HELLO JAYSON!

Suzuki was Amaya's cousin and also my best friend.

The day after Amaya defended me from Beckett; we got a 3 week suspension.

Well; that's what you get for beating the principal's son.

My dad was so angry and grounded me when we got home.

"Jayson; what the hell was going through your mind attacking the principal's son?" He screamed at me.

"I'm not sorry dad because he had been bullying me for a long time. He just got what he deserved." I replied.

"Interesting…well here is what you deserve; you are grounded." My dad said.

"What? I'm grounded? For what?" I asked unhappily.

"You don't get to ask questions around here. Go upstairs to your room because for the next 3 weeks of your suspension; you are grounded."

I was so frustrated that I ran and locked myself in my room.

Turns out it was worse than I thought because I was denied access to my phone, Xbox or any technology.

Only my textbooks, stories and novels were left.

The good news was that this was going to end after my suspension.

I sat on my bed for hours feeling bored.

"Hah…this is so boring." I said.

After 3 hours of boredom; I heard a knock on window.

Bang!

I got up and quickly went to check.

I rolled the curtains away and saw Amaya below; throwing stones to the window.

"This girl is full of surprises." I said to myself.

But she wasn't alone.

I noticed a young fellow with pink hair standing beside her.

Could that be her boyfriend? I thought.

She signaled me to come out of my room.

"I am grounded." I tried to explain but she couldn't hear me.

So, I took a paper and a marker and wrote in bold characters:

I AM GROUNDED.

She chuckled and asked the guy she was with to give her a paper and a pen from his backpack.

Then she wrote:

Why not come out through the window?

I smiled and wrote back:

I am afraid of heights; I can't jump.

Then she wrote again:

How about a rope?

The problem was there weren't any around so I wrote back:

NO ROPE.

She walked around and thought for a while. Then she wrote back:

Don't worry my cousin is coming to get you.

"Hmmm…so she is single after all." I said to myself in high spirits.

Her cousin ran off and came back shortly with a ladder. He inclined it towards the window and climbed up.

Soon he was at the window.

He opened it and with a smile on his face said:

"Hi. I'm Suzuki."

"Nice meeting you. I'm Jayson." I said with a smile.

That was the first time I met Suzuki.

We both got out using the ladder.

After we got down; Amaya signaled us to run. We followed her to her house.

Her house wasn't far from where I lived. In fact, a three minutes' walk.

Upon arriving at our destination; Suzuki rang the doorbell. Amaya's house was really fancy and huge. it was a white beautiful mansion.

An old lady in a white apron came and opened the door.

When she saw me; she exclaimed:

"Oh my god! You must be Jayson."

That was a shocker to me because this was my first time meeting her.

"Jayson; meet my grandma Sakura." Amaya introduced the old lady.

I smiled and said:

"Hi. It's a pleasure to meet you, grandma Sakura."

"The pleasure is all mine." She said as she gave me a hug.

I have never received such a warm welcome in my entire life.

"Come on in. We've cooked something for you to eat." She said as she took the lead.

This is so crazy! I was blown completely off.

That was when I understood that:

"Even if you think you are nobody; there is always someone watching who thinks otherwise."

She led us to the hall way and called out:

"Ichika! Taira! Jayson is here."

Two people shortly came out to meet us. They were Amaya's parents.

Amaya's mom (Ichika) smiled broadly when she saw me and gave me a hug.

"You must be the one my daughter talks so much about."

I wanted to pinch myself to know if it wasn't a dream. It was so mesmerizing and so good to be true.

"Hmmm…dark eyes and hair, a little short, incredible dimple and a handsome face. You sure are the one she always talks about." Amaya's dad said as he gave me a handshake.

"Let's get to the dining table and eat something; shall we?" Sakura said.

We all went and sat at the large dining table as we waited on Sakura.

Sakura with the help of their house help brought various kinds of food to the table.

They were all Japanese food and they smelled so damn good. My mouth even started to water.

Japanese foods such as:

· Nikujaga(braised meat and potatoes)

· Yaki Onigiri(Grilled rice balls)

· Omurice(Omelet rice)

· Tsukune(Japanese chicken meatball)

At the table I was sitting in between Amaya and Suzuki.

Suzuki pulled closer and whispered into my ears: "Amaya talks about you all the time. I have always been looking forward to meeting you."

I smiled because I never that I would be that important to someone.

I turned to Amaya and asked:

"What did you tell your family about me?"

She looked away with a shy smile across her face.

After Sakura brought the meals; she sat down with us and served herself.

So did the rest.

I looked through the vast variety of Japanese food not knowing what to choose.

"Oh! You can eat whatever you want here. We cooked it all in your honor so enjoy yourself." Sakura said with a broad smile.

I smiled and filled the bowl with all the varieties of food on the table.

I have never eaten that much in my entire life. I could eat 20 bowls at once because the food was incredibly delicious.

"Hmmm…this by far is the best meal I have ever tasted." I complemented Sakura.

"Glad you love it. I cooked them especially for you." She said.

"Man; the chicken meatballs taste so good." I said as I consumed greedily.

The whole family burst into laughter.

I was forced to laugh too.

"My grandma is the best cook in the whole world." Amaya said proudly.

"I can agree to you on that one." I said with a laugh.

"Jayson; I'm glad you are enjoying yourself. But I want to know what is so special about you that Amaya can't seem to have enough of?" Amaya's dad (Sasuke) asked.

I looked at all of them surprised.

"Well…I don't know and I barely know her, sir." I said.

"That's too much because she knows so much about you." Sasuke said.

"Huh…like what?" I asked.

"Today is your birthday, right?" He replied.

The message hit me like a cannon ball.

Ever since my mom left me; I barely even celebrate my birthday.

My dad never even wished me a happy birthday since then.

My eyes were instantly filled with tears.

I took in a deep breath before I spoke:

"How did you know?"

"It's simple. Amaya told us. She must have read your file or something but she came home and asked us to prepare something for you and celebrate your 13th birthday. June 9th."

I looked at Amaya in shock.

I don't know what came over me but I hug her tightly.

"Don't look at her like that, you should appreciate her. Afterall she's a month older than you."

That when I realized that she was a May born. I was born on June 9,1994. After my mom left it was like she took everything with her. Driven by sorrow and depression, I even forgot all about my birthday. As for my dad, he was way broken than I am.

"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much." I kept saying. What she did meant a lot to me.

She also hugged back and didn't want to let me go.

When we stopped I turned towards all of them and said:

"Thank you all so much. I will never forget this."

"You don't have to thank us, Jayson. Happy birthday." Sasuke said.

"Happy birthday!" the whole family shouted.

I was so happy.

Sakura suddenly got up.

"I'll be right back." She said.

She returned with a birthday cake.

I was out of words.

"Well. You don't have to keep looking at the cake. Make a wish." Ichika said with a smile.

I turned towards Amaya and whispered into her ears:

"What would you have wished for?"

She smiled and said:

"I would wish for you to be always happy."

I smiled and blew off the candles after I said my wish.

Then the cake was cut and we all enjoyed ourselves.

I was so satisfied and fulfilled. I felt like I was one of them. In short, it felt like family.

"Come with me, I want to show you something." Sasuke said with a broad smile.

He took me to the roof and I was completely blown away. There was a chopper at the roof, a blue one.

"Care for a ride?" He asked me.

"Sure." I said with a burst of excitement.

We both got in and i watched Sasuke fly the chopper like a piece of cake. It was an exciting experience; something I will never forget.

After our short adventure; we landed on the roof.

"Did you like it?" Sasuke asked.

"I loved it. Thank you so much Mr.Sasuke."

We went back inside the house. Even though I have been there for just a couple of hours, it felt like an eternity.

When we got inside; Sazuki approached and asked me

"Hey do you play games?" Suzuki asked.

"Yeah."

"Why don't we go and play Dragon ball on my Xbox?"

"Sure."

Suzuki took me to his room and we spent about 30 minutes playing.

"You are pretty good. Do you play often?" Suzuki asked.

"I used to dragon ball games a lot." I bragged. But I had reasons to because I was so good at the game .

"Cool." Suzuki said with a smile.

"It's really cool." I said as I did a Kamehameha with Goku to steal the win.

"Arrr…You are so good. I thought I even won right there." Suzuki praised.

We both burst into laughter.

"Well…everything was fun but I should be getting home before my dad figures out I'm not in my room." I said.

"Yeah I understand." He said with a smile.

That was how Suzuki and I became close friends.

Now that I am facing him again, I feel nothing but guilt.

He kept strangling me as he emerged from the ground.

When his full body was out, he raised me high in the air with a strong grip around my neck.

"Hello Jayson!" Suzuki said with a cold look.

Before I could do anything, he smashed me into one of the nearby tombstones at his left.