Chapter 7

Saturday, night. Mikan's house

"U got to hurry up." Hotaru said as she hitted Mikan's head

"Stop hitting me. I don't my parents to hear this an know about this,"

"They're all the way downstairs. Why are you being so paranoid?"

Mikan closed her bedroom door. "So far, both my mother of my father has seen me in this dress and I plan to keep it that way. They're getting ready to leave for business trip, so I should be safe. If they were to see it, I'm sure one of them would ask me a zillion questions and I don't want to lie to them."

"You already told two white lies already"

"But i only lie to Luna"

"Lying is lying"

"That's different."

"How?"

"I'm not really lying to Luna," Mikan explained as she put on her gold hoop earrings. "I'm only playing a joke on her and Luna not going ground me if she finds out the truth."

"But she'll do a lot worse!"

"Maybe she will," Mikan admitted. "But I'd rather take my chances with her than with my folks! If Natsume and I can fool her for a little bit, it will be worth it. Think of all the times she's been mean and horrible to so many people at school. And she never paid Natsume for those pizzas!"

"Is Natsume picking you up?" Hotaru asked

Mikan checked the time on her clock radio. "He should be getting here any minute."

"Mikan, we're leaving!" her father called from the first floor.

Mikan stuck her head out her bedroom door. "Have a good time!"

"You too," her mother said

"Don't forget your curfew," her father added

"Don't worry. I'll be home by twelve thirty," Mikan promised

After closing the bedroom door, Mikan turned to the mirror over her dresser and examined herself one last time. The dress was tangerine-colored and tied around her neck lie a halter top. She was wearing high-heeled black slouchy boots with it. She'd used hot rollers so her hair was a wild mane of loose curls, and applied tangerine eye shadow to her lids and some blush to her cheeks. In additional, she was wearing a bunch of black and orange bracelets on both her arms.

"Do you think Natsume will like what I'm wearing?"

Hotaru's eyes widened in panic behind her professional glasses.

"Why do you care of what Natsume thinks?"

Mikan shrugged. "I don't know. I guess my mind is automatically in date mode."

"Well, get it out of date mode. Remember, this is not a real date. Natsume is not your boyfriend. This all are fake, remember?"

"Yes, yes. I remember," she said as she gave herself a spritz of perfume.

Hotaru sternly pointed a finger at Mikan. "Good, don't forget it."

The doorbell rang and Mikan turned to Hotaru. "He's here!"

"Talk about timing. He just missed your parents."

Mikan took one last look in her mirror before leaving the bedroom with Hotaru right behind her.

"Why do I feel like an actress about to go on stage?" Mikan asked as they hurried down the stairs.

"Relax, he's not going to eat you" Hotaru said

"Good advice," Mikan said as she opened the front door

"Ready to make Luna's mouth drop?" Natsume asked as she stepped inside

"As ready as I'll ever be," Mikan said as she reached into the hall closet for her coat. She could feel Natsume's eyes studying her from behind.

"Like what you see?" she asked, turning around with a saucy smile.

Natsume was silent for a moment. Then he said," I just can't believe you dress worse than some of my previous girlfriend in collage."

"I just take that as a compliment"

"Are you coming to this party?" Natsume asked Hotaru

"Luna could never invite me to one of her parties. We had been enemies since third grade. I'm going home." Hotaru turned to Mikan "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Hotaru left, with Natsume following after her, leaving Mikan to turn off the hall lights and lock the front door. When she got outside, she saw Natsume leaning against the side of a red ar parked at the curb,

"No motorcycle?" she asked

"I have a lot of vehicles at home and I can have any one of them. I also figured it was too cold for motorcycle. Why? Disappointed?"

"Well, I was wondering what it would be like to sit behind you with my arms wrapped around you and the wind blowing through my hair," Mikan admitted

"I'll give you a ride another day."

"Promise?"

"I don't do promises but I'm the type that what I said, I will do it."

Throughout the whole ride, both of them were very quiet. Mikan was thinking if Luna would find out the truth. I she does, what will happen?

"We're here"

"Right," Mikan looked out the window to see Luna's house in front of her. "Leave most of the talking to me. Girls are always gushing about their boyfriends. Guys usually don't like to talk."

"True," Natsume agreed

"A lot of it is going to be body language. Holding. Touching."

When they drove into the car park in Luna's house, a line of cars was parked in the driveway, as well as double-parked in the street.

"Looks like there's already a huge crowd," Natsume said as he parked behind the last car in the driveway. He took Mikan's hand in his. Mikan was shock but this is all pretending.

Luna's entire house was lit up. It was a huge mansion but not as huge as Natsume. As they approached the front door, they could hear music blasting.

"I don't believe it," Mikan said as they walked inside.

The house was decorated for Valentine's Day. There were tons of red, white and pink balloons floating in the air. Pink and red streamers were draped around the staircase leading to the second floor and foiled hearts and cupids were pinned on the walls. But what got the most attention and shock Mikan was the huge pink banner strung across the living room that said VOTE FOR LUNA AND LONDON! The flat-screen TV in the family room showed nonstop clips of Luna and London, dating all the way back to elementary school, and there were poster-size photos of Luna and London hanging from the ceiling of every room with invisible wire.

They had walked into a shrine devoted to Luna and London.

Mikan stared into a bowl of candy hearts. She picked one up and saw it said LUNA LOVES LONDON. And one said: L+L 4EVER.

"Did you see Luna anywhere?" Mikan asked as she pit back the candy hearts

"No" Natsume replied

They walked and over heard Miyuki and Miyumi talking.

"Where's Luna?" Miyuki asked Miyumi

"I think she's up in her bedroom."

"She's still in her bedroom." Mikan said to Natsume

"She has no manners. All her guests are here"

A few minutes later

"So where is he?"

At the sound of Luna's voice, Mikan slowly turned around from the chocolate dessert bar. She had been trying to decide between a brownie and mini éclair.

"Where's who?" Mikan asked, deciding to play dumb

"Your boyfriend"

"He's somewhere in this crowd"

Mikan watched as Natsume walked across the living room. He was wearing a pair of Levi's, a blue denim shirt that was open at the collar, and a brown leather vest. He looks like a gangster from a rich family.

"Here" Natsume said, handing Mikan a glass of strawberry juice.

"What are you doing here?" Luna asked. "I didn't invite you to my party."

"Yes, you did," Natsume answered.

Luna shook her head. "No, I didn't"

"Okay, you didn't personally invite," Natsume corrected her. "You told my girlfriend to bring me."

Luna looked around. "And that's?"

"Me," Mikan said as she toasted Luna with her glass of strawberry and took a sip.

Mikan wished she had a camera. Luna's face went from confused to shocked to stunned in less than a minute as she stared back and forth between Mikan and Natsume.

"The two of you are dating?" Luna asked when she found her voice.

"Since New Year's Eve," Mikan said. "Don't you remember, Luna? I told you at school. And then you were nice enough to invite me to your party and told me to bring Natsume."

"You've been dating for the last month?"

"Yep" Mikan said

"How come no one's seen the two of you out together?" Luna suspiciously asked

"We were taking things slow," Natsume said. "Not rushing into anything. We didn't want everyone gossiping about us so we spent a lot of time at each other's houses. But we made it official this week. Lot of people saw us."

"Why this week? Why not last week or next week?"

Natsume wrapped an arm around Mikan's waist, pulling her close. "I guess it's because Valentine's Day is coming. I want everyone to know she's min. and then there's the most Romantic Couple contest. We can't get votes if people don't know we're a couple."

"You have to get nominated first," Luna icily replied

"Shouldn't you be following your own advice?" Natsume asked, indicating all the VOTE FOR LUNA AND LONDON sign.

Mikan smothered a giggle. She thought Luna's eyes were going to bug out of her head. No one ever dissed her that way. At least not to her face!

Luna feels so embarrassed so she went to entertained with her other guests

Mikan couldn't believe how much fun she was having. And at Luna's party! She couldn't wait to Hotaru.

Natsume was a great dancer. He knew how to do slow dance perfectly. When they weren't dancing, he was glued to her side; an arm wrapped around either her waist of her shoulders. Sometimes he would pretend to whisper in her ear. Other times he made her laugh with comments about Luna.

Everyone was coming up to her and Natsume, asking how long they'd been dating and wanting to know if they were going to compete as Most Romantic Couple. "We'll find out on Monday," Mikan said whenever she was asked the question.

She was dancing to the latest hit from the Fergie when someone bumped into her from behind. As she turned to see who it was, another person crashed into from the side, spilling a glass of punch on the front of her dress.

"Ooops!" Luna exclaimed. "Clumsy me!"

Mikan stared at the growing stain in horror. No! No! No!

She ran from the basement up to the kitchen, searching for a napkin o dab at the stain.

"What's wrong?" Natsume asked, hurrying after her. "It's only a stain."

"You don't understand," Mikan explained "I don't own this dress"

"You borrowed it from a friend?"

"Sort of."

"What do you mean sort of?"

Making sure no one could hear her, Mikan told Natsume of her plan to wear the dress and then return it.

"We've got to keep you away from Luna," Natsume smirked. "Who knows what that mouth of yours is going to make you do next."

"This isn't funny!" Mikan exclaimed in panic. "I can't afford this dress. If it had a huge stain on it, I'm not going to able to return it. That means I'll have to tell my parents what I did and they'll kill me for using my emergency credit card."

Natsume found a bottle of seltzer in the refrigerator. He poured some on a dish towel and Mikan dabbed t the stain. "This should help for now. We should go back for now. Let go to my house, I can help to get rid of this stain"

Natsume's mansion (He stays alone, no maids, his parents stay in another mansion)

Natsume had Mikan change out of her dress and made her wear one of his over-size shirt. She is now wearing his over-size shirt and her shorts that she had under the dress. While she is exploring his mansion, Natsume go work on her dress stain. He adds some baking soda and vinegar with cold water. After minutes later, the stain is gone.

He brought the dress to the living room and showed Mikan. It was so coincidence that Mikan was taking his baby photo albums out. Natsume quickly snatched the albums away from her and put them away.

"Hey! I haven't seen them yet!" Mikan angrily said

"You are not allowed to see them." Natsume said as he put them away. "The stain is gone."

"How did you do it? More importantly, how do you know how to do it?" Mikan asked as she marveled in amazement.

"Baking soda, vinegar, soaks it in cold water and it's gone. Mother teaches it to me. Since I want to live on my own, she made me learned this kind of things. From house chores to education."

After Mikan changed back into the dress, Natsume offer to drive her home. They were both quiet during the drive. There was none of their usual bickering. When they reached her house, Natsume walked her to the front door.

"Looks like phase one of your plan was a success," he said.

Mikan crossed her fingers. "So far. Now all we have to do is to wait for Wednesday to come since we are going to submit the essay on Monday."

Natsume looked up at Mikan and his eyes soften." I had a lot of fun tonight."

A hank of Natsume's jet-black hair had fallen across his forehead. Mikan was tempted to smooth it away. But she didn't. It seemed like something a real girlfriend would do. "Me too."

They started at each other awkwardly.

Is he waiting for me to do something? Mikan wondered. Like kiss him?

Before she could decide what to do, Natsume break the silence.

"I'll see you on Monday at school. Unless you get a craving for pizza. I'll be delivering tomorrow."

Mikan watched Natsume head back to his car and drive away.

She hated to admit it, but she'd been hoping for a good-night kiss.