Chapter 2 -- Arrival

Why me?? Why can't he go and pick on one of his stupid fan girls? This was my first thought as I picked up the empty chips packet that had come flying at my face.

"Hey little girl, go put that in the trash can."

"No. Why should I? You go." I said, throwing the packet back at the sender. Who was the sender, you ask? Well, it was none other than the arrogant toe rag, Natsume Hyuuga. He was still sitting across from me, and even though it's only been about 25 minutes since the train started moving, he's already annoyed the hell out of me. The idiotic bighead has already thrown chocolate wrappers, chips packets, and anything he could get his hands on at me.

"Hn," he grunted and just threw it back at me. I just rolled my eyes and dropped the packet in a plastic bag that was filled with all the trash that Natsume had chucked at me.

I turned my back on him, trying to catch a glimpse of the landscape that was passing by. The scenery had slowly been changing from towering skyscrapers and the glint of metal and glass to the light scattering of trees and pleasant looking communities of brick houses.

"I think the train is slowing down."

"Well, we're probably stopping in another station on the other side of the city," replied Ruka. Even though he was Natsume's friend, Ruka was pretty nice, at least for the time that I've known him (which was about half an hour).

Sure enough, I could see another station looming up, even though it was smaller than the one we had got on. There were a few families lined up, waiting for the train to stop, some exchanging their goodbyes, while others were picking up their bags.

"Koko and Yuu get on here, right?" asked Ruka. "Hn," replied Natsume, looking out of the window, as if he were searching for somebody. I looked at them both, wondering if I should talk or not, but finally curiosity won over. "Who're Koko and Yuu?" I asked, instantly regretting it when I saw Natsume's and Ruka's glares, as though somebody (or something) like me shouldn't even talk to them. (Well, Ruka didn't look like that; he just seemed surprised that I didn't know who they were). "You'll see," was all Ruka said. And I did.

The door of the compartment opened, and I looked up, expecting to see a crazed fan girl trying to get Natsume or Ruka to ask her out, (It already happened two times in the last half hour. Once, Ruka kindly asked her to leave, while the other time, Natsume had simply said, "No. you're ugly.") but instead saw two guys standing there.

The first one had blond hair and glasses, and his clothes were neat and tucked in. If it weren't for the fact that he kind of looked good, (coming from me, that saying something) then I could tell that he would be labeled with the title of 'Nerd' pretty easily.

The guy behind him was the complete opposite of his companion. His straw colored hair was a complete mess, and his clothes were too. He had a big, goofy grin plastered on his face that made me wonder if he ever frowned. His grin grew wider (if that's even possible) as he saw me.

"So Natsume, you finally got yourself a girlfriend!?" asked the guy with the weird smile. Natsume just looked at him, his face expressionless, but his eyes burning holes through the poor guy.

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Oh, is she Ruka's?" I looked up and saw that Ruka's face was bright red, probably even redder than mine.

"I'm not Ruka's, or Natsume's girlfriend," I cut in, before Ruka managed to say something. "I'm just sitting here. Would you mind telling me who you are??"

"If she's not anyone's, could I try my luck??" he asked, taking a step towards me. I glared back at him, stunned. What the hell was he saying??

Luckily, the other guy, (the one with the neat hair) said, "Koko, stop it. She's uncomfortable, can't you tell? Besides, you don't even know her name." I looked at my savior in gratitude, and he seemed to know what I was thinking, because he just smiled at me, and asked, "May I sit beside you?" I nodded, and muttered, "At least you won't make a move on me like that idiot," and then in a louder voice, "What's your name? The guy chuckled, and said, "That would be Koko, and I'm Yuu." So these were the people that Ruka was talking about. Judging from the fact that they seemed looking forward to them, it was kind of obvious that they were their friends.

I heard a small shout from the seat in front of me, and when I looked, saw Natsume and Ruka tackling Koko, who was trying desperately to break free. The moment I looked at them, they stopped, though I could still hear Ruka mumbling things like, "girlfriend, my foot," and "if he says that again, I'll kill him." I stifled a giggle and looked down at my soccer ball, trying to ignore the (extremely loud) conversation that the guys were having.

But when I heard the word soccer coming from someone's mouth, I just had to look up. "What did you say about soccer??" I asked, addressing no one in particular, since I had no clue who had said it.

"Oh, so you like soccer?" asked Koko.

"Well yeah, I think that just might be the reason why I've been holding a ball all this time….."

"Just because you have a ball in your hand doesn't mean that you like soccer!" Koko whined, trying to defend himself. I just rolled my eyes.

The next thing I knew, I was talking to the guys (well, everyone except Natsume who was just sitting there, listening to us talking) about soccer, and then about various things that they felt that I had to know about the school. Surprisingly, Ruka, Yuu, and Koko weren't as bad as they I thought they were. (At least they could have a decent conversation with a girl, unlike many other guys I had known)

Pretty soon, I realized that the train was slowing down again, this time in another town. I looked out he window, trying to see where we were. "The train's stopped again. I wonder if this is the last stop?" I asked, impatient to get to my new school.

"Hello, did anyone hear me?" I asked, wondering why the guys were all suddenly silent. I looked, up and was surprised by what I saw.

All the guys were looking at the door of the compartment, as though some monster was going to come charging at them any moment. Even Natsume looked a bit guarded. I narrowed my eyes, and looked at Yuu, who was sitting beside me. He looked tensed too. Uh oh. "Yuu, what's going on?" I asked, trying not to sound too interested. Yuu looked at me, with an irritated expression on his face. "You know, Mikan, I really think that you should go, before she comes," he said with a shudder.

"Huh?" was all I managed to get out in my confusion. "I don't get it. You sound as though a monster is going to come in at any moment."

I could've sworn I heard Koko say, "You have no idea…"

"You know what," said Natsume with a malicious glint in his eye. "Maybe she should stay, and meet our other ……friend."

"Like I have a choice," I muttered, and then a little louder so that everyone could hear. "What do you mean, friend?" I asked, doing imaginary quotation marks in the air.

"Oh, you'll see," said Natsume, smirking.

Uh oh. I didn't like where this was going, and I definitely didn't like the way everyone was looking at the door, as though waiting for something. Suddenly, I was aware of small (no, make that very loud) noises from the outside of the compartment. It sounded like a large elephant trying to pass through the narrow corridor. The door handle started rattling, and I couldn't help but hold my breath in anxiety.

When it finally opened, I realized that I was staring into the eyes of girl, about my own age. I almost laughed in relief. This girl was what they seemed all scared about? I looked her up and down. She was wearing a pink tube top, (which was revealing much more than a shirt should) and a white mini skirt that matched her strappy high heels perfectly. There was a pair of white sunglasses in her blonde hair, and her bags were slung across her back. She was probably here to ask Natsume or Ruka out.

"What is she doing here?" asked the girl in an unbearably high pitched and whiny voice.

"This is my seat." I replied calmly. (Well, actually, I tried to be calm. But if I had to hear that stupid voice of hers one more time, then I really think I'll try to murder her.)

"Oh yeah? Well, listen here, missy. That's my seat, so you better move your ass somewhere else."

I just raised my eyebrows at her (counting to ten in my head) and said, "Make me."

That seemed to hit the target, because the next thing I knew, she pouted, stomped her feet, and said, (in the most annoying voice ever) "Natsume, darling, look at what this… this," she looked me up and down, "this slut is saying!"

"You've done it now," I growled, balling up my fists. There was no way that anyone got away with saying that to my face. ANYONE.

All I remembered afterwards was the feeling of soft skin under my fist, and then a few pairs of strong arms pulling me back. The girl was howling incomprehensible words (most likely curses) as she ran out of the compartment, slamming the door behind her.

And then there was silence.

I was brought out of my daze by the sudden howl of laughter. I looked around and saw Koko rolling around on the floor, laughing so much that tears were coming out of his eyes. Yuu slapped me on my back, laughing as well. (though not in hysterics like Koko of course.) "Wow. I've been waiting a long time for that to happen," said Ruka.

"What do you mean?? And who the hell was that bitch?"

"Well actually, bitch might be a little of an understatement," replied Ruka, smiling. "Anyways, that was your first encounter with Luna Koizumi."

"Yeah. She's been trying to get one them," said Koko, referring to Ruka and Natsume. (who still looked as uninterested as ever, except for the smirk plastered on his face) "to ask her out for like, ever. Of course, she still doesn't seem to get that it will never happen. By the way, that was one killer punch. I'd like to see how black it's going to be in the tomorrow," he said, acting as though some imaginary hand had punched him, and landed in Yuu's arms (Who just dropped him).

"Luna Koizumi, eh??" I breathed, not really intending for anyone to hear. "I swear if I ever see her again, I'll murder her."

Pretty soon, we were at the Academy. Well actually, we were at the station on the outskirts of the school campus. (I told you Alice Academy was big, didn't I?) There were a few buses that were waiting in the small station, and we were told to divide ourselves into freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. We were supposed to leave our bags with our names on them, and they weer to be delivered to our rooms later.

The freshmen would be getting a full tour of the campus, and I quickly piled into one of the three buses that were waiting for us. I slipped past the long line, and into the bus, trying to claim a window seat.

"Hey little girl, are you stalking us or something?" asked a all too familiar voice.

"Natsume, just do me a favor and shut up, all right? The world will probably be a much better place without your rambling."

I didn't get to hear Natsume's reply, because at that moment the bus moved, and the bus was filled with protests as the fell on their neighbors. With surprising quickness, Natsume, Ruka, Yuu, and Koko had all sat down in the two seats across from me.

The tour began, but I didn't get much more information than what Ana, Nonoko, and the guys had said earlier. In about an hour, we were dropped off at the head office for getting our room numbers and our schedules.

"Mikan Sakura," called the lady at the reception desk.

"Yeah, that's me," I replied, walking towards the desk.

"Here you go, this is your schedule, your student handbook, your map of the campus, and you're in room number 506 with…." she said flipping through a sheaf of papers on the desk. "Ah, here it is! Your roommate is Ms. Hotaru Imai. Here's your key. If you ever loose it, you could come back here to get a spare." She flipped through another sheaf of papers, and said, "You have all your forms filled out, so you're free to go!" I smiled at her, saying, "Thanks."

The overall campus was easy to find my way around. But I was way more worried about how to find my way inside the buildings. There were just so many turns, and corridors, and…well, you get the picture.

I don't know how I did it, but I finally managed to find the way to my room. (I had to use one of the small buses that went all over campus to get from the head office to my dorm.) I wondered if my roommate was nice. I mean, I'm literally going to stay with her in all my four years of high school, and I wouldn't like it if she was some awful bitch like Luna Koizumi.

I opened the door cautiously, and peeked inside. Hotaru Imai was definitely not who I expected.

So, how was it? Ok, i'll make a deal. I get 10 reviews, and i'll post the next chapter. And trust me, its interesting. . . .