I ran down the stairs to see everyone finishing breakfast. Cursing under my breath, I grabbed a pack of pop-tarts and poured myself a glass of milk. I was wearing a purple tank with a grey zipper-up sweat jacket, and black jeans and sneakers. My hair was pulled back into a braid. It was the first day of school for the year and we hadn't received our uniforms yet.
"Ready to go, sis?" asked Ryo from the living room. He was in the red version of the school uniform. I mumbled something between bites, grabbed my books and bolted out the door. I had a license, but no car, so I depended on the others for rides. I waved good-bye to Starlight as we pulled off in Ryo's red truck.
"She should learn to use her alarm clock more often," said Sage as he put on a coat over his green school uniform.
"Yeah, but it's not like she's the only late riser," said Rowen from the hallway. He flung his coat over the shoulder of his dark-blue school uniform and walked out the door with Sage. Sage left in his green SUV and Rowen in his dark-blue sports car.
"Hey, was he talking about me? Come on, tell me man!" asked Kento. He stuffed the pockets of his orange school uniform with travel size bags of cereal. Sai rolled his eyes. He fixed the collar of his light-blue school uniform and walked out the door, saying,
"We don't want to be late now, Kento." Kento smacked himself on his head and bolted out the door. The sound of his orange minivan racing down the driveway was covered up by the sound of Sai's small light blue car. Rose looked at Lita, who looked at Selene, who looked at Amy.
"I'll never get guys," they said simultaneously. Everyone walked out the door and left in their SUV's, each car the owners' favorite color. After everyone left, Blake walked out the door and sat down in his ice blue new version VW beetle. He started it up after a few moments and drove to school.
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"Would Sai Mouri, Kento Rei Fuan, Ryo Sanada, Rowen Hashiba and Sage Date come to the principal's office immediately," said the voice over the loud speaker. The teachers dismissed the boys to go ahead. In the hall, they whispered with each other about what the principal would want. The secretary let them in and they sat down, facing the principal. He spoke.
"Boys, you are not in trouble. But I have five new students who, for whatever reasons, have schedules that coincide with yours. Be nice and show them around, will you?" They all nodded and the principal buzzed the secretary to let the girls in. Amy, Lita, Selene, Rose, and I walked in. We were now dressed in the school's uniform. Amy, Lita, Selene, and Rose had white sneakers while I had black ones. We all wore skirts that ended just above the knee. We all had on shirts with sweaters over top. Amy's outfit was dark blue, Rose's was orange, Lita's was red, Selene's was light blue, and mine was purple. (*The color is for the skirts, shirts, and the letters of their names. Everything else is white*) On the right side of our uniforms was the first letter in our names.
"Hey guys," we said.
"Hi," they said.
"Great, you already know each other," said the principal. He continued with, "Kento, you and Rose Cunningham have the same schedule. Would you mind showing her around?"
"Nope," said Kento, giving Sage a look that said off limits. Sage just smiled and his face said not in your life time. Kento sighed and took Rose by the arm and walked out the door.
"Sai, you will show Selene Redfern around, since you have the same schedule," said the principal. He rose and blushed slightly. Selene smiled and walked out after Sai.
"Ryo, you and Lita Robinson have the same schedule. I think you know the drill."
"Sure do, sir," said Ryo as he walked out with Lita. I sighed and thought, great. Amy will go with Rowen and that leaves me with the ‘Flirt King of Han'a High'.
"Rowen, you and Ms. Marné have the same classes."
"I know what to do, sir," said Rowen as he and Amy left the room, discussing physics or something. That left me with Sage.
"Sage, you have the same schedule as Crystal Kiel, or is it Sanada?"
"It's Sanada now, sir," I said.
"How is it again that you are related to Ryo?" I rolled my eyes and told him the story I had planned out in advance for this question.
"When I was little, I ran away from home and got hit by a car. I survived, but had limited amnesia. I only remembered my first name and bits and pieces of my life. A few years ago, I saw a sign or something and I remembered I had a brother. I looked all over for him and found him and his friends. I'm his younger sister by one year," I responded.
"Well, then you must be extremely bright to be in Sage's classes as a junior. Straight GT senior classes as a junior is a big success. Though Rowen did that as a freshman. Any way, have a nice day!" The principal excused us and we left. Once out the door, I asked Sage where we were to go first.
"Easy. We all have gym first. And we all have lunch together during C lunch," said Sage. He walked slightly ahead of me and was already gathering a crowd of girls.
"I'll find the gym myself," I said under my breath to Sage as he was pulled to a stop by a group of giggling girls. I got to gym late, but was excused, due to the fact that it was my first day.
"Choose an activity for the semester," the gym teacher said. I looked over the list. Let's see. Rose took cheerleading. Go figure. It's full anyway. Uh, Selene took swim team. That's full. Lita took basketball, and that's full. Not much luck in track. Amy's there and that's full. Everything is full, except for this.
"I'll take the martial arts," I said.
"You sure? It's got the best guys on it. Hard to make the team," she said.
"So? I'm good," I said confidently.
"Here's your uniform," said the gym teacher with a confused look on her face. I shrugged it off. I hope the others are having more fun, I thought to myself as I went to the locker room.
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"Okay, let's see what you've got," said the coach to Amy. She wore the school track uniform. It was black shorts and a beige tank with the words Han'a High on the front and a number and last name on the back. She had number 15. She was to race Rowen, the team star, to get a time to see if she could be on the team. He was wearing the same outfit, except the number 02 was on the back of his tank. The coach blew the whistle and they were off. Amy and Rowen were neck and neck. Amy loved the feel of the wind swirling past her body as she ran. Her white hair waved in the breeze as if it was one with the wind. She passsed Rowen just before the finish line. She breathed heavily and looked at Rowen, who was smiling and breathing deeply.
"Wow. You're the first to beat him from this school. You're on the team!" Amy smiled and winked at Rowen, before she went out to do some practicing.
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"So, you think you can beat the ‘torpedo' in a swimming match? And what do you call yourself?" asked the swimming coach suspiciously.
"Selene ‘the fish' Redfern. Now, can I swim or not?" asked Selene with annoyance. She was in the school swim team official swimsuit. A solid black Speedo bathing suit with a beige stripe across the middle. The coach shrugged her shoulders and Selene got into starting position. Sai was next to her, in lane three, wearing black swim trunks with a beige strip across the left one. The coach blew the whistle and they were off, doing a hundred-yard medley. Selene and Sai nearly tied, with Sai slightly ahead.
"You're on the team," said the coach happily.
"I'll say," said Sai in an impressed tone. Selene just whipped her golden hair out of her face.
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"So you think you can play basketball, huh? Let's see what you got. Ryo! Come here. Let's see a little one on one. Go!" said the coach, tossing Lita a ball. She was wearing a white basketball jersey with black letters spelling out her last name and the number 22 on the back and the number 22 and Han'a High on the front. Her shorts were black. Ryo had the same thing, but he had the number 01. She dribbled up the court and missed an easy lay-up. Ryo snagged the ball and made a shot from the foul line. The coach smiled satisfactorily. Lita checked the ball, dribbled back to the three point line and sunk a shot. She picked up the ball and twirled it on her finger.
"So, am I on the team?" Ryo and the coach shut their mouths and the coach nodded a yes.
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"Let's see what you can do. Do you have a routine?" asked the cheerleading coach to Rose. Rose was wearing the Han'a High cheerleading outfit. It was black short shorts under a short black cheerleading skirt. The tight black shirt said in white letters, Han'a High. She picked up the black and white pom-poms. The music started and boy did she get into it. She threw up the pom-poms at the end, back-flipped to the other side of the practice area and landed in a split. The coach gave a happy nod to Rose. She looked over to where the football players were practicing, and gave the quarterback a thumbs up. Kento gave her one in return.
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I walked into the gym where I was told martial arts were held. I was in a black karate uniform with a beige sash around the waist. For security, I had on black shorts and a black tank underneath. As I entered, I saw that everyone was starting at me. I wasn't the only girl, but all the others were surrounding a particular mat, not really fighting. I walked up to the coach and said,
"Sorry I'm late. It's my first day and I want to try out." The coach stifled a laugh and asked,
"Do you really think you can make the team? I mean, you're a girl. You can't beat my boys, not to mention the competition."
"Is there a rule that says I can't try out?"
"No . . ."
"Then send me your best boy. I'll win, and if I do, I'm on the team, okay?" I challenged. The coach nodded and yelled over to the mat with all the girls surrounding it,
"Hey, Date. We've got a girl that wants to tryout. She says she can beat you!" I fumed at the way he said that sentence and decided to put my anger into the fight. I looked to the side and saw that the sea of girls split for a boy, who was dressed like me, with blonde hair that covered one eye. I rolled my eyes as I saw how he soaked up the attention. Sage's mouth dropped when he saw whom the girl was. He recovered and stepped into the ring.
"I had no trouble finding the gym by myself. Thanks for not showing me the way," I said as I got into a fighting position.
"Hey, I'm sorry," he said. I saw him wink to some girls who were watching from the side. They giggled and shrieked. Weakness, I thought to myself, taking a mental note. The coach blew a whistle. I pranced and waited for Sage to make the first move. He punched to the right and I dodged. He turned and spun around with and upper kick, which I blocked. I heard a huge gasp from the crowd. I had an idea. I started going all offensive, throwing punches and kicks all over the place. I left a huge opening after a punch and Sage took full advantage. I fell back to the ground with a punch from him to the stomach. As the crowd cheered and he waved, winked, and bowed, I stood.
"Hey Sage," I said. He turned just in time to see me connect a flying kick with his stomach. The crowd gasped, and I swear I heard someone cry as Sage landed with a thud. I looked at Sage, who was slow to rising. I looked at the coach and asked,
"When is practice?"
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I handed the lunch lady the money for my lunch. I had bought the school lunch, but not trusting the looks of it, had bought some fries and a couple of snacks. I turned and looked for the guys or my friends. Scanning the crowd, I saw Ryo stand and wave to direct me to the table. Everyone was there except for Sage and Kento and Rose.
"Where are they?" I asked Amy as I sat down next to her. Ryo sat across from me, with Lita to his left and Selene to his right. Sai sat between Selene and Rowen. Rowen sat next to Amy. To my right was a giant space, probably for Sage, Kento, and Rose.
"Sage is over there flirting, as usual, and Kento and Rose went for seconds. They both seem to like the pasta," said Rowen.
"So that is what this is supposed to be," I said, forking the food suspiciously. I decided against eating it and munched on some fries. Kento arrived, with a laughing Rose behind him. Rose sat down next to Lita and Kento sat down next to her. Rowen flagged down Sage, to tell him to come sit. Sage flipped the lock of hair that fell over his one eye up and let it fall back into place. The girls giggled and shrieked as they departed away from Sage. He walked over to Kento and said,
"Move over, Kento."
"No way, Casanova," said Kento. Sage rolled his eyes and sat down unwillingly next to me.
"Why don't you tell us how your day has been going, girls," asked Ryo conversationally.
"Fine. The classes I'm taking are slightly challenging, but not enough, I'm afraid. I also made the track team" said Amy.
"I like all my classes and I made the b-ball team," said Lita.
"I had fun. Biology was great and I made the swim team," said Selene.
"I hate school, so this year is no different. But I made the squad, so that should brighten my day," said Rose, in between bites.
"My day is going well. I was late to every class because the person who was supposed to show me around kept stopping to flirt. I made the martial arts team as well, by beating their top man." I said. Everyone's mouths dropped and Sage started going red.
"Oh, by the way, how is your stomach feeling? I didn't mean to take you by surprise, but you should have made sure I was down and out for the count," I said, enjoying the embarrassment that Sage was feeling. I glanced at my watch. I had five minutes till the bell. I stood and took my food and walked over to the trash can, the sounds of the guys teasing Sage fading as the distance between us grew. I dropped the food into the bin, and spun around, only to collide with a huge guy. His muscles rippled under his white T-shirt. He had on his head, a black bandana which covered his hair. He had three guys and a girl behind him, all dressed in leather and jeans. The guy I had bumped into was clenching his fists. In the collision, I had knocked the contents of his tray onto his shirt, ketchup, chocolate milk, and pasta sauce.
"Nice going, chick. What do you have to say now?" he asked. I stepped back and looked him over.
"Nice leather, though I must say, I've seen tougher looking bullies then you five," I said calmly. Over at the table that I had come from, Ryo said,
"What is she doing? She'll get killed. No one talks back to him and lives, except Sage, but that was in fourth grade. What did you walk away with?" asked Ryo.
"A broken arm, but I broke his leg, his nose, and gave him a black eye," said Sage. All their eyes were on us.
"Should we stop her?" asked Rowen.
"Nah," said Rose.
"Why not?" asked Kento.
"Easy. We've never seen her back down from a bully or lose a fight to one either. And I think she won with ten to one once, and they were armed," said Rose.
"Yep," said the other three girls in agreement. Their eyes went back to the center of the cafeteria, where all eyes were now hooked.
"How dare you talk to me like that. Don't you know who we are?" he asked angrily.
"No. But it doesn't really matter anyway," I said with a bored tone.
"Well, I'm Eric. And this here is Mike, Jon, Sally, and Joe," said Eric.
"Nice to meet you all. I'm Crystal and you are going to learn to avoid me," I said, crossing my arms. Eric looked steamed and he snapped his fingers. Sally, Mike, Jon, and Joe stepped forward. Two teachers stood at the end of the cafeteria.
"Should we stop them?" asked one to the other.
"No. That girl beat Sage during my gym class. We'll step in after those bullies get what's coming to them," said the other teacher.
Sally lunged at me and I side stepped, revealing the trash can behind me. She dove into it, headfirst. Her feet kicked wildly from the can in a hopeless attempt to get out. Joe charged me with Jon. Jon aimed a punch at my face. I grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back. He squealed in pain. I saw Joe coming at me with a flying kick. I turned and brought Jon in front of me as a block. Joe was already coming and couldn't stop. I let go of Jon after Joe kicked him. Joe charged me. I bent down and flipped him over my back onto a nearby table. He landed with a thud. The girls at the table jumped up and ran away. That left me with Eric. He cracked his knuckles and ran at me. I side stepped the charge, but he was slightly smarter then his companions. He grabbed the collar of the school jacket and pulled back. Luckily, it was unbuttoned and I slid out of it easily. He threw it to the ground. Then, he stared at me. It was the first time I had revealed my arms to him or anyone. I had well-defined muscles and excellently toned muscles under the purple tee that the school had given me to wear. He gulped. I decided to finish this once and for all. I took a step forward and Eric lunged at me like a cat. I grabbed his shoulders, fell to the ground, and used my feet to kick him up and onto the table behind me. He got up, whistled, and all of his companions, including himself, ran off. I dusted myself off and picked up my jacket. I rose and saw Ryo. He started to clap, slowly at first, then faster. Everyone in the cafeteria caught on, as I was cheered at, whistled for, and praised. I walked up to the table and picked up my books.
"Just another peaceful day at Han'a High," I said as I walked out the door after the bell rung.