Wow, so I do I not know how to update or what? *sad face* I'm so sorry, readers! *bows repeatedly* I am so sorry for the late update! Time really got away from me over break... Now I'm back to my second semester, and I can get back to routine -which means more updates!

Let's not wait another moment, yes? Thank you to those of you who are reading and reviewing (BondSlave, EmiShae, and Soul'sgirl14)! Here's chapter 4!

-IV. Response-

After having seen who had been at the Host Club the day before, we realized that it must've been a pretty popular, um...attraction for the girls in our class. We could point out at least ten girls in every single one of our classes who had been there the day before, and sometimes there were more than ten.

Also upon looking around, I noticed that Hikaru and Kaoru were in almost all of our classes. How had I not noticed that before? Well, Peggy was very excited when I pointed out that they were in most of our classes, and I wondered how she had not noticed, seeing as how she was so infatuated with them. Sarah and I didn't see the appeal of their "brotherly love," but I guess most of the girls found that oh-so dreamy.

"You're coming again today, right?" Peggy asked hopefully at lunch.

We shrugged.

"Didn't you have a good time? Kelsey, I mean, I saw you and Tamaki-sen-"

"But it's fake," I said quietly, interrupting her.

Silence fell over the them, and it was almost as if we'd been enclosed in a bubble. The noise around us was coming from outside this bubble. Muffled, garbled.

"Like he really cares. Any of them."

Peggy looked like I had just told her I'd murdered someone.

Sarah looked shocked as well, but not as shocked as Peggy.

"They're not robots, love," Peggy said, putting a hand on my arm. "They do have feelings. That's why they started this club."

"Or did they just do it for the heck of it?" I crumpled up my paper bag and stood, leaving the table.

"Are you alright?" Sarah asked, following along behind, Peggy on her heels.

I stopped outside the cafeteria and sighed. Why am I even saying these things? I wondered. I was only in there for an hour. It's not like I have a crush on any of them. I just...have to wonder...what they get out of it.

"Come on," Peggy said, putting her hand on my arm. "You can sit with Honey-senpai today. That will cheer you up."

I thought for a moment. "Okay," I sighed.

Then the bell rang, and we went off to our next class.

I couldn't be sure, but I thought I saw a pair of red-haired boys and a blonde-haired boy disappear around the corner into the lunchroom when I glanced over my shoulder. Great, I thought, now I'm hallucinaing.

3_3_3_3_3

Tamaki looked after Kelsey as she stood from her table and left the cafeteria. He sensed that something was wrong, and wanted to go ask. But he held back, reminding himself that he'd only just met her, and that he wasn't really close enough to her to go and see what was wrong.

"Hey, boss."

He cried out and jumped out of his seat, startled by the twins' sudden appearance at his sides. "Hikaru! Kaoru!" he scolded. "Don't do that!"

"Sorry, boss," Hikaru said.

"We just saw you looking at Kelsey," Kaoru said.

"How do you know her name?" Tamaki asked.

They looked at each other, then back at Tamaki.

"Uh, boss," Hikaru said. "She was at the club yesterday, and she's in most of our classes."

"We know her better than you do," Kaoru said.

This struck Tamaki like the shock from sticking your finger in an electrical outlet. It was all he could do not to collapse to the ground.

"You want us to go see what's wrong?" they asked, moving towards the door.

"No! You idiots!" Tamaki grabbed their collars and pulled them back next to him. "That's what her best friends are for."

The twins looked at each other. "Peggy and Sarah," they said in unison.

They looked back at Tamaki as he said, "Now, you two leave her alone. You're not her friends."

They smiled mischeviously. "Not yet, we're not..." They bolted out of Tamaki's grasp.

"Get back here, you two!" he shouted, running after them.

He stopped just behind Hikaru and Kaoru, who were peeking out into the empty hallway.

"Come on," Peggy said, putting her hand on Kelsey's arm. "You can sit with Honey-senpai today. That will cheer you up."

Tamaki felt his heart sink a little.

"Okay," Kelsey sighed.

The bell rang, and the trio pulled back into the lunchroom, hoping they hadn't been seen.

A million questions ran through Tamaki's mind, but he said none of them out loud. And most of them had to do with the conversations he and Kelsey had had in the Host Club the afternoon before.

He wondered if he'd said something wrong. He wondered if he'd offended her or hurt her feelings. He wondered what she was feeling down about. The wonderings just kept coming.

"You alright, boss?" Hikaru asked.

"I'm sure she didn't mean anything by it," Kaoru assured.

Tamaki smiled, playing it off like it was nothing. "It's a woman's prerogative to change her mind, gentlemen," he said. "Now, let's get to our classes before we're late."

Hikaru and Kaoru looked at each other and shrugged, heading to their own class. They knew something was off with the boss, but they knew that, if they asked, he would either redirect the question or go to his "corner of woe." If he did, in fact, go to his "corner of woe," there would be no getting through to him. Either way, the twins were at a loss for answers.

So, they decided, we'll go right to the source.

3_3_3_3_3

I was leaving my second to last class of the day, when I suddenly found the door blocked -by a pair of someones, actually. I looked up at Hikaru and Kaoru.

They grinned down at me.

"Excuse me," I said. "I'm going to be late for class."

They didn't move.

I sighed. "Is there...something you wanted from me?"

"So glad you asked," the one on my left said.

"You must answer this question correctly to get to your next class," the one on my right said.

At that moment, I noticed a difference in their voices. I knew there had to be a difference besides their hair. Oy, I thought, wondering what question they could possibly ask me.

"It's time to play...the 'Which One Is Hikaru?' game!"

I didn't even think about it. "Hikaru," I said, pointing at the one on my right, "and Kaoru," I said, pointing to the one on my left. "Can I go now?"

They were looking at me incredulously, but let me pass.

I looked over my shoulder to find them following me. "Is...everything okay?" I asked.

"You've...never really talked to us before," Kaoru said.

"How did you know who was who?" Hikaru asked.

Were they actually saying that I'd gotten it right? "Don't you guys have a class to go to?" I asked.

They shook their heads.

I sighed. "There really are quite a few differences in you two," I said, then shrugged. "I'm just good at reading people, I guess."

They stopped walking and I turned to look at them.

"So, um..." Hikaru started.

"...are you coming? Today?" Kaoru finished.

I smiled a little and nodded. "Sure I am. See you later."

What on earth, I wondered, was that all about? Is it really that hard to tell them apart?

3_3_3_3_3

"Tamaki."

Tamaki looked back at Ayanokoji, smiling apologetically. "Sorry, princess. Did you say something?"

She chuckled, tucking a strand of her long red-brown hair behind her ear. "You seem very interested in that new girl, Tamaki."

He merely looked at her, trying to keep calm.

"You do know she's...poor, don't you? Her and that...very strange cousin of hers."

"Really, princess," he said cordially, "does a person's wealth matter?"

"It does here," she said.

Tamaki glanced over his shoulder at Kelsey again, but reminded himself that he had a guest to entertain.

"You don't want a commoner, Tamaki." She leaned closer. "You want a princess, don't you?"

Tamaki suddenly felt very uncomfortable, whereas he usually would've been right at home charming a lovely young lady like Ayanokoji. But he suddenly started to think that maybe some of these lovely young ladies weren't as lovely on the inside as they were on the outside.

3_3_3_3_3

"Kelsa-chan, are you okay?" Honey asked, looking up at me.

I smiled. "Of course I am," I said.

"But you're not eating your cake. Everyone loves cake!"

I laughed a little.

"Hard to argue with that," Sarah said.

I took a bite of the chocolate cake in front of me, and Honey giggled and turned back to his own slice of strawberry cake.

I tried not to look at Tamaki, tried not to think about him romancing a bunch of other girls over in his section. It's all fake, I kept thinking. They just romance girls and then move on to the next group.

I also tried to ignore the fact that he was with a third-year, Ayanokoji. It just made my self-esteem hit rock-bottom. She was two years older and ten times as beautiful as me.

Like I'd have a chance with him, I thought, with girls like that around. I mean, not that I want a chance with him! I-I'm just saying...! Oy…

I saw Tamaki look at me before we left. Usually I can read people, but, for once, I couldn't. Why was he looking at me like that?

We were half-way back to our lockers, when I realized that I didn't have my bag. I must've left it in the Club room, I thought. Oblivious me, taking this long to notice it...

I told Peggy and Sarah to go on ahead, and that I'd be along in a moment. They were reluctant at first, but I convinced them to go.

The music room was empty when I went back, and I searched under all the tables for my bag. It wasn't there. I stood next to the windows and sighed. Dumb bag, I thought. Why'd you have to go and get...lost?

I looked out a window and saw the fountain that I walked by every day. (It was more like a pond than a fountain, but anyway...)

Hey, I thought, leaning closer to the window. What's my bag doing in the...fountain?

I ran out of the room, heading for the stairs. As I ran down a hallway, passing some large windows, I saw a familiar girl. I ran past her, but slowed when she spoke.

"Oh, it's you again."

I didn't look at Ayanokoji. And I didn't reply. She had never spoken to me before. Why was she now?

"I bet you just love all the attention Tamaki's giving you, and how he's fawning over you the way he is."

I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye. Since when was he fawning over me? I wondered.

"You know he's only doing this becuase he thinks you're a novelty. It's useless. No matter what, you're always going to be second-class citizen."

Even the sound of her uniform shoes tapping on the marble tile flooring seemed evil.

Why...me? I wondered. Am I really a...novelty?

I shook away my thoughts, and ran downstairs and out to the fountain.

"Great," I said to myself, looking at the pond water. "How am I supposed to get my stuff out of there when I'm in my uniform?" Stupid uniform, I added in my head. Just as stupid as you, bag, for not shouting for help when Ayanokoji grabbed you! Great, now I'm thinking at inanimate objects and clothes-

"Princess?"

I spun around to see Tamaki standing behind me, and I quickly clasped my hands behind my back.

"Could I be of assisstance?" he asked.

"Um...only if you don't call me princess."

He smiled. "Whatever you wish...Kelsey."

Stop blushing! I screamed in my head.

I stood aside as he rolled up his sleeves, took off his shoes, and rolled up his pant legs. "Thank you, senpai," I said.

He smiled as he started pulling my things up out of the water. "It's no trouble at all."

"I just...feel like I'm putting you out," I said. "I mean, you're dripping wet."

"Well, people do always say I'm dripping with good looks," he said quietly, as if to himself.

I laughed softly. I stopped short when Ayanokoji's words came back to me, but Tamaki didn't seem to notice my cut-off laugh.

He set all my things out on the walkway in the sun, then sat down on the edge of the fountain to put his shoes back on. I looked at him for a few moments, still amazed that he had gotten my things out of the water for me after only having known me for two days.

Back at our old school, I'd been bullied some. No one ever stood up for me there, but instead just stood by and let it happen. Years after a random incident, I would find out that a lot of people were angry that that person had done whatever they had done. But what was their excuse for not helping me, or trying to stop what was going on?

"I didn't know you that well."

I often likened it to this scenario: What would you do if you saw a person you didn't know, had never spoken to in your life, laying on the sidewalk, bleeding profusely? Would you stop and help, call 911, give comfort? Or would you just step right over them, consoling your conscience with the thought, "Well, I'm no friend of theirs. It's not my problem. It's not even any of my business."

I know that being bullied and bleeding to death are two very different things, but that's how it felt when I'd heard the students say that that was why they hadn't helped me.

And now I was here at Ouran, and, on the second day he'd known me, Tamaki was fishing around in a pond for my things for me. So why is he helping me, I wondered, when he doesn't know me all that well? I mean, I know I'm the kind of person who will stop and help anyone who needs it (at least, I like to think I am). Is he that same kind of person?

Or is he just "fawning" over me, like Ayanokoji said? Does he think I'm something interesting to look at, like a museum exhibit? "And on your left, you see the average commoner girl"? Is it like that?

Or is Ayanokoji wrong? Is he just the sort of person that wants to do good by everyone? I'd like to think that he is. Then again, I usually give people the benefit of the doubt...

Tamaki looked up at me while I was thinking, and I struggled to keep the switch to my brain in the "on" position. "What's the matter?" he asked. "You're staring off into space." He grinned. "You're not falling for me, are you?" he asked teasingly.

"What? No! I mean, uh..." I said, blushing like mad. I took a deep breath. "I'm just very grateful for your help. Really, thank you so much, senpai."

"You're welcome, Kelsey," he said. "You know, I thought you looked a little down today. Is everything alright?"

"Yes," I said automatically. I wasn't even sure what I was feeling, so how was I supposed to tell him? Plus he'd just asked if I was falling for him. What kind of question is that? I thought.

He stood and smiled at me. Snap, he's tall, I thought. He's got to be at least six feet tall.

"Kelsey, I wanted to say something to you."

Oy, I thought.

"If it's alright with you, I would like us to be friends."

Friends? I asked myself, blinking in slight surprise. I guess that would be okay... "Sure," I said.

He smiled wider. "Yay! I have a new friend!" Then he hugged me!

"Um, senpai...?"

"Kelsey is my new friend!" Then he started jumping around saying "my friend" in a bunch of different languages, along with my name.

Well, seems like I made his day, I thought.

"Hey, boss."

Tamaki and I both jumped. How did the twins manage to sneak up on everyone like that?

They looked at me, then at Tamaki. "We need to talk to you..." "...about...you know."

"Okay!" Tamaki said, laughing. He ran (more like bounded) off after them. "See you later, new friend!"

I just stood there with my mouth slightly open. Uh, I thought, what just happened?

;;;;;

I went home right after that and told Sarah all about it. She looked as confused as I felt. So, to spread the confusion around, we called Peggy and told her about it. The more the merrier, we always say.

"So...you're Tamaki-senpai's...'new friend'?" Peggy asked.

"That's what he said, anyway," I said.

Peggy whistled. "Wow."

"That's just about the only thing I was thinking," Sarah said.

I nodded in agreement.

Sarah put a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth, then pointed her spoon at me as she swallowed. "Does that mean we're all friends? Like, us with the Host Club?"

I shrugged. "Search me. I'm just a simple city girl from London."

Peggy rolled her eyes and Sarah and I smiled.

"And you still don't know who threw your bag in the pond?" Peggy asked.

"Nope," I said, automatically feeling guilty for sort of lying to my best friends. But I wasn't even sure that Ayanokoji was linked in any way. Maybe she'd just decided to approach me out of the blue, and she didn't even know my bag was in the pond. "I think maybe Hikaru and Kaoru know something, though... I'm not sure."

"Maybe we'll find out at school tomorrow," Sarah said.

I nodded. "Yeah, maybe."

"Well, anyway, we've got to look on the bright side," Sarah said.

"What's that?" I asked.

"That you're Tamaki-senpai's friend!"

"And...that's good because...? You're my best friends. Who else do I need?"

They smiled.

"We're just saying it's not illegal to have more friends besides your best friends," Sarah said.

"And I think, deep down, all the members of the Host Club are good guys, not guys with some ulterior motives," Peggy said. "Like you seem to think, Kels."

Maybe, I thought. Maybe.

3_3_3_3_3

Tamaki laughed.

"What's..." "...so funny?" Hikaru and Kaoru asked.

"I beat you two to being her friend! Ah-ha!"

The twins looked at each other, then back at Tamaki. "But you forget, boss... She'll only see you at the Host Club. We see her in class every day."

It was as if Tamaki had already forgotten this information, and he zoomed to the nearest tree to sulk.

The twins sighed. "Boss, we're here..." "...to report on that mission Kyoya-senpai sent us on."

Tamaki immediately snapped out of it. He walked back over to the twins. "What did you find out?"

Tamaki's eyes widened slightly when he heard what they had to say. But he had to admit, he wasn't totally surprised.

"We'll deal with this tomorrow, gentlemen," he said. "For now, let's keep this under wraps."

"Right," they said together.

No, Tamaki thought, I'm actually not surprised at all.