A phone rang.

"Hello?"

"HITOMI!"

"OW, Millerna! Don't yell in my ear! What's wrong?"

"It's - it's - it's -" The girl stopped speaking, she was sobbing too hard.

"What?" Hitomi asked. "What is it?"

"DRYDEN!" Millerna screamed suddenly and Hitomi jumped, her phone flying from her hand and onto the floor. She scrambled to pick it up and heard Millerna still talking. "... and then he told me that if that's how I really felt then it was over. Over! After seven months! I really thought he was the one!"

"Millerna, calm down, take a deep breath, okay? I'm gonna get Merle on here, we'll all talk about it together, is that alright with you?"

Hearing a sob, Hitomi took it as a yes. Quickly, she pressed the appropriate buttons and a man's voice picked up.

"Hello?" it said.

Millerna wailed and drowned out everything for a couple seconds.

"Sorry about that," Hitomi said. "Is Merle there?"

"Yes, just a second."

"Hello?" A girl's voice was on the line now.

"Hey Merle."

WAIL!

"Ow, what is that?"

"Not what, Merle, who. Millerna's having some Dryden issues and we're having girl talk."

Hitomi could almost hear Merle shift into her therapist gear. She cleared her throat and Hitomi swore her voice lowered several pitches to sound more professional.

"What exactly happened Millerna?"

"WE BROKE UP, THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED!"

"Hey, this could be Allen's big chance," Hitomi said.

"HITOMI!" Merle scolded.

"Oops… I mean, no, he does not like you."

"Allen likes me?" Millerna stopped sobbing and Hitomi sweat dropped. She almost visualized her primping in the mirror, putting makeup on to cover the tear stains.

"Er -"

"Never mind girls! I have to go, my call waiting's going off, it might be Dryden!" Millerna hung up and left Merle and Hitomi alone on the phone.

"Where were you last night, 'Tomi?"

"Um… no where?"

"What're you hiding, Hitomi Kanzaki?"

"Nothing Merle. I was just at Van's, that's all."

"Do you know who he likes? I feel really stupid saying this but, I've liked him for a long time!"

Hitomi coughed, uncomfortable. "I have to go, sorry Merle, talk to you tomorrow!" Hanging up before she got a reply, Hitomi let out a sigh of relief. She had to work something out with Van so they didn't have to hide this from their friends. But with Dilandau liking her and Merle liking Van, it was a sensitive subject.

She flopped onto her bed, weary from lack of sleep, and… other things. When she opened her eyes again, the first thing she saw was big brown eyes with dark hair flopping over them. Letting out a scream, Hitomi clutched her chest, trying to calm her franticly beating heart.

"VAN! What're you doing? Are you trying to kill me?"

With a playful grin to her, Van plopped himself on the bed. He picked up her pillow and put it onto her face, pushing her back onto the mattress. When Hitomi removed the pillow she looked up at Van, who was only inches away from her face. Her gaze travelled from his eyes to his lips and then back to his eyes. Van sat up quickly and she did too.

"So… what's uh - up? I mean - going on?" Hitomi asked. (A/N: Did anyone get that but me?)

"Nothing, I've been hanging around, sleeping. Dryden phoned and started freakin' out."

"What did he say? Was it about Millerna?"

"How'd you know?" questioned Van.

"Millerna called," Hitomi said simply, and shrugged.

"Oh... Van trailed off. "'Tomi?"

"Mmm?" Laying back down, Hitomi looked ready to fall asleep.

"Things won't get awkward, will they?"

She sat up, her bright green eyes serious. They moved from his eyes down to his hand that had just grabbed hers. Gulping, Hitomi shook her head.

"We won't let it Van," Hitomi almost whispered. With a lopsided smile, he lifted her hand and kissed the back gently.

* * *

"Hitoooooomiiiiiii!"

Dilandau wrapped his long arms around Hitomi's stomach and picked her up, swinging her away from her open locker door. When he put her down, she turned back to him and gave him a playful shove. He over exaggerated it and rammed into the lockers on the other side of the hall.

"Hi - to - mi - I'm - die - ing!" he gasped, clutching his heart.

"Meh, what ya gonna do?" Hitomi asked, going back to her locker. Dilandau dropped the act.

"Where were you Friday night? I called but no one answered."

Hitomi coughed and fumbled with her lip gloss. It fell from her hands and hit the ground. Bending, she tried to hide the blush on her cheeks. When she stood again, Dilandau's pale eyes were focussed on her face. He walked forward and caught her up against the lockers in between his arms.

"Where were you?" he asked again.

"At Van's, nothing unusual." To her ears, her voice sounded several pitches too high.

Dilandau's eyes narrowed until Hitomi thought they were in danger of disappearing into his face.

"That's weird," he said, "I called him too. No one answered."

Hitomi thought back, trying to remember if either of them had heard the phone ring. Apparently not.

"Where were you really, 'Tomi?"

"In Van's room! Seriously Dilly, we were there the whole night, I swear!" Hitomi held up one hand as if swearing on the Bible. Letting out a sigh she said, "It doesn't matter, I might as well tell you the truth. Me and Van are... Well, we're together. It only happened on Friday."

"Hitomi, you're talking about Van right? Van Fanel? The one that goes the our school, one of my best friends?"

"Er - yes."

"He's a player! 'Tomi, don't make the mistake all the other girls did." Dilandau set a hand on Hitomi's shoulder and looked down at her. "I know he's a good friend and everything, but is he really what you need right now?"

"Dilandau! What's wrong with you? He's my best friend in the world and now that he's something more you start guilt tripping me!" Dilandau opened his mouth to say something but Hitomi cut him off. "And as for what I need right now, I very much doubt things can get any worse than they already are. How would you know what's best for me? You don't! So lay off!"

Slamming her locker, Hitomi stalked off down the hallway, away from Dilandau. He watched her leave, not moving or saying anything. And that's why, when Van found Hitomi several hours later, she was sulking under a tree outside, doing homework.

"Hey, where were you in first? I had no one to copy off of."

Hitomi made a noise in her throat. Van sat down on the grass beside her and studied her face. She was scribbling some math equations down furiously and her mouth was set in a line.

"Don't tell me I skipped second to come looking for you, only to find you sitting under a tree, in a horrible mood, doing MATH and not talking?"

Casting a dark look up at him, Hitomi turned back to her work. Van grabbed her chin and turned it so she was looking at him.

"That's it," he said. "What happened?"

"Dilandau knows," she told him quietly.

"And?"

"And what?"

"You want to elaborate on that at all?"

"Oh, he just started bagging on me. Asking me if you're what I really need right now and telling me not to make the same mistake all your other girlfriends had."

Van looked down sheepishly. "So I guess everyone else knows now too."

"You can bet on it," Hitomi said.

* * *

As Hitomi walked into her house after school, she heard a squeal come from upstairs. Dropping her backpack and climbing the stairs, she heard it again. When she got to the top of the stairs she saw Mamoru run into his room, crying. Hitomi's mother came out of her room.

"Come back here you little -" She stopped when she saw Hitomi.

"I thought," Hitomi said deathly silent, "I told you to never, never touch him again."

Looking furious, Hitomi's mother approached her. Instead of hitting her, as Hitomi had expected, she reached out and shoved her. That's when Hitomi realized her mistake.

She had been standing right at the top of the stairs.

(A/N: Happy happy, joy joy! Another chapter done! Nuffin' to say to you all really... Just that I hoped you all liked it and as always, YOU SHOULD REVIEW!)