illutia mist: Hi! Hi! This is illutia mist again!!
Jacklyn: (Annoyed) You're too loud. Can you calm down even for a while?
illutia mist: (Look at Jacklyn) Oh, you're back.
Jacklyn: …Maybe I'll just go somewhere again to cool my head.
illutia mist: (Panicked) NO! NO! DON'T!
Jacklyn: (Raises an eyebrow) And why is that?
illutia mist: (Puppy eyes) I'm lonely here…
Jacklyn: Not my business. (Walks away)
illutia mist: WAIT!! (Chases Jacklyn)
Mikan: (From far away) What's wrong with illutia?
Natsume: Being dumped by her own character.
Mikan: It's too harsh for her.
Natsume: And it's the truth.
Mikan: Can't you be a little soft to her?
Natsume: Nope. She doesn't own us nor Gakuen Alice and the other characters.
Mikan: (Sweat drops) Oh…Okay…
And the two continued watching illutia chasing Jacklyn. Oh, well.
-x-
Small Pieces of You
-x-
5th Piece: The Other Fans Club
RIIINGG!!
An arm stretched from below an orange colored blanket, searching for the source of the noisy sound.
RIIINNGGG!!
The arm searched on the bedside table and finally grabbed something. The owner of the arm sat up, causing the blanket to fall forward and reveal a girl with black hair holding the alarm clock in front of her.
She rubbed her eyes to see the alarm clock then yawned. After she recovered a little of her conscious, she stared at the alarm clock and arched an eyebrow.
"I don't remember that I brought an alarm clock with me," she murmured.
She lifted her head and gazed around the unfamiliar room. It was bigger than her room. Well, a little bigger. She felt something moving beside her. She gazed her eyes to 'that thing' and saw a few strands of auburn hair stuck out from below the blanket. She lifted the blanket and saw Mikan lying there.
"Mikan?" Jacklyn was surprised a little.
She hesitated, but she must wake the brunette due to the alarm clock that rang a few minutes ago.
"Mikan, wake up. The alarm clock has rung," Jacklyn said as she patted the brunette on the cheek gently.
The brunette stirred a little and opened her eyes slowly. She spotted Jacklyn sitting beside her on the bed.
"Jacklyn-chan? What's wrong?" she asked sleepily.
"The alarm has rung a few minutes ago. Sorry. I've turned it off," Jacklyn said as she showed the alarm clock. Mikan's eyes widened.
"OH NO!! WE'RE LATE!!" she suddenly shouted and jumped off from the bed. "WE'RE LATE! WE'RE LATE!!" she kept shouting as she ran to the bathroom.
Jacklyn was dumbfounded for a moment then she looked at herself. She still wore her uniform. She didn't quite remember how she could end up in Mikan's room. She got off from the bed and spotted her bag and sketchbook on the table. She grabbed her sketchbook and got the pencil-colors from her bag. She drew a toothpaste, a toothbrush, and a small towel then she touched it.
Mikan finally got out from her bathroom. Jacklyn walked to her.
"May I use your bathroom? I need to fix myself too," she said politely.
Mikan smiled as she prepared things for classes and said, "Of course." Then her eyes spotted a toothbrush and a tooth paste in Jacklyn's hand. "Is that all yours?" she asked as she pointed the toothbrush in Jacklyn's hand. Jacklyn just nodded then she walked into the bathroom, leaving Mikan with a question in her head. 'Does she always bring her toothbrush and toothpaste everywhere?' she thought when she spotted a white towel hanging on her shoulder, 'And her towel too?'
In five minutes, Jacklyn had finished fixing herself and went out refreshingly from the bathroom. She shoved her toothbrush, toothpaste, and the towel inside her bag.
"Thank you for letting me use your bathroom, Mikan," she said as she smiled at the brunette.
"It's okay, Jacklyn-chan," Mikan said. "Let's go! We've been late!"
Then they ran out from Mikan's room and turned, ran, turned, ran until they finally got out from the dormitory. They crossed the path and green field and reached the Junior High School Building. Jacklyn just let Mikan drag her because she hadn't memorized the school map. After a few minutes being dragged…
BUMP!
It's like a slow motion scene. Jacklyn, who was been dragged behind, saw Mikan almost falling after bumped into someone. Initiatively, she quickly went behind the brunette and prevented her from falling.
"It was very close," Jacklyn said as she sighed. "Are you okay, Mikan?"
Mikan straightened herself as she looked at Jacklyn. "Yes, I'm okay. Thank you, Jacklyn-chan," she smiled.
Both of them then looked at the person which Mikan bumped into.
And as usual, it's Natsume. He looked irritated.
"Good morning, Natsume!" Mikan greeted him with a big smile.
"Tch." He looked away.
"Good morning," Jacklyn greeted.
Natsume glanced at her and…
"NOT AGAIN!!" Jacklyn shouted as she swished her sketchbook. It got burnt again. Natsume just played a smirk on his lips.
"NATSUME!!" Mikan scowled him.
SMACK!!
Jacklyn hit his head with her sketchbook. A vein was on her head.
"What have I done to you that you have to burn my sketchbook?!" she scowled.
Natsume just threw a glare at her. Jacklyn glared back at him. And the glaring contest between them began.
"Natsume?"
Mikan looked at the direction of the voice. "Ruka-pyon! Good morning!" she greeted him.
Natsume and Jacklyn ended their glaring contest and looked at the aforementioned person. A blonde-haired boy with a pair of cerulean eyes smiled at them.
"Good morning, Natsume," he greeted the crimson-eyed boy.
"Ruka," Natsume called the blonde boy's name.
Ruka looked at Jacklyn. "Good morning, um…" he greeted her, but stopped because he didn't know her name.
"Jacklyn. Good morning," Jacklyn smiled.
"Double faces," Natsume muttered. Jacklyn glared at him.
"Good morning, my dear students," a familiar cheery gay's voice said. "All of you are late."
The four of them looked at the gay teacher, Narumi.
"Good morning, Narumi-sensei," Mikan greeted him.
"Good morning," Ruka greeted him.
Jacklyn just bowed her head a little and Natsume looked away.
"What are you doing here?" Narumi asked as a smile appeared on his face.
Natsume turned away. "Let's go, Ruka," he said then he walked away. Ruka followed him to the class.
"Natsume, wait!!" Mikan chased the two best friends, leaving Narumi and Jacklyn behind.
Jacklyn looked at Narumi. Narumi smiled at her.
"I heard you shout a while ago. Your shout is almost as amazing as Mikan's," Narumi teased her.
Jacklyn bent her eyebrows. "That cocky boy burnt my sketchbook again. And I don't know what the reason is," she said in annoyance. "I just helped Mikan so she wouldn't fall after she bumped into him. And when I greeted him, he burnt my sketchbook."
Narumi chuckled. "Ah, he has his own reason," he said mysteriously. Jacklyn arched an eyebrow. 'Looks like he didn't like you spoiling his fun, Jacklyn-chan,' he thought as he smiled at the confused girl.
Jacklyn stared at Narumi for a while then she swished her hand up and down, giving him a signal to bend down. Narumi bent a little so his head was on the same level with her head.
"What is it, Jacklyn-chan?" Narumi asked, smiling.
"About my alice…Please don't tell anyone about that," Jacklyn said hesitantly.
Narumi raised his eyebrows. "Why?" he asked.
"I just…want to keep it to myself…can I?" Jacklyn pleaded with an innocent face. 'Actually, I'm afraid they'll look down at me because of my alice,' she thought.
Narumi thought for a while then he smiled. "Okay. It's up to you. But the headmaster and the other teachers have the right to know. They have been told about your alice," he said.
Jacklyn smiled and said, "No problem. Thank you, Sensei." Then she ran to the classroom.
Narumi sighed as he watched the girl's back disappeared behind the door then he proceeded his way to the classroom.
Jacklyn walked to her seat which was in front of Mikan. She tried to ignore every person who looked at her, which were Sumire and the other fan girls. As she sat down on her seat, Narumi went into the classroom.
"Good morning, class," he greeted cheerfully. "Let's start the lesson now."
And the class went on…
-x-
"Mikan, may I ask you something?" Jacklyn asked as she drank her lemon tea.
They were at the cafeteria now. It was lunch time. Jacklyn was very hungry because she hadn't eaten lunch and dinner yesterday. Plus, no breakfast this morning. It wasn't only them on the table. There was Hotaru Imai too. Mikan just introduced her to Jacklyn when they was about to go to the cafeteria.
Mikan looked up from her lunch. "What is it?" she asked.
"How did I end up in your room?" Jacklyn asked, curious.
"Oh, about that," Mikan drank her orange juice so she could clear her throat and started to explain, "After you gave us what you said 'present' yesterday, you fell asleep."
"And?" Jacklyn was really curious.
"After thirty minutes, you haven't woken up, so we decided to take you to the dorm, or rather, I was the one who decided," Mikan explained.
Jacklyn nodded, meaning that she understood the story so far.
"But the robot in the dorm, Takahashi, was in repair. I didn't know where you room is, so we took you to my room," Mikan ended.
"You dragged me to your room?" Jacklyn asked, disbelieved.
Mikan froze for a while then giggled. "Of course not, Jacklyn-chan," she said.
Jacklyn arched an eyebrow. "So, how did you bring me to your room?" she asked in wonder.
"Natsume was the one who carried you," Mikan answered as she smiled.
Jacklyn bent her eyebrows. "That cocky boy?" she asked again. A half was irritated and a half again was disbelieved.
"Yeah. It's hard to persuade him, you know," Mikan said as she ate her lunch again.
"What did you say to him?" Jacklyn was curious.
Mikan shrugged. "I don't know. I just looked at him intently and asked him to carry you. Finally, he gave you a piggy-back ride," she said, satisfied with what she had done yesterday.
Jacklyn just gave her an 'oh' look. 'Sometimes can be relied on, huh,' she thought. Now, she believed what Mikan had told her before. "I think I should thank him for yesterday," Jacklyn said, continuing to eat her lunch.
Just then, two boys entered the cafeteria. The girls were squealing and shouting. Jacklyn looked at the entrance door and finally understood why the girls were shouting. It was them, Natsume and Ruka.
"Long lived that Natsume. He entered when we just finished talking about him," she murmured then she turned back to her lunch and ate it.
Natsume approached their table. He took a seat beside Mikan and Ruka took a seat beside Hotaru who sat beside Jacklyn.
Jacklyn finished her lunch and drank her lemon tea. After she finished drinking her lemon tea, she looked at Natsume who was sitting in front of her.
"Natsume," she called the raven-haired boy. Natsume just glanced at her. She smiled and said, "Thank you for yesterday. Mikan has told me about it."
He didn't reply. Well, it's not a problem for Jacklyn, but not for Mikan. The brunette nudged his arm softly and whispered, "Say something."
"Hn," was all his reply as he looked away. Jacklyn just smiled.
She opened her sketchbook, but she was surprised when she didn't find the Sakura petal and shamrock that she had made alive yesterday. She opened the other page. They were nowhere on all pages. She turned her sketchbook and poked it. Nothing fell from it.
'It's gone…' she thought, shocked. She looked inside her bag. The toothbrush, toothpaste, and the towel were still there. 'Then, how come…' her thought was interrupted when something struck her. 'Maybe…it just can stand for twenty four hours?'
Everyone at the table was looking at her now. She looked up then smiled. "Nothing. Sorry," she said, smiling. 'I better observe it further,' she thought.
"Talking about yesterday, Jacklyn-chan," Mikan suddenly said. Jacklyn looked at her as she smiled. "Those butterflies yesterday, is that your alice?" Mikan looked at her intently.
Jacklyn was silent, wondering she should tell her or not. All persons at the table that consisted of Hotaru, Ruka, and Mikan were paying their attentions to her once again. Natsume also did the same, even though he just glanced at her.
"Sort of," Jacklyn said simply as she smiled.
"So you finally found your alice? What is it?" Mikan asked, excited.
'Should I tell her?' Jacklyn thought deeply. "Um…my alice is…" Jacklyn started.
"If it isn't the non-alice girl," a coquettish voice said.
Jacklyn shifted her gaze to the direction of the voice. She found an unfamiliar wavy-black haired girl. Jacklyn bent her eyebrows. "What do you want?" she asked, a little rude because the girl called her 'non-alice girl'. Plus, she didn't like her coquettish voice.
"Don't be so rude," the girl giggled, still with her coquettishness.
Jacklyn glared at her then she opened her bag, taking a small paper and drawing something on it. "I don't have any problem with you. Can you leave us in peace now?" she said without looking at the girl, acting busy with her drawing.
The girl frowned. "Not only alice, you don't have a good manner too," she said, starting to get irritated.
Jacklyn finished her drawing and looked at her. "For your information, I have a good manner than you. I won't bug people having their lunch by insulting him or her by all of a sudden. And second, I wouldn't be here by now if I don't have any alice," she explained nonchalantly.
Mikan was awed at Jacklyn's suddenly change. 'She looks like Hotaru a bit,' she thought. While Ruka and Natsume thought, 'the second Hotaru Imai has appeared.' And Hotaru? She kept on eating her lunch without any care.
The girl pursed her lips. "You'll pay, you little devil. How dare you mess with Marika Houji. You'll regret it later," she said as she walked away.
Jacklyn sighed. 'Finally, the intruder has gone,' she thought as she looked back at Mikan who was staring at her now. Jacklyn wondered. "What's wrong, Mikan?" she inquired kindly as she smiled.
"Jacklyn-chan, do you have multi personalities?" Mikan asked, still with her awed expression.
Jacklyn shrugged her shoulders playfully. "Who knows? My personality is depending to the circumstances. I think I can express myself more at home," Jacklyn explained.
"So, can you explain what personalities that you have and where?" Mikan asked, curious.
"Actually, I don't really understand myself either. But I can say that I'm not a cheery girl like you, Mikan," Jacklyn smiled. "You have a fun personality."
Mikan blushed a little. "Thank you, Jacklyn-chan," she said sheepishly.
"She's annoying," Natsume muttered and Mikan noticed it.
"You're the only one who says that." Mikan was irritated.
"You never knew how many people think that you're annoying," he said, expressionless. Mikan glared at him.
"And they don't know that you're a pervert," Mikan retorted.
Jacklyn blinked. 'Pervert?' she wondered.
"You're the only one who says that," Natsume replied.
"Geez! If only the fan girls know, what will they think about you?" Mikan threatened.
"They won't care," Natsume said simply.
"I'm tired to always have a debate with you," Mikan rolled her eyes. "So, Jacklyn-chan, how do you act at school and home?" Mikan asked Jacklyn, who was a little drowning in the 'couple's' debate just now.
"Usually, I'll be a taciturn one and what you say, a kind one. And a polite one in front of the older people. But if they piss me off, I can't help but being cold or a rude one," Jacklyn explained as she recalled her attitude before she went to the Alice Academy. "And I'm just like a normal one at home. I'll express what I feel that time, but I'm not a taciturn one and not too kind," she added. 'Home…Are my parents worried about me now?" she thought sadly. 'Nah! They have Izu!' She slapped her cheeks hardly with her palms.
"Um, what's wrong, Jacklyn-chan?" Mikan asked her, surprised because Jacklyn suddenly slapped her own cheeks.
"Nothing." Jacklyn smiled as she rubbed her cheeks that have a red mark now. "By the way, who's that Marika Houji?" she asked back.
"I don't know," Mikan replied as she shrugged her tiny shoulders.
"The president of the second Natsume-Ruka fans club," Hotaru suddenly said.
Jacklyn looked at her. "There's another fans club?" she asked.
"Actually, there are many fans club of them in this Alice Academy. They have their own reasons and purposes," Mikan replaced Hotaru to explain.
Jacklyn looked at Ruka. Ruka noticed this and smiled at her. Jacklyn smiled back. 'If it's Ruka, I'm not wondering,' she thought. She glanced at Natsume. Natsume was reading his manga. 'But this cocky boy?' she thought in disbelief. 'Mikan said that sometimes he can be relied on too. But he never showed it to everyone, right? Are the girls drooling at him just because his looks?'
Jacklyn looked around the cafeteria and spotted Marika Houji and her gang at the corner. They were glaring at her and whispering something to the other fan girls. Jacklyn glared back.
'What's wrong with them?' she thought as she shifted her gaze back to Mikan. Mikan was arguing with Natsume about something, Hotaru was eating her crab dish and Luca was patting his rabbit on the head.
"Jacklyn-san?" a voice said behind her. Jacklyn turned to face the person and found a boy with brown hair who was unfamiliar to her. 'Maybe he's from another class,' she thought.
"Yes?" Jacklyn asked politely with a little smile on her face.
"I've been told by someone to call you because Narumi-sensei is searching for you," he said with a smile too.
"Oh, okay. Where can I meet him?" Jacklyn stood up.
"I don't know. Maybe you can meet him in the teacher's lounge," the boy said.
"Okay. Thank you for the announcement. I'll go there later," Jacklyn said and the boy smiled at her before he went back to his seat.
Jacklyn looked at her lunch-mates. "Sorry, I have to go now. Narumi-sensei is waiting," she said.
"Okay. See you later, Jacklyn-chan," Mikan smiled. Ruka and Hotaru just nodded at her. Natsume…didn't care.
Jacklyn hung her bag on her back and held her sketchbook in her arm. The small paper that she took before was inside her sketchbook.
"I'll see all of you later!" she said before she got out from the cafeteria.
After she went out from the cafeteria, she turned to the left and found a girl there. She wanted to ask her where the teacher's lounge was when the girl looked at her too.
"So you're Jacklyn? Narumi-sensei wants to meet you, but in the Northern Woods," the girl said. "Please follow me."
Jacklyn followed her without any suspicion.
They went out from the Junior High School building to an unfamiliar direction that Jacklyn didn't know. What she knew was they walked until they reached a place like a forest and went in there. Finally, they arrived at an open space in the forest. Jacklyn looked around but didn't find any glimpse of Narumi. The girl suddenly stopped.
"Um, where's Narumi-sensei?" Jacklyn asked politely.
"You think that gay teacher is really searching for you?" a coquettish voice said from the bushes.
A wavy-black haired girl appeared with her gang from the bushes. It was Marika Houji and the fan girls.
"I've told you that you'll regret it later," she said with a wicked smile.
--To be continued--
Jacklyn: (Irritated) Stop following me.
illutia mist: (Clings to Jacklyn's left arm) Won't!
Jacklyn: (Sighs) What do you want?
illutia mist: (Smiles) A companion.
Jacklyn: Why don't you check out your reviews now so you can stop bugging me?
illutia mist: (Teary-eyes) I've checked it. They're sooooooooooooooo little!
Jacklyn: (Arch an eyebrow) What are you? A baby? At least there are reviews there.
illutia mist: I know. I'm just kidding. (Grins)
Jacklyn: (Murmurs) What a weird author.
illutia mist: (Pouts) I'm not weird. I'm just kidding.
Jacklyn: (Rolls her eyes) Whatever.
illutia mist: What's with that reply?
Jacklyn: You don't have anything to say to the readers? They have done reading this piece, you know.
illutia mist: (Big smile) Oh yeah! Thank you for reading, good readers!! Please review! I very appreciate it. And please take a read at my other stories too and review them, okay? Thank you so much!! I can write until this far because of all of you!! See you in the next piece!!