illutia mist: Ah, finally. I can speak normal again now after that broken circuit in my head has been repaired.

Natsume: (Bends his eyebrows) What are you? A robot?

illutia mist: Of course not! I'm a pure human! I just need some rest. That's what I mean with repairing the broken circuit.

Mikan: Oookay…So, how are the works doing?

illutia mist: What? The fanfics? Of course I'm trying to do both of them.

Mikan: (Concerned) Aren't you stressed to do both of different stories?

illutia mist: Nah. I still can handle it for now.

Natsume: Beware of the other circuit in your head. Maybe there's another that broken again.

illutia mist: Hope not. By the way, here's second piece of 'Small Pieces of You'. Geez! I really hope I can own Gakuen Alice.

Natsume: Keep dreaming.

Mikan: (Smiles) Sorry, illutia. It belongs to Higuchi Tachibana.

illutia mist: Hey, I prefer the way Mikan cheers me up.

Natsume: It's just the same. You'll never own it anyway.

illutia mist: (Glares at Natsume) Thanks for making me feel down.

Natsume: You're welcome. Just go on with the story.

illutia mist: Yeah, that's right. Enjoy, readers! XD

-x-

Small Pieces of You

-x-

2nd Piece: Second Partner

Jacklyn was standing in front of a full-body mirror in her room. She had worn her junior high school uniform. It's a white undershirt with black blazer and red tie. The skirt was red checkered and it reached above her knees. Her shoulder-length black hair had been combed tidily. Her bangs reached her cheeks but it had been divided by the side, showing her forehead's smooth skin.

She took a last glance at her figure at the mirror before she grabbed her school backpack. It wasn't her orange-colored backpack, but it was given from the school. There were two ways to use it. First, you could bring it with your hand. And second, you could hang it on your back. And she preferred to hang it on her back. For her, it's easier.

She put on a pair of white socks that had 15 centimeters length from her ankles and black school shoes. She took her sketchbook that she placed on the table yesterday. Now, she's ready. But the problem was…

She didn't know the way to the school!

'Maybe I'll search it by myself,' she thought as she turned the doorknob.

She stepped outside her room and locked the door with the key that she found on the table too. She guessed that it was Narumi who had placed it there. After she had made sure that the room had been locked, she inserted the key in her skirt pocket and started to walk.

After turning here and there, she found a robot and wondered if she must ask 'it' or not. But then, she decided to take a try and the robot showed her the way out from the dorm.

Outside the dorm, she got more confused. There was a big green field and there were several buildings on the different directions.

'Guess what? I'm lost!' she thought, desperate.

Then she felt something patting her shoulder. She turned around, only to see a boy with brown-colored hair and wore glasses standing there. He smiled kindly at her.

"Good morning. My name is Yuu Tobita," he said kindly. "It looks like you've been standing here for some time. Can I help you?"

Jacklyn stared at him for a moment, and then she said, "I'm searching for the junior high school building."

"I'm in junior high school too," he said as he smiled. "I'll take you there. Please follow me."

He started to walk and Jacklyn followed him. They're walking in silence.

The problem was Jacklyn couldn't talk easily to a people that she didn't know at all. Moreover, she just met him for a few seconds ago. She, herself, also wondered if she could befriend with her new classmates. She had a taciturn behavior in front of all unfamiliar peoples. It was different story if she had known them and been close to them.

After walking in what-she-had-thought a year silence, they finally arrived in front of a big building.

"This is the junior high school building," Yuu said, breaking the silence between them.

"Umm, thank you for showing me the way," Jacklyn said politely.

"So, are you a new student? What's-" his sentence was cut off by the sound of the bell rang. "Oh no! I forgot that I woke up late today!" He got panicked.

"I can walk by myself from here. You can go now," Jacklyn said as she smiled.

"Are you sure that you'll be okay?" Yuu asked, concerned.

"I'm sure I'll be fine," she convinced him.

The bell rang once again.

"Just go or you'll be late," she told him.

"O, okay. Sorry!" Yuu said as he run to a direction.

After he was gone from her sight, Jacklyn just sighed as she stared at her sketchbook in her hands.

'Time to explore the school,' she thought as she moved her right foot forward and walked to the direction that was taken by Yuu before.

After she walked for approximately five minutes, she was about to turn at a corner when she heard footsteps behind her.

"I'm late! I'm late!" that's what she heard when she turned her head a little to the voice and…

BUMP!

Someone bumped her back, causing her to bump into another person that suddenly appeared in front of her.

"Ow! I'm sorry!" a cheery voice could be heard after they all landed on the cold floor.

"N-no, it's okay," Jacklyn said in a low voice as she rubbed the back of her head and tried to regain her consciousness again after the bumping incident.

"Tch. This has been the 36 times in this first semester," an arrogant boy voice could be heard from the opposite direction. "And this time, you're two times weightier than before, Polka!"

"Hey! I'm not weightier than before! It's still normal!" the girl said, irritated.

"Then why did you bump into me so hard today?" the boy asked, irritated too.

And when they were finally aware to their circumstance, all of them fell silent for a few seconds.

Why not?

The boy was lying on the cold floor. On top of him was Jacklyn. And of top of Jacklyn was the girl that argued with the boy a few seconds ago. They were all wide-eyed, but the boy quickly regained his annoyed face.

"Are you going to get off from me or not?" the boy asked with an irritated tone. He had a pair of crimson eyes and raven-colored hair. From the way he talked, it looked like he's an arrogant boy.

Jacklyn bent her eyebrows. "I can't. Tell her to get off from me before you tell me to get off from you," she said with an irritated tone too.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" the girl who was on top of Jacklyn quickly apologized as she got herself up from the black-haired girl.

Finally, they got off from that awkward position. Jacklyn looked at the girl with a cheery voice. She had long auburn hair that was tied into two pigtails, both on each side. She had a pair of beautiful hazel eyes too.

Jacklyn was sure that she ever heard that cheery voice somewhere, but she shoved away those thought because she couldn't remember it. She realized that her sketchbook wasn't in her hands anymore. She looked around the floor and found it lying beside the boy. She moved there and picked it up from the floor.

Jacklyn realized that she had been watching by someone, so she turned her head a little and found out that the cheery girl was the one who had been watching her from some time ago.

"Yes?" Jacklyn asked as she raised an eyebrow.

The girl smiled. "You're the girl that Narumi-sensei carried two days ago!" she said with her cheery voice. "I'm Mikan Sakura! Nice to meet you! And this is-" she said as she moved forward but then she had a confused expression on her face. "…Huh? Where did he go?"

She looked forward and found that boy had walked into the class. "Wait! Natsume!" she called as she chased him.

Jacklyn froze on her spot. 'Mikan, huh? I think I ever heard her name before,' she thought as she tried to remember.

After a minute thinking, she finally remembered.

'Oh. The one that sensei talked to when I was half-conscious two days ago. That cheery girl voice…so it's her,' she thought as she sighed.

"So there you are, Jacklyn-chan," a familiar voice disturbed her thought.

Jacklyn turned her head to the direction of the voice and saw the familiar wavy-blonde haired man with a pair of purple colored eyes. It's Narumi.

'The gay teacher…' she thought as she approached him.

"Good morning. How are you today?" he greeted her as he smiled.

"Fine," Jacklyn replied simply as she gave out a small smile.

"Good. Follow me. I'll take you to your class," he said as he started to walk.

Jacklyn followed him and then she realized that he walked to the direction where Mikan went a few minutes ago. He stopped in front of the door.

"You wait here," Narumi said, smiling. "When I call you, you may come in."

Jacklyn nodded. Narumi patted her head before he went into the class. She stood in front of the door and sighed as she waited her name being called.

After a minute, she heard her name being called by Narumi. She pushed the door open and stepped in as her hold onto her sketchbook tightened. She walked to the center and faced her new classmates. Now she felt dizzy. She couldn't stand being watched by so many people or being an attention, except when she was mad and didn't care about her circumstance.

"Please introduce yourself," Narumi said as he smiled at her.

"My name's Jacklyn. Nice to meet you all," she said politely as she bowed her head a little.

"What's your surname?" a student asked as he raised his right hand.

Jacklyn looked at him and said, "I don't have any surname."

"Don't you have any family?" another student asked in a sarcastic tone.

Jacklyn looked at the student and said, "I have. But my name doesn't suit with my family surname, so my parents decided not to use it."

"What's your alice?" a girl with straight-indigo hair asked.

Jacklyn fell silent. She didn't know her alice. Narumi also said that they, the school, didn't know too. How did she answer this question?

"She doesn't know her alice."

The voice that represented her in answering the question caught her attention. The owner of the voice had a dirty-blonde colored hair.

She narrowed her eyes. 'Who is he? How does he know?' she thought, curious.

The boy smiled and said, "My name's Kokoro Yome. You can call me Koko. And I know about it because I just read your mind. That's my alice."

Then some murmurs could be heard in the class. Jacklyn had guessed it. They must be wondering how she could get into the Alice Academy, the school for those chosen one, when she, herself, didn't know what her alice was. Narumi clapped his hands, asking for all students' attention.

"Well, my dear students, the school has searched some information about her and found out that she has the potential but she never used it before," Narumi explained as he showed his trademark smile. "Now, I hope that all of you can get along with her."

Then suddenly, Jacklyn smelled something burning. It was so close to her. It's…

OH. MY. GOD.

Her eyes widened when she found out that her sketchbook was burnt. She got panicked and tried to put out the fire.

"OH NO! MY SKETCHBOOK!" she shouted as she swished her sketchbook up and down, trying to put out the little fire that burnt the edge of her sketchbook.

"NATSUME!" a voice yelled and the fire extinguished.

Jacklyn looked up and found an auburn-haired girl named Mikan standing and facing the raven-haired boy at the back of the class.

"Natsume! What are you doing?" Mikan scolded him. "Why should you burn her sketchbook?"

After Jacklyn heard the last sentence, she understood. The boy had the alice of fire. A vein popped on her head.

"Testing her alice," were the last words she heard from the boy before she stomped to his direction and…

SMACK!

She hit him on the head with her sketchbook. The class made an awed sound at her action. The boy glared at her angrily.

"What?" he asked her in a dangerous tone.

"Don't you dare messing with my sketchbook," Jacklyn stated angrily as she shot a glare back at him.

All of the students were surprised at her sudden personality changing. For a moment ago, she looked like a calm, taciturnity, and good girl. But after the 'sketchbook' incident, she looked so…different.

However, Natsume wasn't surprised at her personality changing. He gave her another sharp glare and…

"MY SKETCHBOOK!" Jacklyn shouted as her sketchbook got burnt again. She swished it up and down again. "DARN YOU!! PUT IT OUT!!" she shouted angrily, but Natsume just smirked.

Then suddenly the fire was gone.

"NATSUME!" Mikan scowled him again.

"Tch." He looked away.

SMACK!

And Jacklyn hit his head with her sketchbook again. She was very, very angry.

"Hey! What have you done to Natsume-kun!" another girl's voice scowled at her. She glanced at the owner of the voice and found a girl with seaweed hair standing not far from them and pointing her index finger at her.

"Ask him, what he have done to my sketchbook," Jacklyn said in an angry tone. She was pissed off.

"It's just a sketchbook! He's not!" the perm-haired girl said. She was angry too.

Jacklyn shot a hard glare to her, made her take a step backward. "It's not JUST A sketchbook," she said in a dangerous tone. "If you try to mess with it, you'll get the consequences."

"It's a dead thing! Natsume-kun is alive!" the girl retorted back and Jacklyn could see a few girls nodding in agreement.

'Are they fan girls?' she thought. And as a certain person you-know-who read her mind again, he said, "Yes, they are."

Jacklyn looked at the replier, which was Koko, and said, "So that's it…"

"What's wrong with 'so that's it' words?" the perm-haired girl scowled at her, distracting her attention from Koko.

"Nothing," she said with a sly smile, "Permy."

The class made an awed sound again. The aforementioned girl's face turned red. She was angry at the nickname.

"My name's not Permy! It's Sumire Shouda! The president of Natsume-Ruka fans club!" she said angrily.

"Well, I don't ask," Jacklyn said as she looked away.

"Why you little!" Sumire growled but was cut off by Narumi who clapped his hands, asking for the students' attention once again.

"Okay, class. We won't have class today, but make sure that you don't miss Jinno-sensei's class later," was his last sentence before he disappeared behind the door.

But in the next second, he entered the class again and received groans from the students.

"Ha ha! Sorry, class! I haven't decided her seat and partner," he said happily, trying to cheer up the disappointed class. "Okay. Jacklyn-chan, your seat is…" he said as he looked around the class, "there. Your seat is in front of Mikan-chan's seat. And your partner is…"

'Partner?' she thought, wondering what a partner used for.

And once again, Koko, who had read her mind again, said, "A partner can act as your ally to train your alice or do some assignments that teachers give or as your guide at school."

Jacklyn showed him an understanding expression.

"That's right, Jacklyn-chan. So your partner is…" Narumi said again as he looked around.

"How about me, Narumi-sensei? I've met her two days ago!" Mikan said as she raised her right hand. Everybody looked at her in surprise, even Natsume. But he quickly regained his stoic expression again.

"Great! So your partner now is that sketchbook girl and Natsume-kun will be my partner!" Sumire squealed happily.

'Her partner is this cocky boy?' Jacklyn thought as she glanced at Natsume, whose face showed an irritated expression.

"Yes, he is her partner," Koko answered, which she known he had read her mind again. Jacklyn looked at him with an 'oh' look.

Jacklyn looked at Narumi and said, "Sensei, if this partner problem disturbs you, do you mind if I say that I don't need any partner?"

Narumi looked at her and smiled. "Yes, I mind. You must have a partner, as Koko said before, as your ally to train, do some assignments, and your guide in many things about school."

"But it looks like all the students here have had their own partner," she said again.

"That's right," Narumi agreed. "So, if you don't mind, Natsume-kun, Jacklyn-chan will be your second partner after Mikan-chan. Are you okay with that?" Narumi asked the irritated boy.

"Tch," was Natsume's reply as he looked away.

"I'll take that as a yes," Narumi said as he smiled.

"Sensei! What if I replace her to be Natsume-kun's second partner?" Sumire asked with her puppy eyes.

"I'm sorry, Shouda-san, but you have had your own partner," Narumi replied kindly. Sumire pouted because Narumi didn't grant her wish. Narumi looked back at Jacklyn and said, "It's settled then. Jacklyn-chan, your partner will be Mikan-chan and Natsume-kun."

"Okay…Sensei," Jacklyn said, unsure if that gay teacher had made a right decision by choosing Mikan and Natsume as her partners, mainly Natsume.

Narumi smiled. "So, all of you may take your leisure time now. Remember, don't miss Jinno-sensei's class later or you'll be in a big trouble," Narumi said before he went out from the class.

After the students had made sure he wouldn't come back, the class made a commotion. Some of them minded their own business, some played with the others. And some…

"Jacklyn-chan, nice to meet you! My name's Nonoko Ogasawara! Call me Nonoko!" a straight-indigo haired girl greeted her.

"And my name's Anna Umenomiya! Call me Anna!" another girl with wavy-pink hair said.

Yeah, they crowded around her with another students that she hardly could remembered what their names were.

"Um, yeah. Nice to meet you all," she said as she smiled weakly.

She spotted Natsume and a blonde-haired boy went out from the class. 'So, it's okay to go out from class, huh,' she thought. Fortunately, Koko was too busy reading another student's mind.

"Umm, may I ask when Jinno-sensei's class starts?" she asked, trying to get out from the crowds.

"It's on 9.30 am. Why?" Nonoko said, smiling.

"I just remember that I have something to do. See you later!" Jacklyn said as she ran out from the class.

"Make sure that you're not late for Jinno-sensei's class!" Anna said, hoping that Jacklyn heard her.

Mikan tilted her head a little. 'I wonder why she's in a hurry. And, has she known this school's map?' she thought in wonder.

--To be continued--

illutia mist: That's it for this chapter!!

Natsume: (Glares at Jacklyn) That girl smacked my head.

Jacklyn: (Annoyed) Don't blame me. It's what that strange author wanted.

Mikan: (Sweat drops) Here they go again…

illutia mist: I feel like I added a copy of Natsume here. (Looks at Jacklyn)

Jacklyn: Yeah. You're the one who created me.

illutia mist: (Whines) Jacklyn…We're best friend from a long time ago, aren't we?

Jacklyn: (Thinks) I guess so. Besides, you're the one who created me.

Natsume: A freak sketchbook girl that created by a freaky author.

Jacklyn and illutia mist: I'M NOT A FREAK!

Mikan: (Sighs) Great…Jacklyn has a half of Natsume and a half of illutia…By the way, readers, (Smiles) don't mind those three peoples. Please-

Jacklyn: (Smiles) Review. And thank you-

illutia mist: (Big smile) For reading!!XD

WHACK!

illutia mist: (Annoyed) Ouch! Why just me that being hit?! And who's the culprit?!

Natsume: Don't ever smack my head again. (Walksaway)

illutia mist: (Murmurs) Maybe one day…

Natsume: I heard that. (Turns back and a flame appears in his hand)

illutia mist: BYE, EVERYONE!! (Runs away)

Mikan: (Sighs) Oh, well…

Jacklyn: Just let them be.