(AN): I am sooooo sorry for anyone who actually reads and follows this fanfic! If anyone's still out there to read this again I'm so sorry! I've been meaning to post, but have been procrastinating... Well I finally got this chapter up and I promise that I'll continue adding chapters (that don't take forever). Sorry again!

Alfred stuck the key into the ignition of his red Ferrari. The soft sound of the stereo with the volume turned down low buzzed through the car speakers and a pleasant heat started to build up around us. After we had both put on our seat belts, Alfred started backing out of his parking space and headed toward the exit of the school parking lot. Just as we approached the exit I heard the faint sound of the tardy bell going off. My heart hitched in my chest.

This was my first time I had ever ditched, and I was scared. Female or not I was still a student at Gakuen High who had to attend classes, but with Alfred, every time I looked over at him handling the steering wheel, I felt better. In fact, sometimes I would catch myself staring at him and completely forget about school. I would've looked away, embarrassed at myself for staring, but every time I glanced over the reminiscence of that feeling from earlier blossomed in my stomach. Coupled with the fact that Alfred was paying more attention to the road and didn't notice I continued to let my gaze and my mind wander over to him.

Then, I instantly realized something. "Where are we going?"

All he did was sit there cooly and answer, "You'll see, for now just relax and enjoy the music."

And at that he turn up the volume. The song playing I didn't recognize. It was an annoying pop song that was probably very popular at the time, but even if it were a bit irritating it was catchy... I would give it thatmuch. Not noticing at first, I became aware that the die hard American sitting next to me was singing along to the song softly. He had this dumb smile on his face, but he looked like he was having fun. Instantaneously, I felt bad and I wish I had known the lyrics. I wanted to sing along too... Wait, I did?

No, I never sang! Not unless it was karaoke and I was completely wasted. Although, today I was ditching school with a kid I thought was absolutely bothersome, and hating to admit it I might be forming feelings for... Maybe. So, I decided that I was going to let go and have just a little fun. Only a little.

To begin with I started mumbling the tune to the song as well as I could follow it. I would mumble until the chorus, where I would hum every sentence until the last word, which I would add emphasis too. This ended up sounding something familiar to, "Hmmmm... uhufalalalala, Hmmmmm... Baby girl~!" And apparently after a while, I was unconsciously getting louder. I hadn't registered this until I overheard Alfred laughing under his breath. "W-what!" I stammered. And he laughed a bit harder.

"It's just cute how obvious it is that you don't know this song!" He giggled and I flushed.

"S-so what! I want to have fun singing too..." I crossed my arms in front of my chest. A second later I saw him fishing around for something in his pocket with one hand, the other still on the steering wheel. When his hand emerged empty from his pants, I saw him giving me an awkward side glance.

"I forgot that you still have my Ipod! Do you happen to have it on you?"

I had completely forgotten about it. I did still have it and yes I did have it on me. Surprisingly, since I hadn't remembered bringing the little music player with me when I left the house that morning. Weird... I dug the Ipod up from my uniform and handed it to Alfred. "Here." I said, dropping it in his lap. He picked it up, plugged it into the stereo, and handed it back to me. "Pick a song! Any song!"

Taking the small device back, I scrolled through the song lists. I scrolled over the Beatles again and recollected how I found it strange that he had them on his playlist. "So, you have a thing for the Beatles?" I said, making conversation. He replied, "Yeah, they're a great band! Classic!"

"Hmmph," I mused, still a little baffled. "I wouldn't have taken you for someone to like them."

"Why's that?" I heard him interject.

I didn't know. Just knowing Alfred for so long made it seem like he'd be uninterested in anything British. He shunned all things British, and I had come to the conclusion that the Beatles fit into that category... figuring as they are very British. I could tell him that's why. It would make sense after all, but Alfred thought this was one of the few encounters we've ever had so far. Bringing up that I "knew him for years" would probably confuse him, if not slightly creep him out. And so I simply stated, "Just your personality, I guess."

He smiled a bit sheepishly. "Yeah I probably come off as too American sometimes, don't I?"

"You don't know the half of it." I snickered.

"Actually, I have a secret thing for all things British." he remarked, "Weird. I know. It doesn't seem like it, but it's true. I even think that British accents are very sexy!" Stopping himself,he turned to me awkwardly. "Don't tell Arthur..."

Bewildered, I retched a little. Thats what I had least expected him to say. I peeked over at him, trying to play off my coughing as a laugh attack. When I did I could swear I saw his face heat up, but it was gone in a blaze. Distracting me from the conversation, Alfred burst out, "So... Uhhh... pick a song!"

I continued to examine the artists list and, of course, chose the Beatles. I knew all their songs by heart and their songs were fun and cheery. I thought why not. Casually going through the list, my finger pressed on the name of one song at random.

"Here come old flattop, he come grooving up slowly~...". Come Together blared throughout the car. Both of our faces lit up. This was one of my favorite songs and I could tell it was his favorite too. Instantly, we started singing along in perfect harmony to the funky and smooth groove that was the Beatles.

Ten songs later, after switching through various different artists and genres we both were howling in the most ridiculous singing voices we could muster, "I DON'T SEE NOTHING WRONG, WITH A LITTLE BUMP N' GRIIIIIINNNNNDDDD~!". I had to admit that R. Kelly's Bump and Grind was by far one of the most amusing songs to sing, ever.

Alfred and I were hysterically laughing by the time he pulled the car over to the side of the road. Laughing felt odd and, well, fun. I noted that I would have to laugh more, or listen to more R. Kelly.

When we pulled over I regarded that there was nothing here, other than a huge forest. Turning off the ignition, Alfred unbuckled his seatbelt and exited the car. The American walked over to my side and open the door. Before he could say the stereotypical, 'ladies first' I cut in with, "And where the bloody hell are we now?" He grinned innocently and chimed, "Be patient! You'll see!"

Opening my mouth to protest, Alfred quickly said, "Trust me!" So I did... I got out of the car, and without warning his hand was in mine and we were walking through a small clearing in the forest.

Some time had passed during the car ride, and now the sun of early afternoon peaked over the tall trees. The warmth had also settled in and I could no longer see my breath out in front of me. We had first started walking through the forest, then jogging, and then running playfully. Well, Alfred ran playfully as I was dragged along mercilessly. We were still holding hands.

We ran deeper and deeper. The light of the early afternoon starting to fade behind the trees now. I couldn't really see where we were going, all I knew was that we were moving forward, and fast. Different shades of greens and browns blurred my vision as we made our way through. After at least ten minutes of full sprinting, stumbling, and falling, Alfred finally stopped which caused me to run into him at full force. I stumbled backwards landing flat on my ass.

Alfred helped me up after apologizing and I brushed the leaves and twigs off my skirt. Still cleaning my uniform off I asked, "Why did you randomly sto-" I looked up to see and old playground lying in a small clearing of trees. It had two sets of swings that were covered in rust, a slide draped in ivy, and some old monkey bars that looked like if you'd poked them they would surly fall over. I could tell it was supposed to be a rocket ship, but with all of the wear and tear done to it, it looked more like an enchanted castle.
I stared at it as my jaw hung open. It seemed like one of those places you only heard of in fairy tales, except not as shiny. A place I always begged my magic friends to take me, but they never did. It gave off this feeling of wonder and mischief, and the way the sun cast shadows over the thick rust layer of the playground made it seem even more mysterious.

Something passed over my vision, but I didn't give it much notice. Then, again, something crossed over my vision. "Hey, you ok? C'mon snap out of it," Alfred said as he passed his hand over my face. I couldn't help it, I had to keep staring. I had a feeling that if I blinked or looked away then all of it would just disappear or vanish, and everything that I thought only existed in farfetched stories and little girlsʼ imaginations would just... go. So, I didn't break my stare, didn't blink, didn't even flinch, not until something lodged itself in the back of my throat.

"Blah!" I yelled as I coughed and hacked. "What was that?"

"It was a fly. You were so taken by the sight of my secret hang out spot that you let it right into your mouth. I saw it coming, but I didn't want to disturb the little guy."

I huffed in annoyance. "You could have prevented that!"

"I know, but you weren't responding to my hand in your face, so I thought it would probably bring you back to reality," he said with much added innocence, like a puppy. Still annoyed I uttered, "Fine, I guess thatʼs a good excuse..." One of the

corners of his mouth turned up to that, making the temperature get ten times hotter, or maybe that was just me.

He was still holding my hand when he said brightly, "Since this is the first time you've seen the place, lemme show you around!" He tugged me forward. We walked into the clearing and up to the rocket ship. "It's stable, I promise!" He declared as he let go of my hand and hoisted himself up onto the old playground. "Welcome to casa de epic!"

I choked down a giggle and joined him on the rocket-castle-playground-thing. He showed me around, although there wasn't too much to see that you couldn't have already seen at first glance. There was a little more rust and some misplaced bolts on the inside, but nothing extravagant. Although that didn't diminish the feeling of enchantment that appeared to heavily settle over the place. When he was done showing me all the hidden nooks and crannies we sat for a moment, swimming in an overflowing pool of silence. I racked my mind for conversation starters, but I couldn't think of anything. "So why do you come here to 'hang out'?" I said dryly. It wasn't much of a conversation starter, but it would have to do. Not looking over at me, I heard him say.

"It's quiet. It helps me think straight and it feels like there's magic here. Actual magic. You know, not the kind your cousin does! I mean real magic!" If he didn't sound so fond of the place, so lost in his thoughts over it, if he didn't seem so happy to be there, I would have punched him.

Balling my hands into fists I said through clenched teeth, "What he does is real!"

He just laughed and patted my back. "If you say so."

Then, more silence... I felt him grab my hand, yet again and dragged me other to another part of the playground. Alfred walked over to the swings and plopped down onto one. Patting the other he said, "Come sit!" and so I did. For a while we swayed back and forth on our own swings, just talking. Simple conversations that didn't have much meaning, but were interesting none the less. It was pretty much just Alfred telling me about himself. Kind of like a get-to know-you thing of sorts. And although I already new everything about him, I played along.

The small talk lasted a little while and I payed as much attention as I could to it. Although, the rhythmic swaying of the swings, the heat surrounding us, and white noise of the forest had me relaxed. Before I could stop myself I was dozing off. Alfred was still talking and I knew it'd be rude to fall asleep in the middle of this conversation, but I couldn't help myself. I faintly recalled one of the side effects of the spell I dumbly cast on myself was abrupt bursts of drowsiness. I wished I had the strength to faceplam.

"Hey, Alice..." Alfred said, sounding about worried, "Can I tell you something?"

"Shurrr..." I slurred as my head began to loll. "Well," he rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "I know I haven't known you for too long, but I feel like I can trust you! I know it's farfetched, but I swear it's like I've known you for, like, years bra! You're just a cool chick!..."

"Get on with it." I snapped with as much effort as I had. "I just wanted to tell you a secret." he sighed, "I haven't told anyone, because it's about the only person I do really trust. So I cant tell them..."

"Ok..." I was becoming more interested, but more weary as well. "It's about Arthur..." was all I heard before I blacked out.