glimpses of the first day of high school

Mizuki let out an irritated sigh as she walked through the crowded hallway beside Sakura.

“I already hate this school,” she muttered quietly.

Sakura laughed. “You’ve only been here for an hour.”

“And in that one hour, someone nearly killed me in the hallway.”

“You mean Cayden?”

Mizuki rolled her eyes immediately. “I don’t care what his name is.”

That only made Sakura laugh harder.

The two girls eventually separated when the next bell rang. Mizuki checked the small paper schedule in her hand before finding her way to Biology class.

The classroom buzzed with loud conversations. Students sat on desks instead of chairs, some throwing paper balls while others talked across the room without caring whether the teacher was there or not.

Mizuki stood awkwardly near the doorway, gripping her notebook tightly.

America really was different.

As she slowly walked further inside, a sudden wave of excited whispers caught her attention.

“Oh my God, he’s here.”

“Did you see him during practice yesterday?”

“He looks so good today.”

Confused, Mizuki glanced toward the center of the classroom.

And there he was again.

Cayden.

He leaned lazily against a desk while a group of girls surrounded him, laughing at nearly everything he said. He looked completely relaxed, like he belonged wherever people were paying attention to him.

Mizuki frowned slightly.

“What is wrong with these girls…?”

As if sensing someone staring, Cayden suddenly looked up.

Their eyes met for a brief second.

A faint smirk appeared on his face.

Mizuki immediately looked away with annoyance and quickly sat near the window.

A few moments later, the Biology teacher finally entered the classroom carrying several books.

“Alright, everyone, settle down,” he said tiredly. “Before we begin this semester, there’s going to be a partner assignment.”

A chorus of groans filled the room.

The teacher ignored them and started reading names from a paper.

“Mia and Hannah.”

“Jason and Derek.”

“Sakura and Emily.”

Mizuki quietly hoped she would get paired with someone normal.

Then—

“Mizuki Tategami and Cayden Cooper.”

The entire classroom suddenly went silent for two seconds before several girls began whispering loudly.

“No way.”

“She got Cayden?”

“You’re kidding.”

Mizuki slowly lifted her head in disbelief.

“You have got to be joking,” she murmured.

Meanwhile, Cayden looked strangely entertained by the situation.

“Looks like we’re partners,” he said casually while sitting in the empty seat beside her.

Mizuki moved her chair slightly away from him.

The corner of his mouth twitched like he was trying not to laugh.

Throughout the class, Cayden barely focused on the assignment. Instead, he kept glancing at Mizuki whenever she wrote notes seriously into her notebook.

“You write a lot,” he commented.

“That’s usually what happens in school.”

“You always this serious?”

“Are you always this annoying?”

That actually made him laugh quietly.

By lunchtime, Mizuki already felt exhausted.

The cafeteria was loud and crowded, filled with the smell of fries, pizza, and sugary drinks. Students sat in large groups while music played faintly from someone’s speaker nearby.

Mizuki sat across from Sakura, quietly eating her lunch.

Unfortunately, Cayden suddenly appeared beside their table carrying his tray.

“Mind if I sit here?” he asked.

“Yes,” Mizuki answered immediately.

Cayden sat down anyway.

Sakura tried hard not to laugh.

For a while, the conversation stayed normal until Cayden leaned back lazily in his chair.

“So,” he began, “is it true Japanese schools are super strict?”

Mizuki looked up cautiously. “What do you mean?”

“You know,” he continued teasingly, “uniforms, no phones, bowing all the time, students acting like robots—”

“We do not act like robots.”

“Sure sounds like it.”

Mizuki placed her fork down a little too hard.

“At least people in Japan respect teachers,” she snapped. “And students actually go to school to study instead of acting stupid all day.”

The table went quiet.

For a brief second, Cayden looked genuinely surprised.

Before the awkward silence could grow worse, another boy suddenly dropped into the seat beside Cayden.

“Okay, whoa,” he said dramatically. “Who’s the angry girl?”

Cayden sighed. “Jay, shut up.”

The boy grinned brightly before turning toward Mizuki.

“I’m Jay Catherine,” he introduced himself casually. “Professional best friend, part-time genius.”

“You are definitely not a genius,” Sakura interrupted.

Jay ignored her completely.

“Mizuki, right?” he asked. “You’re the new student everybody’s talking about.”

“She’s also the first person to ever yell at Cayden’s face,” Sakura added proudly.

Jay stared at her in disbelief before bursting into laughter.

“No wonder he keeps following you around.”

“I am not following her around,” Cayden argued.

Mizuki stood up immediately with her tray. “I’m leaving.”

“You always run away from conversations?” Cayden called after her.

Mizuki turned slightly.

“You talk too much,” she replied before walking away.

The rest of the day passed slowly.

By the time school finally ended, the sky had already begun turning soft shades of orange and gold. Mizuki quietly walked home alone, her bag hanging loosely from her shoulder while the cool evening wind brushed against her face.

California still felt unfamiliar.

The streets.

The people.

The noise.

Even Cayden Carter.

Yet somehow, as she looked at the fading sunset above the ocean in the distance, she felt like this strange new place was slowly beginning to change something inside her.

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