Disclaimer:- I don't own Alice Academy.


Chapter five

The warm aroma of chocolates was making my mouth water. I wasn't sure from where it came from yet I wanted it so badly. I tried to move, but everything felt so numb. It was dark. Obviously, because my eyes were closed. I somehow managed to lift my heavy eyelids and when I did everything was a blur for a while. The white ceiling, soft white covers I lay on and the strong smell of surgical spirit were the other things that caught my attention after I was able to adjust my eyes to the brightness around me. Am I in the hospital?

"Infirmary" I heard a familiar voice. Hotaru?

"How are you feeling?" I heard her ask again.

"Like a ship wreck" my throat was dry yet I managed to squeeze a few words out.

"Better to feel something than nothing" I heard her say.

Hotaru helped me to sit up and then she handed me a mug. "Hot chocolate" was all she said. I silently nodded while taking it. Every time I fall sick, hot chocolates did the trick to make me feel better. My head started to spin as I tried to remember how I ended up here in the first place.

"You were heavily panting and sweating so much that you fainted even before half time. That's why I asked you to think well before playing soccer again." Even though her voice sounded angry her face was etched with worry.

"I'm fine Hotaru. It's no big deal. Plus I'm stronger than you think."

"Yeah right." She said with sarcasm.

So I fainted. Hmm….. nothing new. Just that I fainted….And then it suddenly hit me. All the memories from before started to flow back to me. The worst decision I ever took was to back pass the ball to Luna. Urgh…. I can't believe it hit Hyuuga of all people. Now one thing's clear. Someone up there sure hates me and I'm as good as dead. Within the couple of hours I spent at school I learnt that Natsume Hyuuga isn't someone you should mess with. And on my first day itself I've hit him with a ball. Oh great.

All I remember from PE is that after my glorious act of braveness (the back pass to Luna), I turned around only to meet a cold deathly glared pair of crimson eyes and then everything went black.

"OMG don't tell me that you actually carried me here all by yourself" I turned to look at Hotaru.

A mysterious smirk graced her face when she said, "I didn't".

Thank god, if she did then I'd have to make it up for her till the end of this semester. Yet I felt awfully uneasy because of the look on her face. I gulped an imaginary saliva ball before asking, "Then who did?"

"Hyuuga did" I looked at her face for a while to find something that said this was a joke. I found nothing.

"What the hell !" I yelled, almost dropping the mug I was holding . How in the world did that happen?

"Do you want me to explain?" she said this time with a trace of humor in her voice. 'THIS IS NOT FUNNY' I screamed in my head. My throat suddenly went dry again and my eyes were as big as saucers when I nodded.

"Where should I start?" Hotaru pretended to think for a while as I rolled my eyes. Why do I feel like she's enjoying this?

"Oh yes, your aiming was splendid and I would have personally rewarded you if it actually did hit Luna. Unfortunately the ball went above her stupid head as she stood there like a statue and well as you may already remember, it hit Hyuuga on the side of his face." I'm sure that by now my mouth must be hanging open.

"Hyuuga, being the soccer captain should be able to dodge it as he might have seen the ball coming from the corner of his eyes, but he didn't. Either he was asking for it or didn't expect it to sting so bad. Anyhow he fell down with Yome." She continued. "I'd give you ten out of ten for that kick of yours if it actually landed square on his face".

"HOTARU!"

"Just kidding" she said with a smirk.

"Not funny. You know you have a bad sense of humor right?"

"Yup, but it made you feel better" she said as if she knew already. I sighed loudly.

"So as I was saying- while you took your time to brace yourself and turn, Hyuuga already stood up and made his way up to you. I actually thought that you might faint even before turning around, so I had to rush to you too. Hyuuga made it there right on time and served as your cushion or to put it correctly- he caught you before you hit the ground." There was a little silence before Hotaru added "The end".

I looked at Hotaru's face like she had grown two heads. I pinched my arm and it hurt. So this is not a nightmare after all. I dropped my head back on to the pillow. Life sucks.

As I turned my head to the side, I noticed three flower bouquets. "The Roses and Tulips are from Anna and Nonoko" Hotaru said while giving me a little card that said 'get well soon' signed by them. It made me smile. When someone cares for you even though you've just met each other today, can make someone like me smile even in a critical situation.

Then I looked at the other bouquet which was White Lilies. My favorites.

"These – Hotaru said while picking it up- arrived here only after I left for the restroom a few minutes ago."

"Who do you think they're from?" I asked her with a curios look only to see her smirk AGAIN.


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Sue-chan.