Chapter 1
"Are you sure about this, Krystal? It looks…"
"Amazing, right? I bet the work here will be easy, dude. There's nothing to clean at all!" Krystal said, shouldering her bag with a look of determination on her face.
Haruhi and her step-sister stood in front of the door of a mansion, complete with marble walls and sculptures completely in the walls. The door was at LEAST ten feet tall, with huge brass handles that made their hands look like ants.
"Haruhi, it's okay. I already looked at the pictures, and it seems to be good enough. The pay is great too. Plus they give room and board—for free!" Krystal was insistent, it was the only job that she could find. All of the shops didn't need any more employees, and this house keeping job was by far the most convenient and with the most pay: one hundred fifty dollars for one hour! (A/N: I'm using US dollars here!)
"Fine, then." Haruhi bit her lip, also shouldering her bag. She brushed some of her short hair out of the way, brown eyes looking far and distant. Somewhere a bird called.
"And besides," Krystal reasoned, "Dad and Mom are in the… the hospital. They need us. The sooner we get the pay and to work, the—"
Krystal's sentence was cut off, because suddenly the big doors opened without a single creak. She and her sister's smelled roses, and…
"Welcome," six boys said in unison.
"This is really weird," Haruhi whispered, and then the lights totally went off and there they were: six boys gawking at them.
"Got that right," Krystal whispered back. Then she noticed the boys and smiled in the heartwarming way that she had. "Oh, hi! We're the two new housekeepers. Is there anything you need to be done?"
"Dude!" A orange headed boy said to his twin. "I thought Tamaki said that the housekeepers were boys."
A blond boy, Tamaki, stepped forward, putting on his coat. "Yes, they are! See?" He pointed to Haruhi.
Krystal stifled a laugh. People had been doing that for years, ever since Haruhi cut her hair short because of that little boy who put gum in her hair. They had had a good laugh over THAT story.
Haruhi nudged Krystal, muttering, "If it lets us get this job, then just let them think that."
"So can we set to work?" Krsytal asked, trying to forget about Haruhi and her boy problem thing.
Tamaki looked her over, hands on his hips. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but you cannot work as a housekeeper. We only except boys. After all, we would never, EVER let a girl work."
"We?" Haruhi's step-sister asked questioningly.
Tamaki gestured with his thumb to the rest of the five boys behind him. They all wore the same the uniform for the Ouran High Academy nearby. The sisters hoped that they wouldn't have to attend school, though. They were NOT looking forward to going to a famous academy where everybody was a snot or something.
"We are the Host Club," Tamaki said, as if that explained everything. "We help entertain young ladies, which is why we do not accept ladies as housekeepers."
"B-but," Krystal quickly said, looking for a solution that wouldn't get her kicked out, "I'm not a girl. I-I'm a boy, see?"
Quick as lightning, she whipped out a hair band, bound her hair into a tall ponytail and plopped a newspaper boy hat on top of her head. Instantly, she looked like a 1900's boy that went around on his bicycle throwing morning paper's at people's houses and front lawns.
"Oh, so you are a boy! Then why do you leave your hair long?" The twins asked in unison, doing hand motions in sync so they looked like robots.
Krystal tried to get rid of her feminine accent as Haruhi bit her lip, hoping that they would get this job. "Well, um, it was cool, you know?"
Haruhi almost gagged listening to that horrible excuse. Thank the lord that they were both wearing pants: Haruhi wore her regular, baggy board shorts and Krystal wore her ripped up, black skinny jeans and Adidas sneaks.
"Okay then!" Tamaki summed it up, clapping his hands, delighted. "Welcome! Come in, and we will give you your uniforms and the details of your jobs."
Jobs? As in, more than one? Haruhi mouthed to Krystal, but her step-sister just shrugged. Then they followed all six of the boys into the huge mansion that they were supposed to now call home.
The place was beautiful, no doubt about that. There were elaborate curtains that seemed to come down from the ceiling, and the place was so big that their footsteps echoed, but not in a creepy way. There were long, spiraling staircases leading to other places, paintings and china that tried to persuade Haruhi and Krystal: Come look and touch us!
And get in trouble, Krystal thought.
Marble tile served as the floor, with a variety of different carpets and rugs all over. A crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling.
As the sisters gazed around, Tamaki explained their jobs. "Haruhi, you will be responsible for the dusting, mopping, vacuuming, and the waitress during meal times when everyone is together."
"ONLY when everyone is together," a boy with glasses said, writing in a notebook that looked extremely heavy.
Tamaki continued without a beat, strolling through the kitchen, "Krystal, you will need to do the polishing, cooking, outside and inside gardening, and doing the dirty jobs."
Krsytal stopped walking, her brows furrowed together in confusion. "Um, the dirty jobs? What is that supposed to mean?"
Before the blond could answer, it little boy who couldn't have been more than eight said, "Like the plumbing, water system, heating system… those kind of things." He hugged his stuffed bunny tightly and shuddered, like he was having a nightmare.
"Those aren't exactly dirty…" Krystal pointed out, crossing her arms but stopping herself from leaning on one leg in that girly way that she had. If she was going to work here, she was going to have to start working and acting like a boy too. Not that hard, but it wasn't going to happen overnight.
"To us gentlemen it is." Tamaki swished his hair to the side, and the sisters tried their best not to throw up.
Haruhi coughed. "Justin—cough, cough—Bieber—cough, cough." She and her sister shared a secret smile.
"And," Tamaki said with a puzzled look, "you will be personal assistants to us Host Club members."
This time Haruhi and Krystal started in on a coughing fit, their inhales and exhales sounding like sucking in smoke.
"Is it cold in here?" Tamaki asked ignorantly.
The boy with the glasses cleared his throat, flipping his notebook to the first page with an IPad attached to the side. "It's exactly seventy-five degrees Fahrenheit in here. Is that cold for you ladi—men?"
Krystal pulled herself together the best she could, but she really couldn't get over the fact that she was going to be a personal assistant for these FAKE, PLAYBOY-ISH guys! "No, n-not at all." She was still a bit shaky. "So who are we going to be personal assistants for?"
Tamaki peered over Notebook Boy's shoulder. "Krystal, you will be working for… aha—Honey, Kaoru, and Hikaru." He gestured to the boy who looked about eight years old with the bunny, and those red headed twins who immediately slung their arms over Krystal's shoulders, one on each side. They were staring at her so expectantly that she had to finally firmly pull their arms off until they stopped. Honey ran for her legs, smiling widely.
"—and Haruhi, you'll be working for Mori, Kyoya, and me. You're so lucky!"
Haruhi nearly died right then and there. She couldn't believe that she, of all people, were UNlucky enough to this blonde Justin Bieber boy to work for. She would've switched places with Krystal any day. Never mind that, she thought, as she glanced over at those twins who were smiling and staring so intently and creeping her out.
Well, maybe she was lucky enough to get Tamaki to work for after all.
Then Tamaki patted her on the head, and as Haruhi stared out the kitchen window at the sun setting in the west, she wondered why she accepted a job to work for these crazy, playboy men after all.