Chapter 1: introductions

In all honesty, I didn't think I was special enough to be going to Ouran High School. My father had sent me over from America to Japan in order for me to be closer to him. He is a world famous photographer and had to travel a lot. Currently he was in Japan to take pictures of the mountains and shrines. He was sending me to Ouran because "It would be a good chance for me to work my way up the social ladder." Basically that meant he wanted me to find a really rich and influential boyfriend.

I didn't want to go to a school for the rich and snobby, but I put on the ugliest dress ever, sucked it up and went to school. I drove, of course, and made it to school just in time to get to my class before the first bell. I was in class 2-A. It was the beginning of October so I was coming to school pretty late in the season. Everyone sat down when the bell rang. I waited for everyone to take their seats before I found an empty seat at the back of the class. Then the teacher walked in.

"Good morning class." he said. "Lets get right down to business, shall we? We have a new student today. Would you please stand up and tell the class your name?"

I stood. "My name is Anderson Grace and I'm from the United States." Short and sweet, that was all they needed to know about me for now. I sat back down. It felt really weird saying my name with the last name first, but I knew that's how they did it in Japan, so I went with it. The teacher didn't seem to bother with anymore introductions and continued on with the first lesson of the day.

Before I go any further in my story I feel that I should tell you about my physical appearance. I have strawberry-blond hair that goes about an inch past my shoulders. My eyes are dark green with a little bit of blue around the pupil. I am about 5'1" which is very short for a 16-year-old. I have pale skin all year round.

After school ended, I was encouraged to check out some of the clubs in the school. I was given a map and a list of the clubs. I read down the list, nothing sounded interesting until I got to "Host club"

"… What the hell kind of school is this?" I thought to myself. My dad had warned me about host clubs, and from what he said, they sounded like male prostitutes. Why would a school have a host club? I had to check it out, just to see if there was some canoodling going around. That might make my dad second guess his choice in putting me in this school.

I headed up the stairs walked into the third music room. Not two steps in the door and I was greeted my a blond haired, blue-violet eyed boy. I recognized him from my class. I think his name was Tamaki? He quickly took my hand and brought me very close to him.

"Welcome to our host club. Princess. We thank you for coming in here and allowing us to gaze upon your beauty. You must be the new student everyone has been talking about. I must say, the rumors of your beauty do you no justice."

I could feel myself blushing. I pulled away very quickly. "Um, thank you, but I'm just looking. I wasn't here for…entertainment. I was just curious."

He looked somewhat disappointed. "Oh, I'm sorry, you may sit anywhere. If you need any help or company, call any one of the hosts."

"Alright, thank you." I responded. I walked to an empty table and sat down to watch the host club and their customers. I recognized two of the host club members, Tamaki and Kyouya, who were both in my class. The rest were unfamiliar to me. The fan girls were interesting to watch. They swooned at a wink or a slight touch. Even when the host club members would interact with one another, they would squeal like little children. As far as I could tell, there wasn't anything bad going on here. The girls would pay money for the boys to talk to them, that's all. It sounded kinda sad actually.

Feeling that there wasn't anything interesting happening in the host club, I started to stand, but was stopped by another one of the hosts.

"Are you leaving already?" He asked. It was one of the shorter boys. He had brown hair and large brown eyes, making his face look almost feminine. He was carrying some tea over to one of the tables surrounded by girls watching eagerly.

"I was going to actually. There doesn't seem to be anything interesting going on here, so I might as well just leave." I responded, picking up some of my books that I had set down when I first got here.

"You should at least stay for tea, things get pretty interesting around here if you stick around. I'm Haruhi by the way." The boy said offering me a hand.

I took it with my free hand. "I'm Grace. Maybe I will stay for tea."

He smiled. "I'll get you a cup as soon as I'm done filling the girl's cups."

I sat back down at my table and put my books back on the table. If I didn't get anything else done, I could at least use this time to do some of the homework that was given out today. I started to open my book when I felt someone very close behind me. "Can I help you?" I asked and quickly turned around.

Two twin boys were looking back at me, uncomfortably close, might I add. I shifted in my seat so I wasn't so close to the two. "Who are you?" asked one of the brothers.

"I've never seen you before." The other brother said without letting me respond

"Is she new?" The first brother again.

"Why aren't you with a host?" Second brother.

"Tell us!" They both backed away and said in unison.

"Would you two knock it off?" Someone else said. I sighed when I saw it was Haruhi with my tea. "You're going to scare her away."

"She's not answering-"

"-any of our questions." I had seen twins before, but never twins who finished the other's sentences. It was a little strange.

"My name is Grace. I am new. I came here from America. I'm just here to observe for the day, I don't need a host."

Haruhi set down the cup of tea and sat down across from me. I nodded at her in appreciation.

"Well then, We are Hikaru and Kaoru. I'm Hikaru." The first one said.

"I'm Kaoru." The second one said. They both put on very cheesy looking grins. I examined their faces for a minute, trying to find slight differences to tell them apart.

"Hikaru-kun has his part on the left, Kaoru-kun's is on the right. Your voices are also different. Kaoru-kun's is a bit higher than Hikaru-kun's. Not to mention the fact that Hikaru-kun's eyes have just a little bit of light blue in them, indicating to me that he likes to flirt just a little bit more than his brother does." I replied, taking a sip of my tea and a mental note.

The twins stopped smiling and looked at one another. "That was quick."

"I was taught to read faces and body language. Your face will tell you more about you than what most people are willing to tell." I stopped to take another sip of my tea. "For example. Both of your eyes are slanted upward, like a cat's. This tells me that you are both opportunists and know how to get what you want."

"Well, that's certainly interesting." Another voice said. I turned to see that most of the room was staring at us. The voice had come from Kyouya, who was jotting something down in his notebook.

"That's so cool!" One of the girls yelled. "Would you teach me?"

I smiled kindly and put a finger up to my lips. "Sorry, It's a secret. I'll be willing to teach some of it to you, but some stuff I like to keep to myself."

The tall boy and his small friend finally came over. I had been waiting to learn their names. "I wanna learn too!" The small boy said. "I'm Hunny! This is my friend Tamaki."

"Yo." The Tall boy said.

I nodded and added a polite "Hello." before I felt my pocket start to vibrate. I took my phone out and answered it.

"Dema? Are you OK?" I asked. She didn't usually call me.

"GRACE! I miss you! Why did you have to leave!" she yelled. I had to move my ear away from the phone it was so loud.

"I'm sorry Dema, but I can't talk now, I'll call you back when I get home. Bye." then hung up without waiting for an answer. "I'm sorry, that was my sister. Actually, that reminds me, I need to get home." By now I had finished my tea. I properly thanked everyone and started to head for the door when I heard someone shout.

"Wait! Will you be back tomorrow?" I stopped with my hand on the door knob, then turned. It was Kaoru, his face looked a little red.

"Um," I paused looking at everyone's faces. "Yeah, I guess I'll stop by." He smiled. Then I left.