I'm really happy that some people seemed to like this story. It really motivated me a lot. Thanks for all the reviews :)

Please enjoy.

Their Paid Girl

Chapter 2

"Amu."

"Amu, you idiot, wake up!"

"Let me handle this," Rima walked over and whispered, "Ikuto's here."

I shot up, screeching, "What?" The first thing I noticed was Rima giving Utau a smug look. "See, all it takes is a little incentive and smarts." Utau glared at Rima. I rolled my eyes at Rima's method to get me awake and sighed. My best friend and cousin weren't on very good terms. Okay, strike that. They were on no terms at all.

I rubbed my eyes to get rid of the sleepiness. "Hey, guys. What's up?" I was a tad annoyed at being woken up from my nap. I quickly straightened out my uniform, which had gotten a little crumpled when I was leaning over my desk. Our uniform consisted of a black jacket over a white button up, accompanied by a red plaid skirt and red tie. I had added my own touch to it by pinning a fabric of the same shade of red to the left sleeve of my jacket, adding a belt and matching arm warmers to top it all off.

"School's out, Amu." Rima stated, still giving Utau the evil eye. Even I shuddered a little at her menacing stare, while Utau didn't even blink an eye.

"And I'm not lending you my notes this time," Utau smirked, still ignoring Rima.

"Oh, come on!" I gave my cousin the best puppy eyes I could manage, which was never really effective with either of them.

"No." She rolled her eyes exasperatingly. "Why do you fall asleep in class all the damn time anyway?"

I shot Rima an anxious look. Utau knew nothing about my job, and I preferred to keep it that way. The less people knew, the better and less troublesome. It was something Rima secretly liked to hold over Utau as while as holding the position of my best friend. I scratched my head sheepishly and chuckled a little nervously. "W-well, you have to admit classes are boring, right?"

She shrugged and I heaved a small sigh of relief. It wasn't that I didn't trust Utau, but Rima convinced me it would be better if she didn't know. Somehow I felt it was more of a personal gain for her than anything else.

Suddenly, a boy with spiked black hair approached Utau. He seemed like he was a junior here, while we were all sophomores. "H-hey, Utau-chan, since you have no boyfriend, do you want to go out with me?" He stammered a little, oddly nervous. Any sophomore would be glad to go out with an older guy, but not Utau, and the boy seemed to know that.

She didn't even spare him a second glance. "Oh please, who says I don't have one?" She said snobbily, causing Rima to snort patronizingly. "Get out of my way, shortie, I don't have time to deal with you." She waved him away airily.

"Wow, I'd always thought you were dumb, but even obnoxious?" Rima stated bluntly. "That's a little too much from an airhead like you."

"You don't really have a boyfriend, do you?" I questioned Utau quickly, intending to distract her from Rima's snide comment, but on the other hand, I was also pretty curious.

Utau simply shrugged.

I miss her, a certain blue-haired boy thought, sitting alone on a red couch. Where is she? It's been months since I last saw her. Is she doing aright?

"Ikuto, I'm very satisfied with your performance today," Nikaidou told him, smiling widely and taking the seat opposite him. It reminded the irate boy of a predator ready to pounce on its prey.

Or maybe he already did.

I will find her.

"You did a good song piece, but you could do better." Nikaidou continued, before he noticed that the boy was staring blankly through him, lost in his own thoughts.

"Ikuto!" He snapped, walking over and hitting the boy on the back of his head. The boy started with a shock, before his glazed eyes took in his manager. "Oh, you."

"Do you miss her?" Nikaidou looked straight into his eyes and frowned as he bowed his head. "You should already care less about her, and more about your reputation. She doesn't care about you. Remember that, Ikuto. That is part of the reason I hired that girl for you."

No, it's not. It's just a pat of your sick, sadistic plan to break me, mentally.

It was all the boy could do to nod slowly.

"Listen to me, Ikuto. Your first debute was as a singer, but now you're only an instrumentalist. I don't want that. You shouldn't want that. It is not enough. I want you start singing again. Your practice starts soon." Nikaidou told him firmly. "Do you understand me? You have to work hard for this. It'll make your popularity sky-rocket."

The boy nodded again absently, his actions seemingly almost like a trained robot.

"Good," With that, his manager turned and left the room, the tension still in the air.

"I can't take this anymore," The boy uttered under his breath. "I'm going for a walk before meeting up with Amu." His lips curved a little when he mentioned her name. He quickly pulled a black beanie over his easily recognisable blue hair, and hid his steel blue eyes ringed with indigo under his sunglasses. He was still wearing his trademark cross necklace, with a long sleeved black shirt over his white one, and tight dress pants, but he couldn't stand another minute in that suffocating room of his to bother to change.

He strode quickly out of the room, and slowed into a stroll as he arrived on a reasonably quiet street, if you didn't count the many cars that drove past the sideway he was on. He closed his eyes, and inhaled deeply, as a small smile appeared on his face, making him seem almost serene.

Amu, He thought. He almost seemed like a whole different person around her. It was the only thing he was grateful to Nikaidou for; hiring such an interesting girl. The rest of it... not so much. Now he was asked to be a singer again? His mouth twisted into a small scowl.

"Ah!" He collided heavily with another person, and landed on top of her. Fortunately, he reacted quickly; putting his hands on either side of her face so he would hold his own weight and not injure her. She had a cap pulled down so slow he couldn't see her expression, but she had pink hair just like Amu. Her body seemed extremely tense with shock. Wait, Amu! How long had it been since he went for his walk? He couldn't remember. He scrambled off the girl, brushing himself off hurriedly. He bowed in apology, "I'm so sorry, miss, but I'm in a bit of a hurry, so if you'll excuse me..."

She brushed him off and pulled herself up, straightening her clothes. She had on a tight blue band tee-shirt, and skinny jeans with navy colored high tops. "Wow, that's how you treat a girl?"

The boy who was already striding away in the opposite direction he came from, froze in shock. "What? I said I was sorry." He furrowed his eyebrows. What else did she want him to say?

The girl snorted condescendingly. "I mean, you're supposed to help a girl up if you're the one that caused the fall. Manners, have you ever heard of those?"

"Why are you so querulous?" The boy demanded. "I told you I was in a hurry. I'm truly sorry, but you don't have to make such a fuss."

"Don't ever speak to me like that," The girl hissed through clenched teeth, raising her palm and bringing it across the boy's face.

The resounding noise practically echoed around the street. The force of the slap knocked his sunglasses off his face painfully and onto the road. "Oh, crap." He muttered, hurriedly reaching out for it, but it was rolled over by a vehicle. The snap of the glasses made the girl look up.

"You deserved-" Her eyes widened as he turned around, his annoyed gaze boring into her eyes. "Ikuto?" Her hands flew to her mouth in shock.

"Damn it, if anyone else recognizes me, I'm so screwed." He muttered furiously. His eyes darted quickly around the street, while shielding a part of his face with his hand. He spotted a paparazzi behind one of the nearby stores and grimaced. Sanjo probably sent someone to follow me...

He quickly grabbed the unknown girl's arm to take off and heard a flash. Shit! He was definitely screwed this time. He quickly flagged a taxi and dragged her along with him, ignoring her protests. They got in, and he told the driver to just take off as fast as he could, shoving a wad of bills in his hand.

"Heh, I got you." A blonde man smirked smugly, waving his camera, which was currently developing the picture, at the escaping vehicle.

"Wait, Amu?"

Sorry if it is a little too short for your liking. Please feel free to post a review for any feedback. Thanks for reading.

Update: I have been on holiday the past few days, and I had brought my thumb drive along with me; being the paranoid person that I am. The first night at the hotel, I realized it was gone from my luggage. I really don't know what to say; except I'm really sorry, guys. The thumb drive contained more than 50 000 words of Guns N' Roses, Downright Delinquents, Their Paid Girl, and The Way He's Not, all of which I planned to upload today. As you can guess, I am very, very disheartened about it and re-writing the chapters seem like a chore now. I definitely will update and finish every story, but it will be a long process. I sincerely hope you can all bear with me.

Note: This story will be the first to be updated again.

- J