I didn't know if it was coincidence, or just old-fashion, rotten luck on our part, and I still don't know for sure now. It had started out simple enough: just go to a Japanese school until you get transferred back, but it progressed into something more much faster than any of us would have liked. Honestly, I can't put the blame on someone even if I wanted to, it'd end up badly if I did anyways, but I can't say no one's to blame either.
I guess, you could say, it was fate, destiny really. Meaning, this chain of events was meant to happen whether we wanted it to or not, and I trust me when I say this, none of us wanted this to happen.
Now, I understand that everyone reading this is thinking I'm crazy, or just thinking that I better get to point, so I'll explain.
My name is Sam. My three best friends in the whole world (they're close enough to be my sisters), are named Mackenzie, Brittany, and Emily. We all come from rich, American families, who made their earnings long before we were born.
And though I can't pinpoint who's to blame for our messed up lives, I can begin by telling you when it all started:
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I heaved my sixth sigh of the evening, flopping face down on to my plushy bed where I spent most of my time. I was tempted to pull my hair down from its elaborate weave, but the thought of my mother yelling at me for the next three days, made me realize it wasn't worth it.
Brittany, the closest to being an otaku out of all of us, plopped down beside me, bouncing a little. She grinned at me, and patted the mattress next to where she sat.
"No wonder you spend so much time here," she stated, teasing me. "It's like sleeping on a cloud with extra fluffiness to spare."
I growled. "He's my love! Get your hands off him," I jokingly shot back. We both laughed as Mackenzie and Emily entered my small, but cozy, room.
"What's wrong, Sam?" Emily asked, beating Mackenzie to the punch. She sat down next to me, patting me on the back. I smiled at her question, closing my eyes, and face still buried in the comforter.
"Nothing, Em. I just hate the parties my mom throws," I replied eventually, reluctantly sitting up. Mackenzie joined the group on the bed, choosing to sit on the other side of Brittany. "It never feels like she actually wants to celebrate something that pertains to me."
"It's not so bad." Brittany always tried to cheer me up when it came to my mother. After all, she had problems with her own mother, so she knew from experience what I was dealing with.
"Well, yeah, but it's major boring. Even with you guys. No offense," I groaned.
"We'd all rather be in here watching Marvel movies or anime," Mackenzie admitted, "but your mom never lets us stay in here while the party's going on."
I sighed for the seventh time standing and smoothly out my dress nervously. I began to pace, absentmindedly twirling a loose strand of red-dyed hair between my fingers. "It's worse tonight, though. She has an announcement for me! And nothing good can be presented at a party this huge!" I bit my lip, licking away the annoying lip gloss my mom had me wear for the party.
My mother, a woman who thought of my kid sister and father before me or my older brother, had planned a gigantic ball for my Sweet Sixteen. Or, at least, that's what she told everyone. My whole family, my friends, and I all knew that she just called together all the people she knew to announce something big that would mean the downfall of me and my lack of a social life.
Like every other party she's thrown, it wasn't casual wear, so I had been stuffed in a dress I vowed never to wear again, and had to put on makeup. But every girl had to do it, so I didn't feel too awkward.
Suddenly, my mother herself swept into the room, beaming a smile I could see right through. Or it might have been because she had gone overboard on the whitener again.
"Girls, the party's out there. Go mingle while I get my special girl ready for her equally special gift," my mother proclaimed, clapping her hands twice. Twin diamonds twinkled on her ears as she strode over to me, sliding her arm around my shoulders.
One by one, my friends exited the room quietly, looking at me and briefly telling me good luck with their eyes. I sent them a grim smile, and turned my attention to my mother, who had wandered over to the large window on the opposite side of my room.
Because I had removed all the mirrors from my room, she was always forced to fix her hair or check her makeup in the window.
"What is the announcement, Mother?" I asked slowly, uncomfortable in the regal silence that seemed to surround her.
"You'll see," was her vague reply. She continued ignoring me, more in favor of redoing her lipstick, and I just stood there, waiting for her to be done. Eventually, she turned sharply on her heel, which was hard considering the stilettos she wore, and brushed past me towards the door. "Follow me."
I walked behind her, staying silent as we re-entered the lavishly decorate ballroom and rejoined all the guests. I grinned at them as they wished me a happy birthday, the only thought running through my head was that I knew none of these people. Giving my friends a small wave as I passed by, I continued behind my mom who was leading me to a tall, blonde boy and his father.
We met, the two adults greeting each other warmly while I eyed the boy up and down. He seemed French, but there was something off about my assumption.
"This is the head master of Ouran Academy in Japan, and his son, Tamaki Suoh," my mom introduced, her chin held high like always. I shook hands with Tamaki's father before shaking the blond's hand. His purple eyes danced as he gazed at me, and I could tell, his semi-serious expression wasn't his usual one by the way his eyes kept shifting around the room.
His eyes landed on something over my shoulder, and a fluttering gasp left his parted lips. I turned to look at what he was staring at, and found that his amethyst gaze was leveled at Mackenzie. I smirked, glancing back at him.
"If all goes well tonight, you'll be engaged to this young man," my mother told me, gesturing to Tamaki.
"But, mother, I don't know him," I complained in the most polite way I could.
My mother brushed me off by saying, "And that is why, Mr. Suoh has been so kind as to enroll you into Ouran with Tamaki. By the time you are both out of school, you'll know each other just fine." I glanced back at my friends, filled with sadness at the thought of going to another country without them. I turned back to my mother, taking a step closer to her.
"Can Mr. Suoh think about enrolling my friends as well? It would help a great deal when overseas," I asked, half to my mother and half to Mr. Suoh. The man studied me, eventually nodding firmly. I smiled, then turned my attention to the blonde. "Come, Tamaki, I hope you are a good dancer."
"He offered his arm to me, like a true gentleman, and I accepted it with a smirk. He guided me to the dance floor, and we began to waltz around with the other dancing couples. I looked at him, my expression sly, for he was still glancing at Mackenzie every so often.
"You are quite the gentleman, Tamaki, but I think most girls find it impolite for their date to be staring at someone else, don't you think?" I said. He blinked at me, a smile easily sliding on to his face.
"Princess, I'm only looking at others to compare. I have not even found a diamond to surpass your beauty." He spoke smoothly, confident his words would calm my suspicions. I nodded, and switched dancing roles so I could lead him to my friends. He gave me a confused look, but before he could say anything, I spun him right into Mackenzie.
She caught him, almost losing her balance in the process, but managed to steady herself at the last minute. Tamaki thanked her ad stood up, turning to look at me.
"Tamaki, this is Makenzie, the girl you've been staring at over my shoulder for the past minute or so," I introduced. Brittany and Emily burst out into giggles, while Mackenzie and Tamaki stood there blushing. "And Kenz, this is Tamaki. He's a flirt from Japan who I have now been engaged to."
"Engaged?!" Emily exclaimed. She beamed, laughter forgotten, at me, and gave me a big hug. "That's wonderful!" I smiled, hugging her until she drew back.
"Tamaki, that was Emily, and this is Brittany," I said, motioning towards the girls. They waved in return, and Tamaki swooped down to kiss their hands. Emily's face flushed just a tad, but Brittany held her head high without so much as a tint. I shifted my gaze over to the tallest of my friends, carefully studying how she reacted around the blonde just as tall as she.
Tamaki slid over to the girl in question, and bent down low to kiss her hand as well. Both were blushing when he straightened up again, and I had to bite back my laughter at how ridiculous they were being.
I slid my arm through his, leaning forward as I did. "You're both interested. I can see right through you both, so why don't you two talk while Brittany, Emily, and I gossip about how cute you'd be together," I suggested. Tamaki stuttered at my suggestion, but Mackenzie, being use to it, only smiled and nodded. She knew there was no going against me when I was determined.
I separated myself from Tamaki, and joined Brittany and Emily in giggling over the two blushing blondes.
"So, what's Tamaki like so far?" Brittany asked when Tamaki had led Mackenzie away to dance. I rolled my eyes, playing with a loose strand of hair.
"He's such a flirt," I admitted, "I wasn't kidding when I said that, but he's a good dancer." I chuckled at the thought of Tamaki's not-so-subtle glances at my oldest friend. He's really bad at hiding things like a crush. One would have to be oblivious not to notice. "Does Kyoya go to Ouran Academy?" I asked.
Brittany shrugged. "I don't know. Kyoya and I have never really talked about school before," she replied. I nodded, and Emily sighed in relief. We both turned to her, questioning faces at the ready.
"I'm glad I'm not engaged," she explained. I laughed, for whatever reason, coughing a little. Brittany and Emily gave me looks, but I brushed them off.
"I'm fine," I croaked.
"We really need to get that cough checked," Brittany said. "It's beginning to sound serious."
I waved my hand, as if to get rid of their concern. "I'm fine," I repeated. "It's nothing. Oh, and Mr. Suoh, Tamaki's father and headmaster at Ouran Academy, has enrolled me into his school. I also asked if he could enroll you guys as well."
"Of course, we'll need our parents' permission, but I think that'll be easy," Emily said. Brittany hummed in agreement.
"It is, supposedly, one of the best private schools in Japan," I stated absentmindedly. I shrugged, glancing over at Mackenzie's dancing figure. "Are we still on for the sleepover on Wednesday?"
"Yep," Brittany confirmed. I smiled.
"Well, what are we standing around for? Snacks, or dancing?" I asked, eying the brunette standing next to me. I had aimed the question more at Brittany than Emily, but we all knew who the food related questions were aimed at.
"Dancing," she decided, after a few moments' thought. I gave her a stern look, but we headed for the dance floor anyways.
I stuck to Emily's side as we drew closer, on the lookout for any males trying to get close to her. To say I was protective of my friends was correct because they were close to my heart, but with Emily, I was even stricter.
No man I deemed an insensitive asshole would come within two hundred feet of my friend. It has been this way since her boyfriend of a year had been stupid and had hit Emily in front of me. I had ended their relationship right then and there. Of course, that boy hadn't been the most recent boyfriend, nor had he been the last one to raise his hand to Em.
It's a good thing there wasn't a DJ at the party, otherwise I would have been working overtime on making sure no assholes tried to hit on Emily. When we reached the dance floor, Brittany was quick to pair up with one of my cousins while Emily and I decided to pair up in order to dance. Besides, it wasn't like we were the only ones. Most of my younger cousins were still shy around the opposite gender, so they danced with someone from the same gender, or their father, if you were like my cousin Annette, who was still in diapers.
The rest of the party passed in the same manner: with nothing exciting happening, but as far as I know, raves and any other kind of party besides a ball is where the best and craziest things happen, so it was to be expected. By the time the ball was over with, I had almost died of boredom five times.
Of course, my girls had my back, and Tamaki kept me entertained with his futile attempts to woe me. Though, I think he just wanted to try and make up for the fact that he kept staring at Mackenzie. Honestly, I didn't mind, and until I get to know him better, I won't really mind if it continues.
The upside to meeting Tamaki, besides going to another country, is that I can focus on getting him and Mackenzie together. Especially since he and his father are staying in America for a few more days. Just enough time for my friends and I to convince their parents they should come with me and Tamaki to Japan.
Review, comment, criticize. Anything's fine. It'd be very beneficial and help improve the story. Thanks!
-Poison Ivy