AN: So this is the product of a fluff exchange between a dear friend and myself, and promises to be quite entertaining... hopefully to you all as well. Even if your name isn't Laurel.

Please, leave a review! Reviews are good! ^_^

Your new school was pretty strange.

That's all you could think to yourself as you walked down the enormous main hallway on your way to your first class of the year. This place sure was beautiful, with the ornate chandeliers high overhead and intricate iron workings over the tall windows lined along the right side. It looked like something straight out of Ouran High School Host Club. You realized how extremely lucky to have received a scholarship in order to attend here at this prestigious academy, but you couldn't help feeling a bit inferior compared to all this extravagance. You didn't feel that you quite fit in.

You were also a bit nervous. In all your life, you'd never been used to anything this massive. Your home town where you had spent most of your life was pretty small and relaxed, especially compared to this place. It was all very overwhelming.

Students filled the hallways, hundreds of unfamiliar faces rushing past in the regular bustle of the first day of school. Balancing your books in one arm, you surreptitiously pulled out a map of the academy to find out where on earth you were supposed to be headed. The physics classroom had to be somewhere in the science wing, which was on the other side of the building. "Room 509… room 509… room 509…" you muttered, trying to locate the number on the diagram. Why did this have to be so confusing? You almost missed the narrow, straightforward hallways of your old high school.

With a vague idea of your destination, you folded up the map and stuck it back in your jacket pocket. Up ahead there was a bend in the hallway. You would turn left, and then go right, and then…

Just as you turned the corner, something careened into your side, sending textbooks spinning and knocking you off your feet. Your knees hit the polished floor of the hallway, your hands flying out in front of you as a heavy weight landed on top of you. Already, you could feel bruises beginning to form.

"Ouch…" you muttered angrily, feeling for your glasses that had skittered away across the floor. What the heck. Seriously? As if you weren't already having a hard enough day.

"Ack—er…" A panicked voice sounded from on top of you. "Oh my goodness, I'm terribly sorry!"

"Try getting off me before you apologize. Jeez." You tried to pull yourself out from underneath whoever it was. You realized people were staring, and your face began to turn red.

"Pfft, Arthur!" You heard another voice nearby. "Smooth move, bro!"

"YOU PUSHED ME, YOU BLOODY WANKER!" You felt the weight removed as he began to pick himself up.

"Hahahaha! You pushed yourself, dude!" The guy walked around the mess of papers and textbooks and offered you his hand. As he helped you to your feet, you looked up into a lively face with a huge grin plastered across it. Blue eyes sparkled behind rimmed glasses. "Sorry about my friend here! Seriously, he's such a klutz!"

"I'm not your friend!" A voice shouted behind you. You turned to see a pair of green eyes beneath some unusually bushy eyebrows. His face turned red as soon as he saw yours. "Er—I'm truly sorry that happened. Are you alright?" He fumbled, cheeks burning with embarrassment. He noticed the books you had dropped and got down on his knees to pick them up.

"Yeah, I guess I'm ok," you said, joining him on the ground to clean up the mess. For some reason, you didn't feel that angry anymore. Just bruised and disoriented.

"I've got it!" The taller young man swept up your books into a messy stack and stood up holding them in his arms. "Don't worry! Heroes love carrying people's stuff!"

"After they knock them over," growled the one with green eyes, glaring at the other as he brushed himself off and straightened his necktie.

The guy holding your books didn't seem to hear. He shifted them to one arm and held out his hand to you, beaming. "I'm Alfred," he declared as you shook it, "and this guy over here is my sidekick, Eyebrows."

"I AM NOT!" The other young man attempted to strangle him. You watched the two scuffle a bit before he stopped and reached out his hand to you as well. "My name is Arthur. Arthur Kirkland."

"I'm Laurel," you replied as you shook hands, a bit baffled by the scene unfolding in front of you. This school was getting stranger and stranger by the minute.

"So where are you headed?" Alfred asked you.

"Umm, I'm supposed to be going to physics, but I'm not quite sure how to get there."

"Hey! That's great! We're heading down towards the mathematics wing, so we'll be passing by there. I can totally show you where your class is!" He started down the hallway carrying your textbooks.

Feeling a bit relieved, you followed down the hallway. You definitely hadn't expected to make friends with anyone so easily, especially before the first bell had even rung. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad after all.

After physics, world history, and psychology class had passed, however, you were still feeling overwhelmed. Especially now that the midday break had begun, and you were expected to somehow find a group of people to join for lunch in the common area.

Instead of sitting awkwardly by yourself at a table, you decided to take this opportunity to see more of the school. Large buildings had always intrigued you, plus you were pretty excited to see the grounds outside. Without wasting time, you had passed through the doors and into the warm sunshine of the gardens.

There were a few people milling about, sitting on the edge of the fountains, horsing around on the neatly trimmed grass. Someone had brought a football and was kicking it around, trying to start a game. You wandered along the path, making your way towards a small wooden bridge sitting over a stream. It was a nice little bridge, you thought to yourself as you reached it and ran your fingers over the rough wood. You stopped and leaned against the railing, looking down at your reflection in the clear water below.

"Oi— Laurel, isn't it?" You heard a voice call from the path behind you, and turned to see the same young man who had crashed into you that morning in the hall. He walked up to you, holding something in his hand. "Sorry, but I've been trying to find you. I think I have something of yours."

You watched as he held out a silver watch on a long chain. "Hey," you exclaimed. "That is mine! How did you get it?"

He dropped the trinket into your open hand. "Er— I found it in the hallway after I… after we…"

"After you tackled me?" you finished for him. You slid the chain back around your neck where it belonged, and wondered why you hadn't noted its absence before. "Arthur, right?"

"Yes," he answered, blushing a little with your mention of today's previous event. Then he tried to change the subject. "That's a very nice watch you have. Is it an antique?"

"Hah… not exactly." You couldn't help noticing how the light from the water reflected off his eyes, making them glow a little in the sun. Feeling suddenly embarrassed, you looked back over the railing of the bridge.

"So… is this your first year at the academy?" he asked.

"Yeah. How did you know?"

"Well, you were having quite a time finding your classroom this morning, if I remember correctly."

"Oh. Yeah. I'm guessing you're not new here?"

"I'm on my second year. Feel free to ask me whenever you have any questions on how things work around here. I'd be happy to help."

"Thanks."

"Well," Arthur said, turning to leave, "I'd better be off now. It was a pleasure meeting you."

"You too," you replied, watching him stride off down the path, sunlight glinting off his blonde hair.