I never realized how intimidating a group of 20 odd 16 year olds be, or how nervous they could make you feel.

Standing in front of class 2-A, having all eyes on me, wasn't exactly how I wanted to start off my school life, but I guess this is how it goes for new kids.

"Class, this is Aubrey Conners, and she will be joining us today. Would you like to tell us a bit about yourself, Aubrey?" The teacher said as she turned to look at me expectantly.

I nodded, and gently cleared my throat before speaking.

"Well, um, I'm Aubrey, I'm from Canada, I like to figure skate, and I hope we can be friends."

"I'm sorry, my dear," A voice piped up from towards the back of the class. "But would you mind repeating that? I couldn't quite hear your lovely voice!"

I flushed a faint shade of red, and fiddled with my fingers as I went to speak again, raising my voice a bit more.

"I a-apologize. I said, my name is Aubrey, I'm from Canada, figure skating is something I like, and I hope we can be friends."

"Thank you Aubrey. You may now take a seat at the empty desk by the wall."

The teacher pointed out the aforementioned desk, and I quickly made my way over there, and settled in.

I took out my notebook and pens, and took a moment to look at my surroundings. My blue eyes roamed around the room, taking in the students around me. 

No one in particular stood out, aside from two blonds in a sea of brown and black hair. I sighed lightly, and drew my attention back to the front of the class, not wanting to fall behind on the first day.

*****

Even though I was homeschooled in Canada, I did have a slight understanding of what classes were like there based off of movies, which definitely didn't prepare me for classes here.

I didn't realize that the teachers swapped classes, and not the students, so it was kind of embarrassing when I stood up to leave after the bell rang for the first subject to be finished.

When lunchtime came around, I spent my time in the classroom, going over my notes, trying to make sure I had written everything down.

You see, Japanese wasn't my strongest language, so trying to pay attention to what the teacher was saying in class was slightly more difficult than I had expected.

I pulled at the brown hair at the end of my braid, deep in concentration, when a shadow fell over my desk.

I looked up to make eye contact with a guy with stunning violet eyes and sort of messy blond hair. He had a small smile gracing his face, which brought all of his features together quite nicely.

In short, he was extremely easy on the eyes.

"Hello! What's a lovely girl like you sitting in here all by herself?" He asked as he sat in the seat in front of mine, and as he spoke I recognized his voice as the one that had asked me to talk louder earlier.

"Oh, uh, hi. I'm sitting in here c-cause... we-well cause I needed to l-look over my notes." I stammered, taking an interest in the papers spread in front of me.

"Well that's no fun! We just got these notes, I can't see why you'd need to go over them already!" He exclaimed. "I'm Tamaki Suoh, by the way, it's wonderful to meet someone as sweet as you!"

I blushed, as I replied to him, "It's nice to meet you too, Tamaki, uh, -san?"

I knew as I was learning how to speak and write Japanese that I would have a tough time with the honorifics, and this was just proof of my struggles.

"No need to be so formal! You can just call me Tamaki!" He laughed.

I giggled, feeling somewhat comfortable around this classmate.

"Okay." I smiled.

"Hello!" Two voices suddenly called out from the doorway, and I glanced up to see the girls that sit in front and beside me in class. 

They strode over to where Tamaki and I sat, which gave me a better opportunity to take in what they look like.

One of the girls was tall, like, taller than average for a girl, and twig thin. Her hair was perfectly straight, her blonde bangs hanging over her eyebrows. Brown eyeliner highlighted her light green eyes, and the uniform fit her perfectly, the bright yellow surprisingly not washing out her pale skin. 

The other girl was basically her opposite; short, a bit on the heavy side, and her black hair was curly and going everywhere. Her eyes were just like chocolate, and seemed to go on forever. The dress she wore accentuated her curves, and her mocha skin too.

As different as they were, it was clear they were best friends.

"Hello princesses!" Tamaki greeted them kindly. "What are you up to this fine lunch hour?"

"Oh not much! We came to talk to Aubrey, actually!" The blonde said with a grin.

My head shot up, eyes wide. I wasn't expecting them to be looking for me.

"I'm Kaiyo!" The shorter of the two said. "And that's Momoko!"

"We were wondering if you'd like to have a tour of the school and it's clubs sometime this week? We wouldn't mind showing you around." Momoko explained, as Tamaki chuckled in the background.

"I guess I'll leave you three alone, have fun!"

And with a wave of his hand, he strolled out of the class.

"So? What do you say!" Kaiyo bounced about, waiting for my answer.

I didn't hesitate to say, "Sure." with a small smile tugging at my lips.

*****

As I was eating supper that night, my mom was questioning me about my very first day of what she liked to call, 'official' school.

"Was the work too hard?"**

"Not really, but I think I need to work on my Japanese. That was the hardest part of the work."

"Well your grandparents will be glad to hear that their teaching was actually successful!" My mom laughed.

"Yeah, they were definitely the best teachers I ever had."

"That's cause they were the only teachers you ever had!"

I stuck my tongue out at her as she giggled, and I eventually smiled at her.

You'd think that she'd be the mature one, being the adult in our house, but she has the soul of a kid, I swear.

As I picked up my dishes and brought them to the kitchen, she continued to speak.

"Did you make any friends?"

I paused at the sink, sliding my plate into the water to soak as I mulled over her question.

I had talked to some of the kids in my class, surprisingly having not been too shy to answer them, but I don't think talking to someone once classifies you as friends.

"I wouldn't say I made friends, it is the first day." I half-shouted over the water rinsing off my plate. "But I did talk to a few kids in my class. They seem nice enough. They've offered to show me around the school tomorrow."

"They sound like friends to me!" My mom cheered, clapping her hands. "What's their names?"

"Well, the two that have offered to show me around school are Momoko and Kaiyo. They're gonna show me the clubs Ouran offers as well."

I decided to hold off on telling her about Tamaki, because I knew as soon as I mentioned anything about a boy, there'd be no talking about anything else.

"Sounds fun! Oh, by the way, are you still interested in skating and playing hockey?" She asked as I walked back into the dining room.

"I would like to keep skating, but if I can't do hockey anymore, I guess that's fine."

"Alright! That's good, because I found a rink and a club you can skate with! They have ice time on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, so I figure you can start this week, if you want! The downside is that the ice is only in until May, so you'll only have month, I hope that's alright."

I grinned at my mother, excited about this opportunity. I had been skating for 8 years before I moved, so being able to continue here was awesome to find out.

"That's fine with me, I'm just glad I'll be able to continue. Maybe I'll even make a friend there."

"Hopefully! You need some friends, you loser!"

"Thanks mom." I playfully glared at her, and she laughed.

I walked over to her, and gave her a hug, wrapping my arms around her waist to squeeze her tight.

"I'm sorry I had to drag you basically across the world. I hope you know that it was for the best."

She looked down at me, a rare look of seriousness on her face, with a hint of sadness clouding her green eyes.

"Of course I know that. I understand completely. And besides, everyone can use a new beginning at least once in their life. This is ours."

★★★★★

**- Any speaking in italics will mean that they aren't speaking in Japanese. Most often it will be English, unless stated otherwise.

~Edited 08/12/2016~

Dedicated to HurricaneChaoss for your constant help with the summary and this first chapter <3

★★★★★

Hey guys! Chapter 1 of New Beginnings is officially out! I'm so excited to write this story, and I hope you enjoy reading it!

I promise I won't always have an author's note at the end of every chapter! This one is just to let you know that I'm leaving it up to my readers to decide if there/who will be the romantic interest!

You can choose from any of the hosts (aside from Haruhi, sorry!) or you can choose to not have a romantic interest! Just comment or message me what you think!

~MJ