A Completely New and Supposedly Educational Experience

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club or anything else that I reference! I only own my OCs!

Chapter Twenty

Eva's POV

"Alright guys…What happened out there?" Dad asked carefully, breaking the silence that had fallen over the car.

I looked over at Ryan, who was giving the floor a dark, angry glare. He looked over at me and the look in his eyes softened. He looked about as hurt as I felt in that moment. Ryan opened his mouth to say something, but then turned to cough into his elbow, subtly rubbing his ribs with the other hand as he did. Anger flared in the pit of my stomach and I turned to look at my dad through the rearview mirror.

"We were sledding down the hill while you came back to the car to get the camera. Ryan and Dan piled onto Ryan's tube and they sled down. Victoria and some…" I trailed off, biting my lip to keep back the myriad of awful names I wanted to call my cousin's friend. "Some guy named Kyle who she knows from school went down on a sled too. But apparently, Kyle and Victoria either can't steer or…" I trailed off when a look of realization showed on Dad's face. He nodded to me to continue. "They either can't steer or they tried to crash into Ryan and Dan on purpose." I stated.

"I think he did it on purpose." Ryan grumbled.

"Anyway…The two sleds collided about halfway down and they fell the rest of the way. Rosie and I were watching from the top of the hill and went down to see what was going on when we heard Kyle and Ryan yelling at each other." I explained.

"Kyle started it! And talking about you like you weren't standing right there was uncalled for!" Ryan interjected.

"What happened?" Dad asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"They started fighting and then Ryan and Victoria recognized each other. Kyle wanted to know how, so Victoria explained that unfortunately they're cousins and that Ryan's my brother, because apparently everyone in that school knows me as Victoria's geeky cousin. Anyway! Kyle sneered and said something to the effect of 'Then I bet he's a freak just like his sister.' I was right there, Rosie and I having come down to find out what happened. So I stepped forward and Kyle yelled at me before getting all high and mighty and asking Ryan what he had to say for himself like it was outrageous that someone would dare to crash into him accidently." I continued, letting all the bitterness and hurt come out in the form of sarcastic commentary.

"So I told him he should steer his sled better." Ryan added. Dad raised an eyebrow.

"That's it?" he asked when we both fell silent. I wish. I thought.

"Then Kyle tried to hit him." I stated simply. Dad's eyebrow went up into his hairline and I saw his grip on the steering wheel tighten.

"You blocked, right?" Dad asked, concerned now and staring at my brother through the rearview mirror. Ryan nodded. Dad sighed in relief.

"I kicked him in the shins too." Ryan responded. Dad cracked a smirk. "But then he punched me in the gut…And now my ribs hurt." Ryan continued. Dad's smirk fell and his eyes flashed and I could have sworn I saw fire in them. It's almost like the cartoon effect when the character gets pissed and there's fire in their eyes and you hear the jaguar growl in the background. Is that what I looked like? I thought absently.

"And Victoria didn't say a single word about any of it!" I growled. "No…She just pulled Kyle off him and told Kyle to stop. She didn't even look twice at Ryan to see if he was okay. Hell, Rosie and Dan were more concerned about him than she was!" I exclaimed.

"She didn't?" Dad asked. Ryan and I shook out heads in unison. "One would think she'd have checked to see if her cousin was alright." He grumbled.

The car fell silent again; a heavy, uncomfortable, tense sort of silence that everyone wants to break, yet no one has the courage to do so. I took a deep breath and glared out the window at nothing in particular. Dad's face held an unreadable expression and his eyes were glued to the road. Ryan rubbed his ribs again and I reached over and swatted his hand lightly.

"Don't rub it." Dad and I told him together. "Do the ribs still hurt?" Dad continued. Ryan nodded and I saw Dad's jaw clench subtly. "I'll have a look at it when we get home." Dad said. We both nodded.

When we pulled into the driveway, I pulled both of the tubes out of the trunk of the car and hauled them through the backyard, shooing my brother away when he tried to take his. Dad and Ryan went into the house through the side door, where we had set up towels so we could get out of the snow gear. I just barely heard Mom, Dad and Ryan's voices from the garage where I put the snow tubes away. I then went back inside and immediately took off all my snow gear.

"So, how was sledding?" Mom asked as we all sat at the dining room table with mugs of hot chocolate.

"It was good. Rosie met us there, and so did Ryan's friend Dan. There were a ton of little kids when we got there, but they all left and some of the people from school started showing up." I told her, staring into the depths of my mug. Mom raised an eyebrow at me.

"Rosie and Eva built a ramp out of snow once the little kids were gone. Everyone went over the ramp a few times, even Dad!" Ryan stated, laughing.

I grinned at the thought of my dad sliding down the hill on Ryan's snow tube and being launched three feet in the air from the ramp. Everyone laughed for a minute and I almost forgot the unpleasant ending this story had. Until Ryan started coughing. Dad and Mom looked at him, alarmed and I resisted the urge to bury my face in my arms, which I had crossed on the table.

"You okay, Ryan? You're not getting sick are you?" Mom asked, eyebrows raised. Ryan shook his head.

"Alright, come on. I'm going to look at your ribs now, okay?" Dad stated, gently pulling Ryan to his feet.

The two walked out of the dining room and into the short hallway next to it that had Ryan's room, the bathroom and my parents' room. Ryan and Dad disappeared into my parents' room and Mom looked questioningly at me, likely expecting a story of what exactly just happened. I looked at my mom, then took a long drink of my hot chocolate as if it would help. I then took a deep breath and recounted the story for her. Mom bit her lip and glared slightly at nothing. She then sighed and looked towards her room.

"How are his ribs?" she called. A cry and hiss of pain echoed from the room at that moment.

"They're not broken or anything like that." Dad's voice answered. Both Mom and I sighed in relief. "But I think they're bruised a little. I'm going to give him some Ibuprofen and see where that takes us. Speaking of which, do we have anymore?" Dad's voice sounded again as he walked out of the room and towards the hall closet where the pain medicines usually were. Ryan went to the fridge in search of a water bottle, then came to sit back down with us.

"Yeah. There should be more in that closet there. On the left, next to the big box of Nyquil." Mom responded. Dad sat down at the table a minute later and passed Ryan two small Ibuprofen tablets.

After another ten minutes, Ryan wandered downstairs, Dad went back into my parents' room and Mom and I cleaned up the kitchen. Once we were done, Mom leaned against the counter and sighed heavily, her curly, dark, shoulder-length hair falling into her face as she gazed out the window with dark brown eyes that were a million miles away (or much closer, mentally chewing out my cousin a few blocks away, on the other side of the main road).

"I think I figured out what we should get Ryan for his birthday." I stated quietly, leaning on the counter next to her and looking out at the snowy yard and dark grey sky. It looks like it's going to snow again. I thought. Mom smiled slightly.

"What do you want to get him, Eva?" she asked.

"Well…The Hobbit comes out tomorrow. I thought maybe we could buy tickets so Dad and I can take him to see it next weekend, because I know you don't want to see it. Besides, that way it won't conflict with Tio's birthday." I explained. Mom's smile grew bigger and she chuckled a little.

"That's a nice idea. We'll get to the movie theater this weekend, after everyone digs out of this snow." Mom stated. I smiled slightly.

"It looks like it's going to snow again." I replied, nodding towards the window.

"It just might." Mom said, looking out.

"No school tomorrow either?" I asked hopefully. Mom laughed.

"Maybe not." She replied. I laughed.

~~~~~meep~~~~~meep~~~~~meep~~~~~

As it turned out, it not only snowed again over night, but it got cold enough to freeze over whatever snow had fallen the previous day. When I woke up at eight thirty-ish, there were an additional four inches of snow, and whatever roads had been plowed were now icy. Woo-hoo! Snow Day again! I thought, grinning as I unplugged my iPod to check my email. There was one new message from Kaoru.

'That's cool. How did I know you were going to ask? Because I know you so well, of course! By the way, I love your sense of humor. :) Also! *virtual hugs* Why? I felt like it. I almost can't wait until June so I can do that for real. ;) Yeah…I figured as much. She's really nice, yeah. And she really tries to be there for Hikaru and I, but it's hard because she has to travel so much. I feel like, when other people look at our lives, they just see that we're rich kids going to an elite school and they don't realize how lonely it is sometimes when both of your famous parents work all the time and are never home. I think about that a lot, so does Hikaru…Sometimes. Usually he ends up pissed off about it. Six inches of snow overnight, huh? That's awesome! How was your Snow-Day? Do you have school today too or no? Are we still on for Face-Time/Skype later? That much research has got to suck. Yeah really. You should win 'Best Witness' just for putting up with all that crap. I'm glad your friend is doing better, and I can see where you're coming from when you said everyone laughs and gets all excited when she's happy. I hope she can stay like this too, though I don't think I'm as skeptical as you seem to be. Maybe because I don't really know what you're school's like…But I have faith in you and your friends being able to help. She saw Frozen with you guys? Did you love it? Because I did. And yeah, I guess I'm a little nuts…But that sure as hell is not the reason why! XD I think you can do it…Even if you have to practice a million times first to make you think you can do it. Yeah…Sorry. I think that's a great idea and that he'll love it. I'll see you later, I guess?'

I smiled to myself before responding.

'Yes, that's exactly how you knew. Thanks! *virtual hugs* Pfft. There's still another six months before that trip, you know. I can't even think about June when the weather's like this. I don't have school today either, by the way. So yeah, we should still be good to go for Skype. I can see that. My Dad works weird hours now, it gets difficult sometimes. But all the movies and such shut down for December, so he's home now! :D Awwn. I feel bad that you and Hikaru get lonely like that. It really sucks when your parents are never home. *virtual hugs again* I don't even have a good excuse, sometimes I'm just lonely. Sometimes it's lonely when everyone else at school is a moron. Yeah, I can see Hikaru getting pissed about it. Yeah, it's pretty cool. It snowed last night too, so now everything's frozen over and traveling sucks. So no school today. How about I tell you all about my snow day via Skype later? You know, I really should. This research is damn annoying. I agree with you on…all of that, actually. I really hope she can stay like this. Seeing her happy again, and almost, maybe, not quite back to her old self is refreshing. Yeah. I loved Frozen! It was fun, even if the beginning almost made me cry. I agree with that too! You're nuts! ;P'

After sending the email, I turned off my iPod and headed downstairs for breakfast.

Author's Note: Kind of short chapter is kind of short, and abrupt ending is rather abrupt. Sorry. But yeah….Extended drama! And…that's really it! But I feel the need to address something I've been getting a lot on the question of Victoria and whether or not we'll be seeing her get put in her place. First off; I'm glad you all hate her, as strange as it sounds. I'm trying to make her out as a dislikable character and I'm glad to be succeeding! Second; yes, we'll be seeing her get put in her place…Eventually. Read and Review Please!