Code Geass 1. It's A Good Year

**Disclaimer: Don't own Code Geass characters, but I do own Annette and her roomie...and possibly other new characters that may come into the story.**

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Gino wandered into the Ashford library to get away from the girls who chased him everywhere. Annette L Brashivere was in a corner curled up reading some old, beat up book. His eyes widened, and a smirk spread itself across the lower half of his face. No girl at Ashford ever seemed uninterested in him. They swooned and stalked, waited and watched, chased and cornered. She was seeming to be very different.

"Haha, hey. Whatcha readin'?" was his informal greeting to the brunette girl he recognized from his ancient history class. She looked up with eyes wide and throat dry. He was more ecstatic than anything that she was startled. This could prove to be entertaining for Gino. Only a shy bookworm would be fun for his games. Annette coughed and took off the glasses she wore for reading in the library.

"It's Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen," she managed to get out. Her voice raised with courage with each word that passed her lips. Something in her mannerisms and voice made him realize that she wasn't like the girls of the student council or that chased him around. The Knight of Three sat down in the red, floral print, overstuffed chair across from her. His blonde hair shone brighter in the light from the window. The three braids from his hair made her gasp once she noticed them.

Only he could understand it then. Gino coughed once clearing his throat and blushed realizing why she was embarrassed. Annette rolled her eyes thinking of how she would explain it to everyone or anyone later. This was the reason that she didn't talk to very many people. He thought it over and leaned closer to her. Never before had he felt like that. A light flickered in her eyes when there was none that passed.

"I'm Gino Weinberg. You are some girl from my ancient history class," he introduced himself. Annette nodded. She went back to reading something on the back cover of her book. That was getting under his skin oddly enough. Gino liked when girls played hard to get, but she was being ridiculously hard to him.

"The name is Annette Brashivere. You forgot to mention you're the Knight of Three." She called him a player in her head. Not that she truly believed that; it was just that his reputation made it hard to believe anything else. He acted like he was a player around the school. To her, Gino was the epitome of player at Ashford Academy. No one really ever told her any different. Yes, they seemed to be a problem to one another.

Gino reached and took Annette's pale hand in his own. His lips pressed down on the soft skin of the back of her hand. This was one way that he would always greet a girl who intrigued him to no end. His lips spread apart to show his white teeth in a wide smile. Annette's own rosy lips pursed to an almost pout. She was not going to let him pull her in with an attitude like that. She was going to play her own way of hard to get.

"So, Annette Brashivere, how'd you know that I was the Knight of Three? Did you just happen to know who I am because how amazing I am?" asked Gino. His cockiness was overwhelming. Annette was going to puke if she had to listen to him going on about himself. She wasn't one to like talking to people, but he was like the type of person that she'd rather see getting beaten up by the rugby team. Perhaps that would make him shut up.

The chair that she sat in scraped across the wooden floor as Annette stood up to get away from Gino. If he was so interested in her, he was welcome to follow her wherever she went with the exception of the girls' bathroom. The corners of his lips drooped, and his eyes became a little darker as he realized that she was doing this to get away from him. He stood up also to see if he could stop her from leaving him then.

"Well, I knew because everyone here knows. I've got to be going. I'll see you around," muttered Annette. She knew that she would end up seeing him everywhere if he happened to be interested in her out of all his admirers. Nothing could keep her there if it tried. She was the type who thought that everything that Gino did was just for the attention from the opposite sex. Gino could have found that she did just because she hated to see people act like idiots.

She walked out of the library with her nose in the air. It was easy to see the distaste she felt for the Knight of Three. Gino was entranced by this girl that happened to be the one person who could resist him. That was the whole point of her display of dislike. Annette would play this to her strengths later in her life it worked to her likings. Nothing would be able to stop how much she liked messing with a guy like Gino with his whole player reputation.

The next day during first session Ancient History, Gino walked in early taking a seat next to the one that remained empty next to Annette for no known reason. He'd be damned if he was going to get rejected by any girl at Ashford Academy. Little did he know that Annette anticipated his plan and switched with her roommate who happened to be that class. She would sit next to Gino in Annette's spot while Anne was safely sitting nowhere near the two.

Gino listened to the teacher drone on about the way that ancient Egyptians did things. He was sure that if he were an ancient Egyptian, he would have done things completely different. Of course, that didn't matter any in his mind. If only the girl he wanted had done what he expected. Annette giggled once when she turned around to see how he was acting to being outsmarted. It was evident that games weren't only Gino's forte but hers also.

Annette was the first person to leave the room once that specific class ended. Second session passed slowly for both of them oddly. She really did want to see him again. It was odd though that she was acting that way. Her roommate, her classmates, and her few friends realized that something was different about the normally indifferent girl. She waited patiently for the class that she had with one of the Knights of the Round, Anya, to pass.

Third session physical education with Viletta made her shudder. It was the second of three classes that she had with Gino. He may have only mentioned the fact that they had Ancient History together, but he obviously forgot about PE and mathematics, their sixth session. Annette was going to play what she thought to her advantage. Her short shorts were the ones that she normally wore for ballet practice. Her tank top was white and tight just to tease him. An oddly placed smirk was what tied together the whole look for her this time around. Viletta Nu was shocked to see her student early to the gym that day.

"Ms. Brashivere, do you have a reason for being…different today?" asked Viletta. She was going to love this whole plan if she was the type that Annette thought she was.

"I decided that I wanted to see if Knight Gino Weinberg would realize me if I looked like this." She looked down at the clothes that were most like what other girls wore for that class. She was not ging to let herself go unnoticed. He was a warm-blooded male after all.

Viletta laughed at the girl's words. She thought that the plan would work on Gino. She knew him before she even began to teach at Ashford. This was just one way that she figured the sixteen-year-old student could get any boy's attention. She threw Annette a volleyball before speaking again, "Annette, my advice, woman to woman, is that you should ask him to be your partner today for serving. Tomorrow, you should ask the same thing. Then in two days, ignore him. Gino obviously would go to you automatically."

She wanted to say more, but the other students began to file into the gym for class. Viletta called the class's attention and used Annette for her demonstration for that day. She was sure that she could help her out as much as she could for any reason. That was why she had done that whole demonstration. She knew that her students could serve already. Gino wasn't the type who would pay attention to the demonstrations that were in class, but it was different that day. Miss Nu and Miss Brashivere had his complete attention.

"Hey, Gino, do you wanna be my partner?" Several girls had found their way to him before the demonstration was over. He sighed and looked down at each individual one while muttering a quick 'no.' Gino walked away from them all only hoping to find the girl he wanted. As he was about to give up while looking through the partnerless people, a volleyball was thrown into his chest.

"Annette! Oh, hey. Do you, um, want to be partners?" asked Gino when he saw who had thrown the ball. Annette's lips pursed as she thought it over. She had been the one to ask, but since he had asked, she would have been giving into him. This only made the earlier rejected girls listen in more than they already had been. Viletta was watching the two out of the corner of her eye. Part of her wondered if maybe her student was under Lelouch's Geass to distract the Knight.

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**A/N: If you've read my oneshot, then you may remember the first part. I loved it so much that it got its own story. That was my attempt at a cliffhanger btw.**


	2. Get This Chance Again

**DISCLAIMER: Clamp created Code Geass. I don't own it as much as I'd love to though.**

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"Yeah, sure," said Annette. She tried to be nonchalant about it. She walked up to the Knight and took the ball out of his hands this time instead of throwing it at him. It would be her serve first off. Annette liked to serve the ball when given the chance.

Gino was more than ecstatic that she agreed to be his partner. This was just as good as flying the Tristan to him. He watched her as she walked away. His eyes obviously set on the hem of her shorts and the girl's round behind. He wasn't going to let her down in his reputation if he kept that up with her though. She wanted to catch him doing something like that.

Annette turned to face him. The ball was under one arm as she watched other couples get ready for this whole exercise. She threw the ball up above her head and with a hollow sounding smack, sent the volleyball over the net into Gino's face. Her eyes grew wide as the ball got her partner in the face. She laughed then when the shock washed away.

"What are you trying to do to me?! Kill me?" yelled Gino. He burst out laughing at the almost hurt look on Annette's face. He knew that she wasn't being serious with that look. She didn't care that he had said those things. She didn't want to kill him necessarily; she just wanted to bruise him up. There was a difference between the two.

Viletta walked over to Gino just to check and see if any major damages had been done to him. When she was satisfied by the lack of injuries, she blew her whistle and told the groups of partners to commence a little bit of volleying back and forth. Of course, Gino and Annette had only gotten one serve while the others got at least four in. It didn't bother them in the slightest really since it gave them more time to just mess around.

The rest of the hour passed by seamlessly to Gino and Annette. They thought that the time ended too soon. Annette walked back to the opposite side of the net and held her hand out to Gino. He wasn't expecting that really. She widened her eyes at him and looked down at her hand. He took it and gave it a quick shake. "Good game, girl," grinned Gino. He was going to try and be as normal as possible in that situation. He didn't know what to do about it anymore.

Annette took her hand back and jokingly wiped it on her shorts. She did it almost as a joke to him. Gino rolled his eyes at the action and turned to walk away. He looked over his shoulder at the girl he was leaving behind. Part of him wanted to stay with her then. That was all that he wanted actually. He couldn't just grow attached at the drop of a hat though. The whole situation was just weird to him now. Gino wished he knew why that was so different. That's when Annette looked back.

She couldn't believe that he was just staring at her this time. She felt a little awkward and ran to catch up to a group of girls heading back to the locker rooms. Once back in the academy's well kept locker room, Annette slid down the tile wall laughing. Her roommate, Juliet Boulevarie, held her hand out to help the girl up off of the floor. It was easy to tell that behind her own smirk, she was cracking up on the inside. She had known of the whole plan to get Gino to be like that; she just didn't think that Annette would succeed.

Fourth session arts was probably one of the most excruciating things ever. Annette had ballet and other classical dances for that scheduled time of the day. She loved it really though. Gino was on the opposite side of the school going through the motions of trying to get the girl with the brown eyes off of his mind. He also ended up getting yelled at for drawing her eyes on a piece of fruit for visual arts' still life. The drawing did end up being slightly hilarious though to him.

Fifth session lunch passed within what seemed like seconds. Annette was more than ready for the next to last class of her day. Mathematics was by far one of her best classes; his worst as it may be even. She liked the fact that that day they were supposedly getting paired off into groups to try and explain the last section of the book that they had read. Gino dreaded that part of the class. He wished that he didn't have to take math at all. He always felt somewhat stupid in that class. Other students always had the answers for it. It didn't strike him until the moment he entered the class that _she_ was in that class also.

"Miss Brashivere and Knight Weinberg are group two explaining section nine eight," droned the teacher. That surprised Annette more than anything else. She was almost certain that she would be paired with Rivalz again. They had almost always ended up partners. Gino looked across the room at her this time around. Rivalz seemed to deflate in his seat next to Gino. He had expected to be Annette's partner again, too. Annette met Gino's gaze then and had to keep from laughing when she caught sight of Rivalz moments later.

Annette stood when the bell rang for that session to be over. She crossed the room to where Gino was talking to several of their classmates about the assignment. He asked to be excused and walked to the girl that he was now partnered with for the next week. He stood there in front of her almost waiting for her to begin speaking. He wasn't going to be the first to say anything; Annette probably knew what she was doing with the assignment better than he would anyways.

"Do you want to work on this now? I have seventh session free," said Annette. She began to walk away knowing full well that Gino would follow her this time: he did as she thought. This was all that she needed to show Juliet that she could do it. Not that there was much doubt after that day in P.E., but one could never be sure in this situation really. Annette knew that she would really have to keep her game strong in order to win it all. She had high hopes anyways for this whole arrangement.

"Sure, I mean, we might as well get it over with," said Gino as he quickly followed the girl. His footsteps were fast and heavy compared to her dancer's gait. He had no clue where she was really even going now. Annette had the idea to stop by her dorm room and grab her laptop. From there she was actually clueless as to what they would do for the project. It was possible that they could set up a slideshow about their unit of the math book; not that she really actually wanted to do that.

After that quick stop to her dorm room, Annette and Gino were sitting underneath a willow tree near the courtyard of the school. The air was slightly damp as was the ground that spring afternoon. They didn't really mind though. A blanket separated them from the damp. Her book was open in front of them, but it was going ignored more than would be helpful for their project. Her eyes would stray to it ever so slowly every few minutes though.

"Partners worked out perfectly for us, didn't it?" smirked Annette. Gino moved closer to her on the blanket. Several other students walked by, including Anya. She snapped a quick picture of the two and hurried back on her way to the student council clubhouse to talk to Suzaku. That picture would probably end up being sent around from council member to council member just for the fun of it. Neither of those two could really care any though.

Gino leaned forward towards Annette now. He used the hand that wasn't supporting him on the blanket to turn her head towards him. He bent his head down closer to hers and closed his eyes. Annette's lips and his met for a brief second before she pulled away. She stared at him with wide eyes and opened her mouth with a quick gasp. Her mouth went to form word, but nothing came out. She regained her voice and opened her mouth once more in protest.

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**A/N: So, this came after a while. I'd like to thank my one reviewer, who quite frankly doesn't help much. Review it please. I love constructive criticism, which is something twilight-is-lovee doesn't give. But I hope you enjoyed this.**


	3. LYK OMG! Really?

**DISCLAIMER TIME! We all know I don't own CG. That's what I have to put. I don't mean to like steal anything.**

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"Gino, what the hell are you doing!" screeched Annette. She didn't want to deal with this from him at all. It was just a nuisance to her. A relationship would be a nuisance with anyone especially if it was with Gino Weinberg. This wasn't what she wanted to have to do anyways.

Annette stood up off of the blanket and snatched up her open book. She turned on her heel and began to head off in the direction from which they came to the spot. It wasn't that she really disliked the kiss. Gino wasn't just hers anyways; that was the way she wanted him.

Gino watched Annette before he realized that he still had her blanket. He stood up and gathered his things and the blanket before chasing after her. Annette didn't think that he would do such a thing like that. She was already forming a plan to use Juliet to get the blanket back.

By the time Gino caught up to the girl, Annette was already entering the residence buildings. He grabbed her elbow as she stepped through the doorway. She turned and glared at him for a moment then her face softened before hardening again. It was uncharacteristic of the hot-tempered, shy girl to do that though. She couldn't help herself.

"Anne- can I call you that? – I'm sorry. I shouldn't have behaved like that back there," he admitted reluctantly. Annette hmphed at him then turned back around to walk inside. Gino followed her in and then got the blanket ripped from his grasp as she glared at him realizing that he was being her shadow almost.

"Don't call me Anne. Don't follow me. Do not kiss me again. Don't you ever dare try something like that again," breathed Annette. The deliver was quite and precise. Gino took a step back away from her sensing that she wasn't going to be all that nice. He figured that she was small but short fused.

"Miss Brashivere, please, please forgive me. I'm truly sorry. I give you my word as a Knight that I'm sorry," said Gino. He put on a professional front, one that he saved for official meetings of The Round. It wasn't like he really cared at those meetings, but this was something important to him.

Annette rolled her eyes and walked away. She wasn't going to put up with him at the moment. She now had a headache from dealing with Gino. Her mind kept racing with thoughts of the kiss. She wanted to relive that moment, but it also embarrassed her greatly. Annette realized that she was being completely unreasonable back there. That wouldn't stop everyone from talking about either. She'd have to deal with backlash from almost all the girls soon.

Gino sighed defeated. He turned and his steps led him out the door and to the clubhouse. Anya, Suzaku, and Milly were all there waiting for him. The first of those three had shown the others the pictures, and then they had all heard about his rejection. The two who hadn't seen Gino and Annette together were trying to keep from laughing. Anya was smiling, but she felt a little bad for her friend.

Back at the girls' residency building, Annette was relaxing in her room when she got a call. Her ringer was going off disrupting the peace and quiet of an empty bedroom. The ID on the phone said that it was Juliet. She answered the phone right as the girl entered the dorm room. They both hung up and started laughing at that coincidence. Annette pushed some books and miscellaneous items off her bed so that Juliet had a place to sit down.

"Annie, I love you dearly, but you must tell me what is up with your bipolar like behavior with Gino," said Juliet. She wasn't one to mince words normally. She wanted to know why her friend was acting odd with some boy. Annette really hadn't said much in the way of trying to get the boy until second session then at fourth session she was in a bad mood again. She wished to know if something was wrong. Mentally that is.

"You want the whole story? Well, fine," sighed Annette. She didn't know how much her sister was going to hate her for this. The younger Brashivere, Lucille, wasn't one who really liked her life being told to anyone. Even if the person being told was her sister's best friend or roommate or anyone that her sister was close to. It bothered the younger one to have her life laid out on a table like that for others.

"Lucy is going to kill me for this. Well, you know how she doesn't get all boy crazy most of the time? After I met up with Gino for the first time in the library, I ran into the Luce when I left him there. I kinda just wanted to get away. Well, she broke down crying and said that he had not returned her feelings.

"Anyways, I had to get back at him for making my sister break down like that. So I played that little game. Apparently he liked the attention that he was getting from me. Most people know I'm not like that. Just ugh," explained Annette. She saw the look on Juliet's face like it almost didn't make sense to her. She didn't care whether or not her friend got the whole reason for disliking Gino. It was a family thing that couldn't be outbid.

"Um, okay," said Juliet. She honestly didn't know the big deal. She had seen several other girls cry because of an unrequited crush on the knight. Since she didn't have a sibling of her own, she figured that it was probably just something that Annette had to do in order to be more of a good sister to Lucille. Juliet decided that maybe she should just ignore it for herself. Unless things happened between Anne and Gino, she wasn't interested.

At the clubhouse, Gino had finished telling Suzaku, Milly, and Anya what had happened. He didn't know why he felt such a need to get this girl to notice him. Milly told him that she thought that maybe it was the thrill of the chase, Suzaku offered up the suggestion that he actually liked the girl, while Anya, who made the most relevant discovery, decided that his attachment was because she, Annette, was like him in some ways, and he wanted a girl that could do well on her own.

Gino left his friends and went to find a student directory. He decided that he wasn't going to give up on the girl. Annette was beginning to bother him more than he could stand. She was the one girl that put up a fight with him. He found her number in the directory and called her. Gino wasn't going to let the day go on without talking her first to find out what her deal was with him.

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**TIME FOR SARA'S AWESOME NOTE TO YOU THE READERS: I love that people are actually reading this! I'll have another chapter up as soon as possible. I mean Spring Break is coming, so I'll have more time to write. YAY! Oh and sorry that this one is shorter than the others.**


	4. Wrongs and Rights

**DISCLAIMER: Yeah, I don't own CG. There's no copyright infringement intended.**

**SARA'S NOTE on... CHAPTER CUATRO: Hehehe. It's first this time. There's one at the end though. This POV is different in this chapter. It's like the way in my Embry story.**

-Annette's POV-

I listened to the phone ringer go off several times before I actually considered answering. I knew it would be for the best if I just answered, but this gut feeling told me not to. Juliet just looked at me waiting for me to do whatever. I knew then that checking the caller ID would be smart, but it didn't cross my mind till I answered the phone.

"Hello?" I said into the small device. Juliet mouthed the words 'Who is it?' and I just shook my head. No one had spoken yet, but there was a slight laugh on the other end.

"Annette, it's me- Gino. I was wondering if you, um, wanted to meet up so that we can talk," said the voice on the other end of the line. I rolled my eyes and grabbed a pen and a notepad that was lying nearby. I wrote down who it was and showed threw the paper to Juliet. She buried her face in the pillows of her bed to make it quieter.

"Fine. I'll meet you at the fountain," I sighed. I didn't think that I should have given him what he wanted so easily. I had done what I had wanted with him, but this was just to humor him and everyone else. A chuckle on the other end made me want to instantly cancel the plans we had just made.

"Awesome, see ya then!" The line went dead then. I no longer knew why I agreed. My heart fluttered with the worries that clouded my thinking. Juliet looked at me then at the picture on my nightstand of me and Lucy. I almost felt bad that I was doing this now. Luce would have to forgive me at some point for this.

I got up from my bed and walked over to my dresser. I pulled out a pair of jeans and slipped them on underneath my skirt. The intentions were that I wasn't going to meet up with Gino if I was still wearing my uniform. The outfit was unflattering, and I frankly hated it. There was something about this that made me want to wear jeans and a nice top though.

Juliet waved to me as I left our room. I couldn't think of what I was going to say when I saw him again. It was going to bother me, but it wasn't something I had control over. This couldn't be a good move on my part now that I thought it over. Really, I could have been smarter in making this plan.

The fountain soon came into my view as I walked from the residency building to the heart of the school. I could see Gino leaning against it now. My eyes closed, and air filled my lungs slowly. I needed to just clear my head of anything that could make me want to turn around and leave him there. That would probably be the worst thing I could do now.

"Annette! You came!" Gino yelled as soon as he saw me. He seemed to mutter something under his breath for a moment then he smiled at me once more. I wondered what he had said as I approached him once more. _This had better be quick_, I thought bitterly.

"Of course. I don't break plans," I answered crisply. I wasn't in the mood for any monkey business with him, but I could feel my features soften as I looked at him. Gino just looked so happy for some reason. I wished I felt that happy then, but it wasn't logical for me. He had hurt my sister after all. "Hurry up with this. I have things to do and a project I wanna finish."

-Gino's POV-

Her words and the manner she spoke them in shocked me. I couldn't really believe that she was acting like that now. She did seem to be trying not to smile though. It was confusing as all get out, but I was going to deal with it. At least, I would try as long as I could.

"First off, what's your deal?" I asked. I wanted to find out what her problem was before I even tried to get to know her anymore. Maybe before I tried anything else with a girl like Annette or any other girl, I should try and figure out whether or not that girl had a score or something to settle with me.

"My deal? My problem with you is that you hurt my little sister. She liked you, but you just ignored her!" screeched Annette. I couldn't believe that she was mad just because of that. I chuckled a little bit at her. Her eyes became hardened as I suspected she got even angrier with me.

I wrapped an arm around Annette's shoulders and motioned for us to walk. I didn't feel like having this whole conversation in one place. It was just not going to be a good idea for us. My only hope was that we could clear up any misunderstandings and problems that she had.

"Miss Brashivere, your sister, Lucille, was overly flirty with me. I couldn't stand a girl like that," I told her. I hoped that the way I put it would make it seem more like the girl was at fault. "I didn't know you two were related till just now. I'm sorry about any hurt that I caused to your sister."

We stopped walking, and I turned so that I was facing Annette. The look on her face made me know that she was confused about the words that I had just said. I smiled down at her then and brushed away a strand of her hair from her face. I couldn't believe that she was now speechless.

"I'm sorry" was all that she said to me then. The look in her eyes made me realize that she was being genuine with that apology. Why she was sorry was a mystery to me. I had expected her to just go off on her merry way after that.

"Annette, it's cool. You were pissed because you thought you had a reason. I'm fine with that," I told her. I knew that she wasn't going to be all that welcoming of forgiveness like that. She was well known for going overboard on things like this. I only hoped that she would realize the problems with that when it came to me.

"I'll make it up to you... somehow," whispered Annette. She turned away from me, and I expected her to walk away... well I expected her to run, but that's beside the point. I grabbed her arm and turned her so that she was facing me again. I couldn't let her leave so quickly.

I pulled her close to me then and there. I wrapped my arms around Annette and buried my face in her hair. She didn't protest much to my surprise. Something just seemed right about holding her like this. I thought about the things that were going on outside of Ashford like the war with Zero, and it made me realize that this was the way it was meant to be.

"Annette, you don't have to make it up. Just stay with me," I said to her. She looked up at me and did the one thing I didn't expect her to do. Annette kissed me. It was a welcome surprise to end the conversation that we had just had.

**SARA'S FINAL NOTE FOR THIS CHAPTER: yay...sweet and random...stupid influences. I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope that some of you will read my Embry Call story.**


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Code Geass, Romance