Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
"Dear God, Only five more minutes." Sakura whispered lazily to herself, her head resting on her folded arms, gazing out the window. It was the last class of the day, and it also happened to be Sakura's least favourite class, Math.
" Miss Kinomoto, daydreaming again?" The teacher asked, standing at the front of the classroom with an irritated look on her face.
"Huh? Oh, Sorry.." Sakura apologized half-heartedly. The class was silent, staring at her. On any normal day Sakura would have responded with some sarcastic remark, but today was different. She glanced behind her and saw the familiar brown-haired amber-eyed boy looking at her. He had changed over the past few years physically, he was quite a bit taller than Sakura now, and he had a lean but strong build. However, he still had his messy hair and stubborn attitude. She gave him a quick smile and immediately looked away with a faint blush on her cheeks. She looked back to the window, avoiding the glaring eyes of a certain ruby eyed girl staring at her.
When did things become so different between us? I used to think we were good friends.. but things have become different ever since that girl came..
Class had ended and sakura was walking slowly down the familiar path towards her house. The sun had started to set, and it was nearing the end for the blooming cherry-blossom trees. Kicking a rock as she walked, Sakura was humming a song quietly to herself.
"Seventeen years old Sakura, and you're still daydreaming in class." A familiar voice came from behind her.
"Tomoyo! I didn't know you were there.. Were there plans I forgot about or something?" Sakura asked nervously, kicking the rock away and turning to face Tomoyo.
"No silly, I just noticed you weren't your usual perky self today and wanted to see how you were doing."
"Thanks Tomoyo-chan. Really though, I am doing fine."
"Are you sure? You aren't bothered by Li's girlfriend? I heard that she went off on you the other day for asking to borrow some notes from him.." Tomoyo asked as they reached Sakura's front door.
" Huh? Oh, bothered by Meiling? I mean yeah, she does bother me. She freaks out every time I look at Syaoran. If I can even call him that anymore.." Sakura looked away. A moment later, she dug into her purse for her keys and unlocked the front door. Tomoyo seated herself as Sakura brought out two slices of cheesecake her father had prepared the night before.
" I heard that she is going to be leaving for Hong Kong soon to visit a sick relative.. maybe you can patch things up with Li then?" Tomoyo asked as she cut a piece off her cheesecake.
"Patch things up? Nothing even happened. All I know is that when she showed up, claiming to be his girlfriend and completely consuming his life, he changed"
"Oh Sakura, he may have a girlfriend now but you two have always been good friends and I'm sure things will work out just fine." Tomoyo said reassuringly. She had finished her slice of cake and seemed to be in deep thought.
" I know! What about a sleepover? We haven't had one of those since we were younger. There is a gathering tonight at Chiharu's place and a few people from school will be there. I wouldn't be surprised if Li and Meiling show up... we can just make sure you are much cuter than her and we'll see if Li doesn't notice!"
"Hoe? I don't know.." Sakura was debating in her head if she was mentally prepared to attend a party. But I have to talk to Syaoran.. I need to find out what is going on between us. " Okay. I'll go." She said decidedly.
"Yay!" Tomoyo squealed," Lets grab your things and rush over to my house so we can plan out your outfit and makeup!"
"Gotcha. Don't go overboard though Tomoyo, it's a social gathering for high school, it's not prom.
"Hmm.. no, I think the skirt before looked better. Yeah, the black one." Tomoyo had her arms folded across her chest and nodded triumphantly. " This is it. The perfect outfit. It's not too flashy, but it will definitely be cuter than whatever Meiling shows up in"
Sakura glanced in the mirror. Tomoyo had picked out a mid-thigh length black pleated skirt, a fitted longsleeved v-neck dark grey shirt with a white lace cami peeking through the top, black Converse shoes and a grey headband with black flower designs on it for Sakura's hair. Her hair was just barely longer than shoulder length, and she had given up the pig-tail style she had normally worn as a child. She let Tomoyo dress her up, but in the end decided to go without makeup.
"Okay, are we all ready then?" Tomoyo asked as she grabbed her purse and opened the door. Sakura nodded and they made their way over to Chiharu's house for the party. Sakura nocked on the door, and Yamazaki answered it and welcomed them in. It wasn't a huge party, it was mostly just people from their class. Some people were sitting out the couch eating chips, others were standing in random areas of the house talking, a few kids were playing Dance Dance Revolution in the livingroom. Most of the girls from the class had worn their best outfits, short skirts and revealing tops.
"Sakura! I am glad you could make it. I was afraid you and Tomoyo had decided to stay in for the night." Chiharu hugged sakura and Tomoyo, but afterwards was quickly brisked away to stop Yamazaki's rantings in another area of the house.
Knock! Knock!
Sakura reached for the doorknob, being the closest one to the door. She opened it and found herself looking into a pair of feiry-amber eyes that seems to soften suddenly when he realized who he was looking at. After a moment, Sakura jumped back into reality and glanced at the girl standing beside Syaoran. It was, of course, Meiling. She was wearing red eyeshadow that brought out her red eyes, and had a red ribbon in her hair. She had worn a short jean skirt and a long black tanktop. She pushed past Sakura and made her way into the party, leaving Syaoran at the door with Sakura.
"Sorry about that.." Syaoran said quietly, looking away. It was hard for him to meet Sakura's emerald eyes. He hadn't spoken to her for what seemed like a long time, and even still he couldn't think of much to say. He seemed somewhat miserable.
"Ah.. it's..fine. But are you Syaoran?"
"Am I what?"
"Fine? Are you alright? You don't seem like yourself.." Sakura said, closing the door behind him as Syaoran entered the house.
"I should be asking you the same question. You haven't spoken to me in a few weeks. Well, aside from asking about the notes last week." Syaoran looked away, slightly embarassed from rememberying Meilings ridiculous scene.
"Well I figured you were just busy with your girlfriend and didn't need me as a friend anymore". Sakura said with a stern voice, her anger fired up with the event mentioned.
Flashback:
"Syaoran, I missed class the other day and I was wondering if I could get the notes?"
"Huh? Sure.." Syaoran responded, digging through his binder.
" You can get the notes from someone else, Kinomoto." Meiling chimed in, glaring at Sakura.
" Syaoran's notes are fine, actually." Sakura responded, not looking at Meiling.
"I said, you can get the notes from someone else. Now Go." Meiling stood up in her seat, scooting her chair back, causing it to make a loud scraping sound. The students in the classroom all stared.
" Sakura, maybe you should just get the notes from someone else.." Syaoran said quietly, looking at his desk.
"I thought we were friends Syaoran.." Sakura tilted her head to the side, slightly hurt, waiting for a response.
"He doesn't need a friend like you Kinomoto, he has me." Meiling said, filling the gap between Sakura and the desk Syaoran was sitting in. Sakura tried to look to Syaoran for some kind of retort or anything really, but he didn't meet her gaze. Sakura turned and walked towards her seat. She did not look back for the rest of the day.
End Flashback
"Sakura... I can explain about that.. You see--"
"I don't want to hear it, Syaoran. You didn't even defend our friendship. Why should I listen to you now?" Sakura cut him off. Her green eyes burned into his. She had planned on being civil for the party, but it seemed that emotions always got riled up around Syaoran.
"What can I do to make it up to you? Sakura.." Syaoran started, but soon stopped himself as he saw Meiling making her way towards him.
"Syaoran, what are you doing over there? Come here with me." Meiling grabbed Syaoran's arm and preceeded to pull him away from Sakura. He obediently began to follow.
"You want to know what you can do to make it up to me, Li Syaoran?" Sakura said loudly so everyone in the room could hear. She glared at Syaoran and Meiling. "Go back to being the Syaoran I knew. That's what you can do." And with that she walked away, searching for Tomoyo.
I have got to figure out a way to get Meiling off of me for five minutes so I can talk to Sakura..
"Sakura! There you are!" Tomoyo sang happily as she saw Sakura enter the room.
" I want you to meet my new friend here," Tomoyo turned to reveal a boy with light skin, blue eyes and dark blue hair, " His name is Eriol."
Eriol gave a small bow to Sakura and took her right hand in his and placed a light kiss on it. Sakura blushed and giggled nervously. From the doorway Syaoran scowled as Meiling showed him off like a piece of jewelry.
"Hi, I'm Sakura. It's nice to meet you Eriol." Sakura smiled, trying to make the best of her awkward situation. She was already starting to forget about her anger from just moments before. She glanced over to see Syaoran, smirked and turned back to talk with Eriol and Tomoyo.
Who is that guy anyway? And what's with that polite kissy crap? And why did Sakura even allow him to do that? Wait. What do I care what she does with other boys? I have Meiling.. and Sakura is angry at me anyway. Even though.. she does look nice tonight...
Seeing Sakura is something other than the school uniform was unusual for Syaoran. He was used to the white longsleeved button up shirts and dark grey pleated skirts the girls normally wore at school. Her outfit fit her body nicely, her shirt wasn't too tight, but it held to her figure and her skirt made her legs look long.
Syaoran walked away from the door entrance to get away, he didn't want to see Sakura, or that boy. Meiling followed him, pulling him into the empty hallway.
"Syaoran, are you having a good time?" She asked, pressing up against him. Her ruby eyes seemed to glow in the dark, making her look like a seductress. Syaoran wasn't really in the mood to kiss her, but after seeing Sakura flirting with Eriol, he did it more to assure himself that didn't care about it.
"Yes, but maybe we should get going pretty soon?" He responded after they broke the kiss. Meiling layed her head onto his chest and nodded. He looked up over her head and Sakura and Tomoyo on the couch, sitting on either side of Eriol. Sakura was looking right back at him, with a somewhat sad and somewhat angry look. Then she looked away and continued her conversation, smiling and laughing as if nothing had happened. Yamazaki soon joined them and seemed to really hit it off with Eriol. They were telling a story about the origins of dolphins. A very "believable" story. They were almost finishing each other's sentences with such certainty, people around began to listen, captivated by their story. Sakura still drifted off in her head throughout the story.
How could he do that and then just look at me? What is he trying to do anyway?Not like I feel like watching them make out anyway. Forget him.
Tomoyo and Sakura left the party not long after without any further situations arising. Sakura did, however, give Syaoran a nasty glare as she left. She made sure to keep up conversation with Eriol for most of the night just to see if she could show Syaoran that if he didn't need her, she didn't need him either. She reached into her purse and touched the piece of paper with Eriol's Phone number written on it and smiled.