Chapter 1
Well, this is it. I thought to myself, gripping the small piece of paper tightly in my hands. I just hope I did the right thing. I took a deep breath and started to unfold the paper, not allowing myself to think about what I'd do if I had screwed up.
"F!" The declaration came from beside me. With my paper only half unfolded, I looked over at my sister, Sakura, who had her arms stretched out, stressing her own paper to its limits. She had a grin on her face as she turned to look at me. "I'm in class F!" She stated. "What about you, Ken-kun?"
Okay. I thought, turning back to my paper. As I had expected, Sakura's grades had landed her in class F. Now please just let me be in the same class. I shut my eyes tightly and prayed while opening the final fold to reveal my class.
"Wow!" Sakura gasped before I could open my eyes. Her response to whatever my class was made my heart plummet. I knew that I had good grades, good enough for class A. That's probably where I had ended up. When I opened my eyes, a few tears fell from them. Sakura and I were going to be slit up.
"Why are you crying, Ken-kun?" Sakura asked, reaching over to wipe a tear from my cheek. "There's nothing wrong with being in F class."
"But we're not together!" I cried, grabbing her hand.
She tilted her head to the side in confusion. "What are you talking about?" She asked. She pointed at the paper in my hands. "We're both in class F."
"Huh?" I looked down. Sure enough, Sakura was pointing at a messy letter F. I felt a huge smile spread across my face. I noticed what probably made her gasp, and it was just the fact that I was the class representative. I didn't care about that.
In my happiness, I grabbed Sakura's hands and started jumping up and down, something that I hadn't done since I was a little kid. "We're in the same class!" I said happily.
Sakura's expression matched mine. "Come on!" She said, grabbing my arm and pulling me toward the school building. "Let's go meet our classmates." She was hopping slightly as she walked.
Then she suddenly stopped and looked down at the paper crushed in her hands. "Hey, Ken-kun?" She whispered, looking up at me. "What does probationary mean?"
I blinked twice at her, and then burst out laughing. It didn't surprise me one bit that my sister was a probationary student.
"Hello!" Sakura cried out as she threw open the classroom door. The run down wooden frame bounced when it hit its limit and then came off the track. I caught it before it could fall to the ground and gently rested it back in place, hoping the teacher wouldn't notice. He was already in the room, and it didn't look like he cared.
The students already in the room all looked up from their small little tables. They all had the same expression of surprise on their faces.
"Welcome to class F." The teacher said in a monotone voice. "Just have a seat anywhere."
"Yay!" Sakura said happily. She stretched her arms out and ran like a little kid down the row of seated students. When she reached the back of the room, she turned to the window. "I call the window seat!" She declared, plopping down beside it. Almost immediately a draft blew through the broken glass and a shiver passed through her body. "For Ken-kun." She added, quickly moving over one seat.
"Thanks." I said sarcastically, taking the seat she had vacated. I was aware that everyone else was staring at us, but I tried to ignore it, since I knew why and there was nothing I could do about it.
"Now that we're all here," The teacher said in his same monotone voice. "Let's start with-"
He was cut off by the chalkboard behind him. It wasn't attached to the wall very well and at that instant decided that it didn't like being there. It fell from the wall, right onto the teacher's head.
"Will you excuse me for a moment." The teacher said (still monotone). He turned to the door, chalkboard still on his head, and walked out of the room.
I wasn't sure what to think, but Sakura was giggling away beside me. Taking her lead, the entire class erupted in laughter. A smile spread across my face at the sound. If this is how school is going to be, I like it.
"Hey." The boy in front of Sakura spun around on his mat and grinned. He had puffy green hair and bangs that came to a point between his eyes. "I'm Hamada Yukio."
Sakura grinned back. "It's nice to meet you. I'm Sakura Aida."
I leaned toward her a little. "Other way." I whispered.
The slight look of panic on her face was to be expected. "Oops!" She covered her mouth quickly. "I mean Aida Sakura." She blushed slightly. "Sorry."
Yukio shook his head. "No worries." He said. Then his grin dropped and he looked at Sakura seriously. "Are you a foreigner?"
"Yuki-o!" The girl sitting beside Yukio threw an arm around his neck and put him in a headlock. "Don't just go around asking people what their nationality is!"
Yukio made a choking sound. "Okay, okay." He pounded a fist on the floor. "I give! I give!" The girl let him go and he gasped for air. "Man, Kanami, you've gotten even more manish since last year."
"What was that?!" The girl, Kanami, grabbed Yukio's arm and twisted it behind his back. I'm sure I heard something crack.
I thought I should do something before she broke his arm. "Well, then." I said, making both of them look at me. "You must have been the goddess Aphrodite last year, because you look like a lovely young lady." I really hoped that didn't sound as Host Club as I thought it did.
Kanami blinked at me, still gripping Yukio's arm. "What?" She asked. She had her long navy hair tied back in a high ponytail with a red ribbon, and it flopped around as she looked between me and Sakura, who was going 'aw'.
Right. I thought. This is F class. "Aphrodite. The Greek goddess of love a beauty."
Kanami blinked at me again and then dropped Yukio's arm. "You really think so?!" She asked, her eyes shining.
"Um, yeah." I nodded.
She stuck her hand out to me. "Satake Kanami."
I reached out and shook her hand. "Aida Ken." I introduced myself.
Suddenly a light flashed beside my face. I blinked the pain it caused away and turned to look. The boy who sat in front of me had turned around and had a camera aimed at me, He snapped another shot before lowering it and grinning. He had spiky teal hair and looked mature for a second year middle school student.
"Great shots." He said, cradling his camera. "We're lucky class F got a girl as cute as you."
My mouth fell open. "I'm a boy!" I cried, placing a hand on my blue tie.
"Sure you are." He said winking. He stuck his hand in my direction. "The name's Shima Takumi. Cute girls are my specialty."
"But I'm-" I started. Then I heard Sakura giggling. When I looked at her, she was looking between me and Takumi with a glossy look in her eyes. I glared at her. "No!"
I turned back to Takumi and slammed my hands down on the table in front of me. "I'm-" The table snapped right in two under the pressure. I fell forward, hitting my chin on the ground. The table lay in pieces around me.
Maybe, I thought, as Takumi snapped another picture, this one of my ass. I made the wrong call getting into class F.
