"You can let go now, Natsume."
He removed his arm off my shoulder and looked at me.
"You look better when you smile, you know. You look like a retard when you don't."
I glared at him and hit him with my binder while he laughs.
"Hey, stop it Polka!"
*Classroom door opens*
As if on cue, I stopped hitting him and put my right arm around his waist while he put his left arm on my shoulder. We looked at the door's direction and both smile as if nothing happened.
Our classmates were standing by the door, looking at us.
"Aww. Hyuuga-kun and Sakura-san are really sweet."
"They're both lucky they have each other."
I greeted our classmates good morning and pinched Natsume at his waist before letting go of him. I saw him cringed so I smiled at him oh so sweetly.
I was about to walk away from Natsume when he grabbed my hand and hugged me.
"You're really beautiful, Mikan. Come here, I wanna hug you again."
Based on his voice, I know that he's going to make a payback to what I did.
"Hey, get off," I whispered.
"Hn."
Just when I thought he's letting me go, he stepped on my foot and returned my oh so sweet smile from earlier before he went to his seat.
Geez. Ouch. I smiled at our classmates and went to find my seat.
My name is Mikan Sakura. The guy from earlier is my so-called boyfriend.
Actually, I'm a transferee. I transferred here two weeks ago. My parents are both working in the States so they left me with my grandfather. I don't really want to go to States yet so I agreed to be left behind.
Many people say that I'm beautiful. Some even said that I'm the prettiest girl in school.
The truth is, I'm not like this before. I used to be really nerdy. A smart girl who only cares about books and studying. Which is why my ex-boyfriend left me.
That jerk. The day he broke up with me he said that the only reason he asked me out was because he can use me in doing his assignments and projects.
So I did everything to be pretty. And tadaaaa. Meet Ms. Mikan the Perfect. Kidding. Hahaha.
Eversince I started going to this school, many boys are already asking me out. But turned all of them down. I know that they don't really love me, or even like. They only want me as a trophy. A display. It's tiring, you know. Turning them down.
Until one day, Natsume talked to me. He's the hottest guy in school. Many people say he's my male counterpart. He said that he's going through the same trouble as I am. Turning people down, day after day. So he asked me to be his girlfriend. Pretend girlfriend, to be specific. And he can be my pretend boyfriend in return. I don't know what came to me that day. Maybe his persuasive skills got me, or maybe his looks. But I agreed with him.
The next day..
"Hey, have you heared? Hyuuga-san and Sakura-san are dating!"
"Eh? For real?"
"Aww. Hyuuga-kun has a girlfriend already?"
"It's Sakura-san, so it's okay. They look good together!"
Since that day, Natsume and I are always together. We act all sweet in front of other people, but when we're alone, our real personalities come out. Just like today.
We're on Natsume's car, on our way home.
I removed my shoes and hugged my legs.
"Can you please not put your dirty feet on my car seat?"
I faced him and put my tongue out.
He smirked and hit me in the head.
"Aww. You two-faced jerk. Hitting a girl.."
He smiled. "As if you're not two-faced. You're so noisy and you eat like a pig. Sometimes, I even wonder where your manners go, but in front of other people, you act as if you're as sweet as a princess."
What Natsume said is true. In front of other people, I do my best to act perfect. But when we're alone together, I act differently. It's the same with Natsume. We can only show our true selves when we're with each other.
"Sakura-san is so lucky, neh? She has everything. She even has a hot boyfriend. "
I smiled at my classmates and looked at my wristwatch. Where the hell is Natsume? Our class is going to start soon.
"What exactly did you liked about Hyuuga-kun?"
I looked at my classmates and smiled.
Hmm.
"If you're not serious with Natsume, just give him to me."
What? Oh. Luna. She's the girl who's inlove with Natsume ever since.. forever? But Natsume turned her down. Even though Natsume is irritating, he's not the type of guy to take advantage with girls just because he knows that they're in love with him.
Just then, I felt someone hug me from behind and said, "I belong to Mikan. From head to foot. I won't give you even a single strand of my hair because all of me belongs to Mikan."
My heart beat fast and I felt my cheeks turn hot.
"Sensei's coming!"
"Good morning." He kissed me on my cheek and went to his seat.
I mentally slapped myself. No Mikan. You can't fall for him. He doesn't even like you. You're just pretending.
Lunch break.
"Hey ugly, let's go."
I looked around and saw that we're the only ones left in the classroom. I stood up and composed myself.
"You're the one who's ugly."
I walked towards him and just when I was about to walk out the door, he pulled my hand.
"Hey, why is your face red?"
I pulled my hand away from him and touch my cheeks.
"My face is not red, you fox."
He grinned. "Are you falling for me?"
I glared at him. "As if. We're just pretending so I'm well aware that all you do are just acts."
"Hn. Okay." He put his arm around my shoulder as we made our way to the cafeteria.
I think I'm inlove with Natsume. I know that it's wrong, especially because this whole relationship is false.
The class ended with my head full of thoughts about Natsume.
At the parking lot..
"Hey Polka, what's up with you? Are you sick?"
There he goes again. Acting all concern even if there are no audience.
"There's no one here, you can cut the act."
"Do you want some ice cream? My treat. Strawberry?"
I looked at his smiling face and rolled my eyes.
"Natsume. Go out with me."
It's Luna.
Natsume put his hand around my waist. "Luna, as you see.. I already have a girlfriend."
"I know that it's not true. It's all an act. I heard you earlier."
She.. heard.. us?
"Sakura-san, if you're not serious with Natsume, please give him to me. I love him."
I looked at Luna's tear-stained face and felt a squeeze in my heart. She must really love Natsume, eh?
But I don't want to give him Natsume. Natsume's mine. I don't want to.. give him up..
"It's all an act."
"It's all an act."
"It's all an act."
Right. It's all an act. Natsume doesn't even love me. None of it was true.
I smiled bitterly.
"It's okay Natsume. Date her. You must have a girlfriend who loves you."
And then I walked away.
The next day, many students are talking about our break up. I don't know if he's going out with Luna now, but as much as possible, I act like nothing happened.
Many guys in our school are asking me out again. Someone even brought flowers.
"Sakura-san, flowers for you."
I looked at the guy with the flowers. He's cute. But Natsume is better looking.
I was about to get the flowers but someone pushed them away from me.
The next thing I know, someone is kissing me.
And that someone is..
Natsume?!
When he pulled away, I felt my heart beating so fast.
"Natsume?"
He looked at the guy with the flowers and glared at him.
"Back off. She's mine."
He pulled me out of the classroom.
"There's no guy out there who suits you better than me. And you're mine."
I felt my tears fall down.
"I don't care about Luna, or any girl for that matter. I said before that let's pretend to be lovers because I was thinking that if I ask you to go out with me, you'll refuse me like the other guys."
All this time, he.. loves me?
I took a deep breath and looked at his eyes.
"I'm not perfect."
"I know."
"I eat like a pig."
"I know."
"I'm noisy."
"I know all of that already."
I feel like my heart's about to jump out of my chest. I hugged him tightly.
"I love you, Natsume."
He kissed my hair. "I love you too, Mikan."
I pulled away and smile.
"So, where's the strawberry ice cream?"
He laughed and pulled me again in a tight hug.
"You pig."
A/N: And... that's it!
Actually, I wrote this story in Filipino and published it on Wattpad. I used the names Nate and Mikaela, with Natsume and Mikan's image in my mind. If you want to read the original story, just go to my profile and click on the Let's Pretend link :)
Hope you liked it!
xoxo