If you want to

I can save you

I can take you away from here

So lonely inside

So busy out there

And all you wanted was somebody who cares

~All You Wanted - Michelle Branch

Amu had to force herself to trudge to school this morning. They had seen her! The girls that had enough power to keep her after school plus almost all the girls in the rest of the school. Rima had called last night advising her to stay home sick, because the word of her getting into the van with the four hottest guys in school had spread around the whole damn school! Ikuto was so dead the next time she saw him. Now, she was in front of the school, she felt her legs go numb, refusing to go on. She just took a deep breath and went in.

She just tried to look like she didn't care about anything, oblivious to everything that happened yesterday. People were staring at her and whispering things to each other, just like the first day of school, but this time, she knew they were talking about her. Of course, she wasn't sure what they were saying exactly, she just assumed the worst. It wasn't until she got to her locker did she figure out what they were all talking about.

When she got to her locker, there were about five girls there, just staring at her. Amu shot them a look before beginning to open her locker, all of them still staring at her. After a while, she just couldn't take it any longer. She glared at the girls before asking, "What do you want?" almost threatening.

"So Cool!" they all shouted in excitement. Amu couldn't help but drop her attitude and stare at them. That wasn't the reaction she was expecting.

"She's so cool!"

"No wonder she can hang out with all four of them!"

"She's even in the band!"

"She must have an awesome voice!"

"Cool n Spicy!"

Amu couldn't believe what she was seeing. They weren't trying to kill her, they were practically worshipping her. Did they honestly think she was cool because she hung out with those four lunatics?! Amu felt a sweat drop, believing that was apparently so. She wasn't too thrilled to have her own fangirls, but she was relieved that she was going to live through at least her freshman year.

-

-

"What's wrong with the base section?" Ikuto asked, annoyed by the different rhythms.

"Ikuto, my arms are numb." Kukai complained his head falling on his snare drum with a final bang to symbolize defeat.

"My fingers are sore," Tadase commented taking a closer look at them, "I think calluses have calluses."

"Yeah," Nagihiko nodded his head understanding, "I think we should call it a day."

Ikuto looked around at everyone, convincingly exhausted, "Fine." the sweetest word he could've said. They all practically collapsed on the floor with gratitude for the torture they endured so long was over. So many different songs to perfect for any audition, it was just too much to handle after almost three hours of hard practice.

"Taking a break?" Kairi asked entering Kukai's garage to witness the fall of the band. He could see they were all exhausted from all their work, and he hoped the news he had may perk them up a little, "Good news, I got you all an audition."

"Way to go rep!" Kukai congratulated him with a head lock and noogie for celebration. With smiles and knuckle busts between everyone else.

"Let. Me. Go." Kairi complained trying to get away from Kukai's hold on him. Kukai chuckled and released him, "I'm just messing with you." he assured him hitting on the back hard enough to make him stand straight.

"Right." Kairi grumbled at him. Kukai and Kairi were complete opposites, and the chance of any friendship forming was next to impossible. "Anyway," he started back on topic, gaining back their attention. He adjusted his glasses and continued, while glancing down a written note of information, "The audition's at Shay's Cafe, it's suppose to be this hot spot for musicians and artists."

"I've heard of that." Nagihiko commented thinking back to when he was younger, "My mother had a class perform in the cafe once for publicity. Isn't that mostly just a place for random performances?"

"Yes, but the cafe lost their old interests. People have forgotten about the cafe and their number of performances have dropped to only a few every week or so. That's why now they're holding auditions for usual scheduled performers."

"I don't know," Kukai said crossing his arms in complaint, "A cafe sounds kind of girly."

"It's that, or a six year old's birthday party."

"A cafe sounds great!" Kukai assured him with sudden enthusiasm, "Sign us up."

"I already have." Kairi answered, having predicted they would feel that way, "Your audition is in two weeks from Saturday, and you have to all be present."

"We can do that." Ikuto nodded as his way to silence any complaints there may be for anyone who had a thought of absence, "Now, we have to decide what to play."

"That's the catch." Kairi interrupted him with the only down side to the audition, "You all need to create an original song to perform. They don't do bands that only play remakes of other songs."

"Are you saying we have to write a hit song in two weeks?" Tadase asked everyone suddenly shocked and gaping out into space.

"More or less."

"Great. Most professionals take months to write a song, but we'll just whip one out." Ikuto grumbled to himself. It was difficult for him to compose a song on his guitar. Plus, now they had to include lyrics for Amu.

"How hard can it be?" Kukai asked with an optimistic view on the situation, "Just pick a feeling and we'll roll with it."

"Oh really?!" Tadase asked him with an annoyed expression, "Then why don't you start it and we'll add on."

"Fine!" Kukai answered equally annoyed, with a pause to think, "Uh... I ... got something.. to say... Uh... Your turn."

"What?! I don't know what you have to say!"

"You said you'd add on!"

"I need more than that!"

"I gave you a line!"

"That's not enough!"

"Would you two shut up!" Amu snapped at them, getting a headache listening to all the yelling. They all quieted and looked at her, as if they expected something, "What? It's not that hard to write a song if you know what you want to write about."

"But... I don't know what to write about." Kukai added forcing Amu to explain in more detail.

"Just whatever you're feeling, an emotion that stands out for you. You hear songs all the time about people starting fights, saying who they are, heart break, love,"

"Feelings left unspoken?" Nagihiko suggested

"Exactly."

"Hey Ikuto," Nagihiko nudged him with his elbow, "I want to hear your emotions, why don't you write one?"

"Shut up." Ikuto glared threateningly at the amused Nagihiko, with everyone else just looking confused and shrugging their shoulders. They weren't sure what those two were talking about, nor did they really care at the moment.

"What about sports?!"

"We're not playing a sports song!" Tadase complained.

"You got any better suggestions?!"

"How about school?"

"We play to forget about school! I don't want to play about it man!"

All the while the band was arguing with one another Kairi was just staring in disbelief. The base section was making no progress with the song choices, and the two guitarists seemed to be arguing about a different matter completely. He sighed, at this rate, they weren't going to get anything accomplished. Then he heard humming.

He looked over and saw Amu with her eyes closed, as a way to block out everything around her, thinking with her arms crossed. Lightly she was tapping on her arm with her index finger in a four beat, humming out a rhythm.

-

Everyday I live my life

Going through the same routine

Feeling like I'm blending in the crowd

I hate

-

She sang in whisper to herself, just trying to find the words. Among the noise, they were barely audible to Kairi, but he heard them nonetheless. She began humming again, searching for more words. Which gave Kairi a chance to shush the others in irritation. They all looked at him annoyed until he put a finger against his lips to silence them before they had a chance to complain. He pointed to Amu, who was still humming, oblivious to what was going on around her.

-

On and on the same old thing

Hiding in my outer shell

Acting like I know it all

I don't

-

She sang another stanza still whispering. As if they were approaching an animal that could attack them. The boys all tip toed closer to hear her better. Since all of them, with the exception of Kairi, were taller than her, they all leaned down to her level. She kept humming and tapping in rhythm thinking what should come next. Until her train of though was interrupted when she suddenly felt something like someone breathing down her neck. She opened her eyes to see, screaming and falling back in surprise of five guys surrounding her and so close.

"That could work." Ikuto commented with a nod, after only hearing the one stanza. Amu just looked at him confused, "Maybe if we keep the same rhythm, just speed up the beat a bit."

"Yeah! Power song!" Kukai agreed with excitement. The faster the song, the easier a drummer can perform.

"The rhythms pretty basic, so it should be easy enough to perform." Nagihiko added his agreement with his own relief.

"We just need a little more lyrics to figure out the beat of the chorus." Tadase commented thinking ahead to the whole song.

"Yeah, keep going Amu." Kukai requested excited staring at her. Amu's face was a light tint of red at that point, she had no idea they were listening to her! She didn't want that to be their song, she was just messing around with her own feelings! The last thing she wanted to do was sing about them on stage!

"That was kind of personal..." Amu said looking away, still blushing red, "And I can't do it with you all staring at me."

"Come on! You're the one that said it wasn't hard!" Kukai complained.

"It's not when you're all stressing me out!" Amu snapped back at him. Tension was rising on the garage. It was overwhelming from all the practicing earlier and now added pressure. They were all arguing and bickering to one another about one thing or another, Ikuto just looking at them thinking for a moment. He was thinking about what he could do to get them to enjoy playing again, maybe with just some relaxation... that's when it came to him.

"Hey!" he shouted at them all, shutting them up long enough to hear him out, "Who's busy tonight?" They all just exchanged confused glances, no one speaking up. "Good. Call home and tell them you'll be a little late tonight." he commanded before walking over to his guitar.

"What?!" Amu complained. She had Ami and other things to do that night, the last thing she wanted to do was practice more with them all trying to pry at her personal life for a song! She was going to explain all this to him, when she noticed, he wasn't going to his guitar to play his guitar, but put it away.

He looked back at the group, everyone actually looking confused. They had all assumed his intention was to keep them all there for more practice. "What? Just call them and tell them you'll be there around eight." Ikuto commanded again, taking his guitar in his case and walking off to his van, "Come on! We don't have all night."

Reluctantly, Amu pulled out her cellphone and walked away from the group, like everyone else did, and dialed her dad, she hoped was awake.

"Hello?" he answered, yawning like he'd just woken up most likely.

"Hey dad."

"Amu? What's wrong." Of course he would be concerned, Amu never tried to call to wake him up.

"Nothing. I just wanted to call and say I'll be home a little late tonight. Could you call someone to pick up Ami for me?"

"Alright..." of course he was always curious as to why Amu would want to stay out later. She hadn't asked to really do anything for herself in ages, so this request took him off guard. He wanted to ask so badly why, but he restrained himself, not wanting to push her off the edge or anything, "What time will you be home?"

"Around eight." an hour before her scheduled curfew that she had almost forgotten she had it'd been so long since she needed to use it. "Before you have to leave."

"Alright. Have fun, and be safe."

"I will." Amu assured her father's concerns before hanging up.

"Let's go!" Ikuto called honking his horn assembling them all to the van.

"Where are we going?!" Amu asked annoyed by how pushy he was being.

"You'll see.

"Wow." was the only thing Amu could say, in awe at the sight before her. An amusement park, shining with the park light up for the night. There looked like a lot of rides with a few people roaming around in excitement. They were all shocked to be brought here of all places, but Amu was actually smiling. She was excited, she'd never been to a place like this, and it looked so beautiful.

"Lets go." Ikuto said casually walking forward.

"What do you think we're five years old or something?" Tadase asked glaring at Ikuto, offended and threatening him not to make a comment on age, size, or gender.

"Yeah, we're not going to-Ooh carousel!!!" Kukai started to say, but his excitement over powered him, "Lets go Amu!" he said before sprinting into the park while holding Amu's wrist, dragging her along.

"Hey! Kukai! Don't take hostages!" Tadase yelled after them, following with his own sprit to catch up with them. Kairi behind him, looking concerned, he obviously hadn't seen Kukai and Amu do the running dash before.

"This should be entertaining." Nagihiko commented to Ikuto while they both walked in calmly to the others, who got distracted by the bumper cars.

"Hurry up Ikuto! I want to beat you against the wall!" Kukai encouraged him as they waited in a short line to the bumper cars.

"You're on."

In the next hour, the group went all over the park. Beating each other in bumper cars, playing whack-a-mole, screaming their heads off on the roller coaster, now they were having fun playing in the house of mirrors making faces and laughing at themselves. Kairi was staring at himself with a big head, Nagihiko laughing at his twisted form, Tadase and Kukai staring at fat versions of themselves. Kukai laughing and puffing his cheeks out and Tadase jumping up and down to see different angles. Ikuto was shaking his head at them, to think, high schoolers were having this much fun at an amusement park. Although his plan did work to get them all having fun again.

"Hey! Ikuto!" Ikuto looked behind him, where Amu was calling him over while waving her hand in the air to get his attention, "Come here!" Cautiously, he approached her, not sure what she wanted him for.

"What?" she pointed at the mirror in front of her and Ikuto just cocked his head staring at their reflection. This mirror made Amu look taller and Ikuto look shorter, making her, to Amu's satisfaction, taller than him. She laughed at the difference and made a victory sign with her fingers at him. "Yeah, very funny." Ikuto answered jokingly, it was kind of funny to see the difference.

"Hurry up slowpokes!" Kukai called to them as they all were exciting the house of mirrors, Amu and Ikuto not far behind. "Let's go to the House of Horrors next!" Kukai suggested with excitement, the other guys nodding in agreement. However, with the words horrors, Amu eyes went wide and she froze as the others walked on. She pulled herself together enough to follow after them, but she fell apart again once they reached the house. It looked like something straight out a movie, like Dracula's lair or something.

"Uh..., isn't this a little.. lame?" Amu said keeping cool looking away.

"No way!" Kukai defended the house, "It's suppose to be this ride as we go through the house and things jump out at us!" Amu felt herself go pale from the description.

"Yeah..., but, how good can a haunted house be at an amusement park?"

"True," Tadase said nodding in agreement, Amu thought she'd gotten a savior, until he said with his charming smile, "We can jump laugh at how fake it all looks though." then, she just wanted to crawl into a hole. They all wanted to go inside.

What was she going to do? She didn't want them to know she scared of something as childish as ghost and stuff. She didn't want to go inside either. Maybe she could pretend she was sick or something, but she didn't think she could put on a convincing performance. "Uh..." she kept stalling for time to think of some way out of this.

"There not even a line!" Kukai said excitedly grabbing Amu by the wrists and dragging her inside. Too late. Just like Kukai said, it was a ride. There a train, that one would ride on a roller coaster, waiting their for the next group, which happened to just be them. "I call front!" Kukai said running towards the front only to have Nagihiko stop him by grabbing the back of his shirt.

"Hold it. Read the signs," Nagihiko commanded pointing back at the sign that said the cart had to fill two to a cart. "Someone has to ride with you in the front."

"Ok, I pick rep!" he answered grabbing rep by the wrists and dragging him to the front cart.

"Tadase and I can go to the middle cart." Nagihiko suggested, pointing at a cart back three from Kukai and Kairi. "You two can get the back cart."

"Why?" Tadase asked not particularly wanting the middle cart.

"So we're spread out, and I can't sit next to Ikuto." Nagihiko reasoned with him, adding in a whisper, "I think he's plotting to murder me."

"Huh?" Tadase asked confused, but couldn't ask anything else before Nagihiko dragged him to the middle cart. Reluctantly, Amu followed Ikuto into the cart in the back. The cart didn't have much for safety. Just a belt buckle that could be easily removed and a bar to hold on to. Somehow, none of this comforted her. Not to mention, she had to sit next to Ikuto! If she got scared in front of him, he'd never let her live it down.

Went the ride started, Amu started shaking, not sure what to expect, just knowing she didn't want to be there. The ride wasn't moving fast as it went into different rooms of the haunted house. The first few things to come out were bats flying over them and a few ghosts. A few of the guys were laughing, but Amu had to grab the bar in front of her until her knuckles were white and bite the inside of her mouth to keep from screaming.

Ikuto was just rolling his eyes at the display. It was all so lame to him. He felt something shaking him. He looked over at Amu, and saw her shaking and gripping the bar in front of her tightly. "Are you alright?" he asked concerned, he wasn't sure what was wrong with her.

Amu nearly jumped hearing Ikuto's voice. She looked over at him, and plastered on a fake smile. She didn't want him to know she was scared. "I'm fine." she assured him with a fake laugh, he wasn't buying any of it. He knew something was wrong, he just wasn't sure what.

"Fine." he said shrugging as if brushing the problem aside. Amu had a moment to sigh in relief only to nearly jump out of her seat when another ghost appeared in front of them, "But, you're going to break the bar." Ikuto observed making Amu release the bar as if it were on fire.

"Whatever." Amu grumbled, determined not to loose her composure in front of him. That thought was of course before a goblin came up beside her. She wasn't prepared for it and a small shriek escaped from her lips. It wasn't too loud, but loud enough for Ikuto to look back at her confused. She just quickly clapped her hands over her mouth and curled up, trembling.

"Hey Amu," Ikuto tried to get her attention, but she just shook her head to stop him from asking any questions. He cocked an eyebrow at her, he had an assumption as to what was wrong, it just seemed weird for it to be right. Amu didn't seem to be the type of person to get scared of this kind of thing. "Are you afraid of this stuff?" in a panic she shook her head harder than before curling up tighter. Ikuto sweat dropped looking at her, "Yeah, that's convincing."

"I'm not scared!" Amu snapped at him, gaining that much of her attitude back.

"Yes you are." he told her seriously, he was pretty sure his assumption was right.

"Why would I be scared of something so childish?!"

"I don't know, why are you so stubborn?"

"I am not!" she told him irritated with a glare. It quickly vanished when she heard a lightning and thunder effect and a monster creature appeared. Her eyes went wide and she couldn't hold a small scream (even the guys in front screamed from surprise more than terror) before wrapping her arms around Ikuto's arm on reflex. She just buried her face against his arm trembling. He already knew she was scared, she didn't think there was much point of hiding it anymore. Although she thought she should, she didn't want to let go of his arm. She had always hated these places, she didn't want to be there.

Ikuto looked at her in concern. He'd never seen Amu like this. She had always been acting tough, or vicious, or pissed off with him, but now, she was scared, trembling, and somehow vulnerable. He could tell she didn't want to be there, and it didn't take him long to figure out what he was going to do. He quickly undid their seat belts causing Amu to release his arm and look up at him in shock.

"What are you-" she started to ask, before he put his hand over her mouth to keep her from making anymore noise. She tried to pry his hand off her mouth, but she was taken off guard when he scooped her up and held her bridal style. Her eyes went wide with shock the only thing she could do was stare at him as he dare to stand up on the ride. Amu froze in his arms, there was no way this was safe, she was too afraid to move and knock him off balance or something like that. Ikuto didn't notice, he just barely had to step out, his legs were so long, and hit the concrete with the cart riding away in front of them.

He just walked to a door that was labeled exit and walked out. Once she was over the initial shock, she started struggling out of his grasp. He took his hand off her mouth so she could command him to, "Put me down!" much to her surprise, he actually did, even put her lightly on her feet. Then, there was another shock for her. She felt a hit against the back of her head, "Oww! What was that for?!" she complained to Ikuto him just looking down on her seriously.

"And you call me an idiot."

"What?" Amu asked, rubbing the back of her head that was a little sore, confused.

"If you were afraid of haunted houses, why didn't you say something before we all went in?"

Amu was kind of shocked by the question, she had really expected him to tease her about it once they were out. She felt embarrassed, and felt the blush that said so. Looking away she quickly responded with her arms crossed and her attitude showing, "I-It's not like I had a chance to, you guys have been dragging me around all night."

Ikuto thought about it, and he realized, between all of them, Amu had been pulled around everywhere. He sighed a surrender, "Ok, I guess we have me dragging you everywhere, so I'll make it up to you." curiously Amu glanced over at him to see his smirk, "I'll on whatever ride you want with you."

Amu was about to say how she didn't care about anything that stupid, when a thought came to her mind. There was a ride she had wanted to go on, but her attitude wouldn't allow her to admit it. She could use Ikuto as an excuse to ride because of his offer. Her own mischievous smile crossed her face, amused just picturing someone like Ikuto on that ride. Of course her smile didn't go unnoticed. Ikuto's smirk vanished and replaced with a look of confusion, "Any ride I want?" Amu asked innocently with that smile.

Ikuto didn't like the sound of that, "Maybe I should rephrase that."

"Oh no." Amu commanded grabbing his wrist with both her hands so he couldn't get away, "You already said you would."

Ikuto looked down at Amu with her same expression. "I'm going to regret this, aren't I?" he asked rhetorically, he already knew he would.

"Please." Amu asked smiling a real smile up at him, her eyes shining with excitement. This was defiantly a side of Amu he'd never seen before, not that he'd admit it, but a cute side.

He cursed himself in his head before sighing an agreement, "Fine." Amu smiled wider with excitement, she had forgotten to use her cool attitude.

"Come on," she pulled Ikuto towards the ride she wanted to go on.