What is up with me and cranking out these stories lately? O.o Oh, well. It's good for you readers! ^.^

Anywhoo, this is a story that was requested by xXEmiShaeXx, the 50th reviewer of my Fruits Basket story, "Lovely Traces"! Emi, you're totally and completely awesome, and this story is dedicated to you, Scree, and Jane Austen! *sweatdrop* That will make sense soon, I hope... Shall I just go in my emo corner for being random? Tamaki and I have got some great mushrooms over there already... XD Thank you so much for your support in my writing, Emi! You're too sweet, and just plain awesome :3 I hope you (and Scree!) like this story!

Along with being based on the Ouran anime (which I do not own any part of), this story is based on a number of songs (as my stories often are). As to the title, that's from a song (of the same title) by The Maine. Check it out if you've never heard it. It's amazing. Hopefully the influence of the song will be shown more as the story progresses. And -I just decided this when I was typing Chapter 3- some of the story line is partially based on Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen (my favorite book!). Yeaaahhh, sooo...this should be interesting, at any rate!

If you want to see pictures I found of what I think the characters most look like, head over to my profile and go to the links under the fiction information for this story :) Oh, and I rated it T just to be safe. Who knows where this story will go! *nervous laugh...*

Thanks again, Emi! Enjoy! ^.^

-I. Reasons-

I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear as I quickly jotted down the homework assignment for my last class of the day. As soon as I finished and started packing up my things, I knew exactly how the next five minutes were going to.

I'd walk out into the hallway, where my best friend Serin would attack me. She'd say she was going to the Host Club again, and would I like to come with her? I'd come up with some lame excuse about homework (that I would probably never end up doing anyway) so I wouldn't have to go. I'd walk out to the car that was waiting for me every day after school, and I'd go home and wait for Serin to call to hang out at one of our houses.

It'd been the same way for the past year. Why would our first year of high school be any different?

I know what you're thinking. Why on earth would I talk my way out of being entertained by the seven most handsome guys in the school? Did the idea not appeal to me at all? You're probably thinking I'm crazy, right? Well, you'd be right in saying that.

To be honest...I was just an introverted person. I liked my friends, and just being with my friends. I guess "friend" is the more appropriate word, though. New people... It's hard to explain. I just...freeze up when I'm around new people. It's not fun for me, and it does nothing but make things more awkward than they'd normally be. It's not fun for anyone, in short. It might sound like a lame excuse. But you try going into an old music room and making conversation with your choice of one of seven guys and see how confident you are.

No, I'm just lame, aren't I? At any rate...

I walked out of the classroom, bracing myself for impact, though I knew perfectly well that no amount of bracing ever prepared me for Serin's pounce.

"Heyo!" Serin shouted, throwing her arms around me.

I laughed in spite of my predictions. "Hey, Serin. What's up?"

"Since we talked an hour ago? Eh, the usual. My teachers are all insane."

"So what else is new?" I asked.

Serin chuckled. "Right." She grinned at me, fixing her bright blue eyes on me. "So, Emi..."

Here it comes, I thought.

"You gonna come today?"

I shifted my bookbag on my shoulder. "I, uh...I'm sorry, I can't," I said. "I've got this paper to write and-"

"EmiShae..." She used that tone that meant I was doing something stupid, and that she was going to hit me if I didn't stop.

I raised a notebook up in defense. "Don't hurt me!"

"I've got half a mind to. Come on, Emi...!"

"Serin, I promise, I-I'll come...soon, okay?"

She sighed. "Finneee..." She looked at me. "Call you when I get home, 'kay?"

"Right. I'll be sure to have my paper done so we can hang."

We bumped fists, said a quick goodbye, and then Serin ran off towards Music Room 3.

I held my notebook to my chest, maneuvering my way through the hallway that was filled with end-of-the-day traffic. I kept my head down, making sure not to make eye contact with anyone around me, and just focusing on getting out of the building.

But I looked up when I heard a thud that sounded like books falling to the floor, and girls giggling.

Three girls (who looked like second-years) walked past me, sniggering and whispering to each other as they occasionally glanced back over their shoulders.

I followed their gaze and saw a girl who looked about my age crouched down on the floor, books all around her. She looked on the brink of tears as she adjusted a pair blue-framed glasses on her face and brushed her brown, blonde-highlighted hair out of her face. She began collecting the books from under the feet of the passing students, who didn't give her a second look as they went down the hall.

I pressed my lips together as I looked at her. Should I help? I wondered. I can't just walk on by! I'd be no better than these other preps.

With that thought in mind, I stuffed my notebook in my bag, and walked over to the girl. I took a couple deep breaths as I got nearer, telling myself to calm down. See? It's that whole "new people" thing again. I comforted myself with the fact that it was just one person, and a girl at that. That meant not as much pressure, right?

I smiled down at the girl. "Need some help?"

She looked up at me with a pair of soft, blue-green eyes that were filled with surprise. She didn't say anything, just looked at me.

I decided not to wait for an answer, but knelt on the ground next to her and started picking up books.

She looked at me for another moment, then went back to picking up the books.

I scanned over some of the titles as I collected the books. This girl had some high-brow taste. Especially if those books were recreational reading. I wasn't even able to read some of the titles. What language were they in?

"Thanks," the girl said quietly as I handed the books to her.

"You're welcome." I stood with her, smiling.

She gave a shy smile back.

"I'm EmiShae."

She shifted the books in her arms and put her hand out to shake mine. "I'm Kelsey."

"Um...may I ask why you've got so many books?"

Kelsey laughed softly. "I, uh..." She shrugged. "I guess I just like reading. Only thing that keeps me sane."

I smiled. "You sound like my best friend Serin. But, uh, I noticed that some of those aren't in Japanese..."

"Oh, yeah. They're French."

I stared at her, then realized she would probably find that weird and/or scary. "You read French?"

"And speak it."

Now I couldn't help but stare at her. "That is so cool."

She blushed, shifting her gaze to the floor. "It's, uh...nothing, really. Just something I picked up."

If this girl was able to just "pick up" a second language, then I was convinced she was brilliant. I started wondering how I'd never met her before.

Kelsey looked down at a watch on her wrist. "Oh, um...I'm sorry. I've got to get going."

I shook my head. "Don't apologize! I stopped to make conversation. I'm sorry for keeping you."

She smiled a little again. "Don't be. It was nice to meet you, EmiShae."

"Nice to meet you, Kelsey."

And she turned and went off down the hallway, her arms full of books once again.

I almost screamed when I felt someone grab my shoulder.

"Geez, relax, will you?"

I gasped to get my breathing back to normal. "Don't do that, Serin!"

She chuckled, running a hand through her blonde, brown-highlighted hair. "Sorry."

"What's up? Thought you were going to the Host Club?"

"I was. But the hosts decided to take a break today, so club activities have been cancelled."

I just nodded. I guess it made sense. It was their club; they were entitled.

"Who's that girl you were talking to?"

"Oh, uh, someone knocked her books on the floor, so I stopped to help her."

Serin blinked at me. "You saw it?"

"No, I just surmised it from the giggling girls and the fact that she was about to cry."

"Mm," Serin said, nodding. "That was nice of you." She raised an eyebrow. "You're afraid of new people."

"I know," I said. "I just wanted to help her."

Serin smiled. "That's my best friend. So shall we gorge and sleep-deprive at your place?"

"Why not?" I tucked a strand of my strawberry blonde hair behind my ear and flicked a strand of white-blonde highlights out of my face.

We left the school building, getting in the car waiting out front. Unlike most of the other students at Ouran Academy, we actually made conversation with our driver. Mostly because our driver was my mom.

"Did you girls have a good day?" Mom asked.

"In high school?" we asked in unison.

Mom laughed. "There must've been something good about it."

"Emi made a new friend," Serin said, smiling.

"No, I didn't," I said. "I just helped her out. No big deal, seriously..."

"Either way, that was nice of you," Mom said.

"Mm," I said, looking out the car window as Serin and my mom had yet another thrilling deabte over the role of math in all our lives. I thought about this girl Kelsey for a little while. I'd only spoken to her for a minute, maybe two. We weren't friends by any means. Yet. I had this strange and unfamiliar urge to make friends with her.

What's wrong with me? I wondered. What happened to just sticking with my friend? Serin's practically my sister, for crying out loud! Still...

I was reminded of the look I'd seen on Kelsey's face -the look that she was about to cry. And then her surprise when I'd helped her. It was as if I'd been the first person to help her and speak to her -ever. But that was just crazy. I already knew that she was smart. How could she have no friends? No one to help her out? No one to talk to?

You're one to talk, I told myself. You've changed schools enough times to know what being the new kid and being alone is like.

See, my dad's work took him all over Japan. And every time he had to go somewhere new, my mom and I went with him. Six schools in eight years. It was murder. Finally, my mom put her foot down, saying that there was no reason to keep bouncing me around from school to school and town to town now that I was in my teens.

And, with that, we moved to one last new town, I was enrolled in Ouran Academy for my final year of middle school, and there you go. Oh, and my dad still traveled for work. He just didn't go anywhere for years at a time anymore.

I guess, moving around so much, I'd learned to distance myself from everyone. To not get attached. Maybe that's why I was still afraid of new people, even now that I was in my second year at Ouran. Maybe I was still paranoid that I'd be uprooted again.

Ouran was where I'd met Serin. Within the first month of our third year of middle school, we were sitting together during every lunch, and having sleepovers nearly every weekend. By the end of the first term, we'd decided we were best friends.

See, I don't think it matters whether you've known someone for six months or six years. If they're a best friend, you just...know.

That made me start wondering why Kelsey was so shy. Had she been moved to a million different schools in the past, like I had? Had she taught herself not to get attached to spare herself unnecessary pain?

Or was it something else entirely?

I didn't have any more time to think about it, because, as soon as the math debate was over and we'd reached my house, Serin started in on another "Convince EmiShae to come to the Host Club" pitch.

I could understand the attraction of a high school host club. I, myself, just couldn't seem to get over my own fears and limitations that I'd set up in my life.

"Since you know how this conversation is going to end," I said, walking into my room, "might I make a suggestion?"

"Shoot," Serin said, tossing her bookbag on the floor next to my desk.

"I propose...working my way up to the Host Club."

She blinked at me. "What d'ya mean?"

"Well...that girl that I helped today? Her name's Kelsey, by the way."

She nodded.

"I don't know why, but I'm really feeling like she needs a friend."

Serin nodded, now in understanding. "Ah, I see. So what you're saying is that you'll try to make friends with this girl first, and then try to actually walk into Music Room 3?"

"Exactly," I said. Then I added in my head, Walk in the door, then turn around a run really fast in the opposite direction.

Later that night, after Serin had gone home, I tried to convince myself that this wasn't just another excuse to not go to the Host Club. I really did want to make friends with Kelsey, for whatever reason.

I told myself that I was just avoiding the Host Club because I didn't want to make a fool out of myself or pass out because of all the new people. I told myself that those were my reasons, and tried to convince myself that they were legitimate.

But as another face flitted through my mind's eye...I thought that maybe I was better at lying to myself than I thought.

Hrm... That's shorter than I remember... Perhaps I will have to post Chapter 2 as well xD Anyway, thoughts? Shoot 'em at me! Thanks for reading! ^.^