Notes
by. Poisoned Scarlett

Maka Albarn had long since given up on her classmates.

Whenever their teacher Stein gave his back to them, they would immediately continue whispered conversations or worse – continue a little game they'd all begun to pitch in on. It was a note-passing game, easier to get away with than whispering, and sometimes the class would pass around two, three, notes at a time, all containing different things. Sometimes it was a class conversation, ridiculously funny if you were the last person to read it after class, or sometimes it held a question. Most times, it was a predictable question: "Who do you think is hotter on a scale from one to ten?," with a list of all the boys, or girls, in the class.

Those notes could get dirty very, very fast.

Maka had seen firsthand how fights could start because someone rated their crush below a five.

Maka tapped the end of her pencil on her notebook, wondering if Stein was aware that these games were going on behind his back. If he was, he showed no signs that he would put an end to them. Her eyes wandered to the side and she smiled when she caught Soul Evans looking back at her, ever composed. He sat a few desks away from her but, before a seating chart had been imposed, he sat beside her and had taken a fancy to leaning until their shoulders touched to copy her work.

She allowed it when she felt particularly nice, but most times it ended with a book to his head.

A note toppled on her desk and she curiously picked up it, ensuring Stein was not paying attention, and unfolded it. She stifled a laugh at the contents, looking up at Soul and Black Star, the latter of which was happily snoozing on the desk.

Do you think Soul and Black Star have a thing for each other?

Maka wrote in bold, capital, letters:

NO.

There were similar replies written all over the question, as well as small comments that made her giggle. When she looked back up to Soul, he was frowning, and Maka laughed a little more. He motioned for the paper and she shook her head, grinning slyly at him. She looked behind her, to Tsubaki, and whispered: "Pass it back to me when you're done!"

Maka didn't watch Tsubaki's reaction but, judging from Soul's flat expression, he had, and she would bet Tsubaki looked mortified at the thought of her long-time crush Black Star coming out of the closet. When Maka felt Tsubaki prod her with a pencil, she lowered her arm and cupped her hand, allowing Tsubaki to toss the folded note into her palm.

Maka broke the tip of her pencil and stood up, heading over to the pencil sharpener that was conveniently located behind of Soul. As she sharpened her pencil, Stein turning to write down the days homework on the board, Maka tossed the paper to Soul and stifled giggles at the horrified looks most of the girls in the class gave her. After all, they all happened to harbor feelings for him. This was made apparent when they passed around the 1-10 note and Soul continuously kept breaking the scale by getting 11's and 100's. It had been one of those times where Black Star ruined the game and loudly demanded a re-match while class was still in session.

"What the hell is this? What did you put?" Soul hissed at her, crumpling the letter in his hand. He looked pissed. He had good reason to, Maka thought, after all she knew he wasn't a smudge bit interested in men, although the thought was hilarious.

"Maybe," Maka innocently answered, walking to her desk without sparing a glance at his horrified expression. When she looked back at him, she cocked her head. He was staring at the crumpled paper, frowning deeply, brows troubled. Her smile faded a little. She hoped he didn't actually believe she put yes. When he glanced at her, Maka smiled apologetically. He rolled his eyes and she knew she was forgiven.

Maka returned her attention to Stein, wondering just what was going through his head.

Five minutes into the lecture, a neatly folded paper dropped on her notebook. Maka glanced at the boy sitting beside her, who went back to his work, and she picked it up. Soul's name was scrawled on the top. Maka rose a brow but didn't think too much of it, opening it.

She stared.

She stared until the letters blurred

Choked up, Maka darted her eyes to Soul and cursed when he didn't turn to look at her. He continued to look ahead, pencil tapping against paper calmly. Had he been the one to send it? Maka thought, swallowing. She looked back at the paper. What if someone else had sent it to her? She hadn't seen Soul write it. For all she knew, this could be a big scheme for her to fess up and subsequently become alienated. She had enough problems at home, she did not need any more to haunt her in school as well.

Do you like me?

The four words seemed to swallow up the scrap of paper. Below were two square boxes, a simple yes and a simple no underneath each one. Marking one of those boxes, Maka thought uneasily, would ruin her charade either way. She would not even be able to laugh it off if it were all a joke, and if she marked no she would have to face the silent wrath (and smug relief) of many of his admirers.

She folded the letter and stuffed it in her notebook, hunkering over in her seat with troubled eyes. What if he had written it, though? What would she do then? Would he perceive her lack-of-answer as a rejection or not? Maka gnawed on her lip, tempted to bring the note out and check the yes box. But it could all be a joke and how would she be able to deal with the humiliation if he discovered she harbored feelings for him? They were friends, at most best friends, and if she admitted she liked him in a less than friendly way...

"Maka!"

Maka jumped, red flooding her cheeks when some people giggled. "Y-yes?"

Stein gave her a measured look. "Come up here and solve this problem."

Maka stared at the problem on the board, calculating a tentative answer in her head, and took a quick glance at her notes before she stood up. She made her way up to the board, taking the marker from Stein's hand slowly. She stared at the problem again, biting her lip. Before Stein could open his mouth for a snide remark, Maka moved forward and wrote out the answer.

Stein studied the board, indifferently. "How did you get that?"

"I have to show my work?" Maka asked and at his nod, she erased the answer and wrote out all the steps. When she stepped back, Stein nodded approvingly at the work.

"A little more work than needed," Stein noted, ensuring the math was all correct. "But the answer is correct. Go back to your seat and stop day dreaming, or I'll make you solve a chapters worth of problems on the board."

"Yes, sir," Maka mumbled, ducking her head and returning to her seat. Tsubaki offered a sympathetic smile before she sat down, something Maka returned, very aware of the note stuffed between the pages of her notebook. She dared to look at Soul, tensing when she found him looking back.

He looked no more disturbed than usual. In fact, he was amused because she was called up for spacing out, and he showed it when he grinned at her. She decided, as she glared at him to be quiet, that the note was a joke after all. Instantly, she felt her shoulders relax. She'd bet Soul would laugh when he read the note, Maka convinced herself with a smile. He'd probably tear it half and tell her his admirers' desperateness was starting to show. The thought had her a little disappointed, to think that he hadn't written it and to know that he would laugh at the thought of her liking him.

However, someone had to have written said note. The question was: who? Her eyes scanned her classmates carefully, but no one looked particularly guilty. No one even spared her a look. Maka glanced back to where she stuffed the note, before she decided thinking of it would do her no good. She went back to jotting down the notes Stein wrote on the board, not absorbing a lick of information. What would she do with it? Toss it out? Maka scoffed to herself. She supposed so. What would she do with a dumb note that wasn't even written by him? Should she really show him, laugh about it with him? No, she decided, no that would be horrible. Soul could be mean when he wanted, had a sharp tongue that could hurt her feelings if she wasn't careful.

It would be better to simply toss the note out and pretend it never happened.

All too soon, class ended, and Maka packed up her things quickly. She shoved her notebook in her bag, blinking when she saw a hand pluck out the note stuffed between the pages. That hand belonged to none other than the person of interest: Soul.

"Ah! No, give it!" Maka flushed.

"Nope!" Soul smirked, holding it away from her. "What's in it, huh? I saw you put in your notebook pretty fast."

"It's nothing, you jerk – it's just a note someone wrote! I was going to toss it out!" Maka argued, trying to make the heat in her cheeks go away. "It's stupid!"

He opened it anyway and frowned at it, looking back at her carefully.

"Someone wrote it, I bet it wasn't even for me," Maka bit out, snatching the note from his hand. "D-did you write it?" She risked tentatively, but before he could answer, Black Star jumped between them with a loud shout of his name.

"What're you two standing around for? Let's go, I hear Sid's gonna' play porn today!" He grinned brightly. Maka's brow twitched

"It's Sex Ed, Black Star, it's an educational video! Not porn!"

"But it has boobs in it!" He argued. "Real boobs!"

"Dude, beat it, I'm busy here," Soul snapped, sending him a meaningful look. Black Star, for all that was holy, seemed to understand, for he raised a brow at him but walked away. Maka watched with mild amazement as he said he would catch them later; he was going be one of the first to catch sight of real girl boobs on TV in school.

"He actually listened to you," Maka commented. "Why doesn't he do that with me?"

"Because you're like half his size?"

Maka glared. "What was that?" Her hand was already reaching into her bag, ready to pull out her trusty novel, when his hand caught her wrist and didn't let go.

"Cool it, Maka, I just meant he's not as dense as he comes off and he knows when he's really not needed," he placated and she frowned.

Maka expected him to let go after that but, when he continued to hold her wrist, her face started to warm up. He hadn't ever held onto her wrist this long before. "Uh, Soul…?"

"That note," he started. He debated something in his head and Maka wished she knew what it was. It would help with her nerves. It would also help if he stopped studying her, both hands slipping into his pockets as he said, "What would you put?"

"Eh?"

"Yes or no?"

"Wh—why? Why do you want to know? What, uh," she was tongue-tied and she hated it. She raced for an answer, but found nothing but the truth in her mind. If she lied, with the way she was fumbling and blushing, he would not believe her at all. So she gave him a doe-eyed look and tugged her hand. Part of the problem was he was touching her and she could not concentrate on such a question when he was touching her. "S-Soul, let me go, we're going to be late! It was just a stupid note and when I find out who wrote it, I'm going to—!"

"So, you don't?" He looked unsure all of a sudden, as if he did not know quite what to do with himself.

"It's a – a I don't know!" Maka flustered, looking away from him. "I don't know! Maybe!"

"Maybe?" He blanched, losing his patience. "Maka, you love answering questions. So answer this one: yes or no?"

"Um…." Maka swallowed and blurted out: "Y-yes?" She stared at him with stricken eyes and he stared back. His hand had never felt hotter on her skin and she had half a mind to ask him to remove it in case of spontaneous combustion, but all she could do was stare back at him and hope this did not ruin things between them.

"Maka, Soul, sixth period has started already. You're late," Stein drawled from behind them, snapping them out of their daze. Maka snatched her hand back, holding her wrist to her chest while Soul stepped back, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. Stein eyed them both before he dismissed it. "I will not write you a pass. So get going, before you're really late."

"Yes, professor," Maka mumbled. She grabbed her bag and hurried out of the room, Soul hot on her heels. The entire walk was absolutely silent and Maka thought, as the heat on her cheeks faded, that she probably ruined everything by saying yes. She should have lied, even if it was obvious. It could have been that he was curious, joking around as he always did. Could she play this off now that she could think better? Maka entered the classroom and took a seat silently, for once glad that Soul sat seats away from her.

She could not play this off, Maka decided half an hour into the class. There was no way after such a loaded silence that she could play it off. It would only make her more obvious, if she was not obvious enough already.

She walked home with him, too! How was she going to deal with the awkward silence now—or, more importantly, how was she going to deal with the 'listen-can-we-still-be-friends?' talk they were going to have? She would say it, Maka decided, she would save face and say it. She would explain she could keep things mellow between them, she thought with a tiny smile. That was perfect, she would tell him he had nothing to worry about because she was not interested in dating anyway. She was fine being his friend; she would continue to be his friend and, if he gave their friendship a shot, she would show him just how good of a friend she could be!

"Hey, teach, where are the boobs? I thought that video was gonna' have boobs!"

"Black Star! We are discussing the female anatomy—!"

"—which has boobs!"

Sid slit his eyes, pointing a ruler at him. "I'm gonna' teach you a thing or two about viewing a woman as more than just her assets, Black Star."

"But first…?" Black Star prompted, eyes bright with anticipation.

"You can turn to page 350 and learn about the reproductive system," Sid flatly stated, ignoring his students dark look to turn back to the lesson at hand.

Maka rolled her eyes and looked down at her book. At least she could always expect Black Star to be an idiot; that comforted her as she tried to sort out this new problem her impulsiveness had got her mixed up in. Maka tried her best not to look at Soul throughout the entire lesson, doing so only twice and thankfully not getting noticed either time. She had almost been caught the second time although she managed to play that off as digging into her bag for a pencil. She had not taken any more chances after; if she did, then her careful proposition would seem less credible.

Maka spent the entire day going over what she would say when she met Soul at the front of the school. She had been so intent on memorizing every single word of her speech that she had forgotten one very important thing when the end of classes came. Maka stared at the long quad with sick eyes, her grip on her bag hard enough to make her knuckles white. What if Soul did not wait for her today because of what she said? Soul had always been someone who did not bother with trivial things; often enough, once he deemed something 'uncool', it was seldom acknowledged by him. What if he had finally deemed her 'uncool' and just…left?

Maka suddenly wanted the past two hours to rewind so she had time to think through this new obstacle.

But she stepped through the door instead, knowing that if it was so then she would have to seek him out to clear things up with him later. She couldn't be a coward about this; she had to fix it somehow. Even though the idea was enough to make her balk, she truly did treasure their friendship. Friendship was something that Maka saw as crucial in her life; it was something she valued, something very important right next to being faithful to your partner. She even treasured Black Star's friendship, even if she had a very low tolerance for his idiocies.

But she found she needn't seek him out after all: Soul stood right where he always did once school ended. He always waited for her by the front gate, lent against the wall with either one or both hands shoved deeply into the pockets of his jeans. Today he stood with both and that told Maka that he was brooding. One hand meant he was just trying to be cool. No hands meant he was too tired to give a damn about his cool. Hands behind his neck meant he was in a good mood. Arms crossed meant he was contemplative or annoyed. But both hands in his pockets meant broody.

Maka hung her head when she realized just how awful that would sound if someone ever asked her what Soul's poses meant. It would make her no better than those girls who fawned over him, Maka sniffled.

"Soul?"

He jumped, looking up at her. He straightened and jerked his chin down the staircase, hands slipping out of his pockets. "You took your time today," he told her calmly.

"I needed to ask Dean Azusa something."

"What was so important that you needed to ask that demon for something?" He asked, letting her set the pace.

Maka blanked for a reason and ended up telling a half-truth. "I have three marked absences and I wanted to know if I could get those erased before she sent me a summons."

"Maka, one of those absences happened when you were a Freshman," Soul dryly pointed out.

"But she said if we had three absences on our record, she would send a summons for detention!"

"Chill out. I'm pretty sure she wouldn't give honor student Maka Albarn a detention. She likes you too much anyway," he rolled his eyes at her small concerns. "Me, on the other hand…"

"Did you know you could be sent to court for having too many truancies?"

"Did you know I don't care?"

Maka deflated as he snickered, thinking he was so clever, and stuck her nose in the air when his snicker became laughter. She allowed a smile to grace her lips, however, at the easy sound. The entire speech in her head became very small suddenly, not as important as she made it out to be. Soul had seemed to brush away her answer, which could mean he had decided to ignore it and continue being her friend... or he was biding his time.

Maka made sure not to totally drop her guard.

"I'm surprised you haven't been sent to court yet."

"Compared to Black Star, I'm pretty tame."

"I heard he was the one who shattered the third floor window," Maka said, stealing a look. "Did he? I didn't even know he had classes on the third floor."

"Yeah, that was him. He was chasing Kilik and kicked the window instead of his head," Soul grinned wolfishly, no doubt having been there.

"You guys are terrible. I thought Kilik would be the only guy in this school with enough sense not to pick a fight with Black Star. I remember when you did it," Maka rolled her eyes at this. "Your nose wouldn't stop bleeding for hours."

"Neither would his."

"His healed in a week, you were sore for a whole month," Maka pointed out. "I remember because that was the only time I let you copy all of my homework!"

"If all it took was a broken nose, I'd break it all the time."

"If you broke anything again, I wouldn't let you copy my homework anymore," Maka told him frankly. "Actually, you'd have more time to do your homework, since you'd be resting and all."

"That's cold, Maka," he said with mock hurt, something she snorted at. It was silent for a few more seconds before he said, "Hey, Maka?"

"Hm?"

"Why do you think someone else wrote that note?"

So he had been bidding his time; Maka made sure to keep calm, not give herself away. "Because every single girl in that class writes notes all the time?"

"It had my name on it."

He made a good point. It was a point that had been bothering her the entire time. The note had his name while other, usual, notes did not. They were simply passed around for shits and giggles. "That's true, except it could be one of your fans trying to see who liked you and who didn't. It wouldn't be the first time it's happened."

"What does that matter?"

"Have you seen what your fans do to girls who like you?" Maka shook her head. "If they like you, they're initiated into the group or shunned forever. If they don't, they're criticized or shunned forever."

"So, basically you're shunned forever either way?"

"Basically. I know a few girls who don't like you and who are shunned forever," Maka thought aloud, cocking her head. He made another good point; even if you were a member of their little fan club, everyone was shunned forever in a way because everyone had a chance to be with Soul since he was not in a relationship.

"Are you shunned forever?"

"I don't think I count," Maka admitted, awkwardly.

"Why not?"

Maka spared a glance, finding him looking at her intensely. His hands were behind his head. It conflicted her: he was either fronting, or he was anxious. She could not tell by his expression. She fiddled with the tag on her bag as she mumbled, "I'm just…your friend, and we're always arguing. I think I was shunned the instant I hit you on the head with a book in our freshman year and you called me a stupid bookworm," she chuckled, the memory fond to her.

"Huh," was all he said. She stole a glance at him and looked down, stole another one and hoped he would not ask any more questions. "Well that's dumb. I think they should be more afraid of you."

It took a second to process his statement before she rolled her eyes, giving him a deadpan look. "I know I hit you a lot with my books, but I don't go doing that to every person who pisses me off! I have some tact!"

"No, I meant—wait, you only hit me with your books?" He squawked, sending her a dark look she smiled at. "Is that some sort of special hell you have reserved for me?"

"Yep!"

"You…" he struggled with words before he sighed, looking back forward. "They should be really afraid of you."

"I wouldn't go hitting people just because they made me mad," Maka giggled. He was silly to think she would, just because she hit him with books. She usually walked away from petty confrontations. She would resort to violence only if it was really called for. After all, she had to keep her squeaky clean record.

"I meant, they should see you as a threat," he clarified calmly.

Maka felt herself slow. "W-why would you say that?"

"Well…coz I wrote that note and asked those guys to pass it to you," he stopped when she stopped, a few paces ahead of him. His arms were by his side, he was standing straight and not slouching. He was serious, Maka realized. "I was going to ask you next week, but…I decided today was as good a day as ever."

"Wait…ask me…if I liked you?" Maka's throat was drier than Death Valley.

"Or," he finally broke his cool facade, scratching the back of his neck as he looked for the right words. "If you, uh, wanted to go out to eat some time."

"Like…a date?"

"Yeah."

"With me?"

"Yes."

"…Next week is the Spring Fling," Maka suddenly said, realizing that indeed next week their school was hosting a dance.

"What about it?"

"Were you going to ask me there?" She cocked her head, curious.

"I was going to ask you to it, smart one," he deadpanned.

Maka frowned, crossing her arms. She might like him, but that didn't mean she'd let him get carried away with his sarcasm. "That's not a very nice thing to say to a person you're asking out."

"I—er—if you would give me an answer instead of making me stand here like an idiot, maybe I'd be nicer?" he stammered and she eyed him, figuring him out now—he was completely and totally shitting it. So that was how he looked when he was bluffing. She smiled a little more. She looked down and figuratively tore up that speech she had made earlier about friendship. She would not need to hide her emotions from him, not anymore.

"Okay. Sorry, you caught me off-guard."

"Okay?"

"I'd like to."

"Go to the dance?"

"Out would be better," she looked up finally, knowing her face was red but doubting it would ever really go away.

"Really? Alright, cool," he grinned toothily, something that made her flush harder because it was the most precious thing she had seen since. He held out a hand, the other in his pocket, and asked, "You doing anything right now?"

"Nothing that can't wait," she smiled brightly and took his outstretched hand, liking the weight of it and thinking that being shunned forever by those girls in their classes wasn't the worst thing that could have happened to her.

A/N: I am pretty sure I posted this one on Tumblr a long time ago, but never got around to posting it here. So here you go! I hope you all liked it!

Scar.