Target 26: From America, with Love

When she woke up the next morning, the light poured through the curtains, hitting her directly in the eyes. Regina groaned, rolling over in the small bed and yelped, hitting the ground with a thump. She lies there for a moment, trying to get her bearings before she began fumbling and messing about with the blankets.

The sound of the door opening made her stop, followed by a few chuckles and a deep voice asking, "And what're you doing?" Regina managed to find her way out of the tangle of sheets, gasping for air as she glared up at Lambo, who was crouched above her with a knee on the bed, an eyebrow raised.

"I'm making pancakes." She replied, "What the fuck does it look like I'm doing?" She angrily messed with the sheets and comforter grunting with effort to get the rest of her body out of it. "I wouldn't be stuck like this if you had a better house."

"Why should I pay for a house bigger than I need when I'm hardly ever home?" Lambo questioned, not even deter or offended by her words. "Also, you're not making pancakes, I am. So you should get up and get ready for school if you want some."

Lambo backed off the bed and left the room, closing the door lightly. Regina huffed, standing up and glaring at the door as though it had something to do with what she just went through. "A star like me needs more than fifteen minutes to get ready," She scoffed, shaking her head, "Honestly, who does he think he is? He's not the boss of me!"

Regina took in the sight of her room. All of her belongings were still packed away in the moderately sized room—though to her, it was rather small—and it was a dull white color. She shook her head, "Hopefully Manuel can get out here and fix this for me…" She approached the closet, pushing it open and looking into it, noting that only a few uniforms hung on the rack, "Not even a walk in. Where the fuck am I supposed to put everything? This is an abomination!" She grabbed a uniform and made a mental note to call her father and tell him off about this.

When Regina came downstairs, Lambo was nowhere to be seen. She frowned, narrowing her eyes. She had a mouthful of things to say to that man about her living quarters. She was sure this was just as bad as a jail cell, if not worse! She looked around, noting the stack of pancakes on the table and a small piece of paper. She approached the table, frowning as she read the note.

With a sigh, Regina sat down in the chair, "It's not like I'm not used to eating alone…" She cut into the pancakes and looked at the paper again, noting the hastily drawn directions that would lead her to her school. "This place better not be filled with trash."

Regina looked up at the buildings, then she looked at the large nameplate on the wall surrounding the school. "…this place is filled with trash." Her eyes narrowed, she turned her head to see a steady stream of students looking at her as they passed by. She smirked, crossing her arms, "No doubt they're too shy to approach me." When there was a gap in the stream of students, Regina walked through the gates, looking around the courtyard at the students idly chatting in the courtyard. Most, if not all conversation stopped when she walked in. A few minutes passed and the whispers began. Regina smirked, continuing her strut towards the school building.

"…Regina-san?" Regina turned, catching sight of a semi-familiar mob of brown hair. Sepia-colored eyes looked at her in a mixture of emotions Regina wasn't sure of and small lips were pulled into a semi-frown. "Wh-What are you wearing…?"

Regina looked down at her uniform, then at Hitomi's. "I'm just adding a little flare to my outfit, peasant."

"Hey!" Nai waved his hand at Regina, "Don't be rude to Hitomi! At least she's not gonna get her ass kicked by Collins for wearing… well that!" Regina looked down at her outfit again. All she'd done was wear a colorful scarf instead of that stupid red ribbon, changed out her skirt for a cuter one and was wearing tights and wedges—among the clunky bracelets and various necklaces on her body.

"You should take off what you can," Hitomi said hurriedly, her eyes darting around, "Collins is a sucker for proper uniform wear…"

"Humph," Regina crossed her arms, "Whoever this Collins is, they won't lay a finger on me! They aren't the boss of me, I can do what I want! I'm a superstar."

Nai shrugged, loosely pulling on Hitomi's wrist, "C'mon, Hitomi." He said, "She's not going to listen to us. Have fun in the hospital."

"What do you mean by that?" Regina asked as Hitomi let herself be pulled away by Nai, looking back at Regina with something akin to pity in her eyes. That only served to make Regina angry. "Don't walk away from me when I'm talking to you!"

They were already too far away when the bell rang and the crowds thinned, heading into the school with quick strides. Regina joined them, only to be stopped by a hand on her shoulder, "Unhand me!" She was quick to brush the hand off of her shoulder, turning to see a blonde-haired girl followed by a green-haired girl.

"Who the fuck do you think you are?" She asked, looking Regina up and down, "Comin' 'round my school dressed like this? Your skirt is 3 centimeters above where it should be, you're not allowed anything that isn't loafers or sneakers on your feet while you are in my school, you've got on too much damn makeup—your uniform is completely wrong!" She seemed to glow a strange purple-ish color. Regina backed up, fear sinking into her heart as she watched the blonde.

"Y-You're not the boss of me!" She spoke, gaze hardening as she regained her footing. "Don't tell me what I can and can't wear." Surprised, the girl's aura seemed to skyrocket and the green-haired girl shook her head, silently conveying that she shouldn't have said that.

"N-Not the… not the boss of you…?" She cackled manically, fists clenched, "When you're in Namimori Middle School, I am the boss of you, you lowlife organism! I am the leader, I am the top dog—I am Skye Collins, head prefect!" She pulled out her candy dispenser, eyes darkening in bloodlust, "And I'm going to fucking kill you for your insolence, got it in check?"

Birds scattered as Regina's scream pierced the air.

Regina sat in the nurse's office, sniffling as she held an icepack to her cheek. Teru was nowhere to be seen as the door opened. Makimoto came in, looking around, "Ah, is Teru-san not here?" He asked her, wincing when she looked up. "Oof, Collins really did a number on you. They don't call her 'The Huntress' for nothin' I guess."

"Who are you?" Regina asked, "And why are you talking to me so casually, don't you know who I am?"

"Yeah," Makimoto said, Regina's eyes taking on a hopeful look, "You're the rude girl who came to Kita's homecoming party and said some mean things to me and my friends." Regina's eyes widened, vaguely noting that he did look familiar. "A tip: karma is a right bitch."

"So you're saying that it's good this happened to me!" She threw the ice pack down, glaring at him through her halfway shut eyes. Makimoto shook his head.

"I'm just saying that you should do onto others what you want done onto yourself," He easily replied, "Since you were mean to us, you got beat up by Collins—well, you got beat up by Collins because you didn't follow the dress code—but nonetheless a consequence of your behavior. They're called uniforms for a reason, you know." He looked around again, "If you're here when Teru-san gets back, tell her I was looking for her, okay?" He tossed a wave over his shoulder and left Regina alone to ponder what he said.

"Fuck that," She knelt down to pick up the icepack, "I'm a star, everyone should treat me with respect. I deserve it."

The cafeteria was crowded. Regina breathed out as she clutched her tray. This was easy—she'd been the center of attention in places even more crowded than this. She could handle it. Now all she had to do was pick out who were the head girls in this place and assert her dominance over them. Her eyes scanned the room. She couldn't pick out even one particular person that was better than all the rest. She grunted, shaking her head as someone knocked into her.

"Hey!" She yelped as she fell face first onto the ground. Regina quickly reeled back, sitting up and backing away from the tray. Rice and sauce was smeared all over her vest. "What the fuck, you asshole!" She stood up, pointing at her shirt, "Don't you know who I am? I'll sue you for this!"

Regina's yelling seems to have attracted stares—it's what she wanted, but not like this. She fights to keep the blush off of her face while they all snicker at her. The boy in front of her scoffs, "Look, I'm sorry I didn't mean to do it, but it's your fault—you were in the way."

"Me? Maybe you should look where you're going before walking, dick-for-brains!" She pointed at him, "I'm billing you for this damned vest, I hope you realize!"

"Yeah right," He waves her off and walks away, "Just wash it in the bathroom or something." Regina grunts, letting out an over-exaggerated breath as she turns tail and leaves the cafeteria with laughter following behind her.

In the bathroom, Regina strips off the vest and frowns. "What the hell am I supposed to do with this?" She's never cleaned anything in her life—what the hell is cleaning anyway? She turns on the tap and stares at the water.

"You put soap on it and run it under the water." A new voice says. Regina turns to see Hitomi standing behind her, taking tentative steps towards her. The brunette smiles at Regina, "I, uh, well this has happened to me so many times, I just…"

"Fine," Regina steps away from the sink, "Teach me how to clean my top."

Hitomi takes over, "You're really cool, y'know." Regina raises an eyebrow, "I-I like how you didn't back down from that guy."

"Yeah, well, it's not the first time since I've been here that someone's tried to take me down and embarrass me." Regina could remember multiple times when it happened, now that she thought about it. "You just don't think about it after a while."

"Being able to stand up for yourself must mean that you have a lot of friends too…" Hitomi commented. Regina only wished that Hitomi had been right.

Regina sat by herself on the rooftop, enjoying the breeze as she scrolled through her contacts. Things weren't going as planned.

It wasn't like she wasn't trying. Regina shook her head, she shouldn't even have to be trying. Her stomach rumbled and she inwardly cursed Lambo for forgetting to pack her a lunch. Living with that man was an unbearable experience. He would forget even the most basic of things—making the chores and responsibilities fall onto Regina. She'd had to clean! And occasionally she'd had to actually cook food.

Her father wouldn't hear a word of it either, saying it built character, but Regina found that dumb, because technically, she was a character, she was a superstar, wasn't that character enough? Apparently not for her father. She grunted, turning slightly, fingers threaded into the chain-link fence as she watched the students move about in the courtyard. Her eyes narrowed as she looked away from them, angry electricity crackling and popping against her hand and the fence.

Her thoughts returned to what brought her up here in the first place.

The fact that she was nowhere near closer to making friends. Sure, people hovered around her and did occasionally talk to or invite her out—and she'd thought that was enough, but Lambo didn't. She wouldn't be able to leave until she made a true friend, whatever that was.

That girl, Hitomi, had often tried to talk to Regina, though she brushed her off—mostly because Regina could sense that it was rather unsightly to be seen with her, after all, she didn't want to become one of the most hated in school because she was hanging out with her.

Regina shook her head, although Hitomi's attempts at trying to be her friend—like sharing food and trying to help her in any way she could—were nice, they just weren't what Regina wanted.

The girl's latest attempt had sent Regina to the nurse's office after a rather hard punch to the face from the silver-haired girl had knocked her out. Regina couldn't remember what they were talking about, the only thing she could clearly remember was Hitomi's wide eyes as she tried to make sense of the situation. Regina couldn't remember what she'd done, but it was enough to hurt Hitomi.

The sound of the door opening and hitting the wooden block that kept it opened a crack snapped Regina from her thoughts and she looked up, spotting a girl standing with long aqua colored hair standing there. She squeaks, backing towards the door, "O-Oh! I'm sorry… I didn't think anyone was up here."

Regina takes in her appearance, she's rather normal looking despite her hair color. She wears glasses with transitional lenses. On her wrist is a dangle bracelet with only three charms—a clover, feathers and an 'A'. In the same hand the bracelet's on is a book with a colorful cover.

Regina shrugs, "Doesn't matter." She looks up to the sky, stomach rumbling, "You can stay if you want, I don't care."

The girl seems unsure, but ultimately decides to stay, taking a seat further away from Regina, and leaning against the chain-link fence as she scribbles in her journal. Regina can't place her. She doesn't look familiar at all.

This goes on for a few weeks. Regina will stay on the rooftop and the nameless girl will show up, saying her apologizes and excuses then sit down and write in that book. Occasionally, she'll glance up at Regina before quickly looking down when she's caught. They don't speak aside from Regina asking the girl to wake her up when it's time to leave. It was much better than what Regina had been through in the past few weeks.

"So you don't even know this girl's name?" Lambo is putting away cereal boxes and other foods in the pantry while Regina puts away frozen foods and drinks.

"No I don't." Regina responded, "I don't know where she comes from or where she goes after we've spent time on the roof. She doesn't talk to me except to wake me up and she doesn't do anything other than write in her notebook."

"Well, maybe you should make the first move." Lambo suggests, turning to lean against the counter.

"And what should I say?" Regina glances at him as she closes the freezer and walks around the table. "People usually come flocking to me, but here… it's different."

"Namimori has a pace all its own." Lambo chuckled, "People here are rather diverse but they're also kind of clueless. Just… ask her what she's writing or something." Lambo shrugged, "Can't be that hard."

"Easy for you to say…" Regina comments, crossing her arms.

Regina's social standing is nowhere near getting better. Apparently these kids don't care much for American superstars, seeing as she's not being swarmed like she wanted to be—like she was at her old school. "Of course he'd pick the hick-town that knows jack-shit about me…" She mumbled, making her way up to the rooftop.

It was alright, though, because she was neutral, which meant she could only go up—or down—from there. People mostly left her alone and for some reason, Regina was fine with it. She could breathe without having to be completely perfect, even though there was a nagging in the back of her head that made her angry she wasn't the center of attention here.

"Good afternoon!" The girl greets, having become more accustomed to Regina's presence. She's sitting a little closer to where Regina usually sits. Regina can see the notebook today is different from the one she usually writes in.

"Hey," Regina says, plopping down and placing her lunch bag down in front of her. It was one of the rarer times when she'd managed to bring lunch to school. Her eyes traveled over to the girl. She still hadn't learned her name and she wasn't sure if she should ask.

Regina paused, anger filling her body. Where had this unsureness come from?—from weeks of being ignored by the general population? From being in this stupid town? She grunted, slamming her fist against the ground. Regina wasn't sure if the crack was the ground or her fist, but she didn't feel the pain yet. This place had changed her and she'd only been here a few weeks. "Ah, are you okay?" The girl's words broke Regina from her thoughts and she looked up, noticing the girl was closer than before.

"I'm fine!" Regina snapped, shooing her away, "Don't come closer!"

The girl flinched, backing up and grabbing her book before leaving the roof. Regina shook her head, frowning as she began to eat her lunch, careful not to let the blood get into her food. "Soon enough he'll give up."

"Mm?" Lambo wore his trademark facial expression, the one that got on Regina's nerves more often than not. A bottle of wine sat in front of him as he laid on the couch. Regina stood on the other side of the coffee table in the small home, tapping her foot expectant, "How to make friends? Shouldn't you know? You had a lot of them in America, right?"

She wasn't exactly sure how the conversation came about, but the fact that she'd even brought it up to Lambo had to have been an act of desperation. Regina'd lost the only thing she'd thought was a friend—which happened to be more like an acquaintance—and she was at a loss as to how she would make a friend. She grunted, pointing at him, "Yeah, but they were the same as the ones you said weren't real friends!"

"Well, why don't you just be friends with Hitomi?" Lambo suggested, "I mean, she's already forgiven you for shocking her like that."

So that's what happened…Regina could vaguely recall the incident a few weeks ago. "No, she's a loser. I can't have loser friends."

"Well," Lambo sat up, "I don't know what to tell you. Ah, your mom really did a number on you…"

Regina bristled, "What does that mean?" Electricity crackled and popped around her, "My mother did nothing but love me and treat me the way I deserve! Much more than you have! I'm living in this dump and with a challenge that I don't need!"

"It means she spoiled you a little too much," Lambo puts the bottle of wine on the table, "Frankly speaking, she made you think you're more than you are."

"I'm exactly what I am!" Regina yelled, pointing at him, "You're the one trying to change me! Making me live here and taking away everything that I have—you're taking away my identity!"

"I'm not trying to change you," He rounded the table and passed by her, "I'm trying to get you to realize who you are. But if you feel that I'm restricting you, feel free to use your credit cards, buy a hotel room to put yourself up in, I don't care." He stands by the doorway, "Your things are in the hall closet." As he walks away, she can faintly hear him mumble something about being disappointed in Regina.

The hotel room just didn't feel the same. She woke up late that morning. No Lambo lazily greeting her and telling her that they were going to do something fun that day. It generally wasn't fun in the beginning, but eventually Regina learned to see what was fun about it. Her phone rang, nearly vibrating off of the stand before Regina picked it up, not even bothering to check the caller ID.

"Hello?" She greeted sleepily, yawning.

"Regina?" Her mother's voice rang true on the oher end, "Oh! Regina! It's been so long! Are you okay? Is he treating you right? I'll fly right over there if—Regina?"

Regina paused. "Yeah mom," She suddenly lied, "Everything's fine. I'm just fine." The two exchanged a few more words before Regina hung up the phone. She laid back down, frowning. She could've told her mom the truth and gotten out of here… so why didn't she? Regina sighed, running a hand through her hair just as a knock came to the door. She moved out of bed, taking in the sight of herself in the mirror she passed by. Why wasn't she wearing her silk pajamas? This shirt wasn't even hers…

Regina disregarded her appearance—surprisingly—and opened the door, staring up at Lambo. She glared. "What?"

"You done being dramatic?" Lambo asks. Regina sighs.

"I'm not being dramatic."

"Yeah you are." Lambo pushes past her. "Got anything to drink in this place?" He raids the small fridge as Regina grunts, slamming the door closed.

"Nobody invited you in!" She snaps, "Leave, I'm going back home tomorrow!" She lied once more. Lambo stood straight up, rolling his eyes.

"No you're not," He unscrews the cap to a bottle of water, "You told your mom everything was fine. You've been going to school these past few days since you left." Lambo looked her up and down. "I saw you at the convenience store buying bento."

"So? What does any of that have to do with anything?" Regina crosses her arms.

"It means that you've adjusted to living here." Lambo smiles, "You aren't haughty anymore. You're down to earth."

Regina scoffs, turning away from him. "Whatever."

"See! You can't deny it cause it's true!" He grins widely at the girl, putting the bottle down. "And you'll stay."

"No way. I'm going to school to transfer out on Monday. Then my agent is flying out here and we're going to work on getting me back out there." Lambo sighs, shaking his head.

"You're so difficult." He puts up his hands, "Okay, okay. Do you." He grabs his water bottle and heads towards the door, "But you know where I live just in case." With that, he leaves Regina alone. Once she's sure he's gone, she sighs, breaking out of the tough character she'd put on.

"Dammit…"

Regina's still alone at school. She's starting to think that there's nothing she can do to change that when Hitomi approaches her in the hall. "Regina-san…" Hitomi greets quietly.

Regina can't clearly remember Hitomi's name, so she settles for a small nod, showing hat she's acknowledged Hitomi's presence. "Yeah?"

"Are you alright?" Hitomi asks, tilting her head slightly.

"I'm fine." Regina responds tightly.

Hitomi nods, "Okay, I just…" Regina quirks an eyebrow, "I just wanted to make sure. You don't really seem too happy."

"I made someone angry." Regina starts, unsure why she's sharing, "Well actually, I made someone angry and someone sad."

"Important people?" Hitomi asks her and Regina nods, "I know how that goes. Have you talked to them?"

"To one of them, yeah," Regina sighs, "It didn't go over too well."

"Keep trying, then." Hitomi suggests, "And say what you actually what to say instead of what you think you should say." Hitomi walks away after that and Regnia thinks the girl's just given her the best advice ever.

Regina turns up on the roof. If she's going to fix things, she's got to start somewhere and she thinks fixing things with the girl on the roof is the best place to start. She's there. Regina smiles lightly as she steps onto the roof, allowing the door to slowly close to a small sliver after her. The girl is surprised, she moves to stand, looking around for somewhere to go. Regina feels bad, she shouldn't have scared her like that.

"I, uh," Regina begins, "Don't leave, I wanna talk to you."

"So you can yell at me?" Her tone is bitter. Both of them frown and Regina knows it's her fault.

"No," Regina shakes her head, "I, um, I wanted to say…" The girl waits patiently. "I'm from America, you know? And I'm a superstar." The girl scoffs, but doesn't say anything, "And I just… well, this place is so different. I don't fit in, nobody knows who I am… I'm ignored…" She sighs, shaking her head, "And I think I was afraid."

"Afraid of what?"

"Losing me." Regina frowned, "I mean, all I've ever known was fame and fortune. I was born in it. My mom was a member of a popular girl group, so I was in it from a young age. Then my own career started and… well I guess I felt entitled."

"What does this have to do with me?" The girl doesn't make a move to leave and Regina sighs once more.

"I'm just saying that because I was raised a certain way, I had no regard for other people's feelings and lives. And… I'm sorry I yelled at you." Regina frowned, "Everything's been weird since I basically dropped off the face of the earth to come here."

"Yeah," The girl smiles slightly, "Namimori is a little out of the way. A-And thanks for the apology." She walks a little closer, holding out a hand. "I'm Aloe."

"Like the lotion?" Regina blurts out before she can stop herself.

"Er, yeah…" Aloe blushes darkly, rubbing the back of her head.

"Okay," Regina said, "I'm Regina. And… I guess I'm hoping we can be friends?"

"I've never been friends with a popstar."

"I've never been friends with someone before." Regina admits, smiling, "So I guess there's a first time for everything." Aloe smiles.

The door swings open before Regina's even had time to recollect her thoughts and feelings. Lambo looks revealed as he looks down at her, smiling widely. "You're back!" He's breathless.

"Yeah," Regina rolls her eyes. "I thought you were so confident that I was going to come back?"

"I mean," Lambo scratches his cheek, "Well at first I was." He shakes his head, "But that doesn't matter—I mean, unless you're just here to tell me you're leaving."

"No," Regina said, "I've decided to stay. Just for a little while and start my career here in Japan."

"Best of both worlds, hm?" Lambo smiles.

"Yeah," She nods, "I figure I'll go to school here and on breaks and stuff do tours."

"Sounds good." Lambo nodded. "You hungry?"

"Depends on what we're eating."

"Pancakes." Lambo smiles.

"My favorite." Regina follows Lambo into the house, closing the door behind her.

THAT WAS FOREVER OMG THIS TOOK SOOOOO LONG. AAAAH REGINA YOU SUCK YOU ARE SO HARD TO WRITE FOR. This chapter was okay. I don't love it, but I love certain parts in it, so I guess that's a win in itself, haha. ANYWAY, it's been forever! Maybe a whole year? Idk. I'm slowly updating all of the stories I have that are multi-chaptered. If you're here from Contiguous, just know that that'll take a while. (Sorry…) Anyway, enjoy!

ALSO: Some of the older chapters have different numbers, so they may seem out of order, but they aren't. I did some retconning of the chapters and while I'm not rewriting the majority of the chapters, I'm rewriting some and condensing others. Just follow the numbers in the drop-down bar. Those are correct.