I'M FINALLY BAAAAAAAAACCCKKK!

Been gone basically the whole school year, wasting away under a pile, scratch that, a mountain of schoolwork, then getting all hooked up with Fairy Tail, which, btw, is what I consider one of the most epic animes of all time (I'm planning to write a fanfic for it sometime soon—keyword, planning). And yes, along the way, I have sadly completely neglected fanfiction.

I really suck at updating, we all know that, but school's ended, and maybe, possibly, I'll start updating faster.

Unless I get addicted to another anime again...

Yeah, let's just hope that doesn't happen.

K then, without further ado, here's the next chappie!

Happy reading!

"YOU!" I immediately shrieked at the Jerk with an angry jab of my finger. "What the hell are you doing here?"

To think I'd have to see his stupid face a third time before I could get my revenge—argh, I felt pissed just thinking about it. And why the freak was he on a tree?

"Okay, that's it. You are most definitely stalking me," I mumbled, glaring at him.

To go to such an extent, and to even bring his friends along—was he asking for a kick in his manlihood? The Jerk's condescending smirk answered my question beautifully.

"Stupid midget—"

"Excuse me?"

"—we were on the tree first."

"And you really except me to believe that?" I fumed as I stood up, itching to just go and punch the guy senseless.

"Uh, Mikan..." Anna tugged on my sleeve as if she wanted to say something.

"What?" I snapped at her.

Anna remained indifferent to my irritated response.

"Do you know exactly who you're talking to?"

I glanced at the Jerk with distaste before replying, "Yeah, a jackass. That's all I need to know."

Anna heaved a great sigh as if she had already been expecting this. Then she looked at Sumire questioningly, and Sumire only grinned and shook her head. Anna sighed again before turning back to me.

"Alright, go on, go on, we won't bother you anymore."

I raised an eyebrow curiously, but Anna just shooed me away. So I shrugged and let her be, all the while wondering why Sumire and Nonoko were stifling giggles and stealing suspicious glances at me like, every five seconds.

"Okay, so where were we?" I placed my hands indignantly on my hips as I once again stared down the Jerk.

"I forgot," he deadpanned.

"That was a rhetorical question, you moron," I gritted my teeth. "You better not be mocking me."

"And what if I am?"

I smiled evilly and cracked my knuckles, pleased at the loud, sickening sounds that they made.

"Then that face of yours ain't gonna be so pretty anymore."

The Jerk didn't lose his arrogant air—on the contrary, he seemed to find this all rather amusing.

"I'd like to see you try."

I clenched my fingers into a well-formed, hard-as-iron fist.

"Oh yeah, I'll try."

Believe it or not, I actually had a ton of experience in fights. In my old school I was more or less of a yankee, but then me and Gramps moved and I tried to change myself for the better—which, by the way, has ultimately been successful, but you know, from time to time, especially when I'm mad, my yankee spirit gets going again.

Like right now, as I'm lunging toward the big fat Jerk, fist recoiled and ready to smush some face.

That is, until someone stepped between us and caught my fist in her hand effortlessly. I blinked.

"Hotaru, what're doing? I was just about to beat him up!" I whined, pouting at my indifferent best friend.

Yes, Hotaru Imai, my childhood bestie and the only person in my old school who could win me in a fight.

BAKA BAKA BAKA

"Shut up, dummy," she demanded flatly.

"But—"

BAKA BAKA BAKA

"Are you deaf?"

I shot her a dirty look as I massaged my aching head, but said nothing.

"Hotaru Imai, was it?" The Jerk suddenly said.

I immediately whipped my head to stare intensely at him. He knew Hotaru?

"You shut up too." Hotaru re-aimed her Baka gun at the Jerk's head.

I was so tempted to snatch that bazooka out of her hand right now and blow the Jerk out of the tree like a boss, but the consequences were too frightening to think about. Like being forced to bury myself alive by a certain sadistic woman. So I restrained myself and only looked at the gun wistfully.

Surprisingly, the Jerk quieted.

Well, not really a surprise, I guess, since Hotaru was an awesome person, and her Baka gun was pretty damn intimidating for looks.

"Mikan," she bore me through with her unnerving amethyst eyes.

I instantly snapped out of my annihilate-the-Jerk fantasies.

"Yeah? I'm listening."

"You are the most thick-headed pig I have ever met."

I blinked. Thick-headed pig...? Well, that was a new one.

"Oh, gee thanks," I rolled my eyes. "What did I do this time?" Then I muttered under my breath, "And I was just about to give the Jerk a piece of my mind."

Hotaru crinkled her nose and glared at me like I was some kind of vermin. For a second I was afraid she had heard me and was about to give me some form of hideous torture, but much to my surprise, she just let out a barely audible sigh.

"Baka, if you put even a scratch on this boy and he and his friends go tattle about it, you'll be a rotting corpse by tomorrow morning."

My eyes widened slightly. Well, that was alarming. But I didn't see the grounds for this bold declaration. And even though I knew that Hotaru the Great Genius was never, ever, ever wrong, I still couldn't help but doubt her a teensy tiny bit on this one.

"And why would I be a rotting corpse?" I inquired carefully, seriously interested in her answer.

Hotaru studied me with this disgusted look on her face for a very long time. I tilted my head curiously and stared back at her with big innocent eyes. Finally, she pinched the bridge of her nose in soft exasperation and opened her mouth.

And boy, did I get an interesting answer.

"This boy is Natsume Hyuuga, the most popular guy in school. Everybody knows that, you brainless moron."

I froze and continued to stare at Hotaru incomprehensively. Then, for a moment, I forgot that everything that Hotaru the Great Genius said was a hundred percent true.

"Hotaru, I never knew you had a sense of humor, haha!"

As soon as I said it, I knew it was the wrong thing to say. 'Humor' and 'Hotaru' were words that would never belong in the same sentence.

But you have to take into account that my brain wasn't really functioning properly at the moment.

BAKA BAKA BAKA

And that added to my brain damage.

"Stop blithering nonsense. You'll spread your stupidity."

I rubbed my head and grunted grumpily. Then I placed myself in front of this so-called 'Natsume.'

Wait...Natsume?

"Luna was talking about you!" I blurted in realization, pointing at the said guy. "Luna Koizumi, you know her? She's this crazy bitch with serious mental problems and dresses like a whore."

Two guys with sandy-hair snorted next to Natsume. Natsume himself flinched at the name. So he did know her...

"Oh, and who's Ruka?" I remembered. Luna had mentioned that name too.

"Oh, uh...that would be me," a shy, yet familiar voice spoke.

I looked behind Natsume to find the blonde boy from before stepping forward uncertainly.

"Bunny boy!" My eyes lit up and I broke into a grin.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sumire facepalm herself—god knows why.

"H-Hey, Mikan," the blonde greeted me with a soft little smile.

"So, your name's Ruka, isn't it?"

"Ruka Nogi," he confirmed.

"Heh, Luna was talking about you too."

"Oh...really?" Ruka did not look too pleased about that.

I totally knew how he felt.

"Yeah, yeah, we get the point," Sumire finally stepped in and draped an arm over my shoulder. I had been wondering when she would interrupt, with that loud, nosy personality of hers. "But that's not the real problem here. You see, according to what Mikan's told us, someone saw her with Natsume and Ruka in the morning, and she's done a pretty darn job of spreading the word."

There was a heavy silence after that. I started to feel uneasy.

"Shoot, then Mikan's screwed," one of the sandy-haired guys finally said.

Whoop, exactly what I wanted to hear.

"Shaddup, Koko, you're not helping," Sumire growled in his direction.

I vaguely wondered how Sumire knew his name before asking, "Wait, I don't get it. Why would being seen with those two make me screwed?"

"Were you even listening to me, dummy?" Hotaru tilted her Baka gun toward me, her voice softly threatening.

I panicked, but Sumire stepped in front of me.

"Just let her off this once, Hotaru, or we'll never get anywhere."

Hotaru's face was void of emotion, but she did eventually lower her gun just a tad.

I looked at Sumire with renewed respect.

"Anyways, Mikan, I'll explain it for you just once, since you clearly are very poorly informed in this area. Write it on your hand or something," the greenette advised me.

I didn't have a pen though, so whatever.

"Natsume is the most popular boy in school. Ruka's got the same standards since he's his best friend. Same with the other three guys. I guess you could call them an elite group or some shit."

Oh...right.

The Jerk was apparently really popular.

...I forgot.

"HOW THE HELL IS THAT POSSIBLE?"

Sumire looked unsuprised at my outburst and responded with a shrug.

"Dunno. Girls are simple-minded these days. When a guy's got looks, he's got glory."

I mused over that. Well, there was truth in her words...

I glanced at Natsume and the other guys.

Okay, I admit that they did look better than average...

So Natsume was only popular for his looks, not his character. Alright then, fine by me.

And just like that, the popularity issue was justified.

"So, why am I screwed again?" I asked Sumire.

"I was getting to that," she huffed. "Patience, woman."

I waited. Sumire continued.

"Anyways, Luna's got this huge crush on Natsume that everyone knows about—" Here, she paused momentarily to watch me gag and then choke and make fool out of myself.

"—and any girl that gets too close to him is gonna get a whole shitload of trouble," she finished.

I let all of that sink in. Now everything that happened today totally made sense. But I was far from satisfied.

"So...what's gonna happen to me now?" I asked tentatively.

Sumire shrugged.

"Who knows? I'll paint rainbows on your coffin though, if you'd like."

"Sumire, I don't wanna die! Help me!"

"Poor Mikan," Nonoko sighed as she shook her head sadly.

"You could say that again," Anna agreed.

"Poor Mikan."

"...I didn't mean it literally."

"But Sumire—" I tugged at my bestie's sleeve insistently. "—you seem to know these guys well! You even knew that guy's name! So why aren't you dead yet?"

"Oh boy." Sumire heaved an exasperated breath. "I guess I didn't tell you this, huh?"

I eyed her curiously.

"Tell me about what?"

She exhaled. "Well, for starters, Natsume's actually my cousin, and—"

"WHAT?"

"Yeah, he's my cousin. Now shut up and let me continue."

I swear, I was going to spontaneously combust from all the outrageous new stuff I was learning today. My brain wasn't built to carry so much information at once.

"Me, Anna, and Nonoko are like, childhood friends with these guys, since our moms were all buddy buddy and we lived next to each other. Since me and Natsume were the legit cousins, we kinda stuck everybody together—Natsume for the guys and me for the girls. Luna doesn't really bother us that much because we all were already friends before she met Natsume, but we hardly talk to the guys anymore anyways, since none of us have the same classes." Sumire glanced at me. "Good enough for you?"

I slowly nodded my head.

Wowie.

I didn't know so much.

But then again, I had only been here for a month. Moving to a new place had its downside, I guess.

"But if I'm friends with you guys, and you guys are friends with these guys, then Luna wouldn't bother me either, right?" I tried desperately.

"Not gonna work," one of the sandy-haired guys denied mercilessly. "You're the new girl, and you're getting too close to Natsume. That's all it takes for Luna to hunt you down."

I frowned. Well, that was just wonderful. Now what the hell was I supposed to do?

Then I looked curiously at the guy who answered me. He was the one that Sumire told to shut up before.

"What's your name again?"

"Kokoro Yome." He gave me a wolfish grin. "But just call my Koko. And this guy here's my twin bro, Kitsu."

"Kitsuneme," the other boy corrected. "But yeah, call me Kitsu."

I stared them in amusement.

Twins, huh?

My eyes flickered over to Anna and Nonoko.

Twins.

What were the chances?

But I quickly pushed away my match-making thoughts. Those could be saved for later study. Right now there was a much more dire problem that needed to be solved.

"So anyways—" I stopped abruptly mid-sentence when I noticed a small, familiar lump-looking thing in Koko's hand. "Hey, what's that?" I pointed.

Koko jumped and quickly hid his hand behind his back.

"Oh, nothing, nothing at all!" he squeaked. "Just your imagination!"

Suspicious.

I grabbed his hand despite his protests and pried his fingers open, only to find a certain beanbag with the letter K stitched into it resting on his palm.

"The beanie!" I exclaimed in mild surprise. Then something clicked in my head. My voice lowered dangerously and my hand tightened around Koko's wrist. "Dear Koko, I don't suppose you were the one who threw it at me?"

I still hadn't forgotten the humiliation of facepalming myself on the tree branch. Someone was gonna pay.

"It was Natsume's idea!" Koko answered frantically, genuinely scared shitless by the death glare I was giving him. "I swear I had nothing to do with it, please have mercy and spare my worthless life!"

"Natsume, huh?" I released Koko and heard him heave a sigh of relief while fervently thanking the gods and saying some other crap about cheese and shit.

"So—" I stepped up to the Jerk and shoved the bean bag in his face, "—what, exactly, were you trying to accomplish with this?"

I didn't give a damn if he was popular or not, he was still begging to be smacked.

Natsume just shoved his hands into his pockets nonchalantly and replied, "Dunno. I was bored."

"Is that so?" A vein popped in my head and my evil aura switched to max. "Well, I'm pretty bored right now too. Maybe I'll just go ahead and rearrange your face a bit, just for laughs."

"And there she goes again—badass Mikan mode," Anna sighed. "Natsume seems to turn her on a lot."

Sumire snorted very loudly and Anna groaned.

"Ugh, you know I didn't mean it that way, Sumire."

"It still wouldn't be wrong though."

Anna watched as Natsume dodged several of her friend's attacks, all the while smirking at Mikan's colorful language.

"Hmm, I doubt it," she muttered skeptically.

But Sumire just smirked. Unlike the pinkette, she sensed some kind of spark between those two. Where it would lead though, she had no idea.

I have never been so frustrated in my life.

How did the Jerk keep dodging my punches? The only one who was allowed to do that was Hotaru! He didn't have such a privilege! How dare he steal her rights!

I was just about to go all out and start using some legs and feet when my stomach suddenly let out this giant, embarrassing growl and I froze. Then I remembered that I hadn't even had my lunch yet.

Aha, so I was just hungry! That's why I couldn't beat the Jerk!

"Alright," I stood up straight and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, jabbing a finger at Natsume in determined declaration. "We're definitely finishing this another day, got that, bastard? I went easy on you today 'cuz I'm on an empty stomach, but I swear, next time there will be no mercy."

I nodded in satisfaction with that said, then dropped my hand and looked around.

"Now, who wants to get me some damn food?"

I pondered my choices. Going back to the cafeteria would be suicide, going to our dorm would put us at risk of being seen by teachers—namely, Jin-Jin—and I don't think trees tasted that good.

But there was no way in hell I was skipping lunch. I wouldn't be able to survive the rest of the afternoon like that.

I was just about to go with sneaking to our dorms and taking food from the fridge, regardless of the risk, when Sumire tossed a paper bag to me. I caught it and raised a questioning eyebrow at her, but she just told me to look inside. So I did.

And I saw the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my sixteen years of existence.

Waffles.

It turns out that the guys usually ate lunch on this tree instead of in the cafeteria because their popularity made sitting down at a table in peace quite impossible.

I pitied them, really.

Looking back at it, I guess Natsume really wasn't lying before when he told me that he had been on the tree first.

But of course, there was no way I was ever gonna admit that.

Anyways, Sumire just happened to see their lunches still sitting on the upper branches of the tree—apparently, they were just about to eat when we happened—and like the awesome person she is, she wasted no time in getting up there and snatching the food for ourselves.

My respect for her is steadily increasing. The Jin-Jin incident in the morning has long been forgotten.

And guess what?

I LOVE waffles.

So, despite Koko's defiant protests—the waffles were apparently his lunch—I shoved down one after another of sweet, syrupy delight until all six waffles were tucked neatly into my tummy where they belonged. And then I let Koko cry all he wanted.

It was rather amusing.

.

.

.

Damn, Hotaru's starting to rub off of me.

After all of us girls were done and full and all of the guys had stopped whining, our topic of discussion once again returned to the main problem at hand: Me.

"So, how do you suppose I prevent my social life apocalypse?" I asked.

"Well, there's really no stopping it now," Sumire shrugged. "Luna knows what she knows, and I don't see her changing heart anytime soon."

"Not helping, Sumire," I grumbled. "Phooey, you're so lucky. You don't gotta deal with all of this since you're his cousin..."

And I trailed off right there, because I just had the most genius idea ever.

"Hey, hey, hey! What if I pretend to be Natsume's cousin?" I suggested excitedly.

"Hell no," he replied—instant rejection.

However, everyone else looked at one another and contemplated the idea.

"It's actually not half-bad," Sumire mused, thoughtfully twirling a strand of her dark green hair between her fingers.

"It just might work," a smart-looking boy wearing glasses spoke up.

Funny, I didn't even notice him before—he had said nothing up until this point.

"And you are?" I prompted.

"Yuu. Yuu Tobita," he answered quickly, slightly flustered.

"Alright then, Yuu," I grinned. "You look pretty smart, so I'll take your word for it. Starting today, I'm Natsume's cousin!"

"And what if I don't agree?" the guy himself countered.

I gave him a cheerful smile, though the venomous words that came out of my mouth next were quite contradictory to it.

"You're playing this with me, alright, bastard? This is for the sake of my social life. The reason I have to do this is partly your fault anyways, now suck up your girly whining and deal with it."

Natsume stared at me for a long moment. Then he just grunted. Everyone immediately turned to stare at him with OMFG expressions on their faces. (Now where was a darn camera when I needed it?) I simply took that as an A-ok.

Anna was the first to come back to her senses, and after giving Natsume a funny look, she nudged me.

"Well...cousin or not, how are you gonna let Luna and the rest of the girls know? They're probably not gonna believe you even if you tell them."

I smirked. I had already thought this one out.

"For that, we're just gonna need a little rule-breaking."

I am starting to think that I have mastered the art of humiliating myself and getting into horrid situations. Because it certainly seems that way after what happened next.

I had already explained my plan to everybody, and surprisingly, they had all agreed to it. It was the first time I had ever felt so accomplished in my life.

And so, for celebration, I jumped up and did a cheer of victory.

Of course, I wasn't expecting my foot to land on a banana peel when it came down. I mean, seriously, who leaves banana peels on friggin' trees? Then I remembered seeing Hotaru eating a banana before when the rest of us were digging into the guys' lunches.

Yeah.

Damn you, Hotaru.

But the point is, banana peels are real slippery. And slipping while you're on a tree isn't the wisest thing to do. So I was really not at all surprised to find myself tilting backwards more than one was supposed to while one was standing on a tree.

I didn't even have time to curse.

Suddenly, in a whole whirl of colors and sounds, I found myself hanging upside down in a very familiar position with pressure on my right leg.

"Mikan!"

It was Ruka's voice. Thank god, I was saved.

I tried not to be too annoyed by the position I was in though. Ugh, I was starting to despise skirts.

But I spoke way too soon.

With a jerk that scared the shit out of me, I was suddenly free-falling to the ground again, and then another jerk stopped me and left me completely out of breath.

I tried to look up to see what happened, but soon found it impossible.

Then, withough warning, I was falling again. And this time there was no jerk to keep me from hitting the solid ground—face-first.

What really knocked the breath out of me, though, was the two heavy...things...that fell on top of me afterwards.

And I stayed that way, getting squished to death under two very heavy objects, for ten, extremely long seconds.

I really did almost die back there. Scariest experience I had ever had in my whole life.

"Shit! Mikan, are you okay?" A frantic voice cried as the weight on top of me suddenly disappeared.

Ruka's voice...he fell down with me?

"Just leave her be. Damn, my arm..."

Argh, Natsume.

...wait, did he fall too?

That would explain the two heavy things. And now Natsume couldn't even tease me about falling off trees anymore. Bleh.

I tried to lift myself up, but my body ached all over. Something warm trickled down my forehead—I guessed the beanbag cut had opened up again. My nose didn't feel quite right, but I don't think it was broken either. And my cheeks were still numb from the initial shock of the impact.

"Mikan, are you okay? Can you hear me?" Anna's panicked voice rang out distantly above me.

I decided I should make some sort of sound before she had a seizure or heart attack, and opened my mouth to do so. But before I could utter a word, I suddenly heard a gasp and then a hurried rustling of leaves. After that, silence.

My curiosity was killing me.

With much difficulty, I forced myself to tilt my head up and open my eyes.

Only to see a pair of fancy, old-fashioned leather shoes five inches from my head.

I immediately felt my heart sink to my toes. Slowly, I raised my head, and tried my best to smile when I finally met the eyes of a pissed off, ruler-wielding, glasses man.

.

.

.

Wonderful.

Just fucking wonderful.

.

.

.

Someone, please kill me now.

Ohmigod I spent so much time on this chappie it's not even funny!

This is what happens when you get a severe case of writers block, which I find myself very prone to. You write a whole story and then you erase it and start over again because it sounds crappy and then you do the same thing over and over.

It gets tiring and frustrating, believe me.

I finally decided to stick with what I have here, but at this point I didn't even want to proofread it, so its probably full of grammar/spelling mistakes and such.

Do tell me if you find any. Criticism is also very much appreciated. One thing I really want to know is if the story's too slow-paced, 'cuz it sometimes feels like that.

I also just wanted to say that I am mega grateful to all the readers, if any, who have still stuck with this story despite my poor efforts to update it.

Thankies very much!

-momocandy XD