Hauntings

CHAPTER 2

"Is that the club application form?" Shou asks, sitting on my desk.

I nod. "I'm not sure which club I'd like to join, though. There's basketball, for a start."

"Oh yeah, you're really good at it. But the girl's basketball team has a lot of experienced players already. They might not let you in as a regular right away."

"That's okay," I say, writing my name on the form. "It doesn't matter so much; I wasn't always a regular in my last school either" (I used to fall asleep during practice).

"Well, there are tryouts next week. The sports clubs here have tryouts twice a year: April and October. This gives people a chance to become regulars, so you might have a shot at it." My best friend grins at me. "Hopefully it's my turn now at judo."

I shake my head. I wasn't even half as good as some of the other girls on the team. To change the subject, I ask Shou about the other clubs that are there.

"If you want to play basketball, there's very little scope to join an extra club," he tells me, "but like I said yesterday, there's the photography club. I knew it," he adds, seeing my eyes light up. "It's a group of people who like to try out different kinds of photography, and they meet every weekend, so it might not be a bad idea. I know someone who's a part of it...do you want me to put you in touch with them?"

Nodding vigorously, I say yes. "Thanks so much!"

Shou and I have a bad habit of trying to make funny faces during classes. We've done it in elementary school, with at least two dozen successes a year, and another ten failures each year as well. Since we hadn't made faces at each other in so long, I thought: Why the hell not?

I turn to Shou in English class and wink at him. Since I've studied English for the last four years, at a slightly more advanced level, I should be okay. I know that it's taught differently in Japan than it is abroad, but I can handle it...I think.

Shou frowns at me for a moment, startling me, before realizing what I'm trying to do, which is when his frown turns upside down. I sigh, relieved that my best friend is still there. Hopefully I won't jeopardize his scores in the class.

He sticks his tongue out, just a little bit, and I have to choke back my laughter. He knows that it always makes me laugh. In retaliation, I roll my eyes in different directions - a trait I inherited from Mom. That really gets Shou close to losing it.

I grin at him one last time before turning back to the teacher and the blackboard. I'm going to enjoy this year, I just know it.

* * * *

At lunch, before I can put my things away and leave the class, the class representative comes to meet me. I spoke to him yesterday for a couple of minutes; I think his name is Kitazawa.

"Hi," he says, a little breathlessly. He's cute, in a little brother sort of way, with really short brown hair and glasses. "Um, Fujishiro, I had to tell you about the cleaning schedule of our class...are you familiar with it?" 

I nod. I don't like how people think I'm completely ignorant of how things work here: I mean, I did live in this very town for the first twelve years of my life, and Shou, Kenta, and Natsume have told me a lot too. There are some things I'm new to, but not as much as people seem to think, even Grandma.

"Okay, so since there are about forty-two of us, now that you're here, I've added you to Group Two, which will clean the classroom on Tuesdays, and we'll deal with the rest of the places on other days." He gives me a sheet of paper with a few names on it.

"Tuesdays...I see." Tuesday was yesterday. That gives me plenty of time to settle down and add this to my schedule as well. "Thank you, Kitazawa. I'm looking forward to working with everyone."