Disclaimer: I don't own Gakuen Alice. Tachibana Higuchi does.

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BRIIIIING!!!

The school bell rang loudly among the empty halls of the academy, signaling the start of their mid-day break. Doors flung open and soon students poured into the halls and walked their way to the cafeteria.

"C'mon guys. If we stay here any longer, the cafeteria will run out of food for us…" Koko announced.

Natsume stood up and was about to go out when Ruka stopped him.

"Shouldn't we wait for them?" She pointed to Mikan.

"Tch." Was the only reply he got. Natsume made his way to the door.

"I can't seem to find the proper solution to this problem." Mikan said, scratching her head with a pen.

"With your pea-sized brain, I won't expect you to be able to answer any of those questions." Natsume remarked as he passed by. Ruka followed closely behind him.

"Oh shut up will you." She shouted at him. She then turned onto Hotaru for help, with her puppy dog eyes pleading. "Hotaru, if you could just….."

She was cut off when she got hit by Hotaru's ever famous baka gun.

baka… baka… baka…

"You'll never get to answer those if you keep blabbering and asking for other people's help. Deal with it yourself." She lectured Mikan while holding her smoking baka gun.

"Go-gomen ne…" Mikan apologized. With an aching head she proceeded to scribble a few solutions and come up with an answer.

"Whew… now that was a relief." She sighed as she was walking to the cafeteria. Her stomach grumbled with hunger.

"uhhm…" She held her tummy. As she lined up, she scanned for her friends. Ruka and Natsume already had a seat at the far end and the others were on the table next to the two.

When it was her turn to get her food, her luck bit her. Bad.

"I'm sorry Miss, but we just ran out of viands." The girl said.

"What!?" She gasped. "But I'm really hungry!"

"We'll be restocked in five minutes. The cook had a problem with his cooking. I'm sorry." The girl apologized.

"No, it's ok." She half-heartedly went over to her friends and slumped on a chair.

"Where's your food?" Hotaru asked.

"They just ran out of food. I'll have to wait for five more minutes." Mikan replied.

"Serves you right for being stupid, polka." Natsume smirked.

"Jerk." Mikan shot back.

"Here." She heard Ruka say and saw that he was handing her his plate.

"Thanks Ruka, but what will you eat?" She got his plate.

"It's ok. I've eaten my fill." Ruka said.

"But it's almost untouched. C'mon Ruka. We'll just share it." She said. Mikan pulled her chair over their table and sat beside Ruka.

Tints of red shaded Ruka's cheeks as he felt Mikan so close to him. His heart pounded really fast. He tried to hide his blush as he bowed his head and hid his face.

Hotaru took out her camera and started clicking away.

"Something wrong Ruka?" Mikan asked worriedly.

"No-nothing…" He stuttered. "I-I-I'm a-alright."

"You sure?" She asked again.

"Ye-yes…" Ruka answered back.

"If you say so." She ate a spoonful of soup.

They shared the food while chatting, with Ruka stuttering all the time. He wasn't used to them seated so close, their shoulders touching and rubbing. They seemed like a couple if you look at them from afar. This, by the way, irritated Natsume until he couldn't stand it anymore.

The rough screech of a chair was heard all throughout the cafeteria. Natsume was standing in front of the two with his face hidden under his bangs.

"Something wrong Natsume?" Mikan asked the raven-haired boy.

"What do you care, Polka-dot idiot?" He shot at her. His crimson eyes glinted for a split second. He then made his way through of the cafeteria and out the door.

Ruka couldn't believe his eyes. What was that he saw in Natsume's eyes?

Anger? Frustration? A glint of… Jealousy?

"What's with him? A mood-swing of some sort?" Mikan asked Ruka.

"I don't know…" Ruka's voice trailed off.

They were headed back to class when Koko suddenly pulled Mikan and the others out of way.

"What's your problem now Koko?" Hotaru ever so coldly asked. She was pissed when she's being brought into unexpected things.

"I don't think we should go back yet. See those guys?" He pointed to the high school boys that stood in front of their classroom door. "They're waiting for you." He shifted his finger to Mikan.

"Me? How'd you know?" Mikan was puzzled.

"Duh…? My Alice?" Koko said.

"Oh… I forgot." Mikan scratched her head.

"Air head." Hotaru muttered.

Then, an idea came to her mind.

This could make a fortune.

Hotaru took out her camera and took pictures of Mikan.

"What're you doing Hotaru?" Yuu asked.

"Making some money and helping this baka." She emotionlessly said. She then stood up and made her way to class, passing the high school students.

"Pictures of Mikan Sakura, five rabbits each." She announced. The high school students began chasing Hotaru and left the door, free of obstacles.

"Hotaru, you're so great!" Mikan said to herself.

"Well if you ask me, that friend of yours would no doubt sell you for a million rabbits." Koko shrugged his shoulders.

They made their way to class. To their surprise, Mikan's fan club left a few gifts.

"You sure got a lot of admirers." Koko said as he eyed the gifts on Mikan's table.

"Sometimes I don't really understand them." Mikan said. "But that's very nice of them. I wonder what they want in return? Maybe help with their homework? But I'm not that good in academics. Maybe ask me out for the Winter Festival? But that's two weeks from now. Maybe help with their love life? What do you think guys?"

Her friends looked at each other with one thing in mind.

She's not only dense. She's downright stupid.