HitomiFanel: Yeah! Part 5 now out!

Zakyra: And getting closer to those cliffhangers!

HitomiFanel: Zakyra - -' you aren't supposed to tell yet.

Zakyra: ^_^' Whoops. Sorry. But at least I didn't say WHEN they come.

HitomiFanel: Yeah. Well, anyways, I present to you part 5 and I hope you all like it.

Zakyra: Please review in the end when you're done reading.

The New Kid

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne but I do own Jack Roberts (my own creation who is making his debut in this chapter).

Once Hitomi and Van reached school, they parted towards their own classes. Hitomi was heading for class when Yukari walked up to her. She had the biggest smile on her face, as if she were hiding some sort of secret. "Hey Hitomi! You'll never guess what I heard!"

"What?" Hitomi asked, kinda panicky. She hoped that Yukari didn't know about what happened with that jerk yesterday.

Yukari bounced in the air with excitement. "You're nominated for queen of the dance! If you win, you'll be the queen at the dance that's coming up!" Yukari blurted out.

Hitomi gasped. Someone actually nominated her for being queen? Never would she have imagined that. She figured it was Yukari who had nominated her.

"You're the one who nominated me aren't you?" Hitomi asked suspiciously.

Yukari looked like Hitomi had asked her if she broke the vase. "No. Dui told me that she nominated you." Her face immediately perked up. "Isn't Dui the best? And guess what? Van was nominated for king! If he wins then at the dance, you get to sit next to him on the throne! Every girl is so jealous of you," Yukari rambled.

"Great," Hitomi said, annoyed.

Yukari looked at her wondering what was wrong. "Hitomi? You don't really sound thrilled."

Hitomi stated the obvious. "Well how can you be thrilled to be nominated to be a couple with someone you can't stand?"

Yukari looked at Hitomi with unbelieving eyes. "Hitomi. I can't believe I'm hearing this. You're the luckiest girl in the world to be nominated to be queen. You should be happy."

Hitomi frowned. "I'm not. I can't stand Van. He bugs me. Did you know that I already have to walk to school with him? My parents are making me."

"Why?"

Hitomi went wide eyed. She had blabbed it out! Luckily, she heard the bell rang and decided to use it as an excuse not to answer." Well, there's the bell. I'll talk to you later Yukari."

"Hitomi! Wait!"

Hitomi didn't stop. She continued walking to class.

----

In class she couldn't stop thinking about what Yukari said. 'I'm nominated for queen?' She frowned as she remembered something else. 'I can't believe Van is nominated for king! I bet that after school he'll tell me and mock me or laugh in my face about it.'

She jumped when the teacher smacked her ruler on Hitomi's desk. "If Miss Kanzaki would grace us with the answer for number 2 instead of daydreaming, we would probably be able to continue with class." She was one of those bothersome teachers who loved to point out your mistakes when you made them. (A/N: I have one of those teachers. Mrs. Gautney, and old chemistry teacher at the high school who I can't stand! She's mean to everyone! Poor me!)

Hitomi blushed. "Y=2" she answered.

Everyone burst out laughing and Hitomi wondered why. When she saw the words on the board, she blushed. She had just used the answer for her algebra class instead of her english class.

"Well, I hardly see how the poem we're studying has anything to do with math," Hitomi's female teacher mocked.

The class broke up into laughter again. Hitomi was steamed. She glanced around the room and saw a cute boy who wasn't laughing. Instead, he was smiling. It wasn't a mocking smile. It was more of a ' I like you' smile. Hitomi blushed and turned away.

Once class was over, she was walking to where she met Yukari everyday when someone called her by her last name.

She turned around and discovered that the same boy who was smiling at her had called her. He had nice, shiny brown hair that fell into his forehead, and beautiful amethyst eyes. When he smiled, his whole face lit up. He especially had dimples, which he didn't hide. "Hey. I wanted to thank you for when you said the wrong answer on purpose so that I didn't look dumb. I said the wrong answer also and you said a wrong answer to redirect the laughing towards you."

Hitomi didn't understand what he was saying. "Sorry. You got me all wrong. I didn't say the wrong answer so you wouldn't look bad. I was thinking. I wasn't paying attention to anything the teacher had to say."

The boy looked disappointed. "Well, anyways, I was also wondering if you wanted to go catch a movie or something. Sorry, I didn't introduce myself yet. My name is Jack Roberts."

Hitomi was shocked. She didn't know how to respond. She decided to respond when she saw Van walking towards them.

"Yeah. I'll go see a movie with you. Here's my phone number...." she said as she wrote it down and handed it to him. "Oh, and my first name is Hitomi."

Jack smiled at her. He tucked the piece of paper away. "Thanks. I'll call you later." He turned and left.

Hitomi smiled and looked towards Van. He gave her a mean look and walked away. 'He looks jealous. But why would he be jealous? I didn't accept to go with Jack to make him jealous.' She shrugged the thought aside and walked to meet with Yukari. (Note: Okay, I realize that that paragraph sucked and didn't really make any sense. Why do what she did when she wasn't trying to make him jealous? HELLO! Obviously if she's going to accept an invite from a boy when she sees another boy coming, it's to make him jealous. Man…I was dumb when I wrote that…)

----

After school, Hitomi waited for Van near the track. She didn't have practice but she had to be taken home by him. She really hated this deal with her father. Hitomi knew that she was grown enough to walk home by herself. Although remembering what almost happened yesterday made her rethink that statement.

Finally, she saw Van walk up. He wasn't smiling like he always was. Instead, he had this really mean frown on his face. Hitomi couldn't quite understand why he had that frown.

"Hey Van," she greeted, trying to sound friendly." I heard you were nominated to be the king at the dance."

They began walking but Van didn't try any conversation. He didn't even respond to her comment on the dance. He just walked, totally ignoring her and being in his own world, though it looked like a sad one.

Hitomi was getting tired of this. "Ok Van, I want to know what's bugging you. Ever since you saw me talking with Jack you've been this mean, quiet person and I want to know why."

Van didn't answer her. He only looked straight ahead. Hitomi looked more closely at his face and saw that he was sad.

'When I mentioned Jack his face immediately turned sad. What could be wrong?' Hitomi wondered (dense…just like in the show…). She decided not to strike up any new conversation. If he didn't want to talk then she could respect that.

They continued to walk in silence.

Once they reached Hitomi's house, Van left without even a small goodbye. As he left, Hitomi frowned at his retreating form and went inside her house.

"I'm home!" she called out.

"Oh Hitomi, I'm glad you're home," her mom called from the kitchen. "Someone named Jack Roberts called you. He said if you could please call him back," her mother informed her as she appeared in the living room. She walked over to Hitomi and handed her a piece of paper with a phone number written on it. "He left his phone number."

"Yeah, thanks mom." Hitomi climbed the stairs and headed for her room. She grabbed the phone and dialed Jack's number.

It rang for only a second. "Hello?" a female voice said from the other line.

"Is Jack there?" Hitomi asked. She plopped herself down on the bed and laid down.

"Yeah, hold on. Jack! Someone's on the phone for you!"

Hitomi heard someone walk up and say thanks. "Hello?"

Hitomi knew it was Jack. "Hi Jack. It's Hitomi. My mom told me you called."

"Yeah, I wanted to tell you about the date. Where we could meet."

"Okay."

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to see "Meet the parents" this Saturday at 4."

"Sure. I'll meet you there."

"Okay. See you then Hitomi."

"Bye." Hitomi put the receiver down and walked out of her room.

As she descended the stairs, she smelled lasagna, her favorite food. But Hitomi was also wondering why her mom was making so much of it. She saw two trays of it on the big dining room table. When her mom put food in the dining room it was usually because people were coming over.

"Why so much mom?" Hitomi asked.

Her mom set some glasses on the table. "I want you to change into something nicer. Mr. Fanel and his family are coming over for dinner." She walked back into the kitchen and came out with more glasses. "And I want you to be polite to Van. I know the two of you have not been on the best of terms."

Hitomi gasped. Van would be coming? Well, that wasn't the best of news. Hitomi groaned and slowly climbed the stairs.

To be continued…

HitomiFanel: Yay! Part 5 done!

Zakyra: Poor Van. It kind of reminds me of episode 19 and 20 when he saw her with Allen. (Breaks down and cries)

HitomiFanel (to audience): She's been watching my Escaflowne tapes too much. Especially the one with episodes 18-20. (To Zakyra) Don't worry. This won't last. I should know.

Zakyra: Really?

HitomiFanel: Yeah. I've got something shocking that's going to happen to Hitomi, making her seek comfort in someone else *wink, wink*

Zakyra: Yay!

HitomiFanel: Alright everyone! You know the drill!

HitomiFanel and Zakyra: PLEASE REVIEW!!! ^_^ V (HF) ^_~ (Z)