“Damn it! Damn it! DAMN IT!” I panted. My legs were starting to go numb with all the running and I knew I was going to drop dead any second. I halted and leaned over to catch my breath. I could hardly hear myself think I was wheezing so hard. “Damn it! First day of my new school and I'm bloody late.” I straightened and shook out. Only about half a mile to go. I could make that. I stopped in my tracks and turned my head left. The perfect store for today. It was fate. I peeked into the window. The perfect one just gleamed out at me. Taking out my Grandfather’s limitless MasterCard, I walked calmly into the store.

*********************************************

  I got to school ten minutes later. Dumping my new bike on the ground carelessly, I skidded my way through the entrance doors, through the corridor, up some stairs and slammed a door open. Thirty eyes swivelled towards me. Suddenly, I became self-conscious of my panting and the beads of sweat running down the sides of my face. I struggled to compose my posture.

  “Good Morning. I'm the new transfer student from England. Sorry I'm late. I got lost.” I bowed my greeting and stayed at the door as the teacher, Miss Ochi, stared at me in disbelief.

  “Okay. That’s fine. Um, everybody, this is Sophie Merryweather. She’s a transfer student from England, and she will be here for six months. Sophie, go sit behind Ichigo Kurosaki.” She turned to the register. I took a step and faltered.

  “Who’s Ichigo?” I asked innocently.

  “Oh, sorry. He’s the ginger one.” She pointed to a very ginger boy with a bored look on his face. He turned to faced me briefly then looked back out of the window. I took my seat behind him. Boredom and annoyance radiated off him. I shrunk in my seat, fiddling with my muddy-blonde hair and glimpsing all around the room.

  When Miss Ochi had everyone busy with the work, she gave me my lesson books, my timetable and a map of the school. I quickly stuffed all but one book into my bag and got on with the work. It was English so I was a pro!

  At the end of the lesson, I watched everyone get out of their seats and walk around. I wondered what they were doing until somebody got out their Bento. Shrinking in my seat, I kicked myself. Damn, it was lunch already?! Oh, I forgot to set my watch still! I reached into my bag and grabbed my pathetic lunch – warm Bacon flavoured instant noodles. I rooted around for my chopsticks, but they weren’t there. Where were they? I sat up straight and started empting my bag. No chopsticks. No chopsticks. I groaned – if there was one thing I could not go the day without, it’s lunch. I go crazy if I don’t eat. I opened my tin of noodles. They sat there temptingly, calling out to me. My stomach growled. I groaned again.

  “Hey. You looked worried. Are you okay?” I looked up at a boy with black hair. His school uniform was very smart and he was holding his cell phone. I shook my head.

  “No. I'm not okay.” I answered, hanging my head.

  “What’s the matter?” He kneeled down beside me.

  “I can’t find my chopsticks.” I showed him the tin of noodles. He blinked at me.

  “Oh. I have some spare, if you need them…” He produced a pair of simple, traditional chopsticks. My heart lit up.

  “Oh, thank you! You are my saviour!” I grabbed the chopsticks and started eating my noodles. I was halfway through my third mouthful when I realised that Ichigo was looking at me. I smiled at him. “Hi. Can I help you?”

  “No. I was just thinking…you’re that girl who moved in next door, aren’t you? I live at the Kurosaki clinic. My Dad owns it.” He said. That was random.

  “Oh…that makes sense. Your Dad’s a kind man. He fixed my sink. And your sisters are so cute! Yuzu is so grown up!” I smiled at the memory of her talking to me, telling me that doing house chores is a gruelling task.

  “Yeah, Yuzu is growing up fast, I guess. You must be that pretty, nice girl they were talking about.” He smirked at me. I choked on my noodles.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Yeah, you should pop round for a chat sometimes. Yuzu makes some really nice curry!” He patted my head and walked out of the room. I was frozen. He…he…patted my head. He will die. Fact. I finished the rest of my noodles quickly.

  “Hew, new girl.” I jumped as a girls voice appeared behind me. I jumped up in my chair. A dark-brown haired girl stood there, with a few of her friends behind. I smiled slightly. “I’m Mahana Natsui. Nice to meet you. Want to come sit with us outside?”

  “Uh…um…sure. Okay.” I grabbed my bag. A ginger-haired girl smiled at me. I stared at her hair clips – two blue flowers. They were so pretty.

  “Sophie? Let’s go!” The ginger-haired girl grabbed my wrist and started tugging on me. I smiled an apology.

  “Orihime! Stop it. She’ll come herself.” A short haired, black-haired girl took ‘Orihime’s’ hand and released my arm. She smiled at me. “Hi. I'm Tatsuki Arisawa. This is Orihime Inoue. Don’t get the wrong idea of her – she’s an airhead and slightly insane. You’ll get used to it.” Orihime smiled warmly at me. I could tell that these two trusted each other completely, and couldn’t live without one another. I envied their friendship.

  Oh, I forgot to mention! I can always sense how someone’s feeling, even without body language. I just feel their mood and always know how to help them because I can even tell the reason! My mum said I was born with a gift, like Don Kanonji. I just think that I'm sensitive to things like that. Anyway…back to the story.

  “Actually, I have something to do. I'm sorry, I can’t come today. Please forgive me.” I gave a small bow goodbye and ran out of the room. I didn’t really have something to do. I turned left and found some upwards stairs. I followed them until I came to a door. Opening it, I came onto the roof. I chuckled to myself.

  “That new girl is quite a hottie, don’t you think?” An enthusiastic voice said. I smiled – they thought I was cute, eh? That’s a first.

  “Shut up Keigo.” It was Ichigo. I had to see this. I climbed onto the roof of the concrete block with the door and army crawled my way across. Underneath, a group of boys sat. Ichigo and Chopstick Boy were there, and a brown haired boy who was prancing about. Also there was a very…big, dark-haired boy. He wore a chain around his neck with something gold on it. I could tell he was very affectionate about it.

  “Ichigo! You know it’s perfectly healthy for teenage boys to sit around talking about girls!” The boy that must be Keigo said. I raised my eyebrow – so that’s what boys talked about.

  “I'm not that sort of guy. And Mizuiro has a girlfriend.” Ichigo said. Chopstick boy picked up…chopsticks.

  “That’s right!” Chopstick Boy agreed. So Chopstick Boy’s name was Mizuiro. I noted that for next time we met.

  “That is totally stupid! Just because he has a girlfriend doesn’t mean he can’t say other girls are hot!” Keigo stated, before grumpily biting into a sandwich.

  “I don’t know. What do you think?” Ichigo looked up at me and smiled. I blushed – Damn, I’d got caught! Nonchalant, I jumped down and dusted myself off.

  “I guess I need to work on my spying skills.” I grinned.

  “Wow. Is Ichigo actually smiling?! Wow, you have magic powers!” Chopstick Boy joked. Ichigo grunted and hit him on the head…well, went to hit him on the head but he stopped halfway there and gave up.

  “What have you done with the real Ichigo?!” Keigo asked.

  “Why? What’s wrong with him?” I poked Ichigo. He laughed. The shocked faces on Keigo and Mizuiro told all. Ichigo was never like this. I stepped away and went towards the rail. Ichigo stood up and frowned.

  “I’ve got to go.” He frowned at me once more and picked up his stuff and left. I turned to the other three boys who were staring at me in confusion.

  “Don’t look at me! I hardly know the guy!” I threw my hands up in an innocent gesture. “I'll just go…Oh, here.” I produced the borrowed chopsticks from my bag and gave them back to Chopstick Boy. He thanked me and put them in his bag. I turned to leave.

  “Uh…Sophie? You didn’t hear anything, did you?” Keigo asked; embarrassment plain on his face.

  “Well…I'll let you believe what you want to believe.” I giggled as his face just dropped. “See you!” I went through the door and down the stairs. The bell went just as I reached the bottom step. “Excellent…” I went back to the classroom where several people were already gathered. Orihime and Tatsuki caught my eye. They were worried. The came over to me and I could tell they were sympathetic about something. “What’s the matter? What’s going on?”

  “Sophie…well, um, Ichigo’s dad was looking for you today…he had something to tell you…” Orihime started before looking at Tatsuki for help.

  “Sophie – your house caught on fire. The causes are unknown. That’s all he told us. Sophie?” Tatsuki waved her hand in front of my face. I had gone rigid. Flashes of my new house. My new bedroom. And the box. That small, black box.

  “Did anything…survive?” I asked, too shaken up to care that Miss Ochi had walked into the room.

  “Yes. He gave us this to give to you. He said it was actually the only thing he found whole.” She got out a small, black box. I didn’t care about my house. My bedroom. My food. As long as this was safe. I hugged it to my chest.

  “Thank you! As long as this was saved.” A single tear rolled down my cheek.

  “Sophie, Tatsuki, Orihime – take your seats. Sophie? Are you okay?” Miss Ochi came by our sides. Orihime and Tatsuki looked at each other.

  “Miss, may I have the rest of the day off? It’s just there’s been an incident at home.” I asked. Miss Ochi went blank.

  “Um…sure. What happened?”

  “My house burnt down.” I smiled. Miss Ochi’s expression of surprise was too much. I let a little giggle out before composing myself.

  “Certainly! Just, um…take care. Okay?” She watched as I stepped outside and shut the door. I opened the box. It was okay. Not a scratch, burn, dent – nothing. I breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Sophie? Why aren’t you in class?” I jumped at Ichigo’s voice.

  “Oh, hi. My house burnt down so I'm going to see what survived.” I said matter-of-factly. Ichigo gasped.

  “Oh…want any help?” He offered.

  “If you want. I doubt there’d be much to do. Plus I'm going to ask your Dad if he knows anything else. But, whatever. If you want to.” I smiled at him and walked away. A few seconds later he followed.

  “So, where are you going to stay?” He wondered, worry and concern lining his voice.

  “I don’t know. Probably a hotel. I’ve nowhere else to go.” I sighed, but shrugged.

  “I'll…um…see if I can sort something out…” He mumbled and walked away. What was he planning…?

  When I got to my ‘house’ all that was left was a pile of rubble. Firemen were still spraying out tiny little flames and pawing through broken and scorched bricks. I sighed loudly.

  “Sophie? I am so sorry! Dad saved what he could from the damage – there’s not a lot of it…” Yuzu came running up to me. I smiled at her.

  “Hey, never mind, eh? It’s just a house…” Isshin Kurosaki came running out of the house, arms waving.

  “Sophie! Oh, Sophie! I have the perfect solution!” He came to a stop next to Yuzu. He was smiling like he was the smartest man on Earth. “We have a spare room – stay with us until you sort something out!”

  “I can’t. I'm sorry, but I just can’t. I refuse to stay with such good-hearted people. I cause trouble. I’d be a nuisance.” I shook my head sternly.

  “If you really want, I'll make you work for room and board! We need extra help anyway.” He was desperate to help me. I couldn’t see anyone so innocent so desperate so…

  “Fine! I'll stay – BUT I have to work full hours with every gruelling job a clinic can find.” I pointed threateningly at him.

  “Deal!” We shook hands. I felt bad. “I'll show you your new room. And we managed to save more stuff! Come see!” He ran to the clinic and held the door open for me. I huffed grumpily but entered into my new, temporary home.