HaruHaru

Chapter 3: When life gives you lemons

"Hey Haruka, you okay?" came the concerned question from the blue haired girl. Haruka looked up at her friend, she had her blue hair left down as always, gathering the top portion of her hair into a semi ponytail at the back and two clips at the sides of her face to push the hairs back with short blunt bangs.

"Yea, I'm fine," Haruka said with a weak smile. Hikari grimaced, the brunette was never good at lying, one of the things that made her so likeable was her innocent ways.

"Haruka, you know I can tell when you're lying." Hikari said with a stern look.

Haruka simply shook her head, "Oh it's nothing, I'm just worried about the cheerleading thing is all," Haruka said.

Hikari brought her eyebrows together, she knew that wasn't it but didn't press her friend, eventually she would tell her, Haruka always told Hikari everything. They had been best friends since first grade when Haruka stood up for Hikari when the boys in the class had been bulling her. She thought back to that moment, Hikari had just moved to Touka City and didn't really know anyone there. Hikari had been a bit chubby when she was young and the boys started teasing her for it, that's when Haruka came in. No one else had defended her except Haruka who made the boys stop and even invited Hikari over to her house to play. From then on, Haruka and Hikari had become inseparable, Hikari had learned that Haruka was a very sweet and innocent sort of girl who wasn't able to hide her feelings easily.

"Okay, well I'll be right back, I'm going to go to the restroom for a bit." Hikari said as she stood up and Haruka smiled and nodded. As Hikari was about to enter the restroom she heard voices that sounded quite familiar and the topic of discussion had peaked her interest, so she stood back and listened.

"Did you see the look on her face when she saw those letters?" came the first voice.

"Hahaha…ya, it was so priceless." Responded the second.

"Now girls, let's not gloat too much like some sort of trashy villain from a drama." Came a third voice.

Hikari wondered what they were talking about, she recognized the girls as being girls from her class and the last voice she knew was definitely Urara's.

"Well she totally deserved it," the first voice again.

"Yea, I mean she probably thinks she's so cool just because she got lucky enough to sit next to Shu." The second voice said with annoyance.

"I've even seen her stare at him from time to time and try to talk to him." Continued the first voice.

"Well the little mouse needs to know her place, she isn't good enough for Shu, and she needs to learn to keep her distance." Urara said in a voice of superiority.

"Ugh, that Haruka, I cant stand her." Came the second voice

"Yea, well if she doesn't learn her lesson, it's only going to get worse for her!" came the strong words of the first girl.

Hikari listened to the three girls, her anger rising and before she could stop herself, she confronted the girls.

"You three have a lot of nerve!" Hikari said as she pointed a finger at the group who turned to look at her.

"Oh, it's the little mouse's friend" came the first girl.

"It's rude to point, at least have some manners." Urara said not looking in Hikari's direction, but continuing to prim herself in front of the mirror.

"Manners? You're one to talk! Leaving nasty comments and bullying another person, I don't think that's very polite!" Hikari said with indignation. Urara didn't seem fazed at all by the girls comments.

"Come on girls, I'm done here, lets go." Urara said as she began walking out.

"What? Don't think I'm done with you!" Hikari said trying to stop the girl.

"Oh I think we're done here, I mean what exactly are you going to do? My father has donated a vast sum to this school, and not only that I'm a reclaimed model who is loved by everyone. You don't stand a chance against me." Urara said as she walked away from the blue haired girl.

Some time later Hikari walked into the class, they were still on lunch break.

"Hikari, what's wrong?" Haruka asked as she saw her friends face red.

"Haruka, I'm your best friend, why didn't you tell me about the bullying?" Hikari asked with anger. Haruka frowned and looked down.

"It's nothing I cant handle, besides, I'm just supposed to stay away from Shu and I'll be fine." Haruka said looking up at her friend.

"But this isn't fair!" Hikari said still angry.

"It's fine Hikari, I'll be fine." Haruka said trying to reassure her friend.

"You remember how we became friends? How you protected me? Well I wanted to be able to do that for you. But I can't because they have power, wealth and fame on their side." Hikari said as tears started welling up.

"Hikari, if you remember that, you should realize that I can protect myself. I'm not one to let people bully me. But its easier to just ignore Shu than to take them on, so I decided to not have much to do with him." Haruka said comforting her friend. Hikari took a deep breath and calmed down.

"Fine, but no more hiding things from me." Hikari said looking into the brunettes eyes.

Haruka smiled, "Promise." Soon lunch break was over and the class returned. Haruka glanced over at Urara who had a wicked smile on her face, but ignored it. She wasn't going to let Urara get to her, and besides from how Shu always seemed to treat her, she was happy to stay away from him, as much as possible.

With school over and the day coming to an end Hikari and Haruka went home. The second week of school went by without too much problems, Haruka still would get angry glares from girls for being able to sit next to Shu, but other than not much happened.

"Well it looks like our little warning worked on the little mouse." Said the second girl with a triumphant attitude.

"Yea, now hopefully other girls who try to get near our beloved Shu will be just as easy." Chimed in the first girl.

"Still let's keep an eye on Haruka, she might come to realize that she can't possibly go without trying to get Shu's attention with him being so close. You know how pathetic girls like her can get." Urara said as the three walked over to Ryu and Shu.

"Hmm….now that's very interesting. Seems our little cheerleader isn't very well liked. Well who can blame them, the little twerpette is so annoying. Well little Haruka, seems I've found the perfect opportunity." Came the devilish voice of a tall figure as he tapped his fingers together with malice in his eyes.

The next day Haruka and Hikari came to school bright and early. Haruka was in a good mood she had gotten up early today, which is quite rare for her and had been able to take care of everything before leaving the house. Usually Haruka would need Hikari to help fix her hair and make sure her uniform was on correctly while they were on the train, but not today. Today Haruka had her hair tied up in two pigtails at the top of her head, held together by pink bows done before she left her house. Her maroon blazer with the school's insignia had no wrinkles, the bow around her neck was tied nicely, her white button down had all the buttons buttoned correctly and her plaid burgundy skirt with silver lines was all perfect.

"Today is going to be a good day." Haruka said beaming as she walked over to her seat. "I can feel it."

Hikari smiled at her friend, Haruka was usually always in a good mood, but for some reason she was in a particularly good mood today.

"Did you get the email?" Hikari asked as they arrived to their seats.

"Yup, cheerleading starts next week." Haruka said with a smile.

"I'm so excited, cannot wait for it." Hikari said as she turned around in her to face Haruka.

"Okay everyone, let's settle down." Came the sweet voice of their teacher, Makomo sensei. Makomo sensei began discussing something with the class. "Well class, I don't know how many of you know this, but our school prides itself on its student council. It's actually very large student council because each year is represented and each class within that year is also represented. As such we have to choose two representatives from our class to send to the student council, as well, representatives. One boy and one girl is the quota, any volunteers or maybe even any suggestions?" Makomo sensei said as she looked around the classroom. No one said anything.

Makomo sensei sighed and continued, "Well we need to submit two names in by lunch time." She finished.

"What about Shu?" Ryu suggested, to which Shu shot him a glare and Ryu smiled. Soon the class was abuzz, it seemed everyone liked the idea.

"I'll volunteer for the girl position" came a girl, but soon others joined wanting to be the girl representatives. Becoming a representative with Shu would be endless opportunities to be with him. Urara cleared her throat loudly enough to get the girls to stop.

"I nominate Urara," chimed in one of the girls that usually hung out with Urara.

"Me too, I think Urara would be perfect!" came the second girl.

"No way!" came the indignant complaint. The other girls rallied up behind her, they were not about to allow Urara in if they had a chance, no matter how much they feared and respected her. Urara's face grew dark, she was mad that her plan did not work.

Makomo sensei sighed again, "Alright, alright, now does anyone have a problem with Shu being the male representative?" she asked the class, no one spoke up, the pressure from the girls kept any boys who had objections to themselves.

"Okay, so now we need to decide on a girl, I guess after lunch we can discuss this more, so think within yourself for who would be a good candidate. Until then lets focus on the lessons." And with that Makomo sensei closed the subject and got her class in order.

During lunch time Haruka and Hikari sat next to each other and ate in the classroom as they had been doing. Haruka noticed from the corner of her eye that Shu and his little crew had left the classroom, they had been doing this since the second day of class. The first day, everyone wanted to sit next to them and Shu seemed very annoyed so starting the next day they would always eat somewhere else. The class was annoyed that they separated themselves like that, but their admiration and adoration for the group made them get over it pretty quickly.

"This whole student council think is a pain." Hikari said sighing. Haruka nodded as she ate.

"Yea, well I know I'm not going to volunteer for the position." Haruka said laughing to which Hikari joined and agreed.

"Right, me neither, seems like they're asking for trouble." Hikari commented.

"I don't get what's so great about him, I mean he's cute, rich and smart but other than that…he's got the personality of a cardboard box." Haruka said as she looked over at the empty seat next to her.

Hikari laughed, "So you think he's cute?" she teased to which Haruka blushed slightly.

"Well come on, don't you?" Haruka retored. Hikari smiled.

"Yea, he is, but he's not really my type. Seems like a cocky kinda guy." Hikari noted.

"Yea, your type is the broody, quiet type, huh?" Haruka said, the girls laughed and talked some more before finishing their food.

Once class was over Makomo sensei addressed the subject of who was going to be the girl representative. However the girls were still indecisive, even if some of the girls got their friends to back them up it was still no good, there were just too many candidates.

"Yohooo" came the sing song voice by the door, the class diverted their attention to the person at the entryway.

"Um yes?" Makomo sensei asked curiously, a tall by wearing the burgundy blazer, a white button downed shirt, a burgundy skinny tie and black slacks stood by the door, his wavy purple hair coming down to his shoulders.

"Ew…it's that guy from before." Haruka mumbled as she shuttered, unbeknownst to her, Shu had heard her and saw her reaction, and focused his attention on this intruder.

"Hello sensei, the name's Harley, I'm here from the student council. I'm here to pick up the representatives of this class. Haruka and Shu." Harley said with a big smile.

"Um, yes we had decided on Shu, but not Haruka, actually we hadn't decided on the girl yet." Makomo sensei said adjusting her glasses.

"What, no, that's not possible I was told that your representatives would be Haruka and Shu," to which he turned to the class and spotted Haruka who had a shocked expression on her face.

"Yohoo Haruka darling," Harley said with a wink in her direction, all the girls turned to glare at her, they had thought that she used her friend in the council to get herself as the representative. Hikari turned to her friend, but Haruka was too shocked to look at Hikari.

"Well that's odd, but I suppose that does make it easier, we were having a hard time deciding." Makomo sensei replied.

"Wait sensei, that's not fair, there are plenty of girls who wanted that spot." Urara said, not wanting Haruka to steal the spot, and soon the other girls rallied up behind her.

"Well, it's true but there was no decision that was unanimous, and I don't know how he got word that it was Haruka but this makes the job easier so it is decided, end of that. Haruka, Shu you can go ahead." Makomo sensei said addressing the two. Haruka sat frozen, unsure of what happened. Shu seeing this grabbed the girls hand and walked out of the classroom, earning her more the other girls' wrath.