Hi guys, since most of you asked for a longer chapter I decided to go with it. So here it is. Do enjoy.
Plus I unfortunately don't own Gakuen Alice.
Chapter six
During the ride home there was a comfortable silence between me and Hotaru. The only sounds that could be heard were the car's engine and the sound that came from the steering wheel when a drastic turn was made. Old Hegbert, my personal driver had actually gotten older. I stared at his wrinkled hands that rested on the steering wheel. He's the one who drove me off to almost everywhere ever since I could remember. I didn't even notice until now that he's this old.
"Hey idiot, stop staring like that. It's irritating" I heard Hotaru say. She was still doing something with her phone and a frown was evident on her face.
"Why are you frowning?" I asked only to hear her say, "I'm not."
Making her admit something is not easy and since I've already lost a lot of energy after today's events so I let it pass. Then I remembered the bouquets that were lying on my lap. The white Lilies…who would give someone like me a flower bundle after everything that happened today. An enemy of Hyuuga? Yes that's it. It's surely from someone who really hates Hyuuga yet who was unable to do anything against him. Wow I'm good at guessing. Looks like I've become a genius too. Guess having one beside you has its advantages.
We got off after Hegbert opened the door for us. I smiled and thanked him before making my way up to the front porch. I was abruptly stopped when someone grabbed my arm. Why am I not surprised. I knew this would happen sooner or later.
"What's up Hotaru?" I asked my best friend as if nothing happened.
"Mikan" she warned me as I sighed.
"Okay I know. So does mom know about me playing football today and all the fainting stuff?" I asked, knowing very well that the answer was a yes.
"No—not yet" she replied stoically. Phew… she got me worried for nothing. I already can picture the entire ruckus that was meant to come if my mom did know that is.
"But - " she started again. God I hate that word. It only means that a bad thing will reach your ear after it.
"- that doesn't mean you're off the hook young lady" she continued.
"Gosh, now you sound like my mother." I said while rolling my eyes and opening the front door.
"There you are. You girls got me worried, not coming home even when it's already an hour after school" Came the energetic voice of my mom, Yuka Sakura.
"Welcome home you two. Hotaru dear, it's a good thing that you'd be spending a couple of nights here with Mi-chan. She was whining about how much she missed you." My mother was greeting Hotaru while I was looking for a vase to put the flowers in. She didn't seem to notice the baggy jeans and the loose T, I was wearing. Thank god. Better slip from here before she does.
"Mikan what are you-" looks like I'm too late. I turned around to face her only managing to come up with some lame excuse like 'it was too sunny for a dress'- kind of thing.
"Oh my – what lovely flowers you have there" she said while reaching for the bouquets in my hand. Looks like the flowers managed to saved me from a sudden death.
"Where are they from or should I ask who they're from?" She said while giving me this cheesy smile.
"Gosh mom, they're just from a couple of friends" I said as if it was the most obvious thing.
But Hotaru just had to add; "And a secret admirer"
Danm.
:-:
The whole evening while we sat at the living room drinking tea, my mom was going on and on about how I managed to gain both friends and a secret admirer on my first day of school. I dodn't want to add the amount of enemies- as in almost the whole female population in school- I gained today and ruin her moment of happiness. And I couldn't do anything about this secret admirer thing because to tell her my conclusion about the one who gave the flowers required another lot of stuff. Which means I'd have to tell her that I hit a conceited jerk with a football. That won't be happening because if I did, I'd even have to go to his house to apologize and get grounded for the whole semester for playing football in the first place.
Bed time; was like girl time I have with Hotaru. It was just the two of us in my room. Even though she insisted that she didn't want to sleep with a drooling idiot like me, she ended up sleeping next to me on my bed anyway.
"So?" I started. I hated the silence around us which was pretty weird.
"So what?" she asked back.
"SO say something" It's harder to keep up a conversation with Hotaru sometimes.
"Something" she replied.
"No I meant that you should SAY something"
"I just did" Even in the dark I could tell that she was purposely doing this to annoy me.
"Ru-chan!" I yelled. It was the nick name or more like the shorten form of 'Hota-Ru'. Believe me, she's not found of it at all and I still don't know why.
"DON'T call me with that" I shivered at the sound of her voice and giggled thinking that I managed to get back at her and annoy her.
"Okay, okay – peace" I said in between my giggles.
"You're the same as always, with your sudden mood swings and all those other stuff" I heard her mumble.
"You too." I smiled. Nothing had really changed between the two of us.
:-:
"Hey WAKE UP- IDIOT" I heard someone yell. And I fell into a pool? Is that even possible. I coughed abruptly and unwillingly opened my eyes. I could see a figure with messy raven hair and scary athemist eyes glaring at me while she held a bucket? It took me a good one minute and more than two yawns before I identified this person as my best friend.
"Get up now or I'll throw another water bucket on you" she warned. That did the trick. "I'm awake- yes awake" I said while sitting on my bed yawning. I looked at Hotaru properly this time to find her in a blue mini skirt, a black blazer and a white shirt underneath. Hmm that get up seems familiar. Where did she wear this before? I kept on thinking.
"This is our school uniform BAKA. So unless you get dressed fast I'm gonna leave you here"
So that's why it looked familiar. Even though our school as an official uniform, we're also free to wear whatever suit we like as long as it's not inappropriate. Pftt. I'm not sure what these people consider as inappropriate because I already got to see a lot of get-ups that were supposed to be classified under that topic on my first day itself.
"You only have another 10 minutes to do whatever you like and to make yourself presentable because I'd be leaving with or without you" I heard Hotaru's voice from downstairs. "Aye aye captain" I yelled back at her and changed in to my clothes as fast as I could.
:-:
This time I quickly agreed to ride our Benz car without a fuss because I already learnt my lesson. Walking to school is danm hard. I still wore my usual get up, baggy jeans and a loose neck- oversized T, with a cap. You must be wondering whether we're allowed to wear caps in class. I am. That's thanks to my uncle. Since I'm his only niece and all, I didn't need to convince him that much to get him to agree to all my conditions. It's not like I'm taking advantages or anything, this is just a mere harmless thing.
The walk from the school gate to my class seemed like I was in some fashion runway. Everyone as in every single person we passed by stopped to look at us. Let's just say that I didn't hear them mumble stuff pointing at me. Bravo- I'm famous. I should feel happy, but the only thing I can feel now is my stomach doing flip flops. I felt sick. I don't actually mind all these, but how am I going to face Hyuuga? Should I apologize first or thank him first for carrying me all the way to the infirmary which was by the way, in the opposite end from where the gym was? Or should I just ignore him for the rest of the day and act as if nothing happened?
We walked into the class that said 2-B. The noisy class turned silent even without Narumi-sensei. Hotaru didn't seem to mind all this attention we were receiving. She had her stoic scary mask on. You know that look which said- 'mess with me and your dead.' I silently walked to the back of the class. My seat was beside a window. How come I didn't notice it yesterday? Was I that distracted by him. Where is he anyway? The seat beside me was empty and I was relieved. Five minutes more and then the class will start.
I was resting my head on both my palms and stared at my wooden desk. That's when I heard someone say "Hey you". When I lifted my head a little, I could see a figure standing in front of me with her hands on her hips. Oh dear, so here it is. Torture time.
"Yes?" I looked at her innocently as if nothing happened. It was Permy. A scowl graced her face as she looked down at me from above.
"How dare you hit our Natsume-sama like that?" she yelled. By now I could sense that the whole class was looking our way. I even saw Hotaru clenching her fists. I gave Hotaru a reassuring glance before I looked at Permy again.
"Were you even listening SAKURA?" she spat out.
"Sorry?" I smiled apologetically.
"I said that NO ONE I REPEAT NO ONE CAN LAY A FINGER ON OUR NATSUME-SAMA as long as I, Sumire Shouda the President of the Natsume-Ruka fan club am here" she practically yelled in my ear. Urgh so annoying.
"Look Permy, I'm not deaf you know. Plus I didn't even lay a finger on him in the first place. I laid a ball on his face" I emphasized the last sentence. I heard some muffled laughs from the background and even Hotaru's lips curled up from the corners. Looks like Permy heard too because she glared hard and the class was dead silent again.
Her eyebrows twitched as she registered the fact that I called her Permy. "I's not Permy! It's Sumirie Shouda!" she yelled again. Seriously?! What part of 'I'm not deaf' doesn't she understand?
"Okay, whatever PERMY- I emphasized- If you don't mind could you head back to your seat?" It was suffocating. I had to ask for some space to breath. She frowned even more, if that's even possible after she heard me call her Permy again. Come to think of it. It's just like Hotaru once said; 'Annoying your enemy is bliss'.
"MY my children! You're all having a conference without your beloved homeroom teacher". Came Narumi-sensei's voice from the door as he entered the class. Phew…. that was close. Soon after his arrival, the lessons began. I couldn't be happier to see the seat next to me empty, but I felt a little guilty as well. I mean what if he's absent because the ball hit him hard in the head that it caused internal bleeding? Or what if he had died because of the impact.
I kept thinking the same stuff from morning as all of us headed to the Activity Classes.
"What's an activity class?" I asked out loud. I saw Hotaru shake her head before answering, "Idiot. Were you even listening?"
"Um… Well… I only heard the part where sensei said that it was our next subject."
"Geez Mikan, it's like clubs. I'm heading off to the Technical Club why don't chose a club and run along" she said and left me standing there alone in front of the notice board. In the middle of this activity/club list there was this 'Special Ability' club that caught my attention. The directions to the club room was scribbled on the side of its name so I started to head off that way.
:-:
Urgh! I can't believe that I actually passed the same tree more than twice. It was a huge Sakura tree that looked so out of place. By the look of it, it must be more than fifty years old. It had to be a sunny day today and this school had to be humongous and I had to keep getting lost in it. I've been through worse situations, but this was too much. I was so tiered so I finally decided to give in and sit under the Sakura tree. It was so peaceful that I felt like I could stay there the whole time without even bothering to look for this unknown club room. Why do they have a club room in the middle of a forest? Wait, why is there a forest here in the first place? Dunno. I sighed. When I was about to remove my cap since I was sweating so badly, I heard someone's voice.
"Oi little girl, what are you doing here?" I heard. I looked around only to see more random trees and no humans.
"Tch, idiot. Up here". I heard and twitched because of the insult. The voice sounded familiar, but I couldn't pinpoint where I heard it before.
There high up in the tree lay a figure with a messy raven hair with his head resting on top of his arm. Who the hell was this?
"Ummm am I supposed to know you?" I asked. My voice sounded a bit hostile. Can't help it, maybe he's a kidnapper or someone like that. What if he's a rapist? I started to sweat more as I abruptly got up, readying myself to run off. I didn't have enough time to even think as I heard a loud thump and I met a pair of crimson pools.
"Hyuuga?" I almost yelled. I felt relieved that it wasn't any one of the people I thought it was.
"You should know your partner better than that, little girl" he emphasized the word partner and I did my best not to twitch under his penetrating gaze.
"I AM NOT A LITTLE GIRL" I hissed sharply. He shrugged.
"So aren't you gonna thank me and apologize?" I heard him ask. "For what?-" I asked with the flow and I suddenly remembered the events from yesterday. I flushed from embarrassment as I realized my petty mistake. I saw him smirk. That jerk.
I sighed before saying; "Thank you and I'm sorry" Now that's done. I might as well get the hell out of here.
"Oi, where do you think you're going. We're not done here yet." he said as he got a hold of my wrist.
Ouch. Now it'll hurt for at least two days just like before. And it hit me. If somebody accidentally saw us like this and got the wrong impression, there's no way I'd escape from the fan girls alive. I even have their fan club president on my tail.
"Activity class" I replied while freeing my hand successfully. Obviously it's club time. Oh wait, he cut classes in the morning so how would he know. I can't believe that I felt guilty and sorry for a jerk like him.
"Plus I think we're done here. I already apologized. Now if you'll excuse-"
He cut me off saying; "I didn't accept your apology and thank you yet"
"Oh great!" I said with sarcasm and rolled my eyes.
I have a bad feeling about what's coming next.
Danm.
Hi again. Hope it wasn't too long. I wasn't sure how lengthy it should be so looks like I got carried away a little.
Thank you all for the reviews, PMs, adding this to your favorites, becoming followers and for reading.
freespirited309- Thank you for your support. It means a lot:) You'll have to wait a little more to find out.
Nikinora96- You seem to be pretty good at guessing, but you'll have to wait a little more to find out;)
Lexi1989- You're welcome :)
Anilissa, Chewybillabong, Loulou, jdcocoagirl, .roses , loveisfun, Feu and guest- Glad you all like it. Thank you for your support.
Sorry for not personally thanking you guys. I find this way much easier and convenient so hope you guys don't mind.
Until we meet again, bye.
Sue-chan.
