Hey, Dark Gothic Lolita here!

I genuinely can't believe how many years have passed by since I last updated this story. The worst thing is, this chapter has been soooo ready! It's just been sitting there, collecting dust. I kind of like where this story was heading (I still have the idea in my head), so I decided that I will actually start updating this again. I started focusing way too much on Fairy Tail and forgot about my love, KHR.

I don't own KHR. I also apologise for my poor spelling and grammar.

ENJOY!

Flee in seven different directions

Chapter six

"Well, isn't someone looking strangely happy?"

Lal jumped as Luce giggled and bounced into the space on the bench next to her. Lal rolled her eyes before giving the girl a shy smile, making Luce gasp and shake her by the shoulders in excitement. Lal's head was rolling backwards and forwards really fast, wondering where the hell this girl got this kind of strength from.

"Did I just see you shyly smile?! No, there's DEFINITELY something going on with you! Spill before the others get here! I need to know what's making you like this!"

"Okay, okay, stop shaking me woman!" Luce quickly stopped and apologized before Lal sighed and shook her head out. "I don't want you repeating this to anyone, don't interrupt me and for the love of Dio, please don't scream."

Luce promised and Lal looked around as if to see if anyone was eavesdropping on their conversation, but everyone else was too far away, playing football, or eating their lunch. She turned back to face the girl who was patiently waiting for her to speak, though Lal knew that Luce knew it most probably had something to do with Skull.

"Well, Skull has been kind enough to tutor me in physics and maths and you know, we were just hanging out like old times. I watched him do his laps on Saturday after he tutored me and then he taught me how to ride his bike for a few hours, though it didn't feel like hours at all. He even said something that shocked me."

Lal paused it there, wondering whether or not she should tell Luce. She looked at the blue eyed teen and noticed that she was watching her intently, not forcing her to carry on, but a little curious. She was surprised that Luce hadn't squealed yet. Lal felt like she should continue, she hadn't had girl time with anyone in a few years now.

"He said that he was happy that I was back in his life."

She got quiet as she looked down at her hands, a small smile creeping up on her face. Again, Luce made no sound and when she looked back up at her to see if she was alright, the girl had her hands covering her mouth, her eyes wide with excitement. Lal laughed and shook her head at her antics.

"Okay, NOW you can scream."

"GAAAAAAAAAH! LOVE IS IN THE AIR!"

Luce pulled the girl into the tightest hug she had ever given and that was when Viper showed up, raising an eyebrow at the two friends. Luce immediately filled her in, the sparkle in her eyes shining brighter and brighter. Lal sat back eating her lunch with a slight blush on her face. She'll only ever admit it to these two and no one else!

"Wow, you really do like him, don't you?"

Lal ducked her head and nodded. It all felt familiar, yet strange to her. The only guy she had ever liked was Colonnello,

The only guy she had really been crushing on was Colonnello, but they were friends way before they started dating, so there was no need to be shy around him. Sure, she had been friends with Skull even longer than she had been friends with Colonnello, but where they had this two year gap between them, it was almost like they were strangers. People change a lot in two years and it looks like her feelings were one of them.

"Luce."

The said girl turned around with a bright smile on her face as she jumped up from her seat. "Xanxus! Hey."

The teen smirked at her as she fell into his arms. Lal and Viper watched discreetly, jealous that Luce was able to find such a loving boyfriend. Xanxus was a bad guy, a guy who made your entrails, your outrails in a matter of seconds. The guy knew his way around many weapons, so the fact that the sweetest girl possible was able to actually tame such a beast, made the two most uninterested girls want to coo at their relationship.

Lal couldn't help but pull her eyes away from when she saw Luce wrap her arms around Xanxus' and he bent down to her as they whispered sweet nothings in each other's ears. Lal bit her lip when she realised how badly she wanted that intimacy with Skull. The couple kissed and that was when she finally turned her head away, unable to watch anymore of the cute scene.

She noticed Viper still looking before she too sighed and turned away. Without any pushing, Viper spoke up. "I wish that was me and Verde. There's just something about him...I don't know if it's just a silly little school girl crush, or if I really do like him. He...he just gets me."

Lal sighed and nodded in agreement. "For so long, Colonnello hasn't been that typical boyfriend. I mean, I liked him so much that I just overlooked it, but a girl gets tired when a guy doesn't try! Skull has come back into my life for just a week and already I feel like he's the only one who really gets me..."

The two girls looked at each other before they burst out laughing. They were the two most unlikely girls who would ever talk about their relationship problems. Viper was aloof, did selfish things for herself and only cared about money. Getting money was more important than forming relationships. She was broken from her family life and that was the only way she could go about making herself feel better, only it was secretly killing her. Verde was the fresh air, the new start that she needed. She broke away from Varia and it looked like Xanxus himself was going to too.

Lal was just the well known tomboy who was stronger than your average guy by far, but as she was getting older, she was getting girlier. She started wearing skirts more, attending to her hair and what not. She had certain feelings floating through her body about Skull that she had never felt before.

"Guys, is it alright for Xanxus to sit with us?"

Viper and Lal looked up and noticed that Luce was now back at the table, holding hands with Xanxus. Viper shrugged as she greeted her old friend and Lal nodded her head. Viper got up and sat next to Lal so that the two lovebirds could sit next to each other. Luce pulled out another lunch from her bag and gave it to Xanxus with a grin on her face. He shot her an extremely grateful look as he started devouring his portion. Either he forgot his own lunch at home, or it was an arrangement that they had where Luce liked to cook for him. Luce liked to cook for everyone.

Lal cleared her throat, wanting to get rid of the annoying silence that surrounded them all. "So we heard the good news, congratulations you guys."

The couple both blushed and Xanxus nodded his head. He forgot that girls literally tell each other everything. His left hand reached out for Luce's and he squeezed her hand under the table without tearing his eyes away from his food. He felt her squeeze back and he had to hide his smile.

Soon the other three guys came to the table to join them all. Verde sat down next to Viper and Skull threw himself down next to Lal. Both of the girls faces went up in flames as Fon placed himself down on the other side of Xanxus, but sat a bit away from the couple.

"Alright guys?"

Everyone replied to Skull's question as he started pulling out his lunch. Lal couldn't help but watch him out of the corner of her eye. He just looked so perfect and she could feel her heart speeding up from how close they were sitting. Honestly, she didn't know what was going on because her body barely acted this way when she was with Colonnello. She felt like she was going to explode. She could feel herself melting from their close proximity.

Skull turned his head to look down at Lal and noticed that she was looking a bit red. He raised an eyebrow and moved a bottle of water in her direction so that she could drink it. The movement made her turn to face him and soon as their eyes met, Lal turned away quickly as she looked down. Skull chuckled at her weird behaviour and shrugged his shoulders.

"Girls."

That brought the fire back to Lal as her head turned so fast, Skull was wondering how she didn't give herself whiplash. Fon shook his head at Skull's mistake, but he wanted to see how it was going to go. Xanxus covered up his laugh by coughing when Luce glared at him while Verde was trying to hold Viper back from beating him up himself.

"What was that maggot? Making a little sexist comment I hear?"

Skull gulped and quickly stood up from the bench, but Lal stood up with him. He had to admit it, Lal looked hot when she was absolutely furious. Now wasn't the time to be saying that though. That line usually made girls angrier.

"Hehe, I didn't mean it that way, I just mean, you guys have so many mood swings..."

There was a silence between them all, save for the sounds of the other students shouting and playing football in the background.

"...Run to the guys' toilets. Now."

Skull didn't have to be told twice as Xanxus gave him the best advice that he needed in order to get out of the grave that he had just dug for himself. He turned around and bolted straight towards the building that never looked so far away until this moment. He could hear Lal's footsteps and grunts chasing after him and she sounded like a bull who was going to end his life.

"Get back here you coward, I thought you finally grew a pair! Come back and face me!"

Skull laughed and shook his head, pounding faster and faster. He could hear her growling as they dodged through all the students that were in the way.

Skull saw the door that was the closest to the boy's toilets and he grinned. He was going to be home free! He looked back and saw that Lal was hot on his tail, but there was a look of horror when she realised how close he was to his place of safety. She pushed on harder, determined to not let him get away from her.

He barged through the door and rolled into the toilets just as Lal tried to grab for his shirt. He laughed as he was panting and holding onto the wall, heart racing. He greedily breathed in and tried his best to regulate his breathing.

He turned his head to use the toilet seeing as he was already there when he saw blue eyes staring at him. He stared right back before realising that the guy looking at him was Colonnello. He cut his eyes from the blonde and made his way over to the urinal. He might as well use the toilet anyway. Anything was a better distraction than seeing the guy who was once his friend who unconsciously stole away the girl that he liked.

Colonnello seemed to just move on, but not without looking back at his old friend. He always got the feeling that Skull never liked him much, and the fact that he was a dick to him didn't help matters at all. He shrugged his shoulders, wondering why he was thinking about that right now and left the toilets.

As he pushed open the door, he turned left and immediately came face to face with his ex-girlfriend. They both stood there in surprise, eyes wide. Apart from having some classes together, Colonnello never actually saw Lal any more. He didn't know where she hung out because it wasn't in any of their old places and truth be told, he missed her.

"Lal..."

"C-Colonnello."

He wanted to smirk. He still had some sort of effect over her and she was still weak whenever she said his name. That was a good sign. Now that she had calmed down and emotions weren't running high from being found out about his cheating ways, maybe he could calmly explain himself. Not in private though, she would kill him. He knew he probably couldn't get her trust back, but maybe if he asked to still be friends, they could turn out as something more again by the end of it.

The door creaked open again and Lal's once wide eyes then narrowed, anger clouding her judgement. Colonnello had to turn his head to see who caused such a quick and angry reaction and was met once again with Skull standing there. What the hell had he done to piss her off? The last time they had even spoken was two years ago!

"Thought you could hide from me, maggot?" She spat out through gritted teeth, her fists clenched and ready to attack.

Skull gave her a big grin and Colonnello got worried. Either Skull had gotten even more stupid than he used to be, or he was extremely brave. In that state, he would never smile at Lal like a cocky shit. That was just asking for the ultimate beatdown.

"Course not, I was taking a leak. I don't need to hide from you Lal Mirch."

Skull ignored Colonnello and walked around his body to meet Lal. They both started walking away from him as he just stared in surprise at their familiarity. What the hell was going on here, when had they become friends again?

The blonde shook his head as he realised that the two of them were practically flirting in front of his face, as if he wasn't even there! The way Skull said her full name, it rolled off of his tongue perfectly and he even noticed that Lal blushed! LAL BLUSHED! When had anyone ever been able to do that, other than when he took her first kiss?!

His head whipped around when he heard them laughing. He felt his teeth grit when he noticed that Skull's arms were wrapped around her shoulder and he had brought her close to his body. They were talking about something, her previous anger clearly forgotten and it made Colonnello feel sick to his stomach. Had Lal moved on from him or something? Does that mean he no longer stood a chance? He had heard about Skull's reputation around school. He was someone you didn't want to be rude to at all. He had gone from skinny to buff and it had scared them all.

"I wasn't expecting him to come out of the toilet."

Skull hummed as he looked down at the girl who was under his arm. "How are you feeling about seeing him? Did you feel like you missed him or what?"

Lal thought about it as she put her finger to her chin before shrugging. "I was a little surprised to see him, so I did stutter at the beginning. It was just awkward standing there, like for the first time I've never had anything to say to him. I didn't feel anything in my heart go off, I guess I was just put off by his behaviour. I hate cheaters."

Skull nodded his head. "Yeah, as soon as I ran into the toilets, I saw him and when I saw him walk out, I knew that you would still be out there, so I quickly had to pee before I came back out to make sure that things didn't go south. He would probably try to explain himself and then you would try to kill him and that would be that."

Lal laughed at him, pretty much hitting the nail on the head. She had no reason to listen to why he cheated, the bottom line was that he was caught cheating. Nothing more, nothing less.

"You still mad at me?"

Lal glared up at him before she broke out into a smile. "Nah, you're good. I know that you just wanted to get me angry on purpose."

Skull laughed. "Okay good, didn't want to have to fight for my survival. Besides, I wanted you to chase me, I like it when we spend time alone together." He threw a wink at her and Lal felt everything within her body freeze. It took every last bit of her energy and willpower to not make a fool out of herself in front of him. She could feel her face glowing and she had to look away and make herself look stubborn.

"Flattery won't save you from my anger next time."

Skull let out a laugh and wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to his body. He decided that he liked the feel of her body against her. Having her body heat pressed up against him relaxed him. "I'll remember that for next time, but for now, let's just accept that I just said to you. Also, I want you to know that it's true."

Lal looked up at him and they both swore in their heads that they had stopped breathing. Being this close to one another, it was sending messages through their bodies. Both of them didn't dare to pull away, but they turned their heads, a blush rising up on their faces. Lal smiled a little bit.

"Well then, I guess I can let the flattery get you somewhere for now then." She tried to make out like it was nothing and turned her head nonchalantly. Skull chuckled next to her and shook her head.

"We still on for tonight? You know, your tutoring."

Lal nodded her head. "You know me, I don't have any after school activities, I'm pretty much always free."

That made Skull frown. When they were younger, Lal was always doing one thing or another after school. The weekends were pretty much the only time you got to see her, so for her to say that she didn't have anything after school anymore, it bugged him.

"Huh? What about archery, and weapons training? Don't tell me you stopped all of that!"

Lal shrugged, but Skull could read her like a book. He sighed in frustration which made Lal look up at him. "What's that sigh all about, maggot?"

He shot her an irritated look, but it wasn't because he was irritated by her, but rather the reasoning as to why she had stopped everything. It was clear as day as to why she stopped, and the reason behind it was due to one idiot.

Colonnello.

"You must have really loved him, huh?"

Skull looked ahead and Lal raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"You know what I mean. For you to give up everything that you love for one person, it shows how dedicated you really were to the relationship. I know damn well it was because of Colonnello that you stopped doing everything that you loved. Honestly, I don't know if I can call it love or stupidity."

Lal had an insult for him ready on her tongue, but she swallowed it when she realised that he was indeed right. All her weapons training with Gladius, it had been fun. It was all something that she was extremely good at, but Colonnello had claimed that he didn't want his girlfriend being more boyish than him, so she had immediately stopped, just so that she could get into his good books. What a joke.

"Hey, 15 year old me was going through some tough times! Puberty was no walk in the park and I guess that I just wanted to have a boyfriend. I...I don't know."

Skull looked down at her and realised that she was quite upset looking back at the past. He hated everything that Colonnello had become and if he really loved her, he would have never made her change herself. That's one thing that would have been different if the two of them ever got into a relationship. Skull loves Lal for exactly who she is.

"Don't sweat it, we all went through some crazy times two years ago. I'm not pissed off at you for letting Colonnello get the better of you, I'm pissed off at him for changing you. Fucking bastard clearly doesn't know when he's got someone worth keeping by his side."

Lal couldn't help but stare up at him as he spoke. He was looking off to the side where they had just come from and even though Colonnello was no longer within sight, it didn't stop Skull from staring in that general direction. His eyebrows were in together tightly, and the glare in his eyes were like blazing fire.

"Skull..."

Lal hesitated as she reached out, but she eventually did it anyway. She rubbed Skull's arm which made his eyes widen a little bit as he turned to look down at the girl. She managed to give him a careless shrug and a half smile to show that she was okay and that he didn't need to get so worked up over it. However, it was so nice to know that Skull was this...this cute. She hadn't expected for him to care so much about her and that sent all the butterflies within her stomach into a frenzy.

"It's okay, don't get so worked up over it. What's done is done. You're right, I did love him that much, but I should have never let him have such control over me like that. It was stupid. I was stupid, but now I know I'll never make those mistakes again. Colonnello was my first love, but also a lesson. What I tolerated in the relationship, I now know I deserve better."

Skull managed a smile before he smirked at her. He moved his free hand over to her head and ruffled it lightly. Just as she started scowling at him, about to ask him why the hell he had gone and done that, Skull spoke.

"I'm glad you finally know you deserve better. I mean, you always did. Now come on, let's go back and eat our food before lunch ends."

He turned away from her and moved his arm gently out of her touch. Lal had to use every inch of herself to make sure that her jaw didn't drop at what was just said to her. Her heart was beating like an 808 drum in her ears, her blood was flowing fast and hot within her.

She forced her feet to move after Skull so that she wouldn't alert him that his words had struck a nerve within her and actually made her freeze. She didn't want to let Skull have the satisfaction that he had just left her speechless. He was a breath of fresh air from Colonnello, as well as so cute. She couldn't help the dizzy smile that soon appeared on her lips.

So, I hope that chapter was good! I'm pretty sure this story will be long forgotten by readers and I can only blame myself for that. Thank you to anyone who DOES read this though!

Please don't forget to rate or hate, flames or floods! This is to 10 years of writing!

Lolita-chan