Aladdin spent her weekend thinking about the study session. She wanted it to happen again. She wanted to be able to do that every weekend. Ugo noticed she was preoccupied when they went out to breakfast on Sunday. 'I finally have to worry about boy troubles.'

The test was hard, but she did really well. She had the highest score in the class, Kouen the second highest. The rest of the class didn't fare so well. Kouen seemed happy so Aladdin couldn't help but smile. No one else seemed to notice the change from his usual mood but Aladdin couldn't help but notice.

Things kept getting better through the week. Rumor was that a foreign exchange student was going to start on Thursday.

On Thursday, Aladdin looked around for the new student. Rumors had been confirmed by several teachers the day before. She couldn't find the new student until she was walking to Chemistry. The unfamiliar head of shiny black hair in front of her had to be the new student. She was about to go up and say hi when Kouen joined her. Aladdin didn't like it. She watched as the girl hung on his arm and giggled. Aladdin changed her mind, she didn't want to have anything to do with the new girl. She wanted the girl to go away. But that wasn't really fair, maybe Aladdin was overreacting. She hadn't even met the new girl yet.

Aladdin couldn't help that her mood sunk more and more as she followed the two in front of her all the way to the Chemistry classroom. Her mood dropped below zero when she saw the girl take her usual seat next to Kouen. One look at Aladdin and the boy sitting at the next table pushed the extra seat over. Aladdin gave him a grateful smile and pulled the seat the rest of the way over to her table and sat down. She could feel her teeth grinding as she watched the girl continue her flirting.

The new girl's name was Helen, the drop dead gorgeous exchange student from China. Aladdin felt she could understand the jealousy Judal and Kougyoku both felt in their relationship. It made so much more sense now, and Aladdin wasn't even dating Kouen. Aladdin felt threatened in the situation she had just started being comfortable in. This sucked.

The teacher insisted that Helen stay in a group with Kouen and Aladdin because they were the top students. Aladdin internally groaned. This week went from great to horrible extremely quickly. Everything about Helen frustrated her. The girl wouldn't do any of the work in the lab, she wouldn't discuss the Chemistry topics, she wouldn't even talk in English most of the time for crying out loud. Aladdin could only understand some of the girl's Chinese. Kouen did most of the talking for once. He was laughing at her jokes.

Yeah, Aladdin really didn't like Helen. The feeling seemed to be mutual. Whenever Kouen wasn't looking she sent Aladdin a glare. It was so frustrating! The girl scribbled out Aladdin's handwritten notes too. Three weeks of dealing with Helen had run Aladdin out of patience. She had even wormed her way into the study sessions. This time they were sitting in a coffee shop after school on Friday. Aladdin had a headache from the girl. She had no idea how Helen was in the advanced class. She didn't even know the basics of equilibrium let alone the stuff they were doing now. Aladdin was explaining the lab to her for the sixth time. She couldn't believe Helen didn't understand it yet. It wasn't even one of the more difficult labs.

"Your explanation doesn't make any sense. You are not good at this."

That was it. She could not deal with any more insults from this girl. "I'm very good at Chemistry. You just aren't good at learning it. I have explained this to you in six completely different ways. It isn't even that difficult a concept considering everything else we have been doing!"

"I do not understand your English."

Was she kidding right now? "If you can understand everyone else's English, you can understand mine. Maybe if you actually tried you would be able to do it."

"You are just not very smart. I don't know why I need to study with you. Kouen, please explain this to me."

"You have got to be kidding me! I explained it to him. He will explain it the exact same way I just did. Stop wasting my time!"

"I do not need the stupid girl to talk to me anymore."

"You just called me stupid. Have you looked in a mirror? You do realize the stupid one in this group is you right now, right? I mean come on!"

"You little brat! Little underclassmen shouldn't even be in the class. Who are you to lecture me?"

"I'm the person with the top score in the class. Either pay attention to my explanation or stop complaining. This is my strongest subject."

"I do not think you are so great. You are just a little underclassmen with a crush on a senior."

Aladdin's face burned but she couldn't stop. "That has nothing to do with Chemistry! And you know what, at least I'm not throwing myself at every attractive male in sight!"

"You little bitch. You are just jealous because I took what little chance you had with Kouen away from you. You can't handle that he won't even look at you when I'm around. Your little crush on him isn't going to become anything. You are a nobody and he will never love you the way you love him."

Aladdin could feel the tears. How dare she say that while he is sitting right there! She needed to leave. "At least I don't whore myself around. Go to hell you insufferable idiot." She picked up her bag and stormed out. Kouen called her name but she couldn't look at him right now. The tears were coming now. She couldn't stop them.

She couldn't go home or else Ugo would see her crying, so she went to the place she new Judal went to when he wanted to be alone. The park was hidden away. She went to the very farthest corner and pulled herself into the branches of a large tree. She hugged her knees to her chest and cried. Why did this have to happen?

Hello!

I am so happy about all the reviews I have been getting for this story. Writing Kouen in character is so difficult. It takes so long for me to get things the way I think is close to in character.

I'm trying to wrap up the other stories I've been posting and start up on some new ones. If anyone has any requests for one-shots or shorter stories (like 5 chapters or less) let me know and I will work on them.

I'm gonna go write some more stuff now.

Until Next Time!

-Kizuna