ix. Autumn
"How 'bout that one?" Looking up, I see Anna holding up a strapless sapphire green dress that looks like it would pool around her feet because it's that long. Wrinkling my nose, I shake my head emphatically, and keep going through the shelves. We are not, in fact, at some kind of boutique, shopping for dresses, but in one of my best friends' walk-in closet. It displays the vast amount of dresses she owns, and consequently, her immense wealth. Or rather, her parents'.
"This one?" Now she's holding up something that distantly resembles a dress but looks like it wouldn't even cover my ass. It's fabric is transparent.
"Anna, we're looking for a dress to wear to a ball, not one that looks like it might be worn in a strip club." Hotaru, another friend of mine, tells her.
Walking in, Sumire catches her last words. "I'll have you know that I don't own any kind of clothing that loosk like they might be worn in a strip club! Everything in here is extremely classy!" she informs us gracefully. Hotaru snorts.
"That's not exactly lady-like." Sumire reprimands her haughtily, then turns her back on Hotaru and turns to me. "Found anything you like yet?" Impatiently, without waiting for my answer first, she pushes past me and starts rifling through the fabric.
Sumire lets me borrow one of her many dresses for the upcoming Autumn Ball. (" Set in the season of autumn, the ball is an aptly named annual tradition at our school, and I expect everyone to attend." our headmistress told us. "Aptly named, my ass. More like, they couldn't bother to come up with a more creative name." Hotaru murmured into my ear. "If they insisted on giving it a suitable name, they should've named it Stuck-up Snob Ball." Rolling my eyes, I silently agreed with her.)
I attend a very prestigious boarding school, one that only admits the kids of the richest people in the country. The children of actresses (Sumire), successful business men (Nonoko), or famous country singers (Anna). Occasionally, however, they deign to hand out scholarships, all of which are extremely coveted, of course. Hotaru had managed to snatch hers by virtue of being extremely clever; whereas I had been graciously given one on account of coming from a very famous, yet recently impoverished, family. They do value old money here, considering most of the kids attending the school come from the new kind.
(On my father's side, who passed away a long time ago. The parts of our family who do have the big money, his side of the family, prefer to ignore us, never having approved of the match between my dad and my mom. However, I suspect they did play their part in me receiving the scholarship, because even though they don't want me in the family, they don't want to look like assholes to the rest of the world either. Even though I dislike the school and most of its pupils, I do appreciate the chance they gave me, to receive a flawless education. Besides, my dad used to go to Alice Academy, and being here makes me feel closer to him. I know, it's sappy.)
Needless to say, we were treated as social cases and most of our peers looked down on us.
Yes, there are some exceptions, like Anna, Nonoko, and others, but even Sumire, who claims not to have a problem with our "poverty" (her words, not mine) sometimes acts like she's above us, and revels in being extremely generous and condescending at times.
I don't want to seem ungrateful here, because it is obviously a nice gesture of hers to lend me one of her old dresses, but she does it in such a way that I can't help but feel the rift between us. It's not like I can't afford a proper dress, but I simply don't want to annoy my poor mother with request like these.
"Try this one on." Pushing a midnight blue knee-length dress on me, she steers me to her bathroom and shuts the door behind me.
"Try it on fast, ok? I don't have all day!" Sumire reminds me through the door, her voice a drawl. "Fine." I yell back through the door, shed my (non-modified, which Sumire never tires to pester me with, considering she shortened the skirt of her uniform, and she furthered her blouse's neckline) school uniform, and put on the dress. Fortunately, Sumire and I are the same size, and about the same height, so it's almost a perfect fit. Looking up to look at myself in the mirror, I am pleasantly surprised.
The dress harmonizes nicely with my light brown hair and my pale skin complexion, and emphasizes my admittedly not very well endowed chest. Throwing the door open, Sumire barges in. Completely disregarding my privacy. She can be so insensitive. "You done? Good. Well, you don't look too bad, do you? Don't look at me like that, I know you'll thank me for it the rest of your life. Anyway, I need to go now, I'm meeting up with some friends to check out the two new dudes that just transferred to out school." Sumire barely stops to take a breath, just ushering me, Anna, Hotaru and Nonoko out of her room, handing me my school uniform. "I see you at dinner, everyone."
And with that, she closes the door in our faces. Turning to the other three, I raise my brows, but they both just shrug.
"What was that about new student?" I inquire casually as we're making our way to our rooms. "You haven't heard? Apparently they are both very good-looking and very wealthy. They arrived together yesterday, and they are friends. Sumire has her eyes set on them, since, you know, she thinks she's the queen of the school, so she wants to snatch one of them." Anna explains, shrugging again, and they stop in front of their room. "See you for dinner, Mikan."
"So, what do you-" I begin, turning to look at Hotaru. However, to my astonishment, she has already vanished, not even bothering to say goodbye. She does that sometimes, just vanishing, claiming she needs some time by herself.
Alone, I make my way to the room I share with Hotaru, the new boys already out of my mind, which is now occupied with the gorgeous dress I'm wearing and how good it looks on me.
"That's them." Nonoko says, pointing her fork at two guys whose faces I can't see crossing the cafeteria. I can tell that everyone is watching them, especially the girls, who are whispering conspicuously. I feel kind of sorry for them. "I prefer the dark one." Nonoko confides in us, giggling slightly, and licking her lips, her eyes never leaving the taller of the boys. "Really?" I ask. "I'm all for the blonde one. Check out his hair! It's so shiny, I wish I knew what conditioner he uses, so I could ask him about it."
Slamming her tablet down next to mine, Sumire flops into a seat. "Priorities, Mikan." she snaps. "That's honestly not the first thing that should be going through your head when you see good-looking guys. And those two are smoking." She fans herself, a cunning smile dancing on her lips. "You're a lost cause."
"You know we all live vicariously through you, Sumire." Hotaru chimes in, lowering herself into a seat opposite me, and starting to eat spoonfuls of Greek yoghurt.
"So, I assume you're bursting to tell us all about them, right?" Hotaru says, addressing Sumire.
"How well you know me!" she retorts smugly. "So listen. The blonde one, that's Ruka Nogi, son of the famous actress Kari Nogi. He himself has starred in few movies himself, and rumour has it that, even though pets aren't allowed on campus, an exception was made for him, and allegedly he houses a few animals in his dorm room. I've met him before, seeing as our parents know each other. He's sweet. "
"Aww, that's so cute. The animal thing, I mean. I love boys with a heart for animals." I squeal, interrupting Sumire, who gives me a filthy look. "Sorry." I murmur. "Go on."
"Anyway." Sumire continues, starting to peel her apple. "The dark-haired one is Natsume Hyuuga, the word is that he's a prodigy, and as of now, the richest boy in school. His parents own a huge company, hell knows what they do, but apparently they make millions in a year, and the boy has a trust fond as big as a small country's gross domestic product. And FYI, I am so going to get my hands on that ass." She closes her speech with a self-satisfied smile.
"Do you have a plan?" I ask her, because Sumire usually does. She loves planning and scheming, and watching her go about getting what she wants is always entertaining.
"Do you even have to ask?" she retorts, giving me a condescending look. "I'm going to set it in motion in about..." her gaze wanders through the cafeteria. "...twenty seconds. And it involves you, Mikan. You wanna pay me back for that dress I gave you? Fine. Get off your bony ass, go up to the two new boys, and ask them if they want to sit with us. Look, they're already looking for a table to sit at. Now go!" she hisses, and shoves me in their direction. Looking bewildered, I approach them, not really knowing what to say. I'm really bad at shit like this.
"Uh, hi?" I say, giving them a small wave once I'm standing in front of them. Natsume Hyuuga doesn't even react, and that's when I know that he's a jerk. A good-looking one, maybe. But a jerk nonetheless. Ruka gives me a warm smile. "I was wondering if you two would like to sit with us?" I point at out table, where the girls are all pretending to be engrossed in what respective food they are eating.
Natsume snorts, like there's nothing he would be less inclined to do, but Ruka beams at me, causing me to blush, and nods vigorously. "Sure, we'd love that..."
"Mikan." I say, smiling slightly.
Leading them to our desk, I introduce everyone. "So, that's Hotaru, Sumire, Anna, and Nonoko."
"I'm Ruka, and this is Natsume." Ruka's smile is so contagious, and when he beams at me, I beam back. "Oh, dear." I hear Natsume mutter, but I can't even be bothered to glare at him. "If you don't like it here, you can leave." Hotaru tells him icily, fixating him with her blue, sometimes violet looking eyes. "Oh, no, it's fine." Ruka waves her off. "Natsume is always like that. It's his way of dealing with day-to-day life." He winks at me.
"So, Natsume, since you two don't know anyone, I was thinking that the Autumn Ball might be a fabulous opportunity to do just that. It's next Friday night. What do you say? Wanna go with us?" Sumire plays with her hair, her voice drips with charm, and she's smiling flirtatiously. Her green eyes are flashing. She's going all out.
Looking a bit overwhelmed, Ruka opens his mouth, probably going to say yes, when Natsume's voice cuts it. He has a deep, pleasant voice, but I have already decided that I don't like him, so I glare at him. "No, thanks. Ruka and I prefer to stay among ourselves. " An awkward silence ensues, only interrupted by Hotaru's slight snickering. I kick her under the table to get her to shut up, but she seems unfazed.
Sumire looks a bit dazed, probably because she hadn't anticipated this turn of events. Trying to save face, she gives them an indulgent smile. "Of course. I can understand that you two would want to settle in before you make any promises. No problem. I was simply looking to help."
Scowling, Natsume gets up and leaves, not even bothering to acknowledge what Sumire said. She looks hurt. Ruka scrambles to follow Natsume, turning back to apologize for his rude friend. Annoyed, I don't even try to mask the coolness in my voice, talking loud enough so Natsume can still hear my voice, even though he he's already halfway through the cafeteria. "I'm sorry Natsume is such a coward that he leaves you to fight his battles, Ruka. You might want to tell him that he can shove his rude, anti-social behavior up his ass."
All conversations around us still. Natsume turns back slowly, his eyes zooming in on me, a murderous expression flickering over his face. But he doesn't say anything. I have thrown the proverbial gauntlet, and everyone is keen to see if he picks it up. He doesn't. Not even waiting for Ruka, he leaves the cafeteria.
Anna and Nonoko are staring at me in awe, while Hotaru has resumed eating. Sumire, however, looks pissed. "Great, Mikan. You just single-handedly destroyed all my chances of getting with him. Thanks a fucking lot." Enraged, she gets up and leaves. "He's not worth it, Sumire." I call after her, but she flips me off.
Shrugging, I stare at my food, not hungry anymore. "Can I have your fries?"
Without awaiting my answer, Hotaru starts eating them. "Don't worry about her, she's too thick to get it." she tries to cheer me up, in typical Hotaru fashion. "Yeah." I sigh.
"As I expected. It's a boring-ass ball. I can't wait for the inevitable break-up taking place on the dance floor, followed by a dramatic exit, and crying in the rest room." Hotaru snorts, eyeing the food that's being offered at the far wall of the auditorium. It's the evening of the Autumn Ball, and Hotaru and I are idling away on the sidelines. I'm wearing Sumire's blue dress, and Hotaru is wearing a purple suit. It compliments her eyes, but it's not really something you would expect to see at a formal ball. It's not her usual style either, so I assume she just put it on to scandalize.
"Hmm." I reply, surveying the people crowding the dance floor. Sumire is dancing with Ruka. Although she didn't manage to persuade Natsume to go to the ball with her, she invested a lot of time in flaunting other boys in front of him, presumably to make him jealous. She had to settle for Ruka eventually, since he's still cute and a novelty, and she was willing to settle for second best. I'm afraid she won't be letting him out of her sight for the rest of the evening.
I spent the days leading up to the ball ignoring Natsume, not talking to him, and only looking at him if absolutely necessary. Since he avoided me, and I, in turn, avoided him, that worked out nicely. Plus, we don't have any classes together, so that helped as well. Hotaru does have some with him, and she proudly announced that she made life as hard for him as possible.
A few boys have asked me to dance, but I have declined every time, since I don't want to leave Hotaru all alone. When Koko approaches me, however, and I'm about to reject him, she gives me a sharp look, and tells me that she doesn't need my pity.
"Fine." I huff. "Suit yourself."
"I will." she retorts, and walks off in the general direction of the food. Rolling my eyes, I follow Koko to the dance floor, where he compliments me, gives me a smile, and commences to talk about Sumire non-stop. Koko is a friend, a cute one at that, but he's head over heels for Sumire. It's not like I'm into him or anything either, so dating him never even crossed my mind. I went out with Yuu Tobita, who smiles at me across the room, a few times, but it never went anywhere. Yuu is sweet, yes, but he's too nice. He would never disagree with me, and was too shy to initiate a conversation.
I also went out with a senior, Tsubasa, a few times. Admittedly, he was a fairly good kisser and spending time with him was nice, but we broke it off soon, after he told me a relationship wasn't what he was looking for, and he liked casually dating around. We're friends now, and even though he offered to be friends-with-benefits, I told him no.
I want to concentrate on my friends and on school. I figure I can still date when I'm older.
After the dance with Koko, I encourage him to talk to Sumire, and stroll over to Hotaru, who is inspecting the Quiche on her plate. "Have you noticed that you're being watched?" she asks me, offering me her plate. "I am?" Picking up a slice of some unidentifiable vegetable, I look around me.
"Hmm. Hyuuga could hardly take his eyes off you." Swatting at her, I look around, not seeing him anywhere. "You're shitting me, right?" I say and my eyes catch Sumire, who is now dancing with Koko. I smile and change the topic. "Look, Sumire and Koko are dancing. Maybe he finally has the guts to ask her out!" I turn to her excitedly.
"Doubtful. He doesn't have the balls to do it. She frightens him too much."
Sitting behind a curtain, we continue to eat in silence, so we are both startled when we hear two voices at the other side of the curtain.
"Don't just stand around, Natsume. Why don't you mingle a bit? There are lots of pretty girls here who I'm sure would like to dance with you."
"Geeze, Ruka, you never tire of playing matchmaker, do you? Thanks but no thanks. I don't want to dance." They stand in silence for a while, and I'm already hoping they've left, when Ruka says something again. "Why don't you ask Mikan Sakura to dance? I'm sure you two would make a good couple."
Natsume Hyuuga scoffs in response. "Hardly. She's not really much to look at, and her manners are worse than the Shouda girl's. Besides that, she looks like a gold-digger. Have you heard that she's here on a scholarship? I bet she's only hanging around Shouda because she benefits from it."
Hotaru and I share a look. My skin is getting warm with anger. It pisses me off how shallow Natsume Hyuuga is, how smug. How he is judging me without even knowing me, his opinion of me based on appearances and presumptions. I also don't like how he talks about my friends. Angrily, I get up, take the glass of punch Hotaru hands me, and pull the curtain back. Ruka and Natsume look up in surprise.
"Jesus, Hyuuga, someone as disagreeable as you really shouldn't be so picky when it comes to girls. Hubris and arrogance are one-hundred percent off-putting." And with that, I dumb the content of the glass over his head, turn on my heels and leave the ball. "Come on, Hotaru." I call back at her over my shoulder. "I don't like it here. Someone's giant ego is suffocating me."
A/N: Written between August and October of 2013. I kind of really love this one. It's inspired by Pride & Prejudice, and I might write a follow-up at some point. We'll see. I love how the focus is on Mikan and her friends in this one, and it's not all about Mikan and Natsume. I'm going to post a second one shot as well right now. I actually wanted to post this one on December 1st, but I kinda sorta forgot. Lol, whoops. So I decided to upload two this month.
Haruhi-chan131: I know what you mean; if there is unresolved sexual tension between a couple, one always expects them to act on it. However, Natsume and Mikan's first kiss has to wait a bit longer o be written. Actually yes, there is a continuation; it's titled Disease and I already uploaded it. Hope you like it. Thanks or the review!
gabsterela: I aim to please ;)