Hikaru

A few days before school opened again, we went back to Switzerland and returned to our normal routines. I had to adjust to being without Ludwig but I can say I adjusted well since I started hanging out more with Lin and the other girls. I can also say that I avoided hanging out with the guys since it was uncomfortable being around them…but then again it was kind of impossible since their houses were close to mine and they kept coming around the house during their free time to hang out with Ryuto and I also kept running into them when I walked my dogs.

And then when school started, it got even more awkward.

I was rushing across the courtyard, trying to hurry to my first hour before the bell ever rang because I knew that around the school somewhere, the guys were hanging out—and if they caught me, that'd mean I'd have to endure the awkwardness…all of the awkwardness.

So, as I rushed across the courtyard, I spotted a blonde head with hair pushed back exactly like Ludwig's and I let out a yelp as I fell flat on my face.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" a voice shouted.

"I'm sorry!" I said, looking up. "I didn't see you there at all. I should've been paying attention to where I was going and I'm so sorr…" My voice faltered as a tall, dark-skinned boy stood in front of me with his arms folded across his chest. The boy was incredibly handsome with dark hair and dark brown eyes. He looked familiar, like I've seen him before.

I glanced away before he noticed me staring at him and I started gathering the things that fell out of my bag. "I'm really sorry," I said again without looking at the boy. "I didn't notice you there at all and—" I froze as he put his hand over mine.

"It wasn't me who you tripped over," the boy said. "It was Karpusi over there." He nodded to another boy who was sleeping soundly with a cat resting on his chest. "And don't worry about it. He doesn't feel a thing when he sleeps."

"But—"

The boy grinned as he put my things in my bag. "I said don't worry about it. I'm Sadik Adnan, by the way. I believe you've seen me with Kiku Honda before?"

"Oh, yes, I remember now," I said, thinking of when Ryuto and I just started Gakuen. "I'm Hikaru Sohma. I'm a friend of Kiku, too."

"See? We're friends through Kiku so don't worry about it." He stood up and stretched a hand out to me. "Need help?"

I nodded and took his hand and he pulled me up. "Thank you so much," I said, smiling at him.

Sadik grinned at me. "Anytime," he said, waving at me as I ran off to me class.

When I found the hallway where my locker was, I saw that Lin was waiting for me at the entrance. "So, I hear that you were with a certain Turk earlier," she said, smiling at me.

"What?" I said as I opened my locker. "I—" I glanced at Lin, who was grinning at me. "Where did you hear that?"

"I saw it, okay, Hikaru?" she said, laughing. "You're such a lucky girl. You have two guys going after you and they're so damn fine and—"
"Ludwig and I broke up, Lin, so that's that." I started putting a few textbooks into my bag when I realized that one of my notebooks was missing. "Oh, crap. Lin, my journal's gone… Ack, I must've dropped it earlier…" I glanced up to see Sadik standing in front of me with a grin on his face and holding a composition journal out to me.

"I believe this is yours," Sadik said, handing me the journal.

I blushed and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lin grin at us. Then she squeezed me from behind. "Um, tha—"

"Hikaru says thank you, Sadik!" she cried, taking the journal from him.

"You're welcome. Anytime you need me, just call, okay?" He waved as he walked away, leaving Lin to squeeze me tighter and squeal in my ear.

"Oh, my goodness!" Lin shrieked. "Sadik likes you! Oh, oh, oh! You two should go to the carnival this weekend! I hear it's going to be in town soon so you should ask him!"

I gawked at Lin. "I…can't do that! I barely know the boy and I think he's a junior, Lin."

"Still, he said to call him!"

I held up a finger. "Correction, he said to him anytime I needed him. Besides, I don't even have his numb… What's that?"

She waved a piece of paper in front of me. "His number," she said, grinning. "I found it in your journal! This totally means he wants to get to know you! Text him, Hikaru! Wait, I'll do that for you!" Unexpectedly, Lin reached into my bag and pulled out my cell phone and started entering in Sadik's number into my contacts.

"Put it away," I whispered. "What if a teacher sees you with my phone? They could take it away and I'll have to call Auntie and I'll be so embarrassed when she comes to pick it up because I've never gotten in trouble and—what are you doing?" I glanced down at my phone and saw that Lin was texting Sadik, saying that it was me and asking if he wanted to go to the carnival over the weekend. "Lin," I growled, feeling my cheeks flush.

"I'm trying to text someone!" she said, holding the phone out of my reach.

I stretched for my phone and she started playing keep away. "Lin!" I shouted.

"Hikaru!" Lin shouted back as I made an attempt again to take it back. I tripped over her outstretched foot and stumbled towards a boy and slammed my face on his chest.

"I am so sorry," I said to the boy as I rubbed my face. "My friend here was trying to keep my—" I looked up and saw that it was Ludwig who I ran into.

The others were right behind him, staring at me, and I bowed my head.

"I'm very sorry," I said again. I fixed my jacket and grabbed my phone out of Lin's hand.

"Hikaru…" Lin said, running after me. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I lied. My hand went to my neck and instantly grabbed my necklace for comfort.

"Hikaru, you can tell me anything, you know," Lin said. "Like…what happened over your break? You never called me and when you came back, you barely told me anything…is that necklace a cross?" She reached for my necklace and held it up, showing a cross made of steel. "Did Ludwig give this to you? He wears one exactly like this…"

I nodded. "For Christmas," I said. "I gave him several books that I thought he might have liked but I still haven't given him the omamori..." I looked at my friend. "What do you do when you're in love but you can't have that person?" I asked.

Lin leaned on me. "You can hope," she said. "But just start doing the things you love, Hikaru, and maybe you'll move on. And if that person loves you back, he'll come back to you…"

I fingered my necklace and tucked it under my shirt as I tried not to feel my heartbreak.

A Note from your Author:

Yes, Gakuen Academy is in Switzerland. It's a neutral country and the League of Nations was originated in that country, so what the heck? *laughs* I feel like Basch has an advantage to being in their home country. He could laugh about it for all I care…

Ugh. I swear. I'm going to die. I need to end this story somehow…soon…hopefully. Damn. Anyway, thanks for reading and enjoy!