Lonely Souls

The first day of school was always the hardest for me. Not so much for the fact that I was new. It was the fact that I knew no one and everyone always did their best to compensate by being overly nice. It just made it all worse. But this time it shouldn’t be that bad considering the fact that I knew the host club.
Haruhi woke me up early in the morning on the first day of school. We dressed quickly and ate breakfast. Once we grabbed our backpacks, we started walking towards school. Most of the walk I pulled at the hem of the yellow dress that I had to wear. I was a bit jealous that she got to cover up more of her body. To put it plainly, I was shy about my appearance, especially around people I don’t know and probably won’t care about. I wasn’t a model. I was short and slightly heavy. 
We walked in silence until we made it to the steps. The building was pink but I knew the inside was different colors based on which part of the school you went to. The elementary school was green; the middle school was blue; the high school was pink/red; and the university was yellow. Still didn’t mean that I didn’t think it looked kinda stupid.
Haruhi led me through the building and towards the high school. And all along the way people were staring at us. Some of the girls were commenting on how handsome my cousin was. Ugh. Some of them were wondering why I was walking with he-him. I had to remember that here, everyone thought Haruhi was a boy.
Some of the guys even stared at me and whispered to each other. Mostly about who I was. It was annoying and I felt my face turn scarlet.
Finally we arrived at Music Room #3. Haruhi turned towards me and said, “Well, this is where the Host Club meets everyday after school. You’re welcome to just hang out in here.”
I opened the door for us to enter. “Thanks.”
“HARUHI!”
Tamaki took Haruhi down to the ground in a hug. She was screaming for him to let her go as he rubbed his face against her like a cat. I couldn’t help but giggle a little at them. From behind me I was tapped on the shoulder. I turned around to face the twins. In unison they said, “Nice dress, Hisoka-chan.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, cuz every other girl at this school are wearing the same thing. Besides, I look like an upside-down tulip.”
I turned again and saw Honey and Mori. But they were dressed in regular clothes and eating cake. At least Honey was. “What’s with the clothes, senpai?”
“Takashi and I go to the university. We don’t have to wear uniforms.”
“Ah.”
“Yeah. But we won’t be able to be in the Host Club all the time because of our schedules.”
“Yeah. I can imagine the difficulties.”
I jumped when I heard Kyoya’s voice directly behind me. “Hisoka-san.”
I turned to face him. “Yes, Kyoya-san?”
“You’ll be in the same classroom as me and Tamaki.”
“Alright. Lead the way.”
We started heading for the door where Tamaki joined us. I turned to my cousin (who looked ready to kill Tamaki) and hugged her. “I’ll see you at lunch. Alright, Haruhi?”
“Yeah. See you.”
I smiled back and followed the boys. The entire walk to the classroom, we were getting looks. Many of the girls gazed upon the boys I was walking with want and admiration. But when their gaze turned to me, they seemed confused at first and then... jealous?
The guys seemed to ignore them, but I couldn’t. I felt my face flush. Before I knew it, we were at the classroom. Tamaki opened the door with a slight flourish. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes a bit. I headed towards the middle of the classroom and sat down in a seat.
Tamaki and Kyoya sat down on either side of me. I felt like I was being guarded. I pulled out a book from my backpack and began to read. Tamaki make that difficult because he kept discussing ideas for the club with Kyoya. Finally I couldn’t take it. *Pulsing vein and twitching eye*
I grabbed my stuff and moved to a desk towards the back. I sighed and returned back to my book. Then a shadow loomed over me. A boy was sitting on the edge of my desk and looking at me with a slightly perplexed look on his face. “May I help you?”
“Hello, pretty. I’m Jurou.”
“Hisoka Akiyama.”
He nodded towards Kyoya and Tamaki as he said, “I noticed you walked in with the Hosts. You a Hostess?”
I gave a short, forced laugh. “No. My cousin is a Host and I live with them.”
“Tamaki?”
“Goodness, no!”
“The twins?”
“No. I’ll just tell you, so you’ll stop embarrassing yourself. My cousin is Haruhi Fujiyoka.”
“You’re a commoner!”
I tilted my head in slight confusion. “I’m just a person like anyone else in this room. I may not have been born with a pedigree going all the way back to the Heian Period, but I have the brains and talent to be here. And for your information I’m upper middle-class.”
“Still a commoner.”
I sigh. “If you insist upon insulting me, then I shall sit somewhere else.”
I got up and gathered my things. Before I could go, Jurou grabbed my wrist. My head snapped up and my hair flew to rest on the sides on my glasses, exposing my mismatched eyes. He seemed startled, but quickly composed himself. “I’m not letting you sit anywhere else, common-girl.”
“Is there a problem here?”
“Mind your own---“
Jurou’s words failed him when he turned to face Kyoya. He let go of my wrist and looked up to see Kyoya scowling, his glasses glaring. I rubbed my wrist. Jurou had a cast-iron grip. Kyoya addressed me. “Hisoka-san, the spot next to me is empty. Would you like to sit with me?”
“Thank you, Kyoya-san. I will.”
I took my things as walked towards him. He pulled out the sit next to him for me. My heart warmed. There was nothing quite like a guy pulling your chair out for you, opening the door for, etc. Most of the girls around us were swooning at his actions, but I knew the truth. I was a business partner and I was a relative of one of his friends. He had to polite and courteous to me.
As soon as he seated himself the teacher walked in. As the teacher was introducing herself to us I whispered just loud enough for Kyoya to hear, “Thank you for saving me.”
He nodded and class began.
-----------------------
The bell rang for lunch time. I had packed a bento box and couldn’t wait to eat. I grabbed my lunch and allowed Tamaki to escort me after he bowed and asked me to join him for lunch with a flourish. I rolled my eyes and shook my head but I placed my hand in his, anyways. 
He, Kyoya, and I all walked to down to the cafeteria. I was pretty sure that this wasn’t a cafeteria. Let me clarify: it looked like a banquet hall, like they have a military ball. But I digress. They led me to a table where my cousin and the twins were already eating. Haruhi waved me over and I took a seat next to her.
“Hey there.”
“Hi, Hisoka. How’s class?”
“Good. It’s a little harder than what I’m used to. But it’s nice to have a challenge for once.”
Kyoya and Tamaki joined us with their lunches. Haruhi and I continued to talk until she asked if I’ve spoken to anyone else besides the Host Club. Kyoya answered for me. “Actually, Hisoka-san has managed to already upset someone.”
Haruhi looked at me wide-eyed. “HISOKA!”
“Don’t get mad at me. He was insulting me. And you. I just was defending myself.” I turned back to Kyoya. “I can tell people about my day without your help. And are you saying I shouldn’t defend myself?”
“Quite the contrary, Hisoka-san. You should defend yourself. But you need to learn how to do with less attitude. Everyone is a potential business partner for you. You don’t want to go insulting your clients.”
I leaned back in my chair, still looking at him. “I know when I need to reel in my attitude and when not to. Thank you very much.”
“Alright. But if your retorts continue to be so snarky, I will tell Ranka-san about your horrible behavior here at Ouran.”
He got me. Ranka would have a cow, some chickens and a whole litter of kittens if he found out I was behaving badly. Even just a bit. I nodded my understand and looked at my lap. But under my breath, I mumbled, “Damn manipulative bastard.”
Kyoya was writing away in his notebook and didn’t look up at me. An without missing a beat he said (quite clearly), “Fucking confrontational bitch.”
Everyone around us gasped and looked between Kyoya and I. We stared each other down. Now there was one of two-- no, three ways I could handle this. 1) I could get upset and yell. 2) I could ignore him and allow my pride to be shattered. 3) I could ‘fall with grace’. I chose the third option.
I looked at him and smiled kindly. “Thank you, Kyoya-sama.”
“Your welcome, Hisoka-chan. And thank you.”
I nodded to him as the bell rang, marking the end of lunch. Kyoya and I walked side by side back to class with Tamaki looking at us like we were ghosts. We sat down and class started. The afternoon was pretty easy.
In the middle of a lecture about the history of economics, I realized something. Kyoya always called me ‘san’. But back in the lunchroom, he called me ‘chan’. H-he saw me as a friend?
I felt honored. The thought actually made my heart rate peak slightly and I gently bit my bottom lip like I do when I’m deep in thought. This was something new. It was... I don’t know what it was.
 
Before I knew it, class was over and Tamaki was forcefully dragging me to the music room. The entire way I could barely understand him since he was talking faster than a bullet train. Finally we were at the music room and Tamaki pushed me in.