The way Oliver yelled my name that day easily scared five years off of my life. Maybe it was because I was still dazed from sitting with Kaito and talking to him. He smiled at me! Again! And then he had left. He really seemed to like ice cream, I noted.

"Gumi!" Oliver practically roared my name, making me jolt and turn around. He looked at me, exasperated. "We've been looking all over for you!"

"Really?" I blinked, catching a glimpse of Len hurrying down the hall, towards me and Oliver.

"Yes, really!" Oliver shook his head. "First we went to your locker, then out to the field, then to the classroom where the other girls are. They said you were looking for Len!"

"And I was looking for you!" Len said, panting and stopping in front of me.

"They told us to hang out with you, you know," Oliver smirked at me.

"I was going to hang out with this little gumdrop anyway," Len tousled my hair and grinned. I cringed at the nickname he had used. "Seriously though, Gumi. We ran all around the school looking for you."

"And then Gakupo was trying to find Kaito so we decided to work together," Oliver said.

"And here you are!" Len smacked my back. "Come on, let's go somewhere. You don't like being with those girls, right?"

"I just..." I frowned, walking down the hall with him and Oliver. "They're always talking about the same thing. And they bug me..."

"It'll be fine," Len assured. We started to walk down the halls. "Did Miku tell you?"

"Yeah, she..." I looked up at Len. "I was going to call you last night! The only reason I didn't was that I didn't want to bother you or your sister. If I had known, I..."

"It's fine, Gumi, no big deal," Len interrupted. "You're coming on Saturday, right?"

I sighed. "Yeah, I'm coming."

"Quit being so gloomy," he said. "Yesterday it was me. Today, it's you. Come on, smile. Please? You still mean a lot to me, you know. It's not like you said you'd call me or something."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Huh?" Len blinked. "What?"

"You said I mean a lot to you."

Oliver snickered.

"Shut up," Len kicked Oliver's leg, making him yelp. Then, he turned to look at me. "You know what I mean. Anyway, let's go outside, alright?"

I nodded silently.

The rest of the week passed by quickly. Len and Oliver had told me that day that the girls had told them to hang out with me. Of course, the guys obliged, but I knew that the girls just didn't want me seeing Kaito as often. Len and Oliver hung out with Kaito but not as often as Gakupo or some of the other guys, so as a result, I didn't see Kaito very much for the rest of the week.

Still, I treasured the moments I did get to spend with him. Whenever we saw each other in the halls, we waved. And of course, we still saw each other after school, in the bus, where we talked sometimes. I felt like I was getting to know him, actually getting to know him.

The weekend was here before I knew it. It was Saturday morning and I was stuffing my backpack with various things that I might need while at Len's place. I kept a bag of carrots and some socks, a notebook, pens and pencils, and a few other little things.

"If you stuff that thing too much, it'll be hard for you in the buses and trains," my mom drawled. She was leaning against the doorway, peering into my room, watching, amused, as I packed my things. "Are you going to wear that dress?"

"What dress?" I looked up at her.

"The one you bought last week," she replied.

"Oh, right," I remembered the dress she was talking about. I wasn't sure when I planned to wear it, really.

"Len's the one who told you it looked nice, right?"

"Yeah," I said. My mom giggled. "What?"

"Nothing, nothing," she waved her hand dismissively and I shrugged it off. "You should wear it, Gumi. It'll make him happy."

"He doesn't like it when I wear dresses," I said. "I only bought it because Miku, Neru and Teto were getting dresses."

My mother looked at me silently for a moment. She did that whenever she wanted me to do something and I just wasn't taking the hint.

"Okay, I'll wear it," I mumbled, taking the hint. She smiled and closed the door. I locked it and pulled open my closet, pulling the dress off of a hanger. I pressed it to my figure and looked down at it for a moment before tossing it onto my bed and pulling my shirt and pants off.

I hurriedly put the dress on, straightening it out and making sure it looked half decent before tossing my bag over my shoulders and walking out of the room. I headed downstairs, to the front door, where my mom stood, waiting for me. Her eyes lit up as I came into view.

"Gumi, take that backpack off, I want to see!"

I groaned a little but let my backpack slip off of my shoulders. I twirled around a couple of times and my mother squealed with delight.

"You look so adorable, Gumi!" She gushed. "Don't take that tacky backpack, I'll get you something else, okay?"

"M-Mom! It's fine, really!" I said. She pouted.

"Okay, fine," she said. "We'll take baby steps. Soon you'll be so pretty and perfect and..."

"I'm not a doll," I mumbled.

"Well, you're my only child, and a daughter, at that," she said, putting her hands on my shoulders. She pulled me close and kissed my forehead. "Call me when you get to the subway station. Oh, and when you arrive at his house. You're not planning on spending the night there, are you?"

"No, of course not!" I said, hurrying out the door. "Bye, mom!"

It took me about half an hour to get to Len's home. I was walking down the sidewalk, through his neighbourhood, spotting his house. It wasn't huge or anything but it was larger than the sorts of houses you'd usually see in our city. Len lived in a richer neighbourhood than I did. His father worked in a large business and that was easily the main reason why they could afford to send Rin to a prestigious arts school.

I stood outside the gates, which weren't intimidatingly large or anything, but I had to buzz to get through. Cicadas buzzed and the heat was horrid. I wiped my face with the back of my hand and sighed.

"It's me," I said into the speaker. I eyed the large entrance door in past the gates, hearing a distinctive clicking sound. Len pulled the door open and we made eye contact instantly. He grinned and sauntered up to the gates.

"Hey, me," he joked, crossing his arms. "Nice dress. Did one of your girlfriends pick it out for you?"

"Ha ha, very funny," I stuck my tongue out at him. "Hurry up and open this stupid thing. I'm melting out here."

"You'd make a pretty cute puddle, Gumi," he snickered. "Especially since you're wearing such a cute dress..."

I scoffed. "Are you letting me in or not?"

He nodded, opening the gates. I caught a glimpse of Miku dashing out the entrance, running up to me and wrapping her arms around me tightly, laughing.

"Gumi!" She chirped, looking at me and smiling widely. "I was waiting!"

"How long have you been here for?" I asked, squirming out of her grip. We stumbled in, past the gates, and Len closed them. He followed us quietly.

"About an hour," Miku said. "I came here around noon. It was much hotter then."

"Obviously it was," I replied. "The sun was right up in the sky."

"It's nice and cold inside," Len said, hurrying over to the front door and holding it open for us. We walked in. "Isn't this great, you two?"

"Huh?" I turned to look at him. Miku had her arms coiled around my waist and her head on my shoulder. Len ruffled my hair.

"The three of us," he smiled. "Together again."

Miku giggled. "You're the one who left us, Len."

"Hey, that's not true," Len said.

"Nobody's left anybody," I said, feeling cool air from the living room rush past my face.

We walked down the hallway and into the living room. It was large and fairly lavish. One wall was all glass, with thin, white, diaphanous curtains drawn to the sides. Sunlight sparkled through and painted the furniture with a coat of gold. I spied a blond girl lounging on a cobalt-coloured sofa, a phone plastered to her ear.

"Rin, get off the phone," Len drawled. The girl turned and pouted at him. She had big blue eyes and a flawless face. Her side bangs were clipped back with some of the bobby pins that Len had gotten for her that day we went to the mall.

"Okay, I gotta go," she said into the phone. "Bye, love you!"

Len rolled his eyes and she crossed her arms before glancing at us and smiling widely.

"Gumi!" She said excitedly. "I haven't seen you in months!"

I chuckled. "Well, maybe because you decided to go to a different school!"

"Aw, you could still come by to our place," she said, patting the spot beside her. "Len's so boring..."

I sat down on her right and Miku sat next to me. Len took the spot to the left of his sister. She wrapped her arms around his neck and yanked him downwards, making him scream as his head smashed into her lap.

"He's so rude, he doesn't even invite you two to come here!" She went on. We laughed as Len squirmed and tried to pull his head out of his sister's iron grip. "From now on, you two are welcome to drop by at any time! All my friends from my school live further away and they can't really come here as easily, so all I do is play with Len's hair and talk on the phone and stuff."

"We should play with Len's hair," Miku flashed a devious grin.

"No!" Len screamed, pushing his sister back and falling back against the sofa's armrest, taking a deep breath. Rin giggled and he scowled.

"I bet he's nothing like this at school, huh?" She asked me.

"Well, he's Len," I answered with a small shrug. "He acts just like he did when we were in middle school."

"So basically he's still a little kid," Rin stuck her tongue out at her brother and got to her feet. She was wearing a beautiful yellow and white dress. It had thin straps that showed off her perfect shoulders and arms. The hem went down to the middle of her calves. She was unbelievably pretty.

"I'm not a little kid," Len mumbled. Rin walked up to him and grabbed a fistful of his blond locks, tugging harshly and making him cry out. "Ow ow ow ow ow!"

"I'm going to the kitchen to get our guests something to eat," she smiled at him evilly. "Because you clearly aren't cultured enough to offer your guests food. Come along."

She let go of his hair and left the living room. Len furrowed his brow, rubbing his scalp furiously. "Ugh..." He groaned and offered us a weak smile. "See what I have to put up with?"

Miku nodded, an wide smile of amusement painted across her face. "She's still the twin in charge!"

I chuckled softly and leaned back, my eyes trailing past Rin's phone, which lay facing up beside me. The recent calls list was open and my gaze lingered there for a moment when Len suddenly snatched it up, surprising me and making me feel awkward. I shouldn't have been staring at his sister's phone.

"She's scarier now," he mumbled like nothing had happened, like he picked up the phone because he wanted to, not because I was looking at it.

I hope he didn't realize...

"Len!" Rin called from down the hall. "Get over here!"

Len chuckled nervously and quickly stood up, walking past us. "Be right back," he said, tousling my hair as he passed me. He took a step past Miku, froze, and then took a step back. We watched as his hand hovered over her head momentarily before he ruffled her locks, as well. Miku laughed and pushed him away. I grinned.

"Since you've been begging for that," he teased her before walking away. Miku grabbed a cushion that was lying beside her and hurled it at Len. He dodged and ran off.

"I'll get you!" She yelled, grinning. I laughed and tickled her sides, making her squeal. "AHHHHH! Traitor!"

She got me back and I fell back, lying along the length of the sofa as she tickled me mercilessly.

"S-Stop it, st-ahahahaha!" I laughed, trying to push her away.

"Oof!" She slipped off of the sofa and rubbed her bum. I sat up straight, catching my breath and smiling.

"You okay?" I asked. She nodded.

"My face hurts," she said. "I don't think I've laughed this much in ages!"

"Well, maybe that's because I haven't tickled you in ages!" I leapt from the sofa like a cat and Miku scrambled to one side, giggling. "Gumi the tickle monster returns, after many, many months! No one is safe!"

"Did I hear something about a tickle monster?" We both turned to see Len standing behind the sofa, his hands in his pockets and a sly grin on his face.

"Er...no?" Miku tried.

"Wrong!" Len vaulted over the sofa and we screamed, scampering to our feet. He grabbed me and I lost control the moment his fingers grazed my ribs. I pushed him back frantically and Miku, being the traitor that she was, joining Team Len, grabbed my arms and helped Len pin me down to the ground.

She tickled my sides and I flailed my legs around, nearly hitting Len in the face. Suddenly, he stopped tickling me and grabbed Miku. She squeaked and I laughed, my eyes tearing up as I watched him tickle her. She kept trying to get back at him but she couldn't stay still. He was one amazing tickler.

"Well, this is an interesting development," I heard Rin behind me. I turned and looked at her. She was sitting on the sofa, holding a large tray in her hands. "It's like they're kids again."

"S-She's a kid, too!" Miku giggled, finally escaping Len and jumping onto me. I scampered backwards, hitting the sofa as Miku started to assault my ticklish spots.

We finally stopped after a few more minutes. I was exhausted. We climbed onto the sofa and looked at the tray. Rin had brought out cookies, fruit salad and crackers. We were almost done snacking when a loud slamming sound shook us all.

"Uh-oh," Len mumbled. Rin froze, an orange slice pressed to her lips. Miku and I exchanged glances and then we looked Len's way.

"What was that? What's wrong?" Miku frowned.

"We should go," Len said quickly, standing up. He patted Rin's shoulder. "Sis, come on. It'll be fine."

"O-Okay," Rin got up. We followed.

"Let's go outside, you guys," Len gestured towards the hall.

We all walked out of the house quickly, only because Len was hurrying. He had Rin's arm linked with his, holding her close. She had become very tight-lipped all of a sudden.

She spoke after we passed their house's gates and started to walk down the street, around the neighbourhood.

"Do you think it'll be like last week?" She asked Len, her voice small. He shook his head and looked down at me.

"No," he said. "It's going to be fine, okay?"

"Okay," Rin nodded. She held her phone tightly in one hand.

"Do you want to walk around with us?" Len asked her.

"Where are you guys going?"

"I don't know yet, here and there."

She frowned, furrowing her brow and looking at her phone. "No thanks," she said. "I'll keep myself busy."

"Okay," Len said. "Call me, okay?"

"Yeah," Rin mumbled before walking off on another direction. Len sighed and stretched his arms out, groaning slightly.

"What happened?" Miku asked.

"Let's keep walking," Len said. "We'll talk about it. Parents."

I knew it.

So, what did you guys think of Rin? Does she sound realistic? What do you think of the relationship between Rin and Len? (I'm personally, for once, proud of how I've written these two in this story.)