Disclaimer: GA isn't mine.


In the Margins

"A very small degree of hope is sufficient to cause the birth of love."
-Henri B. Stendhal


Chapter 3: A Name

"Mikan. Mikan? Mikan, snap out of it!" Sumire pinched the unresponsive brunette's arm, "What are you doing? Everyone's leaving. Let's go to dinner!"

"Okay." Mikan's mind was still scrambling for a clue as to why Natsume had seemed so cold. What could have happened to him?

"I know! Let's go to the campus coffee shop. Is that okay with you guys?" Anna asked.

"Sure."

Mikan and company were comfortably seated in a coffee shop eating bagels when Natsume and the rest of the band walked in. Ruka, as Sumire had identified him earlier, looked rather worried. Mikan could just barely make out what he was saying.

"Natsume? You sure you're okay? We can always celebrate later."

Celebrate?

"Nah." Natsume's musical voice interrupted Mikan's musings, "It's not every day you make your first record deal." He smiled, obviously trying to placate Ruka. Mikan looked away. As curious as she was, she also knew eavesdropping was wrong.

"Okay, okay," Sumire whispered, leaning into the table conspiratorially, "what's going on between you and Natsume? That was quite the look going between you two at the concert!"

"Do tell!" Anna agreed.

Mikan sighed, she had no idea. Natsume had looked almost, well, angry to see her. Like he was mad that she had shown up. "I honestly have no idea. I'm almost sure he's the boy I was friends with when I was little, but I'm sure he's a completely different person now." Mikan faked a smile.

The girls made small talk for a while before returning to their respective rooms. Mikan opened the door to her room and then stood there, shocked. The room was amazing. Everything was luxuriously decorated; she could tell that every detail had been meticulously attended to.

Anna was right, her uniform was adorable! The pleated skirt was rather short, black with blue ribbon decorated each crease. The black short sleeve button up top matched, with a small paintbrush insignia on the upper left. Mikan assumed that was what Anna meant when she said each uniform was specialized.

Mikan picked up her schedule, which was lying next to the uniform:

Mikan Sakura

Locker # 313

Period 1: Art History

Period 2: Geometry

Period 2: English

Period 4: Painting/Drawing

Period 5: Biology

Period 6: Lunch

Period 7: Intro to Singing

Period 8: Band

Period 9: World Civilizations

The brunette sighed, she was going to an Arts school, and yet she still couldn't get away from Geometry. Damn… Wait. What the…Singing? The only time I've ever sung has been in the shower, And Band? I'm not in Band. Narumi must have gotten my schedule mixed up with somebody else.

But, Mikan looked up and sure enough, Mikan Sakura was clearly printed on the sheet. It was only Intro to Singing though, so she was pretty sure she could handle that. But Band? That would…that would be with Natsume.

Mikan smiled, she felt as if she had somehow offended him. At least Band would give her a chance to smooth whatever had happened over. Her grandpa had told her to always look on the bright side, and she was doing just that.

The brunette hung her uniform on a plush chair in the corner and set her schedule on the nearby desk. She plunked down into the bed, and was soon asleep.


Beep Beep Beep

"Wah!" Mikan cried, tumbling out of bed at the harsh sound. She rubbed sleep from her eyes, and blearily reached up for her orange alarm clock. "Wha-" The clock read 7:55. "I'm going to be late!" Mikan rushed to her bathroom, tripping over her own feet and tumbling to the floor.

"Ow..." she muttered, her day already seemed to be turning out terribly. Mikan hurriedly brushed her teeth, threw her hair up into fresh pigtails, and slipped into her uniform. She grabbed her messenger bag and ran out the door.

The brunette sprinted across campus to the building Narumi had pointed out earlier as the Academics Center. She ran, gasping, up multiple flights of stairs until she reached the third floor. Mikan catapulted down the hallway and ran smack-dab into an extremely hard figure.

She fell to the floor and awkwardly scrambled up. Natsume Hyuuga stood before her, hooded eyes sparkling with annoyance. "What the hell are you doing? Watch where you're going, moron." With that he continued walking down the hallway, humming an unidentified tune, leaving Mikan standing behind open mouthed.

"What was his problem?" she muttered darkly. Maybe she'd gotten things mixed up, her Natsume wouldn't even squish an ant, much less insult her. "What a jerk!"

And with that, Natsume Hyuuga tumbled from "Mikan's List O' Friendship" onto "Mikan's List O' Jerk-Faced Cretins."

"Stupid…" she mumbled, trudging down the hallway. Her day had officially gone from bad to worse. And there was the bell. Lovely.

Mikan made a mad dash before screeching into the classroom just as the bell finished ringing.

"You're late, Ms. Sakura." A tall woman with long blond hair stood before Mikan, "I'm Ms. Serina, your Art History teacher. Please refrain from storming into the classroom in such an angry manner in the future."

"My bad." With that, classes began. They were mostly up to date with the classes Mikan took at her other school. Basically, she reverted to not paying attention. The morning passed quickly, Painting and Drawing proved the most entertaining class by far, and nothing that interesting happened there, either.

"Uwah..." Mikan yawned, stretching in her seat. It was lunch time, but she wasn't very hungry. Being the new student, she had just sat at an empty table.

"Mikan!" Anna shouted in her ear, before sitting down next to her, "What're you doing? Why didn't you come sit with us? She motioned over to another table. Sumire waved, and Hotaru nodded curtly. "Come join us?"

Mikan nodded and smiled. Finally, some friends. None of them had been in any of her morning classes, much to her chagrin.

She trailed behind Anna, looking around the lunchroom. As she had expected, it was huge, just like everything else at the Academy. "Hotaru!" she chirped, before sliding into a seat next to a violet eyed girl. "What've you been up to this morning?"

"I've been working on my Baka Gun Version 2.0 in IT." Hotaru deadpanned. Mikan flinched; Version 1 was painful enough for her.

"...I hope you aren't planning what I think you're planning to do with that..."

"I'm sure your suspicions are wrong. You see, an idiot like you would never understand what's going on in my mind."

Mikan sighed; Hotaru was just the way she remembered. The group chatted until the next bell rang, and then Mikan hurried off to Intro to Singing. She hadn't been able to track down Narumi and ask about her odd schedule.

The brunette hesitantly opened the door to the classroom. Narumi stood behind a desk at the front of the classroom, "Mikan, you made it! How's your day been so far?"

"Fine. But what are Singing and Band doing on my schedule? I can't sing to save my life. Plus, I don't even play an instrument!"

"Again, Mikan, you're better than you think. Take a seat, please. Now, let's get this party started!"

The classroom groaned at Narumi's clichéd line. "Just take that empty seat over by Natsume."

"By Natsume?" Mikan ventured. She really hoped she had heard Narumi wrong.

"Yup!" Damn...

Natsume didn't look too happy either; he scowled as Mikan hesitantly slid in next to him. "Don't get any ideas, moron." He growled, crimson eyes locking onto her brown ones.

"Ideas? And I have a name you know."

"I do know. Polka-dots."

"Polka-dots?" Mikan looked down at herself, she wasn't..."Pervert!" she whisper screamed.

"How'd you know?" She checked, and her undergarments were definitely in their proper place, under her clothes and out of view.

"You just told me so." Natsume smirked infuriatingly at her outrage. "Don't worry, honey. We're all guys here anyway."

"I'm not a guy!"

"Huh...you could have fooled me." Natsume turned back to his manga, still smirking.

"I. Hate. You."

And with that, Natsume dropped down another notch, from "Mikan's List O' Jerk-faced Cretins" onto "Mikan's List O' Perverted Losers."

.tbc


Author's Note: Thank you for reading, please review! Revised September 27, 2009.

~SL~