Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club. There would have been romance by now and I would have been rolling in money instead of typing a story on FF.

It's Been a While by Staind

And it's been a while
Since I could hold my head up high
And it's been a while since I first saw you
And it's been a while since I could stand on my own two feet again
And it's been a while since I could call you

Chapter 18:

It was a brand new day in Karuizawa.

Halley yawned and stretched in her bed on the floor of the twin's room. They called it a bed, but it was really just a few layered blankets and a pillow next to the twin's bed. The bright light from the windows bounced off of the pale blue walls, stinging her eyes a bit. She rolled over, so comfortable in her makeshift bed that she almost refused to get up. She unexpectedly bumped into something large and warm, though. Something even more surprising was the fact that it yawned, too. Apparently, Hikaru had wound up falling off the bed that night. His left arm and leg were hanging on the floor, but the rest of him was on Halley's temporary bed. In Halley's opinion, it was too close for comfort.

She screamed so loud that it made the other two Hikaru and Kaoru jump. The blushing girl clung to her blanket and kicked Hikaru to the floor. Still uneasy, she hit the poor twin with a pillow using all of her might.

"Get." Whack. "Away." Whack. "From." Whack. "Me." Whack. "You." Whack. "Freaking." Whack. "Pervert!" Whack.

"Ow! Okay, I get it! S-stop it!" Hikaru yelled. He did not get it at first, since he had just woken up, but he managed to fit the pieces together and blushed, too. "My bad! My bad!"

LATER...

"I said I was sorry, what more do you want?" Hikaru said as the three of them walked downstairs.

"You owe me, big time. Keep to yourself, you pig!" Halley exclaimed, refusing to look in his direction.

"I didn't mean to... do that! It was an accident!" Halley listened to these familiar words and fumed. Instead of Kaoru getting mad, she was the one pissed off that morning. She instantly regretted doing Kaoru a favor.

"Just... give me some space." Halley said when they reached the bottom of the stairs. "I'll get over it in a while." She walked over to one of the few empty tables and took a seat. It was right by the door and had a good view of the outside. She sat there awkwardly by herself while the twins, Haruhi, and Tamaki talked among themselves at a larger table across the room. They cast a few weird glances in her direction, but eventually got immersed in what Halley presumed was a stupid conversation. She was right: Tamaki sulked in the corner a few minutes later.

A few chimes jingled as the door opened, signaling that someone had arrived. Halley curiously watched a boy walk in with a big box shouting "Good morning! Arai groceries, here!"

The brown haired boy had what looked like a towel hanging over his shoulders and a light blue baseball cap. His looks were average. He was nothing special, really.

Misuzu Sonoda, the owner of the pension Haruhi was working at, rushed over. Halley shivered. He was a cross-dresser, like Haruhi's dad. In fact, they were good friends. This made it all the weirder.

"Good morning to you!" Sonoda greeted. "A working boy, eh? A high schooler?" He asked with his finger resting on his chin in thought.

"Yes, Mam," the boy replied. "I'm helping out at my uncle's shop for the summer."

"How refreshing!" He screamed, creeping out a few onlookers. "Haruhi? Will you put this in the refrigerator for me?"

"Okay!" She agreed. When the two of them made eye contact, the boy's blue cap dropped to the floor.

"Haruhi? As in... Haruhi Fujioka?" `The boy asked slowly.

"Uh, hey, Arai..." The confused girl said.

While the hosts' mouths dropped in shock in the the background, Halley shook her head. She should have realized they were in an episode sooner! And it's a very dramatic one, at that.

LATER...

Halley laughed to herself as the host club chatted with Arai. They discussed his old crush on Haruhi and how when he finally had the guts to ask her out, she rejected him even though she did not know it. Hikaru was being as moody as ever and made quite a few rude comments.

Hey, Hikaru, Halley thought to herself, your jealousy is showing. The girl had somewhat recovered from the earlier incident after all of the light-hearted conversation and funny stories. Hikaru's little outbursts had begun to get on her nerves, though. He was being so rude to a person he did not even know. It was a shame, Arai seemed like a sweet boy.

Everyone but the twins gathered at a table together, discussing Haruhi and Arai's old middle school days. Nostalgia's a funny thing, isn't it?

"Hikaru! Kaoru!" Tamaki called. He invited them over, hoping they would enjoy hearing about Haruhi's middle school days as much as he was.

"Sorry, but I'm not interested," He harshly replied. "Man, how stupid can you guys get? Where's the fun in sitting around and talking about somebody's past? I don't see the appeal. Besides, doesn't that guy realize Haruhi wants nothing to do with him? She's got plenty of friends, so she doesn't need you around, get it?"

Smack!

The rest of the room became silent.

"That's not something for you to decide, Hikaru!" the normally calm Haruhi reprimanded. She had had enough. Halley could understand this. She would not just stand back and watch someone insult an old friend like that. "I'm not going to tolerate you insulting my friends anymore. You got that?"

Hikaru's bangs hid the surprise in his eyes has he stared at the floor, frozen. Did that really happen? "But why... why should anyone else matter to you?"

He slammed the bar and jumped off the bar stool. Now towering over Haruhi, he yelled, "I thought we were your friends? Are we your friends or aren't we?"

His face red, he did not wait for a reply as he ran towards the stairs. he ignored his brother's calls telling him to wait for him, and a little while later, the people downstairs heard a door slam.

Tamaki frowned. "There world is still so small... what a shame."