2

"Let's see… Art club… Music club… Band club?" Isabella raised her eyebrow at the words, "Why would they have a band club if they already have a music club?" Mirabella shrugged as she drove the car.

"Because they're a bunch of rich, luxury-loving freaks?" Mirabella asked, a smirk on her face. Isabella smacked her sister's shoulder lightly with the piece of paper before looking at it again. "Just sayin'."

"Hey, I'm thinking about going to that host club later." Isabella said, "You wanna come with me?"

"Not in this lifetime." Mirabella said, Isabella sighed.

"You know, you really need to make some friends." She said.

"I do make friends!" Mira said, "They're just not all girls like all of your friends." Isabelle sighed.

"I know, you need to make some friends who are girls." She said, "I can't be the only female you come in contact with, other than mom." She quickly added the last part when Mira opened her mouth. She shut it and pouted at her sister.

"But girl-talk is so boring!" Mira whined, "Besides, who makes better friends than family?" Isabella shook her head, "Don't give me that look, Izzy! You couldn't make friends with a guy if you wanted to!"

"Well, I don't." She said, "I like boys, Mira. Maybe, if you'd just admit that you're a lesb-" Mira smacked her hand over her sister's mouth.

"If you finish that sentence, I will not hesitate to make your life a living hell, so help me God." She growled menacingly, Isabella nodded quickly and Mira took her hands away. "I keep telling you, and everyone else, I'm not a lesbian! I just haven't found the right guy yet, that's all." Isabella sighed.

"I know, I know." She said, "Maybe if you actually went after the guys you like, you wouldn't have had only one boyfriend in your lifetime." Mira rolled her eyes.

"You shut up! At least I actually asked him out!" She said, "You should be happy for me for working up enough courage to do it." Isabella sighed.

"Sure, sure, whatever you say." She relented. Mirabella pulled into the parking lot near the school and parked in the spot underneath a tree, but not directly underneath it so the leafs wouldn't fall all over her windshield. They stepped out of the blue Toyota car and slammed the doors as they grabbed their bags and walked towards the school. "Still, it's high school! And this is your last year! Don't you at least want to spend it with someone special?"

"When I start to care about relationships, I'll let you know." Mira said dryly as she held her bag over her shoulder like some of the boys did. Isabella rolled her eyes and walked beside her sister as they went into the building.


Isabella looked up at the sign on the door and smiled, "Class 2-A. This is me." She looked back at Mirabella, "Have fun in 3-A!"

"With all these rich morons? I'm sure I'll have oodles of fun." She groaned sarcastically as she went off to find her classroom. Isabella gently opened the door to see that class had yet to start. She smiled and walked in, shutting the door behind her. She found a window seat that wasn't taken and sat down. She was in the middle of the row, which she considered a good thing. Close enough to hear what the teacher was saying, but far enough to not be called on by him. She looked out the window and gazed at the garden below, and smiled at all the roses she saw.

"Alright, if your butt is not in a chair in the next five seconds, you will receive a detention." A voice called out. The students moved to their seats and Isabella turned her attention to the front of the classroom as the teacher, a man in his mid-thirties with dark hair and dark eyes came in. His eyes landed on her and he smiled at her. "Class, today we have a new student." He said, he gestured for Isabella to come up, and she did so, "If you could please write your name on the board?" He handed her a piece of chalk and she wrote her name in English, and again in Japanese.

Most of the students were confused when they saw the name of the new student was 'Isabera Marino.' She turned to the front and smiled, "My name is Isabella Marino, it's nice to meet you." She bowed in greeting.


Mira opened the door to class 3-A and sighed. The classroom was filled with many students, something her antisocial personality was not exactly fond of. She found a seat in the back of the room, a corner that was next to a window, and took it. She saw the gardens outside her window, and her forehead creased in confusion and exasperation. These people are too rich for their own good. She thought to herself.

The door to the class opened to reveal a brunette woman with deep brown eyes who must have been around her late forties or her early fifties. Her hair was obviously dyed. The class was instantly silent when the door shut. The teacher eyed Mira immediately and beckoned her to come up. Mira groaned and stood to go over to the front of the classroom. The teacher handed her a piece of chalk.

"Write your name on the board and introduce yourself to the class." She commanded, Mira took the chalk reluctantly and made a face at the teacher when she turned around. She heard some of the students laugh. She wrote her name in English, not bothering to write it in Japanese.

When she finished, she pointed to the board and said, "That's my name. Any questions or comments are unwanted." She began to walk back to her desk, but stopped when the teacher cleared her throat. She pointed to the board and told her to write her name in Japanese for the students that couldn't read English. Mira sighed out a reluctant "Fiiine." and wrote out the Japanese version of her name, which was 'Mirabera Marino.' She walked back to her seat and slumped in her chair. She had already been at this school for five minutes, and she couldn't wait to get out.


"You're joking." Isabella said, staring at her sister's pink detention slip. "You've only been here one day! How could you have possibly gotten a detention?"

"Read the reason why." Mira said, putting the slip in her sister's face. In the teacher's intricate script, the reason for detention was: Disrespect of the teacher.

"You didn't." Isabella groaned, Mira shrugged. "What happened?"

(Flashback)

Mira looked back over at the same blonde-haired, brown-eyed kid that had been staring at her for the past fifteen minutes. He held a pink bunny, and couldn't be any taller than four foot five. "What?" Mira hissed at him.

"Your name is Mirabera?" He asked.

"Actually, it's pronounced 'Mirabella,' and yes." She whispered back. "Why do you care?"

"I'm Honey!" The boy said, he turned the pink rabbit toward her, "And this is Usa-chan!"

"Okay, whatever." Mira said, brushing him off.

"Marino-san!" The teacher called. Mira groaned.

"What?" She groaned out.

"Well, Marino-san. Since you seem so intent on speaking with Haninozuka-san, perhaps you can tell us the famous last words of Patrick Kennedy?"

Mira closed her eyes in serious thought for a moment, when she opened them, she said,

"Kiss my ass?"

(End Flashback)

Isabella grimaced, "You did not!"

"Oh, I did." Mirabella said, "At least I made a good first impression on those kids. It was actually kind of funny. You shoulda seen the look on that teacher's face." Isabella shook her head.

"It's not funny! Now I have to eat lunch by myself." She sighed.

"Aw, you'll be fine." Mira said, clapping her sister's shoulder, "You always end up making friends at school. I'm sure a little solitary lunch time will do you good." Isabelle sent her sister a dry look, but she didn't notice it because she was looking at the watch she had on her wrist. "Well, better get goin'. Takanawa-sensei doesn't want me to be late for my first period of lunch detention!" She waved to her sister as she began to walk down another hall, "Later tater!" Isabella sighed to herself and headed off to the cafeteria.


"Um, excuse me." Isabella said, looking down at the blonde head in front of her. He turned around and she was surprised. "Oh! I-It's you! The chairman's son!" Tamaki smiled at her.

"Ah, Isabella-chan. Good to see you." Tamaki said, "Can you not find a place to sit?"

"I was hoping you wouldn't mind…" She mumbled. Tamaki stood up and, with a princely flourish, gestured to the seat beside him. She sat down and smiled sweetly at him, "Thank you."

"Why aren't you sitting with your sister?" Tamaki asked, taking his seat. Isabella sighed.

"She has lunch detention with Takanawa-sensei." She said, "The first of many, I'm afraid."

"Takanawa-sensei… Doesn't she teach third year literature?" Tamaki asked.

"Yep!" Said two voices behind them. They turned to see a pair of redheaded twin boys behind them carrying identical lunch trays and a third boy with brown hair and large brown eyes, looking an awful lot like a girl. "According to Honey-sempai, she's one of the strictest teachers." One twin said.

"Yeah, she's always finding some way to give someone at least one detention by the end of the month." Said the other. "That's what we've heard anyway." They spoke at the same time. Isabelle raised an inquisitive eyebrow at the two.

"Isabella, this is Haruhi Fujioka, and Hikaru and Koaru Hitachiin." Tamaki introduced, "They're members of the host club I spoke to you about before."

"Oh." Isabella said, she smiled at the trio, "Hi, I'm Isabella Marino, nice to meet you." They smiled back.

"Likewise." Said Haruhi, taking the seat on her other side.

"Nice to meet you, too!" The twins said, they sat opposite her on the table. "So, Isabella-chan, what year are you?" Kaoru asked.

"Second year." She said, stabbing a fork into her salad, "I'm a transfer from New York." She ate the bite she had picked up.

"In America?" Hikaru asked, Isabella nodded. "Long way from home, huh?" She nodded again. "So you and your… Sister, was it?"

Isabella swallowed, "Yeah, my sister Mirabella." She said, "A third year."

"How far apart are you?" Haruhi asked. "About fifteen months." Isabella said. "What year are you guys?"

"First years." The twins said, "Are you in the same class as Kyoya-sempai and the Boss, here?" They pointed to Tamaki.

"She is." Tamaki answered, "But we're on opposite sides of the classroom." He looked over at the brunette, "So, have you given any thought about coming to the host club?" Isabella looked back at him.

"Yes, actually, I have." She said, "I do want to go, but, knowing my sister, I probably won't come."

"Why not?" Tamaki asked, a whine underlying it.

"Well, she's very impatient, and doesn't want to have to wait for me before we go home." She said, "So, unless she has something to do as well, it won't happen."

"Well, why not give her something to do?" Tamaki asked.

"Like what?" Isabella retorted, "She said she wouldn't come. The only thing she probably could do at this school is join a wrestling team." She saw the twins' eyes light up. "But she's already done that, so I doubt she will."

"What do you mean?" Haruhi asked.

"Well, you see, every year, my sister does some kind of after-school activity." Isabella explained, "At first it was just regular sports like soccer, softball, basketball, and volleyball. Then, she decided to do sports that involve lots of strength, like football, lacrosse, rugby, wrestling-"

"Isn't wrestling for guys only?" Hikaru asked, "I mean, I've heard of girls playing American football, but…"

"Yeah, she convinced the coach to let her join." Isabella said, "Won MVP that year…" She took another bite of her salad. "Anyway, after that, she started doing karate, fencing, tae kwon do, even this one class that taught her how to use ninja stars and knives!" The four teens stared at her in shock, "It's odd, I know, but that's just how she is."

"So, she has an interest in… fighting?" Tamaki asked, Isabella nodded.

"If you want to be that wide spread about it, yeah." She said, Tamaki smiled.

"I think I have an idea."


"Kendo?" Mira questioned, looking at her sister. Isabella nodded.

"Yeah, it's basically like sword fighting, only with bamboo instead of giant needles like in fencing." She said, "You can do Kendo while I'm at the host club. That way, you won't have to wait on me all day." Mira rolled her eyes, not taking the deal, "Oh c'mon! You learn how to fight like those Japanese samurai guys!"

"So?" Mira questioned.

"Didn't you say you wanted to learn how to fight like they did?" Isabella asked, "Besides, where else are you going to get a kendo class? We're in Japan, we might as well make the most of it." Mira let out a stream of air that caused her blue streak to fly up.

"Alright." She relented, "I'll check out the class." Isabella did a victorious arm-pump, "But if that class turns out to be really suckish, I won't wait on you after school, got it?" Isabella nodded.

"Got it."