"This is your day off right? I mean... Oh, man! I am such and idiot! I met you only yesterday, and here you are, driving me on a 6 hr. journey that probably costs more in gas than your weekly pay! Stop the bus Hiram, I'll be a regular person and take the sky train or something, it's selfish of me to think I can just get a free ride at your expense" I said to Hiram, finally realizing after ten minutes exactly what I had asked him to do. Hiram kept his eyes on the road but said clearly, "Ms. Rin, what would an old man like me have to do today, that would make escorting a lovely and very nice young lady to a university, an expense? Now, you just tell me a bit about yourself, and then I'll tell you where you can stay tonight.

I had explained when I was to go to the University for information. That was tomorrow, so the offer was tempting. So I told him how my father had taken me for pancakes and had given me the money. I didn't mention that my mother didn't know I was going, and that my father had recently died. Suddenly I realised I was crying. I mean, my lifes dreams are finally coming true, and my dad is just gone. And I could never call him up or meet him for tacos or a million other things that we used to do. "You want to tell me about somethin' else hon?" Hiram asked, eyes still on the road. I looked at him, and said softly, "Please don't take offense, but I'd rather not. Um, I just need a bit of time." Hiram nodded. I was so grateful of his kindness. I thought it was so unfair on how people like Hiram had to work really hard for small pay, while cruel people got everything. I mean, look at Hitler.

I had realised I had never really looked at Hiram. I think I was too upset before. He was handsome for his age. You could tell he was in his forties because of the gray hairs straking the light brown ones. He had soft blue eyes and a nice smile. He was no old geezer. For his age, he was a hottie! But not like movie star, more gentle looking.

We sat there for awhile, and sometimes I was fighting not to have the tears flowing again. I was sad, and yet so grateful that Hiram had picked me up that rainy night. Was it fate? Or maybe...dad was looking out for me. The thought of that suddenly warmed me up from the tips of my toes to the top of my head. I miss him, but I was sure he was looking out for me. I took a deep breath, and decided that I was going to be strong.

Hiram must've noticed my change in mood because he suddenly asked me if I knew how to drive. I said yes, but I had barely gotten my learners permit. "Well, why don't we see if you can manage a few blocks?" Hiram suggested and a pang of sadness went through me. Dad was going to teach me. Seeing my sadness he said quickly,"We don't have to, it was just a suggestion." I swallowed and said,"No, that's a great idea, but if I total the bus...I'm not responsible. You feel like taking the risk?" I said grinning. It was odd to be the only passenger on the bus, but Hiram said his car was in repairs, so he borrowed the bus, which was odd but cool. I mean, it had a TV in it for goodness sake! Hiram said with a smile, he could take the risk.

For the next half hour, I was instructed on how to drive well and safely. I was getting good. I was so enthusiastic, I honked at people and waved. Some waved back while others ignored me. One was a nun and she looked at me, crossed herself, and walked on quickly looking terrified. Hiram and I laughed until our sides hurt. then Hiram took over, and I dozed off.

I was awake with a jolt as the bus stopped. Hiram said,"I thought we could stretch our legs". I was more than happy to agree and we went outside for awhile. "How much longer?" I asked him. "Three hours," was his reply. After a few minutes, we were ready to move on.

3 Hours later

Hiram pulled into a nice looking house witha big tree in the yard. Not forgetting his promise, Hiram had told me I could stay with his sister, Rachel and her husband Mark for the night. Carrying one of my bags out for me, Hiram went ahead and rang the door bell. A sour looking women with a slightly loose bun came out of the house. Seeing Hiram, her face brightened a little, and she hugged him. "Hiram! Oh, so good to see you!...Is this the...girl?" She asked, looking me up and down.

If they didn't look alike, I would've been shocked Hiram was related to her. I could tell she didn't like me. 'Oh well, life can't be expected to be a bed of roses. Try and make a good impression!' I told myself, and, smiling at the women I introduced myself. "Rin Kashino, pleased to meet you." The women looked unimpressed. But she let me stay, and I was grateful for that. I said a lot of thank yous and goodbyes to Hiram. "I don't know how to thank you enough" I said again, and Hiram just laughed and said that if I didn't stop thanking him, he would turn into king of the beets.

After he left I was shown the guestroom I was to stay in. It was tiny but I didn't care. I was so tired, I could've slept in a cupboard.

I woke up nervous and excited. I put on my darkest jeans and a white blouse, twisted my hair into a bun, put on some lipgloss and then went downstairs with my stuff. Apparently Mark had offered to drive me. He was alot nicer than Rachel and we had a nice conversation. I was feeling pretty confident. But then we arrived.

My heart was literaly jumping into my throat. I felt sick. The university grounds were huge, and there were security guards. I am not kidding. I was thankful I had remembered my purse and I.D. Mark said goodbye and left me and my stuff at the front gate of the biggest, most handsome building I had ever seen. The gate had red brick walls, with black iron doors at the front. I took a deep breath, picked up my bags, and walked towards the guard.

"Paper?" Was all the guard said, and it took me a minute to realise what he was talking about. I rummaged in my purse and handed the acceptance notice, neatly folded. He scanned it, looked at me, and then asked for I.D. I showed it to him, and he nodded his head to let me in. The gates swung open and I was amazed.

The grounds were huge, with the main road to the building split with a fountain in the middle. All the grass green and even, with stone benches with a red cushioning on each one. But my favourite thing was a beautiful willow on the far corner of the grounds, that had a small moat around it and a tiny wooden bridge going across the small body of water. I decided to get checked in first and then explore that area closer. It looked like a heavenly place. I felt braver knowing that if someone took this much care with the grounds, surely they would be nice to the people.

I walked to the entrance.

Inside

"So, Ms. Kashino. Welcome to S.U.M. We are dedicated to brining you further into the world of music, in hopes that you will be able to accomplish whatever you came here to accomplish. I am Headmistress of S.U.M. You may call me Kaede. You will find we are unlike any university that you may have seen. We give you a map and a schedule, just like highschool, because we want you to be concentrating on how to improve your talents and strengthen your worse points, not concentrate on how and where to get to class. As you also may have noticed, we have very comfortable seats on the grounds, and we have an astrology room. That is unusual. Now, about your sleeping quarters. You will be sharing a room with another girl, in the right hand building behind this one. We keep the young ladies in one dorm, and the young men in the other. It is simply less complicated that way. Here is your key to the room, your room number is 125 on the 4th floor. Here is your tag. It is simply proof that you indeed go to this university, and creates less problems in identifying you at the gates. Tomorrow is when your instruction begins. Today you get comfortable with your surroundings. That will be all. Oh, and your admittance money please."

I handed over the money and studied the office as my new Headmistress put it away. It was big, with polished wood floor and a cherry wood desk, and leather seats. It was impressive. I then looked at the tag. Black painted metal with my name on it in gold writing, the university's name and Kaedes initials. I pinned it onto my shirt. I decided that I liked Kaede. There was a wise and kind aura about her, and I was glad she wasn't like Rachel.

I thanked her with a bow and left the office. Okay, now to find my room.

"123, 124, ah, 125!" I slid the key into the handle and opened the door. There was a girl already inside. She had short spiked copper hair, a nose ring, a black bare shoulder top, and olive green cargo pants. Her skin was mocha coloured, and she had a tough look. She was very pretty. She seemed to have forgotten about unpacking, because half of her stuff was in a closet, some on the bed, and the rest in her black, duffel bag. She had head phones on, and was playing on a keyboard next to her bed. She already had posters up, with odd looking musicians, and one was even Mozart. I looked at the room more closely. The room I came into was the bedroom, a huge size, with two single beds on the opposite walls. She had taken the one across from the door, so mine was the one next to it. It had a little bureau next to the bed, and a small lamp on that. There were two other rooms, and on closer inspection, I saw one was a small kitchen (cool), and the other was a bathroom. It wasn't too shabby at all!

Then I put my suitcase on my bed and cleared my throat. The girl looked up. She looked surprised someone was there. Then she looked me up and down, and I could tell what she was thinking. It was one of two things. Nerd, or goody goody. I wouldn't blame her with the clothes I was wearing. I decided to say something,"Hi, I'm Rin Kashino. I guess you are my roomate! And your name is...?" She scowled and said,"Oh man, just when I was beginning to think I had this room to myself." I saw she had a tag too, camouflaged for a minute because of her shirt. Lyena Acropolis. She made it clear she didn't like me here. Oh well. I never was good at making friends. My age, I mean. So I just left.

I decided to explore the main building, and then the grounds. I noticed that not many people were here. Even fewer in the main building, which was just as well. I was going down the instrument hall (according to my map) when suddenly the sound of a piano came to my attention. I followed to sound until I reached the 'Theatre Room'. I opened the door a crack, and saw the most amazing thing. A man was sitting there on the stage (the piano on the stage, and then lots of velvet seats, like at the movies on the ground) playing the piano. But oh the sound! It was heavenly. And he looked so, so, beautiful. Not just his looks (which were extremely hot, silvery white hair, defined features, wearing black pants, white dress shirt), but the way he played, his eyes, they had such emotion in them. I was inspired. He was, was, I couldn't even describe it to myself. So I quietly walked in and sat in the second to last row. I closed my eyes. The music washed over me. I felt calm.

Suddenly the music stopped abruptly. I opened my eyes to see what had happened, when I saw, across the room, these golden eyes piercing mine. He had noticed me, and he was glaring. Sigh. Do I have some sort of sign shining over my head? Don't like this girl, she sucks? I mean, back at home, I didn't have any friends. I didn't have friends since grade one. I looked at him again. His eyes had changed. From sad and soft, to mad and hard. I didn't like it. "Oh, please don't stop on my account. You play beautifully!" I said smiling, hoping he would continue playing. When he just kept glaring, I tried something else. "Um...I'm Rin. Who are you?" It wasn't very tactful. I could tell because he didn't say anything. He just picked up some papers, went down the stairs, and left.

"Well excuse me Mr. snooty. What did I ever do to you?" I grumbled. Maybe he was one of those sensitive artist types. Where nobody is aloud to hear him play hear him play. Maybe. I went up to the stage and sat on the bench. Amazing how it's the same instrument, but with different hands, it could sound horrible. I demonstrated to myself. I only knew one song. Dad had been teaching me... A tear slid down my cheek. 'No. You are not going to cry,' I scolded myself, and softly began to play. It was a beautiful song, clumsily played by me. It was played at their wedding. A flash of white on the ground caught my eye.

Picking it up, I realised it was one of the mysteries guys sheets of music. The notes were so complicated my head spun. Whoah, this guy was amazing! I hesitated, and then took the music and put it in my pocket. Then I went outside. The guy was no where to be seen. Oh man! I didn't know his name, and he probably needed this sheet. Crap crap crap! I went to my room, and flung myself onto the bed. Lyena was probably staring, but I didn't care. There was no point in caring right? My mom lies, my dad is dead, no one here gives a crap about me save the headmistress, who had to... I turned my head away from my roomie. I didn't want her to have another excuse to dislike me. Rin the crybaby. Then I noticed she wasn't even there. Good. Suddenly my silent crying turned into full out wailing. I cried into my pillow, but it was probably still pretty loud. That's why I didn't notice Lyena come in. That's why I didn't notice she was shaking. But then I looked up, sensing someone was there, and I saw Lyena sitting on her bed, not looking at me, but staring at the wall. It was then that she shocked me. I could tell she was trying not to cry.

Wiping my own tears away, I looked at her and said croakily,"Please don't bite my head off, but what's wrong? Can I help?" She ignored me. I tried again. "Look, talking it out can help. I know you aren't the type to get all chummy but"- "Why do you care? Leave me alone will you?" She snapped at me. I got mad, but I knew she was fighting not to burst into tears, so I took a deep breath (I find I have to do that alot ) and said calmly,"I care, because something is wrong, and I'm not a cold hearted person. Maybe if you talked it out, you would feel better." She looked at me. "Who are you, Dr. Phil?" But I could tell she was weakening. Finally she told me that her boyfriend had called. She said it slowly, carefully. I just listened. It took her a while, but in short, her boyfriend had dumped her for her worst enemy. And to top it off, he gave her Lyenas promise ring. Ouch. Not that it was any of my business or anything.

"You're angry, sad. You feel like the world is playing a mean trick on you. You feel helpless" I said to her, and her head snapped up. Her eyes were fighting, but then she nodded slowly. "You're still angry right?" She nodded again, looking suspicious. "Good." Her eyebrows went up at that. "Look, I can tell that's not all that's bugging you, and I'm not asking you to tell me anything more. What I suggest is that you try this technique I have," she was about to retort when I snapped,"Look, I'm not your enemy okay? I don't like it when people judge me ahead of time, and I'm sure you don't either so would you stop attacking me already!" She was so surprised she shut up. I continued. "This always helps me, no matter what is wrong. Do you want to know what it is?" She took her time answering. "I guess" was all she said, but I was pleased. "I scream. I scream and I scream until my voice is hoarse. I scream for every problem I have, and the bigger the problem, the louder I scream." Lyena was definetly surprised. "I'm going to scream, and you can scream with me. I garentee you will have a raw mouth for a while, but it'll be worth it. I'm going to count to 3. One, two, three," First I yelled because my mother had once shrunken my favourite shirt, then I screamed because she had lied to me and had gotten drunk on my birthday, I screamed louder for each of her borfriends, the loudest for her new one, I screamed for her dishonesty, and I practically shook the room because of my dad. I screamed because of peoples judgements. I screamed at my failures. But the best thing about it was that there was someone screaming with me. And she wasn't quiet about it either. Our door burst open, and 3 other girls came in looking worried. We explained (I explained) what we were doing, and suddenly there were five girls screaming. Two more came. We all screamed for our problems.

When the 5 girls left looking relieved and happier, I fell onto my bed. Lyena joined me. We were gasping for air, and finally we were laughing. When we quieted down, Lyena turned to me and said,"Okay, so spill." I blinked at her. "Huh?" She said clearly,"I told you my problem, what's yours?" Suddenly I realised I needed to, wanted to. Suddenly everything came bursting out. Everything. And as the torrent of words came out, and Lyena was just listening, I realised why I didn't tell Hiram all this. I needed a girl to talk to. When I finished, Lyena told me all of her problems. Her dog killed, her sister in a coma, her dads arrest. After an hour, we took a breather. "Hey Rin, I am sorry. I was so caught up in all my problems, I forgot other people have them too. Especially you. Do you think we can start over with the intro thing?" I nodded with a smile. "Hey, I'm Lyena Acropolis. It's funky to meet you." I laughed at her introduction and said,"Rin Kashino. I am tickled pink to meet you." She laughed.

I looked at the clock. "Why don't we get something to eat? I feel like eating a whale" Lyena agreed. I still had to find that mystery dude, I had to call mom, and my life was really weird right now, but I didn't care. I had a friend. For real.

DONE! Finally! I told you guys I would make it up to you! You have to admit, I did it! It was long, and hopefully entertaining. Don't worry, it gets better. I mean, she has to find 'mystery man' after all. Tell me your opinion! I hope I did okay on the interesting scale!

hugs and hersheys

Foxy