Tikking Clock

another new start

The hands of the alarm clock reach 7 a.m. and with a loud ringing noise Lina's alarm goes off. She knocks it over before finding the button to turn the sound off. With a huge yawn she turns to her side. Half asleep the girl sees the unfamiliar school uniform hanging on the door. All the sleepiness is immediately gone. Lina opens the curtains and bright sunlight streams into the room. The room is almost completely white with silver colored accents. Everything is put away in an orderly manner and the room has been thoroughly cleaned not too long ago. Lina takes her uniform from the door and walks into her bathroom. After taking a nice but quick shower the black-haired girl gets changed into her uniform and dries her long hair. After that she brushes it with care. When she reaches for a hair tie to tie it up, the girl stops. 'Today will be a new start so changing my usual hairstyle might not be such a bad idea.' she mumbles. Just in case she slips one of the hair ties around her wrist. She then opens the drawer at her left and takes out four types of medicines. 'It is Monday, so it is one, two, one, one.' Lina mumbles while taking out the pills. Lina fills her cup with water and takes the foul-tasting medicines. After making a face she walks back into her bedroom. She takes a pair of light blue earrings that match her eye color and puts them in. Lina slowly walks down the stairs and enters the dining room. A maid just placed her food down. 'The master and madam left about an hour ago. They wish you good luck, pray your condition will stay stable and hope you have a lot of fun on your new school.' the maid says with a small smile. Lina thanks the maid and dismisses her. While eating breakfast Lina checks the news on her phone. 'Nothing that shocking.' she says while putting her phone down. After breakfast Lina still has some time to spare so she walks towards her room and takes her camera. After getting her camera the girl enters her new back garden and starts photographing the flowers and the comfortable sitting corner. It has been three weeks since she moved here. After spending a week moving and unpacking the autumn break started. Now autumn break has ended Lina will be enrolling at her new school. After taking some more photo's Lina's phone pings and lights up. Lina takes it out and smiles when she reads the text. 'Am waiting at the crossroad.' is all it says. Lina smiles and puts her phone into her skirts pocket again. 'Clara I will be leaving now, please put my camera back at its usual spot.' Lina says. Clara Walks towards Lina Takes her camera over from the girl, while she hands Lina her schoolbag. 'Have a good day my lady.' Clara says. Lina closes the door behind her and walks through the gate. She has a small skip in her pace while walking to the crossroad at the end of the street. ' A boy with chestnut brown hair and green eyes is patiently waiting for her. 'Good morning princess.' he says when seeing her. 'Morning Ace.' Lina says while giving her boyfriend a kiss on his cheek. 'So you moved again?' Ace asks with a serious face. Lina nods. 'Rumors about my sickness came out so parents started complaining about us keeping it a secre,t what could be a danger for their own kids. No one listened when we told them about it being a rare genetically transmitted disease.' Lina says while shrugging. This kind of thing has happened multiple times in the past ten years, so she has gotten used to being kicked of schools or having to move because of the terrible bullying. 'Sometimes, I seriously wonder if people have brains and if so, if they use them.' Ace says. Lina chuckles. 'Well, now we live one street apart from each other and we attend the same high school. And we are in the same class so this time it was not that big of a deal.' Lina says. 'Lina about my friends, they will never hurt you like those sorry excuses of friends you had in the past.' the brown-haired boy says. 'Ace, I trust you, but I am not ready to completely open up to others yet. Definitely not when it comes to my disease.' The blue-eyed girl says. ' Don't worry. There is no need to rush and I can cover for you when you have to stay home.' Ace says. Lina nods and gives him a smile. 'The uniform looks good on you by the way.' Ace says. Lina makes a twirl to jokingly show of. The black skirt with white stripes twirls around her tights. The black jacket gives of a mature vibe and shows the upper part of the white blouse Lina wears beneath it. A green colored ribbon makes it complete. 'When it gets colder, I will have to start wearing leggings too but for now this is fine.' Lina says with a smile. Ace smiles at Lina. His uniform simply exists out of black pants, a black jacket with a white blouse underneath it and a green tie. When they get closer to the school, they see more students wearing the same uniform. The ties and ribbons all have a different color for all the three years. Red for the first years, green for second years and blue for third years. Ace takes Lina to the headmaster's office to make sure the enrollment has been completed and to get Lina's schedule. 'It is good to see you Lina.' the headmaster says. Lina gives him a polite smile. 'Thank you, sir.' She answers. 'Your parents informed me you have a severe medical condition. Can you tell me more about it?' the headmaster asks. 'It is a very rare genetically transmitted disease. It causes extreme exhaustion, terrible headaches and makes me weaker to other sicknesses too. There is also the possibility of me fainting and losing all feeling in my limbs. The last two symptoms are a sing I am about to enter the next stage of my disease. There are two more stages after that. Ace has grown up pretty close to me and knows how to handle most of the symptoms.' The girl says. Alright. 'Ace if you head to class first, Lina and I will work out some precautions to prevent the worst from happening.' The headmaster says. Ace nods and leave the office. When the first bell rings urging students to rush to their classes Lina and the headmaster finish their talk. 'I have set times on what I have to take my medication. If I miss the time to take my medication by more than 15 minutes, I can get immediate symptoms. I checked the lesson times and I will have to take my medicines once during classes.' Lina says suddenly remembering this important detail. 'That won't be a problem, I will make sure the teachers are aware of that and will allow you to leave class for a bit so you can take them without your classmates noticing.' The headmaster says nodding. 'Thank you very much.' Lina says before leaving the office. She makes her way to the classroom and after barely a minute she hears the teacher tell the class they have a new student. It is rare for students to join after autumn break, so they are pretty surprised. Lina introduces herself shortly and takes her seat next to Ace. 'How did the talk go.' Ace whispers. 'Good, I have permission to leave class to take my medication.' Lina whispers back. 'Since there are no things planned for the rest of homeroom you are free to chat with each other.' the teacher says. The two girls in front of Ace and Lina turn their chairs around to face Ace and the two boys behind Ace join the small group. 'Since you were cutting it close this morning I will ask now, how was your break?' a girl with blonde hair asks. 'It was okay, my dad took me to his company since I will take over once he retires. And yours Kiri?' Ace asks. 'Same as usual, helped my mom in her atelier and joined her for her new collection's release.' Kiri answers. 'So Ace since you seem to be forgetting this,  you seem to know the new girl.' The other girl that turned around with red hair says. 'Right, Guys this is Lina my childhood friend and girlfriend. Lina these four are my friends, the blonde girl is Kiri her mom is a designer and Kiri will take over her brand in a few years. The red-haired girl is Reina, her father is one of the ministers. The blonde boy is Shane, his mother is a violinist and his dad a pianist. At last we have Jake the other red head in the group, his parents are both actors.' Ace says. 'You know about our parents so what do your parents do?' Reina asks. Lina chuckles about how straight forward Reina is. 'My dad is the CEO of the Kitayama trade company. My mom is his financial assistant.' Lina answers. 'So you will be taking over his company just Like Ace will take over the Arisugawa company from his dad?' Shane asks. 'That is the plan.' she says. Ace sees her smile, but a flash of sadness was visible in her blue eyes for a second, but it disappears just as fast. 'Lina did you take any new photo's recently?' Ace asks changing the subject. 'I took a few of them this morning.' Lina answers. Her eyes send Ace a subtle thank you which Ace answers with a small unnoticeable nod. 'You are a photographer?' Shane asks. Lina wants to answer but homeroom ends and another class starts. 'I will tell in the break.' Lina says. Shane nods and all of them return to their places. After some classes it was time for their break. After finding a free spot the six teens sit down. 'So you are a photographer?' Shane asks again. 'Just for fun.' Lina says shy. 'She is pretty damn good.' Ace says. 'Can you show us some?' Kiri asks. Lina takes her phone out of her bag and shows them a few older photo's. 'You really know how to use a camera.' Jake says impressed. Lina smiles. 'Thanks, it puts my mind at ease to capture the most beautiful moments.' Lina says with a smile. Ace sees the sadness pass in her eyes again and softly squeezes her hand. 'Soooo you and Ace are a couple?' Kiri asks remembering homeroom. 'We are together for three years now. Our fathers decided on an arranged marriage the day we told them so you could say she is my fiancé too.' Ace says. Lina blushes. 'She is your fiancé!' Reina exclaims loud. 'Shut up not the entire school has to know.' Ace says. 'Sorry.' Reina answers smiling.

The day flies by and when classes end Lina and Ace say goodbye to their friends. 'They really are amazing.' The balck-haired girl says. 'But it will take time to tell them, I know.' Ace finishes. Lina chuckles and gets a little closer to Ace. Ace smiles and wraps his arm around her shoulders. 'You are pretty good at hiding your sadness, I only caught small glimpses since I am keeping a close eye on you.' Ace says. 'Well I can't do anything else. We know I can die any moment, the estimated time I have left is four years, which can get longer since I take so many medicines but still. When they asked or I would take over my dad's company I almost froze. I will probably be gone by the time he retires. Photographing really puts my mind at ease but is also meant to leave small traces behind for when I am gone.' Lina says. 'You will be fine and live a long and happy life with me.' Ace says squeezing his lover tightly. 'Yes, I will.' Lina answers. They say goodbye at the crossroad and both head to their houses from there. Lina opens the mechanical gate with the button on her keys and opens the front door with a normal key. 'Welcome home my lady.' Clara says taking Lina's bag from her. 'Hello Clara, Are my parents back?' Lina asks. 'The madam is having tea in the lounge. The master had some matters to attend to at the company and will be back in a little bit.' Clara answers. Lina walks into the lounge and hugs her mom. Clara brings Lina some tea and Lina starts telling about her day. 'Ace's friends really are amazing. Even if I am still a little wary.' Lina says. 'Everyone with your past would be. You look quite tired so get some rest, your dad would love to go for a run with you after dinner.' Lina's mom says. The girl nods and heads towards her room. She flops down onto her bed and falls asleep in no time.

Lina was woken up by Clara for dinner. After she quickly freshened up a little Lina joined her parents in the dining room. The girl told her dad about school and her friends too. After that, her dad told Lina about the recent events inside the company. The chance was small but both of them kept hoping Lina would be able to take over the company when she was old enough. Dinner passed for the rest with them making small talk. After dinner Lina and her dad changed into sporting gear and went for a short run through the neighborhood. Lina felt better than she had in the past months, what was a good sign. After returning home Lina takes a shower and after that she takes her medicines. After that the black- haired girl decides to go to bed early and right after she set her alarm Lina fell asleep.