"Hey, Foxx, are you doing alright? You really don't look too good," Taylor said as she crouched down next to me. She was the closest to me in age, so we had ended up becoming somewhat friends. We could always count on each other to listen to the other's venting about work and the men and pay. She had a pretty normal life though, so she worked an earlier shift than I did usually.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Soccer practice today took a lot out of me," I muttered, adjusting my dancing skirt and listening to the jingle of the coins. "Not to mention I've been put on a diet plan to improve my performance on the field. But I don't think starving myself is really going to be that impressive." We laughed, and headed our separate ways.

Tonight I had gotten here on time and I wasn't off until three again. Luckily, I'd sped back home and was able to take a sweaty, stick nap for two or three hours before putting my body under cold water for a few minutes and running to get ready. Even so, I felt like Mrs. C was practically following me around the club. I would turn to see her just as she went around a corner or through a door. Once I caught her looking at me she simply turned to yell at some other girls. I moved on, hoping she wouldn't put that energy towards me.

At least tonight I didn't have to perform. I wore a less extravagant outfit this time with a veil wrapped around my body in the traditional style. It wasn't exactly pretty, but it covered a little more of my body.

Busing drinks was a lot busier than I had prepared myself for, and I had to take a break in the bathroom to stop my head from pounding so hard. Taylor wandered in, just before leaving, and gave me some Tylenol before telling me to rest more. I smiled and swallowed, the relief almost coming instantly.

When I got home, I hardly had the energy to take a shower, let alone make myself something to eat even though my stomach rumbled the whole way home. Taking a cheese stick out of the fridge and practically swallowing it whole, I decided that'd have to hold me until the morning.

-F-

Of course when I woke up, my body didn't want to get out of the bed, much less all the way to the kitchen. However, I eventually coaxed myself into believing that it really wouldn't hurt that bad to stand up. I was completely wrong, but pulled myself through all the same.

School wasn't exactly fun. My pained muscles had put me in a bad mood, and a restricted diet was eating away at my patience as well. The twins were starting to get on my nerves and by lunch I had just resorted to trying not to talk to them as much as possible. But in creative writing, I snapped.

"You actually wonder why I'm in such a bad mood?" I turned on the twins, who gave me surprised looks like they'd been caught doing something bad. "Neither of you would understand, because you've never had to work as hard as I have for anything. You all get shit handed to you by only asking for it. I'm in a bad mood because I'm sore from yesterday, not that you'd understand how tiring having a job to do is."

With that, I turned my back to them and started scribbling my story in my notebook. I could taste in the air that they were taken aback and a little hurt by my brazen, but I was in too much pain to really care or take back what I said. After that, they left me alone.

As I left the class, they called that they'd be in the club room, but I didn't respond. I headed straight to the gym, dragging myself through easy lifting exercises. Soccer would be worse than this so I might as well get myself prepared for it.

-O-

Soccer had been terrible. My arms and legs felt like lead, too worn out to feel pain anymore. At least today had been a little lighter and shorter too. After filling up my water bottles again, I looked at the school curiously. Shrugging, I decided to go in.

"Hey guys," I said and I walked into music room three. "I just wanted to say sorry for being so snappy earlier. I mean, you don't know what it feels like to work so hard for things, but the way I said it was a little harsh."

The twins looked at me a little wearily, like they thought I'd snap at them again.

"Nah, that's fine," Hikaru mumbled.

"If anything, we deserved it," Kaoru said.

"We really don't know what it's like to work so hard," they said together.

"Well, I hope that for your sake, someday you do."

They laughed that harmonic laugh like when I'd first met them. "Like that'll ever happen!"

-X-

Through the rest of the week, I fell into a routine of sorts. With how much energy soccer and dancing was taking out of me, I decided that the strict diet wasn't doing anything for me; the only fat left on my body seemed to be in my bust and some in my butt –I guessed the fat cells would have longer lives in those areas. Needing energy to recover from my activities, I promised that I'd eat as well as I could but wouldn't starve myself.

Although I was no longer following the plan, I was still losing what fat was left on my legs, stomach, and arms. Even though my muscles were apparent, they weren't defined and bulging, giving me subtle curves.

I was becoming closer with the club too, hanging out with them before and after practice. Watching them flirt with the girls made me want to laugh most of the time, but sometimes it made my stomach squirm at how realistic they would act. I found out that the twins had the twincest interest and had to dash into the bathroom a couple of times to avoid busting up laughing in the middle of the room.

Work even seemed to be going pretty well. I was getting tips and didn't have to perform very much, and with my improved diet I had the energy to be a little more fun as well. I still felt Mrs. C watching me from behind closed doors, but I figured that as long as she didn't come up to me I was fine.

The weekend was just around the corner. I couldn't wait till I could sleep in. As I woke up Friday morning, my parents notified me that they would be on business trips for the weekend, coming back on Monday afternoon.

In my room, I opened the package that had come yesterday with my school uniform. I got five pairs of sock, three dark blue skirts, three white long-sleeved button-ups, the blue jacket with the school's crest over the heart, and the tie the boys wore. When I put it all together, it actually looked pretty good; the suit really played up my curves, and the buttons weren't straining against my bust. Uncomfortable with skirts, I pulled on some spandex underneath. Nodding at myself in the mirror, I headed out the door.

-X-

"Damn," Hikaru said as Kaoru whistled when they saw me. "Why didn't you put that on before?"

"It looks incredible on you," Kaoru agreed.

I had thought that I would get over feeling embarrassed by being complimented by such beautiful people, especially since I knew them now, but I still smiled happily. "Thanks guys."

Throughout the day I got a few more compliments on my new attire. The girls didn't seem to be glaring at me quite as much, which was a bit of a relief; I couldn't wear anything showing too much of my ribs at the club because of the bruises. But at least they were all gone now.

Soccer was even going pretty well. Yesterday and today had been easy exercises, mostly jogging and stretching and working on plays. Thankfully, Coach cut practice short by an hour, saying that us kids should go and enjoy our day. Hearing that made me ecstatic since I didn't have to work tonight either.

This meant I had an afternoon all to myself. That hadn't happened for a very long time.

When I walked into the Host Club with a smile on my face, everyone seemed to feel how happy I was and smiled in return.

"Shay!" Honey yelled as he ran up for his hug from me. This time I squeezed him extra tight, giggling a little as well. He looked up with wide happy eyes. "You're here an hour early! Does that mean you can eat cake with me?"

I thought about it for a bit then shrugged. "Sure, why not? Just not too big of a piece please."

"Oh, what's this?" the harmonic voices came.

"You're actually agreeing to eat some cake?" Hikaru said as he came around to me.

"What's gotten into you Shay?" Kaoru asked, mocking disappointment.

I sat at a small table with Honey in my lap, across from Mori and in front of my small slice of chocolate cake. Looking up at them with a huge smile I said, "For starters, I got out of practice an hour early. Also, my parents are out of town this weekend, so that's pretty awesome."

The boys all looked at each other with questions on their faces.

"What do your parents being out of town have anything to do with you being happy?" Tamaki ventured.

"Oh, you know," I mumbled as I swallowed my cake, waving my fork around. "They're not around to pester you to do things, you can listen to music as loud as you want, you can sing out loud, dance in every room. All that stuff." They started to give me weird looks so I just dug into my cake even more.

"Must be something with commoner's parents," Kaoru suggested.

"We can do whatever we like when we're at home, parents or not," Hikaru shrugged.

"Wonderful for you guys, but this is like a bit of freedom for me." I hugged Honey, who giggled loudly and Mori smiled. "What should I do, Honey? I'm totally free for the weekend!"

As soon as it slipped out of my mouth, I knew it was a mistake.

The twins and Tamaki bore down on me. "Can we come over?" they all asked.

"Hell no. If you do, all you'll do is pick my house apart."

"Aww, come on Shay!" the twins whined. "We'll do anything."

I cocked my eyebrow at that. "Anything?" I let the question hang in the air to watch their expressions as they tried to figure it out. After a bit I laughed out loud. "I don't really want much, but if I let you come into my house, then we go to your house first. We do what I want for the evening, and then you can all come to my house. Hell, spend the night if you want, but you'll have to sleep on the couches, if your royal heads can deal with that."

"Really?" everyone said at the same time. I was a little surprised that Mori and Kyoya had been so surprised.

But I just smiled and nodded. "Yep! So who wants to ride in my car?"

The twins pushed in on either side of me, both shouting, "We do! We do!"

Tamaki was a close second, pushing one of the twins away and saying, "It would be an honor to be your passenger, Miss Foxx!"

Honey squirmed in my lap as he looked up at me with excitement. "Can I ride in your car with you please? Yay!" he yelled at my nod.

"I'll ride along too; this'll be an interesting experience," Kyoya chimed in.

"I'm glad you think so," I said, barely audible through all the excited chatter between the boys. "I'm gonna go take a shower real quick, but then we can all go. Oh, and as long as two of you are willing to sit on someone's lap, I can take all of you in my car. I'll be back!" I yelled as I walked through the door with my bag.

-F-

Although I wasn't exactly comfortable with the clothes I was stuck with, they would have to do. I ended up having to wear my uniform again, but I decided to leave off the jacket and tie.

"Hey, ready to go?" I asked as I walked back into the club room, my wet hair in soft waves around my face.

Hikaru and Kaoru took a long look at me and started whispering to each other, hiding their faces with their hands. Tamaki froze when he saw me. Honey looked over, another smile breaking across his face.

"Shay! You look great! You just attract compliments when you're dressed like that!"

Smiling, I called out a thanks.

"I didn't know you had so many earrings," Mori said quietly, staring at the silver studs and rings running through my ears. "They look great."

I blushed a little. Mori really wasn't much for words, so what he said to me was taken genuinely. "Thanks, Mori." I turned to the rest of them. "Okay, so you guys ready to go?"

-O-

A/N: Well, I'm stressed out so there's no way I can go back to bed. I've actually been up for an hour and a half, on a freaking Saturday no less. She finally gets the uniform she ordered, grr! I want to draw her in it, but whenever I make her I think 'Wow she's pretty, I'm gonna make it look like she's dancing and give her an outfit.' So yeah. Whoo, next one is kinda cool I think. She gets snap-snap-snappy with the twins for a bit. And this is kinda the very beginning of everything getting started I guess. Fridays are amazing things. If I have the energy, I'll update later today as well. As always R&R helps a lot.

I do not, in any way, shape, or form, own Ouran High School Host Club.