A/N: Hopefully this wasn't too long of a wait! I'm also sorry this is more of a filler, I need to set the background more. Also, if you guys have any questions about boarding school, feel free to ask since it is NOTHING like Zoey 101, just want to put that out there :)
Chapter 3.
"Mikan, we're here," a gentle voice woke Mikan from her sleep. She rubbed her eyes, trying to adjust to the darkness of the bus. After exploring campus, Misaki had gone back to the dorm to welcome the rest of the girls. Mikan, Aoi, Nonoko, and Anna decided to sign up for a trip to the mall off campus to buy some last minute supplies and get to know the area a bit better. The bus was filled with mostly what seemed like upperclassmen from the way they looked at the newbies with obvious contempt. No one bothered to say anything to them and the girls were fine with going off merrily by themselves. They had gotten the necessities, decoration for their rooms, and stocked up on more snacks. Mikan must have scoured the entire mall for fluff puffs to no avail. She couldn't wait to go back to school and share some with her friends. Speaking of going back, Mikan wanted to get a gift for her roommate. It was hard because Mikan knew nothing about her except her supposed interest in math and science. She ended up settling for a pretty box of chocolates and a lovely lavender scented candle.
After the friends finished at the general stores, Aoi and Anna wanted to go look at clothes so they headed to Kiss, where all four realized they would have to buy clothes that fit the dress code, which was so not easy. "What do you think?" Aoi said as she stepped out of the dressing room in a cute cream colored short sleeved blouse and a buttoned jean skirt reaching her knees. She topped it off with cropped two inch black boots and a black leather jacket, perfect for fall.
They all squealed in approval, until Nonoko frowned, "wait the skirt is a little ripped, Misaki said we can't have anything ripped or acid washed." Everyone sighed and went back to searching. This happened again with Mikan's navy blue dress, whose straps were too thin, Anna's silky shirt that was just a little bit see through, Nonoko's baby pink sweater and black leggings, where the sweater was too short to cover her butt and inseam. The girls were in the store for a good two hours until finally everyone settled on a couple outfits that would hopefully get them through a whole week with the rest of the wardrobe they brought from home.
"I wish we could just have uniforms if it's going to be this hard to find clothes," Aoi grumbled.
"Exactly," Mikan agreed, "And even though these three outfits pass dress code and are pretty cute, buying everything at original price will end with me being broke."
"Yeah, my two outfits cost around three hundred dollars!" Anna exclaimed, "I could buy enough ingredients to bake a thousand cakes!" The four laughed. They continued chatting as they walked back to the main mall entrance, getting back on their bus, where the four launched into a conversation about their outfits for the first day. Mikan was still jet lagged and found herself zoning out. She quickly fell asleep, which did not go unnoticed by the other three, who took many pictures for future blackmail and laughs.
Mikan was woken up by Aoi ten minutes later. "Do you all want to meet up after you put your stuff away? In my room?" Aoi suggested to the group as they made their way back to their dorm.
"Sure, your roommate won't mind right?" Mikan asked.
"Nope, I don't have one. My dad pulled some strings for me," Aoi grinned, "He told them I'm a sleep talker and walker which technically is true, 2% of the time."
"Sounds good!" everyone replied.
When they arrived, Mikan ran upstairs to put all her new things away. I wonder if Hotaru is here yet. She thought to herself as she unlocked her door, trying Misaki's trick to open it. Success! Mikan walked in to find the other half of the room still empty. Darn it. Is she okay? Why isn't she here? It's almost 10 o'clock! The brunette was tired of waiting, she wanted to meet her roommate as soon as possible and become best friends like in Zoey 101. She wrapped the candle and chocolates, writing a note that said: Hey Hotaru! I'm so excited to be your roommate this year! Hope we can get along and become good friends! Love, Mikan :)
Mikan set her gift on Hotaru's desk and proceeded to hanging up her new outfits. Depending on the weather, she was either going to wear a light yellow ruffled belle inspired wrap dress, made of chiffon material, with a fabric tie around the waist in a loose bow, and brown ankle boots, or a maroon skater skirt, white top, jean jacket, and black combat boots. Mikan was hoping for the first outfit, since it was Belle inspired, and she was Mikan's favorite Disney princess. She was a reader, something more than just looking pretty and singing with animals. Belle was a dreamer, had a thirst for knowledge, a woman ahead of her time. She was full of courage, willing to make sacrifices for the ones she loved. Belle had taken a bad situation and made it good for herself. She never judged the beast. She put herself out there, and was not afraid of getting hurt. Mikan was only 15, but she had gone through a lot in life. Her cheerful and carefree attitude was the result of all her hardships. She hoped coming to Gakuen Alice Academy would bring new adventure to her life, and if there were challenges, she would say, bring it on!
Mikan POV.
"Your brother is sooooo cute!" Anna squealed. We were sprawled on a soft, fluffy white blanket in the center of Aoi's room. "Yeah," Nonoko murmured in agreement. Thank god I wasn't the only one to think that. Aoi sighed, "I could say ew but I've heard it all before, besides, I won't deny it, if he's cute then I have to be smokin' cause we're related but I'm much better looking." Good logic Aoi.
"What do you think Mikan?" Anna turned to me excitedly.
"Me? Oh, um, yeah, he's an attractive person I guess," I stammered, praying my face wasn't as red as it was hot, "He kind of reminds me of um…." I tended to ramble when I was nervous, "of um…. a cat!" I blurted out. The three of them burst out laughing.
"A cat?" Aoi snickered.
I decided to just go with it, since there was no getting myself out of this one, "Yup, a cat. A black cat. I like to match people with animals that fit their personality or appearance."
"Enlighten us on why Natsume is a black cat", Nonoko giggled.
"Well, cats are usually seen as less affectionate and more grumpy than let's say dogs. When you go pet it, it might scratch or run away from you. But if you keep trying to bond with it, and get to really know a cat, they slowly get used to you and become immensely loving and sweet. I don't know Hyuuga, but I don't think he's always such a cold and dark person. He's friends with Nogi and I think who you're friends with says a lot about you as a person. Obviously Nogi is a kind hearted person so why would he be so close with Hyuuga if Hyuuga was as awful as he acted."
Aoi looked impressed, "Wow Mikan, that was actually pretty spot on. How are you so good at analyzing people? My brother is like one of those Russian dolls, you think you know him and then you realize there's like seven more layers inside." We all laughed.
"Wait but if who you hang out with says a lot about you, why does he hang out with that Koizumi girl?" Nonoko wondered.
"That's one of his many layers," Aoi responded. "Okay, enough about onii-chan, we should watch a movie."
"Oh! I know a good one, Starstruck!" Anna exclaimed.
"The one with Sterling Knight?! It's one of my favorites," I yelled.
"Let's do it!" we all cheered.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP "Urgh." I grumbled as I slapped my nightstand, searching for my phone to shut up the cruel noise that woke me from my beauty sleep. Wait. My eyes shot open. I wasn't at home. I was at Gakuen Alice Academy. Suddenly, I was wide awake from the adrenaline and excitement. I checked the time on my phone, 7:30 AM. Perfect. Today wasn't the first day of school, but the first of three days of orientation. The whole school was going hiking in the Northern woods, which was considered part of the Gakuen campus. I got dressed in denim shorts, a white t shirt, and black nike sneakers. I decided to go with two loose french braids for my hair. I grabbed my phone, key and black sports bag I had packed the night before with a water bottle, sunscreen, bug spray, and a pack of gummy bears.
I met up with Anna, Nonoko, and Aoi for breakfast. I sat down with a bowl of scrambled eggs and a glass of chocolate milk, observing the rest of the dining hall. Yesterday, it seemed like there were at least a thousand students at the school, but now that I'm more used to things, there's probably only around two hundred. That's about fifty per grade. Wow. Definitely not a lot. Aoi told me that's why years here get mixed up easily. Many classes have people anywhere from grade nine to twelve. For instance, I tested into level three english, so I would be put into that class, whereas in public school I would have just been stuck in english one. Same with Nonoko, who would be taking AP chemistry as a Freshman. Even though years seemed to be mixed here, there were still obvious cliques. A table of all the hardcore jocks, the music and theater group, the LGBTQIA+ squad, the ones who actually took Gakuen seriously as a preppy school and looked like a bunch of Blairs from Gossip girl, the nice kids who were just- nice, the overachievers who were were already reading their textbooks and starting their homework (how?), the student council kids, the list goes on. But what really drew my attention was the table in the middle of the dining hall. There sat Natsume Hyuuga in all his glory, Ruka Nogi with a charming smile on his face, a boy with messy dirty blonde hair and a goofy expression, a boy with black hair styled in a buzz cut, and a blonde girl with a scowl on her face. You know when you see something that makes you so awestruck, you want to keep looking but you know you should turn away and not do a doubletake? This was not it. (LOL) But the group did emanate a kind of eliteness that made people wish they could sit with them but also know they could never be good enough to. I almost choked on my eggs when I saw the blonde girl attempt to feed Hyuuga a grape. That must be Koizumi. Thankfully he rejected it because I would have thrown up my breakfast right then and there. I turned away from the scene and joined the conversation at the table.
After breakfast, everyone was instructed to go wait outside in the school front yard where there'd be papers with lists for the groups. We were split off into twenty groups of around ten, which were our advisor groups for the rest of the year. Advisors were teachers that would also act as guidance counselors, parents, a support system for students away from home. Throughout the year we would do activities as a group together and individual check ins with our advisor. I scanned the list for my group, finally finding my name under a someone called Noda. Misaki's name was also in the group. Score! But there was a little x next to her name. "Why do some of the names on here have x's next to them?" I wondered out loud.
"They're for proctors who have their own orientation," came a voice beside me. Hey! It was the boy from Hyuuga's table, the one with the goofy expression.
"Thanks!" I replied, smiling at him. Come to think of it, he's the first one I've talked to outside of my current group.
He chuckled, "No problem, name's Koko Yome, nice to meet you." I was about to reply with my name, but he rushed off into a random crowd before I could say a word. Huh. What a strange kid.
I walked back to the girls. "What groups are you all in?" I asked Aoi, Anna, and Nonoko.
"We're in the same one, someone also called Misaki haha!" Anna and Nonoko replied, high fiving each other.
Aoi pouted, "Luckyyy! I'm in Persona's group with my onii-chan. From what I heard, he's an absolute creep and suspected sadist."
"Aw Aoi, at least you're with someone," I tried to make her feel better, "I have to actually go and talk to new people which terrifies me."
"Yeah, but onii-chan never comes to these things. He apparently thinks these activities aren't worth his time." "OKAY PEOPLE GET INTO YOUR GROUPS HURRY UP" a loud voice blasted out through all the speakers around the yard. I gulped. I swear that voice will be in my nightmares tonight.
"See you later girls!" we bid each other farewell and good luck before heading off to the signs that had our group name on it. Except when I got to the sign with my name on it, there was no one there! What the heck? A blonde man walked up to me. "Mikan Sakura?"
"Yes?"
"Nice to meet you honey, I'm Narumi-sensei. You're the only new addition to Noda-sensei's group this year. Now you must be wondering why there's no one from your group here."
"Yeah, I was wondering why…"
"Well Noda-sensei is often sick and doesn't come to these activities, so everyone in the group never shows up either…"
"Oh." I honestly didn't know what to say. So what would I do then?...
"You're certainly welcome to join my group, or treat this as free time to explore the campus some more." Narumi offered.
"No, it's okay, I don't want to intrude on your group sir, after all, it is an advisor group activity. Thank you, I'll look around the campus some more." I replied, having no intention of walking around an empty campus.
"I'm sorry sweety! See you later," Narumi waved as he walked back to his group. Most of the groups had left, and after Narumi's disappeared into the woods, I was the only one in the entire once packed yard. What do I do now?
What do you think Mikan's going to do? *evil laughter* I hope she doesn't make stupid decisions. Like go into the woods by herself... FORESHAD— ;) Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think!
