To Translate I Love You [01] Acceptance

The same drowning speech... "These are the best years of your life, these years can make or break your professional career. So instead of sitting around all summer, why not take a summer course or get a part time job?" Every single period had been the same way, nine periods in a row, forty-two minutes each, three hundred and seventy eight minutes, twenty two thousand six hundred and eighty seconds... and it wasn't even halfway done yet. There was still four periods left in the day. Still two hundred and ten minutes of monotonous speeches left to go, this was how the last day of West High School was spent... But, if you didn't count lunch, there was only one-hundred and sixty eight minutes left, ten thousand... a high pitched bell caught a blond haired girl in the back row from her math problem. The two tolls caused a sigh of relief from several of the students. Everyone stood in mass, the old wooden desks creaked in exhaustion. <p>

"Miley Lornal, please come to the office for an important message. Miley Lornal to the office," a pair of brown eyes looked up at the speaker slowly, debating on if they had called her name or not. She pulled her reading glasses off and placed them neatly into her jeweled case before standing up, slipping her tie dye book bag over her shoulder. <p>

"Have a good summer, Miley," the young teacher looked up from his grade book, the grade book that should have been turned in over one week ago. <p>

"You too, Mr. Anderson," she scurried like a cat getting chased by a dog down the double stair case. The hall way to the office was straight, no turned needed to be taken to get to the office. After a couple minutes of walking she finally reached the door, turning the silver doorknob to allow herself entrance. The older secretary didn't even look up at her from her phone call. <p>

"Miley!" Ms. Mitchell, a tall woman with long blond hair and a beautiful smile walked up to her, heels leaving indents in the gray carpet. The first thing Miley noticed, was a large white envelope by her side. "Miley, do you remember that exchange student program you applied for at the beginning?" Miley remembered it very clearly, it look days of paperwork and interviews to finally be allowed to submit her request.

"Yes..." Miley's eyes unwillingly traveled to the white envelope her guidance counselor was holding. <p>

"Well, we would have gotten you an answer sooner. But you see, on your application you didn't specify a country. And the school thought we would get a faster response if we sent the application out through the world. But we finally got one today... from Japan!" She turned over the envelope, Kanji replaced the English alphabet. "We applied you to several major English speaking countries, and Japan of course, since you've been taking Japanese as a foreign language for many years now," Miley nodded, next year would be her seventh year taking Japanese, and she never regretted a single day. "Now, the reason you got this reply first could be because they denied your request. Or because there wasn't a host family that was available, or compatible with you. So, don't make any plans in your genius mind before you read their reply," Ms. Mitchell handed her the white envelope, Miley's hands were shaking, it took her a couple tried to get the envelope all the way open. The entire letter was in kanji, she'd have to read it out loud to Ms. Mitchell. <p>

"Ms. Miley Lornal, we are pleased to inform you and your family that you have been granted acceptance into Japan's Foreign Exchange Program!" Ms. Mitchell squealed and hugged her student ecstatically. <p>

"This is amazing, Miley! You're making history here at West High! No student had ever been accepted into a Japanese foreign exchange student program before!" She let Miley go, of course, she was thinking of the publicity the school would be getting for this... Somehow, Miley didn't care, she was to excited to care. "But, Miley, there were some special negotiations we made with the Japanese Commissioner who runs PIEE. Instead of leaving at the end of August. They want a trial period first. Like a try before you guy type of deal. They want to be sure that you can handle it, and that they aren't wasting money on a student who is going to get mediocre grades, and not participate in their culture. So, you're going to leave at the end of the week, and live with your host family for the summer. You'll have an officer who will check on you frequently, who will report to us and your new high school principal. And if they see you're responsible then you will be able to stay for there for your senior school year. Is that okay with you, Miley?" Leave it to the school board to leave out something important like that... <p>

"No, it isn't a problem," Ms. Mitchell opened the door and gave Miley a wink. <p>

"Have a great summer!" <p>

"Thanks, you too, Ms. Mitchell," Miley took a left, and then another left to the cafeteria. The lunch line filled nearly half of the cafeteria, there was no use in getting food yet. She walked over to her usual table, and sat in her usual spot. <p>

"Whatya' do?" Dylan asked, shoving a pile of lettuce into his mouth, getting ranch dressing all over his face. <p>

"You're such a dumb ass," Mike wrapped his arm around her shoulders, kissing her on the cheek. He knew she didn't like kissing in public, especially surrounded by their single friends. <p>

"What are you so happy about?" Brittany asked, pushing her long black hair over her shoulder. Miley set the acceptance letter on the table. <p>

"A bunch of boxes?" Logan asked, squinting at the paper. <p>

"No, Japanese writing..." Mike corrected, turning the paper to face him. "An assignment? What does it say?" <p>

"I got accepted to a high school exchange program in Japan... I'm leaving next week..." <p>

"No!" Mike shouted, standing up suddenly, kicking his chair backwards. <p>

"What are you talking about, Mike?" Beryl said, hugging her friend. "This is so awesome!" <p>

"What is your problem?" Miley asked nastily, quiet enough so only Mike could hear her. <p>

"You can't go! What about me? Why didn't you talk to me about this first?" <p>

"Because I signed up for it in October, before I even liked you, and you were dating that slut. I had forgotten about it," Mike still seemed extremely angry. Josh, Logan and Andy were on high alert. <p>

"No! You can't go!" Mike grabbed Miley's upper arm, lifting her out of her chair like a rag doll, digging his nails into her skin. <p>

"Excuse me! I'll do what I want," she pulled back from him, he would not let her go. She reached back and with all her might, she slapped him across the face. Their table gasped, waiting for Mike's reaction, no one expected what had happened next. Miley's boyfriend backhanded her so hard, she was knocked off her feet. <p>

"Oh my god..." Brittany and Beryl ran to their fallen friend, checking to see if she was still conscious after her head slammed onto the marble. The entire cafeteria had become quiet as a graveyard, everyone turning to see what had happened. Josh and Andy stared at Mike with angry in their eyes, Logan had gotten to his feet. Mike dropped to his knees beside his girlfriend. <p>

"I'm so sorry, Miley, it'll never happen again," Miley was able to turn around, sitting on the cold tile of the cafeteria floor. <p>

"Yeah, you're right, because that is the last time you ever touch me!" She jumped to her feet and ran out of the cafeteria, pushing the heavy steel door open, the alarm sounded, but she just kept running. That was the last time she would ever step foot in that school again, she promised herself. <p>

"Miley, wait!" Mike went to go after her, but Logan grabbed his wrist. <p>

"What the hell is your problem?!" Mike pulled back and punched Logan in the face. Logan was knocked against the wall, Brittany ran forward and speared Mike to the ground. Beryl pulled Brittany off of him as she swung at him in fury. It took Josh, Andy and four teachers to keep the two guys away from each other. Bruised and aching, Mike, Logan and Brittany sat in the office, waiting for their punishments. The beep to warn students of an announcement sounded. <p>

"Congratulations to Miley Lornal for being the first student to be accepted as a foreign exchange student! We wish her the best of luck in all of her future accomplishments!" All three students looked to their feet, Mike's knuckled turned white, a tear slid down his cheek.