(J.I.C.) Disclaimer: I don't own Free! or it's characters. I only own my OCs.

A/N: *09/17/18 update. Because I am working on ACT, another fic of Free!, I am going to let this story go on hiatus for a bit. Please also note that the story will be thoroughly plotted, edited, and trimmed when I come back, so anything you read from here on to the latest chapter may not be the same. If you want to get any updates, please click on my profile link for the latest news. Thank you for your patience, and I'll be seeing you soon! :D

Chapter One:

"Takemono-san, you're so cool!" a faceless figure tells me as I walk across the school sidewalk.

It's a sunny day, and I approach the school building with an elegant stride in my step. My 'seifuku' skirt swishes at my sides with every move I make, my long, sunny ponytail bouncing with as much eagerness. I wear a wide smile on my lips to greet my classmates and the upperclassmen who stop and stare at the marvelous glamour of my slim figure.

"Ella-chan, we love you!" calls out a group of fanboys. I pass by them, stopping for a second to blow a little kiss from my palm, and sent every one of them down like pins in a bowling alley.

Every one of my fellow classmates is yearning to be noticed by me. As a beautiful, popular schoolgirl I try to greet each of them with a wave of my hand or a cheery wink of the eye so that they pay close attention to me. They worship me because I'm friendly and number one at everything in my class. The girls want to be me, and the boys compete to ask me out. The spotlights all on me-

BAM!

I jump out of my skin as I hear someone sneaking into my room, slamming the door into my dresser that I pushed in front of the knob to keep out "the trespassers," a.k.a. my younger brothers. I dare myself to fall back asleep, but then the two somehow make it inside the room and hop onto my bed on both my sides.

"Onee-san! ONEE-SAN! GET UP!" my two little brothers screamed in my ears.

When I say I like my sleep, that means that I don't want to be woken up as if the tsunami sirens were going off in our area. And since today was my first day at high school I did not want anyone to scream my name at six in the morning. Apparently, no one respects me...

I sat up with my eyes all crusty and half-opened. It was five-fifty-seven, three minutes before my alarm was supposed to go off. I could make out of the idiots that they kicked my pearly white, squatty dresser to the opposite corner of the room. From there it took out my little jewelry box with, the little box spilled open with its contents thrown up all over the carpet. Thank God the carpet was beige in this case so I could see where everything fell. Next time I'd have to try put a lock on my door...

"Hey-hey, onee-san! Look at us! We have uniforms!" they exclaimed.

Daniel, one of the dark brown, scruffy haired dweebs was hanging onto me like I was a tree. His twin, Tachi, sat next to me yanking my sleeve. I grumbled under my breath, "So help me God...".

"Onee-SAN!"

Daniel poked my eye and giggled to himself. Tachi was about to do the same when I grabbed both of their coat collars and pulled them out of my bed. I dragged them out into the hall then to Mom and Dad's room, kicked their door open and shouted," Mom! Dad! The stork came and finally shipped to your love children!"

The two ran up and jumped onto their bed repeating, "Love children! Ha-ha! We're your love children!"

"Nighty-night!" I sang as I shut the door.

Once I was back in bed, I shut my eyes and relaxed. I tried to make myself comfortable what with little time I had left to sleep, so I laid back, trying to think of how fluffy my orange comforter was, how similar to a cloud it...was...

Then my alarm startles me.

"Da-mnit!"

I pounded it as hard as I could then swung my legs over the mattress. In my stand up mirror adjacent to my bed I caught my reflection of my face. I looked like hell. I felt like it, albeit my struggle to stay sane with monsters for brothers. It was because of those brats that I was cranky and disgusting looking. Ugh...

The first thing of my morning ritual was to run to the bathroom and splash some water on my face. A little eyeliner and some blush and I were fresh and clean again, what with my hip to the door to keep the twits out as they pounded on it rigorously. I'd have jumped out the window if they barged in because, unfortunately, that door didn't have a lock, and they almost made me slash a line of black makeup stretching down from my eye to my lips.

While the twins were distracted, I snuck back to my room next door and pulled my seifuku (uniform) out from one of the dresser drawers and changed clothes. I looked so mature and older for a first year in my appropriate garb. It took a while to convince Mum and Dad that I needed to wear a short skirt, 'cuz that's what everyone else is wearing and I'd look weird with the long one on, but it was worth the argument. Though, I had to promise to keep a second jacket with me in case "something happened." That part I really hated. It'd be awkward enough to be caught wearing two jackets at once...I promised myself that I'd hide the other in my school bag.

When I was about to leave my room, Daniel and Tachi came from behind me and shouted, "Onee-san looks pretty! But her skirt's short!"

I never heard them come in. I had to remind myself to keep a close watch on the door later on.

Tachi took one look at me with his beady little eyes. I knew that wasn't a good look. He'd always do that when he had a trick up his sleeve. And that particular scheme of his afterward wasn't the worst he had done before.

"I can see your panties, Sis!" Tachi said after hunching over and looked under my skirt.

"Ha-ha! We can see your panties!"

Daniel grabbed my underwear from underneath my skirt and pulled. I screamed at the top of my lungs.

"Mum! MUM!"

Mum came in just as they were heading for the door, green face mask still stuck to her face and fuzzy, yellow robe tied at her waist.

"Mum, get them out of my room!"

"Okay, you two! Daddy's downstairs with breakfast! Go ask him for some."

"O-kay!"

I crossed my arms and replied, "Really? You won't do anything besides let them off the hook?"

"What else can I do, sweety? They're kids. They don't know any better."

I pouted my lip at her.

"Hey, grumble all you want, but that's all I'm doing.

"Now, about you..."

She stepped behind me to look into the mirror at my reflection. I kept my arms crossed while Mom brushed off some lint on my shoulders then went on to pulling my sunny blond hair into a ponytail. Mum was the one who talked me into growing my hair out, but it wasn't because I looked nice with hip-long hair. It was for her to play with when she wasn't doting on my brothers. Maybe it was also because she was so fixated on the color. She and Dad had two different types of muddy-colored hair, which the boys take after, but my genetics must've been mutated or something. Some time or later I'd want to think about trimming it. It is 'my' hair after all...

In the mirror, I could see her flinch when she reached the bottom. Around a year ago I let a friend color it with dark brown dye at a sleepover. Somewhat sloppily done, but it was "well" received by my parents. I ended up getting grounded for a month, but it was worth it. I liked the transition of shading, and I liked being my own person in a God-awful bland family.

"There's my baby girl," Mum said after recovering from that fading memory.

"Mo-om..!"

"Oh, whatever.."

She grabbed my bag and shoved me out of the room. Mum knew I didn't like that, but she did it anyway. What the hell was up with her today?, was what I asked myself before catching a whiff of the scent of bacon in the stairway.

"Dar-ling!" Mom called out to Dad.

"Ye-es?"

"Is everything okay in there?"

We women stopped at the entryway of the kitchen. Dad was whipping up everything he could get his hands on in the fridge as my brothers pounded their forks and knives on the family table. I swear, Dad always did that when Mum's excited in the morning. Couldn't they have toned down the "Happy Couple" thing for just a minute? Dad was going mental with cooking as his eyes were on Mum.

"There're my two favorite girls!" he said.

"Need any help, dear?"

"Nope. I've got everything covered here!"

I rolled my eyes when Mum walked up and kissed Dad. You'd expect parents to be less affectionate in front of their kids, but these two were a special case, especially when it came to talking about the first time they met. All their friends and neighbors heard tons of times before that they "met one morning in London heading in the opposite directions. They happened to bump shoulders, and then caught glances, like it was love at first sight. After that, they dated for a year and finally married the following spring." No matter how many times I heard that story, I couldn't get over the urge to gag. Love stories never interested me...

"Oh, before you go, sweetie, " Mum suddenly addressed me, "I need you to take your brothers to school."

I stood up with my empty plate and walked to the sink. Mom just kept calling out my name, but I didn't want to answer. There was no way I'd take them to school in a town I barely knew how to get around.

"Okay, Ella? You'll take your brothers to school, right?"

I put on a fake grin and replied, "Y-yeah, Mum..."

No-freaking-way! You've got to be joking! I had to walk my brothers to school on the first day?! 'Ya-da!'


"Sis! Onee-san!"

My brothers pulled on my sleeves calling out my name since we turned the block. People passing by turned their heads as we walked, either glaring or whispering to each other. I would've settled for running right into the street to be pulverized by a car if I didn't have Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dweeb holding me down! The only thing worse than this would be someone from the high school seeing me and telling everyone all about the "girl with two loud brothers on the street." What would that say about me? Nothing good! I'd be a loser, an outcast, a nobody! And I'm innocent for God's sake!

"Onee-san! Where're we goin'?"

"Where's the school?"

"Enough! We'll get there when we get there!"

The last thing I expected was sabotage from these two. Both of them let go of my arms to ball up their fists and wipe away tears streaming down their cheeks.

"On-eeee-san..you don't have to yell..at us..."

"Yeah..we'll behave better.."

I heard a lady on my right hiss under her breath, "Rotten teenager! You shouldn't yell at your siblings for no reason!"

"Aww, why're you two crying? Are you two scared for your first day at school?" I said in a fake, sweet voice. I wouldn't let them get the best of me or be chastised by on-goers.

I patted their heads and waited for the right opportunity. When no one was looking, I snatched them and darted to the right. A few turns later I came across their school entrance, and so I dropped them off there as I caught my breath. Daniel and Tachi began walking away when I exclaimed, "Oh, no...you d-hont!"

They turned around, both grinning from cheek to cheek. Daniel then piped up, "Thanks for walkin' us, Onee-san! Did you like our performance?"

"Never..do..that..again!"

"Hehehe. Onee-san, you look a little tired."

"Get to class!" I snapped.

Daniel and Tachi skipped away in fits of laughter. The next time those two do something like that-

I heard the school bell from the high school start to ring once the dweebs had left. After running all the way to the elementary school, I had to run to the high school in under five minutes?

"Agh! When will this day end?!"

Thank God I made it inside before I was written up. The worst I got was a lecture from some fat guy that turned out to be my homeroom teacher. He's one of the few adults I didn't want to mess with. His breath was putrid, and his eyes bore holes into my head as I walked into class.

My classroom wasn't as big as I'd pictured it. It spread out at least a yard or so wide, and the desks were rickety as an old boat. Most of these people were the quiet type, but in the back were three girls giggling and sneaking their cell phones under their desks. They seemed cool, better than anyone else completely dull or too geeky. They all wore matching friendship bracelets underneath their cuffs. One had brown hair tied in a side tail, the middle girl tall and lean with crimped hair to frame her face, and the other on the right shook her hair out of its pixie cut.

There was one guy that stood out from the group. He kept on smiling all the time and had a different kind of blond hair than mine, but more peach colored. To sum him up...he creeped me out.

Tubbo, the teacher, introduced me to the classroom without letting me speak. All I could do was just stand and look pretty for "the audience." Then he just pointed me to a desk near the wall. Was it the uniform that made me look like some pushover? 'Cuz I sure didn't put off that kind of attitude.

When I sat down, the girl next to me pushed her glasses up onto the bridge of her nose. I took a look at her.

Hey, she doesn't seem too bad. Yeah, she looks pretty smart. I'll tag along with her so that Lord Lumps lays off me.

I mean, her hair was long and teal, her bottle cap glasses kept sliding off her nose, and she's hardly said anything to me so far. She was a hundred percent nerd, and I knew it. And teachers like nerds!

Soon after Bubble Butt left, I sat back and tried not to doze off taking notes. The sun was bright, and the weather was so perfect for going outside, but at my desk, I had to sit and watch the teacher write algebra-like stuff on the board. If only schools could teach outside on days like that one.

"Hazuki, will you write the answer on the board?"

" 'Hai!' "

I woke up in the middle of class when I heard someone across from me answer the teacher. I looked around for the time and to the board. When I saw that I'd missed an hour of class, I burst out loud, "Eh?!"

Then all eyes were on me. Oh, great! There's no way I'm gettin' out of this one!

"Ms. Takemono, what is the problem?" the teacher asked me.

I stood up to face her as I tried to think of an excuse. I could tell her a bird outside nearly hit the window or someone in the hall-

"Ms. Takemono!"

"I-I thought there was something wrong with the problem..on the board.."

Would that work? Would she buy it?

"Oh? Then would you care to put your answer on the board?"

Nope! No, I wouldn't!

So far I've been able to play off as a care-free newbie, but it was out of control at that point. I'd dug a hole for myself too deep to climb out of. As I walked up to the board, I prepared myself for the humiliation to come.

"Good luck," the kid up there whispered to me.

I snatched the piece of chalk he handed to me. Is he trying to make fun of me?

He looked at me with a dumb grin. It was the same guy I thought was creepy, and then even more so with his sweet pink eyes, and an inch shorter than -eah, no. No..he's-

We happened to bump shoulders that day, and our eyes met-

I turned away from him as the teacher barked at me to "go ahead." It was strange to me that Mum's story suddenly popped into my head especially since this guy was the one who reminded me of it. How-Why was that?

The boy went back to his seat and left me behind. My eyes turned to the board, my palms sweaty and my hand shaking in the process. If only I'd been awake for the first half of the class, then I'd be able to know how to solve this! I whined in my head.

Slowly I wrote half the problem while trying to remember the rest. When I stopped, the silence from the class filled my ears like someone was shrieking at the top of their lungs. I couldn't focus-my mind was so blank that I started panicking. My eyes darted to the right. The clock-no, no help there. Could someone give me a simple sign at the very least?!

That's when I saw that girl's, the "nerd"'s, hands forming an x then a y...Oh!

I wrote the rest of the equation on the board then turned to the teacher. She nodded at me then said, "Correct..Very good, Ms. Takemono. Just try not to make sudden outbursts, would you?"

Yes! This was my first step to popularity. But I'll need to do something else perfect to cover up that foul shriek I made before...That was so not cool...

As I sat back down, I heard others whispering about me. Some of the guys could have at least remembered my name, but the girls in the back spoke in serious, hushed voices. Catching their attention meant that I could at least make some friends today. Ah, it's good to be me...

When the lunch bell rang everyone left to go get food from the cafe stand. The girl next to me pulled out a small bento that was so decorative with emerald green and fine, golden strokes. I wondered if she were rich or something with the delicately arranged food. Man, was that some expensive looki-

"Is there something that you need, Takemono-san?"

"Huh?"

Then I realized that the girl caught me ogling her bento.

"Uh-u-nothing! Nope..just dozed off is all..."

"Oh, alright.."

She held out her chopsticks and dug into the rice. That reminded me that I had to go buy food outside. I heard that there was a special sandwich with jam or cream from the other classmates around me. Seeing as I was successful in class today, I thought I'd treat myself.

"Um..Takemono-san?"

I turned around.

"I'm glad that you were able to solve the problem...from earlier..."

"O-oh yeah. Um, thanks...for helpin' me," I mumbled.

She gently smiled at me. The way she did that was so proper and so polite I was nearly sure of her being Richie Rich rich. No one here had flamboyant grace and manner like her. All I could do was grin back cheekily and walk out before I became any more intimidated.

As I stepped outside the classroom, someone else called out my name. I thought it was that girl again until I saw the girls from class run up to me.

"Uh, hi," I said.

"Yeah, hi...Listen, did you seriously just talk to the Ice Princess?"

"Who?"

"Ryuko Michiko. The girl you sit next to?"

"What about her?"

"I'm not sure if we should tell you, but she's bad news."

"How?"

"Well, she's rich. And her family owns so many different companies," another said.

"Yeah, and if you make her upset, her grandmother can do something bad.

"Like, this one time, one of our friends accidentally bumped into her, and her grandmother got involved with the school. Next thing we know she was expelled.

"And, this other time, someone accidentally dropped some paint on her, and they had to move out the next week because their parents were transferred to a different job."

"Yeah," their leader replied, "so you better not make friends with her or else."

Great, being in debt to someone twisted and powerful on the first day...talk about 'screwed'...

"Al-alright, thanks."

The girls walked away with odd smiles on their faces. I don't know if it was just the harbor boat's fumes getting into their heads, but there were a lot of girls in town that acted kinda catty. Gossipy girls like them were always dramatic...but I guess that's how they are near the top of the food chain...

I finally got to the cafe stand, and I couldn't believe that it was chocked full of other people. There were so many basketball players blocking the way* that I was shoved to the ground before getting in line. It was so crowded for a small town high school.

Ten minutes had passed before I could crawl my way underneath. It was surprising that no one was paying attention to me and my awesome skills. But when I got up to the front, the special bread was gone.

"Is there no more of this bread?" I asked the lunch lady.

"Sorry, but I sold the last of it to the boy over there."

Of-course..it was Honey Head, the one from class. I could see his blonde, little locks over the top of the new crowd coming in. As quick as I could, I grabbed the first sandwich I saw and handed over whatever yen I had. That guy wasn't gonna get away with this!

It took a while before I could spot him again. The other people coming in spat me out after tossing me around in the center of the crowd. I had to push them off of me to make a path, and then it became a clear road for me. The first thing I did was follow after Blondie towards the main building I saw him skip to. Past the baseball field, I found him again opening the doors to the school section. So I hurried then saw him at the end of the hallway going up the stairs. The second floor wasn't as busy, but I ran down that way to find him. Others stared at me, whispering about why a first year was in their hall. That's when I realized that he wasn't there. If he were, then they would've been talking about him too.

I went back up the stairs and to the top floor. This time I stuck near the staircase. Nope, no blondes here. The only other option was to climb up to the rooftop where only a few people gutsy enough went. Or if they were geeks. It'd make perfect sense if it were him.

Victory was mine when I finally caught him talking with his friend on the roof. No one was gonna stop me now!

"Oi! 'Shota'!" I shouted at him.

And there he was, stuffing his cheeks with the bread, looking at me like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Oh, that girl from class!"

"Yeah, that's right! And you're the one who took my sweet bread!" I exclaimed as I stormed over.

"Huh?"

"I wanted one of those breads, and you took the last two!"

"Oh...sorry..."

Seriously? Are you joking? You're sorry?! That's all you can say to me?!

I was about to call him out when someone behind me asked, "Takemono..Ella?"

"Who's aski-"

I gasped aloud and squealed, "Kasumi! It's so good to finally see a familiar face!"

Oh-my-God was I excited to see her after so long. The last time we'd seen each other was when the family stayed in Iwatobi to visit a friend. Our family friend had a daughter my age with frail, blue hair and bright, sapphire eyes. We only got to play for two-three days around the beach before I had to leave. And now both of us were going to the same school!

"I know, it's been-"

"A couple of years. You've gotten taller..."

It then dawned on me that she never liked anyone talking about her height. I had to keep up my fake smile after insulting her like that, but she would've seen past the irritating remark, ...wouldn't she?

"Um, you remember Kou-san, right?"

It got so much better when she asked me that. Kou was one of the neighborhood kids I met besides Kasumi, and she looked just the same from before when I looked back to the group Kasumi had been eating with. I called out to my friend, "Kou! Look who's back, baby!"

All of us sat in our circle to catch up. I wished Kasumi didn't waste her time on that guy when she apologized on "my behalf." It was his fault he upset me...but I got over that quickly and joined in the conversation of what our years were like after we last met. By far mine was the most impressive. I was the only one who traveled the farthest (which would be to London, since that's where my Dad had been in business for a while before moving back to Iwatobi) and who could speak a different language (but that wasn't as cool. Lots of people could speak English in Japan, right?). It wasn't until a new face came back with Magenta Eyes' friend and sat down in between Kasumi and me that there was a competitor in my midst. Kasumi called her Samantha. A tall, sun-kissed skinned, beautiful American with golden brown hair that was tied up in a tail like mine, but shorter towards the shoulders and rippled like waves around her jaw, and hazel green eyes that were definitely prettier than my bland brown pair.

"So, are you a newbie, too?" I asked.

"U-uh yeah..am I that popular around here?" she replied shyly.

"Puh-lease. This is just a small town. They're impressed with just about anybody..Like me.."

"Where'd you move from?"

"Oh, y'know," I said in English, "the UK, then some other town away...then here.."

"No way!" she replied back.

So I liked to flaunt my English...I thought of it that time as comfort for Sam. She and I were in the same dingy. Both of us were in a country that we were barely used to and surrounded by people who probably couldn't translate our dialogue that rapidly. Maybe, but really, I dunno. I just found it really soothing that I could stretch my arms out and speak in a tongue that I was much more accommodated to. Plus, I did befriend her. It wasn't all that bad, anyway...

What really surprised me was that both Kasumi and Samantha were a year ahead of me. With Kasumi's height, it made her look younger, but Samantha could have come from junior high and still look like a mature adult to me. Color me baffled, but I found it very helpful to know that I had help from my senpais and that it made it doubly excellent for my classmates to see that I was popular with the upperclassmen.

After lunch I had to go back to my class, running into Hazuki on the way in. God, was he annoying. He kept talking about the special sandwich he ate and if I liked it too, almost like he was taunting me in some kind of way. I thought I wouldn't be able to get rid of him until we made it back to class, and even then he smiled and waved goodbye before sitting down.

It felt like forever until the last bell rang. Ugh, all of that class time daydreaming and jotting notes was unbearable. Time seemed to sit right on the hour hand of the clock and slept for a bloody long time. If gym classes were starting, I would've been able to enjoy some of the days, but a girl could only wish...

"Have a nice day, Takemono-san, "Ryuko said.

I might've been able to talk to her if she hadn't slipped out the door like Speed Racer. While picking up my stuff, the same girls from before waved at me. I waved back then they followed after Ryuko.

As I watched them go my notebook fell off my desk. I picked it up, dusting the dirt off, and just as I was gonna put it away, there was a flash of ink on one of the pages. I flipped the parchment over.

The note left in it was written by someone with stylish kanji. It read:

"I copied the notes you missed in Calculus today. But please don't push yourself to the limit. The first day is always the hardest. If you need any help, you can ask me whenever you need.

Ryuko Michiko."

That was weird. If she supposedly is the "Ice Princess," then why was she so friendly? Was her note just her way of picking on me, or was there something going on that I didn't know about?


A/N:

*Easter egg-Does anyone recall a certain episode in the first season of Kuroko no Basket? (wink wink nudge nudge)*