It was, by all accounts, a dreadful morning. The storm brewing overhead did nothing to stop the overwhelming humidity permeating the environment. Safe as she was within the limo, nonetheless Amelia could feel the humidity in the way her hair was beginning to frizz along the ends. She wished she had had the foresight to put it up - at the very least, it would make the sight of her red hair and yellow dress less of an eyesore.

They pulled to a stop at the side of the road, her driver getting out and opening the door for her. "Good luck on your first day, Windsor-hime," he said, his Japanese soft and fluid.

"Thank you," she replied, a bit wryly. "I doubt I'll need it though. This is all routine."

Wishing she had put her hair into a ponytail again, she hurried towards the air-conditioned safety of the school. The entire time, she flattened her hair uselessly against the humidity, but it was no use. Stepping inside, Amelia stopped as she realized her current dilemma - apart from the fact that there was now a puffy red pom-pom where her hair used to be.

Where on earth is the main office?

She supposed that roughly translated to "Honsha wa dokodesu ka?" but she wasn't sure. Amelia had gotten too used to the luxury of English in Canada. Although her tutor had done his best to teach her, Amelia's grasp of the language wasn't quite complete. The grammar rules alone had her stymied, let alone all the different customs and ways of addressing others. There were just so many things to consider - were they older than you? More successful? Male or female?

Oh well.

With an uncharacteristic recklessness, Amelia reached out and tapped the first person she saw on the shoulder. He turned, glasses flashing in a way that put her off for a moment - but only for a moment. She recognized him instantly: Ootori Kyouya, third son, third year. But people got creeped out if you knew who they were without introduction, so she feigned ignorance.

"Excuse me, but where's the main office?"

Dear god, I hope I didn't mess up the translation.

He looked contemplative for a moment - probably wondering about her obviously English accent. Then, in beautiful, beautiful English, he said, "The main office is quite a ways from here. I can show you, if you like? And if you focused more on making your words fluid, instead of pronouncing each of them separately, your accent might be less noticeable."

Amelia could feel a blush trying to creep its way onto her cheeks. With an immense amount of determination, she crushed it back to the depths of hell and beamed up at her wonderful, English-speaking saviour. Her opinion of Kyouya rose by several thousand percent. Hmm, maybe she could try demonstrating her foreknowledge and seeing how he reacted? I wonder if he's as cool as they say.

"That would be amazing! Thank you for speaking in English, but I'd like to speak Japanese so I can get rid of the accent as quickly as I can." Switching to Japanese, she continued, "And I'd love it if you could show me to the main office, Ootori-san."

A slight widening of his eyes was the only indicator of his surprise (oh, how glad she was that she had studied the profiles of all the notables at Ouran). He gave her a slow, contemplative smile. "Then, Windsor-hime, follow me." He knows who I am too? I underestimated him.

At the honorific, Amelia really did blush this time. "No need to refer to me as '-hime,' Ootori-san. '-San' is fine."

She didn't ask how he knew her name, or her title. Amelia figured that the third Ootori son, notorious as he was for keeping detailed profiles, would of course know of the youngest English princess set to attend Ouran.

Early as it was, the hallways were fairly empty. Despite that, there were still many who did a doubletake at the red-haired obviously not-Japanese stranger. Amelia, unused to these looks, faced straight ahead and tried to pay attention to her conversation with Kyouya. She hadn't been in an East-Asian country since grade five, and had forgotten how rare foreigners were.

"How are you liking it in Japan so far, princess?"

"It's much warmer than Canada for sure, although I'm quite excited by the fact that there's less snow here. Winter up north is positively awful." How she hated small talk. What value was either of them gaining from this conversation?

"We're here. Do you need to pick up your schedule?" He asked, inclining his head slightly towards the door. Amelia flashed him a small smile, bowing slightly. "Thank you, Ootori-san. Yes, I do need to pick up my schedule, but I think class is going to start soon. I wouldn't want you to be late because of me, after you've been so kind." She said her goodbyes, and walked into the office.

From there, everything was a blur of bureaucracy. Next thing she knew, she was being bundled through into a classroom of people who immediately turned and stared at her. She couldn't blame them. It was the middle of the semester, after all. The teacher, a kind-looking middle-aged man, smiled at the class.

"Everyone, we have a new student this year. Why don't you introduce yourself?"

This was it - the moment she had spent all morning practicing for. She took a deep breath, (make your words fluid), and said, in a quiet, polite voice, "I'm Windsor Amelia, granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II. Please take care of me!"

After the silence had stretched longer than a few seconds, Amelia chanced a look up and found the looks of complete, utter shock on the faces of her classmates. While they were used to corporate royalty, it seemed they weren't accustomed to actual royalty. Her eyes landed on Hayashi Hana, heiress to a multi-billion dollar wine company. Amelia studied her, noticing the abundance of diamond jewlery. She has expensive tastes. If I'm to be her friend, I should read up on the latest fashion trends. Her eyes traveled to Amashi Haru, whose father owned a popular electronics store. When they made eye contact, he immediately blushed and averted his gaze. Certainly seems shy - is that the reason for the blush? Maybe he has a weakness for foreign girls. I'll play up my accent around him and see how he reacts. Sitting next to Amashi Haru was Suouh Tamaki, who gave her a kind smile. And next to him, Kyouya Ootori. He was the only one who didn't look shocked by her announcement. He met her eyes steadily, dark grey against blue, before scribbling something in his notebook.

The teacher cleared his throat. "Does anyone have questions for Windsor-hime?"

Amashi Haru looked up and called out, "Are you single?"

Not so shy after all, it seems. Then why the blush?

"Amashi-san, that is incredibly inappropriate. Does anyone else have appropriate questions for Windsor-hime? No? Then, Windsor-hime, please sit down."

Carefully, Amelia made her way to the only empty seat in the classroom - right behind Tamaki and Kyouya. When she sat down, she leaned forwards and tapped Amashi Haru on the shoulder. He turned, with a faint blush when he realized who had tapped him. She felt a seductive, slow smile spread across her lips. Amelia leaned forwards a bit more, Haru's blush deepening.

"For your information, Amashi-kun, I am single."

She leaned back, noting that her accented words did have a noticeable effect.

"Now, that was just mean, Windsor-hime," Kyouya murmured. They were on the way to the dining hall, and she had somehow found herself stuck between him and Tamaki. "Poor Amashi-san could barely speak after that."

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "I have no idea what you mean, Ootori-san."

The same odd, contemplative look was back. What does it mean?

"I'm sure you didn't."