Amu refused to get out of her seat. It wasn't necessarily because she loved English class far too much, but because she now had to meet up with the rest of the 'Christmas Crew' in the cafeteria. She hated the cafeteria. It reeked of rotten sour cream mixed with week-old meatballs and sweaty men.

Her nose wrinkled at the thought, a cold shiver running through her body. Tugging at her sleeves, she groaned loudly and slid out of her seat, sauntering down the long, narrow hallway that was so deserted, it could have been a set in a horror movie.

The pinkette dragged a hand down her face. With a sigh, she heaved open the cafeteria doors and reluctantly stepped inside.

Only two other girls were there so far; one with long tangled hair and the other with bug-eyed glasses.

Amu tied her hair up into a pony tail and sat down. The cafeteria was full of rows of tables, vending machines and tacky posters announcing upcoming school events. With a murky yellow floor that resembled mustard and grey walls, it wasn't the most welcoming room in the school.

She stared up at the wall clock. Her golden eyes pierced through it, begging for the big hand to hurry up and move past the '4' so she could get out of there. The stench was unbearable.

"You know, it doesn't matter how long you stare at it; that clock isn't going to move any faster." A teasing voice said from behind.

Amu spun around in her chair and smiled once recognizing the person. "Are you sure? 'Cause I'm positive I just saw it jump a couple spaces ahead."

Nagihiko let out an airy laugh while lowering his bottom onto the bench beside the pinkette. "Why on Earth is Hinamori Amu sitting in the cafeteria she claims to despise so much? You here for the meeting?"

Amu nodded. "I traded places with Kukai. Apparently someone signed him up as a prank."

Nagihiko nodded slowly before quickly turning to look away, his shoulders noticeably shaking. The pinkette slanted her eyes at her purple-haired friend. "Nagi…" she began slowly, "were you the one who signed Kukai up?"

The purple-haired teen cleared his throat and slowly turned back around to face Amu, attempting to hold back his grin. "That's what he gets for eating my chocolate pudding. Plus, I didn't want to be the only guy doing this!"

Amu rolled her eyes but smiled anyway. Nagihiko and Kukai were always at each other's throats, in a love-hate relationship.

"Oh, hey, so do you know what we were supposed to get for today?" Nagihiko asked. "Apparently Nikaidou told all of us to get a Christmas book for ideas."

"It doesn't have to be the obvious Christmas story." A new voice entered the conversation, making the duo twirl around.

Ikuto removed his headphones and fell into the seat across from them. The blue-haired teen then seemed to recognize Amu and stopped what he was doing, staring at her long and hard. He remembered their last meeting on the roof, it was obvious he did.

"You're… Amu, right?" He clarified slowly. He kept his husky voice quiet as to not attract any unnecessary attention from the other students who were now piling into the room.

Amu could only nod. She was sure that if she attempted to speak she'd just apologize for the roof incident, and she was quite sure he didn't want that to be mentioned.

His sapphire eyes quickly scanned over her, his expression once again unreadable. His lips were pressed into a thin line as he stiffly turned away. They were both aware of the fact that she witnessed something she wasn't supposed to. Amu figured even if it wasn't a failed suicide attempt, sitting on the roof could have been what he did to get away from it all, which someone could find embarrassing if they were ever caught. Not to mention the grocery store incident. She was almost positive that he didn't see her, so she had nothing to fear, but the paranoia was still there.

"What do you mean, 'not the obvious Christmas story'?" Nagihiko questioned, clueless to the drastic change in atmosphere.

Ikuto shifted slightly to look at Nagihiko and only Nagihiko, seeming to purposely avoid eye-contact with Amu. "A story with a Christmas theme." He clarified.

Nagihiko's eyes widened as his mouth made an 'o' shape. "That makes sense! Wow… now why couldn't have Nikaidou just said it that way instead of going on about everything ranging from flowers to hippos?"

Amu snuck a look in Ikuto's direction. His chin was rested in the palm of his hand, elbow on the table. His face held a calm expression. He was a closed book and nothing would change that.

The pinkette exhaled loudly and slouched deeper into her seat just as Nikaidou pranced into the room.

"Alright, everyone, get into your partners, please."

"See you later!" Nagihiko stood up and disappeared to the other end of the room, leaving Amu alone with him, the one person she really didn't want to be alone with right now. He made her feel so vulnerable.
Nonetheless, she forced a smile and opened her mouth to start a conversation, only to close it right back up again when he spoke.

"Congratulations." He said quietly, rummaging through his bag.

Amu's eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

This time Ikuto looked her in the eyes, chucking something out of his bag and onto the table.

"You're not pregnant."

The pinkette's stomach plummeted. The pregnancy test sat in front of her, tightly sealed in a small Ziploc bag. Lunging forward, she made a grab for it, but Ikuto retrieved it faster and held it tightly in his hand.

The two sat in a dark silence. Amu breathed heavily, attempting to calm down her fluttering heart while running through the scenario in her head. No matter how hard she thought of it, she couldn't figure out why he would keep something like that.

Ikuto slowly leaned forward, folding his arms on the table. He lowered his voice as he spoke again. "I'll keep this our little secret if you keep my secret."

Amu unconsciously leaned forward as well. "What secret of yours?" It was at that instant that she remembered him on the roof.

He must have noticed the look of realization dawn on her, since he nodded. "That secret that you're thinking of right now. I'm not going to tell you what I was doing up there, but to make sure you don't go around spreading rumors about me," he waved the small bag, "I'm keeping this."

Amu pressed her lips tightly together, glaring at the boy across from her. She knew she could easily let him show everyone the test and hope no one would believe him, but she couldn't lie for her life. She just knew her face would heat up and she'd spew out nothing but stutters if she attempted to deny the fact that the stick belonged to her. If people knew of that test, she'd risk having everyone look down on her and call her a slut or whore. Bullying was definitely something she couldn't handle right now.

Amu raked a hand through her hair and closed her eyes, inhaling a deep, calming breath. "Okay, fine." She replied finally.

Ikuto sat up straight and stuck the Ziploc baggie back into his school bag. "So, partner. When should we get together to start planning the dance?" He asked casually, as if the past ten minutes never happened.

Great; blackmailed only two weeks into the new school year by the boy she was supposed to work with for the next four months. Everything was just getting better by the minute.