I see it in Rome,
I see it in Tokyo,
Beautiful land surrounding me,
From here to San Francisco.

The barren deserts,
The sweet, sweet sunsets,
The sweltering streets,
And the smouldering cities.

It’s surrounding me,
Almost consuming me,
I need to escape,
To the wide, wide sea.

There it is!
As big as can be!
With starfish and coral,
And all kinds of things!

All kinds of creatures!
From all kinds of places!
With big pink snouts and tiny faces,
Their diversity gets rid of the land’s spaces!

Creatures and nature,
Lovely and free,
All over the wide, wide land,
As free as can be!

“Well look who it is Amber,” said Jessica in a sarcastic tone. Amber ignored her. “Oh my god Jarrah! Are you ok? I was so worried about you!” Amber lunged towards Jarrah and gave her a big hug. “I’m so sorry about what I said at the shops. I was just angry that you dropped us for Naruto. Now I realise that you two are a couple and I can’t stop that. You know what? I wouldn’t stop you guys being together even if I could!” Jarrah, Naruto and Amber had a group hug. Jessica started to feel guilty for once in her life. “I’m sorry Jarrah,” Jess said in a tiny voice, but with a lot of meaning. “That’s alright, Jess. Join our group hug!” So the four of them hugged on the footsteps of the hotel, feeling more loved and united than ever before.

Jarrah received her copy of the letter later that afternoon. She read it, but extremely slowly. The letter really opened her eyes. She never knew about Mr Stenson’s dad. She finally understood why he did it, and why throughout the entire trip, he had to “organise things for tomorrow”. He was planning the terrorist attack the whole time! But one thing she didn’t understand was why he took it THAT far. Attacking Tokyo just because his Dad got killed by the Japanese in the Vietnam War? Didn’t really make much sense…although people have different ways of getting their revenge, and that was his way of getting it.

They had been down there for three hours now. The terrorists struck at 9am that morning and Naruto’s phone read noon. Naruto thought it was safe to bring himself and Jarrah out of the tunnel now. “Oh my god,” Jarrah said blankly. “Did that just happen, Naruto?” “Yes darling. It did.”

The pair started to slowly walk through the park. Jarrah was still shaky from the attack but Naruto was there to comfort her, even though he was a tad shaky himself. Jarrah saw that the hotel was still standing. She wanted to run towards it and tell Amber and Jess that she was going to be ok, but her body wouldn’t let her do that. Ten minutes later they made it back to Jarrah’s hotel. They may have been unstable and mentally beaten up, but they felt treasured and happy because of their love for each other.

“Whoa! That was the best gig I have ever been to!” Jarrah said with enthusiasm. “Yeah! Same here!” Naruto agreed. There was a moment of comfortable silence between the two in “their” park. “I really meant what I said at lunch Naruto. I think I love you.” There was another pause. “Well, I think I love you too.” Naruto and Jarrah leaned into each other, holding hands…they were having their first kiss! It was wildly passionate. The tension had built up over the few days they had known each other for. The kiss was just the right length of time and so, so sweet. “Wow Naruto!” Jarrah coughed out, almost breathless. They were still holding hands. “Wow Jarrah!” he said back. “Can I have seconds?” Jarrah joked. Naruto let out a laugh, but replied seriously to her question. “Anything for you, Jarrah.”

On the bus ride home, Jarrah couldn’t stop thinking about Nagato-his cinnamon skin, his cocoa eyes, his sweet face. Jarrah was clearly infatuated and couldn’t get him out of her head. As soon as she got back to her hotel room, she got on MSN and to her surprise; Nagato was online at exactly the same time as her. They chatted for hours on end about anything and everything they could think of. At some ungodly hour, they finally ran out of things to discuss and Jarrah went to bed.

The next day was Thursday. The day Amber, Jessica and Jarrah agreed to go shopping together. They all were all a bit sleepy so they decided to chill out in the morning and go shopping later, in the afternoon.

Now this mountain wasn’t exactly Mt Fuji in the way of height, but it was still a challenge for most people. Jarrah had an advantage over the others because of her level of fitness, but it was still a struggle for her. The higher the altitude got, the less oxygen in the air and everyone struggled more and more as they got higher, but they all made it to the top, which was a relief.

This mountain was like one out of a movie. Perfectly pointed tip with lush snowfall all over it. Sweet, dainty clouds surrounded the top of the mountain and bigger, fluffier clouds were scattered around the middle. This was one beautiful mountain. Even though they were all breathless and tired, the students couldn’t care less because the view was amazing and the silence was extremely calming. When they had to go, they left the mountain feeling rejuvenated and surprisingly calm.