Chapter 2

"Let's see…where am I again?"

Alexandra Penelope Edwards wandered through the halls of Ouran Academy, searching for Music Room 3; the home of the Ouran Host Club.

"I was lost the first time I found it, and now that I'm actually looking for it, I can't find it."

Suddenly, she started to hear shouting coming from somewhere down the hall. She followed the noise and came upon a rather large door with a little sign reading "Music Room 3" hanging from the side. She couldn't quite hear the conversation, but she caught snippets.

"Who…he?" That sounded like the blonde from yesterday. The leader of the Host Club.

"No one…a friend…Alex." This was Haruhi.

"Alex? Are they talking about me?"

She leaned in closer and pressed her ear against the keyhole.

"You haven't been seeing someone behind my back, have you?"

"No! He's just a friend. And besides, we aren't even going out."

"Don't change the subject!"

"He thinks I'm dating Haruhi?"

After a moment's hesitation, Alex quietly opened the door. Haruhi and the blonde were glaring at each other while the others were sitting on the sidelines. None of them had noticed her enter.

"Ahem." She coughed. She immediately felt seven pairs of eyes fall on her, one of them, fairly hostile.

"Alex!" Haruhi exclaimed. The blonde's eyes immediately lit up, and before she knew what was happening, he had his hands around Alex's neck.

"SO IT'S YOU! YOU'RE THE ONE MY LITTLE HARUHI'S BEEN SEEING!"

"Tamaki!" Haruhi shouted.

"Wait, it's not like that!" Alex sputtered. "I'm not interested in Haruhi at all!" This seemed to make the blonde angrier.

"ARE YOU CALLING MY LITTLE HARUHI UNATTRACTIVE!"

"No! I think she's very pretty and-"

"Hang on a sec." The blonde simmered down. "You just called Haruhi a "she"."

"Y-yeah. So?" The blonde turned to Haruhi.

"You told him?"

"No, I didn't!"

"Then how does he know you're a girl?"

"I figured it out on my own!" The blonde looked Alex in the eye and saw that she was telling the truth. He quickly released her from his grasp and backed away.

"You…you figured it out?" He whispered. "How?"

"Well…um…you see…"

"He's a she." Everyone turned to the boy with glasses. He smiled and pushed his glasses up. "She figured out Haruhi is female, because she herself is female." Alex stood with her mouth agape.

"This guy's sharp."

"Really? Let me see." The twins had appeared out of nowhere and were now closely examining Alex. One of them gripped her chin and started tilting her head in different directions while the other ruffled through her hair and sniffed it.

"Should I be protesting to this or what?"

After a thorough inspection, the twins nodded to each other and stepped back.

"Yup." They said in unison. "He's a she."

"That's enough you two." Haruhi came to the rescue and pushed the twins aside. She turned to Alex. "I'm sorry. My friends can be a little thoughtless sometimes." It took a second for Alex to collect herself.

"Oh, it's okay." She smiled. "I was just surprised they figured it out so fast. I was kinda lookin' forward to having my own little secret identity." They both laughed as the boys stared at them in astonishment. This was the first time any of them had seen another girl besides Haruhi wearing a boy's uniform. And she looked really happy. A rarity for the Host Club. The blonde gave a small cough and stepped forward.

"Excuse me Miss," Alex glanced at him. "I'd like to apologize for my despicable behavior. I didn't know that you were a girl and I guess I got a little ahead of myself."

"Apology accepted, Sir…?"

"Oh, where are my manners? I haven't introduced myself." He held out a dainty hand. "I'm Tamaki Suoh. President of the Ouran Host Club." Alex took his soft hand in hers and gave it a shake.

"Alexandra Edwards. But you can call me Alex."

"Haruhi told us to expect you."

"Yeah. I wanted her to meet the rest of the Host Club." Haruhi said.

"Is that so?" Tamaki's eyes sparkled. "Then let us waste no time. Gentlemen…" The other boys gathered around them and bowed in greeting. The one with dark hair and glasses extended his hand with a smile.

"I am Kyoua Ootori. It's a pleasure to meet you Ms. Edwards."

"Charmed."

"Kyoua's the Vice President of the Host Club." Haruhi chimed.

"Wow." Kyoua was pushed aside by the red-headed twins.

"So you're the Alex that Haruhi's been talking about." One of them said.

"Is it true that you're the commoner that was sent by the foreign exchange program?" The other asked.

"Well, it depends on how you define "commoner"."

"Wow. We haven't had a commoner since Haruhi. I'm Hikaru, by the way."

"And I'm Karou."

"Hikaru and Karou. It's gonna be tough for me to remember which one of you is which." Alex examined the pair as closely as possible, so that she may find a distinguishing mark that told them apart. Unfortunately, their wasn't one. The boys were perfectly identical.

"Alex-chan!" Out of nowhere, the little blonde boy with the pink bunny jumped into her arms.

"Whoa!" It was all Alex could do to keep from dropping the sudden weight.

"I'm Mitskuni! But everyone else calls me Honey!" The boy said with a smile. "And this is Usa-chan!" He shoved the pink stuffed animal in her face.

"P-pleased to meet you." Alex muttered into the bunny's fabric as she struggled with the heavy bundle she was carrying. It wasn't that Honey was heavy, it was just that Alex wasn't very strong.

"That's enough Mitskuni." The tall, dark boy lifted Honey up and placed him down on the floor.

"This is Takashi! But everyone else calls him Mori!" Honey climbed up the giant and hugged him. Mori nodded in greeting. Alex quietly nodded back.

"Not much of a talker, this one."

"So, Honey," Said blonde turned with an absolutely adorable quizzical expression on his face. "Is Mori your brother or something?"

"No, but close. Takashi is my cousin!" He hugged Mori again.

"This kid's freaking adorable!"

"I think that's everybody." Haruhi was back. "So, Alex if you want to-"

Haruhi was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a motor turning on. The ground started to shake under Alex's feet and just when she thought things couldn't get any weirder, the floor opened up and a platform began to rise.

"OHOHOHHOOHOOHOOHOOOHOOHHOO!" A girl around Alex's age stood on the platform with her hands on her hips, laughing like some sort of demented hyena. "Did I hear that the new foreign exchange student is here?"

"What the flying-?"

"That's Renge. She's the Host Club's manager." The girl hopped down and walked up to Alex.

"Are you Alex Edwards? Are you the foreign exchange student that was mentioned in the morning announcements the other day?"

"Umm…yeah." Alex didn't know what to think of this one.

"And do you, Alex, have a girlfriend yet?" Alex's jaw hit the floor.

"Wha…wha…a g-girl…what the…uhhhh, no?"

"Lucky me!" Renge cheered happily. "Would you care to go out with me tonight? I've been looking for a man lately and you seem pretty decent."

"Whaaaaaaaaaaa?"

"Her too?"

"Yay! It's a date!" Renge threw her arms around Alex. "You can pick me up at six. Wear a nice tux and don't be late." With that she kissed her on the cheek and jumped back onto the platform. "See ya later, sweetie!" Before Alex could protest, the platform had sunk back into the floor and was gone.

Silence.

Alex stood there, unable to really comprehend what had just happened. Then…

"PFFFFT, HAHAHAHAHAAAAHAAAHAHAHHHA!" The twins exploded with laughter. "Oh my God!" They laughed. "This is the best day of my life!" Soon, everyone was laughing except Alex, who was still shell-shocked, and Mori, who apparently never found anything funny.

"Way to go, Romeo!" Haruhi giggled as she patted her on the back. Alex finally regained enough of her composure to speak properly.

"I can't go out with her!"

"Why not?" Honey asked.

"Why not? Why NOT? I'll tell you why not! First of all, I'm a girl, but she doesn't know it. I don't feel right lying to her. Secondly, I don't really want to go out with her, and even if I did, I don't know how to. I've never been on a date before. Especially with a girl. I don't know what to say, or how to dress. I'd be completely lost!" She threw up her hands in exasperation. "I'll have to tell her the truth. I hope she doesn't take it too hard."

"Knowing Renge, she'll probably kill you." Kyoua snickered.

"What?"

"But don't worry," The twins threw their arms around her shoulders. "we'll make sure that your date goes perfectly well enough so that you don't have to go out with her again, and you won't have to tell her you're a girl."

"How will you do that?" The twins thought for a second, then shrugged.

"We don't know." They said together. Alex sighed and shook the two red-heads off.

"I'm going to go find her to tell her the truth. Maybe she'll go easy on me." Alex trudged to the door as if she were heading to her execution.

"Wait!" It was Tamaki. "I've got an idea. It's tricky, but it just might work." Alex considered for a moment before turning around.

"What do you have in mind?"

"I'm still working on it." He grinned sheepishly. "But first, let's find you a suit!"

Without warning, Hikaru and Karou grabbed Alex and pulled her to a near-by door. They opened it to reveal a huge storage room, filled with every kind of wardrobe imaginable. Alex gulped, realizing that she was in way over her head.

"This cannot end well."