"Don't Worry Haru…I'm sure that Kagura will notice you someday." Tohru Honda said as she took a bite from her sandwich. She was sitting next to her long-time best friend Hatsuharu during the school lunch break. Tohru was trying to cheer him up after his daily rejection from Kagura Sohma, the most popular girl in school. Haru had had a crush on the girl for the entirety of their junior year and she didn't even know he existed.

"Come on Haru, we're seniors now! We get to rule the school. Don't worry about Kagura. If she knew what a great guy you were, she'd be all over you!" Tohru said jokingly. Haru just continued to push his food around his plate, not actually eating anything. They sat by themselves everyday at lunch. Tohru was seen as a nerd in her school and Haru was the shy guy. They first became friends in middle school after Kagura had purposely spilt milk all over Tohru and Haru helped her clean it up.

BAARRIINNGG!

The school bell rang signaling the end of lunch.

"Well it's off to English class I guess…come on Haru, I don't want us to be late on the first day of class." Tohru grabbed Haru and they left the cafeteria and headed toward their classroom. They walked through several hallways before finally reaching their destination.

"Here it is, Room 203. Let's go in." Tohru said as she opened the door. Several students were already in their seats as more were coming in behind Tohru and Haru. Everyone took the seats labeled with their names on them. Tohru ended up in the back of the room while Haru's seat was towards the front. She glanced at the name on the seat next to her to see who she was stuck sitting next to. Hmm…Arisa Uotani… Great… That girl never does any of her work. She'll probably copy off of me all the time.

The bell rang again as class was about to begin. Their teacher walked in to greet the class. Tohru thought he seemed pretty young but he was kind of cute so she didn't mind.

"Hello class. I'm Shigure Sohma, but you can call me Mr. Shigure, and I will be your English teacher this year. Now I'm sure you're all wandering how someone so young and handsome such as myself came to be a teacher," he said with a giggle, "I am an aspiring novelist and found I would be most useful in life if I passed on my knowledge of the written word to you folks." He smiled.

"Now I want you all to introduce yourselves. We will start with the front row and I want you all to state your name and anything interesting about yourselves that you'd like to share."

Tohru listened as everyone introduced themselves.

"Yuki Sohma." One kid said. Tohru perked up a bit. Yuki Sohma was the most popular guy in school. He was so handsome and kind and every girl in school wished she could go out with him. Unfortunately, he was currently attached, to Kagura Sohma. That girl has everything. The looks, the clothes, the mansion, and the cutest guy in school. Tohru thought to herself. Just then Tohru noticed the room had gotten quiet and everyone was staring at her.

"Could you please introduce yourself miss?" She heard Mr. Shigure ask her. Oh my gosh! I'm such an idiot. It's my turn.

"What a ditz. She gets straight A's but she doesn't even know her own name." Tohru heard Kagura Sohma say to her friends in an obviously loud voice. She always found ways to make fun of Tohru and Tohru never understood why she was always the target of their insults. It seemed like no matter what she did, Kagura hated her.

"I'm terribly sorry sir… My name is Tohru Honda and I'm a member of the Drama Club here at school." She said with a tremendous blush on her face, embarrassed from her clumsiness. What a great first impression Tohru. The teacher probably thinks you're a dummy now.

"Thank you Tohru," Shigure said calmly. "Now class, your first assignment will be to write an introductory letter to your classmates, telling them more about yourselves so it makes it easier for us to understand each other. Start working on it now and finish it up for homework."

Tohru met Haru outside the door after class.

"You alright Tohru..?" Haru asked noticing the glum look on her face.

"Yea..I'm fine. I just can't believe that I made a fool of myself like that in front of everyone, especially on the first day of school. Mr. Shigure must think I'm an idiot, especially after what Kagura said." Tohru sighed. Her first day of school had not gone as she had hoped. She wanted everything to be different this year. She had hoped that Kagura would've become nicer over the summer but apparently she didn't change at all.

"I just wish I knew why she hated me so much Haru. I don't understand. What did I ever do to her?" Tohru looked up at Haru who was shuffling his feet as he listened to her. Tohru sighed again.

"Sorry Haru. I know you really like Kagura, I didn't mean to talk about her like that."

"It's alright, Tohru," Haru said. "I don't understand why I like her that much myself. There's just something about her that I just can't let go of." Tohru smiled at this. Haru was such a sweet boy. She would never understand what he saw in Kagura, but she would support him all the way. They left school and started walking home together.

"Grandpa, I'm home!" Tohru yelled as she walked into her house. She and her brother had been staying with her grandfather for the past two years since their mom died. She was killed in a car accident so their grandpa had offered to take them in. Their mother's death had tremendously affected Tohru, especially in school. Her grades dropped from A's to B's within a matter of weeks. The only thing that even kept her in school was that her mom had always wanted her to get her high school diploma because her mother never had.

"How was your first day of school Tohru?" Her grandfather asked with a smile on his face.

Tohru sighed. "It was alright I guess. I got caught daydreaming in English class today when it was my turn to introduce myself. I felt so stupid Grandpa. Everyone looked at me like I was a loser and Kagura made fun of me for not knowing my own name."

"I'm sorry that you had a rough day Tohru. If you want, I can order us take-out so that you don't have to cook us dinner tonight." He suggested hopefully.

"That would be wonderful, thank you." Tohru said appreciatively. She was the only one in the house who could cook well. Her little brother was too short to reach the stove and her grandfather was too old to be able to handle the equipment carefully. Tohru was relieved that she didn't have to cook tonight. All she wanted to do was go to bed.

Tohru walked into the living room to find her brother sitting on the couch watching T.V.

"Hello Hiro, how was your first day of eighth grade?" Tohru asked as she sat down next to him on the couch. Hiro gave her an annoyed look.

"What a stupid question. It's school. It's never fun. I don't even understand why anyone has to go to school at all. It's absolutely pointless," he replied, "and don't think I'm letting you have the remote because I'm not. I have just as much right to this T.V. as you do."

It always shocked Tohru how annoying her little brother could be. All she did was ask him how his day was, and he scolded her for doing absolutely nothing. That's what I get for trying to be a good sister I guess. She thought to herself as she walked up the stairs towards her bedroom. When she got inside, she ran and jumped onto her bed, finally able to rest.

Tohru stared at her ceiling for a while before going to bed. I want this year to be different. She thought. I'm tired of being picked on all the time. But what can I do? I never go out of my way to be mean to anyone. I don't understand why they pick on me. I want to make more friends and not always sit alone at lunch with Haru…I just want people to like me… Tohru quickly fell asleep dreaming about her ideal school year.

"Have you seen the new kid!" a girl in Tohru's science class exclaimed excitedly. "I hear he's related to Yuki. He's his second cousin or something." Tohru listened as the girl's giggled to themselves. A new kid huh? Maybe we'll become friends! Tohru got excited and told Haru the news.

"I know Tohru. The whole school is talking about it," Haru said. "I hear he's something like a rebel though. He doesn't talk to anyone or anything."

"I'm sure he's just shy. I mean, it's his first day in a completely new school. If he's related to Yuki then I'm sure he's really nice." A smile appeared on Tohru's face. "We'll have to introduce ourselves when we see him. Maybe he's in one of our classes! We could show him the ropes of the school and be his first friends! I'm so happy! I can't wait to meet him!"

A/N: Hi again everybody! Okay, I know its not that great, but I'm a little rusty at the moment. It will get interesting soon so stick with me k! I promise! Read and Review!