Mikan
My life was miserable. I was the school's freak and the target of the bullies. My uniform was always stained with either spaghetti sauce or orange juice. My locker seemed the reincarnation of a junk shop. Doodles and unpleasant words were all over my desk. They even put gums or glue on my chair. But that was before. Everything changed now – ever since Luna approached me on sixth grade.
Luna Koizumi was a natural. She has the looks, wealth, and the body of a model. She was jolly and wild – literally. Everybody liked her. So it was a big surprise when she talked to me.
I was invited to a night party at Erin Sakimoto's house. I initially didn't want to come but my mother forced me to. She said that I should loosen up a little. (She didn't know that I was being bullied and didn't have friends. I never intended to confess because I knew that she would only be sad. I didn't want her to worry.) And so, I begrudgingly went to the party even though I knew that they only invited me for them to have someone to make fun of.
The moment I entered the humongous house, foods and drinks were immediately thrown at me. It was like they have been preparing for my arrival. Laughter filled the building. I bit my lip and willed myself not to cry. That's when Luna came into the scene.
"No one told me there's a food fight!" she complained as she crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"We were just giving Sakura a warm welcome." A girl smirked and offered Luna a plate of moist chocolate cake, expecting her to throw it at me also. Luna eyed it for a second before taking it from the girl. "It isn't fun if there's only one target." Everybody gasped as she literally smashed the cake at the girl's face. The poor girl was so shocked she wasn't even able to be angry at the time. Luna grabbed two plates of pasta and threw them at the others. I heard someone screamed FOOD FIGHT! I just watched as they wasted food and the place turned into total chaos. I was about to leave when someone grabbed my wrist. It was Luna and she was holding a bucket of water with ice.
"And where do you think you're going?"
"Uh, to the toilet?"
"There's no toilet outside."
"I'm going home."
"What? This early? You'll miss the fun."
"This isn't exactly fun to me."
"Oh, yeah? Then I'll make your night fun." In a matter of seconds, I was soaked in water. My shirt was sticking to my skin. I shivered a little. Luna has just thrown the bucket of cold water at me. I snapped. It was the first time in years that I exploded, maybe because I couldn't take the hectoring anymore. I didn't even care about the consequences. I grabbed a glass of strawberry juice that I found on a nearby table and threw it at her clothes. It reached until her shorts – it made it look like she had a leak, only it was on the front. Despite my fury, I actually find it funny. I covered my mouth with my hand trying hard not to laugh.
"I didn't know that you're a pervert Sakura. Well then, let's make it even." She splashed lemon juice on my pants which made it looked like I peed. It was her turn now to laugh. I glared at her and grabbed any glass of drink I could find and threw them at her while she did the same. We were completely drenched by the time there were no drinks anymore that we could throw at each other. Luna snorted and I followed. I've never felt so happy in my entire pitiable life. The torments were like long distant memories in the past. It was the first time that I had a real friend.
A body of a student was found hanging in one of the classrooms of Alice Academy yesterday at 12:16 in the afternoon. After investigating the crime scene, the police announced it to be suicide.
"That's the third time now this year. You sure you're fine?"
I sighed. I didn't really want to talk about it. "Don't be such a worrywart mom."
"I'm just making sure." She displayed her sweet smile and proceeded eating her breakfast while watching the news. "There sure are a lot of suicides on your school lately."
"The teachers kept on torturing us with assignments so I probably know the reason why."
"Good morning Mrs. Sakura!"
"Oh, I forgot to mention that there's a devil walking freely at our school too."
"A hot devil at that." Luna smirked as she entered the kitchen. She grabbed a French toast and ravaged it in her mouth.
"Good morning Luna." My mom greeted back.
"Don't you know how to knock? How'd we know if you're a thief or a–"
"A what? A rapist? I swear, raping you is the last thing I wanted to do." Mom giggled while I rolled my eyes. "Come on. Nonoko might hang us if we're ever late. You know she's never a fan of tardiness." I grabbed her wrist as we both waved goodbye to my mother and went outside, across the lawn and into Luna's red Ford Fusion. I went straight to the passenger seat.
"Fluff puffs?"
"In the back." She started the engine and then drove off.
I drink the cup of coffee Luna bought for us while she put a cigarette in between her lips then lit it with a lighter. I coughed as she puffed out the smoke from her mouth. She rolled down the window and put her hand out which was holding the cigarette.
"Have you ever considered that having black lungs isn't exactly appealing?"
"Oh, please. It's not like they're going to open my chest and see if they're black. Come on, give me a break. It's only a year before I become an adult."
"Yeah, you've said the same thing when you were fifteen."
"You know what? You are such a killjoy." She teased and offered her lit cigarette. "Try it. It's not that bad."
"I value the purity of my lungs, thank you."
Luna laughed and put the stick on her mouth. Luna's a certified bad ass. She had drunk alcohol when she was fourteen and started smoking when she was fifteen. Thankfully, she's not into drugs. She lost her virginity last year at a party. She didn't even know the guy. They were totally drunk to even know what they were doing. It's a good thing that she brought protection. It's even a miracle that it was put into use.
We pulled up to Sumire's house and before Luna could even honk, the front door swung open and Sumire started walking down the walkway, balancing with her three-inch black knee-high boots. She and Luna always like to alter our school's uniform because they deemed them unfashionable and crappy. This is one of the reasons why they were always being scolded by the teachers. One time, Luna went to school wearing a sleeveless white crop top and a mini-miniskirt without the school's jacket while Sumire was wearing the jacket with a small white tube underneath showing her belly button. The skirt that she was wearing was just below her butt. They were extremely reprimanded that day and were put into detention. Ever since then, Nonoko and I always make fun of them because of it.
"What's up?" Sumire said as she slides into the car.
"Nothing much. Just Luna and her black lungs." I said as I passed her a cup of coffee. We all take it the same way: large hazelnut, lots of sugar, extra cream.
"Cut her some slack."
"That's what I said."
I rolled my eyes. There they are again; ganging up on me.
"So, who's your victim now?" Sumire asked Luna as she drinks her coffee.
"Hmm, haven't thought of that yet. How about Nogi?"
I immediately gave her a look and she put her hands up for a second then placed them back on the wheel. "Just kidding. Wouldn't want your boyfriend to be mad at me for hitting on his best friend."
Natsume Hyuuga, the guy every girl would've dreamed of, was my first and current boyfriend. We've been dating for a year now. Here's a secret: Natsume's a stalker of mine. Sumire discovered it when we were in eighth grade. Natsume didn't notice that he dropped his phone and coincidentally, Sumire was the one who picked it up. She found a lot of pictures of me on his gallery – different pictures with different angles and in different places. She didn't return the phone right away though. Instead, she let us see it first. We laughed so hard until we were out of breath. Who would have known that the Natsume Hyuuga – the cool transfer student with exceptional grades and excellent looks and body was actually infatuated with me?
"I really don't know how you were able to put up with a single guy for so long." Luna muttered.
"It's called love." Sumire drawled and snickered.
Luna never had a real relationship. Her motto in life was: Cut the stupid strings and just let out the beast. Sumire, on the other hand, had four boyfriends including her current one: Kokoro Yome. Their affair was the exact replica of a cat and dog's. They have been on and off for the past six months. I'm fascinated how they're still together by now.
"That love should be put into action." Luna said as she rocked against her seat.
"Gross." I pulled a disgusted face as the two girls cracked up.
"You'll forever be a virgin if you always think that having sex is disgusting." Sumire said. "It's actually good."
"Can we just focus on not getting late and be fried alive by Nonoko?" The girls snorted again and I allowed myself a small smile.
You might think that my friends are whores. Well, technically they might be but to be honest, they're just insane troublemakers who love to break the rules just for the sake of having fun. That's one of the reasons why I loved them so much. They don't stress about little things like being caught by their parents sneaking into their houses late at night, smoking inside the school, drinking alcohol and wearing a-little-not-too-appropriate clothes. They just live their lives the way they wanted it to be. For me, they're the boldest people I've ever known and I admire their audacity.
We pulled into the parking lot exactly fifteen minutes before the first bell rings. I could already see Nonoko leaning impatiently on her dark blue Tesla Model S (though she owns the car, she was still being taken to school with their family's private driver. She refuses to take driving lessons even though they can afford one. She insists that having a driver is more lady-like than having to drive the car herself.)
Luna parked her car on the allotted space beside Nonoko's which she obviously reserved for us.
"Coffee?" Sumire offered as soon as we got out.
"You're late." Nonoko glared but took the coffee anyway.
"Don't worry sweetie. We still have fifteen minutes to flaunt our pretty faces." Sumire smirked as Nonoko rolled her eyes. The four of us headed together towards our room, already dreading the long hours we have to spend sitting and listening to our boring teachers.
Upon entering the classroom, we were immediately greeted by our classmates. This was the usual morning routine – they greet us, just to feel like we were close while we nod curtly, just so that we wouldn't appear like snobs. I was about to go to my seat when a hand slides into mine. I wasn't surprised though. I was already expecting that he would show up.
I could hear squeals from some girls in our room but I decided to shrug it off. It was always like this anyway.
"Stalker alert." Nonoko muttered and my crazy friends chuckled.
"Hey, what brought you here?" I asked Natsume, though I already knew the reason.
"I missed you." He whispered as he put his arms around my waist and bites my right ear playfully.
"Ew, too much public display of affection." Nonoko said as she pulled an I-can't-believe-I'm-witnessing-this kind of face.
"Pipe down, virgin. It's her time to shine." Luna interrupted as Nonoko scowled at her. "Wanna bet if they'll do it right here and now?" She turned to Sumire and they both snickered. They always do this whenever Natsume and I are busy with passionate stuffs.
"Mr. Anju will miss you too if you don't attend his class right now." I teased him and he smirked. He pulled away and sighed. "Fine. See you at lunch." I smiled as he walked off to his own classroom.
"Will you stop that? It makes my eyes bleed."
"Don't worry, Nonoko. I'll find you a hot guy, I promise."
"That's not what I wanted, Sumire." We all cracked up. Nonoko was the personification of a fine lady. She comes from a very wealthy family. She's smart, pretty and talented, though Luna totally beat her in the physical department. She has high standards for a guy (Sumire once said that she will die a virgin because of her impossible expectations) – the reason why she's still a NBSB. At first, I find it weird that such a classy person like her could hang out with wild devils like Luna and Sumire. But then again, I have never imagined that a nerd like me would be friends with them either. Of course, that's all in the past. Now, I'm one of those popular people who are being admired and looked up to. It's really funny how fate works.
Misaki entered and we all sat at our usual seats. I noticed the new transfer student slash my new seatmate staring at me but I ignored her and focused on what our homeroom teacher was saying.
"I have good news for you guys!" our teacher exclaimed excitedly.
"What? You got Mr. Anju pregnant?" Luna said and the whole class laughed.
"You really sure wanted to be put in detention often Ms. Koizumi."
"You really sure wanted my company often Mr. Misaki." Luna said seductively. I could see Misaki's ears turned red and I stifled a laugh.
Misaki cleared his throat and then continued. "Anyway, the Alice Festival will be starting next week and you have four days to prepare. Here's the catch, there will be special privileges and money as prizes."
The class hooted in excitement. Alice Festival was one of the events most students are waiting for in our academy. It is the one event where we compete as a class by setting different kinds of booths. It is also the event where outsiders are allowed into our premises (Luna said that it is also our chance to see and hopefully date other hot guys. Typical Luna).
"It's customary that the class representative will lead the class but I think a little change will not hurt." Misaki said. "So, who wants to-" He wasn't able to finish because a hand was already raised high up in the air. We were all staring at the weird girl beside me. "Ms. Imai, you want to volunteer?" Imai nodded. "Didn't expect that." This time, Sumire nodded.
"Any others?" Misaki asked the class. "No? Okay, Ms. Imai please come here in front and you can start your discussion about the festival."
Imai stood up and walked towards the teacher's desk in front of the room. "You can choose someone in the class to help you. I'm sure you're not that accustomed to festivals here in Japan." Misaki offered as the girl nodded. She then pointed an index finger directly at me as I raised a brow.
"I want her."
ANOTHER SHORT COMMENTARY FROM THE AUTHOR:
I decided to take things slowly. I wanted you guys to know the characters before anything major happens. So yeah, next chapter will reveal why this story was entitled Mirrors. Wait for the update next week ;) Oh, and don't forget to drop a review okay? TIA! Love ya'll :*