Hinamori Amu was wide awake, lying on her stomach in her bed with the comforter pushed and kicked to the floor. She had barely slept a wink of any of the eight hours that night like she had planned to. She was just so excited. She had made it her top priority to make sure everything went smooth as silk today, for you see, today was a new beginning for her.

Her life as a high school teenager.

Amu is now fifteen and today was the day that she had anticipated all year for: freshmen orientation. She was excited and shocked beyond belief to receive news that she had passed the entrance exams to be enrolled in one of the most exclusive and prestigious high schools in all of Japan. Soon, she would be part of the Ouran Academy student body. This was a dream come true for Amu. This school would look amazing on her college records, there was a plethora of extracurricular activities, but most importantly, she would be surrounded by hundreds upon hundreds of gorgeous boys.

This excited Amu because it was an opportunity to take her mind off of her previous love interest, Hotori Tadase. Yes, it seems as though our pink-haired heroine has parted ways with the beloved puppy-eyed King's chair. It all began when Amu was around thirteen going on fourteen when she noticed that Tadase was isolating himself from the rest of the Guardians in order to spend time with a brunette beauty from a nearby middle school. Her name was Oshiro Reiko, and she was absolutely gorgeous. Her hair was always light, bouncy and naturally curly. It was a lovely, lustrous and almost burnt shade of orange. Her eyes were a piercing shade of olive and her skin was fair and delicate. She looked as if she had to be handled with care, like a new iPhone or laptop being taken out of its protective packaging. Her gentle smile and laugh were enough to make any guy swoon over her and she would have them eating out of the palm of her hand in seconds. Not long after meeting Reiko, Tadase was forced to leave the Guardians for good. Reiko felt that the Guardians were far too distracting to Tadase and he spent too much time at the Royal Garden than with her. Amu has seen Tadase a few times here and there, but most of the time they just passed by each other in the hallways or in the supermarket. Those moments were the most awkward for Amu, and she could never look at Tadase straight in the face. It's been some time since they've actually spoken to each other.

But that was all in the past. Amu was ready to take the world by storm, one club at a time.

'UWAHHHHH!~' Amu kicked and squealed with jubilance as she looked at her alarm clock. '5:45 AM. Might as well get ready now', Amu thought, seeing as though she's been up since 10 PM.

Amu got up from her bed and switched on her lamp. It was still pretty dark and she squinted her eyes as they tried to adjust to the sudden burst of light.

"Yo, Amu, why so early? You've still got 15 minutes of sleep", Miki popped out of her egg, rubbing her eyes still half asleep.

"Say, Amu-chan really didn't get much sleep last night, did she?" Suu floated over to Amu's face, concerned. She pinched Amu's cheeks with her tiny little hand and stretched them out as if she were made of silly putty. "Huh, you don't look sleepy at all!"

Amu gently pinched Suu off her face and placed her back in her plaid-patterned egg. "I'm fine, really", she reassured them. "I'm just so excited for today!" Sure, she's said that, what, only a few hundred times this week?

Amu showered at hyper-speed and skipped over to her vanity and started teasing her hair. She was going for the "cool-and-spicy" look that she had back in elementary school, although her outfit proved otherwise. She turned her head to the right to admire the outfit she made specifically for today. She chara-changed with Suu to design some fresh, new clothing out of the duds that were collecting dust in the back of her closet. She found an oversized pink tee shirt. With a snip here and a trim there, it transformed into a stylish, off-the-shoulder top with white satin lace traced right along Amu's neckline. White rhinestones were sewn on to the fabric in the form of angel wings on the back of her shirt. The front was simple, so Amu added flair by accessorizing with big and flashy necklaces. The shirt stopped right below her hips, so Amu matched a pair of white shorts with matching white ribbon disguised as a belt to go with her top. She completed the outfit with fishnet stockings and baby pink heels. She didn't mean to brag, but this was one of Amu's (and Suu's) best work yet. She was so mesmerized by her masterpiece that she jumped at the loud 'tink's and 'clank's as her phone vibrated on the glass dish that held her favorite perfumes and body mists.

'Hmm, who could be calling me at 6:15 in the morning?'

Before Amu could reach for her phone, Ran flew by and snatched it to see who called her. 'Eh? Wasn't she dead-asleep just a few seconds ago?' Ever since Amu's friendship with Tadase quickly dissolved into an estranged acquaintance, Ran had been especially protective of her and gave it her all to make sure Amu never got hurt again. She supported the fact that Amu was over Tadase and wanted to find someone else to make her happy, but Ran still wanted to make sure that if Tadase was ever able to contact Amu (which wasn't very likely, seeing as though they haven't spoken in ages), she wanted to make sure he knew is place and that he was not welcome in Amu's life after hurting her so much.

"Ran, it's okay. Please give me my phone", Amu patted Ran's head. Ran was a bit hesitant, but after looking at the caller ID and seeing an image of an uncomfortably-close Yoru with the face of a slim, young man in the background, she loosened her grip on the phone and placed it in Amu's palm.

Amu smiled and walked over to her bed. Ran, Miki and Suu followed her and plopped themselves onto her cloud-soft pillow, obviously tuckered out from all the "commotion" at such an early hour.

"Moshi Mo-"

"Bonjour, ma cherie~" said a smooth and luscious voice (with a slight, yet adorable, accent) on the other end of the line.

Amu blushed and closed her eyes in frustration. "What do you want, Ikuto?"

"Ahh, why so cold? Can't a friend just say hi to another friend without being scolded at?"

"It's 6:15 AM here. Wouldn't you assume I'd be asleep right now?"

"You sound wide-awake to me."

"That's beside the point!" Amu felt a blood vessel throbbing in her head.

"Whatever~" Amu hated when Ikuto ignored her rage like that and Ikuto enjoyed how easy it was to make Amu angry. "I just wanted to wish you a happy and healthy year of school and I hope you have fun at freshmen orientation, today"

"Oh, thank you!" Amu warmed up to him as she thought of how considerate it was of him to take the time to make a long distance call to her. "I hope you're enjoying your time in Paris with your father, Ikuto"

Ikuto chuckled. "Thank you, Amu. I'll be sure to personally thank you tod—IS THAT AMU-NYAN? I WANNA TALK TO AMU-NYAN!~ GIMME THE PHONE-NYA— as I was saying. I'll be sure to personally thank you today after the musical ceremonies. Also, Amu... TRY NOT TO GET TOO KNOCKED UP THIS YEAR, BYE!~" The phone clicked off.

Amu was now too embarrassed and in a fit of rage to even care that Ikuto called her to wish her a good day. That last comment was just downright awkward. Her face was red and burning.

'Wait a second… personally? Today?' Amu was puzzled.

She just brushed the thought off and continued to get ready. She dressed herself and styled her hair. She tied it into a messy, braided side ponytail with white satin lace tied at the end to match the trimming on her neckline.

She was ready and more than satisfied with her work. She looked at the clock once more. It was 6:30 AM. She yawned and rubbed her eyelids while wiping away a small tear drop that formed in the corner of her eye. She decided to take a breather and lie down on her bed for the time remaining. Exhaustion was finally settling in and Amu felt weak and dreary. She thought a 30 minute nap would be good enough and she drifted off into a wonderful world of dreaming.

'AMU-CHAN, AMU-CHAN, AMU-CHAN', 3 voices exclaimed over and over again. The sound was almost echo-like and distinct. It was getting louder and louder, until…

*PINCH*

"OUCH, HEY, WHAT THE HELL?" Amu woke up in a load of pain, rubbing her bright pink left cheek.

"AMU, 7:10 AM, GET UP, GRAB YOUR THINGS, PAPERS, BREAKFAST, HAIR", all these commands were entering Amu's ears simultaneously as she was struggling to get her weary and half-asleep body to function. She saw her 3 guardian characters frantically jumping on her chest, attempting to wake her up. Then her adrenaline kicked in. She looked at her alarm clock.

"7:11 AM? I HAVE 9 MINUTES TO GET TO OURAN ACADEMY!" She shouted as she struggled to gather her satchel and papers and fix up her hair. On her way out, she grabbed a piece of toast and sprinted out the door.

"Ah ah, wait Amu-chan, I can just give you a ri-" Hinamori Tsumugu exclaimed as he tried to grab his daughter's attention.

"Don't worry, Papa, at the rate she's going, she'll make it there in time" Hinamori Hidori said as she knelt down, fixing little Ami's school uniform.

From Amu's upstairs bedroom, Ran, Miki and Suu were all staring out the window, watching Amu run down the street to reach the bus on time. They were all frowning as she panted and stepped into the already-present bus, which was nearly ready to depart from the stop.

"Don't worry, you two. It's not like she left us here on purpose. She was just in a rush", Suu rested her tiny little hands on the shoulders of her two guardian sisters, holding them tight as they watched the bus drive down the street.