Wow, it's been a while since I've written any fanfiction… This is only my second fanfiction, so please don't be too mean… I was kind of tangled up in another story when I wrote this, so apologies for the OOC-ness. Please R&R, and constructive criticism is welcomed!

Sorry so many times for the messed-up editing. I lost the original document so I had to retrieve this from livejournal... Hence the bad formatting.

It was strange, how I'd dreamed of escaping the SOS brigade and having free time, but now that I did it turned out I had nothing to do with it. Taniguchi and Kunikida's girl-watching habits frankly did not interest me, and although I was generally well-acquainted with the other members of my class I had few good friends other than Koizumi, Asahina-san, Nagato-san and... Haruhi.
It had been 3 months since she'd started dating this Saotome guy in 1-E and had subsequently expelled me from the SOS brigade. At first I was grateful, but now I somewhat missed it.

I guess these are the kinds of things that happen in high school. I just didn't expect it of Haruhi.

She still sat behind me in class but we didn't talk.

Maybe she doesn't have the emotional capacity to give a damn about too many people at a time.

"Yo, Kyon." Said Taniguchi as he came into the classroom for morning registration. "Did you hear that Suzumiya finally broke up with that guy? Not surprising, really... that might be the longest time she's ever been with-"
He continued, but in my mind his voice faded out and I went back to wondering why Haruhi wasn't here yet. She still got to school before me, every single day. I hadn't stopped taking notice of her – how could I, after the times we'd had together? That day went by even more slowly than they had been going for the past 3 months. In the corridor on the way to the science labs I overheard a snatch of a conversation between Haruhi's boyfriend – ex, I mean – and some of his friends, congratulating him on 'fooling her'. That confused me a little – as I assumed they were referring to Haruhi – so I decided to stay and listen in to the rest, pretending I was reading a poster on the calligraphy club's notice board.


"I can't believe you got her to go on one date, let alone keep her for the whole 3 months... and without her realising anything... She must have been the toughest yet, right?"


"Not really... I mean, she's just another girl. Who cares. Time for the next one!"


What? This guy.. he got rid of her? That hadn't occurred to me – I'd just assumed that Haruhi had been the one who dumped him. My hand curled into a fist. Saotome... That little...

I shouldn't care about any of this, though, should I?

As I was finishing my homework that night, my cell phone rang. 'Number Withheld'. I picked it up and said hello, but only heard faint breathing at the other end.


"Hello?" I asked again. "Who's calling?"


When no one answered I pressed 'end call' and started my next piece of homework, this time history. A few minutes later I got a text message. From Haruhi. 
'This is all your fault, you know' it read. I wasn't sure whether to reply or not – why should I, when she'd been the one to terminate our friendship? But I did feel slightly sorry for her, after what that guy had done to her... Even Haruhi didn't deserve that sort of treatment. 
'What? How is it my fault?' I replied, but she didn't text back that whole evening. 
Her reply came the next day, when I got to school and spotted her apparently waiting for me outside of our classroom.

"Hey, Haruhi. How come you didn't reply?" I asked, trying to sound calm and natural and most probably failing. 


"I just needed to know if you hated me or not."


"Right. Well, you're lucky. I should hate you, but because I'm such a kind, good person, I decided to forgive-"


"It was your fault in the first place!"


"How, exactly?"

"I took your advice! Found myself a boyfriend and lived like a 'normal high schooler' and stopped bugging you! That's just what you told me to do! And look how it turned out!"


"Haruhi, do you really have to make such a fuss right here?" I asked, lowering my voice in an attempt to make her do the same.


"Let's go to the clubroom." She said, and started walking away down the corridor.


"I thought I was banned from there!" I shouted after her.
She turned back, looking as if she was about to cry. I followed her.

"I'm sorry." She said meekly as we went into the clubroom. I sat down at the table where Koizumi and I had played Othello whenever club was boring, which was nearly every day. 


"I'm such an idiot." Haruhi said quietly as she stared out of the window, with her back to me. Her voice was trembling.


"Well, it's not really your fault. He's just a playboy." I said, trying to comfort her subtly.


"But I was the one who was stupid enough to believe him!" she shouted, turning round with a few tears rolling slowly down her cheeks. We stared at each other for a second or so before it got worse and she was crying fully.


"Haruhi-!" 
I got up from my chair and put my hand on her shoulder. I assure you, I did not intend by this gesture to make her bury her head in my chest sobbing, which she did. 


"Haruhi-" I stuttered – "I don't think you need to be so upset over him. I mean, it was kind of inevitable-"

"I'm not crying over that, you idiot!" she said, pushing me away.


"Well, um, don't you have anyone else to talk to? I mean, I'd kind of assumed that you didn't want anything to do with me anymore. After kicking me out of the club, I mean."


"Are you trying to make me feel stupid on purpose!?"


"No, it's just.." I sighed. "I don't get you. You tell me to leave you alone but then you come running to me after you get dumped? It's like I'm your rebound guy, or something."


"What!? No! I wouldn't let you be my rebound guy, you're too-!"
She stopped. 


"Well, if you don't mind, I'm going back to class." 
I headed towards the door, but turned around when I heard Haruhi starting to cry again. Twice in one day? Now that's amazing.


"I knew it." She sniffed. "You do hate me. And you're right to. I'm just an idiot."


"I thought that was me?" I asked.


"Yeah, I guess." 
She managed a small smile.


"Kyon, close the door." She ordered. That was more like the normal Haruhi. She recovered quickly...

For once, I didn't protest against following her orders, though I didn't know why she wanted the door closed, since we were about to go to class.