'Sup guys. It's Janae.

You may notice I'm clutching a roll of paper towels and a spray can of hospital-grade disinfectant. I'll get to that in a moment. First, let's talk about the Host Club.

What can I say? It's only been a couple of months since the Host Club's been set in motion, and already it's the hottest social event Catacombs has ever had.

Del, Jake, Scott, Austin and, of course, the twins, are the most popular guys on campus. Every girl wants to be with them. Every guy trash talks them, which according to my Translating Man book, means they are secretly jealous.

People are so shallow.

In keeping with what the twins fondly call tradition, actual club activities (read: drinking tea/coffee, dressing like gaywads and talking about how there's more to life than being really really really ridiculously good looking) are held in a large music room on Rayburn Hall.

Mind you, it's not exactly an ABANDONED music room, but Catacombs does have some halfway decent music majors, so anyone in there practicing lends to what Kaoru refers as the "atmosphere", whatever the hell that is.

While, as you may recall, the twins blackmailed me into managing this little fiasco, Kaoru and Hikaru also make me devote at least an hour a day to being what they refer to as an "incentive", which is a term Kaoru learned in Econ/Socio 101 that he describes as a "factor that enables or motivates a particular course of action, or counts as a reason for preferring one choice to the alternative. It is an expectation that encourages people to behave in a certain way."

In other words, they make me sit and chat and fawn over whoever is least popular in order to get other girls interested in him.

Yeah, basically they treat me like an indentured employee here, which is total bull crap. It's because I'm the only person they have intimate connections to, obviously.

So they coerce me into running errands, such as making grocery runs, preparing "snackies", and snapping pictures for the club's yearbook debut.

Yes, that's right. They're already in the yearbook because of the damn host club.

Did I mention club membership has tripled? Yes, now we have THRICE the girlpower. I'm taking serious consideration into hiring a new guy host.

Yeah, I know. I wouldn't even be bothered with this situation if I wasn't getting a five-percent cut of club funds. Cha-ching, baby.

In addition to my responsibilities as Host Mom (for some reason, Hikaru keeps calling me that), I of course have a regular Freshman course workload. I tell you, this club cuts into my study time MAJORLY. It doesn't help that I have work study twenty hours a week (five hours every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday).

What's work study, you may ask? Let me tell you the whole, sad story.

Basically the reason I'm spraying "public contact surfaces" with this disinfectant here in Rayburn Hall is because that's one of the many joys bestowed upon the chowderheads, like me, who chose to work facilities as a part-time college job.

I am the one who Hoovers up your Cheez-Its that you ground into the classroom carpet as you left. I am the one who, unbeknownst to you, heaves the bulging, soggy (ew) trash bags from the lobby to the dumpster out back that you never see but always…smell.

And I am the one who, when everyone else is gone, (shudder shudder) scrubs toilets.

Do I even need to say it? Alright, I will:

WHAT the HELL did I do to deserve this?

And the worst part is, this is totally necessary. It's the only way I can garner any discretionary income my Mom won't be able to monitor my usage of. (She has this thing about me spending money on things she hasn't pre-approved, which is basically EVERYTHING)

Since I can't get off the damn mountain to work, I have to stay here and rub sleeves with the porcelain joyride EVERY DAY.

Dude, a twenty-hour workload is KILLING me, especially so close to midterms. I should have cut back my hours when I had the chance. Now, I-

"Janae!"

Dammit, dammit, DAMMIT. Here comes my work supervisor, Geoff. He's 39, he's never EVER happy, and he's my worst enemy here at Catacombs.

Don't ask me why, but the minute we met he decided to make my life a living hell. He works me like an effing packmule all day, and then complains about my attitude and so-called "poor work ethic".

Yeah, like I'm supposed to be overjoyed that he makes me scrub out garbage cans? Keep dreaming, Golden Oldie.

He's walking this way. Boy, does he look pissed.

"Didn't I tell you," he snarls in my face, "to empty the garbage cans from the classrooms, THEN vacuum Third lobby?"

Normally, I would tell someone like him to take a hike. Unfortunately for me, he holds a position of authority here at Catacombs (word on the street is he and the school's major beneficiary are lovers) and would not hesitate to use his influence to get me kicked out of here, as he has told me many times.

So, trying to be patient, I explain, "Geoff, none of the classroom cans are full so I decided to wait until some of th-"

"I don't pay you to think, I pay you to DO WHAT YOU'RE TOLD. And you're getting your pay docked this week."

This guy is PSYCHO. "Geoff, all my free time is eaten up by work already. I don't have time-"

But Geoff is on a role. "Don't talk to me about YOUR busy schedule. I am singlehandedly juggling EVERY facilities student's schedules WHILE dealing with the fact that however many are put to a shift, NOTHING is cleaned to MY standards."

He hands me a bright yellow paper from a stack he's carrying. "I'm holding a mandatory instructional meeting for all facility workers, where I'll FINALLY be able to get it through your thick skulls how to do this job properly. Now, get a mop and do the second-floor bathrooms, again." He yanks the can of disinfectant from my hand. "You've done enough damage with this for today."

God, what a dick. Oh, hang on a sec…

"Geoff." I point at the yellow sheet. "This is being held during one of my afternoon classes. I can't come."

He gives me a very unpleasant smile. "You'll just have to SKIP, then."

"The contract I signed at the beginning of the year said that it's illegal to come to work during class hours."

His face hardens. "You'll do it or you'll be FIRED, Miss Thompson. If I were you, I'd evaluate where my priorities lay. Should you do the wise thing and skip class, I'd also take great care that nobody finds where you really are. If you're caught at work, that's YOUR problem. "

What a pleasant guy, right? It gets better.

As I turn to leave, he (I STILL can't believe this) pinches my butt. And says, "Lookin' good today, by the way."

When I whip back around to glare at him, he winks and licks his lips like a circus clown.

What an effing SLEAZEBALL. I really, REALLY want to smack his fat, smug face. Unfortunately, while being kicked out of Catacombs would be totally worth it, Mom would bury me alive and dance on my grave if I actually did it.

I grab a mop and a bucket of chemicals from the supply closet and stomp into the guy's bathroom. "FACILITIES! GET OUT!" I shout at the top of my lungs.

A terrified freshman flees from the far stall. As the door swings shut, I'm left in silence.

Swiping the mop across the floors in angry, jerking circles, muttering angrily under my breath about how this is all men's fault, I feel hot tears of shame come to my eyes.

"Oh, HELL no." I scrub at my eyes with my sleeve. "This is SO not worth $3.17 an hour."

I am alerted to a door opening behind me. "Angry girl in here mopping. I suggest you GET OUT."

No sound. I spin around to fix him with my best look. "Hey, braintard, I said to ge-"

I'm face-to-face with Kaoru.

Oh, shit. This is not happening.

-=+=-

Kaoru blinked at the shock-faced Janae standing in the men's bathroom. "Anou…ohayo?"

Suddenly, Janae flushed a bright red. "Hey," she muttered under her breath, keeping her eyes down as she shouldered past him to get out. "I've gotta go do…stuff."

"Ou, wait Janae-tan!" Kaoru hurried out and followed her brisk pace. "What are you-"

"I DON'T," she snarled, still bright red, "want to talk about it."

"Janae, wait, calm down, SLOW down…" He followed her across the building into the biology lab.

"Kaoru, just leave me alone. I'm working." Janae set the bucket down and began to mop in sweeping arches, keeping her back to Kaoru.

"Yes, but WHY are you working? And why were you cleaning the men's bathroom?" Kaoru sounded confused.

Janae continued to shove the mop back and forth across the floor. "It's my work study, Kaoru. I've only told you every single day when you ask me where I am all day."

Vaguely, Kaoru does recall this. However, paying attention to Janae's answers were not as crucial to his mind as paying attention to other things about her…NO! Banish that thought!

"Yes, but why are you working at all?"

"I'm trying to save up a little money my mom won't know about. So I can afford the occasional candy bar without being lectured about keeping a reign on my budget."

Kaoru was still confused. "Janae, your mother is a lawyer. She's rich. You don't NEED to work."

Janae sighed. "Did you ever think," she said exasperatedly, "that there might be more to life than being born in a rich family and never having to lift a finger for anything?"

This statement made Kaoru shut up and think for a minute.

"Working is something that EVERYONE has to do at some point in life, rich or not. I'm gaining life skills while I do this, however miserable it makes me to actually BE here. And the money is inarguably MINE, however little I get. So I appreciate it all the more."

"Wow, that's …a really mature way to think about it, Janae-tan."

"Don't call me that," she said automatically. "Really, working's no big deal."

Still, Kaoru remained unconvinced. "Are you SURE there's nothing wrong, Janae?"

"I'm sure." And, just then, her eyes flicked away from his for a split second.

He felt a prickle at the back of his neck. She was lying about something. "Good. I'd hate to have to find out that something wasn't right with this whole "work" thing."

"Y-yeah, sure, whatever." THERE, again she wouldn't meet his eyes. Kaoru was certain she was hiding something from him. "Are you satisfied now, Kaoru?"

No. "Hai." Absolutely not.

"Then get back to the host club. I'm fine." She gave him a rare smile, although it was rather weary. "Really."

"Okay…" Kaoru resigned himself to get back to the other boys in the music room. However, as he walked away from where Janae continued to swab at the dirty floor, he promised himself to talk to Hikaru about it and get to the bottom of this whole mess.

"Don't worry, Janae-tan." He thumped a fist to his chest. "I'm going to get you out of this mess."

Her voice, from far behind him, reached his ears. "I said don't call me that!"

-=+=-

Author's Notes: HEY! Just FYI, Janae's work study experience is based (roughly) on what I'm going through. Thank god MY Geoff is nowhere near the dickhead Janae's is. I decided to cut that little mini-story in half, so sometime next week be looking for the exciting conclusion to the work-study fiasco.

As an aside, I feel really stupid asking this, but someone recently sent me a reply to a review I gave them, and I can't figure out how they did it! It showed up in my hotmail inbox as an (FF Review Reply) but it didn't come up in my inbox, so was it, like completely different from a PM? I'd love to figure out how to do this so I can thank you all personally when you review my stuff!

Since I don't know how to do that yet, I'll just say thanks to: mycarelesswhisper, ILuvHikaruAndKaoru, Surrender In Dance, LilBallOfToixc, Eyna of the Moon, Kyatto-chanxo, have-a-cookie and KitsuneHinote for your reviews! 'Preciate it, lovelies!

Tag time! Iffin y'all be into YuGiOh, check out bjjoke's Mrs Kaiba, which I'm writing a character for! (Kiahu in Ch. 8 if u just wanna skip ahead).

As far as Ouran fandom, if you've seen the English dub outtakes, you'll love peaceofmindalchemist's Say What? which made me LOL several times, disturbing my roomie's nap this afternoon…hahaha.

As always, thanks again for your support and for actually giving a care about my fanfics. I love you all; kisses!