Chapter 1 –

"The New Student, the New Challenge, and the New Feeling"

"Here's the info for the new student, Prez," Yukimura says to Misaki as he gives her a folder.

"There's going to be a new student?" Shizuko asks as she and Sakura enter the room.

"Yeah," Misaki says. "Her name is… Umiya Hoshiyo. We don't know much about her, though, except for the usual stuff."

"Can I see?" Sakura asks.

Misaki hands the folder to Sakura. "Oh! She's so pretty!"

"I have to admit," Shizuko adds. "She is pretty."

"What? Where?" all of the other council members yelled.

They all instantly crowded the picture of Umiya. "Whoa! Wow! She's totally HOT!"

The guys kept commenting on the picture, but Misaki was getting angry. Finally, she said, "You guys! Stop messing around and get back to work!"

She pummeled them all to the ground! "We're sorry, Prez…"

"How did I get caught up in this..." a bruised Yukimura groaned. "I was even all the way in the other side of the room…."

"Come on, Shizuko, Misaki! I wanna greet her when she comes! Plus, I wanna know more than the typical things," Sakura said.

"Fine," Shizuko replied. "Are you coming, Misaki?"

"Yeah, just a sec."

The two ran to the school entrance, (followed by the council members). Misaki fixed up some papers and headed to the entrance. In the hallway, though, Usui stopped her. "I heard there's a new student. And that she's really making the boys go crazy with just her picture."

"Move, Usui! I have to go greet her!"

"What, jealous she might steal me from you? Don't worry, my heart will always belong to you, Ayuzawa."

Misaki blushed extremely but kept walking toward the entrance. Usui just smiled and followed.

At the school entrance, everyone was very excited. When Misaki met up with the others, she said, "I guess everyone heard already."

"I know!" Sakura said. "Some people just can't keep their mouth shut!"

"Yeah…," Shizuko said, thinking about how Sakura was shouting, 'A new student's coming! A new student's coming!' down the halls.

Just then, the person everyone was waiting for arrived. She was just as pretty as everyone said, maybe even more. Everyone was in shock, even the Prez! (Except for Usui, that is.) Usui nudged the Prez, and she approached the new student. "Welcome to Seika High School! I'm the student council president, Misaki Ayuzawa."

The new student bowed a little, hid her face, and said, "I'm… Umiya Hoshiyo. N…nice to meet…you…"

"Oh!" Sakura exclaimed. "She's the quiet type!"

Umiya hid her face more, trying to hide her embarrassment. "I'm Sakura, and this is Shizuko! Nice to meet ya!"

"S…same here..."

"Anyway," Misaki said. "I hope you have a great time here! If you'll follow me to the student council room, I'll give you your schedule."

"Okay…"

Back at the council room, the boys were (still) drooling over Umiya. "You guys! You got a lotta guts disobeying me twice! Get back to work!"

The guys instantly went back to work. The prez looked at Umiya and thought, 'Crap! I scared the new student!'

But Umiya didn't look like she was scared. It looked like she understood why Misaki had to do this. 'Oh, I didn't scare her… I think I like this girl already!'

"Well, Umiya," she said. "Here are all the things you'll need. Your schedule, the list of clubs, a map of the school –"

"Prez!" One of the students yelled at the door. "Miyabigaoka's student council is here! Including the president!"

"What? What do they want?"

Seika's student council rushed outside. Miyabigaoka's student council walked proudly through the hall. They halted in front of the council here?"

"Tora Igarashi, what business does Miyabigaoka have here?" asked Misaki.

"Aww, Misa-chan," he said with a fake expression of sadness. "We haven't seen each other in a while! No need to start with the hostility."

Tora took her hand, but she harshly took it back. "I'm not here for any of your stupid games. Now, I suggest you get to your point, or I'll personally kick you and your goons out of our school," she said with a fake smile.

"Fine, fine, whatever you want. I'll get right to it… You've probably heard of the festival for next week, right?"

"Huh?"

"Misaki," Sakura whispered. "I think he's talking about the Rock Fest. It's where lots of rock band come to show off their music."

"A Rock Fest?" She turned to Tora. "What about it?"

He put on a serious face and pointed to her. "We, Miyabigaoka, challenge you, Seika, to a battle of the bands!"

"What?" Misaki said, very surprised. "Why?"

"Just a friendly competition, that's all." Tora put on a fake smile.

"No, I bet that you're just doing this for an opportunity to embarrass us in public!"

He sighed. "Misa-chan, why would you ever think that?"

"Because, you have a perverted, evil mind."

He staggered back a little. Then, he started to laugh (loudly). "Ha, ha, ha! Misa-chan, you're SO funny!"

'That wasn't a joke…,' Misaki thought.

"Anyway," he said. "Do you accept the challenge or not?"

"Why in the world would we accept?"

"I don't know…," he said, smiling. "Maybe because…if you don't, we'll ruin your precious reputation!"

"What? You…you can't!"

"Oh, can't I?"

Misaki scowled harshly at him. 'He's not playing fair! I…I guess I have no choice…,' she thought.

"But if you really don't want to…" He started to walk away.

"Wait!" She looked down and sighed. "We…we accept you challenge.

Tora gave a devilish smile, while bearing his sharp teeth. "Excellent! Well, I hope that you have a great rock band, considering the training that our band could afford."

Miyabigaoka's student council took their leave. As soon as they were out of sight, Misaki sighed. "Ah! Miyabigaoka always makes me pissed! Especially that Igarashi!"

She sighed again. "Umm…," Umiya spoke out of nowhere. "Did something happen between Seika and Miyabigaoka?"

"Oh! Uh…" Misaki didn't know what to say. She was thinking of the time when Tora "attacked" her…

"Let's just say," one of the council members said. "That they almost took the Prez away from us!"

"We were all so worried that we would lose her… So we all rushed to Miyabigaoka to stop her!" Sakura said.

"We were so relieved when she told us denied their offer," Yukimura said.

"But it's not like we care for that devil!" one guy (clearly) lied.

"Yeah!" they all (clearly) lied, too.

"You guys…" Misaki smiled.

"Alright!" she said. "Time to find an awesome rock band!"

All the students were pumped up. Umiya looked at them in surprise. Then, she went outside for a walk. 'Wow…' she thought. 'I never knew that even in a school full of delinquents, they could care THAT much for a girl leader…'

"Ouch!" they both said at the same time.

"Hey!" he said to Umiya. "Watch-"

He looked really surprised. "I'm so sorry… Oh!" she said, also surprised.

'It's Tora Igarashi!' she thought. 'What's he still doing here?'

"Are you all right?" he asked, (surprisingly) real concern on his face.

"Yeah… I'm sorry I bumped into you…"

"No, it's fine! It was my fault, too."

"President!" Mika, the vice president, said. "Are you coming?"

"Yeah, just a sec." He turned back to Umiya. "So… I haven't seen you before… Are you new?"

She nodded. "Yeah… Today's my first day…"

"I see…" He bent down and got closer to her. "Why are you so quiet? Talk a bit louder!" he smiled.

Umiya blushed, but she tried to hide her face. Tora looked surprised (for some reason) and blushed, too. He turned away and said, "Well, I hope you have a nice time at this school…"

She instantly looked up and was mad. "Now, why would someone who threatened to ruin this school's reputation say that?"

Guilty! He looked flustered and stuttered, "I… Umm… Well…"

She sighed. "Never mind! I should have just walked away when I had the chance."

She turned and walked back to the council room. "Wait!" he said.

She stopped but didn't turn around. "Just you wait. Next week, our band will defeat any band, even yours! Especially since I'm here!"

Umiya walked to the council room. Tora just stood there, thinking, 'Whoa, this girl's not what I expected! I've never felt this way before… What IS this feeling?'