Typical Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club
Chapter Forty-Three: Explanation to the Academy
It was finally the end of the scholastic break at Ouran Academy and the school was abuzz with the most shocking and potentially scandalizing news.
"Did you hear?" A petite blonde girl leaned in to whisper to a group of three other girls in her class, "Michelle came to school today in the Ootori limo, with Kyouya-san!"
The news had spread through the entire high school complex by the time the two in the rumor made the short journey from the car to 2-A. Shocked at the lightning-fast speed that the information spread through the school, Lexi tried her best to make it through the day while ignoring the various levels of questioning glances she was receiving from everyone.
'I know Tamaki and Kyouya are concocting some sort of cover story for me and that we'll be telling everyone at a special host club announcement or whatever later on, but I hate these glares from these morons! I mean,' she paused to wince at how harsh she has been recently with the bespeckled boy, 'I do feel a little bad at how I exploded at him the other day, but please... As if staying with Kyouya until God knows when is a good thing,' She inwardly fumed as she maintained her outward cordial face and passed by another group of girls who were giving her full on, green eyed monster glares. Since her outburst a few days ago when she stated that they weren't friends, Lexi had been experiencing a gnawing guilt. The day prior to coming back to school, she could almost feel the awkwardness in the air around Kyouya. But, her pride and the pain from having her privacy violated wasn't allowing her to apologize for her bratty behavior. And all the idiotic reactions she was dealing with in the school today wasn't helping her attitude towards mending the situation one bit. In fact, it seemed to be flaming her bitter attitude towards her 'captor' even more. 'How could everyone think that the expert at manipulation is the one they need to protect in all of this? Can't they see that someone like me isn't easy and trying to sneak my way into an ultra-rich and influential family? Don't they know the lengths that the bastard goes through in order to own everyone around him, so he can always be in charge?'
But her pain fueled thoughts on the boy were certainly not shared by the majority of the student population. Throughout the day she could hear girls snidely mutter, "Who does she think she is moving in with my Kyouya so suddenly?" "As if she could keep his attention for long anyway." "I heard she got tired of living with auntie and uncle and now she wants to try playing house." "Doesn't she know he's mine?!"
Every time she heard such remarks, it took every ounce of willpower to not turn around and shout "If you want him that badly, please trade places with me!" But somehow, Lexi kept herself in check and just scoffed at the idea, as she ignored yet another such muttering and rounded the corner to the lunchroom.
Seeing Lexi from a distance as she entered the cafeteria, Kaoru jumped up from his spot next to his brother and stood behind her in line. He could tell that even though she had a polite smile on her face as she ordered her meal and waited for it to be prepared, the strawberry blonde was beyond agitated. "The boss and Kyouya have been letting all the host club customers know that they are holding a special meeting after classes to 'calm all their worries'," the younger twin said to the tense girl as he air quoted the last phrase.
"Good," was the strained answer he got. "Tell me Kaoru, does everyone here actually think of Kyouya as a decent human being?" Lexi questioned.
Smirking as he shrugged his shoulders saying "Yeah, he's gotten really good at his false façade, just like you have, Michelle", he added giving her a slight elbow nudge.
"Hmm," she scoffed again, a brief smirk came to her face as her friend over emphasized her fake name. "At least I have a good reason for being a liar, not like that pompous, stuck-up…" she started to mutter, but stopped when the waiter turned the corner with the lunch she ordered.
Not wanting the blue eyed girl to continue her poisonous rant, the young twin piped up after she kindly thanked the waiter for his swift service. "We all kinda agreed you should probably sit with us for this lunch period," Kaoru said as he gentlemanly grabbed the tray from Lexi's hands and shuffled over to where he and his brother were sitting. "The less rumors going before the boss explains, the better."
Nodding in agreement, because she didn't need her name linked with Kyouya more than it needed to be, she sat down across the way from Hikaru and it felt as if the weight of everything lifted off of her shoulders for a moment. Without missing a beat, the trio spent their lunch period mocking teachers, scheming new pranks to unleash on Tamaki, and just laughing about life in general. Not one word about Kyouya was uttered.
As they separated after lunch to head to their respective classrooms, Lexi couldn't help but say a quick prayer of gratitude for the twins, especially Kaoru. 'Hanging out with them totally made me forget about all the frustration of the morning. If only I could tag along with them for the rest of the day...' she thought as she noticed that the glares intensified when she entered her next classroom.
Whether it was partially to show the fan girls that she couldn't care less about the boy she was forced to sit in front of, or if it was because she was still fuming about his Machiavellian antics, Lexi acted even colder towards Kyouya for the rest of the day, much to his displeasure. At one point the strawberry blonde blatantly dismissed his suggestion when their history class was working on a skit, a gesture that almost caused the calm shadow king to lose his cool.
'Once we get this rumor out of the way, I am most certainly going to make sure she knows not to treat me this way in public,' he seethed internally. Doing a quick analysis of her behavior, the bespeckled boy thought he was only infuriated at the girl because of her recently increasing disrespectful actions toward him, but the deeper truth of the matter was he was wounded that she was treating him so coldly. A part of him knew he went too far with stealing her USB port, but 'she also went too far with her stupid rules.' For every questionable action he made along the way, he focused on the "unwarranted" over reaction she had against them. He also was trying to compartmentalize the vicious barb she threw at him, when she stated they weren't friends. Those words couldn't have possibly hurt him, seeing as an Ootori doesn't feel such emotions as 'hurt'. Especially not when it was caused by someone of a lesser class than him and the other male hosts. Therefore, he wouldn't allow himself to acknowledge, let alone process, such a feeling. That would mean he cared about her as a person and not as something he can use to benefit himself in the game of being the third Ootori son. Even if he still couldn't figure out how she could be of benefit to him in his beloved game of trying to get his father's attention, he had to keep his focus on that goal and ignore these pesky feelings that were being caused by Alexi.
Finally, classes were over for the day and it was time for students to go to their club activities. By the time the host meeting came, the room was packed with people. There were even more people than when the club held the talent exhibitions, and certainly more than their normal volume of customers. The noise that filled the room silenced from a loud chatter to an uncomfortable quiet in .04 seconds as soon as Tamaki went to stand in front of the crowd with Kyouya. Always being one to maintain his outward dignified appearance, Kyouya pushed out all of the tumultuous thoughts he had been thinking throughout the day and silently stood next to his best friend, waiting patiently for his turn to address the crowd. Tamaki, being the ever gregarious leader of the host club, was grandly and graciously thanking all of their customers for attending the meeting on such short notice.
Off to the side, stood the other hosts. While she looked as relaxed on the outside as Kyouya did, internally Lexi was beginning to panic at the thought of the story the two boys concocted for her. 'What are they going to say? How can they explain why I'm living with that jackass without giving away my secret? How will I be able to continue going to school here? Will I have to leave my new friends? Why the hell wouldn't they tell me what my cover story was before now? I mean, c'mon, it's my life they are lying about...' the blue eyed girl thought as she began to spiral out of control.
Seeing through her calm façade yet again, Kaoru noticed that the strawberry blonde, who was standing next to him, was barely paying attention to his tono's words. Inching closer to his best friend, he gently laid his hand on her shoulder and whispered, "You know we can trust them for this at least. I'm sure they've figured out a perfect alibi for your current living conditions because if nothing else, Kyouya can't afford the scandal," he softly said.
Realizing that the younger redhead was right, she felt the tension melting away from her for a moment. Before she could thank him for calming her down, Kyouya began to speak. Without thinking, Lexi immediately reached her right hand over to grasp onto her best friend's hand, which was still sitting on her left shoulder.
"As Tamaki has already mentioned, the host club is grateful that you were all able to take time out of your busy schedules to attend this meeting. Today our school has been overcome with the rumor that Michelle and I arrived at school together this morning," Kyouya started to say while the tension in the room became so thick that it could be cut with a knife. "Well, I'm here to say that the rumors are true."
At that simple sentence, all tension broke as everyone in the room reacted. Some people gasped, most people turned to the person next to them to either boast they were right or to complain about the news, and one or two girls actually fainted at the news. Unable to comment snidely about the two girls on the floor, Lexi just held her breath as she prayed Kyouya would continue talking and somehow explain this mess away.
Giving the crowd enough time to vent a little, Kyouya gathered their attention again with a simple raising of his right hand. Once the crowd was quiet enough to talk over, the raven haired boy started again by saying, "Michelle and her aunt and uncle are close friends of the Ootori family, and as such, we are merely offering our assistance during this time. Michelle's aunt and uncle," he started as he made a gesture over to the girl who was still frozen in her position and practically squeezing the life out of Kaoru's hand, "are on an 'around the world cruise' and not in the country at the moment."
Once he finished explaining the basics of the story, including how it would've been an unnecessary inconvenience for 'Michelle' to be by herself for so long, Kyouya gestured for Lexi to join him in front of the room. He did so in order to give the finishing touches of the story and to put her in a better position to help him field all the questions which would undoubtedly bombard them after he finished. Giving Kaoru's hand an affirming squeeze this time, a motion that hurt him more than it normally would because it was just now beginning to have blood flow into it once more, the girl host left her best friend's side and walked over to take her place next to her antagonizer.
On her way over to Kyouya, Lexi was able to regain her confidence and immediately started to think of a backstory to add to the new lie she now found herself living in. 'I wonder if this perpetual circle of lies will ever end,' she thought as she felt another twinge of guilt pull at her heart.
When she reached the grey eyed boy's side, he continued, "Our families being as close as they are, when my family found out just how long her aunt and uncle would be gone, we immediately offered Michelle a place to stay in one of our many guest suites."
Taking that as a good place to finally speak up, Lexi chimed in and said, "Yes, the Ootori's have graciously taken me in for the time being while my family traipses around the world. It's a vacation they've always been planning to take, but when I came to live with them, they put their life's dream on hold for me. It took a long time to convince them not to postpone their dreams for me, especially since I of all people understand how short life is..." she started, but paused at that statement to make the crowd believe she was getting emotional at the recalling of her parents' death. That, and to keep the bile that was rising up in her throat from her earlier comment that the Ootori's, meaning Kyouya as well, were gracious people.
After a decent pause, Lexi continued, "Being the darlings they are, my aunt and uncle were worried at the idea of leaving me alone for such a long time, but with friends like the Ootoris, they overcame their objections when Kyouya's family offered to take me in".
When she had finished, Kyouya added with a partial bow, "The pleasure is all ours to be able to help such close family friends." He added, "Especially in such a simple way," before he turned to address the crowd, who was eating up every word the two in the front of them were feeding them. "So as you can see, there is nothing to dismay about. Michelle is merely staying with my family until hers can pick her up once again. Are there any questions?"
Suddenly a flurry of "Where are your aunt and uncle going?" and "How long will they be gone for?" and the inevitable "What's Kyouya-san's house like" arose and hit Lexi as she scrambled to flawlessly answer all of their questions.
'Hmm, I have to give it to them, this is a really solid excuse' she managed to think in one of the rare pauses, 'I'll have to thank Tamaki later'.
