Happy New Year! I'm leaving behind a lot of things and hopefully I can better my cause. So maybe in your spare time you can read this, but remember I'm not forcing you to. You might need a DeviantArt account to read this- there's some mild mature content. But nothing too inappropriate, I promise.

You can copy and paste this into your address bar but there is a space between deviantart and .com to prevent the filtering.

deviantart .com/art/Child-Abuse-Awareness-Happy-New-Year-277037206?q=gallery%3AAtyramacia%20randomize%3A1&qo=0

And with that thought, here is that update I've been leaving behind!

December 31

Dear Mrs. McLead,
Thank you again so much for helping me buy my new home. I feel it was a very worthy investment in money on my part and time on yours, and I can't thank you enough for taking time out of your day to help me narrow down my choices. The cottage is beautiful, and in time, I will make it my home.

Sincerely, Reese

I tapped the last letter on my keyboard and pressed 'enter' to send her the email, and stood up off of the floor to gaze at the few boxes surrounding me.
If there was one thing I hated, it was moving, but at least I didn't have many belongings to move in the first place. Regardless of how little there was, the last thing I felt like doing was unpacking boxes and sleeping on the front lawn didn't sound like such a bad idea after all. I checked the corner of my laptop to find it was 7:52, and I decided that either way, a nap was in short order. I curled up and dozed off for a while, just a normal, dreamless nap- and when I stood and ruffled my hair back into place, I picked up said laptop and moved the mouse to check the clock again.

It was nearly 11:00. I sighed somewhat- New Year's had never been my thing- and trotted to the kitchen to the only thing that was unpacked and ready to go, also known as my refridgerator. I pulled out meats and cheeses and began to snack, of course. I'd never been one much to care about my figure and if I ended up being fat later in life, well, that was my own problem.

Ah. How it surprised me that my silly Host Club radar didn't detect them breaking into my house in a very ninja style fashion. They pulled me right off the counter mid-salami and, startled, I kicked SOMEONE in his face but was not quite sure who. That question was answered almost immediately-

"UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" came Tamaki's scream, and I looked up to see blood coming out of his nose.

I grinned just a bit sadistically. "Sorry about that. You all should really be careful about the people you stalk." I said, staring at the entire motley crew amid Tamaki's claims that he was NOT a stalker. Kyoya nodded, clipboard in hand as he scribbled. "I don't think I have to ask how you found me..." I said,
glaring at him somewhat, and he just smiled in his calculating way and his glasses flashed. "So what crappy half-baked plan did Tamaki come up with tonight that apparently ALL the hosts have to attend?"

"A New Year's Eve ball being held at the Suoh Estate."

And, well, next thing I know I'm naturally being dragged off by the idiots to Tamaki's place and I am handed my choice outfit of the night. A pale yellow long sleeved shirt with a sparkly golden vest. And that is NOT the best part. I also had long black trousers that appeared to be bedazzled in swirly patterns.
A long sleeved white trench coat (meant to be worn unbuttoned) came with the deal, and you know what? That's still not the BEST part.

"How do you people wear this crap? It's so tacky!" I yelled in one of the guest rooms- apparently for tonight a spare changing room- as I stared at the horrid sparkly black top hat with swirly golden and white ribbon at the base. But then Honey gave me the puppy dog eyes. "Please put it on, Ry-sama? For ME?" his eyes watering. I inwardly moped at the outward, extroverted outfit that would surely suck all life out of me and kill me from the inside out. See? I'm dying already.

Well, I put on that craptastic outfit and dealt with it.

I stepped into the ballroom from a side door, and was suddenly surrounded by classical music and dancing people. The thought occurred to me that there must have been upwards of five hundred people. As much as I tried to make myself invisibly, it was not happening, and a plethora of girls from Ouran rushed up to me and gooned over the outfit. "Ooooh! It's so beautiful!" "Dear god, you're so gorgeous!" "DANCE WITH MEEE!" So I grabbed some random girl's hand, knowing that dancing was required, and swung her around the floor as others looked on. Now, I don't believe very much in cliches, especially in my story, but it just so happened that this was one of those fairy tale dances in which everyone stops to gaze at the main protagonist and his (or her) partner in their dancing glory, and this just happened to be one of those moments. It panicked me a little to know that everyone was watching me, but I kept smiling.

"Reese... they're all watching us!" the girl gushed, and blushed, and whatever-ushed. I grinned. "It's fine. Let them. For now, it's all about you." I said,
turning on that special charm that I'd been forced to fine-tune during Host Club meetings. She squealed but didn't let go of my hands as I swung her around.

I went through a few more ladies and eventually, something caught my eye. That dark green shade of hair and the slate eyes, and I growled inwardly. That Kanate creep- he was new to Ouran, right?- was standing at the drinks and sipping lightly. I almost ignored him, I swear I almost did! but the golden head of Tamaki advancing toward him sparked my brain. It's always weird how Tama-senpai could pick out the good looking ones without appearing gay, even if he did occasionally come off as such. But if there was one thing I WASN'T, it was stupid- and like most other people could probably draw from this picture, it was that Tamaki was most likely wandering over there to invite him to join the hosts. Just then, the most current song ended and I let go of the girl. How convenient of the narrator to do so. Well, I thought as I ran, and MAYBE dumping a glass of punch all over his outfit would delay him, but he would eventually ask Kanate anyway.

Hell, it was worth a shot!

So I grabbed a glass off of the table and dashed behind Tamaki lightning-style, and threw it on the back of his outfit and dashed into the crowd before he could see, JUST as he reached Kanate. I watched from a distance as Tamaki's eyes widened and he turned tail to try and see the back. Naturally, in his Tama-like reflexes, he grabbed a french silk pie and hurled it at the nearest person. That particular person happened to run him into the table.

Well, I'd started a good old fashioned food fight, and it was more than I had hoped for.

I had never seen so much food fly in my life- when there was line of tables two hundred and fifty feet long holding the buffet, I'll leave the imagining up to you. Pretty much the entire ballroom was painted a new color, with a variety of greens and reds and browns and the like repainting the walls. I was not exempted from the fire and ended up getting pummeled myself, but it was a rather large improvement over the starting point for my outfit.

So just as midnight struck, no one was paying attention and a mass food rainbow had been pasted along all the walls.

Girls were screaming and screeching about their dresses but most had already gotten too wild in the frenzy to truly care, and the refined gentlemen had turned into food-pumping machine guns in the natural way of having good old fashioned teenage fun. And, well, when I happened to turn, the Shadow King Kyoya was glaring at me like murder, and I cringed. Vanilla mint ice cream was pasted to the side of his head, a glob of tuna salad covered one of his glasses lens that he viciously wiped off, and I couldn't even tell what was on his outfit anymore.

And I was most certainly dead.