AN: I rewrote the chapter!! I didn’t feel like the first one was very good…(ehh…) so I hope this is better!!! The second chapter is on its way…

By the way…all of the characters, Akihara, and Kuromori belong to me…buwahahaha!!

Bitter-Sweet

Chapter One – “High School…Hooray!”

A young fifteen-year old girl stood in front of a large mirror, fixing the small, stray hairs that poked out from the back. Her ebony hair draped past her shoulders with bangs across her forehead, touching the tips of her eyelashes. She had on a red and white sailor uniform with a red pleated skirt, reaching halfway down her thigh.

She sighed and placed the comb down on the dresser. She stared intently at her reflection…and stared…and stared…and stared…

Keeping the same unemotional look, she had wasted over ten minutes.

Slowly, her fingers reached up to her mouth. Placing them in the inside of her cheek, she moved her hands away from her, and stretched her mouth across her face. She stuck her tongue out, and squinted her eyes.

She was an utter mess.

Her fingers slipped out, and keeping her eyes squinted tight, she made a small “o” with her mouth.

“Oooh,” she uttered, releasing an odd noise.

Once again, she wasted ten minutes.

During her last face (her nose was stretched by her fingers, and her mouth was wide open), a knock came at her door.

“Takara?” Came her mother’s muffled voice. Slowly, she opened the door to a crack and peeked through.

At the sight of her daughter, she let out an exasperated sigh.

“What are you doing?” She asked.

Takara turned to her, keeping her fingers on her nose. “I’m relieving ‘first day of school’ shivers,” she replied.

Her mother rolled her eyes. “Well, your ‘shivers’ have gotten you a little late. Miyoko has been standing outside our house for over half an hour now. That girl does not know how to knock.” She turned away, gently closing the door behind her.

“Aw, man, and I was having fun, too.”

Miyoko stood outside, tapping her black, polished shoes on the pavement. Her chin-length, layered, red-orange hair swayed in the spring breeze. She stared at the Nozomis’ door, muttering to herself.

“Any minute now,” she whispered, and began to count on her fingers, “one, two, three, four, five.”

At that moment, Takara bustled out of the front door, a piece of burnt toast gripped between her teeth. She was struggling with her small book bag, as she hurried towards her friend.

“Hohhy hi hay,” she said through her toast.

“It’s alright, I’m used to it anyways,” replied Miyoko to Takara’s odd language.

They walked down the narrow street, lined with gray brick walls, heading to the building with its tall clock-like tower sticking out behind the many cherry blossom trees.

“Why are you late, anyways?” Miyoko asked, but she sounded like she already knew the answer.

“Oh, I was just—“ replied Takara, cut short by her friend.

“’Relieving first day of school stress’?”

“No. Shivers.” She smiled brightly at her friend, her kiddish act obviously amusing her.

Miyoko’s cat-like eyes stared at Takara, and sighed.

Ting! Ting! The clock-like tower, rang, echoing its bells across the street. The many students clambered up the many steps leading to the glass doors. All the girls dressed in their red and white sailor uniforms, and all the boys with their double-crested navy blue uniforms, a red tie underneath the jacket.

The school was small, judging from the fact that Akihara being the small town that it is, residing in the outskirts of Tokyo. The building was three-stories high, one for each grade, and it stretched across the gray pavement. In the center, where the stairs were, stood the high clock-tower, its hands ticking away as seconds passed. Right underneath was a hollow room for the two bells that rung. Surrounding the building was the luscious green, dotted with various colors of flowers and birds.

“Isn’t it just great?” Takara asked Miyoko, smiling brightly against the unusual beams of rays on her face. They made their way up the steps, left by the whole body of students, who clambered up the stairs way before they did.

“What? Being late on the first day of school?” Miyoko said sarcastically, glaring at her friend.

“No, you dodo-head, high school!”

“You haven’t even spent more than a minute here.”

“Well, I’ve heard from experienced students.”

“Like who?”

“Yukio!”

“Yukio?!” Miyoko stopped abruptly, and raised an eyebrow at her friend.

Takara let out an eep. She felt Miyoko’s glares stab at her back as she hurried her way up the steps, quickening her pace with every move.

“Taka!!” Yelled Miyoko, “come…here…now.”

Slowly, Takara made her way down to Miyoko’s level avoiding her stare.

“Why are you talking to him?” Asked Miyoko. She tapped her foot against the step.

Takara mumbled something under her breath.
“What?” Miyoko asked.

Increasing her volume, Takara replied, “It was just small talk.”

“I thought we promised that you’d never talk to him!”

“Miyoko, what is so wrong with talking to him?!”

“I’ll tell you what,” she stuck out her pointer and began to count, “he led you on for so long, he made you think that he was in love with you, and what did he do to you? Not only did he talk bad about you, but he purposely went out with another girl in front of your face!”

“That was so long ago! I’m just talking to him as a friend!”

Miyoko started up the steps again, shaking her head as she looked down to her friend. “Taka, it’s so obvious you’re still hung up on him.”

Takara gasped. “How could you say that?” She hurried up the steps, catching up with her friend.

Takara continued. ”I WOULD NEVER DO—is it really that obvious?”

Miyoko scoffed. She sighed. “Taka…Taka…Taka…”

An: Rewrote chapter is finished…I hope you guys like it…I try hard to please my audience…(blushes and smiles sheepishly)…remember: be courteous!! (I just love that word)