Chapter 2
The New Recruits
Hikaru and Kaoru leaned against the wall of the school building, both with identical scanning eyes, watching for a possible recruit. Haruhi had already left early for class, and even the Hitachiin Twins wouldn't go to class ten minutes early just to bug her.
"See any promising talent or entertainment, Hika?"
"No. You?"
"No."
They kept scanning the crowd, no more words exchanged. They didn't need words to know that the other was busy searching the crowd of students for a boy their age with some sort of hosting capability.
Kaoru sighed. "Well, what about the class president? He could be the Shy Type…"
"As entertaining as that sounds, it just won't work. If we want to find a better host than the others, we need someone with more-"
"Pizzazz," Kaoru finished, returning to his search. It was beginning to become boring, and the twins' number one rule was to drop something when they were bored with it.
Hikaru quit his search and stood up from leaning, turning to Kaoru. "Maybe we'll have better luck inside. Besides, I want to go bug Haruhi now."
Kaoru shared his twin's Cheshire grin. "We better hurry, we only have five minutes left to torment our toy."
The twins set off, stepping into the high-class school as others rushed to their classes. Even their walking was in harmony. The Hitachiins watched the rushed students, amused. They didn't care any more if they were late; they figured the school was lucky they even bothered to show up.
Just as the twins neared their classroom, the clicking of their shoes against the marble floor beginning to lessen, a voice cried out, "MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!" Too little too late.
Now Hikaru and Kaoru were flat against the marble floor, wondering who in the world had the nerve to knock them down. That who was currently lying on top of them, and limbs were sprawled out everywhere.
"Gomen! But next time, watch where you're going," the mystery student scolded, standing up and brushing himself off.
The twins sweat dropped. "You're the one who ran into us."
The boy went wide-eyed as both of them stood up. "Whoa! You're twins!"
"No duh." The twins were getting agitated by the new boy, and began inspecting him. He had bright, huge emerald eyes, that were just a little smaller than Haruhi's and blond, slightly spiky hair that went just a little past his ears and covered the top of his right eye. The boy was fairly tall, standing at 5'8". His features were small and pixie-like, his ivory skin fair. His uniform looked untidy, with his pants a bit baggy at the shoes.
The boy smiled, pointing to himself while telling them, "Well, I'm Riley, the new American student in Class 1A!"
He was confident; the Hitachiins could give him that. They shared a look with each other, smirks appearing on their faces as the confident and possibly (and he was) wacky boy stood in the same position.
Hikaru started, "That means you-"
"Are in our class," Kaoru finished, placing his elbow on Hikaru's shoulder.
Riley looked confused. "What up with smoke sudden?"(1)
"Eh?"
Riley blushed. He told them, "My bad. I just learned Japanese last summer, and I'm a little dusty."
Kaoru nodded, laughing. "I believe you meant to say 'rusty'."
Hikaru shared his laugh, mocking, "You Americans must not learn any foreign languages."
Riley stomped his foot. "I'll have you know that I can speak English, Spanish, French, and German fluently!"
Kaoru smirked, turning and whispering a little too loudly, "Notice how he left out Japanese."
Suddenly Riley smirked, raising an eyebrow. "Okay, wise guys, speak English."
"Eh?"
"You heard me. If you're suddenly the language experts, speak in my native tongue!"
If there was one thing that Hikaru and Kaoru didn't like, it was being outsmarted. They huffed, "Well, now you've gone and made us late for class."
Riley widened his eyes. "Oh snap, that means I'm late!" Without another word or seeing the 'no duh' look that the twins gave him, he ran into the classroom, slamming the door behind him, taking out a note.
Before making a move to open the door, Kaoru turned to his twin, asking, "So what's your analysis of him, dear brother?"
"Well, my dearest twin, he's entertaining, I'll give him that. And I suppose he looks good enough to be a host."
They entered, the class paying little to no attention to them. All eyes were on Riley, allowing Hikaru and Kaoru to slide into their seats beside Haruhi.
"You two are late," Haruhi mumbled, slightly interested in the new boy.
Hikaru rolled his eyes. "We happened to be doing something important."
"Class," the teacher announced, "This is Riley Davidson. He's from America, so please help him with his Japanese and show him around school."
Finally, Riley turned around, revealing his face to the class for the first time. The girls gasped, followed by blushes, and the boys' eyes widened.
Riley's first word was certainly classy. "Suuup?" he greeted the class in a low voice, raising a hand as if he was going to wave.
The girls giggled, and the boys just weren't sure what to make of him. He seemed a little girly, like Haruhi, but he was registered as a boy.
"Care to introduce yourself?" The male teacher had to keep from rolling his eyes.
"Mah name's Riley, I'm here 'cause it's the law, not to learn, and I come from shiny California." The gentlemanship just kept on coming.
A few more girls giggled at his error, thinking it was somehow cute. The teacher whispered into his ear, Riley's eyes widening. "Oooh," Riley nodded, "Riiight. I meant sunny California."
"Then, if you would take a seat in front of Haruhi? Haruhi, could you raise your hand?"
"'Kay." Riley gave his longish hair a flip, proceeding to take his seat. Right before he sat down, he added with a wink, "And I'm single."
"If I may get to teaching, Riley?"
"My bad." Riley gave another wink, the girls going gaga. The boys were now utterly confused. What did they put in the water in California?
"Well, that's a bit of an attitude change," Hikaru and Kaoru noticed, taking out their pencils.
Haruhi mumbled, "How?"
Kaoru started, "Well, when he ran into us outside, he was totally weird and wacko, but now-"
"In front of these girls, he's flirty and smooth," Hikaru finished, rolling his eyes.
Haruhi shrugged. "Maybe he's good at acting."
Hikaru and Kaoru exchanged a look, grinning. "We've just found our new recruit."
Hunny watched with huge eyes as the new student entered Class 3A. Mori sat obediently and silently next to him, watching with a stoic face.
Hunny looked up at him, his eyes shining. "Do you think he would like to be our new host, Takashi?"
Mori shrugged. They both continued to watch the young male, who seemed almost as stoic as Mori, but his emerald eyes were intense.
The boy stood at 6 feet, and his presence was calm and calculated, but hard not to notice. His blond, slightly spiky hair covered just the tips of his right eye, which was elegant and more almond-shaped, just a little more feminine than Mori's. The boy was handsome to say the least, and certainly attracted the attention of all the female students.
The boy himself, however, paid no attention to that. He was studious and focused strictly on his class work, never drawing any of his attention away from the lesson. His pixie-features were constantly buried in his notebook, so girls would crane their necks, just to catch a glimpse of his mature face.
His name was Alex. He rarely talked, but when he did, it was with an air of maturity, responsibility, and importance. The boys were a bit stunned by his formality, and his perfect Japanese, considering he was from America, and the girls couldn't care less, since he was so charming.
"Alex, what is the answer to #4?"
"X is equal to Pi squared." No stutters, mumbling, scanning his page frantically to find the answer. Mori and Hunny were impressed. Alex was quick to learn, and never focused on anything more. And so they had to wait until between classes to talk to him.
Hunny skipped over to the new boy, bright and cheery as he greeted him, "Hi! I'm Mitsukuni, but everyone calls me Hunny. You can too! Welcome to Ouran!"
Alex looked down at the boy in a slightly intimidating way. He spoke, his voice clean and clear, "Thank you, Mitsukuni. I am very honored to know that someone as popular as you would take the time to greet me like that."
Hunny noticed his smile was sincere, although he talked like Kyoya. Hunny beamed, "And this is Takashi! His nickname is Mori."
"Good morning, Takashi."
"Hello."
Alex blinked. A man of few words, indeed. He stood up, his perfectly fitted clothes showing no signs of wrinkles. He gathered his books, and began to walk out of the class, Hunny and Mori following.
"Alex, I have a question I'd like to ask you," Hunny told him, trying to act somewhat formal. It was hard for the boy who looked like he was barely five.
"Please do ask."
Hunny beamed, hugging his Usa-chan tight. "Well, there's a Host Club, and Mori and I think you would be perfect for it! Right, Mori?"
"Yeah."
Alex stopped cold in front of the door to their next class. A slight smile tugged at his lips, as he began to calculate in his mind. "A host club, you say?"
Tamaki squirmed in his seat, hardly able to keep still. They had just seen the new boy, and he knew right there and then from intuition that he would recruit him. That would show those two little devils!
Kyoya twitched as Tamaki knocked into his elbow, causing his pencil to create a dark line over the page. The blond idiot was even more excited, thanks to Charlie. Still, if it brought Kyoya more profits, he could get used to it. Besides, this definitely wasn't one of Tamaki's dumbest moments.
"Oh, Kyo, just look at him! So handsome, intelligent! All the girls already love him!" Tamaki whispered as their teacher continued writing down more equations on the blackboard.
Kyoya took the bait and looked over to Charlie, the American student. Perhaps Tamaki had horrible timing, but at that moment, Charlie looked extremely unintelligent, seeming to begin to daydream and doodle on his page. Kyoya returned to his work, bored.
Charlie's blond hair was a shade lighter than Tamaki's, and slightly spiky, his right side part covering a bit of his emerald eye. His eyes were in between Haruhi and Tamaki's eyes, but looked feminine. His pointy features and perfect ivory skin finished off his face, his uniform fitted comfortably, with just a few wrinkles. Kyoya calculated that he was about 5'10", maybe a half inch taller.
Overall, Charlie seemed to be a quiet student, answering a question or whispering a sarcastic comment to the girl sitting next to him, making her blush. She was kept blushing throughout all of class.
Kyoya of course, had already known about Charlie, but decided to keep the new students a secret from the others. Tamaki returned to his quiet praises, mumbling about how he would beat Hikaru and Kaoru, and how the club was going to be even more popular.
It was finally the end of all their classes, and it was now or never. Tamaki sprang up to the boy, making his way through a few giggly girls and some boys who were chatting with him. "Excuse me, Charlie Davidson?" Tamaki asked, as polite as ever.
"Ah, Tamaki Suoh. I've heard a lot about you," Charlie commented, giving his hair a flip, sending a few girls swooning.
Tamaki's eyes lit up. "You have?"
Charlie shrugged. "Sure. But enough of that, did you need something?"
Tamaki perked up and got more excited, if that was even possible. "How would you, Charlie Davidson, feel about joining the Ouran High School Host Club?" Tamaki hit a dramatic pose, his fans watching in awe.
"Host Club? What's that?"
Tamaki sank. "Y-yo-you've never heard of it?" he asked, astounded, his voice a squeak.
"Can't say I have." Charlie shrugged, but seeing Tamaki become depressed, he added, "But I guess you could say I'm interested if it's such a big honor."
"Oh, it is!" Tamaki assured him, making a miraculous recovery. "Kyoya, care to explain?"
Kyoya sighed, once again being dragged into it. He smiled a fake smile at Charlie, explaining, "Our host club is provided by wealthy and handsome high school boys with too much time on their hands to entertain young wealthy ladies, also with too much time on their hands."
Charlie thought for a bit, mumbling, "That sounded oddly like a synopsis for a movie…" He thought for another minute, then shrugged, a small smile on his face. "But hey, why not? When does it start?"
"Right now! We need to hurry, if we want to get there first with our new recruit!" Tamaki sprang at the chance, grabbing Charlie's wrist and dragging him along through the hallways at full speed. Charlie struggled to keep up with the host king's excitement, stumbling and trying to make sure he didn't drop his school bag.
Kyoya followed behind at a slower rate, knowing fully well that they were always the first ones there anyway. He opened up his black notebook, skimming a page as he neared the door, going over his notes.
Tamaki looked triumphant, yipping, "Oh, wait till the others see you! They'll be so impressed!"
Charlie looked utterly confused. Knowing he wouldn't get any answers out of Tamaki, he looked over to Kyoya. "What's he rambling on about?"
"Oh, you'll see in a minute." The Shadow King adjusted his glasses, the light reflecting off of the lenses so you couldn't see his eyes. Charlie shuddered.
Just as Charlie took a seat on a couch, the freshmen trio popped in, Hikaru and Kaoru looking around. They seemed to be looking for someone. As their eyes rested on Charlie, they cried out, "There you are! Why are you with tono?"
"Huh? Do I know you two?" The twins and Haruhi stood in silent shock as they started to notice the subtle differences between this boy and Riley.
Tamaki sighed. "What are you two blabbing about? This is Charlie, my new recruit!"
"Hi everyone! Takashi and I found a new recruit, Alex!" Hunny jumped in, Mori and Alex following silently behind.
Alex stopped cold as he and Charlie stared. "Alex?" "Charlie?" The host's eyes widened, all except for Kyoya.
As the awkward silence settled in, the huge doors slammed open, Riley running in. "Sorry I'm late! This school is just so huge, and I-" Riley stood still for once as he noticed Charlie and Alex.
Disclaimer: I only own my OCs.
(1) Riley mean to say, "What up with the sudden smirks?" Poor poor Riley, hopefully his Japanese will improve.
And so you meet my OCs! Now the Host Club is in for a surprise... Tired, so I'm just going to let you continue reviewing, reading, and such...
