"Okay class, remember to review the study guide and to go over any materials that you are unsure of, and to get a good night sleep on Sunday so you can do your best on your finals next week." The teacher said waving her students goodbye just a second before the final bell rang indicating that school was over for the day. The rest of the week went by quicker than Michelle had thought, and before she knew it, it was Friday and finals were coming.
"Urg, finals, someone just shoot me." Michelle groaned as she got out of her seat and followed behind Lenalee out the classroom. Lenalee laughed and walked out the door where Lavi, Allen, and Kanda were waiting for them.
Allen's eyes were filled with concerned when he saw Michelle looking discouraged.
"Finals isn't that bad, Michelle. I'll help you study for this class!" Allen said trying to reassure her. Michelle gave him a small smile.
"Yeah, and I can help with Spanish and the English finals." Lenalee put in.
"You worry too much." Lavi said, giving her back a slap. "You have tomorrow and Sunday to study, and we will all help you pass your classes."
"You will? You have too! If I fail, it's going to be on your conscious." Michelle snapped at him.
"Oh, it looks like someone is hungry." Lavi said, pulling out a rice cracker treat.
Michelle looked at it eyes wide, and attacked him, arms outreached for the rice cracker. But Lavi was quicker and moved out of her arms' range and gave her a smirk.
"If you want it, you're gonna have to work for it." Lavi said waving the rice cracker in her face.
"LAAVVII, IF YOU DON-" Michelle threatened, but it was too late, he took off running away with her rice cracker treat.
"If you want it you're going to have to catch me or I'm going to eat it!" Lavi said sprinting to hide behind Allen.
Michelle growled at him and ran towards the direction Allen was at but then Lavi ran behind Lenalee and Michelle made another attempt at trying to get the rice cracker, but to no avail. This went on for a couple of minutes of Lavi running away from Michelle with the cracker, until Kanda got really annoyed and took the rice cracker from Lavi's hand and handed it over to the breathless Michelle.
"Heyy, that was-" Lavi was cut off as Kanda gave him a hard cold stare, "miiine…." He finished off slowly, cowering behind Allen.
Michelle was hunching over with her hands on her knees, taking deep breath to calm her down when Kanda handed her the rice cracker. Michelle looked up at him, and threw her arms over him.
"Thank you Yu. I love you!" Michelle said sticking her tongue out at Lavi. Kanda gave her a grunt and tried to push her off of him. Michelle let go of her hold on Kanda and ate the rice cracker happily.
"What are we going to do now?" Michelle questioned in between eating her rice cracker.
"We," Kanda started, "are going home so we can study for finals. Or you are going to fail."
Michelle pouted and said, "We can study tomorrow, let's go out today. I promised Lenalee that we would give her a tour around San Jose."
"I think that's a good idea." Allen said. "We can always study all day tomorrow and Sunday."
"Then its settle," Michelle said chirpily, "where would you like to go Lenalee?"
Lenalee looked thoughtful and then said, "Well, I wanted to go get some things for my apartment, and new clothes for the spring."
"OOOH, SHOOPPING!" Michelle squealed happily. "YES, YES, YES! LET'S GO!" Michelle said as her three male friends groaned in unison.
"Come one, let's go! Let's go!" Michelle said jumping up and down and grabbing her materials and running towards the front entrance of the school, forgetting that she was hungry at all. Lenalee laughed and ran after Michelle while the three boys looked at each other, glumly, and followed suit.
Four hours later, they were at the food court with their food in front of them and on the side of the table were at least thirty shopping bags.
"Man, I am tired." Michelle yawned and stretched her arms.
"YOU'RE tired? What about us? We carried your bags the whole trip." Lavi complained loudly throwing his hands up in the air and pointing to the bags next to the table.
"All you did was carry the bags, we had to go find clothes, try them on, and then go find more clothes. My legs are dead." Michelle retorted pointing to herself and then to Lenalee.
"My arms are dead."
"Bite me Lavi." Michelle took the last bite of her cheeseburger. Lavi watched her with his emerald eye and then reached over for a couple fries from her tray and put them into his mouth. Michelle looked at him and snatched his soda and took a big sip.
Lenalee giggled at the view before her and turned her attention to Allen, "Where'd Kanda go to?"
"He left a while ago. He got annoyed so he took off. He's probably mediating at home right now." Allen answered her as he took the last bite of his food.
"What? He left?" Michelle exclaimed, coming back to the conversation at the table and slapped Lavi's hand when she saw his attempt at stealing another one of her French fries.
"Yeah, he left when you were in the dressing room." Allen said laughing at Lavi who was trying to ease the pain from his hand.
"We should get going to. It's getting dark." Allen suggested. They finished whatever was remained on their tray, gathered up the shopping bags, and started waking towards the exit. Suddenly, Michelle stopped and started back for the food court.
"Where are you going, Michelle?" Lenalee asked, noticing that her friend was no longer behind them.
"I want a strawberry nutella crepe." Michelle shouted, and continued walking back towards the food court.
"Are you serious?" Lavi asked, "You just had a cheeseburger, fries, and an ice cream cone."
"OOH, I want one too!" Allen said, running after Michelle.
Lavi sighed and slide down the wall he was leaning on. He looks over at Lenalee, and said, "You should sit down too. Knowing them, they're not just going to get crepe."
Twenty minutes later, they came back with their crepes and a bag with the label "Sweet Factory".
"Midnight snack," Michelle explained shaking the bag in front of Lavi's face. The bag was filled with coconut and buttered jellybeans. Then they walked out the entrance door and into the parking lot to where Michelle had parked her dark blue 2011 Camry. They loaded the shopping bags into the trunk, and Michelle handed her keys to Allen.
"Here, Allen. I'm too tired to drive." Michelle said and got into the passenger seat while Lavi and Lenalee sat in the back seats. Allen took the keys and the drive to the apartment was quiet because everyone was so tired. When they reached the apartment complex, Allen helped Michelle carried her things to her apartment while Lavi helped Lenalee with her bags.
The next morning, all five were gathered in Michelle's apartment, getting ready to go to the library to study.
"Alright, let's go study!" Michelle said with too much excitement for a person who did not like studying, at all.
Kanda gave a scoff rolling his eyes, and said "Yeah right."
"What's that suppose to mean?" Michelle asked putting her hands on her hips.
Kanda gave her a look and said, "What I mean is that your idea of studying is going to Sweet Retreat for ice-cream, and then somewhere else and before you know it, its nighttime, and there's no time left to study." Kanda said throwing up his hands.
And that was how they spent their morning; sitting in Sweet Retreat, eating ice cream.
"Yummm," Michelle said licking her Oreo mint ice cream spoon. Kanda sighed, shaking his head.
"And this is why you're going to fail." Lavi said taking a spoonful of her ice-cream.
"Hey! Go get your own!" Michelle said ignoring his comment, her brown eyes glaring at Lavi.
"And if I don't want too?" Lavi ask, his emerald eyes filled with amusement.
"Hmph," Michelle turned her full body around 180 degrees, taking her Oreo mint ice-cream with her.
"Fine, I'll just share with Lena here." Lavi said turning to face Lenalee.
"Ooooh," Michelle said, turning around, with a big smile, "Lena huh?" Michelle said with a wink, while Lenalee blushed.
"Yes, Lena, you jealous you don't have a shortened name giving by the one and only me?" Lavi asks, giving her one of pearly white smiles.
"HAHA, yeah right." Michelle said smacking his arm.
"Alright, I'm done." Michelle said finishing her last bite of her ice-cream and standing up. The other four followed her lead standing up as well. On their way back to the library, Michelle spotted a Ferris wheel that across the street.
"OH, look a carnival!" Michelle said, pointing excitedly to the Ferris wheel.
"Oh, can we go?" Lenalee asked, just as excited. Lavi saw the excitement in their eyes, and laughed.
"Sure, why not."
"YAY!" Lenalee said, linking her arms with Lavi and they were about to cross the street to the carnival, when they heard someone clearing their throat. Both of them stopped in their tracks and turned around, confused, and looked at the person who had cleared his or her throat.
"Don't even think about it Michelle." Kanda said gradually. "You have to go home and study for finals. We can go after the finals."
"But, what if it's gone after finals?" Michelle pouted, shaking her head back and forth like a little kid about to throw a tantrum.
"I'm sure that it will still be here, even after finals."
"But, what is its not?" Michelle whined stomping her foot.
"Let me go ask, then." Allen suggested, looking at Michelle who was about to cry. He ran across the street, and after waiting a couple of minutes, he came back with a surly face.
"I asked the people and they said that this was the last week they're in town for." Allen said, sadly, looking at Michelle to see her reaction.
Michelle gasped and put her hand to her mouth with tears in her eyes while Lenalee's smile disappeared and was replaced with a frown.
I can't be so self-centered, Michelle thought as she saw Lenalee freeing her arm from Lavi's, and her hands dropping to her side. Because of only her, Lenalee was going to miss out on her chance at the carnival with Lavi. Michelle had a suspecting suspicion that Lenalee liked Lavi but she wasn't sure.
"Why don't you guys go to the carnival?" Michelle asked turning to Lenalee.
Lenalee looked at her, eyes filled with hope. "Are you sure?"
"Of course, I'm the one that needs to study. Not you. Besides it's your first week here, go have fun!" Michelle said. "I have these two to walk me home," She said pointing to Kanda and Allen, when she saw Lavi looking at her with hesitation. "I'll be fine. And Kanda will make sure that I will actually study and not slack off." Michelle said, laughing looking at Kanda who was watching her with careful eyes.
Lenalee looked at her with uncertainty in her eyes, but they were gone after Michelle gave her a nod of encouragement. Then she turned linking her arms with a baffled Lavi, and they walked across the street towards the carnival.
"Have fun you guys!" Michelle shouted to their retreating backs. "Don't come home too late!"
Then she turned to Kanda with puppy eyes.
"What?" Kanda asked, annoyed evident in his voice.
"Piggy back ride?"
Kanda looked at her as if she was crazy and strutted down the street towards the apartments. Michelle pouted and Allen gave her a small laugh before turning with his back facing her, and crouching down enough so she can get on his back.
"Yay,!" she squealed as he carried her all the way to her apartment.
Hmm, I wonder how their carnival date is coming, Michelle thought as she looked at the notes and textbooks in front of her on her brown rectangular coffee table. Allen and Kanda were in the same room watching her, to make sure that she doesn't fall asleep. Michelle had a tendency to do that when she gets overloaded with all the studying. Allen was in the kitchen, stealing her junk food that she had kept hidden in the far back drawer, out of his reach, but every time, he would always find them. Kanda was sitting in her living room, mediating. Michelle dropped her pencil and looked at her white ceiling.
"How do you think their date is going?" Michelle asked suddenly. Allen was in the kitchen but he heard her question and popped his head out of her kitchen, his mouth filled with chips.
"What?"
"Lavi and Lena, of course." Michelle said using the shortened name that Lavi had given to Lenalee, "How do you think their date is going?" she questioned and sighed as she place her chin in her hand as she looked up at the ceiling, her imagination going all over the place.
"Michelle, what are you planning?" Kanda spoke up for the first time since they have entered her apartment.
"What makes you think I'm planning something?" Michelle asked acting all innocent, her eyes growing larger by the second, her lips puckering.
"I know that look, you're planning something." Kanda said, glowering at her. Michelle looked at him with innocent brown eyes, and muttered, "You always think I'm up to something."
"That's because you always are and the situation never ends good." Kanda said before closing his eyes again going back to his mediation.
Michelle stuck her tongue out at him and turned to Allen who was studying her with growing suspicion in his eyes.
"Do you think I'm up to something too?" She asked him. He took another chip placed it in his mouth and nod. Michelle scrunched her nose and heaved a big sigh turning back to the important matter at hand: studying for finals however her mind was not entirely concentrated on studying. Allen was now seated in front of her, eating her chips, and asked her seriously, "What are you up? You're not thinking about… playing matchmaker, are you?" Allen squeaked. Kanda opened his eyes to observe how she would answer Allen's question.
Michelle twirled her black hair with her pointer finger and looked thoughtful, "I don't know, maybe."
"Michelle that would not be good. Just let the relationship flow, if he likes her then he will ask her out." Allen tried arguing.
"Oh, fine," Michelle sighed again and tried to focus on studying for her finals and before she knew it, she fell asleep on her coffee table.
That night, Lavi came to check on her and his roommates and he found Michelle sprawled over the table with her notes and textbooks scattered everywhere. He took in the sight before him and chuckled to himself before lifting her off her floor and carrying her off to her king size bed. He almost tripped over Allen who was peacefully sleeping on the floor near her. He sighed and looked into the corner where Kanda was still sitting crossed leg, asleep. Then he proceeded to carrying Michelle into her pink room where he tucked her into her bed. He stood by her bed, gazing at her sleeping so peacefully, her even breathing assuring him that she was deep within her dreams. His emerald eye lingered on her sleeping face for a minute and he lowered his body, giving her a light peck on her forehead before walking out her bedroom.
"Sweet dreams, Michelle." He whispered, looking back at her sleeping form, before closing her bedroom door.