Miku seemed to be the type of person with little words. She had this indescribable aura around her that Alex couldn't quite decipher.

"So do you live around here or....?" She tried to strike a conversation. If Alex was being honest, she just wanted to hear the waitress's voice, but much to her disapproval, the waitress boredly stared at her. She felt a shiver go up her spine. 'She's starting to creep me out' Alex shivered.

"I guess you could say that" The waitress responded after a few minutes of one-sided awkward silence.

"I see.." Alex crossed her arms. 'This is so awkward. She's so pretty. Should I compliment her? No...that would be weird' She panicked. 'I wonder if she's in high school too. She looks around my age so it's possible. Gosh, but she might not go to the same school' 'Which actually might be better now that I think about it' 'Though it wouldn't hurt to go to the same school with one of the most beautiful girls that I've seen- ACTUALLY maybe not ahaha I'm not gonna lie and say I don't think Miku is beautiful. She's basically a goddess. I barely know her though...It'll be fine. I can just keep meeting her in this ramen bar' Alex stared off into space, her mind going absolute haywire over someone she just met thirteen minutes ago.

"Don't you have a curfew or something?"

'Shit..'

"What is the time?" Alex asked.

Miku took what looked like a flip-phone out of her uniform pocket and flipped it open, the light illuminating her pale features. "Around nine" She snapped it shut and set it down on the table.

"Shit! My mom is going to kill me!!" Alex panicked as she leaped from the worn booth. She didn't care if anyone stared at her. Her life was on the line here.

"You don't even know the way, Dumb Dumb" Miku said to herself as she slapped her forehead lightly. "How are you going to get home?" She asked, agitated, amidst Alex's panicking. She clearly didn't have time for this foreigner's antics.

"Oh,yea..." Alex paused as she calmed down a bit. "Could you possibly..."

"Fine."

"Thank you so much!" Alex jumped excitedly and hugged the shorter girl; which didn't last longer than a second because she was instantly shoved off and she fell with a loud thud onto the cold floor. She stood up with a pout and brushed off the invisible dirt on her clothes. "I'll follow you then"

"Let me get my coat," Miku sighed before taking the bowls off the table and went back to the kitchen leaving Alex standing there.

"Let's go," Miku came up behind Alex and nudged her forward with her shoulder, almost tripping her in the process. The brunette regained her balance quickly and followed the raven out of the ramen bar and into the snowy city. They walked in silence for quite a while. Alex struggled to keep up with Miku's pace, but it was more bearable than Ami. Soon enough they came upon the train station.

"What was your train?" Miku stopped and asked Alex before they entered the station.

"..."

"You have got to be kidding me" Miku grumbled and walked inside without Alex who walked over to a bench nearby and sat down instead of following her inside the warm and noisy building.

'I know it's not my fault. It's not my fault. It's not my fault' She repeated in her head, staring off at the surrounding buildings. Her view was blocked by Miku who looked rather confused.

"Why didn't you follow me in, Dumb Dumb? It doesn't snow insi- oh wait why are you crying?" Her tone of voice softened gradually. She sat down next to Alex, who was trying to wipe the tears from her eyes, on the small bench.

"It'll be...okay.." Miku reassured apprehensively as she patted Alex on the back lightly.

"It really isn't. I can't even remember what town I live in" Alex cried. "My mom is going to kill me if I'm not home. Even though she doesn't care, how else will she seem like a good wife in front of Rob or whatever his name is" She tried wiping her running nose but her attempt failed since it made her sweater dirty instead which only made her cry more.

"Can you remember anything that is in the town?" Miku asked, leaning away from the dirty sweater sleeve.

"There were uh boats and all the houses looked the same," Alex sniffled and turned to Miku, hoping she'd at least know anything from the vague description.

"I think I know where you're from" She got up. " Follow me."

After walking through many corridors and up flights of stairs, the two girls made it to the train platform. Miku was the only one with a train pass and ended up also paying for Alex's ticket.

"Your stop is two stations away. Bye Bye now" Miku turned to leave, but Alex couldn't let her go without at least one more thank you.

"Miku?" Alex called out.

The raven haired girl paused and turned back around. "Wha-"

But before Miku could finish her response, Alex brought her into a warm hug. "Thank you." She pulled away and got onto the train whose doors closed right after she sat down. The train whistled and started to move and Miku stood there watching Alex through the retreating glass as she waved from the inside with a wide smile.

~*~

"Where were you? Do you know how late it is?" Was the first thing Alex heard when she stepped inside the house that took her a while to find.

"Where was I?" Alex turned to her mother. "I was outside like you told me to. Where was Ami? She walked off and left me by myself!" Alex complained as she fumed and glared at Ami who was sitting down at the kitchen table with 'Rob'. She rolled her eyes and muttered 'whatever' under her breath and not bothering to take her shoes off, walked past her mother up the stairs.

"Don't use that tone with me, Alex Millicent" Ruth's tone was stern.

Alex stopped on the sixth step and turned towards her mother. "What tone?"

"Your disrespectful tone. I am your mother and you can't talk to me like this," Ruth crossed her arms, brows furrowed.

"I'm not being disrespe-"

"Stop talking back" She cut her off.

"Well I'm sorry that I'm soo disrespectful" Alex mocked before walking up the rest of the stairs and down the hall to her room.

'She's such a hypocrite. She's the one who told me to go outside' Alex flopped onto her bed, pissed off and a little upset. The glow in the dark star stickers gave off little light in the dark room. Snow was softly falling outside the window and the only sound she could make out was the TV downstairs. 'This is so unfair' She curled up and sobbed silently before falling asleep.

~*~

"Ugh-" Alex rolled over and slammed her hand on top of her alarm clock. Birds were chirping outside and little streaks of sunlight entered the room, giving it an amber glow. The dreaded day had come; the first day of school. The train left at 7:00 so Alex had to wake up early if she didn't want to miss it.

"It's too early for this~ mmhm" Alex snuggled back into her warm pillow.

"Alex wake up or so help me!" Her mother banged on the bedroom door, waking Alex up for real this time.

"Hmmm" Alex whined as she kicked off her blankets and sat up. Wiping her crusty sleep eyes, she checked the time to see it was 6:15am. "So earlyyy," She moaned. She stood up from her bed and began getting ready for the day. She brushed her tangled brown hair and tied it up in a green scrunchie. She eyed the school uniform with distaste. Why did it have to be so...dull? It's basically if the color gray was a person. Don't get her wrong, Alex doesn't hate the color gray, it's just not as nice as green or literally any other color ever. By the time Alex was finished getting ready it was around 6:30. She would've been done earlier but Ami took up the whole bathroom.

"You're gonna be late!" Ruth shouted from downstairs.

"I know I know," Alex responded as she rushed down the stairs and to the front door to put on her boots.

"Don't forget this," Rob walked out of the living room and handed Alex a white card.

"Oh?" She took the white card from Rob. "Oh! Thank you for the pass" She smiled slightly.

"Be safe now" Rob smiled and walked away to the kitchen to see what Ruth was cooking on the stove.

"Bye" She mumbled as she rushed out of the front door, not bothering to wait for Ami. (Who had a car by the way.) Yea, Alex didn't know why they couldn't just share a car, but Ami insisted that Alex just had to try riding a train to and from school. It was for experience.

'What a load of bull' Alex scoffed when she reached the end of her block.

~*~

The station, still crowded, was a place Alex was now more familiar with. She had been going back to the ramen bar to find Miku for the past month, but the girl wasn't showing up. The chef didn't even tell her where the waitress went. So she stood at the platform, waiting for the train to arrive. She got her ipod out of her bag and plugged her earbuds in since she had the space to. As the minutes rolled by, more and more people showed up on the platform. Alot of them wore the same uniform as her. 'Huh..nice to know' She thought to herself as she looked around.

The sudden arrival of the train brought Alex out of her observations. Once the doors opened, she was practically shoved into the mode of transportation by the rushing students and business persons. It wasn't long before the doors closed and the train pulled out of the station. Alex hadn't been so lucky as she had to stand and hold onto the bars while everyone else got to sit.

When the train made a stop two stations later, most of the passengers got off while more came on and packed the cart up. The windows were covered with condensation from how much heat had arisen in the cart. One of the passengers caught Alex's eye however. It was her. It was Miku.

'Oh my goodness it's her' Alex internally panicked as she noticed the raven haired female sitting down conveniently right in front of her.

"Pssst. Miku" Alex called out to the girl.

Miku was wearing earbuds. 'How do these people know how to use this shit? I don't even know how to download music...thanks Gram' The raven complained to herself as she stared at the gray MP3 player.

"You wanna share?" Alex held out an earbud in front of Miku's face.

Miku stared up at the brunette, wondering where and how she knew her. Then it hit her. 'Aish this kid' She scoffed. "I'm fine" Miku turned away to look out the window which left Alex pouting inside.

The two girls rode the train in silence. One wishing for a conversation and the other wanting out of the darn metal box on wheels. Alex had tried a couple more times to start a conversation between her and the raven, but she just wouldn't talk to her. 'Does she hate me? Am I that annoying?' Alex questioned herself as the train now came to a slow stop; the final stop.

Miku rushed to get off of the train and blended into the bustling crowd, hoping to get away from her lanky counterpart.

Alex took her time to search for the other. 'Maybe Miku will help me find the school'.

Alex ended up finding the school on her own; which was very hard to do mind you.

~*~

Alex awed as she stepped onto the school grounds for the first time. The path was cobblestone and the building was tall and had big windows. Alex could see the track in the far distance and a soccer field a little ways beyond that. 'Very sports oriented' She sighed as she made her way into the front entrance. "Where is my locker?" She asked herself aloud as students were moving all around her, also looking for their assigned shoe locker.

"Need any assistance?" A voice brought her out of her confusion. Alex turned around to see a girl a little shorter than her with a red band tied around her left arm. 'Class officer?' Alex assumed. "I'm Nakano!, Class president. You are...?"

"..."

"Ah. I can help with tutoring as well. Need help?" Nakano asked the confused brunette.

"my.." Alex blushed in embarrassment.

"Name?" Nakano tilted her head, awaiting Alex's answer.

"I'm Alex, Alex Miller"

"Ah, you're in the A's" Nakano smiled and guided Alex over to the A section of the lockers. "You gave your foot size on the application so your shoes are already there and measured for your feet!" Nakano smiled.

"Thanks...." Alex trailed off awkwardly. Nakano gave her creepy vibes. "Well bye bye now. Thank you" Alex faked a smile. She turned towards her locker and put in the combination. At least she could understand this aspect of school.

The bell rang once Alex finally got her schedule from the office. At least they printed it in English.

She wandered the crowded hallways with her schedule in hand. Students were jumping on each other and laughing. Everyone already seemed to know each other and didn't spare her a glance. 'Where is my class?' She sighed. "Why does this school have to be so bi-. Oof!" Alex tripped down one of the many staircases in the building. She expected there to be at least some pain, but the ground was...soft?

"Floors are not supposed to be this soft" Alex wondered aloud as she lay there at the bottom of the hard stairs. People stopped what they were doing and started to stare at her. Whispers and murmurs started filling the hallway as they all circled Alex and the soft floor she was on.

"That's because they aren't! Get off of me, Dumb Dumb!!" Alex heard the floor speak.

Floors don't speak.....

"Oh my goodness I am so sorry!!!" Alex exclaimed in fright at the realization that she almost killed someone on her first day. "Let me help you-- Miku?!" Alex exclaimed in excitement once she saw the very person she had been trying to befriend. She was still on top of the shorter female in a rather suggestive position. The crowd that Alex had forgotten about was still there watching them.

Briiiing~~

"Get off of me, psycho!!" Miku shouted at Alex in a panicked embarrassment. This definitely wasn't a part of her plan to stay under the radar in a new school.

Alex blushed now that she realized what kind of suggestive position they were in. She quickly got up onto her feet and smoothed out her now wrinkled skirt. The brunette held out her hand to help the other up onto their feet, but Miku got up on her own and quickly fled the scene like nothing had happened. Alex heard other students whispering around her, probably about the situation that had just taken place.

"It was a misunderstanding" Alex tried to explain to the hoard of students that were all watching with wide eyes. Oddly enough, it worked, since the crowd started to dissipate and go onto their classes like nothing took place. The power of reasoning.

"Well I still don't know where my class is..." Alex sighed.

"Need help?" a quiet voice asked from around the corner.

"Huh?!" Alex turned around to be met with gray eyes. It was Miku. 'Didn't she run away earlier?' Her eyes widened and her face turned a light pinkish color.

"You just... seemed lost" Miku looked away, her face was also pink and she was playing with the earring stud in her ear.

"I can't find my class..." Alex blushed in embarrassment, tension dropping in her shoulders. Miku laughed under her breath before walking out from behind the corner and approached Alex with her hand out.

"Let me see your schedule," Miku ordered. Granted, Miku was a first year student and couldn't care less whether Alex made it to her own classes, but she wasn't going to risk the two of them getting chastised. "Year two class C. She doesn't have much of a brain I see" Miku mumbled under her breath before yanking Alex by her hand up the staircase she just fell down.

The two girls stopped outside Alex's classroom. "It's not that hard to navigate once you realize that the years are separated by floors" Miku stated as she faced the taller.

"Thank you..again" Alex said sheepishly as she tried to hide a blush.

"There you are! What are you doing here? Get back to the first year wing now! Shoo!" The teacher stepped out of the classroom and ushered Miku down the hallway. Alex panicked since the only person who could vaguely understand her was gone and now she was stuck with an angry teacher.

"You're ten minutes late. We've all been waiting for you" The teacher scolded Alex, who was on the verge of breaking down.

Yea, you'd think the scariest thing is your mom being angry at you? Try an angry teacher who you can't even understand. Alex had absolutely no idea what to do.

"I-I" She stuttered, at a loss for words.

"Oh wait. You're the transfer aren't you?" The teacher realized. Now that the woman had a good look at Alex, she noticed the girl didn't look Japanese at all! In fact she looked more American than anything. 'Oh goodness, she's American' The teacher mentally face-palmed.

"Hello! I'm Alex, Alex Miller. Sorry to keep you" Alex bowed slightly.

"Stop, please. Don't embarrass yourself" The teacher stepped back. She opened the door as Alex stood upright. "I'll introduce you to the class. Wait for my signal," She closed the sliding door.

Alex waited outside the classroom for a good minute before the door slid open and the teacher came out. "We're ready for you now" She smiled in a way that seemed almost fake. Alex took a deep breath and let it out calmly. 'You can do this' She encouraged herself before walking into the classroom.

'I can't do this' Alex panicked while standing in front of a class of 20 students. She looked at the teacher for help, but all the teacher did was give her a look of encouragement and false hope.

"Uhh.." Alex trailed off.

"Hi. M-my name is Alex Miller and I am not good at s-speaking Japanese" She stuttered a bit, which is embarrassing enough as it is. Granted, Alex is in class C and that already hints at how smart she actually is. It's not her fault math is so evil....and everything else.

"Thank you Alex. Take a seat by Yuko. Yuko raise your hand" The teacher motioned for Alex to sit.

Alex walked down the seemingly endless aisle of desks before reaching the very back where the girl dubbed 'Yuko' sat with a raised hand. She had short bobbed hair and wide brown eyes. Yuko looked like she was a troublemaker in this classroom but would never admit to her wrongdoings. Definitely a person Alex was familiar with. She sat down on the shiny desk and looked ahead at the board, already lost. What was the Japanese written language called again? Kanji? Whatever it was, Alex could not read the board. Therefore she spent her remaining time in class staring into space and wondering what Miku was doing.

The mentioned was sitting by herself in the front desk in her own classroom, paying attention and taking copious notes. She could not afford a slip up like that again that would risk her ticket; her ticket to freedom.