Disclaimer: Gakuen Alice isn't mine.

In the Margins

Dreaming
I was only dreaming
of another place and time
where my family's from.

Singing
I can hear them singing.
When the rain had washed away
all these scattered dreams.

Dying
everyone's reminded.
Hearts are washed in misery,
drenched in gasoline.

Laughter
there is no more laughter.
Songs of yesterday now live
in the underground...

When the sky is falling down
it burned your dreams into the ground.

-Green Day's 'Before the Lobotomy'

Chapter Five: Paint

Natsume Hyuuga. You're auditioning too? Must you ruin every part of my life?

Mikan sighed, running away was not an option; she needed to face her fears. Namely, Natsume Hyuuga. She hadn't done anything at all to him, so there was absolutely no reason for her to hide from him! The brunette squared her shoulders and marched back into the drama building.

The structure's slightly shabby outsides proved to be no indication to the splendor inside. Mikan tentatively stepped into the air-conditioned exterior, onto the plushy carpet, and surreptitiously straightened her hair. Something about the Academy made her feel extremely insignificant. She reconsidered; the gold leaf decorating the ceiling probably was the culprit. Really, is that necessary? Who actually looks at ceilings? Okay, me apparently... Mikan grinned. She tugged at the wooden double doors leading into the auditorium, and took a deep breath before entering.

She crept down the middle row between plush seats as a large boy, sweating profusely, stuttered out a rather mangled version of Romeo's lines. Mikan apologized to multiple people as she ungracefully stepped on their feet, the unfortunate victims of her crusade to pick her way across the auditorium over to Anna. She finally collapsed into an open seat next to the pink haired girl and whispered, "Why are there so many people here? I didn't think anyone would actually want to audition."

"Most of the people here are girls. It's because of Natsume." Anna grinned conspiratorially.

"Wait, is that why you're here too?"

"Yup!" Mikan sighed, and then looked up as the girl on her other side giggled.

Natsume strode across the stage and looked directly into the crowd. As he began to speak, Mikan groaned. He was good, and worst of all, he knew it. His musical voice filled the auditorium and he held himself like a real noble. Narumi made a few notes on his clipboard, and then waved for Natsume to stop.

"You have the part, congratulations!"

The black-haired teen smirked at the other boys auditioning for Romeo, flashed the 'victory' sign, and then sauntered out the door.

"Mikan-chan, you're up!" Narumi called, shading his eyes as he searched the crowd for her. Mikan pushed away her growing feelings of stage-fright and walked to the front.

"That," the brunette vented to her friends, "was horrible!"

Anna smothered a grin, "Just because everyone laughed at you doesn't mean you were bad. You were just…"

"'Just' what? Horrible, terrible? I already know that."

"Damn that Luna," Sumire growled, "I can't believe she got Juliet's part. She only auditioned because of Natsume, anyway!"

"I know." Mikan muttered, "She doesn't even care about the part!"

"At least Narumi said you could work on the props, right? Your name will still be on the program!" Anna attempted to console the distraught girl.

"And I have to watch Luna make cow eyes at Natsume for hours on end! No thank you!"

"Well then why did you say you'd accept a job to Narumi?"

"I couldn't say no in front of all of those people. I wasn't thinking right! Plus, those stage lights were totally frying my eyes." Mikan stomped her foot at the injustice of it all and then winced. Her shoes were definitely a size too small, her grandfather officially failed at shopping.

"Natsume's coming our way...Mikan, do you want to duck into the bushes?" Anna, always the observant one, chuckled.

"No, it's not a big deal. He wasn't even there when I auditioned."

"Oi, polka dots, I heard about your audition." Natsume smirked, leaning against a nearby dorm building, hands folded behind his head.

Damn...

"I didn't know it was possible to poke yourself in the eye with your own script. How'd you manage that?" He jeered, ignoring the pained expression on Mikan's face.

"You...you..."

"And, I heard your voice cracked more than five times. That's just plain embarrassing. Are you sure you're a girl?" His red eyes glinted merrily as Sumire snorted and Anna elbowed the green haired girl in the ribs.

Mikan stood her ground, "Modeling much?" she asked, gesturing to his pose against the building.

"Like what you see?" He raised one eyebrow infuriatingly.

"Ew, no."

"Sure." Natsume drew the word out until Mikan snapped.

"You...you jerk! What did I ever do to you? Nothing! That's right, nothing! So why do you feel the need to mock me every second I come within fifty feet of you? You're so annoying!"

"You don't know the half of it." Natsume glared at Mikan, crimson eyes burning into her brown ones. He shoved himself off the wall and stalked away angrily.

"What crawled up his ass and died?" Sumire asked, rubbing comforting circles on her seething friend's back.

"I just...I don't understand what happened. I'm sure we used to play together, not that I remember much of it. That was years ago. But we were friends; I don't understand why he isn't happy to see me. After all, the last time I talked to him was right before I moved."

"You moved?" Sumire and Anna chorused, before trading knowing looks with each other.

"What?" Mikan asked.

"Nothing..." Anna trailed off. "I think it's better that you two work things out between yourselves."

"Fat chance. I'm not ever talking to that jerk again!"

Mikan adjusted her position, once again cursing the uncomfortable auditorium floor. She glared over in the general direction of Natsume and Luna, and then continued painting the backdrop for scene one. Narumi was down with a cold and had forced Jinno to act as a stand in director for the day. The uptight man was, unfortunately, Mikan's math teacher and hated her with a passion.

Natsume strode over to Mikan, taking a swig from his water bottle, "You call those things flowers?" he taunted.

"..." The brunette glowered up at him, and returned to concentrating on her painting.

"You realize I could make your life a living hell..." Natsume threatened, crouching down to eye level with Mikan.

"I'd like to see you try," the brown haired girl sniffed as she outlined a rose in black.

Natsume set down his water bottle and dipped his thumb into a nearby red paint can, holding it out to Mikan, who obliviously continued to paint. He smirked and then leaned closer, whispering in her ear, "Are you sure about that?" His thumb hovered near her cheek.

"Of course," she stuttered, affected by his closeness.

"You just bought yourself a one way ticked to hell, little girl," Natsume chuckled into her ear before caressing her cheek with his thumb, leaving a red streak behind.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Mikan asked confusedly, reaching up to her cheek. She felt something sticky, and looked down at her now red fingers.

"You...you jerk!" The brunette shoved Natsume, who to her dismay, stayed firmly anchored.

"What did you just call my Natsume?" A strawberry blond haired girl walked up behind Natsume and rested her hand on his broad shoulder. Mikan racked her brains and realized after a couple seconds that the glaring girl was Luna.

"A jerk!" she said indignantly.

"Hmm..." Luna grinned and dipped her hand in a can of green paint, before slowly dragging the hand across her own dress.

"What are you-" Mikan began, before she was interrupted.

Luna hid her now green hand in the folds of her dress before shrieking loudly, "Mikan! How could you?! Jinno-sensei, Mikan just got green paint all over my dress!"

Natsume smirked at the look of outrage on Mikan's face, before standing as Jinno roughly pulled Mikan to her feet, "Ms. Sakura, what do you have to say for yourself?"

"But, but I-"

"Ms. Sakura, I knew from the second you stepped into my class that you were a trouble maker. For this, you are no longer permitted to paint the scenery." Mikan secretly grinned, glad to be freed of the torture of seeing Luna simpering all over Natsume every day.

"Instead," he continued, "You are demoted to janitor. You have no say in this matter; please reimburse Ms. Koizumi for her dress. Everyone," he motioned to the rest of the crew and actors, obviously fed up with the whole extravaganza, "you are dismissed for the day."

Luna and Natsume smirked down at Mikan, "What did I tell you?" asked the latter, after the strawberry blond had floated off to her dorm room, intent on changing out of her green-streaked dress.

Mikan growled and then heaved herself up from the floor, dripping red paintbrush in hand. She stood on her tiptoes before Natsume, and whipped the paintbrush out from behind her back before wiping it all over his face. Natsume jumped back and grabbed the offending instrument from Mikan. "You're going to pay for that," he smirked, before grabbing both of her wrists in one hand and slamming her against the wall.

He looked around, making sure everyone had left. Mikan whimpered in pain, he had a grip like iron on her wrists. Satisfied, he leaned forward and hissed in her ear, "You better watch your back, little girl." Natsume stared deeply into Mikan's eyes with a slightly tormented look, almost as if he regretted what he had just done, before he smirked once again and let her slide to the floor. He looked away, turned, and stalked off to the bathrooms.

The brunette stayed where Natsume had thrown her, literally shaking in her paint splattered boots. He actually scared her. She hadn't been taking him seriously, even from the beginning she had though he was just teasing her.

Hmm...she thought, I'm sure he was my childhood friend. After all, how many people that look like him are named Natsume Hyuuga? I wonder what happened to make him this way. He used to be so sweet. Was it something I did?

Meanwhile, Natsume splashed his face with water, before dragging a red hand across the mirror, leaving a blood-colored hand print. His hand clenched as he groaned and punched the mirror, watching as it shattered to the sink. Damn, He looked down at his now bloody hand, this isn't what I wanted; I never thought it would turn out this way...

TBC

Author's Note: Okay, so it took me forever to update, sorry! I hope you liked it. Also, I hope I mixed it up a bit, Mikan appointed/demoted to janitor and the next chapters won't be as angsty, I'm not quite sure where this came from…Revised September 27, 2009.

~SL~