"School is weird. When you're there, you hate it. But after not being there for a long time, you kind of start to miss it. People argue that it's just their friends that they miss, but I don't think that's true. I think people miss the normality of school, the routine. It's kind of like prison. Prisoners get used to the way they live there, and so when they get to leave they become scared. Some will even do things to go back. It sounds crazy that I'm comparing school to prison, but hey, it's kind of true, right?"

I chuckle while pulling my uniform shirt over my head, causing Ivy to look up from her shoes. "I dunno, Ivy. I think school might be a little more enjoyable than prison."

"Well, of course, but don't you understand what I mean?" she asks, standing up from her made bed and nodding at her freshly tied shoes in satisfaction. She looks back up at me with questioning eyes. "Don't you ever miss school?"

I shrug. "I dunno. I've never really hated school, but I don't love it either. I think it's just kind of a waste of time for me." I sigh and sit down on my own bed, grabbing my brush and dragging it through my hair as I continue. "I've only gone through this much of high school because my parents made me. I planned on dropping out once I hit eighteen and then hitting the road to make my own living. I've been saving up the money for it and everything."

Ivy nods and then grabs her bag to begin putting all of her books into it. "How much have you got saved up?"

"Enough for a small apartment in Kyoto."

"Why Kyoto?"

"Why not?"

Ivy raises an eyebrow and then shrugs before going back to packing up her things. "Fair enough, I suppose. How'd you get all that money?"

"I told you, I saved up," I reply, pulling my now brushed hair into a bun. "It didn't take too long. The races I participate in usually have pretty big win-"

"Races?" Ivy suddenly exclaims. I look up at her and see her eyes are shining with excitement. "You race? You race cars?"

"Uh, no. I race motorcycles."

"Really? That's so cool! And you're good? Like, you win a lot?"

"Well, I'm not gonna brag, but I've only ever lost one race. I'd say I'm pretty good." I pause and look at the clock next to my bed. "Anyway, we should probably get going before we're late."

Ivy nods and finishes up her packing. I grab my own bag and then go to the full-body mirror in the room, taking in my appearance. "This uniform isn't so bad." The pink, pleated skirt reaches to about mid-thigh, and the white knee-highs actually go pretty well with the black dress shoes. The pastel, yellow jacket's sleeves reaches all the way to my wrists and red, white, and black tie pops against the white undershirt. "Hm, it could use some personal touches, though."

"Oh, come on, Jasmine. Don't break dress code on the first day," Ivy says, brushing the wrinkles out of her own skirt.

"I'm not breaking dress code, I'm just adding to it," I reply with a smirk. Ivy looks at me disapprovingly as I roll up the jacket's sleeves to my elbows and unbutton the jacket. I adjust the tie so that it hangs loosely around my neck, then I decide to add some bracelets to let my wrists look less bare. I look back at my reflection and give a satisfied nod. "There, much better."

Ivy shakes her head. "Yeah, you look great. Now, let's go already!"

"Fine, fine."

Together, we exit the girls' dorm and make our way to the main school building. As we walk I take out my schedule to see what class I have first. Calculus. I have to fight a smile. I may think of school as a waste of time, but I actually really like math. It's just so easy to focus on the calculations and forget about everything else.

"Hey, Jasmine."

I look up at Ivy. "Yeah?"

"Everyone's bloody staring at you," she whispers, glancing around us. I follow her eyes and see what she means. A lot of people are looking at us. Boys. Girls. Even some teachers. I smirk and meet someone's eyes. He looks away immediately with a blush. "You just had to change your uniform," Ivy mutters.

I snort. "Oh, whatever. I'm sure they would have stared at us anyway. Two seniors who have suddenly transferred here. We're bound to get attention."

Ivy sighs and gives me a nod. We continue until we reach the entrance to the main building, stopping to part ways. "Well, I've got calc, so I guess I'll see ya later," I say.

"Wait, let's compare schedules to see if we have any classes together," she replies, pulling out her schedule out of her bag. I take out my own and we look for any similarities. Ivy gasps. "You have mythology with me! You didn't even say you were interested in mythology!"

"Yeah, well, I guess it's kinda interesting," I say with a shrug. What I didn't tell her was that it was required for exorcists in training to study mythology. We were also required to take a P.E. class, which was going to suck. Apparently, we would learn everything else in cram school. "Looks like we don't have any other classes together. So, I guess I'll see you at lunch."

Ivy nods. "Yep. See ya later." She gives me a wave and then heads off down the hallway. I check my schedule once more to find out what room I'm heading for and start on my way. Luckily, Rin had given me that tour, so I kind of know the general direction of where I'm supposed to go. True Cross is a really big school, so I could definitely see how someone would get lost in here.

Eventually, after making a couple of wrong turns (curse my lack of directional sense!), I make it to my first class. I take a seat at the back of the room and wait for the teacher to begin. Once the bell rings, he stands and readies himself to speak.

"Alright, I'm going to take attendance now," he says. He rattles off names that I don't recognize before finally speaking my own. "Jasmine Minami?"

"Here."

Eyes find their way to me, accompanied by whispers of, "Who is she?" and, "Where did she come from?" The teacher notices the hustle and bustle and clears his throat to quiet down the class. "Alright, children. It seems that Miss Minami is a new student at True Cross this year. Miss, won't you stand up and tell us about yourself?" he asks, gesturing to me.

I almost roll my eyes, but then I decide to be nice. At least this once. I smile as I speak. "Hello. My name is Jasmine Minami and I just started attending True Cross this year. Please bear with me as I adjust to being here. I hope I am able to get to know you all."

A majority of the class smiles back at me and the teacher nods his head. "Thank you, Jasmine. You may be seated."

I settle back into my seat, an odd sense of satisfaction billowing through me. The teacher begins to talk once more and I get out my notebook, ready to do some math.

"Remember when I said school is weird? How we miss it when we're gone, but we hate it when we're here?" Ivy asks, plopping down at a lunch table. She sighs and lays her head on the table. "Well, the reason I said it is because I've been kind of missing school. But now that I'm here..."

"You hate it again?" I finish, sitting down across from her. She groans and picks up a fry off her tray, nibbling on it glumly. I laugh and begin to eat my own lunch. "It's not that bad, Ivy."

"What's not that bad?"

I turn to find Bon sliding into the seat to the right of me. He catches my eye and grins at me as he sets his lunch down. I glance at Ivy. She's grinning again, raising her eyebrow at me while gesturing to Bon. I glare at her, though that does nothing but widen her grin. She looks to Bon with a friendly smile. "Hello there. I don't believe we officially introduced ourselves when we last met. I'm Ivy Green," she says, outstretching her hand across the table to him.

Bon smiles back and takes her hand. "Ryuji Suguro. I guess we didn't have time for introductions with this klutz around," he says, glancing at me with a smirk. I punch his shoulder lightly and shoot him a glare to match the one I gave Ivy. He laughs and ruffles my hair. "I'm just joking, Jas...mostly."

"Oh, whatever. I only fell because you bumped into me," I argue, pointing at him in accusation. He shrugs and proceeds to eat his lunch, not seeming to care about what I think about the subject. I sigh and eat my lunch, catching Ivy staring at me out of the corner of my eye.

"So, how long have you two been dating?" she asks, a mischievous glint in her eye. I choke on my food and start coughing as Bon's eyes widen and his face becomes red. Ivy looks at us in confusion as I slowly calm down my coughing and get my breathing back to normal.

I glare at her, about to speak, when Bon interrupts me. "Uh, we're not dating," he says, dragging a hand through his hair. He pauses and shoots me a grin. "At least not yet," he says with a wink directed to Ivy.

"Oh, my God, Bon. Shut up," I groan, wanting to disappear. I suddenly get a flash of the kiss in my head and my face heats up. Bon notices my blush and smirks at me, seeming to know what I'm thinking about, and winks again, though this time to me.

The chair to my left pulls out suddenly and Rin plops down into it, smiling from ear to ear. He sets down his tray and looks around at the three of us, eyes settling on Ivy. "Oh, hey. You must be Jasmine's roommate," he says, grinning. "I'm Rin Okumura. Nice to meet'cha."

"I'm Ivy Green, foreign exchange student. Nice to meet you, too," Ivy replies with a matching grin. "Gee, Jasmine, you sure do have a lot of guy friends."

I wave my hand dismissively. "What can I say? I'm a hottie, I attract guys."

"Nice humble brag, Jas," Rin says, though he doesn't disagree with my statement. I raise my eyebrow at him and he smiles. "Though, you are pretty hot." Bon nods his agreement, his mouth full of food. Rin smirks at Bon and says, "But I don't have a chance with this guy around."

Bon almost chokes on his own food, but has the control I didn't and is able to swallow his food without having a fit. "What's that supposed to mean, Okumura?"

"Nothing much, just that Jas won't pay me any mind with you around," Rin explains with a grin. He looks to me and I glare at him, then I glance at Ivy. She looks amused. I groan.

"Ugh, can we stop talking about this? Me and Bon are just friends, okay?" I exclaim, frustrated.

Rin's grin widens. "Aw, but Jas. You never kiss me like you did him. Aren't we friends?"

"How did you-?"

"The bar has windows, ya know."

"I swear to God...I...You...I need to go!" I yell, standing up quickly and walking away from the table. I don't bother to take my tray because I'm not hungry anymore. I storm out of the cafeteria and stop in the hallway, leaning against the wall.

Ivy's words about missing school flow through my head again and I groan. How could anyone miss this?