Hellooo! This was a hard chapter to write, but alas here it is!

Disclaimer: Gakuen Alice and its characters do not belong to me in any way. Arata does tho, enjoy!

Ch. 10

Two months. It's already been two months and mom has yet to return. She broke her record and is officially awarded worst mother of the year. I'm not even sure what to tell Youichi anymore. The sakuras are beginning to blossom their bright pink hue. The cold fades day by day with mother nature being bipolar. Sometimes, I catch Youichi staring out the window listlessly even when I shout out dinner's ready. He's worrying me since being docile and silent was never a part of his personality. 'Mom, you need to get home right now!' I thought as I watched him meekly pick up his chopsticks to eat his udon.

"Youichi..." I called out. He barely looked at me, continuing to stuff his mouth with noodles "Hmm?"

"Are you okay?"

He stopped stuffing his mouth but began to chew. It took him a while to finally swallow to answer me, "Tch, yeah."

Then he started eating again. I eyed him again just to make sure he wouldn't start choking before I began eating myself. I didn't really notice it at first but he hasn't said much lately. This boy is making me so worried.

;p

After a few nights thinking about it, I must be crazy. What could have possibly possessed me to kiss Natsume Hyuuga? How and where did these feelings come from? The jitters recalling the kiss, holding hands, he ran his hand through my hair again. Why does he do that everytime I see him? It kinda bugs me. Him and his stupid hair fetish. "Your hair is just so soft!" he told me.

While pondering why I'm insane, my phone started to ring and vibrate, "Hello?" I said lazily.

"Ew." a monotone voice said on the other end and I immediately sat up. "Is that how you talk to someone you haven't seen in a year?"

"Hotaru!" I screamed. Hotaru Imai. My bestest bestest friend since 5th grade. She was outspoken, intimidating, ruthless, scary, kind of mean, still is mean...but regardless she's my best friend. Last I saw her, she had her hair cropped short cos that's how she likes it and I'm sure it's still short. She never changed her hairstyle since she says it makes her look sophisticated. She's currently studying abroad to 'sharpen' her technical skills as she puts it.

"Ow you idiot. You're making my ears bleed." that same even tone of voice.

"Oh sorry, I was just really surprised to hear from you. How are you Hotaru?"

"Eh. It's alright. I'm surrounded by idiots. They remind me of you so this is why I'm calling you."

I pouted though she couldn't see me, "Aw, why do you gotta be like that? Anyways when are you coming back? They have this new brand of crab roe here!"

"Mm negative. One of the contenders here brought me crab roe I thought was delicious. I'm coming back in a week. Gotta renew my abroad program."

"Oh." I paused. Hotaru is uber popular so all these people from different universities try to bribe her into going to their school. It wasn't working so far until now.

"Uh oh. What's wrong this time?" she sighed, her tone didn't change.

"You already know. Yuka met a new dude and now she's gone. But it's been two months since she left and that's longer than before."

"Maybe this guy is the one." she said point-blank.

"Are you serious?" I laughed a little, "Hotaru you know my mom, she doesn't stick to just one guy."

"That's true but honestly, this has been more than the rest." It was true. This one was a lot longer than all the other times mom went on adventures with guys. What is she even thinking being gone for this long anyway? She's 32 and she's still acting like a like kid! This is ridiculous. "What else has been bugging you?" she asked to my surprise.

"Not much." I replied, straining my voice a little at the end. "Right and Luna is nice and wonderful person." insert sarcasm here, "Tell me what's really wrong."

I was hesitant but eventually told Hotaru what's happened lately. Of course she called me an idiot and Hyuuga a scrooge but it'd be weird if she didn't. "I'm surprised he puts up with your shit though." she said.

"Whatever." I rolled my eyes.

"Did you tell him about Yuka or are you gonna wait it out like you did with Ruka which by the way didn't go so well." she said, sarcasm in tow.

"Yeah. I know, I was there." I said through my teeth. "He probably already knows, the whole school does. I don't even know if we're in a relationship."

"Obviously you are if you guys kiss and told each other you like each other."

"I don't know. I still feel like I can't trust him, if you were here you'd see how much he just pisses me off especially with the whole hair fetish!" I laid flat on my bed.

"Then kissing and holding hands, what would you call that?" she asked.

"I don't know. If you didn't know the deeper meaning then you'd think we're in a relationship-"

"Exactly." she cut me off.

"But we're not! We're..We're 'blanks'!" I stated.

"Blanks?"

I nodded my head, "Yep, we're not in a relationship but we're nowhere near friends either so we're 'blanks'." On the other line it was quiet, then I heard an exasperated sigh, "Mikan Sakura, you are an idiot."

"No I'm not!" I yelled turning on my side.

"Of course no one else but you would come up with something stupid like that. Anyways I gotta go, you're wasting my minutes. Have fun with your blank." Click!

I threw my phone somewhere on my bed. What the hell am I saying? Getting over Ruka, giving what Luna deserved, I should be happy, or atleast somewhat content. Mom, where are you? I laid back down and pulled the covers over my head.

;p

Atleast school was a different scene, but it didn't make it any better. In fact, it was the worst place to be at the moment. I was, of course, suspended for 'disturbing the peace' and giving Luna noticeable bruises. Luna was suspended less days than me becos I was the one who swung first and fled the scene. Turns out Luna was saying how she gave me so many scratches and bruises, but in fact she didn't do any real damage at all. When I came back to school, people knew Luna was lying since I didn't have a scratch on me. I shook my head knowing how much useless effort Luna was using just to spread rumors and talk down on me again. I thought she would've learned her lesson by now.

"Hey." a gruff voice said. A chill ran down my spine as I turned around and saw Hyu—I mean Nastume. "Hey."

There was a little pause, "Long time no see. Or talk." he said, shifting from one foot to another.

"Y-Yeah." I said nervously then started walking towards my locker. After kissing him, we never really did talk about what was going on. We held hands but before any discussion about what's going on between us happened, I got called into the office. He would he try to call me or come to my house but I didn't want to see him or talk to him. I accepted my feelings for him but I don't know about being in a relationship with him. I really like him, but after seeing mom's one too many failed relationships then experiencing it for myself, I don't want to go through it.

He stood there quietly as I shifted things from my backpack to my locker, books from my locker to my backpack. People passing by, eyed me and whispered, "It's the girl who got beat up by Luna!"

Girl B said, "No I heard it was the other way around. She mauled Luna with a bat and two guys!"

"Gasp! She's so violent!" said Girl A.

I ignored it inwardly laughing at the silliness but someone else couldn't, "Oi, what'd you say?"

"Uh. What?" they were both stunned. "I asked you what'd you just say? Who's violent?" his deep voice added to the intimidation.

"Stop Natsume." I said. He looked at me as if saying something. The other two girls took that chance to run away. He clicked his tongue. "What was that all about?" I asked him, "Didn't you say violence wasn't the answer? Here you are, picking on two girls."

He scowled, "Don't twist my words around." I closed my locker, we stood there even more awkward than before. My pocket started vibrating. I looked at the screen, it was Youichi. "Whatsup?"

"Mikan! Mom's back! Mom's back!" he squealed. I felt my heart drop, "She's..back? Are you sure?"

"Yeah! I came home early from school and saw her car in the driveway!" I could imagine him jumping up and down. I let go a breath of relief but it quickly turned into anger. I hung up the phone, Natsume was looking at me with curiosity, "Who was that?"

"It was my little brother." I quickly opened my locker and grabbed all my books just in case of homework. Then started speed walking towards the office. I told them I wasn't feeling well and after a moment of dirty looks, they let me go home. I didn't realize Natsume was following me the whole time until he tugged my elbow, "Where are you going?"

"I gotta go home. Let go." I was filled with haste. I couldn't let a second go to waste since mom might leave again. "We need to talk though."

"Let's do that later, I can't waste time being here. I need to get home now." I broke free of his grip and practically sprinted to my car. It was still around one o'clock so there wasn't a lot of cars driving on the streets. A good thing since I wanted to get home faster. It was true, her shiny, black BMW was right in front of the garage where she would always park. I dashed out of my car and into the house, fiddling with the house keys. Youichi was in the living room, looking a little sad rather than excited. He looked at me then looked over at the kitchen table. "Mom?" I called out. I walked over to the kitchen to see her light brown hair had gotten longer and she was skinnier. She turned around and smiled, "Mikan!"

I scowled, "Mom where the hell have you been without even calling us?"

She got up and thrusted out her left hand. There. Was. A. Diamond. Ring. "You got married?"

Her smile got bigger, "Yes! Say hello to your new dad!"

As if on cue, this tall, lanky, young-looking man came in. He was dressed in a suit and had short hair and grey eyes. He looked familiar and really nervous, "H-Hi my name is Arata. Nice to meet you."

I looked back at mom, "Are you freakin' kidding me?" Both their smiles fell. "You were gone for two months. You didn't call, no letters, no emails, nothing. Then you come back with a husband?" Mom nervously looked at Arata then back at me. "Mikan, dear, I can explain."

"Explain what? How long have you even known this guy and you ran off just to elope? Did you ever think about your kids, especially Youichi, who were worried sick about you while you were off getting married?"

Youichi peeped into the kitchen. "Did you even explain to Youichi why you left us to fend for ourselves for two months while you were having the time of your life?" I couldn't stop, my anger wouldn't subside.

"Mikan, it's not like that at all." She said, a frown on her face. "Then what's it like? Tell me so I can understand." I bit back.

"Arata and I got married..becos I'm pregnant and Arata is the father, he's also Youichi's father too." she said softly.

At that point, my world was shattered.