CHAPTER 6

The next morning, I woke up to find my mom standing at the foot of my bed, carrying a tray of breakfast. I rubbed my eyes and squinted at the light. She stood there, waiting for me to fully wake up. When I looked up at her, she smiled at me and said, "Amu Chan! Eat your breakfast right now, and get dressed after!"

"What's happening, mom? Why are you suddenly doing this?"

"It's not suddenly. I'm happy today! I even laid out your school clothes for you on your chair."

"Uh, okay mom."

"Now, finish everything on this tray, because I don't want any leftovers!" Mom perked as she rushed to the side of my bed. She practically shoved the plate on my lap and pranced out of my room.

"I swear, I have the weirdest family." I mumbled to myself while picking up a fork.

When I looked down to see what she made for me, I was shocked. I placed the tray on my nightstand and got up from my bed. While running down the stairs, I yelled, "Mom, what's the big idea? Why did you spend so much money to buy this foo—."

I stopped at the stairway and my jaw dropped open. My mom gave me a reassuring smile and motioned me to move forward.

"…Dad?" I whispered nervously.

"Amu! I'm back, kiddo!" Dad screamed excitedly.

"Dad! It really is you!"

I rushed over to him and squeezed him. I missed him so much. He was away for about five years studying overseas, but I wasn't going to let that get in the way of our delayed friendship. He was literally my best friend ever since childhood, aside from Kukai Souma. I really, really missed him. He chuckled, still wrapped in my little arms, because embracing him like this made me feel little again. He started to smooth my hair, and I remembered how it always made me feel safe.

"How have you been, my little flower?" He murmured bending down into my hair.

"Dad, I missed you a lot." I whimpered, my voice quivering. I could feel the tears forming in my eyes and about to spill over the edges. He looked down at my face and slowly shifted his arm. Suddenly, I felt warm fingers on my left cheek. Dad's hands were always warm and big. Before, when I was still a kid, he could grab both my hands into just one of his hands. It scared me, but it also made me feel safe.

"I missed you too, Amu Chan." He whispered, "Now, hurry on upstairs. You still need to go to school. Just because I suddenly came back home, doesn't mean you can just skip school." I chuckled at his sudden responsible, stern side, and ran upstairs. Dad's return had made my day already. Nothing, and I mean nothing could have ruined this day for me. Not even Ikuto Tsukiyomi.

Today was the first day in a long time that Dad has taken me to school. I was really excited, because it felt like the first day of kindergarten, just because he took me. It might have seemed tacky, but I really loved it. When I was about to get out of the car, he said, "Have a nice day, Amu!" I just smiled and chuckled at him. I was walking up to the entrance of my school when I saw Tadase and Ikuto walking together. Suddenly, I halted to a stop. I wanted to walk away, but my feet wouldn't budge. And I wanted to look away, but it was almost as if my eyes were magnetically attracted to them. Or was it only to him? I only did pay attention to him, though. It couldn't be Tadase, because he's never made me feel this way before. So it was definitely Ikuto. Amu! What the hell are you saying? You do NOT like him! You just can't! I looked up after having a conversation with myself in my head (lol). Holy crap. He's staring at me again. Look away, Amu. Just. Look. AWAY! Again, for some odd reason, I couldn't force myself to look away. Instead, I really wanted to keep my eyes on his. I had this urge inside me that just wanted to haul myself toward him…and kiss him. AH! AMU, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SAYING? STOP IT! STOP THINKING THESE DIRTY THOUGHTS! Snapping myself out of his stare, I immediately took off to the lockers.

"Dad…my day is not getting nice at all. In fact, it just got worse." I merely whispered under my breath. Then out of nowhere, three girls surrounded me. The one in the middle slapped my face and pushed me against the lockers. My head hit against my locker door and hit the locker next to it too. Okay, now I was really pissed. I looked to see who did it. It was that darned Saaya. And she had her posse next to her, glaring at me for some weird reason.

"Why the hell…"

"Oh, drop the act, will you?" Saaya huffed, interrupting me.

"Excuse me?"

"You act all innocent…" said the girl on the left.

"You say you hate prince Ikuto Tsukiyomi…" said the girl on the right.

"And yet, I see you eye flirting with him!" Saaya exclaimed.

I was completely, and utterly speechless. I didn't know what to say! I wouldn't have called it eye flirting, but I couldn't say that I didn't like him either! They would never have believed me.

"It wasn't eye flirting, you idiots." I said, pushing them away, "It's called staring. I don't know if you guys learned that word yet, but it means to focus looking at one person or thing for a long time. Understand?"

"Unfortunately, no." they all replied in unison while pushing me back.

"We're just going to let this one slide. Consider yourself lucky that we didn't punish you this time. And don't think you can escape us so easily. Our presumptions are critically accurate, and we know everything. We're going to be watching you more from now on, so be prepared." The two girls said.

"Understood?" Saaya simply said. I just smiled bogusly at her. After she and her posse left, I gave them a dirty look behind their backs and pretended to gag. My day already got worse, and they just made it even worse. I didn't even feel like going to class anymore! I went into my homeroom and asked my teacher if I could have a few hours off.

"Why, Hinamori Amu?" Sensei asked, concernedly.

"Because…I'm just really, really not in the mood to be in class right now. And putting me in class will just be pointless, because I don't feel like concentrating or listening or doing work. So please…can you let me off for just a few hours? Please?" I begged.

"Alright, alright. Just go. I'll excuse you." Sensei offered, kindly.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I screeched. I walked out of class feeling free and my mood was a little up now. There was only one place that I could go on this entire campus that made me feel enclosed and alone and helped me gain privacy. No, it wasn't my bench in the front of the school. It was the school library. Our school library was pretty spacious and extremely quiet. It was the perfect place to think things through. And that was just the place that I had to be in that instant.

I stood at the entrance of the library and stared at all the books and bookshelves and tables and chairs. I went in and walked around for a little while, roaming through books. Suddenly, I noticed that the librarian was gone. Even better! And I also noticed that there was no one else there too. It was almost like heaven! I even found this book that really interested me. I started to walk all around the perimeter of the library with it, and I swerved in between the shelves too. It definitely was heaven. There wasn't anyone there, and everything was carefree. I think I was enjoying myself really well. I started to walk backwards with my book, not expecting to hit anything…or anyone.

Unfortunately, I did. And it was a person too. At first, I had no clue who this person was that I completely crashed into. I just knew that it was a guy, because I heard a male voice. When I bumped into him, he quickly turned around to try and catch me, but he lost grip of me. Still, he tried and he completely failed. Emphasis on 'failed', because I accidentally kicked his legs when I was falling, and he lost his ground and fell on top of me. Well, he didn't exactly crush me. No, that would have been really bad. He propped himself up with his hands right next to my face and his knees at my sides. And the thing was, when I was about to fall, I saw a flash of that same dark blue that I saw on Ikuto's head on the day of his arrival.

At first, when I saw him above me, I couldn't really make out the person, because my vision was blurred. When I blinked a few times, I finally saw who it was. I-Ikuto Tsukiyomi…I tried closing my eyes again, but it was like they were being forced open. All I could do was lay there awkwardly, waiting for a miracle to happen. Again, we kept staring into each other's eyes as if we were under a spell. And he had this weird intensive look in his eyes. It was like he wanted to do something, but he tried so hard to stop himself from doing it. We practically just lay there for an eternity. I eventually pulled away my attention from his eyes and focused on something else. My eyes trailed down from his face to his neck and then to his shirt. I gasped, because I saw that his shirt was wrinkled and unbuttoned a little. What the hell happened when I was falling? I don't even remember grabbing at his shirt! "Uh…your…shirt." I managed to say to him. What else could I do? I wanted him to get off. He looked down and immediately got off of me.

"Sorry." He said.

"Huh?"

"Sorry for bumping into you and making you fall."

"Oh, no. That was my entire fault. I wasn't paying attention to where I was looking. So, I should be the one to apologize. I'm sorry."

"It's fine. You don't need to apologize. So, what are you doing in here? Shouldn't you be in class?"

"Oh. I got excused from my teacher so I came here. But…what were you doing here?"

"I needed a break. I was feeling kind of upset."

"Oh. Same reason. So what happened to you?"

"Just…pressures of a celebrity I guess. I don't exactly mean to sound so full of myself. I didn't actually want this for my life. It was my parents who said I had talent and forced me into fame."

"Oh…so you don't enjoy the money you're making?"

"I don't care about that stuff."

"What about all those screaming girl fans?" I asked. My cheeks started getting hot after my success in keeping cool.

"Oh. Yeah that part I enjoyed very much." He said, chuckling.

"I'm surprised that you didn't scream when you saw me. Aren't you a fan of me too?" He asked, suddenly.

"Well, it was nice meeting you. But I should get back to class right about now. So, bye!" I quickly said. I shot up, smoothed my skirt, and dashed out the library.