[Chapter 2: Many Wonderful Friends]
**Hana's POV**
I close the door behind me and went into my room. I placed my bag on the floor near my desk and laid down onto my bed.
Today was a tiring day. I did not expect this to happen.
Sigh...
***
Here I am in the bathroom practising my smile and a greeting for the millionth time.
Why can't I make any friends?
**Flashback**
This is my first day at high school.
I hope I can finally make new friends...
Not like I have been successful before...
I was sick for two weeks so I guess my classmates have already all formed their own cliques.
***
"Class, this is Hana Satoki. He was sick for two weeks and has finally recovered so please be nice and make friends with him."
"h-Hello." I greeted the class.
Everyone seems nice.
***
After school, many students came to my table to talk to me. This is the most people I have ever had talk to me. I'm really happy.
"Which school were you from before?"
"Do you have any pets?"
"Where do you stay?"
"Do you live nearby?"
"You're so cute. How do you take care of your skin?"
I was bombarded with questions and didn't know how to answer so I tried to think of a reply. But I couldn't come up with anything so I kept thinking of one.
'Hi. How are you today?' Nah too formal.
How about 'How do you do?' Nah. Also too formal.
Shouldn't I answer a question first..?
But which question should I answer?
But, I'm really happy to have people talk to me. ^^
My classmates though, thought I was ignoring them. But I wasn't. I was just deep in thought on how to answer back.
"Guys, let's go, I don't think he likes us. He's clearly ignoring us." One of the students said and walked away and one by one they followed.
And soon no one was left.
Oh! I should just say hi first then think about what to say to them.
"Hello." I finally said after a while but I noticed no one was there.
Only me.
Where did they all go?
Maybe they went to buy something and will be right back so I waited.
.
.
.
and waited...
.
.
.
and waited...
But in the end, no one came back.
So I didn't make any friends that day and walked home alone.
**End of Flashback**
I showered and ate dinner by myself. Afterwards, I did my homework and went to sleep cuddling with my only companion, my stuffed bear, Mr Bear. I'm not very creative so... Sorry, Mr Bear.
***
"Good Morning Mr Bear, did you sleep well?"
I got up and prepared for school. Just another average day.
I hope I can make a friend today.
***
When I reached class, no one talked to me but it's not like they bully me or anything, just no "Good Morning." like they say to each other. But I still try.
"Good Morning." I say softly to the class and sat at the desk in the middle of the classroom.
They say that popular students always sit in the middle as they have a lot of friends. But I'm not very popular so is it okay if I sit here?
I wonder if someone will come over and tell me to get out of my seat cause I'm not popular. I hope so... cause I'll be able to have someone to talk to. Even if it's just for a few minutes, I'll be satisfied.
But no one did.
I should try talking to them but every time I do, I'll just embarrass myself as the words get stuck in my throat and won't come out as I'm too nervous about finally being able to talk to an actual person instead of my own reflection in the mirror.
***
It's lunchtime now and I'm eating my bento outside, in the maze as I feel too out of place eating in the classroom as some of my classmates stay there for lunch to chat.
Suddenly, I hear someone walking closer which shocked me. I didn't think anyone would be coming here during lunchtime.
I stood there stoned that someone was walking closer and closer to where I was.
It was the brunette girl I saw yesterday.
"Hi." She said when she saw me.
Eh, oh my god. Someone is actually talking to me. What do I do? What do I say? Help me, Mr Bear!!
"h-Hi" I stuttered back.
Her eyes widened slightly as if shocked that I replied to her.
"I'm sorry about yesterday. They can get a bit... You know?"
I'm not sure what to say. What do you normally say in this position?
I just slightly nodded and she looked like she understood.
"Oh, I almost forgot, I'm Haruhi Fujioka but you can call me Haruhi."
Oh my god. I didn't even talk and I can already call her by her first name!! Is this how it works?
Okay calm down Hana, be confident, act natural...
"I-I'm Hana S-satoki, b-but you can c-call me H-hana." I say quietly almost like a whisper.
Damn it, I messed up but I think she heard me as she gave me a small smile.
A-are we friends now? This is great!! But should I ask her first..?
"A-are... e.... ow?"
I muttered softly.
"Erm... Sorry, could you repeat that?" Haruhi says as she comes closer. What do I do?! I've never talked this much with a person before!!
"A-are we f-friends now?" I asked shyly looking down.
The word 'friend' feels so foreign when I say it.
"Yeah.." Haruhi replies.
"That's great... " I muttered to myself as I looked down and found my mouth doing something weird.
The corners of my mouth went slightly up automatically and I feel all warm inside.
.
.
.
Wait!
.
.
.
Am I smiling?!
Is this what it feels like to smile..?
I feel giddy and there are butterflies in my stomach. I have a friend now! So this is what it feels like to have a friend!!
"So.. Do you eat here often..?" Haruhi asks me snapping my line of thought.
What do I do? How do I answer it? If I answer wrongly, would she hate me? Okay, I'll just show her a smile. The book says that if you don't know how to reply, just smile.
So I continued looking down and prepared to smile.
Just then, "Yo, Haruhi, what are you doing here?" Two people said in unison just as I looked at Haruhi with my smile and then I realized, she wasn't looking at me anymore. She was looking at the twins along with the rest of the host club that I saw yesterday and when they saw me smiling at Haruhi, they gasped.
Why are they gasping? Is there something behind me or on my face?
I looked behind me but there was no one there and when I turned back, the tall blonde quickly walks over with an angry expression and grabs Haruhi and pulls her behind his back in a protective way(?) while glaring at me.
But why..?
"WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO TO HARUHI?!" He shouted really angry.
My eyes widened in shock. E-ehh..? W-what did I do? I'm scared. I try to hold back my tears as I am being shouted at.
"Tamaki-senpai, what are you talking about? I was only talking to Hana-senpai." Haruhi said sounding annoyed.
"B-but Haruhi, just now he was glaring at you like that time he glared at me. Right guys?" Tamaki-san replies sounding dejected and saying something I did not understand.
Glaring..?
I wasn't glaring.
"N-no... I wasn't gla-" I said as loud as I could while holding back tears and it wasn't very loud, it was barely a whisper, thus, none of them actually heard me and I was interrupted.
"Yeah, Haruhi, we all saw it." One of the twins say. Before all the hosts agree, even Haninozuka-san was agreeing and it hurt.
Why did I ever think I was gonna make any friends?
I looked down disappointed at myself.
"See! He is feeling guilty because we caught him red-handed." Tamaki-san says making me feel worse.
I run away while looking down hoping they wouldn't say anymore or I'll completely break down and start crying on the spot.
I wish Mr Bear was here, he understands me most and helps me practice talking to people and even comforts me in a silent way when I'm sad. He's my only family member that wants me and my only friend.
**No one's POV**
"Good, now that daddy scared that scoundrel away, you are safe Haruhi." Tamaki says proudly with sparkles around him hoping to receive a compliment on how cool he was or that he was her saviour by Haruhi.
However, there was no reply, just complete silence and a cold menacing aura filled the air.
"E-erm Haruhi..?" Tamaki says as Haruhi turned around and death-glared at the whole host club.
"You guys are the scoundrels." The brunette said before she dashed towards the direction of where Hana ran towards.
The tall blonde was stoned literally and was rooted to the ground while slowly fading away. "H-haruhi got angry."
The others were shocked as well, only Kyoya did not care as much and took pictures.
The shorter blonde sniffed into the giant's leg as he cried out "Uwaahh!! Haru-chan's mad!!"
"Haruhi... got angry..." " and it's all his fault." Said the twins, one finishing the other's sentence.
"He'll regret that.." the twins say in unison grinning to each other evilly.
***
**Hana's POV**
I stopped in the middle of the maze and hid under the table that was located there hoping no one would find me if the hosts happened to come chasing after me to beat me up or something.
I hear footsteps running.. and I'm scared. Mr Bear... Help me.
I shut my eyes really tightly with tears threatening to come out. Until I heard a familiar voice.
"Hana!! Where... are you? Hana!!!" Someone shouts while panting.
That voice...
It's Haruhi!!
Did she come chasing after me..?
I felt a little glimmer of hope that I had made a friend and slowly stepped out of my hiding spot.
"H-Haruhi.., I- I'm here..." I said as loud as I can and although my voice was still very soft, she still heard me.
"Hana!! I was looking for you, are you okay? I'm sorry for those idiots." Haruhi says after she ran towards me.
"I-its okay... A-after all, they m-must've s-said t-those things for a reason.." I say.
"I see... I'm glad you are able to forgive those bastards, they are not bad people.." she says in a relieved tone.
Was she worried about me..? This is the first time... I'm happy.
"A-are we s-still f-friends?" I asked her still unsure of it.
"Hmm..? Why would you say that?" Haruhi asks.
I knew it... it's too good to be true that I could actually make a friend...
I looked down about to cry.
"Of course we are friends. You don't really need to ask that." Haruhi says after that.
I looked up immediately and tears started flowing out of my eyes.
"Eh... Eh..?! W-why are you crying Hana-senpai? I-its okay, please don't cry." Haruhi says as she tried to comforts me.
Haruhi is such a nice person. I want her to be my friend forever.
I want to stop crying so that she won't feel worried about me but my tears just won't stop.
I just feel so happy. That I finally made a friend.
"Thank you..hic.Haruhi, for hic being my hic first friend.."
I say softly while crying but after hearing my words, she smiled.
"No problem."