Suite 49

Akira woke up to a horrible morning.

This was a horrible, terrible, disgusting day.

It was the day she started High School.

Her younger brother, Hiro, had started her day off to a rough start. Throwing all her school supplies on the saddening floor. Not to mention the cat's tail. Mayu would hate her forever for this.

"You're going to be late for school," her mother warned, fixing Hiro's cap. "The bus will be here in five minutes, and you don't even have your school supplies ready."

"No thanks to someone," Akira muttered, zipping up her jacket. She was always known as that nerd who sat in a corner reading books, the clumsy girl, the one who couldn't look anyone in the face. She never even had a boyfriend, let alone many friends. Her interaction with boys was very disappointing. She always stuttered when she spoke, and always kept her hands glued to her back. And now she would have the same reputation, especially since Lily Fang was attending the same school. Miss Fang, the teacher's pet, the idol, the beautiful popular girl. And then Akira was the ugly mess. "I can't live like this," she would feel sorry for herself every night in bed. Flinging her backpack on, Akira rushed to the door.

"Don't forget your brother!" her mother called.

"Why can't you bring him to school?" Akira whined. It would be SO embarrassing to bring that little squirt to school.

"You know I'm busy," her mother replied, almost throwing little Hiro to her.

Akira dug her fingernails into her brother's delicate hands. He didn't complain, but just appeared sad and scared. "Preschool is nothing to worry about-just color and do all that stupid stuff." she told him. "At least you're not in high school."

Hiro didn't say a word. He just stood there by the bus stop and waited with her. It was a foggy day, and flog clouded his glasses. Getting on the bus, Akira literally left Hiro there to greet her best friend, Peggy. Hiro stepped back into the house.

"You nervous?" Peggy asked, slinging her bag under the seats.

"A little," Akira lied. It was actually a lot.

"I'm pretty confident-Lily even asked me to sit at her lunch table!" Peggy tightened her knuckles and brought them to her face.

Akira stared at her shoes.

Someone had a new best friend, and she knew it.

When the bus stopped, Akira gasped as she saw the giant building. Approximately eleven stories tall, she thought. She watched in envy as Peggy walked next to Lily, but continued staring at her shoes. OOF! Akira tripped, and heard a masculine voice. "Watch where you're going!"

Akira looked up to see Dakota Jones, the cutest boy in the school. He was more of a loner, and always sat at a lunch table by himself.

"Sorry," Akira apologized, brushing her skirt. Then she did something that she never had done before. "I'm Akira," she gulped, sticking out a sweaty palm. But by the time she did, Dakota was gone. That was okay, since she would probably make a total fool of herself if he was still there.

The school building was, in fact, very large. She walked to the secretary's desk and flipped through a large stack of papers. "No need to do that," Mrs. Whang grumbled. "What's your name?"

"Akira." she stood pigeon-toed. "Akira Blane."

Mrs. Whang shuffled through the sheet of paper, and handed her her schedule. "They're alphabetized. Use your brain next time."