Draw the Line

By: Nasty Nimrod

Disclaimer: All rights to Gakuen Alice belong to Higuchi Tachibana.

November 3, 2012

Author's Notes: Another writing exercise before I continue with Lost in Embers. Sorry I couldn't keep up with the challenge. Been rather busy lately.

Narumi danced merrily as he scampered to the center of the class.

"Everyone!" he clamored to gain the class' attention. "Today we're having a special activity. As you can see, all your names are written in circles and scattered here on the board and my name at the middle. Now, suppose we're going on a field trip abroad- wait, where do guys wanna go?"

"France!" Sumire shouted.

"Nah. Rome, Italy!" Mochu butted.

Suddenly, the class started to yell and fight for which country they wanted to visit.

"Greece!" Narumi heard from another corner.

"Russia!" "Singapore!" "South Korea!" "Australia!"

"Afghanistan!" Koko howled.

"Stupid? What's so fun in Afghanistan? You wanna get dead?!" asked a very annoyed Sumire.

"Hehe. I wanna play guns and grenades," the mind reader answered nervously and slouched more on his chair when another student raised her hand.

"Disneyland!" Then everyone turned to face her.

"Mikan, we have Disneyland here in Japan," mumbled Ruka, he sure wanted France- after all, he's half French.

"Yeah, but I've never been there..."

The class grew silent. She has unconsciously made quite a point in that statement. None of them has reached Disneyland even when they're all so close to it. None of them could and none of them will until they finally graduate in the academy and have the freedom. So why were they fighting over the country they wanted to sojourn in? They realized how stupid their arguments were.

"Tch. Fools," Natsume muttered as he flipped another page from his manga.

Narumi clapped his hands and switched again to his gay and merry aura.

"Okay, I'll choose a field trip to Europe since most of you wanted to go there," he smiled and winked. "So we're on an two-seated airplane. Now, everyone has the free will to select their own partner for the entire trip."

Mikan looked eagerly at Hotaru.

"Whoever has the chalk will have to connect his/her name to his/her chosen buddy. Alright, let's start by... Me."

Narumi then drew a line connecting his name to the class representative, Tobita Yuu.

"Yuu, you're next," he said as he passed the chalk to him. Iinchou stood and ambulated for the board. He drew a quick line from him to Hotaru seeing her circle was just a palm away. He moved back to give Hotaru her turn.

"Choose me. Choose me. Choose me," Mikan prayed on her seat, peeving the black cat who didn't even pay any attention to its stupid class activity.

Hotaru nonchalantly reached for the chalk and drew a line back to Iinchou's. Mikan's mouth dropped open as she witnessed the betrayal of her best friend.

"Hotaruuuu... How can you do this to me?!" she mewled as she clenched her teeth on the poor fabric of her sleeve and her tears exaggeratedly flowing down her eyes.

He snatched a glance at the annoying girl beside him and thought of a not-so-nice idea of bullying her today.

"I see. It's Yuu's turn again! You'll have to choose another one so to keep this activity going," Narumi cheerily explained.

He alertedly averted his gaze to the class representative. Seeing that Iinchou's about to hitch his name next to Mikan's, with one dark glare the chalk burned instantaneously in his hand that none of their classmates even noticed except for the few observant ones. He sweatdropped and caught the Black Cat's drift. Iinchou asked for another chalk and linked his circle to Anna whose name was just below Mikan's, then jittery sat down on his place again.

"I wonder what he's up to..." he whispered to Hotaru.

"I bet someone's gonna get left for the field trip," she answered with a slight smirk.

After Anna's turn was Nonoko. The latter then drew a line connecting to Koko's. Koko immediately went after Sumire's circle - much to her dismay. Mochu was growing impatient and he didn't want to wait for the whole class' turn before him. As permy was about to draw line from her to Ruka, Mochu levitated her hand and drew a clear and deep string from Sumire to him. The whole class cheered at the sudden development.

"What the?!" Sumire flared a death glare to Mochu as he walked to her to grab the chalk. "No fair! I want Ruka-kun for my partner!" she complained, stomping her foot for emphasis. She extended her arm for the eraser and forcibly tried to wipe out all the chalk dust connecting her name to his but apparently, it was futile for the board has been scratched deeply. Horn-mad, she chucked the eraser on Mochu's head which he just levitated back to its receptacle. She barged her way back to her seat leaving the whole class agaped.

"Wow. I thought they'd kiss each other," mumbled Koko.

"Shut up," Wakako riposted.

So the game went on and on until half of the class have already been partnered.

"Doesn't anyone like to be with me?" Mikan cried as she rested her face on both palms.

"Shut it, polka. You're noisy," grumbled Natsume.

"You don't know how it feels to be left alone! You have Ruka-pyon! You don't have to worry about these things!" she yelled, making Ruka turn her way.

She didn't have an idea that five of their classmates have tried to draw a line to her but unfortunately got their chalks burned by the infamous Black Cat.

"I know someone will eventually choose to be with you," comforted Ruka, giving an undertoned smile to Natsume.

He glared back and Ruka suppressed a laugh.

"Still... Hotaru betrayed me..."

"Because you're annoying," Natsume retorted.

"You're more annoying, jerk!"

"And ugly."

"What was that, you fox?!"

"I said you're ugly."

"WHY YOUUUUU?!"

Before they got to continue their ranters, Mikan checked the board and found that only the three of them were left. Hotaru was chosen again and drew a line connecting to Ruka's. Nobody seemed to react much since it was normal for Hotaru to do that seeing they've already deployed too much time. Ruka went for the board and sketched a straight line to Natsume's circle when the school bell rang signaling that class hours are over. The class rejoiced and immediately headed for the door. In a split-second, only the gang was left in the room, sympathizing, and the others, mocking poor Mikan. Narumi has not left the room but he was busying himself with arranging paperworks.

Mikan's world crashed.

"I... I was left... Alone... For the field trip..." she whispered in disbelief, her eyes shot directly on her name which was left untouched.

Yuu, Anna, and Nonoko felt sorry for her.

"Hohohoho! Nobody wants to be with you! Now that activity just made it clear!" Sumire taunted.

Mikan looked down, dejected and utterly abandoned.

"Let's go home, Yuu," offered Hotaru.

"But what about Mikan?" he asked warily.

"She'll get over it," she replied nonchalantly, dragging Iinchou out of the classroom.

The the others followed suit, leaving the three alone again.

Natsume looked up to see Ruka passing him the chalk, giving him a slight nod.

He grabbed the chalk and paced for the board, drawing an undeniably visible line from his circle to Mikan. Narumi was stunned at the sweet gesture.

"Let's go home, ugly." Natsume said as he burned the chalk in his hand. Narumi checked the floor and sweat-dropped at the sight of ashes all around.

Mikan's face glowed as if she just experienced sunshine after a thunderous storm. He gave Natsume her ever-so-cheerful-and-ever-so-cute smile that only she could create and his heart fluttered for a moment, averting his gaze so he could hide that faint blush creeping up to his handsome face.

"Thank you, Natsume!"

The next day, the whole class were shocked and in-awe of the markings on the blackboard - only Mikan and Natsume's connected circles remained as the others were clearly erased out.

A/n: We used this game when I was in fifth grade. Hehe Our teacher wanted to know if we ever want someone in our class to get left behind. Unfortunately, two of my classmates have not been picked.