I was walking my way out of the classroom when I saw Yamada running towards me, followed by er, a flock of girls. I sighed as I went back inside. "Aya-chan! How about having lunch with me!" he cheerfully asked as he reached the door of my classroom. I smiled at him as I politely declined his offer. He frowned, and then proceeded to trespass in my classroom. "You know, you should have lunch with me. You’re my girlfriend after all!" he said, sounding—no, more of like feigning hurt. Oh yeah, did I tell you? I am the Yamada Ryosuke’s girlfriend. It’s hard to believe, yes, that he is actually going out with such an ordinary girl like me. He started yanking my wrist and I hastily grabbed my bento before getting all dragged by him. Once his fangirls saw me, they immediately let out some ‘aww’s’ and ‘ooh’s’. It was quite upsetting. _____________________________________________________________________ "You should really stop interfering with what I do you know." Yamada growled. "You’re supposed to act like how a girlfriend does. Or have you forgotten your purpose?" His usual cheerful face turned into his real mischievous and conceited one. I sighed inwardly. Yes, I am going out with him, but NO, we are not a real couple. Do you get it now? He’s like, what’s the term? Yes, USING me to get out of trouble of all sorts: his fangirls, academics, and his schedules, mostly everything! This is a whole scheme to make everyone else believe we’re a couple. But I’m stupid enough to let him do it, just because I fell for this jerk. But of course, I wouldn’t hurt my pride and let him know. "I know my purpose," I muttered. "I’ll try to act more convincingly next time." He scowled at me. "Make sure you do, or else. I will ruin your reputation. It’s not that hard to do you know. Considering that I am Yamada Ryosuke after all." Oh God, no! "I know, I know. I’ll be more careful next time." He finally smiled. "Good. Where’s my lunch?" I sighed. I should have known. I reluctantly gave him my lunch, and he started eating without a word of thanks. How ungrateful. "Well?" he asked. "Where are my strawberries?" I gave him a whole bag of it, and he started munching on them. I just watched. Oh well, I would just sacrifice another day without eating lunch… _____________________________________________________________________ I’m feeling sick. I mean really sick. I’m so dizzy I started to lean on the walls. I felt like my body was going to give in when I heard Yuto-kun’s voice calling my name. "Aya-chan!" He instantly got hold of me and supported my weight. "Please," I begged. "Don’t tell Yamada-kun…" "Shh…" he said. "I’m helping you to the infirmary, okay? I won’t tell Yama-chan." _____________________________________________________________________ "So, why do you keep on skipping your lunches when you know you’re anaemic and easily faint without proper diet?" Yuto asked. I sulked. "Yamada-kun asks for lunch bentos. Since my parents don’t know about our ‘relationship’, they won’t let me make two bentos everyday." Yuto sighed as he patted my head. Really, Yuto-kun is so nice to me! And he’s the only one who knows that Yamada-kun and I are just pretending. "I’m fine now," I said. "I have to go; Yamada-kun is waiting for me." _____________________________________________________________________ I walked to the gates and found Yamada leaning on the wall, looking so furious that I thought he was fuming. As soon as he saw me, he started yelling. "Why are you LATE?! You know I don’t like having to wait around!" I flinched at every shouted word. "I’m sorry," I managed to say, still feeling a bit shaken. "I was stupid to be six minutes late." "It’s GOOD that you know! Do you know how stupid I looked like waiting for you here? A few girls even laughed at me!" I wanted to shout back at him, to tell him that he didn’t have to wait anyway, but I just couldn’t. My guts were not enough. "Hey, Yama-chan," a voice from behind us sounded. "Don’t yell at her too much. It wasn’t her fault." I turned around to see Yuto frowning at Yamada. Yamada, on the other hand, didn’t look the least concerned. "Stay out of this, Yuto. I know you’re my best friend, but don’t interfere with stuff like these." I fidgeted as I felt the tense atmosphere. Yuto grabbed my wrist and pulled me to him. "Let’s have it this way. I know you two made a deal about this whole boyfriend-girlfriend scheme but, since Aya is my friend, I can’t let you do whatever you want." Yamada was surprised. I guess he didn’t expect Yuto to act like this. I myself was surprised. I was about to tell Yuto that everything was fine when I started getting dizzy all over again. I grabbed onto his uniform to prevent me from falling. "Aya-chan! Are you all right?" Yuto asked; voice full of concern. "You shouldn’t have left the infirmary awhile ago." Yamada caught me off guard when he suddenly pulled me away from Yuto and carried me in a flash. "I’ll take care of her. I’m her boyfriend, remember?" Yamada said to Yuto as he started walking away with me in his arms. I blushed, too bad that he noticed it. He smirked. "You still have the guts to blush when you’re looking so pale already? Am I that stunning?" he laughed to his self. I just clutched onto him as another wave of nausea hit me. _____________________________________________________________________ I blinked my eyes open and saw Yamada looking… concerned? Nah… delusions! I carefully sat myself upright and saw Yamada looking like the usual. "I brought you home." I blushed. "Uh, yeah. Thanks." He leaned in onto me. He scrutinized my face a bit, and I was so afraid to breathe. "So why did you feel faint awhile ago?" he finally asked, his breath on my face. I shrugged. "It was nothing, maybe lack of sleep." He looked amused as he went back to his seat. "Well, get some sleep then! I don’t like you fainting when I’m around. I’d have to take responsibility." I felt a little hurt. He didn’t want me bothering him. Of course, I know that we only go out because he wants to benefit from it, and not the other way around. I know that. But sometimes it hurts. "Okay, I won’t." "And Aya? Call me Ryosuke when there are people around. You do know that’s part of our scheme don’t you?" I sighed. "Yes, I will." "Well," he said. "I just got you this to make sure you don’t forget my rules. Well then, I’m leaving." he said as he tossed me a little notebook. I took a peek inside. RULES FOR OUR CONTRACT: No complains. No questions. Follow everything I say since you are MY girlfriend. No flirting with other guys! Act sweet and all girlfriend-y around me. Call me by my first name and get used to it. Being nice to other guys except me is EXREMELY prohibited. Be around me as frequently as possible. …………… I’m speechless. Oh, the list goes on you know, till about rule 45. What the heck is this?! I can’t believe he’d do stuff like this! I sighed. I have to get it together. Besides, the day after tomorrow is Yuto-kun’s birthday. I’m gonna buy him something tomorrow. _____________________________________________________________________ I woke up as I frantically searched for my cell phone. Once I had it, I headed outside. Oh, did I say that tomorrow’s Yuto-kun’s birthday so I have to get him something? I don’t really know what to buy, but who cares? It’s the thought that counts. _____________________________________________________________________ The next day, I headed to the Nakajimas’ residence together with Ryosuke to celebrate Yuto-kun’s birthday. We were welcomed warmly by his parents, especially his mom. The whole Hey! Say! JUMP was there, and also me. When it was time to give presents, I gladly gave him mine. "Uhm, it’s not that special, so don’t expect that much." I said, feeling nervous that he won’t like it. I watched him open up my gift and was relieved when I saw his face lit up. "A charm bracelet! This is so cool! Thanks, Aya. You’re the best!" he said, scooting over to me as we hugged. I noticed Chinen and Hikaru-kun looking over to Ryosuke’s direction so I looked at him too. I saw him glaring at the bracelet. It seemed like the other members noticed it too. Ahm, this is… uncomfortable. Yuto grinned sheepishly at Ryosuke. "What? Don’t tell me Yama-chan’s jealous of the bracelet?" he teased. Ryosuke flinched. "I am not jealous over that childish thing," he said. CHILDISH? "It actually looks so weird I pity you." WEIRD? Yuto laughed. "You are jealous!!! Look Aya-chan, Yama-chan is getting jealous over your—" He was cut off when Ryosuke covered Yuto’s mouth with his hand. "Shut up," he hissed. "Aya, get your bag. We’re leaving." "But Ryosuke! It’s Yuto-kun’s birthday today and—" He glared at me. "Rule no. 1 remember?" He started dragging me outside and fortunately I was able to apologize before leaving the room. When we reached outside, I nervously asked him. "You weren’t really jealous were you?" He huffed at me. "Are you nuts? Of course not! I was angry because you totally broke three rules in just one go!" he said, looking like he was trying to calm his self. "Rule no. 5: Being nice to other guys except me is EXREMELY prohibited. Rule no. 27: No gifts will be given to any guy besides me. And Rule no. 41: No physical intimacy with another guy in public." I blinked. "I didn’t read the rest. I’m sorry." I said, feeling guilty and stupid at the same time. Does he expect me to remember all the rules anyway? "You should be." He said. "I want you to give me a charm bracelet." I was so surprised. "Why? You said it was childish and weird." He looked away, sounding angry again. "Rule no 1 states that you have no right to question me." I nodded, but in truth, I find it really unfair. He has complete control of my life when I don’t even have the right to question him. He doesn’t even care for me. He doesn’t care at ALL. He sighed loudly, as if he was saying that he’s tired talking with me. I got the message and started to walk in a different direction. But I was surprised when he suddenly stopped me. "What?" I asked. He looked incredulously at me. "And where do you think you’re going?" I stared at him. "Home, obviously." "Alone?" he asked; a glint of mockery in his voice. I stared at him even more. "Well, what do you want me to do? Ask a policeman to walk me home?" I ask sarcastically. He slid his hand to his hair. "I’m here. I’m walking you home. It’s obvious that you’re too weak and some thugs might target you." Okay, that’s the last straw for tonight. "Look, are you actually saying that I can’t defend myself and I’m that useless? Well, I’m sorry you feel that way and I’m sorry that because you’re my boyfriend you have to take the responsibility to get me home safe. But you know what? I can go alone." I jerked my hands away from him and started to run away. He can’t catch up with me; at least I’m sure of that. _____________________________________________________________________ For the next few days, I noticed that he was ignoring me. You know like, not seeing him in the hallway, as if we didn’t go to the same school. Rumours were spread. Things like Yamada dumped me, leaving the poor kitty me behind, that we had a fight and that I saw him cheating on me. The rumours were crazy. "Sakayi-chan," a voice behind me sounded. I turned around to see Ikuto, a guy from my class, walk up to me. "I heard about Yamada-kun. I’m sorry." I stared at him. Another one who believed the rumours. "It was pretty rotten of him to leave you like that. I knew from the start that he didn’t deserve you. You’re too good for him." Thanks so much that someone appreciates me like this. Wait, no. I shouldn’t be hearing this from a guy I barely know. Right? But either way… "Thanks. But I don’t really think that." I said. "Uhm, I know this might be sudden, but. I really like you and I hope you would give me a chance to get to know you more." I don’t want to hurt him, but I didn’t know what to say. His confession was so… out of the blue. "I… um…" I started. "I actually—" "The hell she would go out with you." A voice as cold as steel sounded from behind me. "Yamada?" Ikuto said. "Do you think my faithful girl would ever two-time me because of a scum like you?" he asked; his voice hard. "You’re the scum! Leaving Sakayi-chan like that!" Ikuto said. Yamada shrugged. "Go look at the mirror and see for yourself. You just took advantage of Aya because she wasn’t with me. Aren’t you the scum?" Ikuto went red with embarrassment, anger, I really couldn’t tell. Once he was gone, I heard Ryosuke’s footsteps coming closer to me. "Rule no. 2: No flirting with other guys. You sure love breaking the rules." I went red. "I wasn’t even flirting with him!" I said, turning around to face him. His eyes bore into mine. "I don’t like it when you do that. Play by the rules, will you?" I balled my hands into fists. "Why? Why am I the one whom you chose to play with?! You don’t care about me! You toy with me as if you own me, when you don’t own me at all!" Ryosuke gritted his teeth as he pushed me to the wall. "What? Aren’t you already mine?" "A scheme. This is all a scheme. Don’t you dare make me hope for something more." I covered my mouth as the words escaped my lips. I should have said that!!! He removed my hand from my mouth. "Yes, this is all a scheme. This was my scheme to get to you, to get closer to you, and most importantly, to make you mine. And now that you’re mine, I’m currently having no plans on giving you to someone else. After all I’ve worked hard for." I blinked thrice. I couldn’t quite understand what he said. I mean, we made a scheme for him to lose his fangirls and get help from me in his academics right? He wanted someone as an excuse for his scheduled appointments too! So what’s this scheme he’s talking about? "I don’t… understand…" He hugged me so tightly I thought I wouldn’t be able to breathe. "You still don’t get it? The scheme was my entire plan. I thought that if I asked you to make a deal with me in making a scheme that we’re dating I could get you to buy it. I threatened you, controlled you, just to make you mine. I even dared to ruin your reputation just to make you listen to me." "But I… the rules… and for the past few days… you…" "I made the rules to make sure you won’t get away from me and at the same time cover up my real scheming. I avoided you because I thought you might want to breathe fresh air after being manipulated by me all this time. That night, Yuto was right. I wanted so much to grab the charm bracelet away from him. I couldn’t help it because I was so jealous!! You never gave me anything but he—!!" Amidst my confusion, I was able to laugh. Ryosuke’s expression was so adorable I couldn’t help myself. I saw him blush for the first time, and it was undeniably cute. "Don’t laugh at me!" he exclaimed. "Really… I want to know how you feel about me. I feel so helpless when I think that someday you might run away from me because of my personality and how I treat you…" I blushed. Oh well, so much for not hurting my pride. "I, uhm, I do like you. Even before your scheming. It’s just that, I don’t know. I was too scared." He genuinely smiled, which made my heart beat faster and coloured my cheeks pink. He laughed as he saw this. "Kiss me." He suddenly said. "Huh? B-but!" I said, frantically looking for an excuse. "Rule no. 1 right? No complains." He said, his eyes twinkling mischievously. He slowly closed his eyes, and pulled me closer to him. I groaned, but nevertheless, kissed him. He was about to envelop his arms around my waist when I suddenly pushed him away. He looked curiously at me, his eyes asking why I pushed him. "I want to make rules too, you know." "You can’t. I’m not letting you," Ryosuke said, his voice full of opposition. I grinned evilly at him. "Then you’re not getting any kisses from me," I said. He put on a long face, and after a while, he gave in. "Sheesh. If I’m good in scheming you’re just too good in outwitting me. But I think I like it," he said, kissing me again. I just laughed. OWARI.