HELLO, READERS! I started this story on a whim, I guess. Nothing much to say about it. Still technically new to this and I don't have a Beta Reader to check for errors and the likes. So, my apologies for my future mistakes in advance!

Enjoy~!

Layla's POV

"Look, it's the new kids,"

"I heard they were accepted into Ouran because of the guy's rich aunt and their almost perfect grades,"

"Is his aunt really that rich?"

"How can you call that rich?"

"But his family can't be rich,"

"What of the girl?"

"Charity case most likely,"

"Just look how she's dressed!"

"She doesn't look like she has the brains for Ouran,"

"But the guy's kind of cute,"

"Yeah, in a nerdy way,"

Giggles were heard all around. Walking into Ouran High School for the first time was the start of a bad term. I looked at Princess Haruhi's back, standing tall without a care in the world. She was carrying her school books by herself for the first time, wearing a ridiculously big sweater shirt, baggy pants and bulky glasses. She had to disguise herself as a nerdy teenage boy with a rich aunt that adored him. In reality, she was Japan's Royal Princess. She would have to fend for herself, but of course, with me by her side. Yet she was not the type to need anyone's help; she could easily manage on her own.

And then, there was me. A skirt wearing, knee-high socks cutter, childhood best friend of 'Haruhi Fujioka' (who was a male commoner) and going to Ouran on a friend's aunt scholarship. That just meant that I was a 'charity case' for Princess Haruhi as said by the voice drowned by many. I was not really a cutter though; I just had to play that role because of the scars and scars-to-be all over my body. Easiest way to hide them was painfully in plain sight. Not that I would enjoy being called a suicidal cutter. It was something someone did not think through about. And happened to be something I had to get over as long as I wanted to protect Princess from anything.

And just then, Princess ran into someone.

"Watch it, commoner!" A girl in one of the stuffy yellow balloon of a school uniform growled.

"Ah, I'm so sorry!" Princess Haruhi pleaded in her most informal speech yet.

Getting down on the floor to pick Princess's stuff, I saw with the corner of my eyes that the girl was going gaga over Princess's soft currently short hair. I glared at her, quickly picking the books off the floor with ease. She was one of the thousand voices that called Princess Haruhi a 'cute nerdy guy'.

"Did you do that on purpose?" I asked coldly.

I could practically see the shiver running down her spine.

"O-Of course not!" she stuttered, lying through her teeth.

She was mad that I said that to her. I could tell. I could easily read girls like her. They were all made from the same thin silicon Barbie doll. Barbie dolls that were so desperate for a cute or handsome boy to toy with. Their types differing to their preference. I wanted to gag. I would have gag if I had less self-control.

"It's alright, Layla. No harm, no foul," Princess reminded me, even calling me by my fake name.

When the girl thought Princess was not looking, she gave me a smirk. Her expression looked like she was saying 'He is going to be mine'. It was ridiculous! I felt like wiping the floor with her face but I obviously could not do that without making a scene. I noticed two boys staring intently at us. Princess and I had already had enough attention as it was. Princess dragged me away from the foolery after she said a few kind words to the girls. It disgusted me but it was what Princess had to do to keep appearance.

"We need to get our schedules!" she said happily.

How they did not realise that 'Haruhi Fujioka' was actually a girl was beyond me.

I held both of our schedules side by side. We were, thank God, in the same class and taking the same subjects. That was enough to bring my spirits up. It would be a much easier task to take care of the Princess. Class 2-A was printed neatly on our schedules. It must have been the top class of the grade since Princess and I were technically straight 'A' students. But she was so much smarter than me, obviously, since she learned History and Etiquette while I learned sword-wielding and survival skills. But I still had the knowledge needed to ace my exams because Princess did not want to have to learn all of them on her own.

In class, we were introduced as 'Mr. Haruhi Fujioka' and 'Miss Layla Fujikawa'.

"Hey, it's the kids from the hallway!" a ginger said.

"What kids? Are you daydreaming again?" asked another ginger.

Two gingers in one class, what were the odds of that happening in Japan? I glanced toward Princess Haruhi and saw her smiling kindly at the two boys but they were not paying any attention to us anymore. Oh, no. They were too preoccupied with each other.

"B-but you made me sound like an idiot. A-am I an idiot to you?"

"No, no! Of course not! You're the smartest, the cutest, the funniest and the only one for me!" said the other boy passionately, hugging the other tightly.

They stared deeply into each other's eyes. Closer and closer. Clinging tightly to one another.

"Hikaru…"

"Kaoru…"

"Hikaru…"

"Kaoru…"

"Hika…"

"Kao…"

They looked like mirror images of each other. And then it hit me. Twins… this must be the thing people called brother conflict. The situation was getting uncomfortable, for me at least, so I decided to break it up.

"Teacher, can we get on with the class," once I uttered those words, only then did I realise that the teacher herself was looking like she was hyperventilating out of anticipation. Hearts were in almost every girl's eyes.

Sighing loudly at the unprofessionalism displayed by only the first ten minutes of class, I could already tell that our stay in Ouran would not be productive educational-wise. Not too sure about extra co-curricular wise. I heard they had archery, kendo and taekwondo. All that I was good at, all that I wanted to join.

"Haruhi, I'm sorry, the sch-," I started to say but one look from her told me that the Princess did not really mind if the school was a waste of time, space or energy.

Hell, whatever made my Princess happy made me somewhat happy. And I would not be the one to steal that away from her. Not after all we had gone through. Hopefully, the nightmares were over once and for all with us having to turn over this new and unforgiving leaf.

So, what do you think? I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this but I pretty much have the gist of it.

So, hopefully it'll turn out alright~!

Reviews are welcome with open arms!

H