I'm baaaaack! Ugh. I was so sick this week. Of course, the week with the most performances, everybody in the group gets the same virus. All better now though! And good news! Winter break! IE more chapters! I mean, at some point I should probably work on District Chorus music...which I haven't touched...eventually...but I like doing this better:) Sorry, I would have written this two days ago, but I read Perks of Being a Wallflower and it messed with my mindset a lot, and I had to read hours of twitter updates to feel like I could think straight again. Great book, I seriously reccomend it. But I digress.
I think this chapter is a fairly even split. Character wise, I mean. And it actually contains a plot point...woohoo accomplishment! Here you go!
Tamaki strolled into class humming to himself, in a generally tuneful mood. Who had he gotten to see this morning, but Haruhi! She was walking to school, he could tell she'd be late, so he had the driver pull over and pick her up. She wasn't even bitter about "these damn rich people," and she gave him a peck on the lips as she got in…sigh…oh and did he have news to share with Kyoya…
Kyoya, who was sitting in his seat with a smile plastered to his face. Tamaki grinned bigger than ever. "My, Kyoya, you're in such a great mood this morning!" he said gleefully as he took his seat.
Kyoya rolled his eyes, but his smile remained. "As are you."
Tamaki then recounted the events of that morning, and Kyoya's smile widened a bit. It really was about time.
"…and she told me the most fantastic thing, and I think you'll be happy to hear this too!" he paused dramatically, waiting for a response. Kyoya quirked his eyebrow. Apparently that wasn't enough of a response.
"Well?"
That was enough. "A friend of her father's got tickets to this concert for a new up-and-coming pop singer, she's supposedly going to be very popular. And he would know: He's a radio DJ. That's how he got the tickets. Anyway, they were leftover from a contest, and so he gave them to her dad to give to her, and she said she thought it would be a great idea for all of us to go."
"Well, I don't really know if I'm enthralled by that news, I suppose it would be nice."
"She has eight tickets."
"But there are only seven…" his eyebrows rose as he realized what Tamaki was implying. "Oh."
"You could ask her to come with us, we'd all love to have her, and it could be like an unofficial date!"
Kyoya gulped. His face felt hot. "Alright, thank you, Tamaki. I'll ask her."
He squealed. "Oh this is just going to be so great! Imagine, our little Kyoya with a girlfriend!"
"Let's not get carried away, Tamaki."
Meanwhile…
"Spill." Not even a greeting: All Ella got from her new friend upon sitting across from her at the table was a command. She quirked an eyebrow at her, confused.
"Good morning to you too, Terri. Spill what?"
"Oh don't play dumb!" the dirty blond said as she elbowed her. "You sat with Kyoya yesterday! Nobody sits with Kyoya! Then you get asked to stay after?! What is the deal?! Spill!"
Ella fought to suppress her smile as she replied. "I'm sorry, aren't we supposed to be speaking in Japanese?"
Terri rolled her eyes. "The bell didn't ring yet. C'mon, I'm dying to know!"
Ella sighed: She didn't understand why this was such a big deal, but at the same time she did. She compared the Host Club in her head to a more sophisticated version of Magic Mike, just without the drugs and the stripping. Naturally everybody wanted to know their business. Still, she felt the need to ask. "Why is this such a big deal?"
Terri sighed in exasperation. "Because, these boys are, like, the highest priority in the school. They work their hardest never to show any favor to any one girl, and then here you are seeming to get favor from the least social of them all!"
"Huh?"
"They call Kyoya Ootori "The Shadow King," 'cause he just stands in the shadows and writes on his clipboard. He doesn't really take guests, and he certainly doesn't sit and talk to them like he did with you yesterday. He's dark and mysterious and only ever does things as a business gain or other venture. Nobody really knows much about him personally."
"Oh. That's funny. He's really nice to me. I'm pretty sure we're friends. He calls me Ella, not Flynn, and he said I could call him Kyoya all the time."
"I'm not sure how much merit there is to that, most of the guys in the host club get called by their first name…" Her eyes widened. "But wait, he calls you Ella, not 'Miss Flynn'?! That is something."
Ella grinned. "We talked for a really long time yesterday, I helped him organize some cosplay for the club, and he said if it went well today they wanted to take me on permanently."
Terri's jaw dropped. "You're kidding. Is that what they asked you to stay for?"
"Well, no, they just—."
At that moment her voice was drowned out by the bell and the teacher stood at her desk.
"Today," she said in Japanese. "We will be following this sheet," she held up a sheet. "And having conversations along these lines. Please take one and pass it around. If you have any questions please ask. I will be at my desk." Then just as she did yesterday, the teacher sat at the desk and picked up her novel. Something told Ella this wasn't actually considered a very serious class.
She laughed when she took a sheet. These were the same questions she'd had to ask Kyoya yesterday, just in Japanese instead of English.
Terri regarded the paper, looking bored. "No offense, but I don't really care what your favorite color is. How about our conversation is about what happened yesterday." She switched to Japanese: "Continue."
Ella chuckled. "They just wanted to meet me, being Kyoya's first official guest." She said in Japanese. "They were all really nice."
Terri's eyes widened. "You're kidding. Lucky! I'm so jealous, you got to meet them all! At once! What was it like?"
Ella giggled as she began to recount the events of yesterday as her friend sat enthralled. Really, she just couldn't understand what the big deal was.
Kyoya drummed on his English desk impatienty, anxiously, and nervously, waiting for Ella to get there, dreading her arrival but eagerly anticipating it at the same time. He desperately wished for something to occupy his mind, anything other than the matter at hand. He wished he had had that cup of coffee this morning: This was too many emotions for one person to handle without caffeine in his system.
How was he supposed to go about asking her? He didn't want to make it too obvious that he wanted a date, but he didn't want to sound too platonic either, because he still wanted her to know that he was interested in her. Where was the line?!
He heard her high, girly giggle. "Are you alright? You look a little frazzled."
He looked up at her as she sat down next to him. "Fine." He lied. "I just have a lot on my mind."
"Host Club stuff?"
He decided to go with it. "Yes. Indulging Honey's sweet tooth is, as usual, doing a number on our budget. We're going to have to come up with some kind of new seller to get more revenue in." Yes. Good. Business. Logic. That was calming.
"Yeah, how exactly do you guys get all the money anyway?"
"Well, our base revenue is the fee we pay for visiting hours. Cosplay days cost a bit extra. That was enough to sustain the club at first, but as things got more elaborate we started to need other sources of income, so I came up with a few things, little photo collections and such that generate a good amount of buzz among our more "die-hard" fans. Tamaki also had the idea of hosting parties every now and then, although with all that goes into said parties they don't really make as much money as you'd expect. A couple of semesters ago we took a trip to the beach…but after Haruhi got into a scuffle with some hoodlums that showed up, we had to send everyone home, so it really caused more trouble than it was worth. We also sometimes have auctions, although we haven't had one in a while."
"Wow. That sounds like an awful lot to organize."
Kyoya rubbed a finger to his temple. "It is." As his head became filled with the burdens of finance management, the question that had caused him his original tension had gone out of his mind. "We're supposed to have this manager, Renge, but she really only shows up when she feels like it, and it usually only makes things more complicated."
She placed a friendly hand on his shoulder, making him open his eyes and look at her. It surprised him how comforting the gesture itself was. "Maybe I could help with those things too." She said cheerily.
He smiled back warmly. "Well, that would certainly be better, it would give me less to stress about.
She smiled back at him. It occurred to him that the teacher was starting the class, but all he could do was look at her sweet face and smile back. She only handing out some word game for them to play, something he had played in his last English class, so he already knew how.
Ella apparently didn't. She looked down in confusion. "What's this?"
Her confused face was so cute. He kept smiling as he explained to her. "It's like a memory game. For vocabulary words. You have to match the cards as you flip them over, and remember where they are.
She laughed. "This will probably be backwards learning for me: I know all the English words, but not the Japanese."
He laughed too. "I'll help the best I can."
They went for the rest of class like that, playing the game and laughing and having a good time, falling for each other more and more every second.
Of course, by the time class was over, Kyoya still hadn't asked her.
"Well?" Tamaki asked imploringly as Kyoya sat across from him at lunch with nothing but a bowl of soup.
"Well what?" he said, looking into the bowl.
"Well, is she coming?"
"Oh. I didn't ask."
"What?! Why not?!" Tamaki seemed far too upset by this.
"I didn't get around to it? It didn't come up?"
"Then you bring it up, silly! Aww, I think somebody's nervous!" He grinned. Kyoya hated that grin. He thinks he's so smart. Just because he was right…
"Excuse me for not pushing matters like some people." He retorted.
Tamaki didn't let it bother him. "If pushing matters got me a girlfriend, I have no objections!"
Kyoya growled and took a bite of his soup.
"Is that all you're eating?" Tamaki asked, somewhat concerned.
"Not hungry." Kyoya said, taking another bite.
"Awww, see, you're falling in love, that's another symptom!"
Kyoya rolled his eyes and kept eating, not dignifying that with a response.
"Is she coming to the club today?"
Kyoya nodded. "We're doing the cosplay today. The costumes are already there."
Tamaki looked confused "We're doing a cosplay today? What cosplay?"
"The one she organized? Popular sports in America. I think. Ask the twins."
Tamaki laughed out loud.
"Ha ha, yes yes, very funny, American, I'm aware."
"Well what is everybody?"
Kyoya began pulling out his bag. "You'll have to wait and find out. I have an economics test to study for."
"Oh boo, you're no fun."
Kyoya didn't answer, so Tamaki went off into his la-la land, and that was pretty much the state of things for the rest of lunch. When the bell rang, Kyoya immediately rose to leave.
"Don't forget, Kyoya," Tamaki called after him. "You WILL ask at the club today."
Kyoya waved his hand behind his head in nonchalant response, even though his forehead began beading with sweat at the thought. He was just glad Tamaki couldn't see.
Ella was glad when she finally got to the choir room last period. Her other classes were boring, boring, boring, and dragged on and on that day. Of course, the moment she walked into the room, she was ambushed.
"Why didn't you tell me this morning?!"
"Ella, this is huge!"
"Mega huge!"
"Terri, Mizune, please, slow down! Believe it or not, I can't read your minds!"
Terri grabbed her by the shoulders and looked at her very intensely. "Kyoya coming to your rescue? Twice?!"
"Ella, it's all over the school, everybody knows, at least ten people saw it." Mizune chimed in.
"He was being a good friend, why is it such a big thing?" Ella was taken aback, although the memory had her smiling on the inside.
"Because on principle Kyoya does not have friends!" Terri said, exasperated.
"And even with the ones he has he's not that kind." Mizune added.
Terri broke into a grin. "I think he has a crush on you."
Mizune smiled as well. "Me too!"
"Do you like him?" Terri asked with that intense gaze of hers that you just couldn't break away from. Coupled with Mizune's innocent, imploring eyes, she couldn't lie.
"Uhm…well…kinda…yeah…" Terri raised an eyebrow, and Ella sighed, defeated, and looked down. "A lot…"
Both girls giggled excitedly. "Oh, that's so cute!" Mizune squealed. She turned to Terri. "Can you imagine if they went out?"
"It would be adorable." Terri agreed.
Ella just blushed. "Guys, c'mon…he doesn't like me…he's just really nice…"
"He's NOT really nice. It's you." Terri assured her, Mizune nodding her vehement agreement.
Before Terri could protest again, the choral director stepped to the front of the room. "All right, all right, folks." He said with a smile. "Let's settle down and take our seats, we all know what day it is!"
There was an excited murmur as all students swarmed to find seats with friends. "What's today?" Ella asked.
"Friday." Mizune said with a smile. "That means open mic. You should try it!"
"Yeah, newbie, I wanna hear what you sound like on your own, didn't you get into this school partially on merit for your voice?"
Ella nodded modestly. "I'll think about it."
"All right, who's first?"
A girl in the front row stood up most abruptly, with a very regal air.
"Kohjo-kun, the floor is yours." The teacher said, stepping aside.
When the girl turned around Ella recognized her as the girl Yoko, from earlier.
Yoko's eyes narrowed, and she looked directly up at Ella as she handed the teacher some sheet music. It was a challenge, she could tell. So that's why she was so jealous of her. She sang too. Well, Ella had had enough of her bullying.
"Yoko was one of the girls making fun of you?" Mizune whispered.
Ella nodded. "I'm definitely singing."
Terri grinned and patted her shoulder. "Atta girl."
Kyoya strolled down the empty hall, clipboard in hand. His economics test had been easy, so he'd finished early. Not that that was unusual. He was lost in the numbers in his own head, thinking over plans and budgets and trying to avoid thinking of Ella for now, when he walked past the choir room and heard one of the loveliest sounds he had ever heard.
It was a familiar song: Think of Me from The Phantom of the Opera. (His sister was very into Broadway music, and she had been playing that CD nonstop for as long as he could remember. He had to admit, he had taken to liking it quite a bit.) The voice singing it, however, had be the best he had heard in quite a while. It was high and sweet, with less vibrato than one would expect. It was pure. He craned his neck to see who it was…and instantly his heart started beating double time.
Of course it was Ella.
Of course the sweetest voice he'd ever heard would match with the sweetest girl he'd ever met. He definitely felt himself falling for her harder than ever before. He was a sucker for a pretty voice: His sister had one, and the few vague memories he had of his mother included many of her singing to him…in a voice very similar to the one he was hearing now. He couldn't help but linger in the hallway for the rest of the song, in a trance. When it was over, he walked away quickly, hoping nobody had noticed him standing there for so long. He felt like he was floating.
Meanwhile…
"Ella, that was beautiful!" Mizune said as Ella resumed her seat, the thunderous applause dying down.
"Yeah, that'll show the bitch." Terri said proudly, indicating a pouting Yoko in the front row.
Ella smiled absently, nodding. "Thanks guys." Her mind was no longer with them. She couldn't stop thinking about the tall figure she saw out of the corner of her eye while she was singing…and the glint she thought she saw off its glasses as it hurried away after she'd finished.
"No…" she thought "It couldn't be…"
She hoped it was.
Weeeeeeeeeee reviews are still my favorites! I sit there and like show people: "look they like me, they really like me!" And I text my boyfriend and tell him how many follows and favorites I have like he knows what I'm talking about (he doesn't)...hehee it's a little sad but I know you guys who write appreciate the feeling. I love you alllllllllllll:D I'll update after Christmas! A merry one to all of you!
~FeatherSong
