A girl sitting nearby whirled around to snap at the boys. "We can all hear you guys!"
The boys shut up, laughing nervously and some even turning a light shade of pink. One waved at me with a cheerful grin.
He had simple, blond hair and light hazel eyes. He looked quite handsome, like a typical popular guy of the school.
I smiled back at him and waved though. I wanted to get along well with these people.
There'd be little point to attend a public school with hostile classmates. But, with my vast knowledge of Shojo manga, I knew that an unpopular and/or new girl attracting the attention of the most popular boy of the school was usually bad news, for the new girl that is. Because then the new girl would be bullied by the other girls who liked the popular boy. And if the new girl showed contempt for the popular boy, she'd be bullied even further.
Which meant that I had to discreetly avoid the popular boy (which was my first impression of him) until I had built enough strong friendships with some girls.
There were five rows and six columns of desks. I was given the seat to the farest right, opposite the wall with the windows, but it was in the back. I was seated behind Akane. Two rows to my left was Asari. Two rows past him and towards the front was the leader bully, whose name I still didn't know.
Akane didn't glance at me as I passed her. I did greet the others though before taking my seat. Class began. It was, not surprisingly, easy. My elementary school had prepared me well.
During lunch, I decided that I'd talk to Akane. She was the only one that had seen me the day before after all. The maid that had been sent to take care of me, Hiraga Mariko, had made me a fancy lunch.
I followed Akane out of the classroom and outside, where she sat down under a Matsu pine tree to eat her own bento.
"Hello!" I gave her a cheerful smile.
"Why are you following me?" She asked in her accented Japanese. It was cute, actually.
"I want to be your friend. Is that okay?" I said. "May I sit here?" I pointed at the spot beside her.
She let out a sigh. "Sure. And my Japanese isn't that bad. Just don't use any big words."
"Where are you from?" I sat down and pulled out my lunch.
America," She replied.
I nodded. "Do you like Japan so far then?"
"It's alright." She was eating a sandwich. That was basically what our conversations were like. I'd ask a question, and then she'd give a short reply.
When I was returning to my classroom, a girl with shoulder-length brown hair approached me with a friendly smile. "Hey. I saw you talking to Barton-san earlier."
Chapter 19
Start from the beginning
