Hiya everyone! I've been sorta, completely, totally obsessed with Gakuen Alice for a while now, and I have this character stuck in my head… So, I figured I should write about her before I forgot completely. XD

You should know: Mikan and Natsume are just friends, they are all around sixteen, and Natsume's sister really isn't in the picture right now.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gakuen Alice

A new face walked the halls of Alice Academy nervously. She was about sixteen, but a few inches shorter than the other girls her age. Her dusky blonde hair was tied up in a pony tail that hung down her back. Her brown eyes were scanning the halls, looking desperately for her class. A new student was weird in high school. Most kids found out about their Alice's before middle school, therefore all the kids grew up together.

She sighed and chewed on her lower lip, making it pinker than it already was. She took a shaky, deep breath before opening the door that she had been dreading to open. She had to pass some sort of test to stay in the school… She had to be accepted by everyone in the class. She was nervous; friend-making was not her specialty. She was kind… but she didn't attract people as gracefully as other people managed. Not to mention, if she got kicked out of school again, she wouldn't have anywhere to go… This was her last chance.

The door squeaked and she felt everyone's eyes follow her as she walked to the front of the room where the teacher beckoned her with his hand. She heard snickers coming from all corners of the classroom and felt her heart squeeze inside her chest painfully.

She knew they wouldn't love her at first, she wasn't even Japanese. She was from England and had an odd accent when she spoke Japanese. Her name was also English, making her stand out like a sore thumb. She was the outsider in more ways than one.

"Everyone, this is Hope." She heard more laughs. "She just transferred from England. Please welcome her." He pointed to a seat in the back of the class and she trudged up to her new seat. There were two boys sitting there, one blonde with striking blue eyes. And the other, who had his feet up on the desk and earrings pierced in his ears. He was intimidating and sent her a glare, almost asking her to defy him.

"Hello…" muttered Hope. Her lip was pink and raw from nerves. She had been to a type of academy like this before, she had trained alongside other special kids, but none of them ever seemed to openly hate her like she was hated now. A girl with auburn hair in pigtails sent her a smile across the room and she gladly smiled back. Maybe they weren't all bad… She could survive…

A girl with springy hair walked up to her with a high and mighty air about her. Great… "So, new girl."

"My name's Hope…" interrupted Hope, her voice sounding like a squeak in comparison.

"New girl, what's your Alice." Curly haired girl crossed her arms and lifted one of her eyebrows expectantly.

Everyone's eyes drifted to the two of them. Hopes face was turning red and her eyes were cast down. She hated when people asked her about her Alice. She had one, that wasn't even a question. The problem was that no one ever believed her. She couldn't show people her Alice like other people could. She couldn't levitate anyone or read someone's mind. She couldn't build anything amazing or make hallucinations… Her bangs fell into her face and she didn't bother to tuck them back behind her ear. She wanted to be swallowed up by the Earth. However, she was never quite that lucky.

The boy next to her with the earrings stared at her with a sidelong glance. She reminded him a bit of Mikan when she first arrived. He glared again, that was the last thing he needed. Another Mikan. To be "saved". No one could save him, not even Mikan, who was the kindest person anyone had ever met. A smile never left her eager face. If Mikan couldn't save him, then this girl would never get the chance to disappoint him. He wouldn't stand for it.

"Speak up, what's your Alice?" Hope didn't answer yet again, and this time the boy with the earrings spoke up.

"Hurry up and tell us." He put down the manga he was reading. "You're being annoying." She looked up at him with her large brown eyes that had golden specks in them.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

The springy haired girl "humphed" and looked desperately at the boy with earrings. "Natsume, what are you going to do?" She reminded Hope of a lovesick puppy. Hope looked for the girl with pigtails for help, but she was engrossed in a conversation with a girl with short black hair.

She glanced at the boy again, who was staring intently, making her blush even fiercer.

"Tell us or I'll make you cry." She looked up, this time completely, tucking her bangs behind her ears. She lost the helplessness about her and gained curiosity.

"Make me cry?" She smiled softly. "You can't."

Curly haired girl looked appalled. "Don't tell him what he can and cannot do!"

"Why not?" She was so innocent and couldn't see the fire brewing in Natsume's eyes. "He doesn't look special to me." He stood up and grabbed her roughly by the pony tail. She gasped and held her scalp from the pain.

"Come on Ruka." He started walking out the door, dragging Hope by the hair. Ruka stopped for a second but stood up anyways, obeying Natsume, following him out of the door. "She doesn't think she'll cry. We made Mikan cry before. She cries every day."

"Mikan's different though…" Ruka looked at Hope with a glimmer of pity as her feet tried to keep up with Natsume without tripping. She was squirming and trying to keep up while he held onto her hair with a firm grip.

"She's no different from Mikan. She's an idiot and ugly. She's probably just as big of a cry baby and deserves it one way or another."

"I do not deserve this!" piped Hope. "I didn't do anything, let me go! Now!" She squirmed again and ended up in a worse position than before.

"What are we going to do?" They had gotten outside, past the courtyard, into the woods. Natsume let go of her and shoved her backwards. "How are you so confident that we can't make you cry?" He seemed intrigued more than anything else.

"Because you just can't.

Natsume held a ball of menacing fire in his hand. "I'll prove you wrong." He held it menacingly in front of her. Based on what he saw in the classroom, he was expecting her to crawl away from him, bawling from fear. She didn't seem to be good at confrontation of any kind. Fire would ultimately be her defeat, just like it was to everyone else.

"Ooh, fire… Scary." She furrowed her eyebrows and stared at him straight in his eyes, determined. His eyes were crazy with rage of her not being scared like everyone else was. Even Mikan, with her nullifying power, cowered before him.

Speaking of Mikan, she came springing through the forest, gasping for air. "Permy told me what you did! Leave her alone! She's new, Natsume." She was obviously exhausted from running after them.

"Oh yeah? What are you gonna do about about it?"

She smiled. "I asked Narumi Sensei to meet me here." Natsume looked as if he was ready to kill. She was pushing all the wrong buttons and he felt the insistent need to burn something, anything. He grabbed the girl by the face and she fell backwards from the shock of him grabbing her. He fell on top but still held her face firmly.

"Make him leave or I'll burn her face."

Too late for her, Narumi Sensei popped out from the bushes, smiling stupidly. His smile quickly faded when he saw Natsume mounted on the new girl from England. "Natsume…" That was all Natsume needed to send a ball of fire his way. Mikan, being Mikan, jumped in front of Naru Sensei. The ball of fire engulfed her and Natsume quickly attempted to reign the fire in before she was seriously burnt. But… she didn't even scream.

Instead, the girl he had underneath him started to writhe in pain. Her eyes squeezed shut and she grabbed handfuls of his shirt, her fists gripped tightly. Sweat broke out on her forehead and she let out a struggled scream that rung through the forest, making everyone's blood run cold. She then clamped her mouth shut. He looked back at Mikan who was unusually calm. No pain spread across her face… nothing. It was as if there wasn't any pain at all.

Tears sprang from Hope's eyes and ran down her face. "Natsume! Turn off the fire!" Yelled Ruka as Hope strained under Natsume, who seemed frozen in shock from her reaction.
He withdrew the fire and Hope went limp. She was breathing heavily… To Natsume, it was… erotic, in a way. He pushed that thought of his mind as quickly as he possibly could. "You win…" She took in a shaky breath.

"Huh?"

"You made me cry, you win."

"Yeah… I win…" For some reason, he didn't get the satisfaction he usually got out of stuff like this. He felt guilty, and even a bit sad as he hovered above her while she started to regulate her breathing. Everyone was watching her, her little episode was unexplained and Mikan's obvious lack of pain when Natsume burned her was odd…

What happened to the pain?

I hope you liked it! Hope's not a bad character, she's better as time goes on. She's not afraid of much, even though she didn't really give that impression when she first entered the classroom XD And, let's face it, we can see a possible relationship blooming between Hope and Natsume! :D