- First Love -

"We need to talk." Kei's voice came really close as he leaned on my desk.

"I don't feel like talking right now." The words came out before I even thought about them. "Plus, didn't you hear Mr Matsumoto telling me to go to the office after school?"

"I'll wait for you then."

"You don't have to, Kei." I sigh. "Let's just talk at home." He paused for a moment contemplating my suggestion.

"Are you sure you don't want me to wait for you?"

"Right now, I don't even want to see you, can't you understand that." Kei's face hardened. 'Maybe I went too far... No I didn't.'

He stomped away snatching his bag from his desk and stormed out of the classroom.

"Are you alright?" Yoko asked me with her sweetness.

"I'm really nervous about Mr Matsumoto."

"Yeah, he can be a jerk." Yoko nodded in understanding. "Well, I have a student council meeting, maybe we will be done at the same time and we could leave together."

"That would be great. I could use some company today." A flash of all that has happened in the previous two days crossed my mind. My chest tightened, but I shook my head right away. 'One thing at a time. Let's go see Mr Matsumoto first.'

I walked to the office and immediately spotted the old and ragged English teacher. He was engulfed in some papers he was correcting. I cleared my throat and entered the room.

"Mr Matsumoto, I have come like you asked." He looked up from the paper he was painting in red and took off his reading glasses.

"Well hello Miss Martin, I was waiting for you." He said breaking into an evil grin. I knew he had something in mind. I swallowed hard. "It's good that you are here, I have just the task that will give you enough time to think about how important my class is, and, how you need to come on time to it." 'Damn, he is still mad about my tardiness.' He pulled a pair of rubber gloves from his drawer. "You know where the trash incinerator is?"

"Yes." 'I just had the worse conversation of my life next to it.'

"Great, you will need to burn all of today's school trash." My eyes widened.

"But that's like... so much trash." I exclaimed.

"Yes, I know." He shot me a look daring me to say another word. I was sure if I had added any other comments, he would have prolonged the punishment for a week or something. So, I took the gloves and walked to the back of the school.

I thought that life was cruelly funny. Just a few hours before, I was standing there in front of the guy I loved as he broke my heart with his nonchalant apology. Maybe I should have listened to what he had to say. Maybe I misunderstood something.

"No! What is there to misunderstand. He even apologized damn it!" I tried to reason with my mind.

I walked to the incinerator to find dozens of trash bags. I opened the first one and dumped it inside.Then a second one. It was so hot and there was only room for two bags inside the machine.

"Shit, this is going to take forever."

The day was already hot, but being in front of the incinerator made it feel like hell. I felt my skin crack dry and I was so thirsty. I thought about getting a water bottle but I had to walk so far for the closest vending machine. I decided to just finish the trash and then think about water.

It took me about three hours to dump the last trash bag in the machine. I cursed Mr Matsumoto the whole time. I was sweating, thirsty, and starving. I realized I hadn't really eaten anything since breakfast from the day before.

I walked back to my classroom. I wanted to send a message to Yoko, I looked everywhere for my phone but I couldn't find it. I went looking for her in the student council room, but no one was there. 'I guess she left.' She had probably called my cell but didn't get a reply.

I picked up my schoolbag and left the school. I was feeling really weak. I decided to stop at the convenience store before going home. 'Maybe I'll get some delicious pineapple bread.' My mouth watered just at the thought of the sweet bread.

When I reached the station, I was surprised to see Yoko sitting on one of the benches.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" I asked her.

"Oh, I started to think that you might have already gotten home." I sat next to her.

"Well, you were right. Mr Matsumoto is a jerk. I had to burn all the trash from today." Yoko scrunched her nose.

"That sucks."

"I know." I sighed.

"Anyway, you get off at the Yutenji station, right?" I nodded in agreement. "Well I'm riding with you then. There is a new Manga store in Yutenji that I want to check out."

"Oh, awesome. Maybe we can hang out after that."

"That sounds good." Yoko answered.

"Sam, let's go." Yoko's voice brought me back from my nightmare.

I followed her out of the train and we walked to the store she wanted to visit. I stopped at the entrance when I saw a convenience store.

"Hey Yoko, you go in first I'm just going to buy something to eat really quick."

"Ok, I'll be here." Yoko smiled and dived into the world of Manga she was obsessed with.

As I made my way to the convenience store, only a few feet away, I was pushed violently to the alley by the store. I let out a squeal but it was never heard because my mouth was covered. It happened so fast, I couldn't focus enough to see who was pushing me. My heart was pounding so fast against my ribs. Finally they let go of me and pushed me to the ground.

My butt hurt so bad at the impact, I yelped. I looked up to find Minako hovering over me. She had six other girls with her and they were all scowling at me. I had a really bad feeling about the situation but there was no escape from it. I pushed to my feet and was surrounded by what looked like a small girl gang.

"What do you think you're doing Minako?" I asked glaring at her. She was drinking some iced tea.

"What does it look like?" She grinned. "I am going to beat you up. I hope this is going to teach you a lesson."

I felt my body responding to her threat. Adrenaline started flowing through my veins. The odds were very slim though; seven against one was far from being fair. But I wasn't going down without a fight. I could at least take down two or three girls with me.

"Oh, did you like my present yesterday?" She said pretending she had totally forgotten to ask me. It took me a moment to calm my breathing.

"Thank you, I loved it." I responded sarcastically which made Minako frown. I guess she wasn't satisfied by my reaction.

"You know, Kei was amazing... as usual." I didn't answer. I thought I'd save my energy for the fight. Minako's eyes went wild when I didn't speak. "Did he already break up with you? I didn't see him around you today."

"Have you been watching me?" She finished up her tea and nodded at one of the girls behind me. I barely turned to see which one she was looking at, when the first blow came.

I fell to the floor. It was a hard punch to the jaw. The pain was pretty real. I stayed down for a moment and then I looked up at Minako. The girl next to her was putting a knuckle duster on her right hand. 'Shit, that's going to hurt.' I scrunched my face.

I tried to think of a way out of the pickle I was in; I didn't have my phone to call for help, and even if I screamed, who would want to go against a gang? There was no chance to get out of it without a scratch, the throbbing on my jaw was perfect proof of that. All I had was my schoolbag with a few books inside. It could make a little bit of damage, or maybe serve as protection especially from that knuckle duster.

The adrenaline reached new levels when I felt one of the girls behind me move. I squeezed my bag and turned toward her as her punch came to contact with my poetry book, probably. Then, I swung my right fist landing on her cheek which left a stinging pain on my knuckles. The girl almost lost her balance so I helped her by kicking her so hard she flew to the ground.

I turned to see the shock on Minako's face. 'Good. I'm gonna fight.' I grinned and looked around waiting for who was going to come at me next. All the girls were glaring at me. I swallowed and kept my senses awake. The girl who punched me the first time took a step closer and I blocked her arm with mine. Another girl attacked me and I hit her with my bag, then I elbowed the first girl in the stomach. 'Maybe I can do this.' I thought to myself, but I was wrong.

"Do you think you can win this fight?" Minako asked with disdain. I stared at her for a moment and she scoffed shaking her head in disbelief. "Well, let me show you."

Five of the girls were closing in on me at the same time. I swung my bag around which kept them away for about five seconds before one of them caught it. She snatched it away making me lose the only protection I had. My blood was pumping. I put both hands into fists and was ready for what was coming. The hits all came at once, all I could do was protect my face. I also snuck a few punches into one girl's face and another's stomach.

The girl I had kicked earlier pulled my hair back as another one elbowed my stomach. My breath hitched. I didn't have time to take in any air when a second blow came, and a third, and a fourth. At that point, the pain didn't allow me to keep track anymore.

Suddenly, I found myself held by two girls and faced by Minako's grin. My whole body hurt. I could feel blood dripping from a cut on my lip and another by my swollen right eye. Minako stared me in the eyes for a while before pulling me from the hair to reach my ear.

"Will you give up on Kei now?" She whispered.

"So even though the guy doesn't like you, you are still running after him. Don't you have any pride?" I poured some gasoline on the fire.

"He likes me." Was all she said, a fire blazing in her eyes.

"Why is he dating me, then?" She was silent for a moment.

"It is not going to be for long." She grinned. "After I'm done with you, he won't even recognize his dear childhood friend." I took a deep breath trying to calm myself. I moved a little closer to her ear.

"He is mine." I slowly and softly spoke.

She immediately slapped me as hard as she could. I temporarily lost my hearing from my right ear. I was raging with anger. I didn't care about the consequences. I just felt the urge to do something and Minako was close enough for me to reach her. First I spat in her face and then, using the girls holding me for support, I kicked her in the chest so hard she fell to the ground and started coughing like crazy. Two girls rushed to her to help her up.

"Ayame... get the bitch." Minako screamed at the girl standing behind her who hadn't joined the fight yet.

"Shit." I murmured.

I looked as the Ayame girl took some steps toward me. She was short with beautiful long hair falling past her shoulder blades. She adjusted her Knuckle duster which made me swallow hard. My eyes were fixed on her hand. The grip of the two girls behind me tightened. She stood in front of me, only a few inches away. With her bare left fist, she punched my stomach and then inflicted a second blow to my right side, the brass of her knuckle duster making contact with the bones of my rib cage. I screamed in agony. The pain was excruciating.

I was split in two trying to inhale some oxygen when she hit me again, in the same spot. I had never felt such pain before. I seriously thought I was going to die. I fell to the ground and all of the girls went to stand by Minako. She walked to me with confidence.

"I told you I was going to teach you a lesson. I just hope you quit being so stubborn." She bent over to get closer to me. "It's not good for your health." I looked at her through my half open eyes. For a second, I thought I went crazy. I heard myself laugh hysterically. I didn't know what took a hold of me, but I was laughing so hard tears were coming down. Of course, the look on Minako's face was priceless. She grabbed my hair and pulled me up a little.

"Stop laughing." She spat. But I couldn't help laughing even harder. "I said stop." She screamed. Then, she slapped me across the face. But I still couldn't stop. Minako was ready to inflict a second slap.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" A voice asked in the distance and I felt Minako's hand tremble and her body stiffen. She let go of my hair. I knew it was Kei. My lips were already curled up.

"K-Kei..." Minako started.

"Get away from her if you want to live to see another day." Kei spoke the poisoned words. Surprisingly, Minako relaxed her shoulders.

"Ayame, get rid of him." She ordered. "Actually, you too girls. Make him kneel in front of me."

All of them rushed to Kei to try to hit him. All I saw was the Ayame girl taking a punch in the face that knocked her out. I tried to keep my eyes open, but darkness spread in front of me.

"Sam!" Kei called me. It was the last thing I heard before passing out.