I am... Rei Ayanami! I Rush out of the house with a piece of bread in my mouth on the way to school. People look at me; they know well who I am. We used to run around together when we were younger. Now, I am the only one left with an imagination still intact. I am sooo-cool!

"Arf-arf!" says our neighbor's dog. I've never seen this one before!

"Gyaaaa!!!" I screamed. I hate dogs. Later, I get to school with a torn skirt.

"Don't ask." I told my best friend Ellen as she gave me a questioning look.

"Okay, I won't." she said. "By the way, there's a new guy in campus, I hear he lives in your neighborhood?"

"Hmm..." I said, half listening.

"They say he's quite cute!" she continued.

"Hmm..." I said.

"Alexandria!" she said, calling me with my christened name.

"I am not Alexandria," I said, looking at her with a blank stare, "I am, Miyu...vampire Miyu." I flashed my teeth at her and aimed at her neck.

"Oh, c'mon, Alex, not that stuff again!" Ellen said with a sigh.

"What ever do you mean?"

Before Ellen could answer back, our teacher suddenly entered the room. Behind him trailed a boy wearing white polo and black pants, a bag slinging on his shoulder. Everybody hushed and looked at him. Ellen rolled her eyes at me and gave a gasp as she turned to look at the new boy.

"That's him!" she hissed in my ear.

"Attention, class," said our teacher, "we have here a late enrollee, his name is Christopher Del Mundo and he'll be part of our class from now on. Chris, why don't you tell us about yourself?"

"Okay." He replied. The new boy took a deep breath. I found drawing figures in my notebook more interesting. "In reality, " he said, "I am called, Shinji Ikari." I dropped my pen and looked up. "My father dragged me here all the way from my foster home and forced me to pilot a gigantic robot to rid the world of evil angels."

The room fell silent. My jaw fell too. I can't believe he said something like that in front of the class, in front of a teacher, even!

"Christopher del Mundo." he suddenly said with a smirk, "16 years like everyone else. Nice to meet you." He finished with a victory sign and a grin. It was our teacher who broke the silence.

"Okay, Chris, since your family name starts with a "D", why don't you sit beside de Leon on the front row."

I almost jumped at the mention of my family name. I heard some snickers from behind me. I took my bag off the spare seat and ignored them.

"The perfect pair" I heard someone whisper as more snickers came.

Chris approached me, smiled and slumped down on the seat. Ellen looked like her neck was about to snap as she craned her neck from my other side. Chris didn't seem to notice her.

"Okay class, please take out your notebooks and copy the things written on the board."

"Yes, mister Bendido!" replied the students.

I was about to flip my notebook to the first page when someone gasped at my right ear. "Wow! Did you draw that?!?" it was Chris, he stared wide-eyed at my drawing of Kenshin Himura.

"Yeah, this is my fiancé." I said without thinking...

"He-he..." he laughed, "guess that makes you Kaoru?"

"No." I said proudly, " I'm Tomoe, I was first!"

Chris looked at me with a broad grin. I was able to look at him more closely. With his deep brown eyes, perfect nose and auburn hair which almost fell over his eyes, he looked like an anime character come to live.

"Well then, that makes you my first wife."

"Ahem." said Mr. Bendido before I could make a violent reaction. "I said copy the things on the board."

"Yes sir!" said Chris. Our classmates giggled, I felt my face redden. "By the way, Tomoe," he whispered when the teacher turned away, "what's your name in this lifetime?"

"Alex." I said without looking at him.

That was how we met and that was the start of a realy 'wierd' relationship. As you would guess, we became good friends. We were like Hanamichi and Yohei, Miaka and Yui, Ryu and Ken, he was like a big brother to me and I, his baby sister...But the friendship never went further than that. We would talk about our favorite shows and our favorite books, but never mention anything about ourselves. Our real selves.

It was by the end of the school year when he asked me to come over to his house to watch a new anime movie he bought. We left right after school with Ellen.

"Where do you live anyway?" I asked him.

Just right beyond that bend..." he said, pointing to a street opposite to where my own house was. "Here we are..." he opened a gate and out bounded a wriggly black cockle spaniel.

"Gyaaaa!" I screamed, "That's the dog who chased me months ago!

"Who, Pooh?!" asked Chris, "So that's where the skirt came from!" he said with a laugh.

"He's so cute!" said Ellen, trying to get Chris' attention.

"C'mon," said Chris, this way."

He led us through a small garden and into a fair sized split-level bungalow. The living room was spacey. It seems that the people there were used to having guests around.

"Where are your parents?" asked Ellen. I was too busy scanning the place.

"Dad's at work, Mom's in the province." he replied. He took a CD from a neatly organized pile and placed it inside the player. He then opened a closet and revealed the biggest TV I have ever seen.

"Wow!" I said with a gasp, "This is like going to the movies!"

"Yeah, but better." he said grinning.

We watched the movie and three others 'till Ellen said she had to go home. We walked her to the tricycle stand and saw her off. I was about to turn around when Chris held me back.

"C'mon, I'll walk you home." he said with a smile.

"Okay!" I said returning his smile, swinging our hands to and fro. We walked for a while when he suddenly stopped on his tracks.

"Tomoe." he said "Can we stop for a while?"

"Okay," I replied, "but you're not Kenshin!" Chris smiled and looked down.

"Yeah, I'm Shinji Ikari, remember?" he said.

"Well, I'm Rei Ayanami, that means we'll be enemies!"

"Alex," he said, looking up at me.

"Alex who?" I asked, grinning.

"I am...Shinji...I'm such a wimp, how could I let all this time go to waste..." said Chris. I stared at him blankly. "My name is Chris. Christopher del Mundo." he said, "I'm 16 years old, a forth year student. I used to live with my grandparents since my parents separated. It was just recently that my Father sent for me, now I am living with him." I tried to say something but Chris held my hand and continued. "I transferred to a new school and found new friends but most specially, I found someone like myself and felt what I have most searched for in all the fantasies I have ever watched, read or dreamt about." I looked at him, lost of words. "And I would be really stupid," he continued, "if I go on living in my fantasy and let the real world pass me by."

We looked at each other. Both fell silent. Both couldn't move. A car passed by. A bike. A 'balot' vendor. A smile broke on my face and looking at him, I reached up and gave him a kiss. Then I ran all the way home, panting, a radiant smile upon my face. Later that night, Chris called and we talked for hours and hours on the phone. We talked about the latest anime shows, the best manga and then, we talked about ourselves, but it was mostly about ourselves that we talked about. Finally, little by little, our true selves are revealed as all pretences are put aside.

Yes. I was Rei Ayanami. I was even Tomoe and Sakura and even the vampire princess Miyu, but now, I won't exchange being myself with any cartoon character. Not now that I have found happiness that would out do any story ever written. Not now that I have Chris.

The End