Chapter 5

A/N: I hope you like to the story so far. Can you guess which girl Jack will get within the middle of the story? Enjoy this new chapter, and leave a review so I can improve.

All I can think about is how terrible this food tastes; it's amazing they're allowed to serve this shit. It's nothing more than a mishmash of everything but the kitchen sink. Oh well, at least I now have friends to keep me company through lunch… and my whole morning. It's not bad really, I enjoy their presence, and they've already got me back to my old self mostly. As I said before, it's amazing what eight girls and two near-death experiences can do to a guy.

I look around at all of them; Neptune is jamming out to something on her Iphone of course. Blanc is reading a book trying to block out the noise of the whole lunchroom, good luck with than Blanc. Rom and Ram are awkwardly feeding each other with the less than satisfactory food, Ram mainly doing it. Noire is resting her head on the table; she looks more sleep deprived than I do. Vert is brushing her own hair to make herself more attractive. Finally is Nepgear, Uni, and I are having a conversation about plans for the future.

Nepgear apparently is more of a "hardware" girl than software and wants to invent machines for the good of society someday. Uni wants to be a gun smith, from how she looks; I would've never guessed she likes guns so much. As for me, I just said, "I'm not really sure what I want to do, never gave it much thought.

The bell rang, it was time for our afternoon classes to begin. With my luck, I'll have yet another class with all eight of them. And I was right, all eight of them are in the next class with me. This class is a computer class for the business world, not bad if I must add. It's a decent sized classroom with rows of computers, naturally I take a back seat and they follow me. Again to my left is Blanc and to my right is Nepgear.

For the first day, it's always a free day with a twenty minute introduction. Turning on a computer and signing in I immediately go to my documents folder. In it consists of old school work, a few folders containing anime and other videos. One of my folders says "Poetry" on it. I forgot I had that folder, it's from some darker days of my life, but contains neutral toned poems. This catches the eyes of both Blanc and Nepgear.

"What's with that folder Jack?" Nepgear asks me with the innocent head tilt. I won't deny it, these girls are cute at times.

"Oh this, it's a folder where I keep all my deep emotional poetry, you can read some if you'd like." Wait, do I really want her to read them?

"I'd also like to check these out." Blanc decided to join the party.

The two girls get really close to me to get a good view of the monitor. I feel uncomfortable with them this close. So I just scoot the seat back and tell them to continue without me. I need to be more introduced with some more members of the group. Uni is the last on I believe. She's sitting in the back as we are, just in a different row.

When I come close to her computer, I notice a page with many guns on it. These weapons vary from revolvers, shotguns, and assault rifles. Mental note, don't piss her off, she might kill me.

"You really like guns don't you?"

"Ye… yeah, I don't know why, they just feel natural to me." I think she's going into fangirl mode.

"I actually have a few of these guns at home, hoping to get a few more by the end of the year."Now I'm scared.

"Are these things even legal here?!"

"Some aren't, I won't tell you how I got them though." Well, the FBI is on standby for now.

Slowly tiptoeing away from her as she scrolls down the page, she clicks on a picture of a sweet gun. A Colt Paterson, the greatest five-shot revolver in my opinion. Out of nowhere, and urge to run over there surges through me, so I act on it. She seems surprised at how fast I ran over there to get a closer look at it.

"Whoa, is that a Colt Paterson? That's one of the coolest guns of all time." Ok, I might have been a fangirl at that moment too.

"Hmm, you know your guns, we just might get along. I have this one back at home." She's starting to get a slight blush. "Maybe one day… you could come over… and we could shoot together." Ok, that was weird, just when I thought she was normal. I won't deny she's cute when she's talking like this.

I don't know if any of them like me all that much, maybe they're hanging with me to make themselves look more appealing. It makes sense really, everybody in this school view me as a freak, these girls have a clean record.

That couldn't be the case; they wouldn't know my past or what others think of me. So they just hang out with me on instinct? This is starting to get confusing, I think I have a small headache. Better not over think this, this is the first time in years I have had friends, might not want to fuck this up.

Now that the fangirling is out of the way, time to see what everyone else is up to. From the looks of it, Neptune is doing something I expected of her… online games. A lot of boys are gathering around Vert as if they're moth's around a light, better hope she doesn't go bug zapper on them. Rom and Ram are looking at a new set Magic that just came out. Noire is viewing what looks a page for anime lovers. Now it looks like a shopping site.

"What are you looking at?"

"No… nothing! It's nothing at all! Nope nothing to see here!" Anyone could tell that she's lying, but for now I'll let it slide.

"It's ok, I'm not a guy to judge people unless they judge me."

"Re… Really? Nobody would respect me if they knew." Now my curiosity is peaked.

"I'm sure it can't be that bad. Although with this group of friends, I wouldn't be surprised."

"Th… thanks, for not being nosey I mean. You seem like a nice guy Jack." She's a lot nicer than I thought.

As I look at her, I notice a sparkle like thing in her eyes. She's also slightly blushing. What is with these girls and blushing whenever they talk to me? Again, I am more confused than ever about these girls. I might learn something about them in the future, this is the first day I've known them after all. Something inside me wants the future to happen faster, time just doesn't move fast enough. So many questions I have but time is in my way.

"No… Problem, anyway, whatever it was you were looking at I wouldn't care. A person's hobbies and likes define them. You've been nice to me, I'll see you around I guess." On that remark I go back to check on Nepgear and Blanc. I wonder what they think about those poems.

When I get back to my original seat, Nepgear has a… adorable? Depressed? Positively doesn't make sense look on her face? Blanc has what you would expect, an emotionless, doll like face on. As I take my next step, both turn their heads towards me. I don't know what either of them is thinking right now. Whether it is good or bad, I'll face it head on.

"They were… good to say the least. I really liked the one about how everyday people just walk past you." I can't tell if she likes it or not, at least when she's angry I can tell her thoughts.

Nepgear took a different tune to them, hers may have been the turning point for my day. "Hic… I'm… I'm so sorry." I have no idea what she's apologizing about this time. Something tells me she has self-esteem issues and likes to over apologize. "Th… they were beautiful. Some of the most beautiful poems I've ever read. I'm sorry you went through all of that in your past." Now I see what this is about, she feels guilty already for getting me to tell them about my past. Now she feels even guiltier because these poems describe my every emotion I felt through those years.

"Nepgear" I say in the sternest voice I can muster. "These poems are about my past, I can't rewrite that. At least I can change my future, and you guys will help me do that." Honestly, I'm still kind of bummed by her being bummed. Part of my old personality was when I friend was bummed, I made it a mission to cheer them up. Seeing her on the verge of crying also tugs at my heart a little bit.

"Hic… I… I failed… Hic… you as a friend. I'm just sorry! I'm so sorr… Huh?"

My arms are around her, holding her with everything I have, this is to let her know I can't stand it when people cry.

"Nepgear, don't, you've done nothing wrong to me. If anything, you've been an excellent friend to me in the short while you've known me. Don't go saying you've failed me, you haven't failed me, and I don't think you ever will." Great, now my heart is pouring out. It's way too early to be doing this kind of stuff.

"Jack…" Her voice is faint, she's having an emotional breakdown. Perhaps she's never been treated this way.

She puts her arms around me, returning my tight hug with an even tighter one. Her warmth is comforting my spirit, and I think I'm doing the same for her. This is a precious moment my future will probably thank me for.

"Thank you, I don't know what I was thinking."

As she says that, our hug continues going strong. It feels so natural, it was going fine until a loud scream punctured my ear drums.

"YAHOO! Thud."

A wild Neptune suddenly appeared, knocking me out of my chair along with Nepgear below me. This is awkward, I have Neptune on top of me, and she's a lot heavier than she looks. Then there's Nepgear below me, first time being on top of a girl is unsettling, I can't think straight. I look into her eyes, they're glimmering to add to her cuteness. Her lips are parted, but her teeth are clenched down, forget what I said earlier, she's so cute. If this is what a high school crush is like, then maybe I shouldn't seek the treasure.

Our faces only inches apart, I can feel her hot ragged breaths on my face. It's a nice sensation to be feeling. This is a nice moment we are having, perhaps this will add to my ranking in the future. She then starts to slowly raise her head, is she going to try to give me a kiss? We've only known each other for a day and this? What the hell is happening to my head, I'm slowly moving my head towards hers in the same manner. About two inches separate our faces now, this is about to happen.

"Count me in! *Boing*" Vert has just jumped on top of Neptune.

From her jump, I felt two separate thuds. One was from her body, which again is heavier than she looks. The other being from her boobs, they registered a 0.0000000001 magnitude on the Richter scale. O h god this is painful. But the mob mentality starts to affect everyone.

"Alright! Let's do this!" Ram yelling

"Yay…" Rom quiet as always.

Rom and Ram decide it's a huge dog pile. They aren't that heavy though, so it's not too bad. From the sidelines, I can see Noire, Uni, and Blanc staring at them like they're idiots. Why did Neptune have to ruin that moment we were having? Even if it was just some encouragement, it felt like I was doing something I've always dreamed of… Romance.

Looking at Nepgear, I can see she's in a great deal of pain. Rolling over, the others fall to their sides. Quickly getting off Nepgear, I turn to Neptune giving her a menacing glare. She doesn't care, instead she sticks her tongue out at me and gives an innocent look.

Before I could say anything else, the bell decided to ring. Upon the first ring, Neptune let out a "see ya!" and abandoned us. Next to get up was Vert who surprisingly apologized deeply then left. Ram didn't say anything and just to take a page out of Neptune's book, and run away. Rom on the other hand, took a different approach. She stood up and offered me a hand.

"I'm… sorry. Ram said if I didn't she'd tickle me to death. Please forgive me." She's sincere, I'll give her that. What the hell? I'll let her go… this time.

"It's ok, just don't let Ram control you, and you are your own person after all." I start to pet her head as if to comfort her. Then offer her a handshake. Instead of taking my hand, she thrusts at me and puts her arms around me. This is unexpected, all I wanted was a handshake and I get a hug. As a response I pet her head again then lightly push her as a sign to get off me please. She takes the sign then runs along after her sister.

The only people left in the computer lab are Nepgear, Uni, Noire, Blanc and I. Those are the most "normal" ones of the group in my opinion. They don't just randomly tackle you while giving encouragement to a friend. Instead, these girls would help me.

"Let me guess, you have Band next?"

"How did you know" All tune in with the same surprised expression.

"Just a lucky guess." There's no luck about it, I may already have five classes with all of them. With my luck I knew there would be a sixth.

"Anyway, let's get going, we don't want to be late now do we?"

I get nods from all four of them and we walk out the door. The band room is on the floor below us on the opposite side of the school, so it's quite a walk. It gives us all time to talk though. I tell them all about the band director and how nice he is, as well as how much he likes to have fun. From the looks I'm getting they seem to already like him.

It's also noteworthy that all of them are in band already, so there will be no need for teaching them an instrument later. Blanc is a percussionist, that figures. Noire plays the clarinet, a regal instrument for a regal girl, fitting. Uni plays the bass clarinet, like a clarinet, except considerably larger. Finally Nepgear is a flute player. This is also a fitting match, a graceful instrument for, well, a Nepgear.

"So are Neptune, Vert, Rom, and Ram in band?"

"Not by a long shot, Vert is in culinary class right now. Neptune and Ram are in the art class. And Rom is in the creative writing class." Noire sure knows their schedules. I'm glad though the crazy people, aside from Rom are out of my sixth period.

The band room isn't very full of people, but it is large compared to other rooms. As we walk in, we all get cold chills.

"I forgot to mention, the band room is freezing."

"Anything else you forget to mention?" Noire retorts.

"Now that you mention it, you need band lockers, just pick an empty one and you'll be fine."

To the left of the entrance is the instrument storage room. In it is what you'd expect, instrument lockers. I point to what lockers are designed for certain instruments and explain that they could share a locker. After we get that done with I find our band director Mr. Simmons.

"Hey Mr. Simmons, these are some new band members."

"Ah, they'll make a fine addition to the band program. Do they have lockers yet?" Mr. Simmons asks.

"Yeah, I already told them how it works with the lockers."

"Good, I have nothing left to teach you young grasshopper."

"Huh?" All of them say in unison.

"I told you, Mr. Simmons likes to joke around."

Mr. Simmons simply waves at them and goes back to his office to finish up some band work. Turning around I give them all a look of anticipation.

"Well, it's basically a free day, why not have a game of Magic?" Just a suggestion.

"Sure, I can crush anyone at it." Blanc has a deck?

"Game on."

Taking two music stands and converting them into a battlefield is the first thing that went down in our epic contest. Grabbing two chairs, I set on in front of my stand, and let Blanc sit in the other then push her in like a true gentlemen.

"Thanks…" Why the hell is she blushing at a time like this? We're about to battle.

Taking out a different deck than last time, I begin to shuffle it and offer her to cut it. Surprisingly she declines the cut. To not be rude, I decline her cut offer. After drawing seven cards, the game begins. My turn is first, I lay down a black mana, tap it then play vampire lacerator. Passing turn to Blanc, she puts down a blue mana then passes turn to me. Since her life is above ten, my own creature deals me one damage. "I draw!" Corny I know but a classic. Putting down a red mana, then attacking Blanc directly to put her down to nineteen gives me the edge. Sadly I must pass turn on account of having no moves.

Her turn rolls around, another blue mana she plays. Now I see where Rom and Ram get it. Tapping both of them, she puts down a lord of the unreal. Wait, god, Rom and Ram's decks are two sides of the same coin. Blanc being the coin, that means her deck has both the attack and defense of those decks. Passing turn back to me, I draw hoping to get something good. Sadly the one life loss gets to me. Now our lives are tied, and the game gets all the more interesting. The card I drew though, Human Frailty, the perfect card. This game isn't over, if anything it's only begun. And that Lord of the unreal in my next target.