DING DONG
-"Please review chapters twenty and twenty one, and don't forget to report straight to your assigned classroom first thing in the morning tomorrow." The teacher said as the students grabbed their school supplies and rushed out of the classroom. For it being the first day of school, it was quite fun and interesting. But now I had to wait for the person I liked the least in the whole world. Amazing how the first day of school I had found a person I dislike already, it sure is a school that's full of surprises as the head chairman had explained before. I was exhausted, trying to catch up with the new academic learning pace and all my classmates asking me questions about Mexico, my hair, my accent, the languages I could speak and of course, why I am I so pale if I'm mexican. I picked up my backpack and headed to the door to wait for Mr. cocky glasses, but as I looked out the door I didn't see him. 'Don't forget to wait for my arrival after classes end.' I thought about the exact same words he said to me before.
-"Such a liar, that jerk-face glasses, cocky son of a-
-"You shouldn't talk like that aloud, much less of someone that girls in this academy are madly in love with." I heard a deep, solid voice behind me. Quickly I turned around, blushing, ready to apologize to what I thought was the teacher. Instead I found Ritsu at the door way, holding his backpack with one hand placed over his shoulder.
-"I-I-I … Y-You speak English?" I stammered in amazement, in response he smiled faintly and snickered.
-"Course I do. Most people in this school speak it fluently, but choose not to use it in everyday life. There's no reason why, anyways." He explained in what I recognized as perfect English. –"If it helps I could…" I looked at him eagerly when he suddenly stopped and tried to clear his throat midsentence. He seemed to be blushing too; I of course thought it was cute but the people that approached me while Ritsu tried to recollect his thoughts, disagreed.
-"Kasanoda-san, don't you have your gardening club to attened to?" Renge was now in between Ritsu and me. This made Ritsu blush more but suddenly his expression hardened and turned aggressive. He turned around and walked away.
-"If he's bugging you just tell us, ok?" Reiko appeared on the other side of Renge, smiling. I nodded and returned the smile.
-"I heard Kyoya-sempai was supposed to come and pick you up." Both of them got up all in my personal space, eager to get some gossip.
-"Supposedly but mister- … Otori-san isn't showing up." I stopped myself from insulting him in public. Renge and Reiko both smiled mischievously and nodded at the same time.
-"Maybe he isn't showing up because there's still people around. We did hear he wanted some quality time with you… Teehee you know what that means!" Both girls squealed as they started running away while looking back to see if Kyoya had magically appeared. I sighed and slumped down on the door frame, waiting for Mr. No show. I waited even after the teacher had left the classroom so he could get home and rest. I felt like taking a nap but I stopped myself; knowing it was better for me to finish my homework than getting some shut eye. The moment I had finally finished, I heard some footsteps that belonged to a guy, I know this because guys stomp more when they walk.
-"Well look who finally decided to show up." I turned to greet what I assumed was Kyoya but in fact Ritsu was standing in his place.
-"He hasn't come by yet?" He sounded quite irritated, he looked around and back at me. With a sigh he took my backpack and motioned me to follow him.
-"What are you doing? I can't just leave; he said he was going to come." I walked right in front of him. He grunted and looked around for a second time.
-"It's been an hour and he still hasn't come to escort you, I'm pretty sure he forgot." Ritsu was trying to gain some patience. My gaze turned to the door of the classroom, hoping to see jerk-face. But to my dismay he wasn't, first day of school and I have been ditched.
-"Yeah, you're right. Let's go to the host club, I gotta go meet up with Tamaki. If not… looks like I'll be sleeping in a park bench." I sighed and started following Ritsu down the hall. After a series of twist and turns we made it to a familiar hallway. And on the next turn guess who we bumped into? Yep! Mr. No show was walking as slowly as slow could be. He had the nerve to not look sorry, but to smile deviously.
-"Where were you? I'll be there right after classes end. Bunch of crap!" I was blowing off steam with him as much as I could. He had ridiculed me; I was not going to let that pass. No rich, smart Asian boy was going to take me as a fool.
-"You're precise, it's all my doing. And I apologize greatly, I could give reasonably sufficient excuses but they don't matter. Because it was my responsibility to go chaperon you from your classroom to the Host Club. But if you permit me to have the honor to escort you the last two hallways that are left, I would be significantly grateful." He gave me one of those, what you call; one million dollar smiles. Motioning me to take his arm, he also requested Ritsu to give him my 'book bag' as he calls it. Ritsu looked at me and I nodded knowing that whatever excuses we gave him, he would deny them.
-"Bye Ritsu!" I quickly called as we started walking towards the Host club; I refused to put my arm around Kyoya's, which made him annoyed. 'I swear he's never getting married' I thought. While we walked I could feel the tension in the air.
-"Are you single?" Kyoya inquired.
-"Great way to break the ice." I responded rudely.
-"It's a simple question, but if you think it is uncomfortable then-
-"Yes, I am." I interrupted; I hated how he could talk for hours without stopping. –"What's it to you?"
-"Simple question… Are you looking for a mate?" He pushed up his glasses as he asked.
-"What? I- … What kind of question is that?!" I sighed before replying. –"I don't know, never really had a boyfriend before… You can't really miss something that you've never had." He looked quite intrigued and paused for a moment. Kyoya glanced at the door and smiled his mischievous smiles.
-"Perfect! Tenorio Rosalie-san, welcome to the Host Club." Kyoya introduced as he opened the door. Suddenly a whole new world burst in front of me, confetti flew, trumpets blared as a mariachi band followed to play. Everywhere I looked around I could see little bits and pieces from home; from one corner of the room I saw a few taco stands. And from a different corner I saw that they were selling tamales, atole, molletes, sopes, etc. Even some people in the middle were folk dancing like we do in Mexico. I really was overwhelmed by the surprise. I couldn't help but look stupid with a huge grin on my face.
-"Come in, come in! Hope you like our little arrangement!" Tamaki abruptly sprung out of nowhere in a full on mariachi outfit, mustache and everything. I couldn't help but giggle as I saw the other dressed the same but with different colored suits.
-"You know we do wear other types of clothes in Mexico, right? Not just mariachi outfits." I chuckled a bit when I saw their expressions of embarrassment.
-"Come our guest! We want you to have the Host Club experience. You'll have fifteen minutes with each of our esteemed hosts… Starting of course with me!" Tamaki grabbed my hand and pulled me into the crowd of girls, each one of them giggling and saying hi to me. Soon we reached a sofa that had little piñata decorations.
-"So how is my gorgeous desert flower doing this fine day?" He asked eagerly.
-"Today has been fun! Kind of tiring though…" I tried being truthful to make this thing less awkward.
-"Then let me soothe those pains with my magnificent looks and charming words." He moved closer to me.-"Princess when you are in front of me, my heart beats so quickly as if I am youth tasting love for the first time! You are a beautiful mermaid that sheds light in the sea of loneliness. The sinful god that has taught me about the forbidden fruit!" Tamaki came closer with each sentence, doing boastful motions and looking straight at my eyes.
-"Uum this is getting awkward…" It was too much for me to handle, I scooted away from him.
-"Oh my little girl! That is so cuute! You are not accustomed to people complementing you." Tamaki threw himself back and placed his hand on his chest as he closed his eyes.
-"No, I'm just not used to guys flirting with me." I tried to defend myself but it didn't seem to help.
-"Don't tell me that you've never had a soul mate?" Tamaki looked genuinely confused, at first I thought he was being sarcastic but he was actually serious.
-"Well… I-" I look at the ground for a moment and paused.-"No, but that doesn't matter, ok?" Tamaki chuckled and nodded.
-"You just haven't found the right person." He then looked at Haruhi that was serving a couple of girls some atole. I would've overlooked this but his gaze was as if he had feelings for…her? No, Haruhi couldn't be a girl.
-"IT'S our turn!" The twins jumped right in between us and shoved Tamaki off the couch.-"The king took extra five minutes and that's not fair!" Both of them complained showing him a watch. Then they proceeded to start talking about their day. I wasn't paying attention since it looked like they were entertaining themselves. I kept trying to put all the puzzle pieces together to Haruhi's gender mystery, it just didn't seem right that Haruhi was a guy. I glanced back at the Hitachiin twins noticing that they were bickering now.
-"I already told you that I don't talk in my sleep!" Kaoru protested.
-"It's true I hear you mumble, but there's nothing bad about it… Actually it's kinda cute." Hikaru embraced his brother and looked into his eyes. It was getting real awkward real fast.
-"You're just saying that." Kaoru looked as he was hurt and looked away in agony. The other twin slid closer and tried to comfort Kaoru. I couldn't take this anymore, I grabbed one of the pastries that were on the table and threw it at them.
-"What? We are just doing our job!" Both of them regarded me like I was a weird bug.
-"That-that is utterly disgusting! For heaven's sake you're brothers, I can't this anymore." I couldn't look at them. Of course they started snickering and with a smug look on their face they said together.
-"It's not for real Rosalie-sama, it's just for show. Some girls think our performance is the best! I mean you are blushing too." Great, now they were mocking me too. I stuck my tongue out at them and threw another pastry. Quite a childish act but that's the only thing that came to mind.
-"It's my turn now ~! It's my turn to be with Rosa-chan!" Honey came running alongside Mori that was holding cake. The twins shrugged and left. As soon as Honey sat down he started munching on some cake. Mori just sat there speechless looking at Honey devouring the cake.
-"Do you want some cake too, Rosa-chan?!" He offered me a plate of cake and kept on vigorously feasting on his piece. After that we both colored in his coloring book, even Mori joined in. Each one of us drew a picture of Usa-chan or Bun-bun as I suggested calling it. Even though the only things we did were little kid things, I found him to be my favorite Host so far. Well Mori too because they were a package. Unfortunately we heard a clock's alarm chiming, and it was someone else's turn.
-"Bye Rosa-chan! This was lots of fun, Usa-... I mean Bun-Bun liked it a lot too!" Honey skipped away as he giggled.
-"Honey likes you… I like you too." Most random comment, but coming from speechless Mori, it was relatively heartwarming. Haruhi sat on the couch in front of mine and served some coffee in a piñata looking cup. We chatted like normal people; nonetheless the more we talked the more she convinced me that she was truly a girl.
-"May I ask you a question?" I asked precociously.
-"Yeah, sure." I wasn't sure if I should say it out loud since there were people nearby so I quickly took out a note pad and used one of Honey's crayons. "Are you actually a girl?" I wrote and handed the paper to Haruhi, to my surprise she looked shocked but then smiled. Haruhi nodded and then put her finger to her lips as if telling me to keep it a secret. Suddenly Kyoya snatched the paper out her hand and examined it. He then shooed her away 'politely' and sat in her place.
-"We still had a couple minutes left." I growled; I had forgotten Kyoya was a Host too. But he ignored the comment; at that moment he tore the paper up and started mumbling to himself.
-"You are not to convey this secret to anyone, understood?" His expression turned grim and menacing.
-"Wasn't planning to, but answer me this. Why a Host Club that is sternly for boys has… a person from the other gender working?" I had to pause to think of a way to not give away Haruhi's secret.
-"None of your business. At any rate, how may I be of service?" He cut me off in a fairly rude way.
-"By answering my question."
-"I'm afraid that I cannot, this is strictly Host Club business only." Kyoya pushed up his glasses making his lenses glare at me.
-"Lemme guess… She has a debt she has to pay?" Kyoya winced at my suggestion. 'Bingo!' I thought as he tried to retain his anger.
-"Ahem. Whatever it may be, this is not of your concern. Now let's change the focus of our conversation, what subject of your preference would you like to dialogue about?" I chuckled and had a little staring contest with him.
-"Well then how about you tell me about the different people in the Host Club." I finally requested.
-"Our motto is to make use of our characteristics to answer customers' needs." He responded in a polite manner.
-"So basically you group the girls with the guys that the personality matches best?" I reasoned, it actually made a lot of sense. Kyoya nodded and repositioned himself.
-"That's why we wanted you to experience each one of our Host club members, to see which one you liked the utmost." For the first time Kyoya and I were having a civil talk, he explained each one of the Hosts personalities and how they have themed days. Also that they were quite popular, which helped to make more money for the club. He seemed really fond of money whenever he explained the money part. I of course scoffed when he said he was the "cool" character.
-"Any factor that the client tells us helps, even their horoscope sign." He paused for a moment and asked what my sign was.
-"It's Pisces, didn't your little research pages tell you?" I mocked, but decided to stop because that would disrupt our courteous conversation. –"What about you?" I continued.
-"I was born on November 22." He responded.
-"So that makes you a Sagittarius, or a Scorpio?"
-"I would like to consider myself a Scorpio, matches my personality better." Kyoya started scribbling stuff on his notepad. I tried to recall the matches for the horoscopes, and if I remembered right… Scorpio and Pisces is a perfect match. I glared at him not believing that we could be the perfect match, I could barely look at him without getting disgusted.
-"Are you choking Tenorio-san? Your appearance is relatively red." He put down his notepad and leaned forward, inspecting my breath pattern.
-"I-I-I'm fine!" I shook my hands in front of my face so he would back away, but that only caused to the twins to notice me blushing. Kyoya did not back away but instead came a little closer while adjusting his glasses. As soon as the twins came over Honey-sempai and Mori-sempai decided to check it out too. In a matter of seconds the whole host club was all up in my face, looking at me like a weird specimen. 'Tch! like they have never seen a girl blush before.' I thought as tried to back away from the peering eyes. Suddenly I felt a soft, cold hand softly grasp my chin and hold it steady while another hand was put right in front of my nose.
-"Back away, Tenorio-san is just fine. She wasn't choking; I apologize for the false distress alarm." Everybody did as they were told, and as they back away I noticed that the pair of hands were his. I, unintentionally, blushed. Right afterwards I felt the twins poking my right cheek.
-"Don't touch my face!" I swatted my arms like crazy as if I was trying to hit annoying flies.
-"Why are you blushing Rosa-chan?" Honey inquired.
-"Is it because of the horoscope signs? You do know that is just a stereotype, right?" Kyoya was now making a fool out of me... again. I in response threw a cream puff and it landed on his face. I should've thought twice before throwing a random pastry because the cream puff slid off his glasses and onto his uniform. After that I panicked and the twins started teasing me. In return the three of us started bickering and Tamaki joined in trying to calm us down. Haruhi tried that too. Soon afterwards everybody was fighting and throwing pastries at each other, suddenly I heard some laughing. At first it started as a small chuckle but then it was full on laughter. We all turned to Kyoya in surprise, his head was thrown back and he was gripping onto his stomach.
-"Ahahahaha Rosa-san you are quite the entertainer! You must join the Host club no matter what, why not become a helper? Heh-haha." He paused to regain his composter; he glanced down then abruptly looked up and beheld me looking at me straight in the eye.-"If this alright with the king, I would love for you to be like a waitress for the Host club. We would of course pay you, also in addition for your service, while girls wait for their turn with a host, they can be chatting with you. Yes, that be perfect." Kyoya started making plans with the Host club members. Then they all turned to me with a big grin.
-"Would you like to join the Host Club?" Tamaki asked sweetly, I couldn't help but smile. I nodded in response. All of them cheered.
-"Welcome to the Host Club!" They all exclaimed.
After an hour the Host club started to pack up and say their good byes to their customers. Subsequently Tamaki showed me to his limo and took me to his estate. For a reason he lives in mansion number 2 because his grandma doesn't want him in mansion number 1. He said he has to own the privileged of living in that mansion. I think it's quite stupid since he is the only grandson that lady has so, why not pamper the boy? But then again they are Japanese and their culture is way different from my 'peasant', Mexican thinking. But when we went inside the servants treated us really nice. It seemed like they love their master a lot. So it wasn't really a punishment for him.
The rest of the evening Tamaki took me on a tour of the mansion, joked around, kept his flirting to a minimum and helped me with some homework I had overlooked. He was an older brother in a way, in one evening I grew to like him. And when it was night time we went to our respective rooms. But I couldn't sleep so I slip out and went to the kitchen hoping to be not seen by any servants, which with luck, I wasn't.
-"I'll make lunch for tomorrow." I thought out loud. And with that I went to work searching for ingredients and tools. Half way during the process of finishing lunch I heard some footsteps approaching. I hid inside the cupboards quickly.
-"Hmm… didn't know bento boxes could fill themselves, huh? What do you think Rosalie-san?" Tamaki's voice boomed throughout the kitchen. Suddenly he opened the cupboards grinning like a five year old. He chuckled as he helped me up and asked what I was doing.
-"Weeeell… lunch for tomorrow." I answered.
-"Hahaha I can see that, but why? The servants can do that in the morning." He was still grinning.
-"Couldn't sleep." I said truthfully, Tamaki smiled and didn't ask any more questions. Instead he helped me finish lunch and escorted me back to my bedroom. I guess he understood I was homesick.
-"Now don't sneak out again, okay nee-san?" He ordered cautiously.
-"Nee-san? I-I'm not your sister." I looked at him with amazement. He chuckled and shrugged a bit.
-"I've only known you for two days but it feels like your my little sister. I hope it's not disrespectful or it offends you… But I would like to call you my sister." Tamaki was really sincere when he requested that. I giggled and nodded.
-"Don't worry the feeling is mutual." I started to feel sleepy.
-"You mean you see me as your sister?!" I thought he was joking but his face was totally serious. I sighed.
-"No. Now go to sleep, see you tomorrow morning… Nii-san." I responded as my eyelids started to close.