Boo! Guess who decided to get off her lazy bum and update? :) So I've been stuck with this chapter for months, plus school sucked all the motivations I had for writing. Also, I've been debating which story (this or Raining—yes the deliberation process still ain't over for me) to update first and decided to update both. Which ended in me getting stuck and updating neither. I tried, in this chapter I really tried. Sorry if it turned out crappy, I seem to have forgotten how to write again.

Nevertheless, I present this baby to you, as some sort of apology. I dedicate this chapter to Lazy Mew for pointing my muse the right way back to my brain. :)) Plus my birthday's coming up (1024!), and I figured hey why not get an update out on or before? So here it is. :)

Thank you to everyone who reviewed this story! I really love all of you!

By the way, who misses the Ichigo/Rukia/Ashido triangle in Schemes? No one? Just me? *shrugs*

The first part is Rukia's first day, while the succeeding parts happen on the second day of school.

Warning: I suck at creating OC's, so I kind of messed up Senna's character in here (not a fan, anyway) to fit the role of stereotypical bitch. If you hate Senna-bashing, I beg you, click the back button now.

I guess this is me joining the IchiRuki Highschool AU bandwagon now. Forgive my errors; English isn't my mother tongue and I have no beta.

Disclaimer:BLEACH isn't mine.

Rukia entered the noisy classroom that immediately fell silent as she was revealed by the open door. The teacher, who had been in the middle of roll call, stopped and looked at the new-comer with bright, shining eyes, apparently excited at the prospect of a new student.

"Oh! A new student! Well this school certainly could use a fresh face. Why, hello! It's been years since someone new enrolled in our little Karakura High, and teaching the same students have long since been boring..." the eccentric teacher rambled on, and Rukia—as well as the rest of the class, apparent from the way they gaped at their teacher—wondered if the woman was still allowed to say the things she was telling them.

"Oh what joy it would be to teach you! You look smart, and nerdy, and frail. And so cute, too! Oooh this might just be a good year, don't you think? Uhhh, what's your name again? Let's see." The teacher tapped a pen on her clipboard as she searched her class list for any unfamiliar name.

"Kuchiki...Rukia," the raven-haired girl interrupted her teacher.

"Ah, Kuchiki of course! Come and take a seat. Since this class is arranged alphabetically, sit next to...hmm, K-, K- ah, Kanō! Kanō, raise your hand please!"

A hand shot up in the air, and Rukia traced it with her eyes until she was met with a maroon-haired head. She blinked and wondered if the guy was a punk that she should be wary of, but upon seeing his cool gray eyes and his cute boyish smile, Rukia shook her head for passing judgment so easily.

Of all people, she should know how it felt like to be stereotyped at first glance.

A gentle push stopped her train of thought as the teacher pointed her towards the direction of the desk she would be occupying. Rukia slowly made her way to the designated seat as she inconspicuously eyed her classmates. Some were smiling kindly at her—an auburn-haired girl with...large gifts, in particular—while the others wore neutral expressions. A few paid no attention whatsoever to what was going on and opted to stare out the window or up at the ceiling as they waited for the spectacle to finish.

The raven-haired girl reached her desk and dropped her things as she demurely sat on her chair. She was surprised to see a hand in front of her face as she settled down. Rukia turned her head to the left where her seatmate-Kanō-was looking expectantly at her, waiting for her to take his hand, all the while wearing the same boyish smile.

"Ashido," he said in a manly, husky voice very much contrasting his innocent smile.

Rukia took his hand and was taken aback when he shook it fervently before letting go. What surprised her even more was how nonchalantly he turned his attention elsewhere after he released her hand, as if he'd done it so many times before, and done it simply out of obligation.

With the way he looked, Rukia thought he was probably used to meeting people all the time. Women, most likely. She mentally berated herself for stereotyping again.

She scanned her year-long companions and could only hope this year would be good for her.

It was the second day of classes, and Ichigo was ambling along the corridors as he dutifully read the paper in his hand over and over again. He was skipping classes today—he knew damn well that nothing usually happens on the first week of school, but as much as he could, he refrained from skipping because he didn't want to be labeled as some arrogant punk. But today was an exception, for he had a mission to complete.

Kuchiki Rukia
3rd year

Schedule of classes
Tuesday
7:30-8:45 = Calculus, KH 421
9:00-10:15 = Economics, KH 417
10:30-11:45 = Physics, KH 414
11:45-1:00 = LUNCH BREAK
1:00-2:15 = Literature, KH 402
2:30-3:30 = Homeroom, KH 402
*Short breaks are allowed during the 15-minute grace periods.

He cursed as he checked his own schedule again. He wasn't in any of this Kuchiki Rukia's classes, which was a pain because it meant he'd have to come up with some plan to meet her without looking like a stalker of sorts. He continued walking until he reached KH 421, which was her Calculus class. A quick check on his wrist watch confirmed that he was in time for her dismissal and the 15-minute grace period befor her Economics.

'Now how do I approach her?' Only then did it occur to Ichigo that he had absolutely no idea who Kuchiki Rukia was. Early that morning, coming directly to her room seemed like the best option for him, and with characteristic impulsiveness, he trudged towards her first period. 'Damn, I guess I have to investigate a little first."

The bell rang as a signal for the end of first period, and with eyes like a hawk's, Ichigo scanned the students who exited KH 421. He smirked to himself when he realized how easy this would be, considering he held her schedule in his hands. A glance at the paper revealed that her Economics was in KH 417, just a few doors away from Calculus.

He watched as some students walked towards the stairwell or the right wing. His mind was working in overdrive to keep track of the KH 421 students so he wouldn't confuse them with the others that exited the neighboring classrooms. He looked on as a group of KH 421 students walked towards 417. They'd surely disperse, and that would leave him with just a few to choose from. Just a little more, and then he would—

His jaw dropped when the entire group entered the room, followed by another, larger batch, before the final students made their way inside and closed the door.

'Damn, more than half of the class shares Econ with her?' Ichigo scowled as he made his way past the room, trying inconspicuously to peek through the small door window and scan the faces of the students inside. He finally sighed in resignation. He had more than an hour to wait for another opportunity.

Rukia mentally cursed herself as she ran through the hallways towards her Literature class. She had just come from the Registrar's to ask for another copy of her schedule (she frowned at having remembered the guy who took it and blushed when she recalled how he affectionately ruffled her hair). It was a risk, she knew, for the School Registrar's lunch hours were the same with the students, so she had to wait outside the office for the registrar to come back, and now she was at least fifteen minutes late for her next class.

Truth be told, she hadn't originally intended to get a copy because she had her schedule memorized by heart. Or so she thought until she entered a World History class when her Physics should have been, and was completely baffled when her name wasn't called during the attendance check. She had been extremely mortified as she heard whispers and muffled laughter all round her when she found out she was in the wrong room.

"I-I thought this was my Physics class…" she said in a small, embarrassed voice as her cheeks visibly blushed red.

"Physics is next door, 414."

Rukia had turned around in surprise as a white-haired boy nonchalantly answered her unspoken question. She hadn't stopped to wonder why he knew—she just nodded in appreciation and left the room, all the while apologizing to the amused sensei.

Thus the need to get another copy of her accursed schedule before the whole school knew her as the girl who always got in the wrong class. Or perhaps that was her paranoia talking.

She took a quick look on her fresh-out-of-the-printer schedule just to make sure she was heading in the right direction…

The next thing she knew, she was on the floor, trying to rid of the blank spots in her vision.

"Ow," she moaned and automatically raised a hand to the back of her head that lightly hit the wall upon her fall. 'Second day and I've already ran into people twice!'

She blinked away the blur in her field of sight and looked up at the vague orange-y figure standing right in front of her, looking through her classroom door's small window.

She had gotten lost, been embarrassed, was now extremely late for class, and had fallen flat on her behind for the second time in two days, and this guy—she squinted her eyes, yes guy (where were her glasses by the way?)—had the nerve to just stand there and not bother offering a hand to help her up! Were all the students in this school this rude? Why, he hadn't even bothered to look at her! She frowned and searched for her fallen glasses when the guy started taking backward steps away from the door. Rukia was squinting hard in search for her black-rimmed spectacles on the floor until she finally found it…

…about to be stepped on by this guy!

"Stop!"

Ichigo was pissed. He skipped his classes, waited for several hours, was growing extremely tired of waiting, and still had no single clue whatsoever to whom this Kuchiki Rukia was! He knew this was a stupid idea in the first place!

In all her previous classes, a lot of her first period classmates shared them with her, and he couldn't just pin point randomly who she was by process of elimination because there was simply too many to choose from. But finally, to his luck, in her Lit class their number had been significantly reduced to five, three of which were boys.

He stood discreetly by the back door and peeked through the tiny glass window into the room, amber eyes locking in on two female figures inside the room—one a large-breasted strawberry blonde with a pink scarf, and the other a dark-haired petite and timid girl. He knew Kaien-senpai enough not to challenge him into getting a woman as beautiful as the strawberry blonde, so his eyes remained on the small, quiet girl taking notes down. He smirked. Finally.

He was carefully studying the girl's features when he felt a light tap against his side and heard a slight thud. He was about to turn his head but his attention was immediately diverted when the timid girl inside the room started moving around in her seat. He decided to slowly step backwards away from the door when the dark-haired petite girl started turning her head around, towards his direction by the back door. He decided he would just wait by the nearest stairwell for dismissal.

And that was when he heard it.

"Stop!"

CRRRUUUUNCCH!

"You jerk!"

He blinked dumbly and turned his head towards the source of the voice and saw a raven-haired girl staring with a mixture of disbelief and anger at his foot. He followed her gaze and saw a pair of broken eyeglasses beneath his shoe.

Realization dawned on him and he turned back to the girl only to be met by livid amethyst eyes. He opened his mouth to apologize.

"Look, I'm sor—"

"Idiot!" She cut him off as she stepped towards him and, to his surprise, viciously kicked him in the shin.

"Ow! What the hell's your problem?" Ichigo instinctively blurted out as he nursed his hurting body part.

The raven-haired girl simply stared at him with a cold glare and turned on her heels to collect her things. He noted that she missed most of them on the first try (her hand would always end up on thin air where she thought her book was).

Ichigo was left stunned as the girl entered the class and bowed to the teacher before closing the door behind her. He gazed down at the ruined spectacles and carefully lifted it off the ground, cautiously removing all the broken glass fragments before pocketing it.

This was sooo not a good day.

"Good afternoon, Miss. Would you mind reading the passage on page 6, since you oh so rudely interrupted my class?" The teacher narrowed her eyes at the new student.

Rukia, who had just finished setting her things down on her desk, slouched on her seat as she blushed from all the attention and the stares. "I-I'm sorry, sensei, I…can't read without my glasses."

The teacher raised an eyebrow. "And why, pray tell, aren't you wearing them?"

'Because a jerk broke them,' she wanted to say. Instead, Rukia slouched even lower in her chair. She wanted to just disappear from severe mortification. "I…forgot them this morning."

The teacher didn't bother concealing her disbelief at such a lame excuse but turned her attention away.

Rukia felt the lingering glances of her classmates from previous classes and fought to keep her attention straight in front of her (which was hard considering her vision was kinda hazy). From her peripheral vision, she saw a blurry swish of orange outside the classroom door window and frowned.

Too much for hoping for a good start this year.

The bell finally rang and Ichigo stood up from his spot on the stairs and watched the students walk out of their respective classrooms to go home, as there was no homeroom for the first week of classes. He eyed the strawberry-haired woman with the pink scarf as she walked towards the stairs and threw him a glance and a smile.

Nope, not her, that was for sure. He started walking towards the classroom door when the crowd thinned and immediately spotted the timid, dark-haired girl. She was quietly fixing her things as did the other students, he absently noted as he scanned the room. On one corner he saw the raven-haired girl from earlier taking her bag and stuff and preparing to leave. She walked towards the door where the orange-haired guy stood, carefully looking at the floor perhaps watching her steps so she wouldn't trip. She abruptly stopped when she saw a pair of shoes in her way and looked up to see him, the jerk who broke her glasses. She glared at Ichigo before walking past him.

He would've said something but he realized the timid girl—Kuchiki Rukia—was already making her way towards his general direction. He cleared his throat just as the dark-haired petite form neared him.

"Excuse me," Kurosaki Ichigo, member of LMC said, putting on his charm.

The timid girl looked up at him with wide eyes with what he supposed was recognition, not that he was being cocky about it. It was just a fact that being in the LMC meant students knew them. "H-hai?"

"Hi, I'm Kurosaki Ichigo. My friend picked this up," he showed her a piece of paper, "in the hallway yesterday and asked me to return it to you." He grinned charmingly to dispel any form of doubt or suspicion in the girl's mind.

She quietly reached her hand out for the piece of paper and read its contents.

Ichigo expected a squeal—she looked like the squealing type that loved cute little trinkets—and a profuse shower of 'thank you's". But what came out of her mouth next shocked him.

"Oh, I'm sorry. You got the wrong person. I'm Hinamori Momo."

Ichigo blinked stupidly—he mentally slapped himself for doing this dumb thing a lot recently—before asking, finally (why he never bothered before was simply a matter of ego, something about not needing help or something), "Then…who is Kuchiki Rukia?"

Momo smiled and poked her head out the door before pointing at a rapidly retreating figure down in the hallway. Ichigo followed the timid girl's finger and saw the raven-haired girl whose glasses he broke.

Oh, hell no.

Hmmm, do you smell a Rukia harem in the making? Lol. I kid. And no boys over flowers/hana yori dango stuff too, no matter how similar you might think the themes are. That's probably 'cause this fic is cliché.

Okay! So I know it was short, and not really my best chapter, but hey at least I tried. XD And you may be thinking how extremely out of character they were acting, but let's not forget that they each have their own motivations that affect the way they act. If that still doesn't justify the OOC-ness, then please accept my sincere apologies.

Oh yeah, the broekn glasses thing had been guessed by AnimeFanx3. Though I think a lot of you were expecting that, too. :D

Poll's still on my profile (Raining vs Motivations), please take the time to vote. :D

This story has a higher chance of being dropped based on feedback (or lack thereof) so I apologize in advance to everyone who put it on alert and favorited it.

If it's not too much to ask, can you please leave me a review? I missed hearing(reading) from you guys.