Button's body lurched forward when she felt two fingers dig into her back. After digging the tired gleam out of her eyes, she spun around angrily to glare at the culprit, only to find a wide-eyed blonde girl staring back at her. "What was that for?" Button hissed.

The girl, Marine Porter, pointed to the clock above the door discreetly. Button silently tried to decipher it in her still exhausted state. In five minutes, the bell would ring and everyone would realize that tough girl Johnson fell asleep in her American History class, including the teacher. Button looked back at Marine and mouthed a thank you. The other girl grinned in response, clapping her hands together almost silently.

Button turned around and hurriedly scribbled down the notes available as the bell screeched to announce that it was lunchtime. "You can borrow my notes, if you'd like," Marine said quietly behind her and Button was forced to acknowledge her statement.

Although a nice thought, Button hardly thought it was worth it. "No, thank you," she replied as she slipped her bag onto her shoulder.

"Oh..."

Button tried not to look back and see the disappointed appearance on Marine's face. "Would you like to eat lunch together?" the girl insisted, her blonde pigtails swinging back and forth as she followed Button out of the classroom.

"I'm okay," Button responded. "Go eat with your friends."

She almost didn't hear Marine say, "But I don't have any friends."

Button stopped, staring at the girl in front of her with seashell hair ties and a freckled face. She found it difficult to believe that she didn't have any friends. Then again, people probably said the same thing about Button when found in one of her better moods. Her eyes softened slightly as she watched Marine nervously play with the straps on her purple backpack. "In that case, what are we waiting for?"

Marine flashed her a magnificent grin, her mood improving dramatically. "I noticed you were reading Game of Thrones in class yesterday."

Button flushed, flexing her fingers anxiously. What was she doing? Friends? Really, Button? "Yeah, I just started the series. Guess I'm a little behind..."

"Do you watch the show?"

"Not really, no."

"Welcome to the loner bench." Marine led her over to a bench under an oak tree, taking out a lunch box filled with sushi. Button stared at it in surprise as she took out her own lunch. "Wow... Like fish much?"

The blonde looked down at her food, a light blush dusting her pale cheeks. "I woke up craving it. Oddly enough, I always thought I was allergic to seafood."

"I guess not?" Button couldn't take her eyes off of the piles of seafood. How did Marine plan on eating that much?

"You don't leave much room to judge," Marine said with a giggle as she gestured to Button's odd combination of food.

"It just sounded good," Button responded with a shrug as she picked apart the pieces of her lunch, which consisted of two boiled eggs, a salad leftover from the one she made for breakfast, and a box of raspberries she picked up on the way to school.

Marine stabbed a fork into one of the sushi rolls, "You're a bit scary, you know that?"

"I try," Button told her with a laugh as she mixed the raspberries into her salad. "I'm not a huge fan of people."

"Well, people aren't huge fans of me," Marine offered her a smile. "I guess that makes us a perfect team."

"I guess so," Button answered without thinking, immediately regretting her words. One lunch was nothing, but she did not plan on spending anymore time around the school's biggest nerd.

"I hope I'm not running you off," Marine said as she picked at her food.

Goddamn! This girl was too nice. Too kind. She couldn't say no to a friendless little nerd like her. "Of course not." Dammit...

Marine's smile brightened as a shadow appeared over the two girls. Button lifted her head to find none other than Ryou staring down at her. She rolled her eyes, "What do you want, Ryou?"

"You left your book at my place," he said as he held out the copy Button spent most of the morning looking for.

"Thanks?"

"Oh, um..."

Button glanced over at Marine as she stuttered and stumbled over her words, her face suddenly bright red. Her gaze shifted between Ryou and Marine anxiously and Button could feel the heat crawling up her neck. "No. No. No. Absolutely not!"

Realization dawned on Ryou's face and he flushed. "Get your mind out of the gutter," he shouted as Button threw her hands up in front of her, waving them back and forth frantically. His eyes spent too much time focused at the scar on her wrist. She lowered it slowly, but he continued to stare.

"It wasn't like that, Marine. I was helping his... What is Keiichiro to you?" Button's voice dropped to a whisper. "He's too old to be your boyfriend. Or is he?" She glanced over at Ryou with wide eyes, "Doubtful. Keiichiro's too nice to fall for an ass like him."

"I am not gay," Ryou growled, finally taking his gaze off of her mark.

"Sorry," Button offered him a smirk. "It's a pretty boy thing."

Marine sighed, her hand fluttering over her chest, "Oh, okay. I'm glad we cleared that up."

Ryou rolled his eyes and stomped away like an angry preteen. "He's cute though, isn't he?" Marine asked once he disappeared into the building.

Button scoffed, "Shut up, Marine."

Marine giggled in response as she looked up at the tree hanging over them. The leaves still gleamed bright green and Button wondered if they even changed color in autumn. "So, you don't have any friends?" Marine asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Nope. Not here. Not in England," Button's drifted off slightly, focusing on another, smaller tree a few feet away. "Not anywhere."

The blonde girl nodded her head slowly before turning towards the brunette next to her. "Could..." she shook her head, looking away and breathing in deeply, "Could I be your friend?"

"I don't know..." Button heaved in a deep breath, glancing at Marine.

The girl's smile fell almost instantly as she stared down at the small portion of her sushi left. "Oh, of course. Never mind, it was a stupid-"

"No, no, no," Button shook her head, a small panic rising in her chest.. "It's not like that. It's just- Ugh, fine. We can be friends, just stop looking so sad."

Marine flashed her the brightest smile Button had ever seen on a human as she clapped her hands together. "Yay!"

"Jerk..."

"Friend," Marine corrected teasingly.

"So you live in an apartment by yourself?" Marine asked as Button followed her up the path leading to her house, which looked like a reflected version of the house next to it and a copy of the house after that. Why were houses in Arizona so dull?

Button paused to look at the peonies growing in the window as her friend rummaged through her backpack for her house keys. "Yup," she said, giggling when she saw Marine's bright pink bike leaning against the porch. "Why don't you ride that to school?"

"Eep!" Marine stood in front of the bike protectively. "Leave Barbara out of this."

"You named your bike Barbara?" Button questioned incredulously.

Marine's already present blush deepened as a small nervous noise similar to a seal bark escaped her. Button couldn't help but notice in their week of friendship that Marine made the weird sound a lot. "I-I named it after Barbra Streisand," she said quietly. "I was obsessed with her. Wanted to be on Broadway."

"What's stopping you?"

"I sing like a toad."

Button raised an eyebrow at the blonde before a smile spread across her face. She giggled and threw her hand over her mouth to try to stop her laughter from progressing. Her plan failed and soon, she was laughing harder than she had in months. Marine joined her only a few seconds later and the two girls stood on her porch, howling until a man on the other side of the street told them to shut up.

They glanced at each other, giggles still escaping their mouths as Marine shoved open her front door. Button's laughs died the moment she saw the inside. "You okay?" Marine questioned, suddenly concerned for her friend.

Button's eyes darted from the expensive leather couch and the flat screen on the wall to the gray carpet and antique white walls. Everything in the room had to be worth a fortune, but not a big enough one for the owners to be considered rich. "Just... Um... Wow... Your sister owns this house?"

Marine adjusted the thermostat and Button could feel the temperature dropping. "Well, her and her husband, Hugh. Kinsley's..." Marine's hand hovered over the tiny box. "Kinsley's a banker and Hugh works for Microsoft."

She shrugged as she started rummaging through her fridge. "Are you sure it's okay I stay here for the weekend?" Button questioned, swaying awkwardly in the hallway leading to the kitchen.

Marine glanced back at her like she was crazy. "Duh. I invited you, didn't I?" she grinned at Button. "Don't worry, Kin's happy I'm bringing a friend over. They'll probably want you to come over everyday."

She finally settled on a piece of chocolate cake. "Want some?" she asked as she sat down on a stool by the center island.

Button reluctantly sat down on the barstool next to her, her gaze sweeping over the stainless steel appliances and top of the line cookware. It made sense why Marine could afford to eat sushi everyday. Sort of made her jealous. "Do you cook?"

She glanced over at the blonde, "Hmm?"

"Do you cook?" Marine gestured to the kitchen. "I'm more of a baking fan myself, but if you want to make something, you can."

"No," Button shook her head. "I'm good."

"Okay then," she plopped a bite of cake into her mouth. "We still going to that cafe tomorrow?"

"I told the owner I'd swing by," Button told her, shaking her head when Marine offered her a second fork.

"And Ryou works there?"

"I think so..." Button chewed on her bottom lip. She managed to avoid Ryou for the rest of the week after she caught him staring at her from the other side of the courtyard. He weirded her out a bit. Oh well. She'd go to the cafe tomorrow and then she'd never have to talk to him again. She self-consciously ran her hand over the mark.

"What's that?"

"What's what?" Button glanced over at her friend, praying she didn't mean the scar.

"In your bag. What's that?" Marine pointed to a piece of paper sticking out of Button's bag.

Heat raced up Button's face and she hurriedly tucked the paper back into her duffel bag. Dragging it around all day had been a major pain in the ass until Marine offered to stick it in her locker. "Nothing," she squeaked as the paper finally disappeared.

Marine raised an eyebrow at her before dodging around Button. Button had never seen her move so fast. She gripped the white paper tightly in her hand, her eyes wide. "You write poetry?"

"Not very good poetry..." Button lurched forward, reaching for the poem.

"This is really good," Marine muttered before turning the paper around and reading the last few lines. "Really good."

Button swallowed down her growing embarrassment. "Can I have it back, please?"

After a second, Marine passed it over. "Sorry."

She didn't sound very sorry. "Curiosity killed the cat," Button grumbled and the blonde's eyes widened in fear.

She ran towards the stairs, "Come on, slowpoke."

Button stared after her before cautiously picking up her bag and following the girl up the surprisingly steep stairs. Marine peered over the edge, "Come on!"

With a small huff, Button hurried up the steps, pausing when she saw Marine struggling with the knob to a door towards the back. "Sorry," the blonde girl said. "Hugh hasn't gotten around to fixing this quiet yet."

She shoved it open and ushered Button into the room. It was surprisingly messy, considering how organized Marine seemed at school. "Sorry. I didn't get around to cleaning up last night. Mr. Fisher gave us way too much homework."

Button nodded in agreement as she awkwardly stood in the doorway. "You can throw your bag wherever, I guess. Do you want to watch a movie?" Marine gestured to the TV by the bed. "I don't really have that much. Disney okay with you?"

"Disney?" Button said a bit too loudly, her head swivelling around to look at the collection of movies Marine shuffled through.

"Disney fan?"

Button blushed, "A bit, sorry."

"No problem. We all need a bit of magic in our lives," Marine offered her a kind smile before pulling Aladdin off of the shelf. Button nodded in agreement. "Kay. I'm gonna change into pajamas first, if that's okay with you?"

Button smiled, "I want to too."

"Bathroom's down the hall."

She watched as Marine shuffled through her drawers for clothes before pulling her pajamas out of her bag. The bathroom was every bit as renovated as the kitchen with a fancy tub, new tiles, and a nice sink. It was a welcome change from the plain generic bathroom back at her place. Button changed slowly before splashing some water on her face.

She'd never slept over at a friend's house before. It felt a bit strange being at someone else's house for the night. It was not an unwelcome feeling though. In the past week, she became more relaxed with Marine than she'd ever been with anyone else. She could almost say that she trusted the sweet nerdy girl. Almost.

Button looked at herself in the mirror, her hazel eyes staring back at her. The sink water ran as a sort of background noise as she ran her fingers over her pale skin, her mother's skin, and through her thick brown hair, her father's hair. She missed them. She missed her grandparents too. And her siblings.

A knock rattled the door, throwing Button out of her thoughts. She pulled it open quickly, finding Marine, dressed in a tank top and a pair of shorts, on the other side. "You okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," Button rubbed away the stinging in her eyes. "You ready?"

Marine watched her for another second before nodding. "I love Aladdin," she said as she turned around.

Button caught a glimpse of a scar like mark shaped like a spiral on Marine's thigh. She slowly looked back up at her friend, who began to practically skip back to her room. "Coming?" Marine called and Button followed her back to her room, gripping her wrist tightly.

The cafe appeared to be just as pink as Button remembered it. "Wow," Marine muttered next to her. "That's a lot of pink."

Button glanced at her overdressed friend. Marine saw no problem wearing a sleeveless teal bubble dress and a pair of purple ankle boots to a cafe and she seemed completely oblivious to some of the stares she was getting from guys on the street. "Those guys are staring at you," Button whispered, pointing to a few college students on the other side of the street.

"Who?" Marine blushed brightly, her hands grabbing at her dress as she glanced around anxiously. "Why?"

"Because you look cute," Button assured her, adjusting her own black and red halter top. She turned to the line in front of them and shifted impatiently. "How long is this going to take?"

As if on cue, the front doors opened and the hungry customers flooded in. Button and Marine seated themselves at a table towards the center, glancing around the cafe. "It's cute," Marine said after a moment.

"It's pink," Button deadpanned.

"Is that such a bad thing?'

Before she could answer, Button noticed Ryou absentmindedly making over to them, still looking down at his notepad. The girls he'd just waited on were giggling like maniacs, shooting glances over at him. "Hello and welcome to the Mew Cafe," he said, still staring at the paper. "May I take your-"

A smirk crawled onto Button's lips when she finally registered her face. "Hello, Ryou," she drawled out in a posh accent, never letting her expression drop. She looked over at Marine, who awkwardly stared down at her menu. "Look, it's Ryou. From school?"

"What are you doing here?" Ryou hissed, gripping his pencil so tight that Button was surprised it didn't snap.

Button glanced around at the cafe, "I believe that Keiichiro invited me? The owner?"

She laughed as he groaned and placed the pencil on the paper. "What do you want?"

"Is that any way to talk to a customer?"

"What do you want?" he repeated irritably.

"I want a," she glanced down at the menu, aiming for the first cherry themed thing on the menu. "Cherry chocolate bundt cake and a strawberry milkshake?" In the past week, she found that even though she adored raspberries and cranberries, she found it hard to eat them with anything dessert-like.

She glanced over at Marine as the blonde girl studied the menu like a textbook. "I think I'll have a grape tart," she looked up at Ryou. "Are you hiring?"

He blinked at her, obviously surprised by the question. Button also stared at her friend in confusion. "No," Ryou finally answered, scribbling down her order.

She frowned slightly and looked down at the menu again, "It's fine. Oh, and can I have a seaweed smoothie with that?"

Once again, he blinked, but wrote down the order anyways. "Anything else?"

He was staring at her wrist again. Button closed the menu and quickly to handed it to him. "That'll be all for now."

He grunted in response before moving to the next table. Marine glanced over at Button, "He keeps looking at you weird."

Button rubbed the inside of her wrist, "Yeah. Wonder why?"

"Maybe he likes your tattoo."

She looked up at the blonde sitting across from her sharply, "My what?"

"Your tattoo?" Marine pointed to her wrist. "It's the strangest thing, I have a scar on my thigh that kind of looks like it."

Button blinked at her friend as the other girl continued to organize the sugar packets by color. Marine looked up from her work, seeing the brunette's confused gaze, "Mine is shaped kind of like a swirl though..."

They continued to stare at each other until Marine shrugged and returned to her task. "Maybe he is," Button replied.

Ryou frowned as he stared down at Button's order. Who ordered a seaweed smoothie? Keiichiro mostly just added it for the health nuts that tend to plague cities like Phoenix, but that Porter girl (Marie?) also ordered a grape tart, which according to the calorie counter on the menu was one of the most sugary things they offered. Well, except for maybe the cake Button ordered.

"Got my orders?" Keiichiro asked as he snatched the pad out of his hands. He raised an eyebrow at Ryou's crude drawing of Button with a mustache and devil horns. "Some rude customers?"

"She's here," Ryou responded, walking over to the milkshake machine. He added some strawberries into the stainless steel cup, throwing in some ice and milk. How many strawberry milkshakes were ordered? Six?

"Who?"

"Button John-"

Keiichiro looked over at him from adding the finishing touches to all of the cakes. "A Mew?"

"A possible Mew. Hope that pain in the ass just decided to get a tattoo the day we started the project," Ryou growled as he finished the strawberry milkshakes and moved on to the chocolate ones. "I still haven't gotten close enough to see her mark."

"Does it look like a scar in a weird shape?"

Ryou averted his turquoise eyes to the mixing shake. "Yes."

"Then," Keiichiro stated as he dropped a cherry onto a bundt cake, onto Button's bundt cake, "Unless she's into scarification, an unlikely thing for someone like her, I'm assuming she's a Mew."

He gave Ryou a look that told the blonde not to argue. So, Ryou pressed his lips together and finished the milkshakes and smoothies. "Get her's out first," Keiichiro instructed. "And get a closer look."

Ryou unceremoniously dropped their plates on the table. Surprisingly, the expensive heartshaped china didn't shatter on impact. Instead, only a few cherries fell off of Button's cake and onto the table. He set down the drinks more carefully, his eyes never leaving Button. She shifted uncomfortably under his unnerving gaze. "Anything else?" he asked.

"No, I think we're fi-"

His fingers quickly wrapped around her wrist, yanking her up. He stared down at his wrist with a look of both amazement and horror. He didn't see the hand flying towards his face. "What the hell?" she shouted as he released her, his hand moving towards his face. "Don't ever fucking touch me again, asshat!"

The entire cafe was staring at them now. Marine anxiously looked around, sipping her smoothie. The heart doors at the back swung open and Keiichiro walked out with one of the angriest expressions Button had ever seen on a man. "Not what I meant," he said as he grabbed Ryou's arm and dragged him back into the kitchen.

Button started to gather her stuff as Marine slurped down the rest of her drink. Keiichiro returned with an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that, Miss Button," he held out a few togo boxes and two styrofoam cups with a green liquid in one and pink in the other. "Thank you for stopping by. Your bill's been taken care of. Have a good day."

She watched his receding back as he walked away, absently handing Marine her smoothie and box. "I guess we'll just go then?" she looked at the people still staring at them and leveled a glare on all of them. "What are you looking at?"