"The little devil type" he'd called it. How right could a man be? she thought bleakly to herself, absentmindedly glancing up just in time watch the seconds hand on the clock tick past twelve. Shit, nine o'clock! Jerking up right from her chair, she let it tumble backwards and clatter to a stop several feet behind her, not caring as her books fell to the floor and slid over the marble. She clenched her hands and sprinted through the open doorway, racing down the hall towards the third music room. Throwing the doors open, she hardly noticed the crack of their collision with the wall. Outside, several heads peeked from out of doorways but quickly tucked back in and continued their conversations.
"Irasshaimassen!" rang the familiar chorus of voices as they regarded her reckless entry with disapproval. Only Hunny seemed unaffected by this odd behavior. She'd noticed that the Hitachiin brothers had remained silent through their natural greeting.
"You're late." Hikaru turned his back on her, but she swore she could have heard him grimace smugly.
"So I am," she lowered her eyes and muttered, "Gomen." She sighed, running her spindly fingers through her short dark hair. Flattening the wrinkles in her jacket she added one more apology: "Gomen-nasai." She looked up to see Kyouya eyeing her blandly with obvious distaste and watched him jot a few notes into his infamous notebook. No doubt she was on his bad list.
"Chop-chop. Get to work." The host club split up and did what they were told. Turning to her he spoke again. "Haruhi, if you insist on being late, at least be late earlier," Tamaki advised. She replied with a raised eyebrow.
"By which you mean-"
Kyouya cut her off. "Don't be late."
She stared up at his cold bespectacled face. At this, he turned from her and took his usual seat at his desk, typing endless records of God knows what. She wondered how he'd gotten behind her, having had no recollection of him coming anywhere within a 20 foot diameter of where she stood. Hands in pockets, she walked off without a sound and assumed her post on a burgundy couch on the left side of the room.
Customers started filling in around ten-ish, and soon the Third Music Room was bustling with excited s. The s were split up into about six groups, each crowding a member of the Ouran Highschool Host Club. Suddenly blank, she wondered how she'd gotten to be working here. But a wave of memory came back over her and she recalled that fateful day when she'd first discovered the Host Club.
Peeking through the door, she saw a group of angels through her tangled brown hair and smudged glasses. "Irasshaimassen." They welcomed her simultaneously. "Hmm," The twins began, "I never expected the scholarship commoner to be gay."
She went pale and glanced down at her boyish clothes and flat chest. Her short hair didn't help much either. "…Gay?" she squeaked.
"So what type do you fancy," The tall blond one broke in. "The wild type?" He gestured towards a slim, straight faced teen "The loli-shota type?" Nodding at the youthful blond one with the baby features. "The little devil type?" Motioning towards the red haired twins. "The cool type?" He looked to the more mature one of the group with black hair and oval glasses.
"N-no!" She backed up. "I was just looking for a quiet place to study!"
The tall blond angel cut her off. "Or… how about you try me?" She jerked back at his sudden advance on her, knocking an expensive looking vase to the floor, and watching it shatter, slow motion, on the ground.
"Ahh..." The twins looked over her shoulder as she reached aimlessly, frozen in spot.
"Rene's flower vase. That was the target for our in-school auction." The left one spoke on his own- for some reason, it came as a shock to her.
"That's not good," the other one then added. "And we thought we could have reaped eight million yen off of this."
She went pale again. "About paying for this-"
The twins spoke simultaneously again "Are you able to? Someone who can't even buy our designated uniform…"
Separate again, one of the red haired boys commented "Besides, what's with that stupid outfit?"
The tall bespectacled one spoke next. "What should we do, Tamaki?"
"When in Rome, do as the Romans do," the mature looking blond one stated, looking very kingly as he did so. "If you don't have money, work it off."
Snapping back to reality, she turned to an eager looking group of s. All of them were blushing and stammering- she hardly believed that the too had mistaken her for a boy.
Fortunately, the host club members had caught on before too long.