HOME | DD

Description
Walking With Burns

Sunday was terrible. I slept fitfully, dreaming of dancing and fire and screams. When I finally woke up I had the worst dehydration headache I'd ever known. I drained the half-empty water bottle in my soccer bag and it lasted me till I got to the store.

As I was walking through, a half a newspaper was sitting on a coffee table. Normally I wouldn't care, but there was a picture of a blackened house – my house. I grabbed the page and scanned it. So that little bitch did publish it, I thought as my heart slowed. It wasn't much more than a small square in one of the back pages, but it was enough to make my sorrow fresh. Angrily I tore it up and threw it in the trash.

Thankfully, the money I'd earned the last few nights was still crammed in my dance bag. I also had my wallet with bills and a card for my bank, which held more money. Of course my parents left me something in the bank but I had no idea when I'd get access.

I spent most of the day walking around the park. My mind had gone blank and I couldn't think very well. I caught myself believing that they were just gone on another business trip, and I should go back home to relax before reality came back. Moving subconsciously I had gotten a sense of my inventory.

My schoolbag was fine, my soccer bag had been left in the trunk, and because I was dancing last night that bag was okay. Looking in the trunk I saw I threw two pairs of school socks in when I was changing, along with a skirt, shirt, and the jacket and tie. I must've thrown them in after changing for soccer a while ago because they were a little crumpled.

Having no idea where to stay for the night, I just slept in my car next to the park again. I hoped my internal alarm clock would wake me like normal but I didn't have to worry; my sleeps were fitful again that night.

-X-

I got ready for Ouran in my car. Unfortunately I didn't have access to a washer and dryer for my clothes, but I'd made a trip to the Laundromat yesterday. I had half a bottle of body spray in my dance bag, so I gave myself a few squirts. I had no idea what I was doing, but I kept moving.

Soon enough I was in the parking lot. I checked the mirror and was surprised at how washed out I looked, but I couldn't do anything about that. I realized I still hadn't changed out my red and gold earrings, as I brought my hand up to brush them. There was no time to change them, and I didn't want other students to look in my bag of outfits.

I walked up to the school in a weird daze. Things seemed so real I was convinced they were fake.

"Good morning," two voices rang out behind me, making me start.

"How was your weekend?" Kaoru asked.

"Whoa, you look terrible," Hikaru commented.

I gave him a half-hearted glare with no energy behind it. "Fine," I mumbled shortly. "You?"

"Wow, it must've been a bad weekend," Hikaru shot back.

"Your voice sounds scratchy –," Kaoru said.

"- You're pretty pale –,"

"-And your eyes say you haven't slept. What's up?" they ended together and hovering over me for an answer.

I sighed and looked up at them dully. Their faces changed very subtly for a second but they kept their eyes on me. "I'm very tired," I mumbled out finally. I was pretty sure my face and voice would match that. "I had terrible sleep for the entire weekend, and I've been running myself a little ragged."

They must've taken it as a good answer because their faces weren't in my line of sight anymore. "You should go to the doctor then," the voice on my right said casually.

"Yeah, you don't want to be in that condition and have to go to soccer everyday," Kaoru added.

"It wouldn't be good for your health," both ended. I was sure they expected a comeback but I stayed quiet.

That's right. Soccer. I totally forgot about that. This wouldn't be good because I forgot to wash my soccer gear, so I'd be running in already-used clothes. I'd had to do that before, but not very often. I started to groan aloud before catching myself around the twins. They'd be sure to ask me more questions, and I wasn't sure that being tired would go too well.

Our little trio made it up to drawing class and got started on our pictures. I was still finishing up my lion in the stars but the twins had filled out the biggest parts of their roses. I sat doodling around the edges for a bit, not registering the strange looks the twins threw my way. There was nothing going on in my head and I was stuck in the same daze from the day before.

"Hey," Kaoru asked, breaking through to me. I glanced over without moving my head. "We were wondering-,"

"-If we could go over to your house again?" Hikaru completed from my other side.

The black images ran vivid behind my eyelids when I blinked in shock. "Why would you want to do that?" I asked, my voice low.

The twins shared a look before they answered. "Well, because last time it was fun."

Ah, that's right, I thought bitterly. Rich kids don't have to deal with something like this. Just what to do to entertain themselves next. "Sorry, but you can't," I said, words flowing out without me commanding them to. "My parents found out that I had people over and they weren't happy with me. They won't allow me to have anyone else over for a while." I was a little surprised at how easily I was able to talk about my parents as though they were still alive.

Their faces fell. "Oh. We're sorry about that. . ." They trailed off then set back to work.

I didn't talk to them at all during drawing which was unusual. Normally the teacher had to tell us to be quiet three or four times a day. I'm sure he was happy for the break – I was just glad that the girls didn't seem to look at me at all that day.

It wasn't too strange if I didn't talk much during lunch – which I didn't talk at all – but what the boys really noticed was that I pushed my food away, only half eaten. I could eat two large helpings of the salad and still be hungry for more.

"Hey Shay, is something the matter?" Honey asked me cutely as he ate his cake.

He was cute, I couldn't deny it, but the warmth of his stare didn't seem to reach me. There was no emotion in my voice when I responded with, "No, just tired." I set back to playing with the left over lettuce and ignoring the concerned looks of the Host boys.

"Shay? Is there something wrong?" Tamaki asked, a little timidly. I picked my head up and turned to him, almost bored.

"Yeah, you've been acting weird all morning," Hikaru accused.

"Just tell us if there's something bothering you." Kaoru's eyes were genuine as he looked at me.

I gave them all a bored, blank stare. "I'm fine," I answered dully. "There's nothing wrong; I'm tired and sleep has been shit." The cold emptiness inside my stomach was getting uncomfortable. I stood up to leave, taking my tray to dump it. "Now please excuse me. I'm gonna try to walk around to wake up before writing starts. See you guys in class and the club," I said with my back to them, not even offering a wave.

I sat outside on the ground. I'd hoped that the burning sun would help warm me up, yet there was no change inside me. I sighed and plucked a flower from a bush to pick each petal off slowly as I walked around the courtyard.

The bell sounded and I headed up to the classroom. It wasn't much of a surprise that the twins were standing outside the classroom's doors, like on the day when I had thought they were making fun of me. That day seemed like it was months ago.

Two pairs of beautiful topaz eyes flicked up to me, expressions wary. I just gave them a half-hearted smile and walked between them without a word. I sat in my desk a little heavily and a few seconds later heard the desks on either side of me take the weight of the twins. I could feel their eyes but gave them the cold shoulder.

Class was no more than a few minutes in when someone came through the door carrying a pass. He came straight to me, which was a little weird – all notes went straight to the teacher for her to excuse us. The boy handed me the note and I took it hesitatingly, feeling the whole class's eyes on me.

I scanned the note as quickly as I could. Chairman's Office. Shayde Foxx. Immediately. My eyes widened at the words I noticed first. "What is this?"

The boy looked stern, like he didn't have time for this. "You're expected at the Chairman's Office, immediately like it says. And I'd take your bag; you won't be coming back to class for a while."

I stared at his back reproachfully as he left. He was rude, I thought. I gathered my stuff and put it in my bag to leave. I could feel the twins wanting to ask me questions but I only gave them a slight shrug when I walked through the door.

It took a little bit of searching but I found his office soon enough. I walked up and knocked on the beautiful wooden doors tentatively, but he called for me to come in from the other side.

It was no surprise at how big the room was, or how well stocked either. Typical rich person, my mind grumbled as I sat down in the chair he warmly gestured to.

"Hello Ms. Foxx. How're you doing today?" he asked with a bright smile.

I shook myself a little. "I'm doing fine Mr. Chairman, what about you?"

His faced changed, like he doubted me. "Are you really? Because this-," he pulled something out of his desk and set it on the top – my eyes widened to see the blackened house on the newspaper again, "-tells me that you most certainly are not doing fine."

My eyes locked with his. He seemed like he was working through something. "First, I must say that I'm terribly, terribly sorry for your loss. Not only did you lose your home, but your two loving parents. They were both quite charming when they came to admit you." My eyes blazed fiercely with anger from nowhere, but I forced myself to calm.

"Thank you," I practically growled. I coughed to cover myself up, thinking. He wouldn't call me in just for this so there was some other part he wanted to get to. "But I'm sure you didn't only call me in to offer your grievances." By the look in his eye I knew I was right.

"Yes, well." He stalled by reorganizing some pens on his desk as I waited patiently. "You see, Ouran is a private academy, and that means there are certain . . . costs that come along with admission." He had paused like he wanted to use a different word. "And I'm sorry to say, but without your parent's income I don't believe you can attend Ouran this coming year."

He folded his hands and set them in front of him as all the breath left my body like he'd punched me. Shit. I never even thought of that. . . "I hope you know that I hate saying this, especially so soon after. I've tried to see if there are other scholarships that you could apply for or if your current ones could extend to cover the other expenses, but there doesn't seem to be any way." He looked at me with truly sad eyes. "I am so sorry, Miss Shayde."

Wow. Who would've guessed that a rich person – the chairman of the school no less – would spend so much time trying to keep a commoner like me here, was the only thing that ran through my head as he explained. I was touched that he would try so hard, even if I didn't know why.

I set a fake smile on my face. "No, that's okay, and I really appreciate you looking into personally. But I was wondering if there was any possible way that I could keep the contract – maybe I could find a job to scrape enough money together?"

Before I even finished he was looking at me sadly, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, but students aren't allowed to hold jobs while at this academy." He paused to think for a second before leaning forward slightly. "However, in your case I will make an exception. If you truly believe that you can work up enough money for the school then I'll let you stay."

Hope took flight in my stomach before I crushed it myself, not wanting to be too hasty. "Wonderful. Thank you so much for giving me a chance, Chairman," I said, an actual smile breaking over my face slowly. "If you don't mind, could we review the contract so that I can see how much I need to compensate?"

"Ah, yes of course," he said, standing up to look through files.

-F-

It was a good thing that I had two free periods before soccer because I spent them pouring over the contract and trying to fit numbers together. I ended up checking the clock to see I was going to run late for soccer and I scrambled to get ready and out to the field. Coach, angry that his best player had shown up late, made me run laps and intervals to catch up to everyone else without a break.

I made it through all the conditioning without uttering a compliant and panting like crazy, but he seemed to notice there was something off with me and yelled at me to jump into the exercises the others were doing.

When I was done I threw all my stuff in the car, almost forgetting to go back up to the Host Club. I jogged to the campus, up to the room and walked in to see Kaoru on his knees as his brother crouched over him. I scuttled to the side to watch for a while.

"Oh, Hikaru," Kaoru whispered, eyes shining.

"Kaoru, I will never love anyone in this world like I love you . . . my brother," Hikaru said dramatically and embraced Kaoru in a hug. The few girls watching all erupted in screams of how adorable it was, and something about brotherly love.

I rolled my eyes, a small smile playing on my lips as I remembered when they slept over. Yeah, they'd acted like they wanted to do some things alone, but all they did was cuddle in my bed.

"Hello there princess!" Tamaki shouted, springing up next to me. My tired eyes rolled over him and his face fell. "Oh, so you're still not feeling well then?"

I shook my head saying, "No, not really. I just came back here to say sorry that I'm not staying longer to hang out with you guys."

"Oh, leaving already?" Kyoya interjected. He sounded almost happy about it. "Why so soon? You normally stay here with us for a while."

I pulled a hand to the back of my head, messing with the band holding my ponytail up. "Well, I've got a lot of things to do so I can't spend much time here."

"Oh, well we hope you can stay longer next time," he shrugged as he went back to his clients.

"Yeah, don't feel like you have to come see us," Tamaki said softly. I bowed my eyebrows apologetically.

"Still though, I'm sorry." I glanced at the twins, Honey, and Mori for a quick second before turning back to the tall prince. "Just let them know that I came by. I don't want to pull them away from their duties. See ya," I said walking out the door.

I took a quick shower before I left the school and drove to the park, getting outside to sit on the grass. I set the contract in front of me and pulled out a notebook and pencil. Determined, I set to work trying to get figures and estimates. A few hours in, I reminded myself how lucky I was to love math as much as I did, otherwise I was sure I'd have discarded it a while ago.

-O-

Description
Walking With Burns

Sunday was terrible. I slept fitfully, dreaming of dancing and fire and screams. When I finally woke up I had the worst dehydration headache I'd ever known. I drained the half-empty water bottle in my soccer bag and it lasted me till I got to the store.

As I was walking through, a half a newspaper was sitting on a coffee table. Normally I wouldn't care, but there was a picture of a blackened house – my house. I grabbed the page and scanned it. So that little bitch did publish it, I thought as my heart slowed. It wasn't much more than a small square in one of the back pages, but it was enough to make my sorrow fresh. Angrily I tore it up and threw it in the trash.

Thankfully, the money I'd earned the last few nights was still crammed in my dance bag. I also had my wallet with bills and a card for my bank, which held more money. Of course my parents left me something in the bank but I had no idea when I'd get access.

I spent most of the day walking around the park. My mind had gone blank and I couldn't think very well. I caught myself believing that they were just gone on another business trip, and I should go back home to relax before reality came back. Moving subconsciously I had gotten a sense of my inventory.

My schoolbag was fine, my soccer bag had been left in the trunk, and because I was dancing last night that bag was okay. Looking in the trunk I saw I threw two pairs of school socks in when I was changing, along with a skirt, shirt, and the jacket and tie. I must've thrown them in after changing for soccer a while ago because they were a little crumpled.

Having no idea where to stay for the night, I just slept in my car next to the park again. I hoped my internal alarm clock would wake me like normal but I didn't have to worry; my sleeps were fitful again that night.

-X-

I got ready for Ouran in my car. Unfortunately I didn't have access to a washer and dryer for my clothes, but I'd made a trip to the Laundromat yesterday. I had half a bottle of body spray in my dance bag, so I gave myself a few squirts. I had no idea what I was doing, but I kept moving.

Soon enough I was in the parking lot. I checked the mirror and was surprised at how washed out I looked, but I couldn't do anything about that. I realized I still hadn't changed out my red and gold earrings, as I brought my hand up to brush them. There was no time to change them, and I didn't want other students to look in my bag of outfits.

I walked up to the school in a weird daze. Things seemed so real I was convinced they were fake.

"Good morning," two voices rang out behind me, making me start.

"How was your weekend?" Kaoru asked.

"Whoa, you look terrible," Hikaru commented.

I gave him a half-hearted glare with no energy behind it. "Fine," I mumbled shortly. "You?"

"Wow, it must've been a bad weekend," Hikaru shot back.

"Your voice sounds scratchy –," Kaoru said.

"- You're pretty pale –,"

"-And your eyes say you haven't slept. What's up?" they ended together and hovering over me for an answer.

I sighed and looked up at them dully. Their faces changed very subtly for a second but they kept their eyes on me. "I'm very tired," I mumbled out finally. I was pretty sure my face and voice would match that. "I had terrible sleep for the entire weekend, and I've been running myself a little ragged."

They must've taken it as a good answer because their faces weren't in my line of sight anymore. "You should go to the doctor then," the voice on my right said casually.

"Yeah, you don't want to be in that condition and have to go to soccer everyday," Kaoru added.

"It wouldn't be good for your health," both ended. I was sure they expected a comeback but I stayed quiet.

That's right. Soccer. I totally forgot about that. This wouldn't be good because I forgot to wash my soccer gear, so I'd be running in already-used clothes. I'd had to do that before, but not very often. I started to groan aloud before catching myself around the twins. They'd be sure to ask me more questions, and I wasn't sure that being tired would go too well.

Our little trio made it up to drawing class and got started on our pictures. I was still finishing up my lion in the stars but the twins had filled out the biggest parts of their roses. I sat doodling around the edges for a bit, not registering the strange looks the twins threw my way. There was nothing going on in my head and I was stuck in the same daze from the day before.

"Hey," Kaoru asked, breaking through to me. I glanced over without moving my head. "We were wondering-,"

"-If we could go over to your house again?" Hikaru completed from my other side.

The black images ran vivid behind my eyelids when I blinked in shock. "Why would you want to do that?" I asked, my voice low.

The twins shared a look before they answered. "Well, because last time it was fun."

Ah, that's right, I thought bitterly. Rich kids don't have to deal with something like this. Just what to do to entertain themselves next. "Sorry, but you can't," I said, words flowing out without me commanding them to. "My parents found out that I had people over and they weren't happy with me. They won't allow me to have anyone else over for a while." I was a little surprised at how easily I was able to talk about my parents as though they were still alive.

Their faces fell. "Oh. We're sorry about that. . ." They trailed off then set back to work.

I didn't talk to them at all during drawing which was unusual. Normally the teacher had to tell us to be quiet three or four times a day. I'm sure he was happy for the break – I was just glad that the girls didn't seem to look at me at all that day.

It wasn't too strange if I didn't talk much during lunch – which I didn't talk at all – but what the boys really noticed was that I pushed my food away, only half eaten. I could eat two large helpings of the salad and still be hungry for more.

"Hey Shay, is something the matter?" Honey asked me cutely as he ate his cake.

He was cute, I couldn't deny it, but the warmth of his stare didn't seem to reach me. There was no emotion in my voice when I responded with, "No, just tired." I set back to playing with the left over lettuce and ignoring the concerned looks of the Host boys.

"Shay? Is there something wrong?" Tamaki asked, a little timidly. I picked my head up and turned to him, almost bored.

"Yeah, you've been acting weird all morning," Hikaru accused.

"Just tell us if there's something bothering you." Kaoru's eyes were genuine as he looked at me.

I gave them all a bored, blank stare. "I'm fine," I answered dully. "There's nothing wrong; I'm tired and sleep has been shit." The cold emptiness inside my stomach was getting uncomfortable. I stood up to leave, taking my tray to dump it. "Now please excuse me. I'm gonna try to walk around to wake up before writing starts. See you guys in class and the club," I said with my back to them, not even offering a wave.

I sat outside on the ground. I'd hoped that the burning sun would help warm me up, yet there was no change inside me. I sighed and plucked a flower from a bush to pick each petal off slowly as I walked around the courtyard.

The bell sounded and I headed up to the classroom. It wasn't much of a surprise that the twins were standing outside the classroom's doors, like on the day when I had thought they were making fun of me. That day seemed like it was months ago.

Two pairs of beautiful topaz eyes flicked up to me, expressions wary. I just gave them a half-hearted smile and walked between them without a word. I sat in my desk a little heavily and a few seconds later heard the desks on either side of me take the weight of the twins. I could feel their eyes but gave them the cold shoulder.

Class was no more than a few minutes in when someone came through the door carrying a pass. He came straight to me, which was a little weird – all notes went straight to the teacher for her to excuse us. The boy handed me the note and I took it hesitatingly, feeling the whole class's eyes on me.

I scanned the note as quickly as I could. Chairman's Office. Shayde Foxx. Immediately. My eyes widened at the words I noticed first. "What is this?"

The boy looked stern, like he didn't have time for this. "You're expected at the Chairman's Office, immediately like it says. And I'd take your bag; you won't be coming back to class for a while."

I stared at his back reproachfully as he left. He was rude, I thought. I gathered my stuff and put it in my bag to leave. I could feel the twins wanting to ask me questions but I only gave them a slight shrug when I walked through the door.

It took a little bit of searching but I found his office soon enough. I walked up and knocked on the beautiful wooden doors tentatively, but he called for me to come in from the other side.

It was no surprise at how big the room was, or how well stocked either. Typical rich person, my mind grumbled as I sat down in the chair he warmly gestured to.

"Hello Ms. Foxx. How're you doing today?" he asked with a bright smile.

I shook myself a little. "I'm doing fine Mr. Chairman, what about you?"

His faced changed, like he doubted me. "Are you really? Because this-," he pulled something out of his desk and set it on the top – my eyes widened to see the blackened house on the newspaper again, "-tells me that you most certainly are not doing fine."

My eyes locked with his. He seemed like he was working through something. "First, I must say that I'm terribly, terribly sorry for your loss. Not only did you lose your home, but your two loving parents. They were both quite charming when they came to admit you." My eyes blazed fiercely with anger from nowhere, but I forced myself to calm.

"Thank you," I practically growled. I coughed to cover myself up, thinking. He wouldn't call me in just for this so there was some other part he wanted to get to. "But I'm sure you didn't only call me in to offer your grievances." By the look in his eye I knew I was right.

"Yes, well." He stalled by reorganizing some pens on his desk as I waited patiently. "You see, Ouran is a private academy, and that means there are certain . . . costs that come along with admission." He had paused like he wanted to use a different word. "And I'm sorry to say, but without your parent's income I don't believe you can attend Ouran this coming year."

He folded his hands and set them in front of him as all the breath left my body like he'd punched me. Shit. I never even thought of that. . . "I hope you know that I hate saying this, especially so soon after. I've tried to see if there are other scholarships that you could apply for or if your current ones could extend to cover the other expenses, but there doesn't seem to be any way." He looked at me with truly sad eyes. "I am so sorry, Miss Shayde."

Wow. Who would've guessed that a rich person – the chairman of the school no less – would spend so much time trying to keep a commoner like me here, was the only thing that ran through my head as he explained. I was touched that he would try so hard, even if I didn't know why.

I set a fake smile on my face. "No, that's okay, and I really appreciate you looking into personally. But I was wondering if there was any possible way that I could keep the contract – maybe I could find a job to scrape enough money together?"

Before I even finished he was looking at me sadly, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, but students aren't allowed to hold jobs while at this academy." He paused to think for a second before leaning forward slightly. "However, in your case I will make an exception. If you truly believe that you can work up enough money for the school then I'll let you stay."

Hope took flight in my stomach before I crushed it myself, not wanting to be too hasty. "Wonderful. Thank you so much for giving me a chance, Chairman," I said, an actual smile breaking over my face slowly. "If you don't mind, could we review the contract so that I can see how much I need to compensate?"

"Ah, yes of course," he said, standing up to look through files.

-F-

It was a good thing that I had two free periods before soccer because I spent them pouring over the contract and trying to fit numbers together. I ended up checking the clock to see I was going to run late for soccer and I scrambled to get ready and out to the field. Coach, angry that his best player had shown up late, made me run laps and intervals to catch up to everyone else without a break.

I made it through all the conditioning without uttering a compliant and panting like crazy, but he seemed to notice there was something off with me and yelled at me to jump into the exercises the others were doing.

When I was done I threw all my stuff in the car, almost forgetting to go back up to the Host Club. I jogged to the campus, up to the room and walked in to see Kaoru on his knees as his brother crouched over him. I scuttled to the side to watch for a while.

"Oh, Hikaru," Kaoru whispered, eyes shining.

"Kaoru, I will never love anyone in this world like I love you . . . my brother," Hikaru said dramatically and embraced Kaoru in a hug. The few girls watching all erupted in screams of how adorable it was, and something about brotherly love.

I rolled my eyes, a small smile playing on my lips as I remembered when they slept over. Yeah, they'd acted like they wanted to do some things alone, but all they did was cuddle in my bed.

"Hello there princess!" Tamaki shouted, springing up next to me. My tired eyes rolled over him and his face fell. "Oh, so you're still not feeling well then?"

I shook my head saying, "No, not really. I just came back here to say sorry that I'm not staying longer to hang out with you guys."

"Oh, leaving already?" Kyoya interjected. He sounded almost happy about it. "Why so soon? You normally stay here with us for a while."

I pulled a hand to the back of my head, messing with the band holding my ponytail up. "Well, I've got a lot of things to do so I can't spend much time here."

"Oh, well we hope you can stay longer next time," he shrugged as he went back to his clients.

"Yeah, don't feel like you have to come see us," Tamaki said softly. I bowed my eyebrows apologetically.

"Still though, I'm sorry." I glanced at the twins, Honey, and Mori for a quick second before turning back to the tall prince. "Just let them know that I came by. I don't want to pull them away from their duties. See ya," I said walking out the door.

I took a quick shower before I left the school and drove to the park, getting outside to sit on the grass. I set the contract in front of me and pulled out a notebook and pencil. Determined, I set to work trying to get figures and estimates. A few hours in, I reminded myself how lucky I was to love math as much as I did, otherwise I was sure I'd have discarded it a while ago.

-O-