No, unfortunately I don't own Gakuen Alice.
Chapter Four
Mikan hammered the ball so hard she felt her toe crack, but it was worth it. The black and white ball went flying into the net, zipping past the goalie with ease. She raised her arms and triumph and spun around, only to be tackled by her teammates.
It was their first real game, and they were winning, thanks to Mikan and Hotaru – the number one powerhouse.
They began to play the game again, and Mikan had the ball. She was running with it and was just about to pass it over to Nonoko when...
Suddenly, Mikan felt a tug on her shirt and then she saw the ground getting closer and closer to her face. Well, that's weird… she thought. Wait a second… Smack! She did a face plant into the grass.
A whistle blew and Mikan sat up, rubbing her nose. "What was that for?" she shouted, standing up and turning to face the girl that had grabbed her shirt. "What did I ever do to you?" She wasn't the only one who was angry, either. Natsume and Ruka were engaged in a loud argument with the ref.
The girl who had pulled Mikan shirt smirked, only to make Hotaru walk up to her with the same emotionless expression she wore every minute of every day – for the most part. She didn't look very happy, but then again, she never did.
"Watch what you're grabbing," she warned. "Or you'll be sorry, baka."
Mikan turned around and ran over to the coaches, who were still arguing with the ref. "That baka pulled my shirt!" she accused, pointing to the girl that Hotaru was yelling at. "I deserve a foul shot, thank you very much." She rubbed her nose. "That was painful."
The three men ignored her and kept going with their argument. Natsume and Ruka were saying that Mikan was the one that got fouled, not the one that fouled the other girl. The ref, however, was saying that Mikan tripped the other girl.
"What?" Mikan exclaimed, putting her hands on her hips. "That chick didn't even trip! She pulled my shirt! Are you blind?"
The three pairs of eyes turned to her and she suddenly felt stupid. She wasn't sure why, though. She hadn't done anything wrong.
"You're benched," the ref said firmly, causing the jaws of Ruka and Mikan to drop and causing Natsume to clench his fists in anger. But before any of them had a chance to open their mouths, the ref jogged back over to where he had been standing and waited for Natsume and Ruka to select another player.
Still angry, Natsume put Anna on.
Mikan sat down on the bench and crossed her arms over her chest. Her back was hunched over and she was grumbling something to herself.
Ruka walked over to her and crouched down in front of her. "Don't beat yourself up," he advised her. "You didn't do anything wrong. Natsume and I both saw that she pulled your shirt."
Mikan looked at him from under her eyebrows very fiercely, making him laugh nervously. "That baka is going to get it from me next time I see her," she said. And she meant it.
It was Saturday. No tryouts, no coaches, no cheating players. Just Hotaru, Mikan, Anna, Nonoko, and the coffee shop.
And the little cheating brat from the soccer game the previous day.
"She's going to get it," Anna said nervously, watching Mikan fume.
"No doubt about it," Nonoko agreed.
"Would you hurry up and get it done?" Hotaru asked, annoyed. "I want to see her cry right now."
Mikan stood up from the table and stalked over to where the girl sat by herself at the booth. "Hey, you, remember me?" she said, clenching her hands into fists and staring at the girl with very cold eyes.
The girl looked up and smirked. "How could I forget?" she asked, stirring some sugar into her cup of coffee. "You're the one that kissed the ground yesterday. You worship soccer, do you?"
Mikan scowled. "We all know you're a dirty, good-for-nothing scumbag that makes a living by cheating," she said, slamming her hands down on the table. "And you really wanna get it from me, don't you?"
"Really?" the girl said sarcastically. "What are you going to do? Slap me?"
A small smile twitched up onto the corners of Mikan's lips. "Yup," she said. With that, she wound up and slapped the girl across the face. "Maybe you should learn to be more gentle with your playmates."
The girl gaped and put her hand to her cheek where Mikan had slapped her. She clenched her jaw, reached up and…Can you guess what she did next? Yup, you guessed it. She slapped her right back.
Mikan had the same reaction, gently putting her hand where the girl had slapped her. "Why you little…" And she slapped her again. For a few seconds, they had a slapping war, causing all eyes to turn their way.
And then someone stopped them.
"Hey! Knock it off!" Natsume pushed them apart and out of arms-length. "What do you think you're doing?" His anger was directed at Mikan. "Did you just slap her?"
Mikan hid her shock in seeing him there. Instead, anger took over. "And if I did?" she shot back. "I told you she was going to get it! And besides, she slapped me back!" The small smile returned to her lips. "Siding with the opponent, are we? Well, excuse me for slapping your girlfriend. But I can do whatever I want. Just because you're my coach doesn't mean you can control me." She turned around and stalked back to her friends. "Ugh! The nerve of that guy!"
Hotaru looked amused and Anna and Nonoko were gaping.
Mikan really didn't care anymore.
At practice the next day, Natsume kept trying to talk to Mikan, but every time she would walk away, her nose pointed up and her arms crossed over her chest. She hated him. He was dating someone from a different team.
Ruka called the girls in. Natsume was the one who wanted to talk. "Listen, the other day you did fabulous," he said. "We're playing the same team again tomorrow, and I would like you to go a little bit easier on them. They know how good you are, and it isn't likely that they can beat you even if you do pipe down a bit. And-"
"Oh, so just because your girlfriend's on that team you're going to make us go easy on them?" Hotaru asked mockingly. "Yeah right!"
"She's absolutely right," Mikan agreed. "We aren't letting up."
Natsume kicked the ball at her face, just like he had twice before. Still, her reflexes were sharp and she caught it with ease. "I didn't say let them win," he said. "I said don't crush them."
"Crushing them gives us reputation points," Sumire said.
The whole team agreed. Even Ruka did.
"Natsume, why do you want the girls to go easy on them?" Ruka asked once he sent the girls back to practice. "It's not like you."
Natsume released a breath. "I made a deal with that girl that pulled her shirt," he said, using her as Mikan's name. He didn't say her name anyway. "It was either tell the girls to take it down a notch or two and no one gets hurt, or let them go crazy again and make one or two suffer a broken ankle. And she said that those one or two people would probably be Imai and Sakura."
Ruka frowned. "Since when do you let people tell you what to do?"
Natsume smirked. "I don't," he said. "I was simply seeing what they thought about it." He turned to the field. "Alright girls!" he shouted. "Tomorrow, we're going to destroy them!"
