“Wake up Ashiya!  It’s the first day of your senior year and you're going to be late if you don’t hurry up!”  My mom yelled at me from the kitchen.

  Already dressed in my school uniform, which consisted of a short, navy blue pleated skirt with two white stripes along the hem.  The white polo shirt had the school's logo on the left and I had to wear a navy blue tie.  I never did like the skirt but it has grown on me.

  I have now gotten used to the length.  It may just cover my , but I liked it now.  Don’t know why I changed.  Must be Mizuki’s influence about me looking good in clothing that showed off my legs.  Whatever it was, I wasn’t going to complain. 

  I did however figure out that I never was going to wear dress shoes again.  I was sticking to nice black puma runners that looked close enough to what the dress shoes would look like, and they were much more practical.

  I came down the stairs and sat at the island in the kitchen and munched on the breakfast my mom made me.  “Oh, good you're up.  Hurry up and eat.”  Mom said as she finished packing her bag to go to the hospital where she worked with my twin sister’s adoptive dad.

  “’Kay.”  I replied nibbling on the toast.

  Just before she was going to leave she stopped and turning around, “By the way, Ashiya, I have to go to Nisin to a conference tonight and your dad is out of town in Everglade so you will be here by yourself.”

  “Got it, Mom.  Have a safe trip and bring me something back, would you?”  I asked her.

  “I will, sweet-heart.  Take care, and don’t burn the house down.” She joked before leaving.

  Nisin is the second largest country in our world.  We live in Kareen, the largest of the four counties.  Farcosa is the smallest country and Bellyan is the second smallest.  Each country is ruled by the Royal Families of each place and they live in their own respective palaces.

  The Kareen palace and surrounding village is on the eastern sea boarder.  I live in the City located in the middle of the country.  The Cities are all large and heavily populated and industrialized, but the areas around all the palaces are mostly consisted of small towns and beautiful meadows and gardens.

  I never understood why the Royal Families liked to keep to the older ways, but I never concerned myself with the whys and just left them in peace.  We don’t learn much about the Royal Families except that they are the ones that make the rules for each country and keep the peace between everyone.

  Good God, so much history so early in the morning and school hasn’t even started yet.

  Finishing up my breakfast I grabbed my school bag and left for school.  Plugging my iPod in I let the beats blast through my head as I waited for the bus to pick me up.  Things have been rather normal recently, the gang is doing great as always and Mizuki is fitting in really well.

  The gang has accepted her and they don’t cause her any problems.  The boys treat her like family and we all get along quite nicely.  Mizuki, though, was quite suspired when she learned that Jongup was part of the gang, and she wasn’t very happy learning the reason he stuck by her was because I told him to.  He’s the only one she limits her exposure to, she doesn’t like being around him all that much right now.

  I do hope she gets over that soon, we can’t have their discontent with each other getting in the way of how things work.  But I trust them both that they will sort things out as soon as possible, or at least stop letting it get in the way.

  Curiously enough, she has no quarrels with Samantha who is kind of in the same boat as Jongup.  She got close to Mizuki when I asked her to, to make sure she stayed safe, but Mizuki isn’t upset about that.  Beats me why she’s taking learning of Jongup’s motives so hard.

  My headphones were popped out of my ears, the music now almost inaudible as I look behind me for the culprit.  “Yes, Himchan?”  I say calmly as I wait for the bus.

  “You weren’t listening to me.”  He stated matter-of-factly.

  I rolled me eyes, “I was listening to music, you idiot, of course I wasn’t listening to you.”

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