Chapter 3- You and Me, we were the pretenders

Shoving his hands carelessly into his pockets, Van made his way toward the front door, pointedly ignoring the reproving look his mother was giving him. He knew that he would hear an earful later about his "disrespectful" behavior. He had meant those words wholeheartedly and would not apologize. Staring intently at the floor as he left his home, purposefully forgetting his book bag, filled with un-done homework, he headed toward the car. A small knot was forming in his stomach and he wanted to get to school as soon as possible, in order to forget the whole ordeal. A very small part of him liked the power he felt when he made her cry. He should have made her cry; she obviously thought she was better than the rest of them. This small part of him grew even more satisfied when he saw the car, a limo. Stupid bitch, Van thought viciously as he walked toward the car, probably thinks she is going to impress everyone by showing up in that thing. Van continued his musings in a similar manner all the way toward the car. Opening the door widely he threw himself onto the seat across from his companions.

"Just because I'm here, don't think this means I like you or think your hot shit or anything." He snarled as he put on his seat-belt. Van had always been very good at making his opinion, at least the negative ones, very well known. Even still, he refused to look at any of them, opting instead to pull out his I-pod and headphones out of his pants pockets and turning the volume up as loud as possible.

As Van drifted off into his own world of rhythm, Hitomi took this opportunity to look at the boy across from her. She noted that he looked very unkempt, ferial almost in appearance. She grinned as she thought of him dressed in an animal skin, swinging through the jungle. He didn't look like the kind of person who would fit in her life, which was governed by structure. It was the wildness about him, which made her forgive his harshness. Hitomi was not interested in the petty bickering of stereotypical High School life, though so far she had been unable to avoid the cliché. Finally, she decided that she should just give up her curiosity and do nothing but ignore the Fanel boy, after all not everyone is going to love you. Hitomi groaned inwardly at her intent fascination with the boy who hated her, she pressed her head against the window closing her eyes in an attempt to wean her mind off the boy across from her.

Sora was anything but interested in their newest passenger, there was simply too much to look at. Her head swiveled around, like an owl's, trying to take in all the sights as they drove. They rarely had the chance to sight see, and certainly never in these kinds of districts. Both Sora and her sister were accustomed to comfort and luxury; although neither had been born wealthy it had been along time since either had to worry about money. For the last few years, both girls had been carted from location to location with no chance for detours. That was one reason, Sora was happy to step back from her current jet-setting lifestyle. Although the Kanzaki girls had been to many different countries and cities, they had never actually gotten to experience any of them, merely stopping from destination to destination. Sora loved the thought of High School, she longed for the experiences she had seen in movies, have crazy adventures and emotional romances. Sora wanted every cliché available and she would relish them all.

The car veered off to a small side street which was lined with dingy apartment buildings, each looking the positive definition of poverty and desolation. Folken blushed lightly and bowed his head at the meager surroundings. He did not want the Kanzakis to know that he lived in a similar building. When the car stopped in front of the most foreboding building it came to a distinct stop. Folken opened the door and made a dash for the building, hoping that the superstars wouldn't be inclined to follow. Merle, although a dear friend, lived in a dangerous neighborhood and sketchy building and he did not want them to see it. Unfortunately, he had no such luck, as he heard the other doors open and the rest of the cars passengers filed out, two superstars, his angst ridden best friend and a very scary looking body-guard all piled out of the car and followed Folken to the buzzer.

"You're not leaving me alone with the pretty princesses" Van hissed as jogged up to his best friend, grabbing his arm roughly.

"Will you get over yourself?" Sora said as she walked up and looped arms with Folken. "The pretty princesses want nothing to do with a prick like you."

Hitomi simply rolled her eyes at her sister and trailed behind the group, feeling just a little out of place. Hitomi had always been awkward as a child, it was something that she never got over and in situations like this one she felt extremely out of place. Hitomi looked around her surrounding and inadvertently wrinkled her nose, a movement that was not missed by Van, who kept stealing glances at her every so once in a while.

Letting himself sidled up next to Hitomi, Van leaned over and whispered in her perfect ear. "Don't like what you see princess?" He sniggered at his own comment and wandered off again, this time to the buzzer, which turned out to be broken. "Better figure out a way to get Merle down here Folken, her highness over there doesn't like the atmosphere." He nodded his head in Hitomi's general direction for emphasis and Hitomi flushed at the comment, knowing that he was partly right.

"Could you stop being an ass for five minutes?" Folken muttered and walked toward the door, jiggling the knob he managed to open it. Turning to the girls he added quickly, "I'll just be a minute if you want to wait in the car", before heading inside.

Hitomi stood very quietly, she knew that she should get upset with Van but what would be the point. After all, he belonged and she did not, she was like a fish out of water in this school. Turning silently she headed toward the car and sat down, pulling out her own Ipod and hit shuffle. Breathing slowly, she let the music embrace her with its familiarity. These were the songs that she would love to sing but never get the chance. In her true heart, Hitomi was no pop-princess, she liked a little bit of everything. Rock melodies and lyrics always seemed to make more sense to her than the fluff she sang, but the fluff sold and made people happy so who was she to complain. She simply reminded herself that she was very lucky and a million other girls would kill to be in her position.

Sora watched her sister walk back to the car, she was stumped. Should she follow Folken or should she follow her sister? Either way, she was picking a side and neither looked good. It made her sad that Folken assumed they wouldn't want to come inside, and it upset her more to realize how right he was. She was sketchy about where they were and she really wanted to wipe that damn smug off of Fanel's face. He knew that they were spoiled and seemed to enjoy when it became apparent to everyone around them. Putting on her poker face she huffed herself up and followed Folken into the building, instantly regretting her decision but unable to face Van's face if she were to exit she kept going.

Folken moved his way down the hallway, moving instinctively to his friend's door. He was deep in thought, and not really paying attention to where he was going. Folken was angry, with everything that had happened that morning. He had wanted everything to be perfect for their first day and so far he had ruined everything. Not only had his closest friend humiliated his charges, he had brought them here of all places. He had not thought of how uncomfortable he would be making them. In fact, all he could think was how he was going to show them off, like animals in a zoo. He was no better than a tabloid really; he had wanted to parade the girls around, showing all the kids at school he was really something and that THEY were HIS friends. He never thought about them at all, and the look on Hitomi's face when she saw where they were had shown him that.

Sneaking up behind Folken as he bumbled his way down the hall, Sora could hear him gently muttering the word "stupid" over and over again to himself. She muffled a small giggle with her hand and did something which she considered very bold. She jumped up and hugged him from behind whispering "boo" into his ear. His reaction was much more than she had hoped for. He completely froze, breathing rapidly and body completely rigid from the shock. Grinning she gave him a tight squeeze before letting him go.

"You really do worry too much, you know that?" she quipped up, hoping to start some form of communication. "So where does this friend of yours live?" She asked looking at the long line of identical doors with small, dirty brass plate numbers on them.

Folken motioned quickly toward a door across the hall, before walking over and knocking to the tune of "shave and a haircut". Sora giggled freely this time, watching Folken beat out musical rhythms on the door until it opened and a very pointed, very angry faced peered at him from the other side.

"You're late!" the girl glared, "we won't make it on time now, and you know how much I wanted to meet them!"

"Meet who?" Sora leapt head first into the conversation, she already liked the girl in front of her, finally someone who seemed to know how to keep these boys in line. "I'm Sora by the way and you must be Merle"

For once in her short life, Merle was dumbstruck. She opened her mouth and then closed it again but no sound came out. Her blue eyes grew as wide as saucers and she proceeded to point continuing to open and close her mouth. Folken cursed himself and his poor luck with friends. Why could no-one treat these girls as humans and not as animals? He had planned so hard for the day to go well and it was already in shambles. Grabbing Merle by the arm he hauled her out toward the car, motioning for Sora to grab the book bag that sat next to the inside of the door.

A/N: Okay so this chapter really doesn't fit in anywhere, but I think it's important to realize that these girls ARE actually spoiled and not just poor victims of the big bad Van. Once I get these kids to school, the chapters will get a lot longer and a lot juicer I promise. It will also be interesting to see just how long Hitomi will go on ignoring Van and his ass like behavior. Remember these girls are used to having their asses kissed. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed it and look for the next installment soon (hopefully within the next week).

Disclaimer: If I owned Escaflowne, Hitomi and Van would have gotten married and had babies as that didn't happen, assume I own nothing.