Amu is at the top of her game. She's got homecoming queen in the bag at her freshman year of high school and is admired by everyone she crosses. Under this whole façade is an insecure girl that just wants to please others. Everything turns around when a foreign exchange student with dark blue eyes sweeps away her outer confidence and gives her a choice: ignore her inner self and turn her back on him or abandon her outer self and chase after him.
Okay, so as you may know, I'm currently writing another story (Ikuto, a New Joker?) that's going slower than I'd like. Then I started typing another story (this story) and it just flowed onto the page. Yes, it literally flowed into 2,000 words in the first hour or so (counting a snack break though :3). I will continue my first story, but first, I wanted to catch this one in the moment! So, without further ado:
Inside Out: Chapter 1 - An Interesting Year to Come
Amu's POV
My alarm clock blared in my ears and I rolled over, wanting nothing more than to get an extra five minutes of sleep. But sleep would have to wait. If I slept any longer, I wouldn't be able to finish my morning routine in time for school. I hauled myself out of bed to get ready for the day.
The sun shined, the birds chirped, and my hair was an utter mess. I groaned driving a brush through the beehive of strawberry tangles, brushing my teeth at the same time with the other hand, a skill I'd learned to save me and couple extra minutes of precious sleep. After finishing brushing my teeth, I set my concentration on the last of my hair preparation, curling it and tying it back into a ponytail with my regular X-clip in place.
I glanced at the clock and smiled at the short four and a half minutes it had taken me to finish my hair. New record.
I sprinted back down the hall, grabbing a pair of running shorts and a tee. After changing into them I grabbed a piece of toast and ran out the door for my morning jog, the time being exactly 5:00. Now I was back on schedule.
While jogging, I studied for my History test, listening to an audio study guide one of my friends had recorded for me and insisted I take. You might as well use it too since I went through the trouble of making it. She had said it with a complaining voice, but deep down, I knew it had been for me from the start. We had learned our new history teacher enjoyed giving first day pop quizzes. I heard everything beforehand and got all the goodies that I needed, including notes, study guides, latest gossip, clothing and accessories. But that's just because everyone loves me. With that sour thought, I continued on my jog in a dark mood. Nobody would believe me if told them that I was actually working my but off to keep up this fake front and actually wasn't as perfect as they thought. Well, at least they're happy having someone they can pin all the pressure of being ideal on. I don't mind as long as this seemed to make everyone comfortable around me and kept me busy.
After an hour of brooding while jogging, I threw off my headphones and changed out of my workout clothing. I took a quick shower, pulling down the showerhead to make sure not to ruin my hair. Then, I headed to my room at 6:15 sharp and started choosing clothing. This whole process of finding the perfect outfit for the day, getting dressed, and putting away the outfits I had previously rejected took about 30 minutes. I ended up with a long, ruffled white blouse and smart dark blazer over a cute pleated pink-and-red plaid skirt. I finished it with a thin leather belt and simple red scarf. (Based off of Amu's uniform in anime. I replaced her tie with a scarf though. I don't think Amu would wear a tie to school unless it was required in the uniform.)
That leaves 15 minutes for makeup. And 10 minutes to get up to the bus stop.
I smiled, happy to be on time with the late start, and strolled into the restroom yet again to do my makeup. Since today was the day of the opening assembly, and I'm the representative of the incoming year, I decided with a neutral look. I lightly patted on some blush, laid in some lip gloss, and did some eyeliner and mascara lightly with a touch of a neutral pink eye shadow completing the look. I smiled into the mirror, somewhat ravishing in the fact that this really wasn't the inner me. Sighing, I put on another smile and ran up to the bus stop. Or what was supposed to be the bus stop.
A gang of trouble-making type guys were there, keeping many of the freshman away from the stop. I rolled my eyes and walked up to the stop. They grinned, one of them leaning on the sign that clearly marked the spot as a bus stop and grinning at me. I could feel their eyes traveling down my figure, one of them whistling his approval. Ugh, gross. The scary looking guy that seemed to be their leader stepped up.
"Hey, sweetheart," he crooned, making a shiver run down my spine, "Why don't you forget about school and come hang out with us? The first day is that fun anyway."
I sent them a glare and frowned. "I was looking forward to a calm start to school. Unfortunately you're in my way. Would you please move you asses out of the way so the bus can actually pull up to the stop? You're taking up too much space." Inside I was shivering and scared half to death of this guy, but the cool and calm outer me wasn't going to let him ruin my chances of being able to socialize at the bus stop every morning and get a good seat on the bus itself. I could feel the eyes of terrified people around me, avoiding the delinquents and seemingly wishing her death quick and painless.
But that wasn't going to happen.
"What the hell? You think you can talk to me like that little princess?" The leader almost snarled as he continued, "Guys, lets teach Little-Miss-Feisty to hold her tongue."
Three out of the four other guys walked forward as one of them stayed by their leader. The guys surrounded me and I wondered if I really had this under control, if I could even handle one of them, let alone three at once. My couple years of karate were no joke, but I wasn't the best by far. However, that didn't matter to my outer self. My outer self merely smirked and urged them on. One of the guys threw a soft kick, trying to knock me to the ground. I merely darted to his left and nailed him in the gut with a closed fist. That's gonna leave a bruise. As he collapsed and the other two stared in horror, dazed, I pivoted on the ball of my right foot and swung my left foot to meet another one in the lower back, knocking him down, face-first. These guys were just amateurs. The last of the three attacking delinquents retreated back as the leader yelled at him to come back as he approached me himself.
He seemed like he was about to lurch forward when the other delinquent who had stayed back stopped him. He was about the same height as the leader and had long purple hair. He had a gentlemanly aura about him and didn't seem so happy right now.
With his hand on the would-be-leader's shoulder, the boy shook his head. "She's not worth it. She's way out of your league." The leader glared and he added, "And plus, you should know better than to pick a fight with a girl and plan on hurting her. You should go straighten up your attitude and you men's principles." The leader opened his mouth, about to say something, but thought better of it and shut his mouth again. He muttered a "Fine" before walking away. I was beginning to wonder who the leader was after all. The purple-haired boy smiled, introducing himself as Nagihiko and apologizing for the delinquents from before's conduct. Then, he and walked away.
Nagihiko, huh. Looks like this isn't going to be a boring year after all.
I smiled as a group of students gathered at the now safe bus stop and started chatting.
"Hey, I'm Yaya," said a girl coming out from behind a tree, "That was amazing. I was worried there for a second, but now I recognize you. You're Hinamori-san from the freshman year right? A lot of my friends know about you, and they're not even from the same middle school as you. They were right about you being cool." She must've been behind the tree while I beat the delinquents from earlier. She seemed like a likable enough person and had a ton of energy with a childish attitude.
Just then, the bus pulled up and Yaya smiled and tugged me onto it, making us the first ones on there. Luckily, she had enough sense to pick a back seat that was reserved for the "cooler" kids. My outer self wouldn't have stood being pulled into a middle or front seat. As the bus started again, people filtered into different groups and you could tell which ones were going to be the top dogs and which ones were going to lie low.
On the second bus stop, a couple of seniors came in. They swept in and kicked freshman out of their seats here and there and sat down like they owned the place. One of the rather meaner looking ones kicked the two sitting across from Yaya and me out of their seats and glared at us. This spot obviously belonged to someone important, after all, it was the very back right seat.
At the next stop in came a boy with the air of a jock. He walked up to Yaya's and my seat and frowned. "Move it Freshies," he said, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder to point at a seat a couple rows up. Yaya complied and scurried up to the seat he had pointed to. The seniors already on the bus sniggered at the fleeing girl. Now this pissed both me and my outer self off. Before I could get control of my outer self's temper, I shot the jock a glare that seemed even make him falter, before composing myself and swiftly moving towards where Yaya was.
These jerks would pay.
I thought that just as his hand grabbed my shoulder. "On second thought, the little pinkette can stay. After all, you're not a bad looker."
My outer self took full control, and I let it. I scoffed and stood back, glaring at him to tell him that he couldn't change his mind now and he had hell to pay soon. He smiled at the challenge as the other seniors were busy being shocked at the fact that he had let someone sit with him at all, let alone a freshman. As neither of them moved, he raised an eyebrow.
"Gonna sit?" He asked.
"You'll be sitting on the inside," I said before pushing into the seat and sitting on the outside. Then I flipped my hair and ignored him.
Some of the other seniors whistled. Admitting that I was a "cute one" and whispering how I had got the better of even Kukai.
So, Kukai's the name, eh? Well this is getting interesting. The outer me was brimming with excitement. After all, I could definitely tell that he was good looking and was going to get me pretty high on the food chain popularity-wise. Then, I actually took a good look at him for the first time. He had tanner skin and spikey brown hair, coupled with green eyes and a carefree smile (at least when he didn't seem angry enough to run you over).
After observing Kukai, I glanced over at Yaya. She seemed to be worried about me, so I gave her a confident smile. She seemed to be relieved that I was okay and scooted back into her seat as more students boarded the bus.
Shockingly enough, the rest of the bus ride was peaceful. Kukai joked around with his friends and sometimes even included me, but nothing was forced. It felt… natural. Soon, the bus ride was over and I waited to get off.
Outside the bus stop, Kukai was surrounded by even more friends. They greeted me kindly too, though, considering I seemed to be on good terms with Kukai. Again I was swept up in the crowd. My outer side lavished the attention while my inner self was content with everyone seeming to appreciate my presence.
"So, you're the captivating Hinamori Amu from the freshman class, eh?" One of the guys said, raising an eyebrow. "They say you're the freshman that's cool enough to hang out with seniors, pretty enough to turn the heads of even idols," then he smirked, "and tough enough to take out three delinquents in front of a bus stop."
I laughed it off. What was I supposed to say? 'Thanks for noticing' or 'Yeah I get that a lot'? It just seemed too confident of a thing for my inner self to say and too cliché a thing for my outer self to say. I merely smiled my way through the conversation until the first bell signaled the start of the entrance ceremony for freshman at the opening assembly.
As a representative for my year, I had memorized a script and everything. There was no way that my outer self was going to allow me to embarrass myself in front of the whole school or my inner self to be careless enough to do so. And so the different speeches began.
First up came the principal's speech on potential and academic achievement that we all possess and could have. The principle was a bald guy with a severe look and a frown plastered to his face. I kept noticing how shiny his head was every time he bobbed it while he was talking.
Next came the senior year representative, a hardcore "good student" who wore thick framed glasses and gave off an air of intellectual superiority. He gave a long speech on who-knows-what. Whatever he talked about, neither my inner or outer self bothered to note.
Third came the junior year representative. Nothing very memorable about him… He had a nice smile though, my outer self noted. He talked about having fun and making the year memorable. I realized then how boring the speech was. The terrible thing was that it was almost identical to mine. I had to make a new one, and fast. I would not be caught blabbing boringly in front of the entire school my first day. No one would end up liking me and my presence would be hated and picked on like before. Anything but what happened before.
The final representative before her, the sophomore rep, walked up to the stage. She looked annoying but well-liked. She stepped up to the stage and presented herself as Saaya. Apparently she was covering for her friend who was "sick" today. I would bet anything that she just wanted to be on stage and asked her friend to stay home. I hadn't pinned her as the type to get the top grade in her year anyway, which was the requirement for being the representative. She talked about how she would make the whole year more fun for everyone and how she would be there if anyone needed help. She also talked about how she was accomplished in every possible way and ended up babbling on and on about herself. After about five minutes of endless talking, the principal's assistant pulled her off the stage as she assured everyone that she would run for homecoming queen and would gladly take everyone's vote that asked her nicely.
Half the audience seemed to roll their eyes and half the audience stifled laughs, not wanting to get on Saaya's bad side. She must have quite a bit of influence in the school to pull that off, my outer self was in full evaluation mode. I sighed. My turn. I'll have to improvise, I guess.
I stepped onto the stage.
Hope you liked the first chapter. I didn't mean this to end on a cliffhanger in any way. This was just the most natural spot to end it without having another 500 words come off of it. Anyway, please review and tell me your opinions (I still need a lot of advice… Was this too detailed? Any suggestions?). Also, don't forget to follow and favorite if you like the story!