Chapter Two
High School Is Not Polite
Phil Connors: (to the groundhog) Don't drive angry. - Groundhog Day
First Day of School...
The last thralls of winter's breath had since disappeared as spring ushered in the start of the new school semester. Morning was cool and light with a soft perfumed breeze blowing in to curl through the branches of buddings trees. The sky was free of clouds, allowing the sun to light the world without the passing puffs of white to blotted it out and dim the day.
The great sprawling campus of Ouran Private Academy for Boys was an impressive display of what wealth and private funding could provide. Numerous pearly white buildings with either pale rose or cornflower blue tile decorating the A-Frame roofs and domed cathedral tops; littered the grounds in picturesque alignment with pristine grassy courtyards, elegant gardens, and cobblestone pathways intertwining amongst them to create the infamous school grounds that educated some of the country's most successful business men and even government politicians.
By fifteen till eight the campus was alive with hundreds of male students from kindergarten and up, milling about on their own towards homeroom before the first bell sent out its tolling ring. Most of the older boys who were in the high school department collected about the front gates, greeting friends they hadn't seen since junior high graduation, meeting up with friends in their class from the other year that they had moved up with, or just standing around to check out new students who had transferred into Ouran from outside schools of equal social status or just starting school (as was the case with many kindergärtners walking in with parents).
However, all eyes would turn to stare at one new student in particular whose presence sent a hush over most of those gathered at the main gates. Short almost spiky orange hair that stuck out in an uncooperative manner was the first thing they all noticed since it struck out against the powder blue of the uniform's jacket with both a look of awkwardness and perfect blending. A rather unamused and yet unsure look crossed the face of the new student, who stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the rest of the student body, and this was just the front gate.
Glancing at the rather awestruck boys who had begun to murmur amongst one another now with question and wondering as to who this new guy was, this new guy felt a sinking feeling drop through the bottom of his stomach. Ah man, this is exactly what I was hoping to avoid! Teeth gritting beneath his lips, the orange-haired student adjusted the strap of his book bag and shoved aside those nervous feelings that threatened to push him elsewhere in his sense of thinking, and proceeded to walk forward through the gates.
Ignoring the stares and pointing fingers, the boy shoved his hands into the pockets of the black slacks that finished up the other half of the school uniform. His brow furrowed enough to almost produce a scowl that he was now forcing to rid his face of, seeing as how this would provide a bad first impression, and tried to appear a bit more friendly and approachable without looking too, well, fruity. This caused his face to twist and pull into a very weird expression that crossed a scowl with a smile and offered out something that had a lot of the other boys backing up a bit out of caution to the new kid.
Goddamn you rich bastards. The boy groaned mentally while picking up his pace in order to pass out from under the stares before he did anything else to either embarrass himself or earn him an unwanted reputation of having the worst walk on to a campus. Unfortunately, the pressure to remain calm and collected appeared to be too much for the boy, and before anyone in the yard could blink, a trail of dust wafted in his absence as the boy tore a path across the whole front and disappeared off somewhere headed towards the main office.
This quick exit had left each and every one of the male students in the yard to stare after him, a bead of sweat rolling down their temple. Yeah...awesome first impression made.
Panting heavily after having completed what felt like a mile long dash at a dead sprint, the new student leaned up against the door of the main office in a haphazard manner. "Oh...my...god...! Since when did I ever posses the ability to run like that?!" He muttered through gasps for air as he tried to push himself up into a much straighter stance.
"Um, can I help you young sir?" A very apparent female voice spoke up from somewhere in front of the boy. By the tone and volume of the voice itself, it was near unmistakable that the woman who had spoken was more than likely well into her sixties. And thus, this would prove to be very true as a weary amber gaze looked up to meet an aged pair of eyes that danced still with the light from former days of youth.
Straightening himself rather quickly, the boy quickly adjusted his black tie stripped down the middle with one thin purple line that added another splash of color to the uniform. Proceeding forward towards the rather elegant looking desk where possibly one of the very few woman on campus sat with a friendly look on her face; he stopped just before the front lip and bowed politely. "My name is Eniwa Ichigo. I'm a new student here on a scholarship."
"Ah, yes. I've been expecting you." She grinned, although a flash of something else crossed the surface of her gaze. "So, you're Fujioka-san's cousin? Well, he's lucky to have someone like you to help him out in this rather sticky situation." Her grin remained ever present while she rummaged through the stacks of paperwork piled in the top right hand corner of her desk. "My name is Umino Chidori. School secretary here at Ouran." She glanced up briefly from the corner of her eye at the boy who introduced himself as Eniwa Ichigo, with a teasing jest pulling at the corner of her mouth.
Whatever small tease that she had meant in gently mocking his introduction in order to ease the rather obvious nerves he had, was lost on Ichigo as he merely nodded in obvious response to her introduction. "Nice to meet you Sensei."
She held back a small laugh behind her lips. Finding the several sheets of paper she had been looking for, Umino-sensei turned to once again face Ichigo, and held out the papers. "Your schedule for the semester, your dorm room number and directions to the dormitories, and of course a map of the school with the names of each building." She explained the purpose of what she handed out to him, watching the look on Ichigo's face as he took the pieces from her. "If you have any questions or have trouble finding a classroom, the other boys here will be more than happy to help you out as well as any member of the faculty." Umino-sensei smiled.
Looking between the smiling older woman and the papers in his hand, Ichigo felt that rather dropped feeling reappear in his stomach as the reality of him being apart of the academy now, bitch slapped him across the face with a harisen. "T-Thank you sensei." He swallowed hard while setting a nervous hand on the back of his neck and bowed his head respectfully.
After receiving detailed directions on how to reach the 1-A homeroom, Ichigo excused himself and left as quickly as possible while trying not to look any more out of place than he already did. Following the given directions to the nearest degree possible, Ichigo soon found himself standing outside the massive building that housed the high school department. Staring up at the looming monolithic structure that blotted out the sun with its sharp A-Frame point, Ichigo's free hand clutched tightly about the strap of his school bag that lay slung across his chest. That empty feeling that bottomed out his stomach, yeah, that had nothing on what gripped him entirely at that given moment.
Fear, anxiety, terror, excitement, and possible unknown fury towards his cousin for getting him this far into what could end up being a very horrible mess if things didn't work out right; all ran through Ichigo and drained the healthy tone from his face. Now white as a sheet and bearing a rather distraught look as well, he seemed oblivious to the fact that the homeroom period bell was now ringing. After the first initial seven seconds of complete blank, Ichigo snapped back into the present time and scrambled through the high arching double doors of the high school building.
Under a record time of thirty seconds flat, Eniwa Ichigo had zipped up nearly two large flights of stairs that landed him on the floor that housed the 1-A, 1-B, and 1-D classrooms. Setting foot on the third floor of the building, Ichigo was breathing heavily, with school bag strap falling off his shoulder, the lapels of his jacket flipped up and out in a weird angle, and hair sticking out in an even weirder position; he looked as though something had run him over and then backed up. "Damn this rich-blood school." Ichigo muttered, his hands gripping tightly to the banister column while he literally hung off it with legs outstretched down the stairs.
"Tch, you see what I see Kaoru?"
"Indeed I do Hikaru. He looks like something the cat dragged in."
Two near identical voices spoke up from somewhere ahead of Ichigo, causing the boy to look up with at first a rather confused face as he was unsure as to whether or not they were talking specifically about him. Unfortunately, as Ichigo laid eyes on two identical faces framed by long bangs that blended into back sweeping curls of short hair that looked to be about somewhere in the ginger color range. Ichigo wondered at first if this was their true hair color, but had to smack himself mentally as he was reminded that this was the exact same question people imposed on his own orange tone. Focusing back on the apparent twins before him, one of them stood with his arms crossed over his chest in a rather nonchalant manner, while other folded his arms over his brother's shoulder in a lazy manner.
They were twins. Mirror copied of one another, right down to the equal height and mannerisms they were displaying. Both boys held rather aloof but very much amused looks on their faces as they stared down their noses at Ichigo with glinting hazel eyes. Their airy stares sent a rather unnerving chill down his spine. Brushing it off, Ichigo pulled himself up to his feet and while straightening his appearance out, he coughed quietly to clear his throat before speaking up. "Konnichiwa."
"Ho? It can speak after all Kaoru." The boy with his arms crossed over his chest quirked an eyebrow as he spoke. "I guess you win the bet." A very smug grin began to pull at the corners of his mouth as he spoke.
The other boy, called Kaoru apparently, nodded in agreement while smirking as well. "It would seem that way Hikaru. I'll let you know what I want for my prize later when we're alone."
This caused a choked look to take hold of Ichigo's face. What the hell...? "Um, yes, well, I'll just be going now." Ichigo muttered as he finally picked up on the fact that the twins standing there were judging him like some sort of animal or inanimate object being auctioned off. Ichigo hated that kind of stare. Walking off down the hall to his right, Ichigo forced himself not to react to the comments that trailed after him.
"Hmph. Commoner."
"No manners at all."
"They must be making those scholarship exams too easy if they're accepting guys with fake hair."
"Indeed they must be."
Gritting his teeth, Ichigo curled a fist out of both hands and stared down at the thick carpeted floor he was treading upon. Being such a prestigious school, you'd think the students would at least have much more dignified attitudes towards new people coming. Rich bastards. Restricting what would have been a growl, Ichigo finally came upon the classroom for the 1-A class. The door was shut of course, but the sounds of other student voices were apparent behind it. Timidly, Ichigo reached out for the door knob and eventually set his hand upon the graceful brass carving. However, the chance to click the latch itself and open the door on his own, would be thwarted.
The door opened from the inside and swung out towards the hall. There wasn't enough time given in order for Ichigo to avoid the heavy slab of carved wood, and immediately his nose was smacked by the swing of the door. "Itai!" Ichigo sputtered while stumbling backwards into the hall and clutched at his nose with both hands. Begging thoughts screamed through his head at the distraught of a possible bloody nose or even a broken one at that.
Laughing exited the classroom as whoever had swung the door open was oblivious to the fact that they had hit someone in their departure. Still the laughing continued as Ichigo used the wall further down from the door to steady himself while he attended to his nose, and since the door was wide open, he was unable to see who it was exactly that had popped him one without even knowing it. Someone called out from inside the classroom and started up another bout of laughter. Squinting through blurry vision obscured by tears that slipped across to gather at the outside corners of his eyes in response to the stinging pain, Ichigo could only make out the fact that whoever had hit him with door was tall and light-haired.
Other than that, the first year never got a better look as he started to blink rapidly in order to clear out the fog and try entering the classroom one more time without having a bone broken in the process. Peeking in around the door, Ichigo froze. The class room was pretty big as it held near over twenty or so desks, each one minus three towards the back, were occupied in way or another by a male student. Great.
"Ah, you there!"
Startled, Ichigo looked around frantically and soon found that the teacher standing at the front of the classroom was pointing at him specifically. Lifting a forced brow of question as his face still retained that ever apparent look of drained shock. "H-Hai?!"
The teacher, a man who appeared to be in his late forties with greying hair apparent on his temples, grinned while beckoning with a wave of the hand for the boy to enter the room and come to him. Stepping as quietly as possible into the room, as he wanted to avoid drawing the undivided attention of the class upon himself at that moment, Ichigo approached the teacher and then bowed quickly. "Eniwa-san?" The teacher asked aloud while lifting a brow. A rather speedy nod from the boy was enough for him, and the teacher grinned even further. "Pleasure to meet you, Eniwa-san. I'll be your first year teacher for the next semester; Hiyama Ryuuga." He introduced himself, eyes darting off towards the door briefly, his grin faltering a bit before he regained it just as quickly and nodded at the new kid in his class. "That's an interesting hair color you got there."
"It's not fake sensei." Ichigo stammered quickly, hoping his first impression on the teacher wasn't going to be a bad one. "I swear it's my natural color. I'll show you my student ID, birth certificate even!"
Chuckling at the flustered state his student was in, Hiyama-sensei just shook his head. "It's fine, I believe you." Turning to face the class, he clapped his hands twice and called for their attention. Once the conversations dropped and seats were properly taken, Hiyama-sense nodded. "Right, we have a new student to Ouran that I would like to introduce to you today. This is Eniwa Ichigo-san. He's here on a scholarship. Please treat him with the same respect and courtesy you treat your other peers with."
Oh yes, and by the way! I'm cross-dressing and pretending to be a boy in order to make sure my cousin doesn't loose his spot here – at this school, with all you rich bastards! Isn't that great?! Now say, 'konnichiwa' like a bunch of little robots!
"Konnichiwa, Eniwa-san." The whole class greeted the orange-haired boy in a unified monotone as if they were anything but unimpressed, but fronted their welcome anyways. It made Ichigo cringe.
"Eniwa-san, why don't you go sit in the back with Kaoru-kun and Hikaru-kun." Hiyama-sensei pointed out the empty seat off in the back right corner near the full length window that ran with several others across the wall from floor to ceiling.
He had already winced after hearing those two names, because after all, it was hard to come across someone else with identical names to a set of rather rude twins, in the same day, in the same building, and in the same class as you. Ichigo blinked dumbly a few times as he just stared at the twin brothers sitting in the back with rather bored looks on their faces. I've stepped into the seventh circle of hell, haven't I? Exhaling quietly as he picked his way through the class, Ichigo was close to glaring down at his shoes as he sat down in the empty desk, having had no other choice to pick the one in between the two boys as they had obviously made the effort to sit on either side. Haruhi, I'm going to murder you!