dumbass finds love

CHAPTER 4: establishing a friendship?

Since the drama of yesterday, it had been a pretty lax day. Though you were scared one of the twins would suddenly pop out from behind a corner to kidnap you... Despite that, you went through your first classes without a problem. You didn't even have to answer a single question!

Though it wasn't until lunchtime that Akemi decided to talk to you again. Truthfully, you had felt her eyes on you all day. Curious, but scary. She had sidled up right beside you as you were walking to the lunch hall.

"Sooo, yesterday..." You supposed it was inevitable. "What happened after we left? I mean it was totally crazy, kind of intense. Why'd you sit in the corner? Did you break a rule or something?"

Bombarded with questions, you tried to remember the first one she asked you. "Oh, not much..." She kept looking at you, intent on an answer. You should've known she wouldn't be satisfied with your current one. "There was just some, uh, confusion."

"About what?"

The question, though you knew it was coming, still made you wince. "Uh, they just thought that..." You felt yourself get sweaty as you struggled for an answer.

"We were curious about how she got into Ouran."

Surprised, you looked up to see the twins standing there. You heard Akemi let out a small squeal beside you.

"Yeah, since her family's not all that rich." Ouch. True, but ruthless.

Akemi joined in, "Oh, yeah! How did you get in?"

"Oh, uh, I just took the entrance exam." As a joke, you left out.

Akemi seemed to accept it, "Wow, you must be really smart then. I'm surprised no one talks about it like they do Haruhi."

So Haruhi's not rich? You supposed that made sense since when you first saw her, since she was wearing a sort of worn out outfit that didn't fit in at all with the school. Honestly, you didn't even know how your parents made up the money for the uniform yourself...

The boys seemed to take Akemi's comment to note. "Well, we'll see you girls around today?" One asked. Taking a glance at Akemi, you saw she was nodding at you with a slight smile. You nodded once at them in confirmation awkwardly. Damn peer pressure!

They both smiled, though it seemed disingenuous, and walked away from you and Akemi.

When you looked at her and nodded towards them as an unspoken question, she answered, "That's the Hitachiin twins, Hikaru and Kaoru."

"How do you tell them apart?" You asked.

"Uh, yeah, I don't really know," She admitted, chuckling.

After a moment of silence, you decided to initiate some conversation. "So, why do you like the host club, Akemi?"

"Oh, just call me Rei." She smiled at you. At your surprise, she assured you, "I have a feeling we're going to be good friends."

What did that mean?