, grey eyes that look me up and down, who sits in the back of the room; and Jabir, who sits off to the side, an empty seat next to him. The teacher clears his throat, "Ah, so it look like the tardy student is also the new girl to this class"
"I'm sorry, sir," I start, staring at the ground, "I was just go--"
"Spare me, Caroline-san," the sensei extends his hand outward as if to say 'halt', "I'm not one for excuses. Now, go take the empty seat next to Jabir."
Jabir smiles as I approach him and sit down at the plain, wooden desk. However, the whole room is rather plain, and grey. Thirty desks face the sensei, many of them empty. Because of this, the cliques are extremely visible as each student sits with there own group. A couple students cradle a ball, some are reading silently to themselves, a few girls are whispering of to the side, and only a couple are actually paying attention to the teacher. The teacher clears his throat loudly, seeking the attention of his students, "If everyone would be so kind," he rolls his eyes, "introduce yourselves to your new classmate."
A dozen kids turn to look at me, almost in unison, but none of them speak up to tell their names. Staring into the faces of my peers is intimidating, and I can feel their eyes dissecting everything about me: my appearance, my speech, the way I sit. I shift a little in my seat before Jabir raises his hand beside me, "May I introduce myself, Sensei?"
The sensei tapped his fingers on his desk impatiently, "Yes, you may." An utter disdain for his student is heard in his voice. Jabir smiles, "I'm Jabir," he pulls some imaginary glasses off his face, "have we met before, Carol-chan?" He does the signature "Marge Simpson grunt" before being unable to stifle his laughter, which in turn causes me to lose my composure. Sensei rises from his desk, takes a ruler, and slams it on his desk, "There shall be no goofing off in a learning environment!"
"Sorry, sir." Jabir and I both mumble, holding back our playful smiles. The rest of the class introduce themselves, and I am able to learn that the girl with the pink streak is Kiyoko, and the quiet one sitting in the back of the room is Ai. As Ai was introduced, Jabir had leaned over to me to tell me that the girl had a reputation of being a stalker, which, of course, did not calm my fears of her.

The bell rings for lunch, and all of us go racing out of the class and to the cafeteria. Jabir and I are the two that lack behind the rest, along with another girl with silky, long black hair, ocean blue eyes, and a small frame. She had walked out of Class 002, as I would've remembered her if she was in my class. She tries to draw the attention of another group of girls, but to no avail. "Leiko, wait!" she cries waving her little arms. She stops and glares at us, "What are you looking at?"
"Oh, nothing," he smirks, "we just saw an angry jackrabbit, and it's standing right in front of us!"
"Very funny, Jabir," her demeanor instantly changes, "but, I think it's worse to look as a cockroach than a jackrabbit."
"Was that passive-aggressive, Majime-chan?"
Majime punches Jabir lightly on the arm, "What do you think?" The two both chuckle before Majime stops to stare at me, a smile still crossing her face, "And who is this? Your new girlfriend?"
I hear a girl behind me wince in pain, but as I turn around, there is no-one who could have made to obvious noise. Although, maybe not so obvious, as Jabir and Majime don't seem to hear it.
"N-no!" he looks slightly offended, "I was showing the new girl around."
"Mmph..." Majime ponders taping an elegant finger on her chin.
"We should get to lunch," I interrupt, "I'm starving!" The two agree and we head off to lunch.

        **BREET** The P.E teacher blows her whistle to signal to the class that she will start. She is a heavy-set woman with orange-ish hair thrown up into a messy bun. Her eyes are cold as she stares us, a class of two dozen students, down. Our gym uniforms are not the most modest things, leaving most of us feeling exposed. Majime and I stand on one side of the court, along with the rest of the girls, and Jabir and the boys stand on the other side. As the sensei explains the P.E. syllabus, my eyes wander about the large, expensive gymnasium. The walls are covered with awards won by the different athletic teams at Rose Prep, the most prominent one being the swimming team, that has yet to win anything but golds. The floor has a new coat of polish, and the sports equipment, set out to the side, looks like it has just been bought recently. The whole gym looks as if it were a new addition. All of this renovation must have cost a fortune, as the gym uniforms are nothing more than a pair of shorts that don't leave much to the imagination and a ragged tank top. My eyes eventually meet those of Jabir, as he endlessly tries to make me laugh as the teacher's back is turned. He only succeeds in making me smile, and miss all of the directions the teacher just said.  **BREET** she blows the whistle and moves to the side as my peers run to get bouncy balls from the center court; it seems we are having a dodge-ball tournament. While lost in my thoughts, a ball comes flying at my face, the momentum knocking me to the ground and causing my glasses to fly off my face. "Ow!" I squeal, holding my nose.
"Sorry, Caroline-san," a voice from the back of the crowd of students calls, "I didn't realize you were in my way." The girl called Ai comes forward, her black ponytail swinging back and forth.
"It's alright," I say trying to choke back tears, "it just hurts, that's all."
"Does anyone volunteer to take Caroline-san to the nurse?" the P.E teachers growls, irritated that an injury had to stop the game she was partaking in. I can see Jabir move to raise his hand, but Ai is the first to speak, "I can take her to the nurse, I was the one that hurt her after all." She glances at me, and extends her hand, "it's the least I can do."
Ai walks with me down the long hallway in silence. As the nurse's office creeps into view, Ai grabs my arm and pulls me into a girls' restroom where the light flickers every few seconds. She looks behind her shoulder to make sure no one's behind her before she whispers, "I don't think you should get close to Jabir."
"Why not?"
She pats my shoulder in a motherly way, "Oh, you don't know, do you?"
"Know what?" I inquire, taking her hand off of my shoulder. Once again, Ai looks over her shoulder, "Jabir has anger issues, and there is a rumor that he murdered his last girlfriend."
"But, it's just a rumor, right?" I shake my head, disbelievingly, "it can't be true." A slight smile crosses Ai's face, "Ah, but it is," her eyes widen, "I just want to keep you safe, Cara-san."
"It's Caroline-san." I correct. She shrugs, and leads me out of the restroom and to the nurse in silence, and I walk, still covering my nose.

"You sure you're okay?" Jabir asks me later after school has ended, and the three of us--Jabir, Majime, and I--are walking home.
"Yeah," I shrug, "the nurse said it's not broken, so that's good."
"What about your glasses?" Majime gestures to the pair I am currently wearing, "those are a different pair."
I smile softly, "I'm always ready with an extra pair, just in case."
"How was Ai," Jabir bites his lip, "when she walked you down, and everything?" I let out a heavy sigh, causing Jabir to stare at me with worry in his eyes. I make the quick decision to not tell him about the rumor she told me about, instead saying, "she was just quiet the whole way down."
"She's so strange," Jabir shakes his head.
"Leiko, wait!" Majime suddenly burst out to a girl with sky blue hair, walking in front of us. She stops in her tracks, and turns to face Majime. She is easily a head taller, maybe more. "What do you want, Majime-chan?" Leiko places her muscular hands on her tiny waist, "tell me, now!"
Tears start to swell up in Majime's eyes, "why are you so angry at me, Leiko-chan?" In an instant, an imaginary light-bulb goes off above Majime's head, "Is this because of...him?" Her voice sounded oddly mysterious. Leiko's chin begins to tremble before turning on her heel, and running off down the long, narrow sidewalk. "Leiko, wait!" Majime cries, "I'll see you guys tomorrow." Majime runs off to follow her friend in obvious distress. "What was that?" I ask Jabir after the two girls are out of sight.
Jabir rubs his chin, "I have no idea."
"I guess it doesn't matter," I whisper after a long pause, "it's none of our business anyway." Jabir nods, and we continue our walk home. Within a few minutes, we are talking and laughing as if that little fight between the two girls never happened