A Completely New and (Supposedly) Educational Experience
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN OURAN HIGH SCHOOL HOST CLUB OR ANYTHING ELSE THAT I REFERENCE! I ONLY OWN MY OCS! THE REAL PEOPLE WHO INSPIRED THESE OCS OWN THEMSELVES!
Chapter One
Eva's POV
Normally, I wasn't the kind of person who was excited about going to school, much less ninth period, but today was an exception. A few days ago, my English teacher had announced a new program that students around the world were taking part in. It was called the Pen-Pal Program and it was designed to give students the opportunity to learn about how people in other parts of the world live and learn.
Everyone in our particular school in New York had filled out an application for the program. They'd asked for our email addresses because apparently emailing our pen-pals would be much faster than sending a letter. Yet they still called it the Pen-Pal Program. Go figure. They'd also asked for our names and ages. The only reason I was excited about going to English that day was because we were getting the names and email addresses of our pen-pals.
"Hello girls." My English teacher greeted as my friend Rosie and I walked into the classroom. Ninth period English was the only class Rosie and I had together.
"Hi Mr. Aberman." Rosie stated, taking her seat. I nodded to the teacher and sat down. A few more students arrived shortly after. A guy named Frankie immediately set about annoying a girl named Jessica. I rolled my eyes as I listened to their argument.
"Mr. Aberman, Frankie's still annoying me!" Jessica whined eventually. What else is new? I thought. Rosie made a face and pushed her glasses back up her nose. I could tell Rosie was thinking something along the same lines as I was.
"That's because I'm still paying him!" Mr. Aberman replied. I laughed out loud. And that's why Mr. Aberman is my favorite teacher. I thought. Rosie all but fell out of her chair laughing.
"Good afternoon everyone!" Mr. Aberman addressed the class once ninth period officially started. "As you know, you were all signed up for the Pen-Pal Program. Well, I have the names and email addresses of your pen-pals. But, before I give them to you, I'm going to explain the program a little because the school board wants me to." Mr. Aberman told us.
"As I told you when we signed up for this, you're going to be emailing your pen-pal all year. Every so often, they want us to take a class day to discuss what you've learned from your pen-pal, whether it's about the culture of the place they come from, about life in general, or about your pen-pal personally. Keep it clean, no one wants to know anything overly specific, trust me." Mr. Aberman stated. I snorted a laugh at the last comment, as did most other people. The class nodded and a girl named Katelyn raised her hand.
"Are all of our pen-pals from the same country?" She asked.
"Yeah. All of the pen-pals in this school are from the same country." The teacher answered. Why? I wondered. "At the end of the year, the entire school is going to take a field trip to the country the pen-pals are from so you can all meet face to face. The trip is going to be funded by the other school. We'll talk more about the trip when it gets closer." Mr. Aberman answered. Wow. That's really cool. What school has enough money to send everyone in this school to another country?! I thought.
"Where are our pen-pals from? And how on earth can the other school afford to send all of us to another country?" Another kid asked.
"Our school is working with a Japanese private school called Ouran Academy for the Pen-Pal Program. Apparently, they have crap-loads of money and are going to fund our trip to Japan at the end of the year." Mr. Aberman replied. The class immediately burst into excited whispers.
So we get to go to Japan? Awesome! I thought. I looked towards Rosie at the other end of the room. She gave me a look that said 'We're definitely bunking together.'
"Before I hand these out, I'm supposed to give you a speech about keeping your pen-pal's personal information private and all that. But you're all honors kids so I'm hoping you all have common sense enough to know that. Keep your pen-pal's personal information private. Don't share it with anyone else. And don't drink and drive." Mr. Aberman told the class before he started handing out the papers with our pen-pal's emails on them.
My paper was one of the last ones Mr. Aberman handed out. Hmm. Kaoru Hitachiin. Cool. We're both fifteen too. Also cool…Why does the name Hitachiin sound so familiar? I wondered. At the end of the period, Mr. Aberman told us we were supposed to start communicating with our pen-pals by the end of the week. It was Tuesday, so I guess that was reasonable.
"Hey Eva! Who's your pen-pal?" Rosie asked as she stood by my locker while I packed up. I pushed my dirty blonde hair out of my face and looked at Rosie. She stood there, leaning against the locker next to mine with an expectant look in her golden brown eyes.
"His name is Kaoru Hitachiin." I told her. Her eyes widened and she shook her head, causing some of her wavy brown hair to fall out of its ponytail.
"Mine is named Hikaru Hitachiin." She told me. I felt my own eyes go wide. That's so weird. What if they're related? I thought.
"Do you think they're brothers or something?" I asked, shutting my locker, putting my backpack on and picking my flute case up off the floor where I'd left it.
"Maybe. They're fifteen like us, right? What if they're twins?" Rosie replied. I raised an eyebrow.
"That'd be kinda cool." I told her. She nodded and we walked downstairs to the main lobby of the school together.
"I'll see you tomorrow, okay? I've got a cello to go get from the orchestra room and a bus to catch. Bye!" Rosie told me as she rushed down the orchestra hallway.
"Bye!" I called after her as she left. I turned towards the door and went out to a little courtyard of sorts outside the band room. I smiled as a cool late September breeze swept through the place. There was a dogwood tree in the courtyard. I sat at a picnic table under the tree and waited for my cousin.
Usually my cousin was only my ride home on Thursdays and Fridays, but seeing as my mom left for work at two and my dad was called in to be the on-set paramedic for a movie today and wouldn't be home until three thirty, I had to hitch a ride with my cousin Victoria. Both of us lived too close to the school (and too close to each other, in my opinion) and therefore didn't get the bus. And there was just no way in hell that I was crossing three major streets to get home every day.
"Hey Tori! Over here!" I called when I caught sight of my cousin.
"Hey Eva. How was your day?" she asked. I shrugged as she dug her new smart-phone out of her bag. I shrugged again as I looked at the phone. I was quite happy with my dumb-phone and didn't see what all the hype was about.
"Meh. The only thing particularly interesting was getting my pen-pal's name and stuff in English." I replied. Victoria nodded.
"Yeah. I got mine too. I can't pronounce the name though." She stated.
"Your mom's coming right?" I asked.
"Yeah. She just texted me. 'In the back of the parking lot by the gate.'" She read the text.
"I'm assuming that's our cue to move our asses." I said sarcastically.
"No shit Sherlock." Victoria replied, hurrying me to my feet.
"Fuck you, Watson." I told her as we started walking across the parking lot. She narrowed her eyes at me.
"So I hung out with Mike today. He's actually really funny." Victoria stated after a moment. I rolled my eyes internally.
"I'm assuming Tiago, Matt and all of them were there too." I responded.
"Yeah. Katie Dessel too and some of her friends." Victoria added. I resisted the urge to make a face. So essentially all the popular people who aren't bothering me at my lunch period. I thought.
"I don't like them." I reminded her. Victoria shrugged.
"That's because you're a loner." She said. I winced slightly and cursed myself for it.
"I hang out with people! I sit with Gianna, Naveera, Matt Fonovich and Moiz at lunch." I defended. Even if Naveera and Moiz only have lunch every other day. I thought.
"The other loners." Victoria insisted. I narrowed my eyes down at her, reminded of how completely opposite we looked and acted.
Victoria was short(er than me), standing only about 5'2 with tan-ish skin. She had curly hair that was naturally dark brown, but she dyed it to a lighter brown that was almost mousy and dyed the ends red and her eyes were dark brown. In pretty stark contrast, I stood about 5'6, and had dirty blonde hair that was wavy and curled a little at the ends. And I'm pretty sure my mom would kill me if I dyed it. My eyes were a dark-ish forest green color and Victoria liked to tease me about how fair (pasty, according to her) my skin was.
"Whatever." I told her as we found my aunt's black minivan and got in. I sat in one of the bucket seats and Victoria rode shotgun.
"Hi mom." Victoria said, buckling her seatbelt after receiving a pointed look from her mom.
"Hi Titi Rocky." I smiled. My dad's side of the family was a mix of German/Austrian/Hungarian and Spanish, so we used Spanish words a lot. We called my grandmother, who had moved from Spain to Puerto Rico, them to Long Island from there, Abuela, my dad's sisters Titi and Titi Robin's husband Tio. Uncle Pete wasn't referred to as Tio and neither was my dad. My mom chose to be called Titi because her Italian family used the word as well. And because being referred to as 'Aunt Donna' made the hair on the back of my mom's neck stand up.
"Hey girls. How was school?" Titi Rocky asked as we pulled away.
Victoria immediately launched into all kinds of stories about who did what when and what math test she completely aced and how her teacher thought she was the smartest person in the class. In case it isn't obvious, my cousin likes to brag (a lot) and is constantly trying to get in with the 'In Crowd'. She didn't even have a whole lot to brag about. So she was sort of popular and got good grades in all of her Regents level classes. So? I was in Honors classes for every subject except for math and AP European History and you didn't see me flaunting it.
Although, according to Victoria and everyone else at school, I was a loner or a nerd. That's only because I don't talk to them seeing as none of them have much more intelligence than a squirrel (no offense to squirrels). I don't really care what the other kids at school think of me, though it pisses me off when they make fun of me and my friends. Sometimes though, it really hurts when the insults come from my cousin. I hope that makes sense.
"How did your AP test today go?" Titi Rocky asked me, cutting off one of Victoria's stories about the kids at her lunch table. I made a face.
"It was pretty hard, but I think I did well." I replied. Titi Rocky nodded and took her sunglasses of her head and put them on, causing her short black hair to fall into her face.
"Good. How's karate going? Do you like the adult class?" she continued. It's Jiu Jitsu. I corrected mentally.
"Good. I like the adult class better. It's more challenging to work with the adults and we do more advanced techniques. Plus the fact that I'm too old for the kids' classes. But I still go to the kids' class on Saturday mornings to help out." I replied, smiling slightly.
"Do you know when you're testing for your junior black belt or whatever that is?" Victoria asked, evidently having gotten over being cut off.
"No. And technically there's no guarantee I'll test for junior black belt. Sensei Jeff could still decide to have me test for the adult blue belt instead." I reminded her.
"Really Eva? Do you really think he's going to do that?" Titi Rocky asked.
"He could." I replied. My aunt gave me a look that said she didn't think so. I shrugged and we pulled up to my house. I leaned into the front and kissed my aunt and my cousin on their foreheads before heading inside.
Once inside, I unpacked my lunch box seeing as I refused to eat the school's lunches. I was half convinced they were radioactive. After that I went upstairs to my room and did homework. I got home at 2:30 and finished homework at around 3:15.
"I'm home!" my younger brother yelled as he walked in less than thirty seconds after I finished my homework.
"I'm upstairs! Did you lock the door?" I called back. I grabbed my book, my iPod, my notebook and my sketchbook and went downstairs into the kitchen.
"Yeah. When's dad getting home?" My brother, Ryan, asked.
"Soon. How was school?" I replied. Ryan shrugged. "That good, huh?" I smirked. Ryan narrowed his brown eyes at me and I reached up to ruffle his thick dark brown hair. He swatted my hands away.
I went downstairs, put my stuff on the coffee table, curled up on the couch and continued reading my book. A while later, after finishing his homework, Ryan came down and started playing video games on one of the two computers we had. I rolled my eyes. Dad walked in the door about five minutes after that.
"Hi! Meep!" I called up the stairs.
"Hey, Meeps!" My dad responded. I smiled. After seeing the episode of 'Phineas and Ferb' with the cute little pink alien who could only say 'Meep!' I'd begun to use the word. Slowly, it had become a household trend for everyone except my mom. And my dad had started calling me 'Meep'.
"Hey." My brother said belatedly, absorbed in his video game.
My dad came downstairs a few minutes later and sat down on the couch. Our couch had a turning point in it where it came away from the wall and the two end seats were recliners. I was curled up in the turn and my dad had sat in the recliner away from the wall.
"Any ideas for dinner?" My dad asked, running a hand through his graying black hair. My brother shook his head and muttered something that sounded like 'No clue'. I shrugged.
"Do we have any more sauce made?" I asked. My mom, being fully Italian, made her own sauce. We rarely used store sauce and even then it was from the Italian place about five minutes away. It was just so much better homemade.
"No." Dad replied. Damn. I thought.
"What about burgers?" I asked.
"We have those. Pickles too, if you want." Dad said smirking. I looked my dad in his green eyes that were so like mine and raised an eyebrow. "Right. Pickles." He laughed.
We sat down to dinner of cheeseburgers, waffle fries, pickles and sliced up veggies on the side at around 5:30. I had fries, a pickle and some of the tomatoes and sliced up cucumbers along with my burger, as did Dad. Ryan avoided the veggies like the plague seeing as we were out of carrots, the only vegetable he eats other than lettuce. After dinner, I took a shower and started a drawing of an owl. At 8:00, NCIS was on and everyone watched.
Author's Note: Hello everyone! I'm Meepalicious and this is my first fanfiction for Ouran High School Host Club! I came up with this idea a while ago, and I haven't seen any others in which the OCs are pen-pals of the Hosts. Not to offend anyone, but I find this idea slightly more plausible than the ones in which American students are accepted (usually on scholarships) to Ouran and then travel across the globe to attend. But hey, that's just me. Anyway! READ AND REVIEW PLEASE!