dumbass finds love

CHAPTER 5: another day, another forced friendship

Ever since Akemi-- Rei's, you corrected yourself, premonition of a good friendship, she had been following you around like a puppy.

To be fair, it had only been just an hour after lunch. Still, the sentiment was there. The girl in question was right beside you, having exchanged seats with another girl since the class was working on homework. Though at this moment, the teacher was in the middle of a lecture.

As you tapped your pencil against the desk, you thought about Rei's answer.

"I don't know. I guess I just need someone to talk to." 

You looked back at her again, as her eyes were trained on the teacher and his every word.

You liked Rei, you really did. It was just hard not to be cynical since you weren't supposed to be here. Ever since you somehow made it in on a whim, you thought that. You never dreamed you would be here. You thought you'd be back at your old school with your old friends, laughing and smiling like you always had. Here, you just frowned or smiled out of politeness. Here, it was cold. People laughed but it was a laugh without worry, with money. You didn't fit in. Then again, maybe Rei didn't fit in either... Looking back on it, you had never seen her really talking to anyone. Well, she had, and you had assumed they were great friends when you weren't friends with her, but maybe it was fake.

For a second, you thought, maybe you'd try for her.

*

After your last few classes, you listened to Rei ramble on and on about boys and clothing brands as she hooked her arm with yours. You'd give her nods or hums of approval, occasional comments and questions.

She was pretty funny, actually.

Even though you really did not want to walk into a room especially designed for your doom (that would be other girls dreams), you did it with a sigh as a barrage of rose petals whacked you in the face. Seriously, what was their deal?

"Welcome." The boys (and totally not a girl) greeted you in a soft, suave tone of voice.

Again, Rei squealed and you sighed. You supposed you'd have to get used to it, since this was your life now. As Rei scrambled in and you shuffled in behind her, every host club member's eyes were on you. Of course. You had kind of expected it since the ominous interaction with the twins.

However, what you didn't expect, was after Tama-something-or-other catered to Rei for a moment, he gestured her to Ootori before he made his way up to you.

Oh, no.

"L/N, was it?"

You stared dumbly at him for a second and tried not to imagine how weird he must've thought you look, and sputtered an answer, "Um, yeah."

Suddenly, he swung (elegantly, somehow?) an arm around your shoulders and pulled you in close. "Now, L/N-san, since you know about," he dropped his voice to whisper, "Haruhi's situation, we should talk."

Slightly ominous, but considering his otherwise cheerful yet suave demeanor, it couldn't be that bad. You let him guide you away as all of the girls eyed you, either narrowed in jealousy or widened with curiosity. He led you where nobody would really be able to hear and sat you at a table.

He poured you a cup of tea and smiled, making you realize you should be questioning why they already had made tea at a table so far away... 

"As you already know, Haruhi comes from a poorer family, such as yourself," for people who grew up being told to be respectful and polite, they don't have such great manners, "You can relate to her in ways we, and other female students here, can't! Not only will you have a camaraderie over the hardships of being poor, but you can bring out her inner woman!"

...Seriously...? Just how out of touch is this guy?

As he rants on about "Haruhi's potential", you take a glance behind you to see the other group members also taking their own glances at you two (minus Honey and Mori).

Looking back at the guy in front of you again, his smile is all teeth, and, somehow sparkling? "Well, what do you say, L/N?"

Your mind is blank before you say, "Does Haruhi know?"

"Yes, somewhat."

"Uh, I don't mind being friends with her..." You think he's about ready to jump up and cheer, but only smiles and says "perfect", grabbing your hand gently to help you up and let you go back to the main group. You walk away in sort of disbelief, before thinking, "Wait, what about the tea?"

As he guided you to Haruhi, she looked between you two before giving you a smile. You smiled back at your new friend (yay...) and took a seat across from her, just as the girls accompanying her said their goodbyes.

Waiting a minute to make sure they were far enough away, she then spoke. "I hope he didn't give you too much of a hard time... I know he's a lot but he's pretty earnest."

"Yeah, I gathered. He's a bit much, from what I've seen..." You smiled again nevertheless and sighed a little to signal the changing of conversation. "Soo, I heard you got a scholarship here."

"Ah, yeah. You did, too, right?"

"Yeah..." Somehow, you leave unspoken. You think she sensed your awkwardness and trepidation because she gave you a smile of sort of solidarity and nodded to Rei.

With another smile, you waved and walked back to your friend. She was twirling her hair as Kyoya served to distract her from your absence with their leader. Rei smiled at you, lightly taking your hand to hold it, but her brow was quirked in confusion. 

Rei looked like she was about to speak but Kyoya interupted with a smile "Now, what was it we were just talking about? oh your earrings was it? I know the designer, its a very good brand-" Rei nodded her head getting distracted by him before she shook her head "yes but Y/N-" 

You noticed Kyoya had seemed to keep getting inbetween you and Rei, almost on purpose? you guessed it probably had something to do with you being here held up here so often lately.. shoot should you also be trying to avoid talking about this? you stood there thinking for a moment

Before you could continue kyoya shot you with a glare that made you gulp, I should probably say something. Eventually she excused herself from the table and walked up to you "so, what have you been up to? you seem to have gotten held up back there a lot these past few days" She squinted her eye at you skeptically as you felt a bead of sweat roll down your face.

"I uh.. well they've been extremely interested on how I got my scholarship here.. I guess." you say holding your breathe, you were a terrible liar under pressure. There was some silence for awhile before she spoke up again "huh, well thats cool then!" She said with a small smile before intertwining her arm with yours as you both made your way out of the host club. These little antics of her used to take you by surprise but you're honestly used to it now.

By this point this whole school experience was starting to feel like some sort of prank, and theres at least one time a day you're having an abundance of rose petals thrown in your face, Men with long lashes and pouty faces always surrounding you with tea and cakes, you would've never thought your life would ever turn out this way thats for sure.