Chapter 9

When we arrived at Eitoku High the following day, my chauffer parked the car towards the side before getting out of the car in order to open the car door for Rui and me. When Jack kindly opened the door, Rui was let out first before me. Rui smiles as he held out his hand and grabbed mine as we entered the school. Already people are giving looks and most of them are not a good one. I notice people whispering as if it's bad if I am going out with Rui right now.

People just can't stop gossiping these days.

Waiting for us inside the cafeteria are our peers cheering for us. I blushed a little and looked at Rui who gave me a smile.

We were blocked by these three high class looking girls with a nasty look on their faces behind those smiles of theirs. Their uniforms look illegal but since this is a school for the rich, I guess whatever 'makeover' they do with the uniform is approved. I don't know really but I do know that these girls are what they call themselves the ultimate fans.

An annoying trio if I must add. I can already tell from their faces that this cannot look good.

"What do you girls want?" Rui asks as polite as possible. He's not the type to be rude. Or maybe too rude? He's basically the opposite of Tsukasa.

"Oh Rui who is she?" one of the girls asked in a flirtatious tone. I remember Jenna telling me about these girls and how they put on such an act. The three gave me a suspicious look and I got pretty nervous. Tsukushi also told me that these girls are nothing but fake.

Tsukasa came by and pushed the girls harshly aside and said, "Back of girls, Rui is taken."

The girl in the middle made a pouty face and said, "Tsukasa why are so mean to us?"

"Yeah!" the one on her right said, "We didn't-

Annoyed, he said, "Shut up you annoying hags!"

She started to cry in a melodramatic way and the other two girls comforted her.

"Aw Tsukasa," I saw Jenna came by. "You scared those three already?"

The girl stopped her 'river of tears' and flashed a smile at Jenna.

"Aww isn't she the sweetest!"

Jenna rolled her eyes before somehow turning on a side I've never seen before.

"Oh shut it you wannabes!" she yelled making everyone gasp. And here I thought she's nice. "I wanted to be the one making you hags cry so leave and don't you dare bother these two or I will do the unthinkable that you won't even think about it!"

"What did she just say?" the girl in the middle asked.

"Who knows?" the other said giving Jenna a dirty look.

"Let's just get the heck out of here."

Finally, the girls strutted away leaving the four of us alone.

"So I see you guys decided to try it out," Jenna says. "And just in time too! I already booked a place!"

Rui said in a shocking tone, "Already? Wow Jenna you sure do work fast."

Jenna smiled at Rui while looking at her nails.

"You know me Rui," she says. "Also you forgot my family owns a few restaurants in the city so it was easy as pie! Speaking of pie, I'll be right back! On second thought, I'm not much of a big fan of pie so I'll call for some cake! Do you guys want some?"

We all shook our heads and Jenna shrugged her shoulders.

"Oh well suit yourselves!" Jenna said before going on her cell and left.

Moments after Jenna left, I heard someone call our name behind us and it was Onee-Chan and Shizuka-san. Everybody went silent all of a sudden for a moment and then I finally let go of Rui's hand at once to greet them.

"Hey guys, what are you guys doing here?"

Shizuka-san said, "Oh we're here to announce the Miss Teen Japan Beauty Pageant silly."

"Miss Teen Japan Beauty Pageant? What's that?"

Tsukasa laughed out loud and said, "You don't know Ellen? It's where ten teenagers get chosen to participate in the pageant and they will be judged based on their skills and knowledge based on different subjects such as…"

And which one of us here doesn't know about the pageant? I said to myself as Tsukasa was staring blankly into space.

Sojiro looked at Tsukasa, took his place and began to tell me what is in the pageant, "Such as cooking, playing the piano, speaking different languages; you know stuff like that which I'm sure you're good at."

I laughed and said, "Please Sojiro, I don't think I'm not as good as Onee-Chan and Shizuka-san here."

Onee-Chan and Shizuka-san said, "Oh Ellen, you're too generous."

The three annoying girls who somewhat came back into the scene said, "Ellen, you will win for sure! You have all of our support!"

"Gee, thanks!" I gritted as they all waved goodbye.

Rui smiled at me and gave my hand a little squeeze before he said, "I support you the most Ellen. You should enter the contest."

I smiled at Rui and said, "Who said I was entering the beauty pageant?"

Everybody was dumbstruck by my comment and said, "What! Why not?"

I laughed and said, "I'm kidding." I turned to Onee-Chan and Shizuka-san. "So where do I sign up?"

Onee-Chan laughed and said, "Well we are going to have to announce at the assembly at lunch."

"Oh right, okay."

The bell rang for first period and I gave Rui a peck on the cheek before I went to class. I let go of Rui's hand but he held me back. I looked at Rui and said, "Rui, I need to go class now. I'll talk to you later."

He gave me a pouty face and said, "Can't you just skip class for today?"

I laughed and said, "I would if I could but I have two tests to take today and I am not skipping out on it because I stayed up really late just to study for it."

"Please Ellen."

I poked him lightly on the cheek and said, "We could go to the plaza later to have lunch."

He gave a long sigh and said, "Fine. I'll miss you."

I smiled at him and said, "I'll miss you too. And please don't pout again, it doesn't really look good on you no offense."

Rui laughed before giving me a kiss on my forehead.

I ran to class because I was going to be late. Grr, darn him for making me late to class. When the bell rang for lunch, we all gathered at the cafeteria because Onee-Chan and Shizuka-san will be announcing the beauty pageant. They were standing on the F4's balcony and waiting for us to quiet down. The boys, Jenna, Tsukushi, and I all settled down at our normal seats on the balcony and waited patiently for Onee-Chan and Shizuka-san to make the announcement.

Once everyone had settled down, Onee-Chan smiled and said, "As you know, the Miss Teen Japan Beauty Pageant is finally here again!"

Everybody gave a loud cheer and clap. Onee-Chan had to wait for a little while so she can continue again. "This pageant will judge you based on your special skills and knowledge. In previous years, the judges have judged us based on our cooking skills, instrumental skills, and I believe last year they tested us on how good are with kids. Right Tsukushi?"

She smiled and said, "That's right. It was tough at first, but I finally got a way around with the kids and we had fun." All the girls looked at one another with excitement.

Shizuka-san said, "The judges have different surprises around each corner and this year they will judge you on…"
Onee-Chan nudged Shizuka-san in the elbow and said, "Shizuka, we're not allowed to them what the judges have in store for them."

Shizuka-san covered her mouth with her hand and said, "Oops, my bad guys. Anyways, girls who are interested to enter the beauty pageant must go to the convention center to sign up. At the convention center, there will be four tables set up in front of the convention center and you must sign up."

Onee-Chan said, "You have two weeks to sign up, and after that you have one week to prepare for the beauty pageant."

Onee-Chan, Shizuka-san, Tsukushi said, "Good luck to all of you!"