Alex was late to school on her first day. Admittedly, she could have been on time, but she wanted to wait for the girl from before to walk with. She waited at her window for half an hour, watching passerby also on their way to school, but never saw the girl. Alex cursed herself for not asking where she lived, though a better first step might be knowing her name. It wasn't until school had just about started that she actually headed out.
When Alex finally did make it into her classroom, 1-A, her hopes of not drawing any attention were crushed. Two dozen eyes, already glassy from lack of interest, all turned to her in unison. The teacher was eerily chipper though, immediately apologizing for any difficulty in finding the room rather than chastising Alex for being late on the first day . Alex was reminded of a fast food worker trying to soothe an upset customer.
"You're Miss Sterling right? Take a seat where ever you'd like, instruction will begin as soon as the students are ready!"
The students were not ready for a long while, most of them all chatting with their already set-in-stone friend groups. Alex did find herself ambushed by a few students, girls and boys alike.
A girl with twin buns on the top section of her hair took the lead."You're that internet girl right? The one with the music?"
Alex let out a rehearsed laugh. "Which one?"
"The one with all those sad songs! I was sent a few of your videos performing on the beach! How pretty!" Soon enough the entire class was asking her questions about where she was from, why she was there. A few love notes were hastily scrawled and slipped onto a growing pile on her desk. Alex was caught off-guard at all the attention. She barely had enough time in between the questions to respond at all. A few students hung in the background to watch; one pair of ginger twins whispering to each other at the back of the crowd and a shaggy-haired boy sitting in the corner, looking up at Alex past his glasses occasionally. Alex wished to trade places.
The crowd settled down eventually and the teacher was able to give some instruction. It wasn't long before the lunch bell rang though, and Alex was once again bombarded with requests to join her for lunch. Alex pretended to consider their offers but could only think to wonder where the girl she had met from before could be. She didn't see her around at all, even though 1-A was supposedly the class all the special students were put into. She was looking at the faces around the room once again when the pair of twins from before finally inserted themselves between Alex and the crowd. The dominant one stood forward.
"You're the music scholarship, right? We've heard about you. We're lucky to have you in our class. I'm Hikaru and this is Kaoru" Hikaru motioned to his brother. "We're the Hitachiin twins."
Kaoru spoke up. "We know popularity can be a little overwhelming. You know, you're lucky to have us in your class, too. We'd be more than happy to keep you safe for a while, and maybe give you a tour around the school." This one held his hand out for her to take.
Alex was a bit spooked, but intrigued nonetheless. She took the twin's outstretched hand. "Lucky me."
Most of the paths they took her down were familiar, but only because they all looked the same to Alex. If these twins had not been guiding her, Alex would surely never find her way out. Alex wondered how she would manage to survive her classes if she couldn't even find her way there. She watched all the passerby's, walking in groups, staring and whispering to each other as they passed the trio of redheads. Both twins payed them no mind, walking forward with their heads held high and easy smiles on their faces.
"I suppose you two are well versed in the downfalls of popularity?"
"Oh believe me," The dominant one started. "We're the top in our field."
The submissive one joined in. "What more would you expect of two devilishly good looking and smooth talking twins?" The two began posing, presenting their faces like models.
"A basement full of bodies, for starters."
"You wound me!" The submissive one laid the back of his hand gently over his eyes.
"Are you interested in seeing our party downstairs?" A smirk crossed the lips of the dominant one, maybe Hikaru?, she thought. As intimidating as the invitation was, she could feel that he meant no harm.
"You got ping pong down there? Uno? Is it worth my time?"
"Yeah! And a Nintendo! You really wanna come play?" The genuine curiosity and hopefulness of Hikaru warmed Alex's heart. She wasn't sure he'd ever had anyone over.
"Maybe, that sounds fun. I don't have anyone. All my family is across the ocean. It's like I'm completely alone here."
"If you don't have anyone here, what made you decide to come to Ouran, Alex? I mean, I get the scholarship thing, but it can't have been an easy decision to take this big of a leap." One twin chimed to the side of Alex. They walked on either side of her. It felt, just a bit, like they were making sure she couldn't get away.
"I have people I don't want to disappoint."
"The other one chirped up. "Who? Your family? Or a Boyfriend?"
Alex had to laugh. "No, no boyfriend."
The more submissive one, that one has to be Kaoru, I think... bumped shoulders with her gently. "The change must be nice, at least. We've been here since we were kids. A few generations of our family, too. For as long as Ouran's been open"
Alex nodded along. "Old money, huh? Must be nice."
"Not that old", Hikaru interrupted. "Well, one side is." He continued to explain his heritage. Alex tried to listen at first, but the pathway they were following began to seem extra familiar. They entered one of the buildings and started down the hallway. Alex was once again distracted, glancing much farther down the seemingly neverending hallway. Some of the signs read "Music Room" and had corresponding numbers. At music room three, a dark haired boy with glasses looked up from a notebook at them. and a blond boy stood up from leaning against the door pane, seemingly alarmed at the sight of them. There was a girl with them, tall and with dark red hair. She appeared to be speaking to the blond boy, and looked over at Alex glaringly for daring to interrupt her by entering the building.
The twins payed them no mind. Kaoru was busy asking about her hair as a fellow ginger. Alex feigned interest but kept her eyes on the two boys at the end of the hall who were staring back and began to approach. But the end of lunch bell rang. She heard one of the twins mutter "Mommy won't be happy" as he texted frantically on his phone. Alex turned back around, in what she believed to be the direction of their class, and the twins followed suit. The other twin wrapped an arm around Alex's shoulders.
"Time flies when you're having fun, huh? No worries though, Alex. We can finish showing you around after school if you'd like. You really need to know where the extracurriculars are. And, there's this awesome hedge maze you need to see-"
"Oh no! No mazes!" Alex put her hands up in protest as they walked. "I have like, no sense of direction. Please."
The more dominant twin with his arm around Alex's shoulder, Hikaru, maybe?, tightened his grasp of Alex. "Now we have to go!" Alex could hear the mischief in his voice and her shoulders tensed.
The other twin mimicked his brother around Alex's other side. "Don't even worry about it Alex, we'll have fun."
They spoke in unison. "We promise."
1-A's next period was PE. Alex was not looking forward to it. Alex wasn't able to take note of the direction to the gym and locker room areas because everyone had once again swarmed her. Heading out from the locker room, Alex sighed. Her feet were still sore from the last night, and from blindly following the Hitachiin twins around during lunch. Not to mention, PE was the worst. Alex had no aim or stamina so she dreaded the announcement of the game they were to play. If Japan has dodge ball, I'm ditching immediately, she thought to herself.
The girl with buns in her hair from before noticed Alex's expression of displeasure and rubbed elbows with her. "You don't need to worry, Alex. The teachers are really nice, they don't even force you to run they just want you to do your best and be healthy!"
"I hope you're right. In America they used to make us run miles and play soft ball."
"That doesn't sound too bad," The girl commented sheepishly. "But I'm glad they never make us do that! We're really lucky! You're really lucky! The twins seem to really like you, huh?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, they barely talk to anyone outside of their club. Especially in class or during lunch, but they were showing you around the whole time! You must have made a really good impression on them! Of course though, you're so impressive!"
Alex was confused by this new information, she hadn't spoken to them at all before they approached her. She decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. A few extra friends couldn't be too bad, and Alex knew what it was like to not want to talk to people outside of your circle. It's hard to come up with things to say to strangers.
Luckily, all they did was walk laps around a group of third-years stretching at the center of the athletic field. She noticed one of the third-years, the girl in the hallway from before, glaring at her once again. Alex tried to keep it off her mind, how many times would she even have to interact with a third-year anyways? But when she got back into the locker room after the period was over, she found herself surrounded by seniors. The tone of the room was much different than before, no girls were surrounding her asking questions or offering invitations, but everyone was watching her. She tried to ignore them and take off her shirt, but someone stepped foreward and shoved her into the locker. Alex could feel where her shoulders connected to the metal starting to bruise. She turned around to see the girl from before standing in front of her, the rest of the girls unnaturally standing with their backs to her. Alex stood still as a rock and looked the girl straight in the eyes. She hoped the girl wouldn't notice her fists shaking by her sides. "Excuse me."
The girl crossed her arms. "You are not excused. I don't know who you think you are, foreigner, but you need to understand one thing. Stay away from Tamaki."
Alex was confused. She had never heard the name, all she could think of was maybe one of the boys the girl had been with from before, but neither of them were familiar. "What are you talking about? Who's Tamaki-"
Smack!
Alex looked to the floor, holding her hand against her freshly imprinted cheek.
"Keep his name out of your mouth."
Alex looked back up at her with a confused expression and grabbed her arm as the girl was turning away. "Hey, what's your fucking problem?"
The girl shoved Alex's hand away. "Don't touch me, commoner."
"I haven't even done anything to you!"
The girl shoved Alex back against the wall and glanced at the door leading from the locker room back out to the athletic field where a martial arts club had started practicing. A grin broke on the girls face and she dragged Alex by the hair into the field before throwing her to the ground.
"And you never will." The girl smirked down at Alex before turning on her heel, back into the locker room. She said one last thing before entering, "Don't even look in my direction, trash."
Alex sat, still shirtless, for all of PE to see. She panicked and tried to cover her chest and stomach with her arms, but it didn't do much good. She suddenly felt she was being watched and saw a young boy with honey-blonde hair staring at her in confusion before grabbing the sleeve of a tall dark haired man beside him. The man followed the boy over to Alex. The man was attempting to remove his outer layer of clothes, but kept fumbling when he would make eye contact or glance at Alex's chest. When the man finally managed to get off the outer shirt he put it around Alex's shoulders and wiped away the hint of a nosebleed. The younger boy popped up. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Alex nodded sheepishly. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Thank you two though."
"Who did this to you?" The tall man said in an impossibly deep voice while helping Alex up to stand.
Alex looked down. "I gotta admit, I don't even know her name. It's fine though, don't worry about it." She smiled in gratitude at the man. "Thanks for the shirt". Both boys nodded in acceptance and introduced themselves.
"I'm Mitskuni Hanninozuka! You can call me Honey-senpai!" The boy held out his stuffed bunny. "And this is Usa-chan! Remember that too!"
"I'm Morinozuka." The man followed.
"He's Takashi but everyone else calls him Mori! What can we call you?"
"I'm Alex Sterling," A flicker of recognition shone in Honey's eyes and he shared a glance at Mori as Alex put her hand out to shake. "It's nice to meet you two. When can I give this back to you?" Alex pointed to the overshirt.
Honey jumped up in exclamation. "You can come to music room three, after school! We'll be there for club! And you can hang out if you want, too! Please do!" Honey gave Alex a sweet smile.
"I'd love to. I'll see you there, Honey-senpai."
Back in the classroom at the end of the day, class 1-A had settled down. Just a bit. The twins were sitting on the desks around Alex, shooting the breeze while they waited for the final bell to ring. In the back of her mind, Alex's mind once again wondered off to the girl she met the day before. She hadn't seen her all day. Maybe something happened to her. She dipped into her backpack to check the time on her phone and remembered the outer shirt she borrowed from Mori before.
"-and then our maids were covered in milk-"
"Can you guys take me to music room three after school?" She interrupted the twin she thought might be Hikaru's story. She had already forgotten which twin's name was which.
The twins shared a dubious look. One of them muttered "that was easier than we thought" and they looked down at her to nod yes.
The bell finally rang and the twins rushed Alex off, back in the direction of the familiar building. Alex felt right to be suspicious as an impending feeling of dread consumed her with every step. "You guys, I can tell somethings going on. Is there any way I can get you to tell me what it is?"
"The more submissive one, maybe Kaoru?, gave her a sympathetic look. "We would if we thought it would help, All we can tell you-"
"-Is to say yes to whatever he asks for. It can't be too bad," Hikaru continued, then whispered to his brother. "Can it?"
"Come on! Please, something, anything more than that! Honey-senpai said it was a club, what kind?"
Kaoru butted in. "That's the thing! If we explain it now, you'll get the wrong idea!"
The other continued. "You need to see it to believe. Everything will be explained soon."
"You're kidding me!" Alex tsked childishly and kicked a rock off the path. "You guys are the worst."
"Aw, come on Alex" They both chirped. "It's not like we're doing this to hurt you or something! Come on, just trust us!"
Alex sighed and allowed them to lead her down the hallway. There was a line down one side of the hallway full of chattering girls, and like dominos, they fell silent at the sight of Alex and the twins. Soon after, the hushed gossip began. Their faces all blurred together, until they got to the head of the line by the door. Standing there with arms crossed and an extremely bitter expression was the taller, older redheaded girl from before. Alex did her best to suppress what would surely be a shit eating grin while passing her. The twins each took one of the door handles and opened the doors. Bright white light blinded Alex, and she held up her hand to shield her eyes from the light and bombardment of rose petals. The girls around her cheered, and when she opened her eyes, it was the tall blond boy from the night before. Before she could register it her pulled her into a tight hug.
"Princess! It's you!"
Alex patted him back with as much motion as was allowed by her arms being pinned to her chest by the hug. "Yeah... it's me. What's this all about?"
When the boy released Alex, he looked around and grandly motioned for their attention. "My darlings! It is my greatest regret that we as a club have not prepared to your standards! We hope to be our very best and have the very best when we see you next! I assure you, all that and more will be ready and waiting for the pleasure of your company when club activities resume again tomorrow! Parting is such sweet sorrow, but I know the time apart will only leave my affection to grow stronger! Thank you, my loves!"
The twins set to appeasing the panicked crowd as the blond boy lead Alex inside the room. Behind them, Honey and Mori closed the doors. The blond began to lead Alex to a pink rococo armchair. On the way, the boy whispered apologies to her.
"Ms. Alexa, I am so glad to see you again. I'm terribly sorry to have not introduced myself properly the first time we had the pleasure to meet. My name is Tamaki Suoh. I must apologize again, I know this must all seem so unexpected. I'm sorry for any confusion that's been caused today. Last night was not part of the plan I assure you." His eyes twinkled as he glanced at her from the side. "Just fate."
"Wait, you're Uncle Yu's son?"
"Uncle Yu..." His voice darkened. "You know my father?"
"He's responsible for my being here. He's paying for my scholarship personally."
"Oh." His voice lacked anymore of his previous energy.
The armchair Tamaki lead Alex to was sat in front of a matching sofa where a dark haired boy with glasses stood from his seat and extended a hand. Alex felt uncomfortable at the formality of the setting. Even though Tamaki was a slightly familiar face, their meeting had been so brief he was still practically a stranger. She had been talking to the twins for what seemed like all day and even though she was suspicious before, they seemed genuinely apologetic for misleading Alex. She wished they would come inside with her, just to put her at ease a little.
"Miss Alexa Sterling, a pleasure to meet your acquaintance, finally." The black-haired boy with glasses shook her hand with a practiced formality. "My name is Kyoya Ootori, youngest son of the head of the Ootori group. I was made aware of your impending arrival not too long ago, but I've been eager to meet you ever since. Please, make yourself comfortable. Can we get you anything?"
Honey bubbled up in the seat next to Alex with a plate of decadent treats. "We have the best sweets! And yummy tea! Want to share with me and Usa-chan?"
Alex smiled and nodded thoughtfully, taking a cup and saucer Mori had been handing out to her. She whispered and nodded "Thank you", and took a small sip before straightening out to look at Kyoya, perched on the edge of his seat with a black notebook in hand.
Normally if a man's eyes were traveling up and down her so much, Alex might feel slightly uncomfortable but typical, nonetheless. The way that boy studied though, made her feel absolutely exposed. It was like he was reading all the smallest details. Whatever he saw hadn't made a single change from his award-winning, professional smile. "I've heard a lot about you, Miss Sterling."
Alex, mid sip, set her tea cup down to the saucer on her lap, uneasy smile already in place. "And what have you heard, may I ask?"
"Good things, don't worry."
"Oh, is that all?" Alex sighed in relief, but in the back of her mind held doubt. Her family wasn't as rich as the people there, they didn't own companies or have massive inheritances or anything, but her father did know many people who did. And he wasn't the most endearing person. She took another sip from her tea. "I'm sorry, what was your name again?"
"You can call me Kyoya."
"Kyoya," Alex noticed a blush on Kyoya's startled face. She wasn't sure what she had done but she was glad she did it. A pleased expression covered her face and she crossed her legs. "Not that everyone hasn't been perfect gentlemen, because they have. But I don't think anyone could find a way to make what I assume you arranged here, any less suspicious. What's with all the cloak and dagger? You realize this is all kind of terrifying, to be tricked into coming here, right?"
Kyoya gave her a rehearsed laugh. "In hindsight I can see it was suspicious, yes. Inherently any explanation of the club would have been if you hadn't seen this for yourself. You did see all the girls lined up to see us outside, right?" Alex nodded and Kyoya locked eyes on something behind Alex before chuckling knowingly and sitting back. Behind Alex, Tamaki's chipper voice bellowed around the room.
"They're here for us! We, the schools handsomest boys with far too much time on our hands entertain young ladies who also have too much time on their hands! I'm sure you've noticed, this is no regular club. You can just think of it as Ouran Academy's elegant playground for the super rich and beautiful."
"A playground? What, you all sit around and talk and drink tea and call it a club?"
Kyoya stepped in once again. "To put it simply, yes. But, we are providing a service, like what you said before but more... catered to the appetites of our guests. We have several types to choose from." Kyoya motioned to Honey and Mori. "The Strong and Silent type and the Boy-Lolita type."
The twins perched on the arm rests of Alex's chair and Kyoya motioned to them as well. "The Mischievous types."
They both leaned down to speak in her ears. "We come in a set." Alex giggled and blushed while swatting them away, feeling just slightly more at ease.
Kyoya placed his hand on his chest to refer to himself, "I'm the Cool type, and Tamaki-" Tamaki framed his face with his hands. "-is the Princely type."
"Wait types? You guys all just flirt with them?"
"We don't just flirt!" Tamaki feigned dismay at the comment. "It's an art form! We provide the ladies an escape from the world of ugliness outside those doors! We help them forget their worries and enjoy being doted over by us in 20 minute increments!"
"And in turn," Kyoya sat back down on the sofa. "They pay handsomely for our services as hosts.
"So you guys are a club club..." Alex huffed in disbelief. "I still don't get it. Why am I here? Do you guys advertise to all the girls this excessively?"
"No," Kyoya chuckled a little more genuinely. "We're much more subtle than that, but you're on the right track. We'd like to arrange a partnership with you. If my research is correct, you are without a manager at this time, yes? Chairman Suoh is indeed cultivating you for a professional career, but it hasn't yet started?" Alex nodded somberly. "We'd like to assist you in that. Think of it as a small scale practice for your future that you can profit from. I assume you've heard of idols, and you are a prime candidate for Ouran Academy's very own."
"You just want to manage me? Why does it have to be an agreement with the club?"
"We'd also like for you to advertise for the club in return for the sponsorship. I've seen your work, and the twins have informed me of your already widespread popularity. This can be beneficial for us both, I assure you."
The hosts all stared at Alex intently and she felt a bead of sweat roll down the back of her neck. "Do I have to answer right away?"
Kyoya titled his head in consideration. "Well, the sooner the better, but if you'd like a few days to consider the offer you are more than welcome to take it. In fact I encourage you to come back tomorrow and see our club in action. We have a lovely establishment, I promise we can be of value to you.
And me to you, Alex thought. "Yeah, yeah. I think I need a few days to think about it." She noted as she stood back up from her seat.
Kyoya nodded somberly. "Of course, Miss Sterling. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow." He took her hand to shake once again. He held on to it longer than before and gave her a softer, more authentic smile. "I thank you for being so receptive to our request,despite the cloak and dagger."
"I haven't even said yes yet."
"Oh, but you will." Kyoya pushed his glasses higher up on his face, hiding his eyes with its glimmer. Suddenly Alex was very eager to leave.
Alex laughed nervously and picked her backpack off the floor. She turned to Mori and started fishing out the overshirt from earlier. "Thanks again for before, Mori-"
Mori blushed slightly and looked away, holding his hand out to take the overshirt from Alex. "I'm sorry for not being truthful, before."
Alex hummed a laugh in response, giving the twins a cold, side eyed glare. "Don't worry, you weren't the only one."
The twins jumped up in response and began walking her back towards the door.
"We wanna apologize too," One began.
"-We know this was all really weird, but we do think you're interesting-"
"-You'll still hang out with us, right?" They stood in front of her, intently waiting on her answer.
Alex sighed and smiled. "I guess so." She pressed her lips together to hide a bigger smile that threatened to break. She was worried it had all been a trick. They asked her if she'd like them to walk her back out the school but decided maybe she shouldn't rely on the mischievous types to teach her the layout of the school. The hallway was now empty, and she lost herself in contemplating the club's proposition until her shoulder was bumped by a passing student. She looked up to see the shy disheveled boy from class stumbling past her.
"I'm sorry about that! These glasses are the wrong prescription, I didn't mean to do that I swear."
Alex giggled and put her hands up in to calm him. "Don't worry about it, its okay. You're in my class right?" The boy nodded. Alex put her hand out to shake. "I think I met everyone else in class but you, though I gotta admit I still don't remember most of their names. I'm Alex."
"I'm Haruhi Fujioka." ...Haruhi. Alex remembered someone calling a name like that out to the girl who showed her around the school. Alex's faced contorted in confusion.
"Wait." Alex brushed some of the hair away from Haruhi's face who flinched. Once Alex was able to get a better look at Haruhi's face, she recognized Haruhi as the other scholarship student from before. "Haruhi! I found you!"
"Found me?" Haruhi questioned.
"Don't you remember? You helped me find Suoh's office and my apartment."
"Oh! Oh yeah! I'm sorry! I can barely see a thing with these glasses, they're my grandfathers." Haruhi let out a sweet giggle.
Alex hugged Haruhi. "No I'm sorry I didn't recognize you. I've missed you! All these crazy rich people are driving me up the wall! I'm so happy I finally found you! And you're in my class! This is perfect!"
Haruhi blushed and hugged Alex back. "Yeah, I don't think I look very approachable at the moment, haha. But, I'm just trying to get my head on straight getting used to this school. I was gonna find a room to study right now, you wanna come with?" Haruhi looked to Alex hopefully. Alex's shoulders drooped.
"I'm sorry Haruhi, I have some stuff to figure out myself right now, but any other day I'd love to!"
Haruhi sighed in acceptance. "It's fine. Hey, I'll see you tomorrow in class right?"
"Right"
The two said good-byes and went their separate ways, Alex exiting the building and Haruhi heading towards music room three. On the way out, (Alex decided to walk straight until she hit a gate and then follow that, for now), Alex couldn't stop thinking about how cute Haruhi looked now with short shaggy hair. A little messed-up was her type.
As always thanks for reading, reviews are super super super appreciated
pwease give me the sweet validation.