E
E.H. I Love You
By: TsuRISa
Foreword:
In one corner of my room there stands a creamy white-topped vanity table, dressed in yellow and white ruffles of organdy. I made the skirt a long time ago, all by hand, long before my mother bought our sewing machine that does everything.
Attached to the vanity are three mirrors hinged together and when tipped a certain way, I can see three of myself from three different angles. For sixteen years, I've watched myself grow up in those mirrors and sometimes when I peer intently into them, I can swear I not only see the outside of me, but the inside as well; the soul of me that no one can see- but me.
The most important of this little table is not the creamy whiteness of the smooth top, not the cascades of carefully handmade ruffles, not even the three revealing mirrors. It is the shiny yellow bumper sticker I have pasted to the top of the middle mirror. It reads, E.H. I Love You.
The city of Eternal Hot Springs is proud of that bumper sticker. You can see it on so many cars all over Tomoeda. I remember how hard I fought against our trip to that city the summer I turned sixteen, and now I know if I hadn't gone, I would never have met Eriol. I would never have experienced the exhilarating joy of know him, of loving him, the agonizing frustration of knowing how it would all end…
Chapter 1:
Sakura Kinomoto waited impatiently for me on the school steps with a flushing, round face. She was clutching a long brown envelope in her sweaty fist and waving wildly at me.
It was one of those rare, terribly hot humid days in Tomoeada with hardly a breeze from the ocean. Just looking at my best friend made me wilt. I felt like jumping into the water that very second.
"We did it!" She shouted at me as I ran down the bleached white cement stairs, taking them two at a time. "We're juniors- at last!"
"I thought it would never end," I told her, pushing my sticky long black hair off of my neck. Grabbing as much of it as I could with my one free hand. I pulled it away from my wet neck and flapped it in the air, trying to feel a little breeze.
"Thank goodness they let us out before lunch," I said, wiping my forehead with a clean tissue.
Just the thought of us being juniors at last, though carried me down the rest of the stairs. Maybe IT would happen now. I'd seen IT happen to other girls- girls whom I didn't consider attractive. It seemed to me that when the guys are aware that you are a junior, they become interested. There you are, going to the movies together, sharing the same beach towel, sipping date shakes in the little hut on a fancy, beach restaurant and then finally, going to the prom in the spring!
It was a terrific time for me. I'd just turned sixteen last week. Now finally, I was a junior and had the whole summer to look forward to. Plenty of time for me to do the one thing I wanted to do-for so long- write my own romantic novel and become famous by the time I was a senior.
I could see it all now. I would spend the summer writing out on my favorite rock by my ocean. By the time my junior year began, I would have the completed novel safely in the mail to some big publisher. Then, after waiting maybe a few weeks, I'd get this terrific contract and I'd be on my way! By the time I became a full-fledged senior, I'd have to literally fight of the offers of dates from boys, boys waiting in line to date a successful novelist.
Sakura and I stopped on the bottom step and hugged each other, sweat and all. Then we raced down the grassy hill and headed for the meadows. It was a shortcut home and we both were so terribly anxious to get on with it, to get the summer started!
"Are you really gonna write that book this summer, Tomoyo? Remember you were going to do it last summer and the summer before…"
I pushed my face down into the tall yellow and green grass of the meadow and smiled. Just the delicious thought made happy chills quiver from my toes all the way up to my skinny fingers. I rolled over again and rested on the tip of my spine, propping myself up with my equally skinny elbows.
"Sure I am. And it's going to be really good," I promised Sakura. "Just like Kira Yamada and Jiyu Killali. Or maybe even like Mira Ashiyuki. In fact, it'll be so great, maybe the publishers will think one of them really wrote it and is sending it in under a different name. And maybe, just maybe, they'll even want to make a movie out of it!"
Sakura shot right up then, her face glowing with anticipation, her green eyes sparkling. "A movie," she moaned. "Oh Tomoyo…" But then her face wrinkled into a frown. "But when they find out you're only sixteen- not even through high school yet- they might not even want to read it!"
I let out a heavy sigh of impatience and disgust for Sakura's ignorance. "Oh Sakura! They won't know I'm sixteen." I flicked a lost lady bug off my jeans.
"But they have to find out sooner or later," Sakura said, standing up and stretching. The orange-red ladybug landed on her arm and she jumped away in fright.
I laughed. "It's just a ladybug," I told her. "By the time they find out, the contract will be signed. Anyhow, when they do eventually find out, they'll be thrilled about it. I'll be their protégé as I climb the bestseller list!"
Sakura sighed as we walked toward home. I really didn't think she knew what a protégé was and I expected her to ask me but she didn't. By the time we were in front of her house, a huge stone and brick structure with vibrant bougainvillea growing all over it, we were hotter than ever and all I could think of was the ocean.
I waved goodbye to Sakura and headed for the highway. I hated crossing the busy thing but I refused to walk all the way down to the cross walk.
"Hey, wait," Sakura called and I turned. She ran up close to me and smiled. "I've read some of these romances you know." She looked all around the field and started to whisper even though there was absolutely no one around. "Tomoyo are you going to write the juicy parts, you know, the ladies with big heaving breasts?"
I kicked a gray stone off a grassy mound and it flew to the centerline of the highway. "If the part calls for a big bosom, I'll have to, well, do some research, see how they handle it you know."
"And the love parts?" Sakura went on seriously.
'I'll handle it," I told her with confidence. She smiled and we waved goodbye again, but as I ran across the highway, dodging the cars rounding the curve, my confidence was weakening. How would I handle it? Certainly not from experience.
Sakura and I were both extremely shy. Maybe that's what drew her to me in the first place; we both seemed to need each other in a funny way. Her problem had always been her height. She was a little shorter than I and it seemed to trouble her often. Still, Sakura had done her very best to get the boys notice her and ask her out- even for just a ride on the back of their mopeds, or maybe their cars if they had one.
My trouble was a little different. I couldn't smile. I mean I just don't have a face that smiles easily in front of boys. I can be laughing really hysterically with a bunch of girls, but when a boy walks into the room I can feel my whole body tense up.
Adults think I'm very serious, too. But they always say how pretty I am, especially my amethyst orbs. Actually I sort of like looking 'deep and mysterious' but the kids probably think I look sad and gloomy. No doubt the boys do.
I also have my nose in a book most of the time. I'm sure most of the guys think I'm not interested in them in the slightest way. I've been told I even look bored.
My grades come easily to me, but I have a terrible urge to read everything and anything I can get my hands on. For two years now I have thought of nothing but to turn out my own romantic novel and become famous. Maybe then some boy will take a closer look.
Sakura has to really study to get good grades but in one way she's not stupid. She is just as aware as I am the life is passing us by without one of us being asked out on a date. How will I ever be able to write a big romance if I've never had one?
Ever since I was fourteen I'd put of writing, waiting for that real romance to happen. But I would wait no longer. This was it, this was the summer I would finally write- romance or no romance!
"My imagination will just have to do," I said aloud. I looked down now at the stone in the middle of the highway and kicked it the rest of the way across.
My feet practically flew down the path, the one I had beaten down with my feet ever since I'd started school. I parted the oleander bushes and squeezed through. The salty, tangy smell of my ocean greeted me, filling my head with a tingling sensation of being home.
Our house sits on the top of a rocky, steep hill and from just about any room you can look at the ocean, swelling in and out a never-ending dance. Looking further down the strip of sand, you can see the city of Tomoeada. In the daylight you can spot hundreds of homes dotting the cliffs and hills. Some of them are Spanish, some are Old English and some are rustic cottages whose windows and patios turn toward the sea. Intermingled with them are motels and hotels and restaurants, and unique little shops that display the work of local artists. At night the coastline becomes a black, soft strip of velvet with tiny jewels of lights displayed on its softness. I never get tired of staring at this view.
As soon as I scurried through the front door, I headed straight to my room. I practically tore of my sweaty clothes and changed into my favorite yellow bandeau. Then I headed for the beach. I went directly towards my rock and looked at my beautiful ocean. The beach was deserted because of the extreme heat and sun. But, I didn't get irritated at all. It was actually relaxing and all.
I then heard my mom's car stopping outside the house. "Hey Mom!!" I called out to her. She waved at me. I can see she's done the grocery shopping for the week. She then signaled to me that I should o inside. Must be one of her many sermons again. I just sighed and followed her inside the house.
"What is it mom? If it's another sermon, I tell you, I didn't do anything wrong." I said defensively. "No, it's not that. I need to discuss some things with you." Sonomi Daidouji, my mom, looked at me seriously. I just kept quiet and waited for her to say something. "The school I'm working at is closing this summer and we'll have difficulties in paying the house rent." she said with a worried face. I smiled warmly at her. "Oh mom. You know I can always do a summer job. " I then reached out for her hand. "No you don't little missy. I've accepted a job in Eternal Hot Springs." She smiled at me. "WHAT?! What job?! And in Eternal Hot Springs?! You're joking right?!" I was outraged. This is the most important summer in my whole life! How could this have happened?!
"I accepted a 'house sitting' job in one of the big mansions in Eternal Hot Springs. You see Mr. and Mrs. Hagiwara are off to Hawaii this summer and they need someone to take care of the house for them so I accepted it." she was still smiling dumbly at me. "B-b-but what would happen to our house?!" I was already in the midst of crying. "Don't worry. Someone by the name of Ryuuren decided to take over the house this summer. We'll be back before schooling starts." She comforted me with her hand. "But mom, how am I gonna do my novel?" I asked with my voice shaking. "You can always do it next summer." she took me in an embrace. but I didn't let it last. "Why not ask dad about this?!" I shouted at her. "No we won't ask him for anything! We don't need him." she looked at me with an anry face and I shut my mouth. My parents were divorced eversince I turned 12. My dad left in the date of my 10th birthday. I cried and cried but he left us. He left us for another woman. And now, here I am. Totally miserable and I've lost hope in doing my novel. "Whatever mom." I then left the dining room and straight to my room.