Another: The Class of 1999

Flashback 1

The thirteen-year-old girl kicked the stone along the path as she walked to her new school. In that moment, she hated everything. All because her parents had one little fallout...she was now halfway across the country, living with her mother in a small town nobody had ever heard of, whilst her older brother remained with their father, living the high city life. It's understandable that her brother stayed with her father - he was ten years older than her and their father was a very old and fragile man who needed all the help he could get. Plus, her older brother had refused to leave his new girlfriend to travel half way across the country with their mother.

The girl sighed, but she knew she couldn't let this get the better of her.

"Think of it as a new adventure!" her mother had suggested cheerfully. "You'll make lots of new friends!"

But she liked her OLD friends. She didn't need any new ones. Besides, why was she suffering because her parents couldn't get along?

"We're not getting a divorce... We both love you very much, but Mama and Papa just need time away from each other for a while."

That's what the girl's father had said after she had come home from school one day and her parents had sat her down at the dining room table, speaking like she was six.

The girl sighed again as she reached her new school - a worn down building which looked like it needed refurbishing, redecorating, redoing entirely... Maybe it just needed knocking down...?

The girl looked down at her uniform, adjusted her red bow, smoothed out the creases of her navy blazer, pulled her black socks over her knees so they were almost touching her dark skirt, and ran a hand through her shoulder length, black hair. She felt so awkward... She was dressed to blend in, but she felt like she was going to stick out like a sore thumb.

What kind of parents force their daughter to go to a new school during the final year of middle school anyway...?

The girl was just about to step into the school grounds when somebody bumped into her. She stumbled a little, before regaining her balance and turning to address her new emeny.

"What the heck?! Watch where you're going, idiot!" She yelled.

The boy scoffed. "Maybe you shouldn't be right in the MIDDLE of the entrance?!"

"Maybe you should use your eyes!" The girl retorted back.

She was a short girl, so the boy towered over her, although he wasn't that tall either. His skin was dark and rich, and his eyes seemed to be tinted blue. His hair had been shaved off completely, and he was wearing a black cap on his head. His hands were stuffed in his pockets, he walked hunched back, and his bag was strapped across his back. He was wearing the male uniform, where the blazer collar stuck upwards and covered his neck, and black trousers.

"Shut up," the guy said. "Don't you know anything about manners?"

"Oh, you're one to talk about manners," the girl snapped back. "You didn't even apologise to me after bumping into me."

"I would have apologised if you gave me chance and didn't immediately yelled at me."

The guy tilted his head, looking the girl up and down. She saw his gaze, and immediately jumped back.

"What are you looking at?! You pervert!" The girl pointed an angry finger at him. "I'll tell the headmaster!"

"And you'll get me expelled from school on my first day here?" The boy asked, looking surprised. "Wow, I bet you have lots of friends."

"Shut up," the girl said, turning her head away as her cheeks blushed red. "It's my first day here, if you wanted to know."

"I didn't really," the boy replied.

The girl glared at him. "Shut up."

The boy smirked. "Well, it's your first day here, and it's my first day here. At least we could try to get along?"

"After you invaded my personal space? You can get that notion of us being friends out of your head," the girl tutted.

The boy shrugged. "Okay, but when you're wandering the hallways lonely because you can't make any friends, don't come running back to me," the boy said.

The girl crossed her arms. "Who says YOU'RE not going to be the lonely one?"

The boy looked like he was thinking. "Touché. Okay, what class are you in?"

"3-3."

The boy nodded. "Same here."

The girl sighed. "Fantastic," she muttered with an eye roll.

"Now if one of us is sat in the back corner by the window and the other is sat in front of them, this first interaction will be exactly like a manga love story!" The boy explained cheerfully.

The girl rolled her eyes. "I don't have time for this. I'm going to class."

"Shall I walk with you?" The boy asked.

"We're in the same class so you might as well."

"What's your name?" The boy asked.

The girl sighed. "If you must know, it's Takeda Mai. What's yours?"