"The Corner"
Hi guys! Cue wave. I'm glad to announce to the one or two of you that have been following all my stories that my inspiration has returned, so I'll start writing random stuff whenever I have free time again! Isn't that great?

Dedication
To all you people out there who've ever had a best friend (or just a friend that's an opposite gender) you thought of dating but realized that it just wouldn't work out.

Disclaimer
Disclaimed.

Oh yea. Just a heads up, guys. It contains a bit of language.

Negative Potential

Sumire shivered.

It was a chill to the bones.

She heard their low whispers and smelled the strong stench of drugs. The druggies weren't even trying to be discreet about it; their eyes were running up and down her body, making her feel dreadfully exposed. None of them went up to her so far, but her emerald cat-like eyes were on vigilant lookout for any sharp movements. She hugged her chest tighter, covering up her cleavage with her arms. She knew that this was a dangerous place, but was it actually possible to be raped inside Alice Academy?

One of them opened his teeth to form a particularly wide grin that showed his disgusting teeth. To Sumire's unease, his eyes were fixated on her. He looked like a panther waiting to pounce.

"Lay off guys, she's with me." It was a slow drawl.

She dropped her arms and felt relief enter her chest as she realized immediately why she had yet to be attacked. The boy with a buzzcut stepped forward and, slinging an arm around her, ushered her past all his buddies.

"Holy God," sighed Mochu, "you should really take care of yourself better. What's with the makeup and skimpy dress, Mire? You look like a whore."

She glanced at her attire. Personally, Sumire disagreed. Her dress wasn't any more explicit than the any other party dress she wore and the stilettos were a necessity – they matched with the dress. As for the makeup, she only dabbed a bit on before she left.

"I am no more a whore than you are a druggie."

"Naw," he said with a shrug while steering them onto the path to her dorm. "You guys misunderstand us. All we really do is smoke around a bit. Illegal drugs are too much of a hassle to sneak into the academy and getting stoned is just looking for trouble."

"Could have fooled me."

He rolled his eyes. "How 'bout you stop sneaking off to parties in the middle of the night and we've got ourselves a deal. I don't want to have to save your butt every time you come back. If you encounter the guys again and I'm not here, you'd be in trouble."

"Whatever. I just happened to take a shortcut today. Midway through party, I forgot I had a biology lab due tomorrow. It's not I need you to save me anyway. I would have castrate them with my Alice and run."

"Would you now?"

Sumire put her hands on her hips and looked at him defiantly. "Yes I would have. You know me Mochu."

"Yeah whatever. Just take care of yourself better next time."

Before she entered her dorm, he kissed h

er lightly on the forehead. She aimed a kick at him for that but he already slipped away into the darkness of the night. Annoyed, Sumire wiped the spot where his lips were before. Trust him to tease her at every chance he got.

She collapsed onto her bed right after printing out her lab. It was three thirty in the morning but she wasn't tired at all. Sumire tried closing her eyes but her consciousness just wouldn't drift. She thought she had been trying to sleep for at least half an hour but when she opened her eyes, she saw that it was only three thirty-five.

So she got up and sent Wakako a quick text telling her that she couldn't sleep, and to text back if she was awake but to ignore it if she checked in the morning.

With a sigh, she flumped back down onto the bed, on top of the covers this time. She thought about Koko and desperately wished for him to stop calling her that stupid nickname, or to grow the balls (since he probably already knew that she wanted him to anyway, thanks to his damn Alice) to ask her to the Christmas Dance. Whichever one came first. She wasn't going to be picky.

Then she thought about Mikan and where she was right now. Since she left the academy six years ago, things had never been the same again. It wasn't just that her cheerful presence gone from the class either. There had been drastic changes, like the sudden animosity towards the 2B students from the others, and how Natsume had breakdowns and Mochu started distancing himself from everyone else. Even Koko's smile faltered once or twice.

What a messed up bunch they were now. She started partying to keep her mind off of things. For at least three times a week, Sumire would sneak out of her dorm in the late night and return early morning. The parties were the same every time. Because of the low population of Alice Academy, it was always the same thirty people or so that came. It had become a routine – dance, drink, dance some more – until it wasn't so much for the fun that the parties were thrown but rather to keep ease their minds for whatever reason. She also remembered that Koko came to the party once. They ended up having a private chat outside. That was when he told her of all the agonizing thoughts he was hearing from everyone, so much in fact that he kept on getting constant headaches in class. He had his head between his hands while telling her that he couldn't take it anymore.

"I have to stop my Alice before I go crazy," were the exact words he told her.

She massaged his head until the ache was better. Then, in a sharp voice, she'd told him to be grateful for his Alice and to have pride in it, not unlike the speech she made to Mikan when she first came to the academy.

Now that she thought about it, maybe that was the reason why Koko never attended those parties with her anymore.

Mochu was also losing it. He stopped hanging with Natsume for his "buddies". They were the ones everyone called low, the ones who were demeaned even more than the Dangerous Abilities class. She had initially been angry at him when he first started hanging with them, but then he lost his temper on her and told her that she was no different, always running from her problems.

"After all, this is merely my own way of keeping my mind from all the shit that's happening around here!" She remembered him yell.

After that, she never brought up the subject again.

Staring absentmindedly at the on her clock that just ticked four a.m., she thought about both of them. Koko, she'd known for longer, and there were also moments between them that blurred the lines between friends and lovers. She knew they had a unique bond. Despite this however, Mochu was still the one that knew her the best. It was scary, sometimes, how he could predict her so well. It felt like he knew her better than she knew herself.

Sumire sighed and touched the spot where he kissed her goodnight and found her mind drifting to dangerous boundaries. They had been each other's salvation for years. They knew each other better than anyone. What's to stop them from becoming an "item"? She suddenly got an image of Mochu hugging her. He'd hugged her before, except in the image they had, their hug had them in a whole new level of intimacy.

She shuddered and shook the image away. Never in a million years could she see that happening to the two of them.

However, she couldn't deny that in terms of compatibility, they definitely had potential.

That was when she decided to experiment with the spontaneous four-in-the-morning thought.

"Just come. Once is all I'm asking." She put on her best pout, but it had absolutely no affect on him.

"Now tell me, why would I go to one of those stupid, sweaty, noisy parties that you go to when I could just hang out in the open with my guys, smoke a few cigarettes and watch the stars?"

"Watch the stars? What is wrong with you?"

"You're not going to get me to come to the party Sumire. Don't waste your efforts."

She crossed her eyes. "Fine. If you're not coming with me, then I'm coming with you."

He swiveled sharply and his eyes flashed. "You wouldn't, you bit-"

"Are you coming or not?" Sumire dared him.

He took deep breaths to calm himself down. He tried glared at her, but all that resulted was Sumire taunting him further with her eyes. "I don't think your boyfriend would like that."

"Not everything in my life revolves around Koko, you know?"

She could have sworn that she heard him mutter "that's what you always tell yourself" under his breath.

"Fine. I'll come to your party or whatever, just this once. But if it turns out to be crappy, I'm leaving. You owe me, Mire, twice now."

"Yeah, yeah. We'll leave the excess details for later."

She felt a smile come to her face. It was time to put the plan into action. Hell, he'd hate her after this, but he would eventually understand. She knew by now that it wasn't a good idea, but she couldn't convince herself to back out. It was too late now anyway. Everything was already in its place. Besides, what if they were meant for each other but never realized all these years? What was there to lose? Nothing…

…Right?

At 11 in the late night, Sumire opened her window and got out. Dropping her shoes onto the ground, she climbed down the building with her feet and sharp nails. Once on the ground, she activated her Alice, feeling the hated whiskers growing on her face. The only reason she used this Alice was because it let her run faster. Grabbing her shoes with one of her hands, she started her sprint to the isolated shack where the party was held every night.

A few of them greeted her as she entered the shack but a lot of them just glanced and looked away. Most of them were regulars and didn't bother greeting anyone anymore. She began searching for Mochu immediately, but after examining everyone that was there, determined that he simply hadn't arrived yet.

She decided to get a glass of water while waiting for him. She wasn't having beer, not today. She couldn't risk being under the influence of alcohol today.

A quarter to twelve, Mochu arrived.

His entrance was grand, even though it wasn't grand at all. All Mochu had to do was come in the door and suddenly every single pair of eyes were on him. Being Mochu, however, he simply didn't give a damn and casually stepped past all the people, who were now whispering to each other and throwing him glances.

"Who invited him?" Sumire heard Nonoko ask behind her.

Turning around, she announced, "I did. Do you have a problem with that?"

The accused blinked stupidly before replying, "no… Not at all."

Sumire felt a tap on her shoulder and heard a "hey, sup?"

Nonoko fled at the sight of Mochu.

"Not much," Sumire replied, turning back around. "You seem to be quite a spectacle here."

"Yeah well apparently these people don't see the 'druggie species' much."

"You want to go over there?" She pointed to the few dancing bodies in one corner of the shack. "It'll be less likely for them to see us."

"I'd rather not watch a bunch of people grind to each other if you don't mind."

She shrugged and they started walking.

"So... What do you usually do around here anyway?"

"I usually come with Wakako," Sumire explained. "On those days I'd get wasted and she'd drag me back at early morning. But normally I just take one or two shots and dance or talk or something. Keep my mind off things, y'know?"

"I don't get the point of this," he growled. "Isn't it just you thirty people over and over? Doesn't it ever get monotonous?"

She laughed. "You'd be surprised the wonders alcohol can do for you."

"Gives you one hell of a hangover in the morning, that's for sure. The rest I'm not so sure about."

"Well I don't know what cigarettes do for you either," she huffed.

"They calm me."

"Calm you. I didn't know that was possible."

He looked away. "Yeah, well they do.

She took a sip of her water. "Alice Academy is seriously messed up now. And we thought we had it bad when we were ten…"

"You were pursuing Natsume and Ruka when you were ten and look where they are now. One's having breakdowns and the other's this close to living permanently in a barn."

Sumire threw her arms up, spilling water everywhere. "In case you haven't noticed, all of us are breaking down, Mochu. What do you think these parties are for? We're certainly not here to socialize. The only thing preventing us from breaking down is ourselves!"

"Huh."

Sumire set her glass down on the table and faced him. It was true. Even as Mochu looked at her now, he looked defeated. His eyes were dull and his shoulders were slightly sagging as if there was an invisible weight on his back. She knew exactly how it felt like. She had the same inescapable weight put on her own shoulders.

Deeply inhaling, she pushed him to the nearest wall and forced herself on him. Mochu had his hands up in the air, dumbfounded as she pressed her lips onto his. Then, he turned rigid all over and his hands dropped limp to either side. He didn't resist, but rather just stood there and let her finish. It didn't take long, however, as Sumire herself felt awkward kissing him and quickly pulled apart.

"What in the name of Satan was that?!" Mochu immediately demanded.

She opened her mouth to speak, but upon meeting his eyes, felt a surge of embarrassment to her face and ended up stuttering, "I – I don't know."

"Are you drunk?"

"No, I'm sober." Even if she had lied to him, he would have seen through her.

"Then why the fuck did you do it?"

"I-I-" She stopped herself from saying anything else. How was she going to tell him that she was merely experimenting with the idea of them as an item?

"Oh for goodness sake, Mire!" he yelled, causing several heads to turn their way.

Then, before she knew it, he was dragging her out of the shack and into the night where they would gain the privacy that was unattainable inside. She would have protested, but she had been too stunned to.

She was just adjusting to the fresh air and night sounds when he slammed her against a tree.

That was when she snapped out of her trance.

"You do know that lover boy's going to hear about this tomorrow right?" he said with arms crossed. He was completely serious about this.

"No duh."

"You don't have feelings for me." It was a statement.

"I don't," she agreed.

"Then why the hell did you do that Sumire? Where the hell did that come from?"

"It wasn't anything!" Sumire snapped back. "I was curious, that's all."

"Curious?" questioned Mochu. He repeated it in further disbelief, "Curious? About what?!"

"I don't know! I don't know, okay? Have you ever gotten one of those random, out of boundary thoughts and then wonder 'hey, I wonder how it'd be like if this really happened'? That was all there is to it, okay? I was just experimenting! I knew nothing was going to happen out of it! I just – I don't know, Mochu, I really don't know anymore!"

She turned her face away from him while inhaling and exhaling deeply. He face was burning from embarrassment. That was not something you normally announced to your best friend.

With both of his hands, he turned her head back to face him and stared at her with a grave expression. "You know better than that, Mire. Don't you remember what I told you when we were ten? When you get a boyfriend, I'll beat the shit out of him when he makes you cry. When you marry, I'll be at your wedding and I will smile at you as you as you say your wedding vows. No ands, ifs or buts. How can you ever doubt that?"

"It was four in the morning and I was momentarily insane."

Mochu dropped his hands from Sumire's face with a chuckle and remarked, "that's most likely it. You want me to take you back to your dorm?"

"Only if you promise to immediately return to yours. I don't want you watching any more stars."

"Fine, fine."

He escorted her back on the path to the girl's dorms. She winced at her blistered feet, opting to take off her heels halfway through. He made a snide comment about it, resulting in her flinging a shoe at his head.

He ducked. "Watch it woman!"

Retrieving the shoe, Sumire snapped, "you asked for it, bastard."

"Whatever," snorted Mochu. "So what are you going to do about Koko once he hears of this whole thing?"

She shrugged. "Depends on how he reacts I guess."

"You know, I always knew that you and the Yome kid had something going on."

"Shut up Mochu. You're just jealous. Go get a girlfriend of your own."

"And risk having her throw shoes at me? No thank you."

"Contrary to what you believe, not all girls throw shoes. Take Anna for example, or Nonoko. You'll never catch them throwing anything at anyone. Those two are so bent on being goody-two-shoes that they make me sick."

A few low laughs escaped his throat as he leaned in for a parting hug. It was brief and platonic, just the way they preferred it. He let go as soon as they touched.

"Goodnight, you. Don't come to school with panda spots around your eyes."

"Likewise. Now go home, Mochu."

He shrugged and departed down the path to the boy's dorm. Some distance away from her, he held up one arm with his hand wide open as a brief parting wave.

Then… "Pussycat."

Oh he just had to go there.

"Night to you too, nutface! I hope the bedbugs chomp off your head!"

Lalala. *waits to be killed*

The green button awaits!

-You know who ;)