“Ishikawa Lilly.” The stern sounding voice came from the vice principal of the school who met the fragile looking girl half way as she stood. Hep resented his hand and she took it shaking lightly. “It's nice to meet you sir.” She said softly, her voice as flitting and trembling as a bird. “And you.” He replied, ignoring her discomfort. 

She had been back in town a week, her mother had kept her room predominantly the same as it had been when she had left six years ago to live with Gramma and Granpop Ishikawa in their Kyoto home. The divorce proceedings had taken their toll on everyone. Her father had run off with another woman from work but he refused to admit to this when it came to the divorce, meaning her Mother had forked out a lot of money and spent a lot of time with solicitors and in court. Neither of their parents wanted their children around that negativity and so they had sent them away.

Her mother then had job problems and had to find a new place when their father sold their old one, [i]'All that takes time'[/i] she assured the children. Of course by the time it was sorted neither of them were in a position to move back and so they hadn't. Lilly's grandparents were struggling though, supporting them had drained a lot of their funds, Neo decided to move out and get his own apartment nearer the school. He'd said Lilly could join him but she thought it would be nice for him to have some freedom, besides, it meant she had a great excuse to go keep their mother company. 

She was still adjusting, new town, new home and while they'd seen their mother regularly it was a bit different living with her again. In the hopes of making things less alien though her Mother had opted to send her to the school she herself had attended. 

So here she was, her first day, with her bag with pens, pencils and notepaper on her back, her uniform crisp and neat, trailing behind the vice principal as if she were some kind of delinquent. “I am sure you will get yourself orientated around the school in no time, if not, the students are really friendly here, all you'd have to do is ask. Your time table is being printed out so if you come and get it from the office after you've registered then you will know where you need to go. Your mother assures me you know the school rules, please adhere to them at all times. The cafeteria serves hot and cold food twice a day and there are a number of extra curricular activities you can take part in. It is recommended all students have at least one but preferably two after school activities. Here we are.” He opened the door and let Lilly walk into her new classroom, not waiting to see if she had nay questions but shutting the door and rushing off leaving her standing, awkwardly, in the room.

The teacher greeted her enthusiastically and introduced herself before silencing the chatty class and introducing Lilly to the room. Lilly's brown eyes fell shyly to the ground as she introduced herself to the class, there were some snickering noises and a blonde girl in the back row didn't seem impressed. Finally she was dismissed to choose an empty seat and the home period began.  Afterwards they were dismissed to first period, her classmates all filed out as she got her things together and she attempted to catch one of them, for whatever reason they didn't hear her and she was soon stood in the corridor utterly lost.

She found her way of course, eventually and got her timetable arriving late to class much to the smug look of her new class mates. School was going to be...interesting, she realised. Lilly had always been considered strange, of course she'd always had her brother to protect her from those who wouldn't be kind to her. Because of her large gentle eyes and her soft spoken manner she was always called things like rabbit or deer, people mocked her for it and thanks to her big brother she'd never had to look after herself. 

By lunch time she had made no friends but had managed to get around the school without too much trouble. She had convinced herself it would be at lunch time she could make friends with her classmates, or anyone for that matter. Carefully she picked up her lunch; the vegetarian option which certainly wouldn't help with rumours, and made her way to the first table. “HI there, I'm Ishikawa L-”
“I'm really sorry the table is full.” The girl with the blonde hair interjected, it wasn't full of course, there were two free seats but Lilly just smiled and nodded, “Maybe some other time.” As Lilly turned the girl snickered with her friends, “She's so weird isn't she? Did you see how she was answering all the questions in Maths? What was she trying to prove?” There was giggles and other rumours. Lilly was pretty smart but she wasn't exactly socially apt, the divorce and upheaval had set her back even further. Lilly went to two other tables and received similar excuses before she sighed gently. In the corner of the dining area was an empty table and it seemed that was where she was headed. 

As she walked the football team came in, one of the boys threw a ball for another and as they ran for it they bumped into Lilly tripping her and sending her lunch flying. The hall erupted into laughter even as the football player apologised profusely and helped her up. Tears stung the corner of her eyes, her lunch was ruined. Excusing herself politely she left the hall and head outside, the day was cool, not cold really, but due to the wind many people were either staying in or close to the building. Lilly made her way to a quiet part surrounded by the rose bushes and sat herself down, she'd been fighting tears all day but now, alone, she burst into tears, holding tightly to her mobile phone, the message 'Be brave!' dimming from the screen.