[TokyoRain]

I rolled my eyes at him, I wasn't sure at times what my little brother was feeling. If he was joking and having a good time, sincerely, or if it was a shell to cover something different, something he didn't feel he could talk about. It scared me for more than on reason that I couldn't help him, it scared me even more that I had known him his whole life and still didn't quite know what went on in his head. Oh well, that was a matter for a different day, one when I didn't have a knew school stabbing me persistently in the arm with a pencil.



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As Bryan and I got on the bus that would take us to school I added a quick glance about the crowd as we sat down on the seat in the far back. It was definitely obvious that this was the bus going to the ISA, since everyone on the bus had either a canvas, a gym bag for dance, or a instrument case sitting within arms reach of them. I watched with feigned boredom as a lanky young kid, probably a little younger than Bryan, bumped into an acoustic guitar case and possibly the most handsome guy I had ever seen turned to look at him.



"Hey watch where you're walking. I doubt you could afford the cost of damages on this baby if you damaged her." The guy said patting the case of the guitar and straightening the case back into it's original position. The under class man lowered his eyes and a little bit of color rose to his face, "Sorry Andrew" he managed to whimper before darting to the back of the bus and sitting in the seat in front of us. My eyes still were glued to Andrew, he had dark red spiked hair and was wearing a black sleeveless shirt with wrangler jeans and black boots. From what I could see of his eyes as he gazed out the window they where black with red flares in them, very charming even if his character wasn't. Musicians, honestly.



"Who is that guy?" I heard Bryan asked as he leaned over the back of the seat in front of us and whispered the unfortunate kid who had bumped into his "baby".



"Andrew H. Maxwell, he's the acoustic guitar player for all the top bands, he's a 6th year and doesn't mind reminding everyone of it, and the rank that comes along with the seniority, every chance he gets. He's also the club leader of the Angel's Society, the luckiest bunch of guys in the school. All the girl's swoon over them." The smallish boy replied looking up into my brother's cheerful face, he seemed relieved that someone didn't take advantage of him, I had the feeling that they did a lot. "I'm Simon by the way, I play harp."



Bryan nodded as he took everything he had just been told in before introducing himself. My brother had always been the more......socially skilled.....of our little duo. I tended to sit back and wait until I felt comfortable before putting any input into the situation. My family always hounded me on that, it was actually pretty funny that they thought that knowing a lot of people made them your friends. "Hey Ash, get out." I heard Bryan's voice next to me as he nudged me half-heartedly. I blinked as I came back and noticed that people were filing off the bus.



"Oh, sorry." I said standing up and grabbing my bag and my canvas. Well here goes, I though as I proceeded down the stairs. What I saw when I got off the bus I don't think NASA could have prepared me for. Before us was at least two acres of gardens and fountains that were arranged in a very modern-yet-zen manner. Further back towered the school, its four stories looming over the crowd that migrated toward the massive front doors and the day's classes.



"Jeez, they weren't kidding when they said 'a musical kingdom', were they sis?" Bryan gasped as he stopped beside me. I simply nodded still taking in the scene. "Shall we?" he asked taking a few steps forward. I followed as I looked around the gardens preceding the building, everyone was either talking to friends or striding into the school building. I suddenly felt very out of place among all of these eloquent people and the sophisticated scenery.

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When I walked into my first class, there was yet another surprise set up for me. Our subject today was anatomy and the models were two people, one guy one girl both well built, posing in the front of the room. Naked. Oh, boy....this will be good, I thought as I took a seat in the middle of the class and took out my canvas and painting supplies. Well, this would be something new, in all consideration that I had never had the opportunity back home, mainly because they didn't want to "corrupt those of non-legal ages."



"Okay, class. We seem to have a new student joining us today. Why don't you stand up?" a tall blond with black eyes and a skirt so short it was probably against school regulations said with and big smile as she gestured to where I sat. I got up and looked about the room before I introduced myself.



"Hello, I'm Ashlynn Keating from Wyoming USA, I'm 17." Despite my attempt to sound as non-self conscious as possible a little bit off doubt still found its way into my voice. There was a few mumbled greetings around the room as I sat down and attention was brought back to our teacher.



"Nice to have you join us, Ms. Keating. I hope you enjoy your time here at ISA. Now on to today's topic. Anatomy. As you can see there are two models up front, one male and one female. Girl's you are to sketch the woman and guys the man, we will switch subjects later in the week but I thought we would start out with something familiar to make things easier. Now I know I usually say to pay attention to details like shading and angle but for today I just want you to pay attention to the shapes that make up the subject and how to make everything flow together. You have till the end of the hour, approximately one hour and fifteen minutes, to work on your assignment. If you have any questions feel free to ask." and with that our teacher strode over to her desk and turned on a cd of Mozart. There was something that seemed very unnatural in this, not that subjects since they were obviously the most natural that was possible at the moment, but in being instructed to do your art a certain way. I quickly banished the thought as I began to sketch out the woman sprawled at the front of the room. I guess that it was just the contrast that I had never had any structure to my art, I just sort of did it.



By the end of the class period I thought that I had progressed pretty far and well. There was a series of slender flowing lines that outlined the female body and the beginning of work on the features of the face. It didn't look half bad in my opinion, a little bit awkward but by far not the worst in the room. "Well, you all know that the next period is an independent study were you can get warmed up for the rest of your classes, there are rehearsal rooms available in the back of the fourth floor, just put your name down on the list and come back when your time is up." I nodded as she looked at me to emphasize the purpose of her instructions. The first thing that came to mind was finding Bryan, mainly to see how his first class went and then to practice in one of the available rooms for the next period.



Much to my surprise and relief he was already waiting outside the door of the classroom when I had packed everything up and headed out. "So? How was it?" he asked peeking inside and catching the eye of the girl that had been modeling for us. I smiled inwardly at my correct guess to his looks and the reactions of the female student body.



"Interesting to say the least," I sighed readjusting the strap on my shoulder as we started towards the elevator. Normally I would take the stairs but since Bryan had his cello to bring I took pity on him. "How was your first class?"



"Boring....." he said with a fake yawn to top it off. "All we talked about was music theory this, music history that.....I don't think I ever want to go into a field like that." He said with a smile as the elevator dinged when it reached our floor. When we got of the elevator there was a completely different theme to the hallways. The bottom floor had been white and tan with seventeenth century art, this level was lots of reds and golds and decorated with Chinese calligraphy accompanied with the zodiac animals gliding along the walls. "Impressive." Bryan breathed next to me as we followed some of the upperclassmen to the lists for rooms. "How 'bout 9:45 Ash?" Bryan asked as he looked over the list for a practice room. I nodded my approval as he jutted down our names, "so what do we do for a half and hour?"



"Explore?" I suggested looking down the hallways, all of which had unknown destinations except for the one we had just come down. My brother pushed his cello down the hall to the left to begin our explorations.



Much to my liking the half an hour passed pretty quickly, we had stumbled upon a few lounges and the entry to the kitchen. There was also a two story school store that had everything I could imagine in it and a few different office for school clubs and organizations. Over all it was a pretty reassuring sight to see all of the different options available for us.



"What are you in the mood for sis? Classical, jazz, a little of both?" Bryan said as he set up in the middle of the room a few feet away from my canvas and chair that I had occupied.



"Surprise me." I smiled taking out my brush and getting my paints ready. They had increased in numbers over the past few years giving me hundreds of color combinations and thousands of options for shading and tones. I looked up from my paints and saw Bryan tuning his instrument. This would be fun, we hadn't sat down and done this in about a month since we had gotten here.