• Chapter 1

    My family is…. well…. poor. We live in a two room apartment for five people. I was the only child but my Mom and Dad decided to take in their friend’s kids, Rei and Zero, since their family died. As a result I ended up with the older one, Rei, in my room and the younger with my Mom. My Dad is not home all the time because he fishes for his job, so most of the time there are only four of us living in the house. My Mom is an art teacher in middle school. With all her and father’s income we still were short of the needed amount… sine it wasn’t enough for all of us to get what we needed, I began to work as well…three part time jobs afterschool and practice for violin, writing and art.

    So, wrapped in a nutshell, I was a very busy girl. Going to an elite school where only rich kids attend was on my mother’s agenda (no surprise there.) So if ever an opportunity comes that I have the ability to attend one she would work me to the bone just so I could be above the rest. It was one of her get to the top quick schemes which involved me getting married to a rich person…like that was ever going to happen. Then, as if someone wanted to smack me in the face, Shinra Academy was offering people of all economic standings to audition for the Arts department on full scholarship. Being in Shinra Academy was no joke. The students who attended school there were considered the best of the best and got jobs just from graduating high school there. Shinra Academy went from kindergarten all the way to college, they were very serious about education there and they are number one on the top five best schools in the world. So considering all that, my mother quickly forced me to go to the audition and ordered me to put my all in to it. So I did. I made five different art pieces, two forty page excerpts of my best novels, three poems, one original violin piece and two Mozart pieces for the violin. After I got the written and art pieces sent to the school I began to practice my violin pieces until the day of the audition. This is very tiring.

    The day came and my mother came with me to make sure I did as I was told (ordered). I was forced to wear a black dress that was strapless and came down above my knees at a slant, so one side was shorter than the other. Then my mother put my hair in an up do which had pushed my hair to one side. Because of this look I was getting stared at by all the boys (very uncomfortable.) The building was large and had a lot of people running around in it. Some looked like they were from this school and others looked like they were preparing to go to the audition like me. They all looked nervous but when they looked at me they saw boredom and some saw beauty at least that is what I hoped they saw. This, in turn, made them more nervous.

    I arrived at the door that read ‘Audition. Enter here.’ and I stopped in my tracks. My mother looked at me in anger and grabbed my arm tightly.

    “You will go in.” she harshly whispered in my ear.

    I forced myself to walk in there and she let me go. Inside there were three judges, two males and one female. They all looked like they were not too happy with the results they were getting with the people who walked in. I wouldn’t blame them though. The person that was just before me sounded horrible, he was screeching or something with his mouth. I think he was being slaughtered… They cut him off mid-note (if that’s what you want to call it) and told him that he will not get in to this school even if their lives depended on it. I just laughed and got my violin ready, I had tuned it beforehand. Good thing we are early. They called me up.

    “State your name and type of pieces that you will perform.” The woman stated.
    I bowed and told them what I will perform. The woman smiled at me.

    “Proceed.” The man with the glasses said.

    I placed the violin on my shoulder and lightly placed my chin on the chin rest. I took the bow and allowed it float on the strings giving a pleasant sound throughout the building, then through me. My fingers danced all over the strings not allowing any stop to the smooth sound the violin created. I didn’t look at the judges or my mother I just played. All my worries melted away with each movement and sound my violin made. I breathed deeply and became relaxed. I played three songs and then when I was done the judges were speechless and in a trance. When they realized I was finished they began to praise me for all my work. They said that I was perfect in all my art abilities and they never seen anyone like me before. After hearing that my mother melted right in front of them but I showed no response to what they said. I just bowed in acknowledgement, packed my violin and left. I wasn’t happy once I stopped playing. I remembered why I was playing and just got mad again. My own mother was using my talent for her own ends. So all I could do was bow and accept the praise. I did as she wished.

    I opened the door that lead out of the audition room and found many people gathered around and staring at me. I ignored them and kept on walking straight for the exit. I was half way across to the exit when my mom came running behind me.

    “Mai! Did you hear their praises?” she exclaimed grabbing on to my arm.
    “Yes, mother.” I said in bored tone. She laughed.
    “Come now, Mai! Don’t spoil my sheer joy!!” she said like a spoiled child in front of the big crowd of people. I stopped dead in my tracks and turned around to face her.
    “Your sheer joy? Your joy is my own talent? Is that it?” I said angrily and then stormed off.
    “Mai!! Don’t be like this!!” she called after me. I could hear her stomp her foot like a child.

    With that I became the talk of a school I didn’t even attend all because of her. I didn’t want to be here. I soon became engrossed in my thoughts as I walked myself home. Then out of nowhere I heard girls screaming their heads off and not soon after that I bumped into someone really hard that it felt like hitting a brick wall. This is what I thought I hit, but, I soon realized it was actually a guy. I froze with my hands and knees on the ground as I looked at the guy on the floor in front of me. He was really cute. He had his hair long, up to his shoulders, and parted to one side which made his hair cover his left eye. His jacket was leather and he had a bad boy look to him, since he wore black and his hair was black too. He smiled at me and then I realized that I was staring at him. I turned away and fell into a sitting position with my eyes looking away from him.

    “I’m sorry.” I said.
    “You’re so adorable!!” the boy said.

    I turned to look at him and jumped back because he was really close to me. I got up quickly and grabbed my violin case from the floor.

    “So you’re the one who was playing.” He said thoughtfully.
    I stopped and looked down at him.

    “Yes.” I said and started to walk away.

    He quickly got up and caught my arm. I collected myself and stared at the boy holding my arm. He turned away from me and I shook his hand off me. I started to walk away when he caught me arm again and brought me closer to him. I stared to blush and he smiled brightly at me. I just shrugged him off again and walked off. I need to get home is all I thought.

    I arrived home and went straight to bed. My mom wasn’t even home yet so it’s not like I was going to have any food anyway. So, I plopped my face on my pillow and tried to fall asleep. It was no used. My mind couldn’t leave out the boy who grabbed to me. The encounter kept running around and around in my head.