Prince of Darkness & The Lady of Stars

The Girl, the Scare, and the Neighbor

'Alright, everything unpacked? Check!' I thought to myself as I went through my check list. "Hm, now all that's left is for me to go shopping! Did I get a map of the town..?" I chirped as I walked out of my room, looking for the map I thought I bought. A few minutes passed and I couldn't find it. It is pretty early in the morning still and school hasn't started up yet, so my little brother and my nephew are probably still asleep. Amy, my older sister, is out working right now. I sighed and left a note on the fridge saying that I was going shopping for something other than boxed sweets.

I walk out the door in a pair of jeans, sneakers, a white t-shirt, and my purse.  Sighing I tried my best to keep track of where I'm headed, stopping to ask directions here and there. Boy this has got to be the longest walk I've ever taken! I kept walking until I stopped and looked around to see an apartment building. "Oh geez I'm lost already aren't I?" I muttered to myself starting to get panicky.

"Excuse, Miss? Are you lost?" I hear a feminine, yet boyish, voice from next to me. I look around and then I see a girl with a dark brown pixie cut right next to me. Looking directly at me! I jumped in shock and gasped. I wasn't expecting her to be so close or talking directly to me!!

"Eh!?! Uh...I um...yeah I just moved in to one of the largest houses down the road." I stuttered our still slightly panicked from her sudden appearance.

"Oh, ok! Sorry I didn't mean to startle you." The girl apologized. She didn't seem to look like she cared, but I could tell in her voice that she meant what she said. 

"Oh no, it's ok! Do you, by any chance, know where the grocery store is?" I responded finally calming down. I looked at her again and noticed that she was about my height, maybe a bit shorter.

"Yeah I walk there all the time! I was heading there right now, actually." She piped up and started heading to the store with a smile. "Follow me, it's not too far from here!"

I smiled softly and followed her. We got to the store and I immediately felt out of place. I looked toward the girl who gestured for me to go ahead. I gulped and looked around, not being able to read the majority of the products. The girl had followed me and looked at me with a confused expression. "You aren't from Japan, are you?" She asked and took something off the shelf.

"Eh heh...you caught me!" I chuckled nervously. "I'm from America...it's a bit of an adjustment since I haven't started up school yet." 

She nodded and looked at me again. "I can see why, you're a long way from home. I'm Haruhi Fujioka by the way." She held out her hand with a kind smile.

"Lena Smith. It's nice to make your acquaintence, Haruhi." I greeted back and shook her hand. Haruhi helped me with my shopping for a bit until I was reading something and didn't catch what she had told me. I turned around to ask her something only to see she had disappeared.  'This is not good!' I panicked to myself and ran around getting an anxiety attack. People looked at me weird and some of the mom's hid their children behind them when I asked if they saw Haruhi pass by. This may seem weird to say, but I have Mazeophobia and monophobia. I'm utterly afraid of getting lost and being alone! I start crying as I just sat infront of the meat section with my head resting on my knees.

"Lena?" Haruhi's voice came from next to me. I thought I was imagining things until I heard fast footsteps coming my way and suddenly someone hugged me. I knew it was Haruhi and immediately clinger to her like my life depended on it. "What happened, why are you crying!?!"

"P-please don't leave me like that again!" I stuttered out. Haruhi seemed to understand.

"Oh I see...you're afraid of being lost and alone, huh?" She asked and just hugged me closer. "You're ok now. I won't leave your side, promise."

"Tha-thanks Haruhi." I mumbled and she helped me up as I wiped my eyes and smiled at her.

"No problem, what do you all need?" Haruhi asked as we started walking through the store together and I finally relaxed.

"Well...all we have at home right now are processed sweets. So everything I guess!" I chuckled a bit. Haruhi smiles and yanked me around the store as we filled my cart with basically everything from strawberries to steak. After we were done and we paid for our things, Haruhi walked me home to make sure I didn't get lost again. "I must thank you, Haruhi. That was an experience!" I chuckled and Haruhi smiled up at me.

"It was no problem at all, Lena. By the way, I know this may sound rude, but how old are you and how come you have so much money?" She asked me in a confused manner. I chuckled nervously.

"Oh I'm 16, I'll be attending Labella Academy, and well...My Grandpa is the founder and owner of a music company called the Music Smith. He earns a lot every year so he gives me, my younger brother, my older sister and my little nephew an allowance of $719,363 combined every other month depending on how much we use up. I'm pretty sure that equals to 80,000,000 yen for everyone in the house to use." I informed her. She looked at me like she was disappointed or just done with everyone's crap in general. "Is there something wrong?"

"You don't look like a rich person at all and you certainly don't act like one or live in a very rich neighborhood." She told me. I just shrugged as we kept walking.

"Well I didn't grow up with my grandpa giving me money all the time and I don't like the attention it brings. You see my mom is kind of a second class citizen. Of course, she owns a small local real estate company back in America, but that doesn't bring in a whole lot. My dad is the one who's blood related to my rich grandfather and they don't get along much." I explained. I noticed we just passed Haruhi's apartment and she was still walking along side me. "Uh, Haruhi, wasn't that your apartment?" I pointed it out and she shrugged.

"I'm just making sure you don't get lost on your way home again. Don't worry I've lived here my whole life." Haruhi told me with a reassuring smile. I smiled back uneasily. 

"How old are you? If you don't mind me asking." I asked curiously.

"I'm 15, I go to Ouran as an Honor Student." She answered me. I smiled at her and got a little too excited.

"Oh my younger brother is 15 and is going to be attending Ouran, too! Maybe you two could be friends...that's if he behaves like a human being instead of a robot." I mumbled the last sentence and Haruhi giggles. 

"Maybe. Will he be in my class A with me?"

"No, he's in class B..." I sighed in defeat.

"Well I'm sure the host club will notice him right away for being new! Too bad you aren't attending Ouran, beware of the clubs and girls there. They can be a bit...pushy and very feministic." Haruhi informed me as we stopped infront of my house where Amy was getting out of a taxi looking like she just had a tornado hit her.

"I'm guessing that's your sister? She's your legal guardian here right?" Haruhi asked me slightly unsure of what to say or do about her.

"Yeah, her name's Amy, she's been a wreck since her husband died...I tried to get her a real job but she went to work drunk and got herself fired." I grumbled and fished my keys from my purse. Haruhi nodded to me once with a hum to tell me she understood.

"Well, I should get home. So you around, Lena!" And with that, she walked back home as we waved bye to each other. Boy this was gonna be a doozy...