"Midori, you're never on time for anything. I must be pretty special for you to willingly show up early," Mrs. Hitachiin said as Mom and I entered the large shared workspace. Different fabrics, mannequins, and various sketches were haphazardly placed around the room. Some sketches were pinned onto the wall, some fabrics were laying on the floor while others were on tables or pinned onto the mannequins.

"I don't understand why I'm here," I said simply. "Takai and I were going to go shopping with Dad." Mom smiled at me with her dark brown eyes that matched mine almost perfectly.

"Did you miss us?" I heard very familiar voices ask. I turned around and saw my absolute best friends standing just inside the doorway. I let out a yelp of excitement and hugged them both.

"I've missed you guys so much! Don't ever leave me again!"

Kaoru laughed. "Just come with us next time," he suggested.

Hikaru second the suggestion. I vaguely heard Mom and Mrs. Hitachiin say something about the innocence of young love. I blushed and was glad that no one could see my face. Who ever heard of a twelve year old being in love?

I walked through the crowded halls on my way to homeroom. Honestly, I wasn't used to getting to school so early, but I woke up stressed out about having to go back to that stupid host club. That's the last time I ever make a promise to do anything anymore.

Anyway, I came to school early to utilize the track for a while to clear my head. Afterward, I had quickly showered in the locker room, put on my uniform, and headed for class. I was actually the second person in the room. Not even Mr. Akimoto had arrived yet. Haruhi was the next person to show up. He glanced up at the clock when he saw me.

"You're funny Fujioka," I said sarcastically. He smiled as he walked past me to his seat. I turned in my chair to face him as he situated himself. "Do you always get here this early?" I asked.

He nodded. "Usually. Why are you so early? You may just cause Mr. Akimoto to have a heart attack from seeing you not only on time, but also here before him."

I laughed. "I actually didn't sleep well at all, so I got ready early and used the track to practice my hurdles and just ran."

"So you go from oversleeping everyday, to not being able to sleep?" He asked.

I nodded and sighed. "In all honesty, I really don't even want to go to the Host club today." He nodded, almost in agreement. "Don't take this the wrong way, but you don't really seem like the type of person that would even think highly of a host club, let alone be in one."

"It's a long story," he said. I believed that it really was a long story. Not just an excuse as most people use that sentence for.

"HA-RU-HI!" The perfectly blended voices of those twins called out. Haruhi didn't even bother to acknowledge them. They had to have known that he heard them.

"And there goes the peace," he muttered more to himself than me, I'm sure. I laughed anyway. I had to agree completely. They've always had this way about them that caused all peacefulness to completely vanish.

"Does this happen often?" I asked him in a hushed voice. He nodded and I had to laugh again. I was in no way surprised by that answer.

They appeared on either side of Haruhi and I tried my hardest not to throw something at them. "Why'd you ignore us Haruhi?" Hikaru asked, clearly trying to ignore me. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Obviously I'm talking to Chise." That was when they stopped pretending like I wasn't there.

"Thanks for the tea, by the way. I really appreciated it," I said with a smile. "Very host-like of you Hikaru." Even know, they were still surprised that I could tell them apart. The only difference was that now they narrowed their eyes instead of smiling.

"Maybe you can have more today," Kaoru said. I stood up from my seat and leaned my hands on Haruhi's desk.

"Why don't you three like each other?" I heard Haruhi ask. I looked down at his brown eyes and sighed. I sat back down as I remembered the team.

"We've just never got along," the three of us said at the same time. Then I glared at them as they glared back at me. "Liar!" We said again. "Stop it!"

I laid my head down on Haruhi's desk. We used to do that all the time. We would say the same things without even having to give it a second thought. How could something like that still be possible. There was no way we should still be on the same wavelength. If we were, maybe I'd understand what happened in middle school.

"Chise." I turned around to see Izumi standing right next to me, my school bag in her hands. "I think you left this at the track." I took it from her.

"You just saved my life."

"How did you forget that thing? It weighs at least a hundred pounds." I laughed.

"It's not heavy, you're just weak."

"That. Is very true." She turned to head to her desk on the other side of the room.

"So much for a good morning," Haruhi said. I looked back at him.

"You're just a downer today, aren't you?" I asked with a smile so he knew I was joking. He laughed too, but suddenly turned more serious.

"What happened between you three?" He asked quietly so the twins wouldn't hear.

I sighed. "It's a long story." He simply nodded in response just as the late bell rang.

"Hello class," Mr. Akimoto said as he entered the room, closing the door behind him. So that's why the door's always closed when I get here. He sat down at his computer and began taking attendance. "So everyone's here." He seemed to be taken aback by that fact. He recounted all of us. "Ah, Miss Mazawa. You're here on time for once."

"Yes sir, I am. Thought I would try something new this morning." He didn't seem especially impressed, but I didn't mind. I didn't come early for him.

For once in my life, I wished school had been a little longer. I didn't want to go to the Host Club. Really, I just wanted to go home. I had a lot of homework to do anyway. I walked slowly on my way there, but I was just trying to prolong the inevitable. I opened up the doors and stepped to the side to avoid the petals that once again tried to attack my face. "You came back, Chi-chan!" I may have avoided the attacking rose petals, but this guy was fast and came out of nowhere. Maybe he was a ninja?

"Of course. I said I would, didn't I?" He smiled and led me over to a table that was covered with just about every kind of cake imaginable. I felt like I was in heaven.

"What kind do you like Chi-chan?" I looked at him and smiled.

"Every kind, but I would have to say strawberry shortcake is my favorite," I said with a smile. Just the thought of finally being able to eat a piece of cake was almost too good to be true.

"Mine too!" He said excitedly with a giggle. Izumi told me that he was third year, but I was really having a hard time believing it. He handed me a large slice of strawberry shortcake and I could almost feel myself drooling. I took a piece of it with my fork and just as it touched my lips, the fork was smacked out of my hand.

"Chise! What are you doing?" Izumi shouted at me.

"I was trying to eat cake... then you smacked me," I said to her. She placed her hands on her hips, something she only did when she was annoyed.

"What would Coach say?" I shrugged and looked back at the practically whole piece of cake laying on the plate in front of me. "Chise, think of the meet on Saturday. You have to do the hurdles, that's your worst event. Don't you think that you should still be out practicing even though there is no official practice?"

"Why do you think my bag was there this morning? That's what I was doing this morning, I was practicing, that what I was doing yesterday and every other day before that and it's what I'll be doing tomorrow and every day after that. If anything, I could use the extra calories."

She grumbled something under her breath and then walked away in defeat. "I love you, Izumi!" I said to her back.

"Yeah, yeah," I heard her say in return. I faced the table once again and there was a fork in front of my face. I looked up to see the really tall dark haired guy holding it for me.

"Thank you," I said as I grasped the handle in my hand and took a successful bite.

"This is my cousin Takashi, but you can call him Mori," Honey said with his mouth full of cake.

I smiled at him, "It's nice to meet you!" I spent quite a while talking to them and listening and eating this wonderfully delicious cake. I hadn't even realized that everyone was gone. I looked around the room and noticed that the only other girl in the room was Izumi. I stood up from my chair.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't realize I was here so long," I bowed to the seniors as I apologized.

"Think of it as our apology for the behavior of Hikaru and Kaoru last week," I heard a cool voice say. I turned to see the glasses guy smiling at me as he held a black notebook under his arm.

I nodded. "I'm sorry for that too. I shouldn't have made a scene of it."

"Since when are you this apologetic?" They asked. I hated the sound of their voices mixed together.

I looked at them. "Why don't you two just leave me alone? That is, after all, what you told me four years ago isn't it? To leave you alone? That you didn't want me in your lives anymore? I was doing just fine, acting like I didn't know you guys. Why start being like this now?" I felt as though I wanted to cry. It was one thing that I've been wondering since they first started acknowledging me again after I started talking to Haruhi. I held the tears in though, there was no way I was going to let them see me cry. I grabbed my bag, thanked Honey for the good time and walked through the doors.

As I went down the halls, the first tear slid down my cheek. Why did I have to love them so much?

So, a few of you (at least one...) have tried to guess what happened. Let's just say that it hasn't been guessed yet and it may not be. I'm keeping that secret locked up tight.

I really would like to thank everyone for reviewing and especially a person that left an anonymous unsigned review. Yours really did brighten up my day(more like my week), like, a lot ^_^ so I want to say thank you so much.

Also, I'm thinking about having the next chapter be in either Hikaru or Kaoru's POV. You know, just to get their feelings on everything.