There once was an average girl. Her grades were average, her artistic talent was average...even her sense of humor was average. She had an average face, which looked slightly above average when somebody particularly talented with makeup put it on her. Her athletic abilities were average, if not slightly below average-long story short, everything about her was average. Nothing about her was out of the ordinary in any direction, good or bad. She didn't have much ambition and looked forward to nothing besides when the next exciting movie would come out in theatres. Most likely, this girl would continue to lead on an average life, struggling financially, settling down for a reasonably decent man to marry, having a few children who would grow up to be resentful towards her-you know the drill.
And this girl...well this girl is me.
My name is Momoku, Momoku Murayama.
As I tap tap tap away my pencil against this hopeless scantron I try to imagine what the highest possible grade would be if I managed to get the rest of these questions wrong. There were 15 more questions to go, out of the whole 50 questions on the exam. Out of the previous 35 I had answered, I was only sure about a rough 19. The rest had been a mixture of guestimates and picking letters that I hadn't filled in for a while. You see, if I got at least a C on this exam, then I could pass the class with a B-. If I got an A on this exam (highly unlikely), I could pass the class with a wonderful B+. Either way, I'd pass the fucking class. It's not like I was aiming to get into Honors Chemistry anyway. I wasn't aiming for anything much besides my high school diploma actually.
You see, all the smart ones didn't go to Ruho High. No no, all the smart ones got scholarships, got accepted into other schools-good schools. Tsuko Hironaka had gone to Tokyo High, a prestigious high school that guaranteed acceptance into a lot of colleges, granted you did reasonably well. Saori Ono had also gone to Tokyo High. Megumi Noki went to Kijora High on scholarship and Haruhi Fujioka had gotten into the most prestigious school of them all, Ouran High (and on full scholarship).
I still remember the day she had told us she had been accepted, it was mind-numbing to most of us, and yet it made sense. If anyone were capable of winning that scholarship to Ouran High, it was Haruhi Fujioka. Her genius had been prevalent since elementary school and that was something that had never changed. As her friend I was happy for her, mostly. As a human I was incredibly envious, unreasonably jealous. I had always been jealous of Haruhi Fujioka. I had asked her if the rumors of her being accepted into Ouran High were true. She had said yes, and I am somewhat ashamed to admit that I had to force the smile which graced my face. I had congratulated her and hugged her. I had told her I would miss her and she said that she would miss me as well, but that she'd keep in contact with me.
"Five minutes left. By this time you should be rereading your answers and checking them over." Well shit. I had at least 8 more questions left, forget about rechecking my answers. What would be chances of scoring at least one point if I filled in 'B' for the rest?
Whatever, 'B' it was.
"Pencils down. Everyone pass in their exams. The semester has officially ended! Everyone enjoy your summers." There was a lot of grumbling as we passed in our exams, but the grumbling was equally matched by shouts of excitement. As I packed my backpack, my friend Migi bounded up to me, the relief of another school year done with shining in her eyes.
"Momo-chan! Summer is here!"
"I guess so? You know how I always spend my summers."
"Right right, the fishing boat. Oh, I told your parents I can't help out this summer. My family and I are going to Switzerland to vacation for the summer, just found out yesterday, dad got a got a bonus with his paycheck!"
"Rub it in why don't you? Bah, my parents have probably already found someone else to fill in anyhow." I stuck my tongue out in envy and Migi shot me a smirk and a wink.
"If I could take you along I totally would. Who do you think your parents got to fill in for me?"
"No clue."
x
o
x
o
x
o
"Haruhi." Her name blurt from my lips when I came home to find her sitting on the ground with my parents, sharing tea with a bright smile on her face. She turned around and looked at me, her bright doe-eyes looking at me with almost sickening cheerfulness and kindness. I forced a smile onto my face and knew that it was pretty convincing.
"Momoku! I haven't seen you for so long! I've missed you! I tried calling you a few times, but I think you must have changed your number or something!"
"We never-"
"-Oh! My bad. I should have called you then. I missed you too." I lied quickly, interrupting my mother before she could say anything. Haruhi moved over a bit and I sat down next to her at the table, pouring myself a cup of tea and glancing up at my parents across from me.
"So...you're here because..."
"Oh! Haruhi came to answer our ad for some extra hands on the fishing boat this summer! We were going to ask Tono, but it was so nice to see a familiar face, and Haruhi's always been dependable and a hard worker right? Did you know Haruhi's going to Ouran High School? The most prestigious-"
"Yeah, I remember when she got accepted." I interrupted my mother again, not really wanting to listen to her gush about Haruhi's achievements. Haruhi on the other hand waved her hand as if to bat away the compliments.
"Oh it's no big deal. It's not really all it's cracked up to be. Most of them are just rich and spoiled."
"But it's still a wonderful accomplishment Haruhi. You should be proud. I know Ranka is. Whenever I run into Ranka at the grocery store he's always raving about how much you've accomplished on your own. Why can't you be more like her Momoku?" My mother asked and her question only irritated me. If my mother had a trademark move to call her own, it was comparing me to other children.
"Now honey, Momoku tries hard too. But moving on, Haruhi, we'll be leaving at dawn tomorrow, so have everything packed and ready alright? You've helped us out on the fishing boat before so you already know what you need right?"
"Of course Mister Murayama. I won't let you down, you can count on me." Haruhi assured him, her voice full of promise. My father nodded in approval at her, a nod that was rarely given to me.
"Of course Haruhi, you've always been very dependable. Momoku, why don't you and Haruhi go out and get something to eat? You guys should go and have a good meal before we leave tomorrow. Here, take my card." I begrudgingly took his credit card, knowing full well that if it had been anybody else besides Haruhi on this trip with me, my father would have not expressed such generosity.
"Mister Murayama you don't have to do that-"
"I insist. Now go go, run along. You have a big summer ahead of you."
x
o
x
o
x
o
"You've changed so much since I last saw you." Haruhi broke the silence as we walked down the street, looking for a reasonable place to eat at.
"I see you have as well. Cut your hair and such." She laughed, running a hand through her hair and messing it up without thinking. Another little pang of jealousy ran through me as even such a simple act like that was made cute by her.
"Yeah I did. Some little boy had gotten gum stuck in it, so I just cut it off. Seemed like the best thing to do. Your hair on the other hand seems to have gotten much longer."
"Yeah." Yeah. That was the about the extent of what I had to contribute to the conversation which seemed to be heading towards an awkward direction. But maybe the awkwardness was only in my head, the last I recalled, Haruhi seemed to completely oblivious when it came to everyone else's emotions. Chances were, she wouldn't know an awkward situation even if it hit her in the face.
"I wrote you letters once or twice. You never responded." She continued and I wondered if she were actually evil inside, intentionally making the situation awkward and trying to make me squirm.
"I meant to write you back, but I forgot to." I lied. I had never any intention of writing her back.
"Momoku, do you still see me as a friend?" She asked out of the blue and I paused, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk to look at her. She didn't notice that I had stopped until she had gone several feet on her own. When she finally noticed she turned around, giving me a smile and a quizzical look. I stared at the girl who was an anomaly in more ways than one. I mulled over her question, debating whether or not I should straight up lie. If I told the truth, it could lead to an entire summer of awkward interaction. If I lied, it'd lead to a mere forced summer of interaction. But then again, Haruhi Fujioka was impervious to awkward.
"Something wrong Momoku?"
"No, nothing's wrong. Just thought we should eat here. They have some really good noodles."
When in doubt. Lie.
x
o
x
o
x
o
"Let me get this straight, all of Ouran High thinks that you're a boy?"
"Right, except for the Host Club, they know I'm a girl."
"But at first they thought you were a boy?"
"Right."
"And-oh, pull up your line, it's about to be overfilled-you're working as a male host for the club to pay off the 8 million yen debt?"
"Oh you're right, it is almost over-filled. Yeah, because I broke the vase for the auction."
"Is this why you're working on the fishing boat for the summer?"
"No, I usually work with Kaito at the resort for the summer."
"Then why are you here?" The words slipped before I could stop them and they came out much meaner than I had intended for them to. Haruhi didn't seem to notice and instead controlled the levers to pull in her haul to the tank in the lower deck of the boat.
"Because I wanted to spend time with you. I've missed you. We were good friends." She said it so simply, so sincerely that it made me sick to my own stomach. Even her personality was evidence that she was better than me. I ignored her answer by lowering my net and turning to stack crates on top of one another for easy access. It was only the third hour into the day and my arms were already sore.
"It sounds like you made a lot of good friends at Ouran." I commented unnecessarily. Haruhi shrugged, taking a few crates from me and also stacking them.
"To me they're all a bit foolish, except for maybe Kyoya, he's just a little scary, but they always mean well. But I miss talking to people who actually know how a bus works. I miss people with common sense period actually, people who know how to function in the real world without servants and all that nonsense."
"You mean poor people?"
"No, I mean regular people. People who actually have to work to get what they want in life."
"Right. Haruhi, take the control for my net, I have to go check that the tank is filling up alright."
"Will do."