I wiped the sleepies from my eyes as I removed the blankets that were tangled around my tiny ankles. I have to gain some weight. I thought to myself just as Mari's japanese phone rang, she had left it in my room last night before she went to bed at 4 in the morning.

"Hello?" I said sleepily into the phone, wiping cold sweat from my face. My fan had broken so my room was quite hot.

"This isn't Mari..." A husky voice rang through my ears, one of the guys she had given her number too at the club. Most likely.

"No, this is her friend. What's your name?" I asked walking into her room, her pin straight shiny hair was in disarray on her pillow. She was out cold, her iPod earbuds still in her ear. God knows what she's listening too.

"My names Arata, she met me at the club the other day and gave me her number." I knew it, I quickly scanned my brain for any recollection of the name 'Arata' and found nothing.

"Sorry to be harsh but Arata, I haven't heard anything from Mari about you which indicates that she was probably really drunk or your very attractive but if she hasn't said anything about you then she doesn't even remember who you are." I shook her slightly and she grumbled. I shook her more violently and she raised her head, her hair falling over her dark maroon-like colored eyes. I snapped her phone shut and threw it on her beige comforter.

"Hey!" She yelled hoarsely, her voice always was screwed up in the morning.

"Some guy named Arata just called, you remember him?" I put my hands on my hips, bony as they were. I need to find some sugar fast! I have been working waaay too much and eating waaay too less.

"Ara who?" She said her palm on her head straightening out her locks. Revealing her face, damn. Even in the morning she was beautiful.

"Exactly, if he calls again I'll handle it. Get ready todays the day we're going to Tokyo and don't even try to go back to bed because this was your idea and I gave up lunch with Aiko for it." I walked across the hall to the bathroom, looking in the mirror I realized how thin I was in my long sleeved shirt and pajama pants. You could practically see my ribs.

"You look beautiful so don't even say to me something negative about yourself." Mari walked in to the bathroom and positioned herself next to me in the mirror, she had a perfect hourglass figure. Her waist measuring at exactly 35 inches around, her hips perfectly curving into her long lean legs. She was like a poster model for a gym.

"Thanks, your one to talk. You have everything, pretty hair. Banging body and on top of all that any guy will fall for you." I looked to her as she ran a brush through her hair.

"That's not true."

"Hugh Hefner wanted you as a playboy bunny, you almost became one of the girlfriends!" I said reflecting back to the summer before we left for Chiba. Mari wasn't Mari yet, she was still Marielle-Jeanette and her hair wasn't two tones yet. It was still her beautiful natural blonde, everyday she wore it naturall curly. It looked like a beautiful blonde waterfall, I on the other hand was awkward and chubby. Acne covered my face and my short brown-blonde hair was always greasy. We had just graduated from high school and took a trip down to California, it was cheaper to fly from CA to Japan than it was from our little town of Medina in Ohio. She drove most of the way since I hadn't gotten my liscense yet, she was a great driver too.

"Hey, Marielle-Jeanette?" I asked waking up from my short nap.

"Yeah?" She asked not taking her eyes off the road.

"Do you think I'll ever find a boyfriend?"

"Honey..." She trailed off, she started to tell me about how God makes no mistakes and I was beautiful. The acne would clear up and if I wanted she would work out with me, and as for my awkwardness... it was cute in a way. She always had ways of making me feel beautiful. About ten minutes our car battery had died and we ended up parked outside of a gated house. Trees had shaded it so I couldn't really tell if it was a house or a community. Mari had gotten out and was working on the car in her denim shorts and a white tank top, she had stripped off her purple t-shirt and stuck it in her back pocket. Greased was smeared on her legs and her hair in a messy ponytail, frizzies sticking out here and there. She looked liked any boys dream.

"Excuse me miss." A suited man had approached us. She scoffed turning instantly into the hardcore rock biker babe she was.

"What?" She didn't look away from under the hood of the car.

"Hugh Hefner would like to snap a few pictures of you just as you are." He said nervously at the sound of her previous tone.

"HUGH HEFNER!?" I yelled, I looked inside of the open gates where the man had come out of and saw the Playboy mansion I had always admired when watching The Girls Next Door.

After I had convinced her (and believe me that took a lot.) She agreed and photographers were snapping pictures of her as she worked on the car. A few months later we had received a magazine. The copy of playboy in which the photos of Mari were featured. They had also sent us the other pictures and her mother had them framed and now they are in her room.

I pulled into a parking lot outside of a trendy Tokyo cafe'. Mari stretched beside me as I had just woken her up from her nap, she always fell asleep on car rides that were longer than ten minutes.

"Mmm, Tokyo air feels nice." She commented slamming her car door shut.

"Eh hem, use your japanese missy." I replied meeting her at the entrance of the cafe', she bowed her head and replied 'Sorry.'

"One iced coffee please." I said pulling my wallet from my bag.

"Ohh, that sounds good. Make that two." Mari said from behind me placing some money on the counter.

"Copier." I sneered, she stuck her tongue out and sat a tiny round table with two chairs. I waited for the coffee and met her at the table, she was texting on her american phone.

"Lanaya?" I asked handing her the chilly cup, she took it and sipped from the straw without looking up from her phone.

"Yeah, she said she's super pissed because I called her at midnight and she was having the best dream about passing her exams." Lanaya was only fifteen, three years younger than Mari. (Yeah, she's only eighteen.)

"I definately don't miss high school, especially exams. My face always broke out worse during that week." I said taking a gulp of my coffee and slowing down after realizing I was still watching my calorie intake. I did wanna gain weight but I didn't wanna be fat like I was before.

"Same, the teachers talked so much it made it hard for me to nap." She said putting her iPhone down on the table. I laughed at her, she never did like to do anything. It was a wonder she was tan and had a high school diploma.

"Whoa, hottie alert." She said looking towards the door, a frail asian man had walked in. Mari had one crucial critieria for her men, they had to be asian. Of course she wouldn't date just any one. But if they weren't asian she probabaly wouldn't even tell them her name. Only her guy friends were anything but asian. And if they were asian, she had probably dated them or had the hots for them at one point.

"Hi." She waved flirtily at him as he passed our table, he winked back. She gave me a look that said 'hey-what-about-him?'

"Mari, no. I don't want just anyone. Besides he winked at you, not me." I said leaning in, even though I was speaking english and he probably couldn't understand me.

"Eh, eh, eh. Use you japanese missy." She twirled her finger back and forth and gave me a 'ahah-got-ya-.' look. She said a lot with her looks.

"Shut up." I finished my coffee and walked to the door, her following close after. We started to drive around Tokyo and stopping at random places, we had gotten out at a park.

"He is so able." Mari said sitting next to me, she was staring at a rough-looking blonde boy walking a equally rough-looking pitbull. He was dressed in a black leather jacket and baggy jeans. He was so Mari's type.

"Look at his friend." She nudged my bony shoulder and I looked in the direction of the boy, there standing next to him was a very attractive boy. His short hair was short and brown and he was dressed in a cute plaid shirt and black jeans, he was undeniabely cute.

"Excuse me?" Mari had walked up to the boy she had her eyes on, she was talking with her hands but still I couldn't tell what she was saying. She was too far away. Suddenly she pointed at me, and I tried to hide my face. Unable to look away from the boy, I saw him look over at me. He blushed a little and looked back to Mari.

"Clare! Come here." Mari notioned to me, I sighed and walked over to her.

"Koki, Yuichi, this is my best friend Clare." She touched my shoulder and introduced me to the boys. I shook the hardcore boys hand (she called him Koki.) then I shook Yuichi's hand. Sparks went flying up my arm, I smiled to him feeling the blush brace my cheeks.

"Uh, hi. I'm Clare." I said releasing his hand, he was staring at me. A distant look in his eyes.

"You girls wanna experience Tokyo the insider way?" Koki was looking directly at Mari, lust in both of their eyes. We nodded and followed Koki to his apartment, he had to drop off his dog.

"This is the jimusho, we spend a lot of time here." Yuichi said pointing to a tall building as we walked along the sidewalks. I nodded and smiled trying to hide my blush. Mari and Koki walked a ways behind us, Mari had turned her flirty face on and anyone could see that Koki was repsonding.

"Hey, Koki. We should invite them to hang with the guys tonight. Ueda and Junno are bringing their girlfriends and Kame is gonna pick up girls no doubt. And I kinda like hanging out with them." Yuichi turned around facing his friend, I kinda liked the sound of hanging out with Yuichi more and hearing that he liked hanging out with me (well, us.) made my heart skip a beat.

"I'm free tonight, but Mari and Koki may have another agenda." I said giggling looking back from them to him. He was so cute, I couldn't look at him for too long or I would find myself staring.

"So, Clare. You wanna come with me and my friends tonight? We're gonna go drinking at a karaoke bar." We stopped at a street corner about to cross the street, he looked into my eyes and I swear my heart stopped. Mari and Koki finally caught up to us, laughing Mari stopped and looked at me.

"Please can we go, Clare? I promise I'll be good." She gave me puppy eyes that I couldn't resist, Koki and Yuichi looked confused because she had said it in english.

"Well we have nothing better to do." I gave in, mainly to my wanting to hang out with Yuichi more.

A/N So that was the first chapter ! Hope you like so far, sorry if it but please bear with me a little longer because I swear it'll get better ! This is gonna be a good one I can feel it !