DISCLAIMER: I don't own Gakuen Alice.
CHAPTER 5
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"So you guys better be at my house tomorrow, okay? No excuses. It's my birthday." Sumire announced to everyone in the class.
"Especially you, Mikan." She turned to her and pointed accusingly, "You've been missing a lot these past few months."
Mikan couldn't help feeling a little guilty. It was true that she was missing a lot of things with her friends. She's been spending less time with them since she started seeing Natsume secretly, especially when sensei gave her a spare key to his apartment. She would mostly find herself hanging out with him at his place during weekends since they couldn't go out to public places.
She guessed she really have to attend Sumire's birthday. Even though she loved spending time with Natsume and enjoying every minute of it, Mikan was also starting to miss her friends.
"I'll be there, Permy." She said, grinning.
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"Hey, listen, I won't be able to come to your place tomorrow. It's Sumire's birthday. She's throwing a party at her house."
Natsume suddenly froze. He was talking to Mikan through his phone using the loudspeaker while checking test papers.
"How long will you be there?" He asked.
"Uh… I don't know… Maybe until it ended. Sumire doesn't really like it when her guests leave without finishing the party."
Natsume frowned. He was sure the party will take as long as it gets and there was no doubt that alcoholic drinks would be served. He knew how high school students party. He'd been there before. And he knew how wild teenagers could get once alcohol gets into their system.
"How would you go home?"
"With Ruka and Hotaru. Ruka will bring his car. But I might also just spend the night at Sumire's house."
Natsume didn't like the idea one bit. A lot could happen in a party filled with drunk hormonal teenagers. But he couldn't just tell Mikan not to attend the party. He knew it was important for her to spend time and have fun with her friends. He didn't want to be too possessive of her, even though that was what he really wanted to do right now.
"Hey , Natsume, are you still there?" He heard Mikan asked on the other line when he went silent.
"Yeah…"
"Don't worry about it, I don't get drunk easy." Mikan said, as if she had just read what he was thinking about.
"Of course, you don't. Once you're drunk, you wouldn't be able to notice that you are." He scoffed but he only heard her giggle at the other line.
"You're just being paranoid. I'll be fine. I've been to other parties before and nothing happened to me." Mikan assured him but Natsume was still worried.
He let out a sigh. He knew he couldn't do anything about it.
"Let me know if you're going back to your dorm or if you'll sleepover."
"I will! But I'll see you on Sunday, okay?"
"You bet you will."
She giggled. "I'll go to bed now, Natsume. I'll see you Sunday. Goodnight!"
"'Night. And don't drink too much alcohol tomorrow." He reminded her then ended the call without waiting for her response.
Natsume suddenly lost the interest to continue checking the test papers. He was still worrying about the stupid party tomorrow. He trusted Mikan, but it was the guys who were going to be at the party that he didn't.
Damn. He forgot to ask her if Andou will be there as well.
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Mikan was having fun at the party. It had already started when she arrived with Hotaru and Ruka. Almost everyone she knew at school was already there and it seemed that some had already started drinking beers.
She was chatting animatedly with some of her classmates when she heard her cell phone beeped indicating that there was an incoming message.
She took out her phone and saw the sender was Natsume.
How are you?
A small smile came to her lips as she read the simple message. She quickly replied.
Great! I'm having fun. :D don't worry, I'm not drunk yet. ;)
It didn't take a minute when her cell phone beeped again.
'Yet'?
She couldn't help her lips from breaking into a wide grin. She knew he'd react.
"Why are you grinning like an idiot?" Mikan heard Hotaru, who was sitting right next to her, asked.
"Yeah, Mikan. Why do you look so happy? Who are you exchanging messages with?" asked Anna who was on the same table with them.
"Oh, uh—"
"You know, there's something different with you lately." Nonoko cut her short.
She felt herself turned pale at Nonoko's remark. She tried to compose herself and act normal.
"Really?" She tried to let out a laugh, hoping that it didn't sound nervous.
Her friends just stared at her. She started to feel uneasy.
"Anyway, who were you texting?" Hotaru asked Anna's earlier question again.
"Oh, just s-someone…"
"Oh my god! That's a boy, isn't it? You're seeing someone!" Anna squealed excitedly.
Mikan felt her face heated up.
"Who is he?! Why aren't you telling us you're seeing a guy?!" Nonoko asked, her eyes widening.
Hotaru was simply looking at her suspiciously.
Mikan didn't know how to answer her friends. She couldn't deny now that she was seeing someone since the answer was obvious with her red face.
"Well, Mikan…" Her friends waited for her confirmation.
"Uh… Yeah…" Anna and Nonoko started squealing again. "But you don't know him! He's not from our school." She quickly added.
"Obviously. If that guy was from our school, then we would've known about it right away." Said Nonoko.
"Yeah. Nothing stays in secret in Gakuen Alice." Anna concurred.
Mikan tried to laugh but deep inside, she got worried about what Anna said.
"So what's his name?" Hotaru asked.
Mikan was starting to feel her palms sweating. She shifted to her chair, feeling uncomfortable. She didn't know how to answer her question.
"Huh? Uhm… It's—"
"Hey girls, are you enjoying yourselves?" Mikan felt relieved when Sumire appeared to their table. The birthday girl had been busy entertaining her other guests and hadn't been able to stay for too long with them earlier.
"We are! And guess what? Mikan has a boyfriend and the guy's from other school!" Anna exclaimed to Sumire.
Sumire turned to her, looking at her in amazement.
"I knew it! That's why you were always missing in action lately!" She accused.
Mikan just laughed. She didn't know how to respond.
"So who was he? What's his name?" Sumire pressed.
"H-His name… Uh… His name's Touya!" Mikan gave out the first male name that came into her mind.
"Touya… How did you two meet then?" Nonoko questioned her.
Mikan was becoming more and more uncomfortable. She was not the type of person who could just make up stories on the spot. She was unconsciously rubbing her sweating palms together under the table.
"Why is the spotlight on me tonight? I'm not the birthday girl! It's Sumire!" She tried to avert the topic.
"So what did Koko give you, Permy? I saw you two talking quite closely earlier." She teased.
Sumire blushed while Nonoko and Anna let out an excited squeal. Her attempt to change the topic seemed to take effect when Anna and Nonoko turned their attention to Sumire and started bombarding the birthday girl with questions about her and Koko.
Mikan felt extremely relieved. She had joined and Anna and Nonoko in teasing Sumire. Permy, although blushing furiously, seemed to feel pleased.
After a while, Mikan excused herself to get another drink since she had already emptied her glass.
She squeaked from surprise when Hotaru suddenly appeared beside her while she was taking a can of beer from the table of beverages.
"Hotaru! You surprised me!"
"Same goes for you. When are you going to introduce this Touya to me?" Hotaru asked stoically.
"I-Introduce…?"
"Yeah. You already know who my boyfriend is. So shouldn't you be introducing yours to me?"
Mikan gulped. She had no idea how to escape this one. She felt so bad about lying to her best friend. If it was under some normal circumstances, Mikan would be telling Hotaru straight away all the details about her love life; but the kind of love life she had right now was far from normal and frowned upon by the society.
Hotaru seemed to notice her uneasiness.
"If you don't want to introduce him, fine." Then her best friend turned around and started walking away from her.
Mikan felt terrible. She knew Hotaru was upset. This was the first time that she didn't confide to her friend. The two of them always tell each other everything. She'd understand if Hotaru would feel hurt but she would not be able to take it if Hotaru would get mad at her.
After she had made a decision, she walked back to their table.
"Hey, Hotaru. Can I talk to you for a sec?" She whispered to her friend. The others didn't seem to mind when she and Hotaru left the table. They were already used to them having their own little world sometimes.
They went to an empty area at the back of the house.
"What is it?" Hotaru asked indifferently.
"I wanna tell you something…"
"Clearly. That's why you brought me here."
Mikan ignored her as she took a deep breath. She's gotta say it before she change her mind,
"It was Hyuuga-sensei."
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A.N.: I know, I know. It's different. It's no longer in first person point of view. I changed it. I'm already having a hard time writing in that style, one of the reasons why I couldn't update sooner. I actually plan to revise the previous chapters but, apparently, I'm too lazy to do it. I'm really sorry for being inconsistent. I hate it, too.
Tell me what you think but no flames, por favor. If you want it to be like before, I'll try to revise this chapter and use the First PoV again. I'll update sooner if people will review. (I'm a certified review whore. 0.0) :P