Reunion of a Lifetime

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You're the one who broke my heart,

you're the reason my world fell apart,

you're the one who made me cry,

yet I'm still in love with you and I don't know why.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gakuen Alice. The plot's originally mine. :)) And probably some other characters. :) But definitely not GAKUEN ALICE.

Hey! It's me again! :))

I know you guys are excited about my other story (When Will It Be?), but I decided to publish this one as well, it's been stuck in my laptop for months, and I thought, why the hell not (publish it)? :))

Let's start it off with a flasback, shall we? :))

"Please, stop it!" I cried out. This was my daily phrase. My kindergarten classmates would bully me endlessly. That's why I never looked forward to break time.

"Why should we? You're just a big fat nerd," One kid scoffed. I forced myself to hide my tears, and I tried my best to look strong. This would soon be over, I thought.

"I have feelings too, you know," I shouted at them. They just laughed at my "courageous" retort. Oh, how I loathed them. These idiots don't even know what loathe means.

"Yeah, but you're a fat nerd," C'mon, loser. That's not even a valid reason. If I had the courage to, I would laugh at their faces. At least in the future, I'd be in a huge office, feeling like the queen of the world… While they'll all be working their butts off in poverty.

"Stop that now, class. Ms. Sakura, are you alright?" My teacher asked me, with concern.

"I'm fine, Ma'am Hikari," That was also another phrase I had to use quite often.

"Alright," She said, with a smile. "Class, break time's over. Let's go back to our lesson."

I woke up. That dream again? I'm a high school senior and I've been having the same dream for the past random years. Weird.

I rubbed my eyes, trying to shoo away the sleepiness. It didn't help. I sighed as I got out of bed, and went to the bathroom. As I was brushing my teeth, I looked at my reflection in the mirror. I frowned.

Yes, I was still fat.

And yes, I was still an unwanted nerd.

It's not like I haven't tried to lose weight; I tried the treadmills, the water diet, the pumps, the push-ups... But I could never get past a week. I guess that's how I am.

I have no inspiration.

"Hey, fat kid!" Honestly, I've grown up with these guys. They know my real name. But they still choose to call me "fat kid." I'm not a kid.

But I chose to ignore all these pitiful losers. I chose to ignore all of the insults, the name-calling, the hate letters, the pranks… Everything.

You might think I have no friends, but I got one of the best friends anyone could ever have. Oh, there she is now!

"Hey idiot," That's her, Hotaru. She was the only person who defended me from my bullies. She was my "knight and shining armor" without the armor.

"Fat kid, fat kid! You need glasses to see!" The whole third class chanted. I told myself that I would be strong, but this time I couldn't.

They just had to make a song!

"That doesn't even rhyme!" I shouted at all of them. They just laughed and continued singing. One kid even stole my eyeglasses. Tears began spilling out and I wondered when they would get their punishment.

"Stop that," A loud girl's voice drowned the rest of theirs. Of course it did, she was using a megaphone. They stopped chanting to look at her. She was leaning on the wall, near the light switch.

"What are you going to do about it?" A kid with no front teeth dared to ask. By the looks of it, she could kill.

"This," She turned off the lights. I couldn't see anything, but I could hear muffled screams. I cowered in fear. When the lights went back on, I suppressed a laugh. All the kids were tied up in a bundle, and they all had white handkerchiefs covering their mouths.

"Stand up," She told me, handing me my glasses. I stood up, put them on, and I finally had a good view of how she looked like. She had short hair, purple eyes, and a very calm aura. But like I said, she could kill.

"How did you do that?" I asked in amazement.

"Years of training," What? You're like, eight.

"I'm Mikan Sakura. Thank you, by the way," I said, disregarding her statement and bowing in gratitude. Then I looked at her. She smiled at me. I felt something that I never felt before from my classmates: acceptance.

"Hotaru Imai. And they deserved it," She said, her smile widening. I didn't notice that I smiled back. But when I did, I covered my mouth. She just rolled her eyes, grabbed my hand, and said,

"C'mon, I'm hungry. I wonder if they have muffins today,"

And we were inseparable ever since.

"Goodmorning to you, too, Hotaru," I said, sarcasm evident in my voice.

"Forget those guys. They're all stupid and blind," She said, referring to those guys who shout insults at me. Then I looked at her.

She was beautiful, smart, funny, creative, not to mention, thin… Everything I'm not. Except smart. But she's still smarter than me. So why would she choose to hang out with a ugly, fat, unpopular nerd like me? I could never ask her that. I never had the guts to, anyways.

"Don't worry," I reassured her. She looked at me.

"You better be sure of that,"

"Miss Sakura, please answer this problem on the board," Jinno-sensei called out to me from the back row. The losers are always at the back row. And guess what? I'm the only one here.

As I walked over to the board, I heard some of my classmates whisper.

"That Sakura, always trying to impress the teachers,"

"The loser's going to answer something! Quick, let's spill glue on the floor!" (So when I walk back, something terrible will happen to my shoes.)

"Sakura, Sakura, Sakura,"

I looked at Hotaru. She nodded in encouragement. She was all I needed to get through the mocks and the misery.

I nodded back and proceeded to the blackboard. I picked up the chalk and wrote down the solution and the answer on the board.

"Correct, Ms. Sakura. Does everyone understand?" Jinno-sensei asked the class.

No one spoke a word; there were only sounds of gum being chewed. Jinno-sensei sighed.

"Ms. Sakura," He turned to face me. "Would you care to explain the problem?"

"Mr. Jinno, I—"

"Please," His voice was very stern. It made me shiver. "It'll help them,"

Why won't you do that? You're the teacher. I sighed.

"Fine," Then I turned to face my classmates. Just when I was about to speak, a large bang of the door diverted everyone's attention.

"Jinno-sensei! Sorry, I'm late," A sweaty Natsume Hyuuga came into view, breathing heavily.

"Mr. Hyuuga. Fifteen minutes late. But earlier than usual," He said, giving consideration to the late quarterback.

"Thanks, sensei," Then Natsume walked up to his seat, not before winking at the girls swooning over him.

Yes, Natsume Hyuuga is the school's football quarterback. It was like he was made for this: strong body, great background, good grades, respectful to authority, great sex appeal, and amazing hair that sparkles under the sun.

And I have the tiniest crush on him. Just because he's different from the other players, except for the fact that he's a flirt.

But he's smart.

I secretly stared at him in awe. But I guess that he couldn't care less about me.

"Sakura," Sensei interrupted my thoughts.

"Oh, yes. As I was about to say—" The bell cut me off this time. My classmates just stood up without a care, so did Jinno-sensei. I just sighed the annoyance away. As I walked to my seat to gather my things, I stared hard at my feet. People here are just so disrespectful. If I could throw all these memories—

"Sorry!" The person I bumped into said. I looked at him. Then my heart raced.

"That's fine, Hyuuga-san," Then he picked his things up (he was carrying his notebook and a tiny towel; his things fell), put his hand on my shoulder and stared at me.

"Please, call me Natsume," He smiled. If my heart was near my shoulder, I would be a goner. It was beating like crazy!

"OK, Natsume," I tried to give him the same smile he gave me. He removed his hand from my shoulder, much to my dismay, and went off.

Maybe I have more than just a tiny crush on him.

"Are you going to stand there like an idiot, or are we going to our next class?" Hotaru suddenly appeared beside me. I jumped at the sudden noise.

"H-hey! Didn't see you there. C'mon," I said, grabbing my belongings and heading out the room with Hotaru.

"You like that quarterback, don't you?" Hotaru suddenly asked just when I took bite out of my tuna sandwich. She made me choke. She wanted me to choke.

"N-no!" I shouted after choking a little, which made some of the people in the cafeteria look our way. But Hotaru didn't seem to mind. Well, she wasn't the one embarrassed.

"No," I said again, softer this time.

"Oh yeah? Then explain this: He got a lil' late this morning, you stared. You bumped into him, you stared. Not to mention those other days—"

"OK, Hotaru. That's enough," I said, hoping to drop the subject.

"But my point is, you like him,"

"S-so what if I do?" I finally confessed. After all, she is my best friend.

"Well," She paused to sigh. "Let's just pray that you won't get hurt in the end," She said, really meaning it. I somehow, found comfort in her words. She's saying that because she cares.

"Don't worry. It's not like I'm obsessed or something," I laughed, but she just gave me a worried look.

"Fine. I'm not your mother to tell you what to do all the time. Just be careful,"

"I promise,"

Finally, we're done with that topic.

"Mom, I'm home!" I shouted out the moment I went inside our house.

"I'm here, Mikan!" I heard her shout back from upstairs.

And when I saw her, she had most of her stuff packed in boxes, and now she was taping her boxes.

"Mom, where are you going?" I asked, sadly. She stopped to look at me.

My mother is beautiful, the complete opposite of me. She had shoulder length brown hair, always loose so when she moves, her hair follows her. She had quite a slender body for a mother, since she's a vegetarian (I'm all meat, and I'd like to stay that way for quite awhile), and for her age, she looks half of it.

"Mikan, honey. I got a job in America," She said, putting her hands in the back pockets of her pants. "It's a great one, and I'll be leaving in two days,"

"You always tell me these things late," I sighed, but I decided to let her be, since she's the one providing for my everything. "What job did you get?"

"I'm going to be the interior designer of this new hotel. They liked the designs I posted on the web and asked me if would like to do the job. And I accepted," She said, happily.

"A hotel? Wow, mom! You're really climbing up the ladder," I said, congratulating her.

"Thanks, honey. And maybe you're thinking who's going to stay with you while I'm gone. So I pleaded to Hotaru's mom and asked if Hotaru-san could stay with you,"

"Mom, by the time you get back home, this house is burned," I said, just to scare her.

"Mikan," She said, being serious. "You are not going to do anything stupid when I'm gone. And you're a responsible girl. You can manage. And I worked hard to design this house!" She ended, acting like a twelve-year-old girl.

"I promise, I won't do anything reckless and out of behavior,"

"Good. Now you and I are going to have fun tonight! And we could go shopping tomorrow, would you like that?" She said, throwing her arm around my shoulder, then squeezing me.

"What about school?"

"Forget school!" Does that sound like a good mother to you? "I'm leaving the day after tomorrow and I don't know when I'll be back! So, tomorrow, it's you and me day! All day!"

"Crap,"

"What did you say?"

"Yey,"

Wow. :)) That's all I can say.

You might think that Mikan's not rich, but she is (kinda). She just won't mention it. :))

So, please. Review?

More questions? REVIEW. :))

THANKS! :))