Lying on the ground outside of a very prestigious school, some would think I would be receiving weird stares. I know I would if the roles were reversed I would giving questioning looks to teenager lying on her back, flower crown in hair, leather bag, and with a big camera in hand. And then I would shake their hand and ask about their camera. But thankfully, I decided to come while the beautiful pink school was in session. Rich kid perks.
An elderly person walking their small poodle across the street from where I was lying gave me strange look; I snapped a picture of her grumpy judgmental face. I checked my phone getting impatient for the sun to rise higher in the sky. I sat up stretching, careful not to wrinkle my school uniform. Enjoying the Japanese sun, and sweet smells of the roses that grow in the Ouran maze, my body stiffened at the sound of voices coming from the courtyard. Waiting to see who it was before completely dropping to the ground to hide myself, I peeked out from the safety of my camera. It was two guys, shit. Did the dismissal bell ring for lunch already?
Checking my phone again, I sighed at the thought of going back to the classroom. With the thought of my ama's wrath in mind, I re-positioned myself on the ground to take the picture of the school. Double chin and all, I leaned back as far as I could on the ground and took two pictures, just in case one was blurry. I slipped my camera back into its case and then into my bag, and then headed into the school that was Ouran Academy. Sighing dramatically, I put my camera back into its case and then into my leather bag.
Turns out the that school wasn't dismissed for lunch, I had to face the challenge of getting into class unnoticed. That didn't exactly happen.
Sneaking onto the campus grounds was no easy task. Security is thick because of how important we are. Future of the world and all. Many of the children here have their own personal body guards, but it's not like the body guards can stay in the classroom, they would take up too much room. So if they body guard chooses to they can stay and circle the perimeter of Ouran and receive an additional check from the school, including what they are being paid from the families that hire them. Majority of the muscly men stay.
One would think of taking the back way by the South Eastern wing because that's where the outdoor classes, such as physical education, poetry, and survival skills. Unless you were in one of these classes, it's a one way ticket to a phone call home. All the northern sides would be a dumb choice to sneak in cause the Ouran gate is closely monitored from all the homeless people hoping to strike a chord with students. Paparazzi also are at this gate hoping to get information about how a certain business is doing.
That leaves the South west side where the maze is located. It's the safest bet for me even though they monitor the maze so no one gets lost. Clutching my bag, I scampered my way in. Sometimes ducking behind rosebushes, sometimes looking like I totally belonged like I wasn't a student skipping class.
But then I got caught.
"Mae, Iva!" I tried walking faster and clicking the volume button on my earbuds to try and make it seem like I didn't hear the chairman calling out to me. Why was he out here? Shouldn't he have important chairman-like things.
"Mae-kohai I know very well you can hear me." Slowing my pace, I accepted defeat.
"Good morning Souh-sama. The roses are lovely this year". The chairman was a pretty nice guy, I'm glad that I got caught by him and not a security/body guard.
"Why aren't you in class?" The chairman apparently woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Oh, American expressions, I love how you don't make any sense.
"I didn't feel like it. It was condemning my spirt. I felt the desire to be outdoors." I twirled around emphasizing my point. Careful to watch my bag and the bobby pins that held my flower crown in place, the bands and bangles around my arm clanking so that everyone knew that they couldn't be invited to the arm party.
The chairman sighed as if he hadn't slept in days, "Where is your class? You would think I would have it memorized by now for how often you ditch."
"It's 3-A and it is right there sama" I pointed to the door. I took a smaller flower from my crown and placed it in the tired chairman's hand. "Try and relax".
He shook his head and walked away.
With one last quick look, using Snapchat's camera, fixing any stray hairs or flowers, making sure all my piercings were faced the same way, I stepped into the classroom.
I usually sat behind the tallest guy in the whole school. At least in my class. But since I had been caught, the only open seat was in front of the smallest guy in school. He sat towards the front, but to the side. Most of the nerds here wouldn't take the seat in front of him since you couldn't see the projection at the front of the classroom that well.
After getting a stern look from the sensei, I sat in front of the small kid. His name is Hanninozuka, but he is irrelevant. I know I came into this class late, but it still seemed like it dragged on forever. Now I'm still a good student, and not to boast but I am pretty knowledgeable in the subject. I went to the United States with my father for a business meeting and ended staying with his friend for a whole summer. English is pretty easy once you get past the whole silent letter thing.
I took out my camera when the sensei told the class that the last five minutes of the class were ours. Looking at my upside Ouran picture, I smiled to myself knowing this came out really well. The lighting is perfect, I'm glad I saw the two boys when I did. The shading from the building is off to the side really giving the school a regal eff- "Here." a small voice called out interpreting my geekiness. I turned around to see where the voice had come from. Looking down I saw Hanninozuka-san cupping a couple of fallen petals and flowers that had obviously fallen from my flower crown.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you for saving them." I blushed embarrassed that my bobby pins failed to keep the flowers on my head.
"It's no problem. Hey whatcha workin' on?". The small boy asked handing me back my flowers.
"Oh, it's nothing really. Just a picture I took." I showed him my camera exiting out of the zoom I had put it in for close examination.
"Wow, Mae-san this is really good." The dismissal bell rung alerting students that they were now free to eat to their hearts content.
"Hey, you are probably really busy, but do you want to see something cool? I mean, I think it's cool, you might not, but hey you never know?" I asked in one really short breath. Hanninozuka's cousin, the really tall kid that I usually sit behind came walking over. Probably to meet his cousin, maybe they are going to be late for a martial arts meeting or whatever it is they do.
He relieved me when he answered leaving some of my concerns at my desk. "Sure. Can Takashi come?" He gestured to his ginormous cousin.
"Yeah, totally. Are you interested in photography?" I asked Takashi. He gave me a grunt and a look that either could've meant 'I could care less, but I'm here for my cousin' or 'I could care less, let's go'.
"C'mon follow me then." I said walking out the door. I saw Hanninozuka-san type and send a text message and then run ahead skipping to god knows where.
I turned to Takashi, and asked him a simple question, " I don't know what to call you, what would you prefer?"
He looked down at me and muttered the only word he would say to me before we got to the place, "Mori".
"Well you can call me Mae." All I got in response was a grunt and that was that.
We turned the corner and entered the computer room, which was filled with the latest technology money could buy. To my surprise, when we walked into the room, we were greeted with Hanninozuka spinning around in a spinney chair. "Hold on guys, give me a second to add this last one in." Taking a small chip from my camera, I inserted it into the computer I logged into. Not wanting to waste more of Mori-san and Hanninozuka-san's time, I choppily added the picture I took this morning onto a basic 2010 model PowerPoint. I chose present slideshow and projected into our 3D projecter which I guess is a lot like a futuristic hologram.
"Wow! This is so cool Mae-chan. It feels like I'm walking through the school. I'm a giant, Takashi." Hanninozuka shouted, hopefully amazed with my Google Maps like experience where it feels like you are walking through the school.
"I'm glad you like it." I blushed.
"You know who else would like it?" Hanninozuka-san asked his cousin. "Kyoya".
Another grunt from Mori-san.
"Hey Iva-san, wanna meet our friend Kyo-chan?" Hanninozuka-san questioned.
"Um, sure. Does he like photography too?" I secretly hoped for another nerd like myself who was also obsessed with cameras.
"You'll see" Hanninozuka-san mysteriously inquired.
Logging out of my system, I walked off with Mori-san and Hanniozuka-san to meet the infamous 'Kyo-chan'.