Disclaimer-don't own ccs

--My first fanfic by myself. Hope you like it. Review please. Flames accepted.

PG13 just in case. Meiling has known Syaoran for as long as she can remember, and for just as long, she has had a power to see what other people were thinking. She likes Syaoran, and he likes her too, but what will happen when a new girl shows up?

Beneath the Surface of Every Heart

Chapter 1

"Syaoran!" a ruby-eyed girl exclaimed. "Were you listening to me? Hellooo? Talk to me!"

"Huh?" answered a boy with brown hair and amber eyes. He hadn't been paying attention to his friend, Meiling partly because she seemed to drone on and on, and partly because he was kind of thinking of something else.... "Sorry, what'd you say?"

"I asked you if you wanted to come over on Tuesday."

"Okay, sure, why not."

"Why have you always been spacing out lately? Yesterday, the Mrs. Hasagawa asked you if you thought she was stupid, because you weren't learning anything, and then you said yes. You were sent to the office, the secretary asked you what your name was, and you said that you were very sorry, Mrs. Hasagawa, that you didn't think she was stupid at all. And now you're ignoring me. Why?"

"I don't know."

Meiling stopped her endless chatter. She could read people's emotions-a gift she'd known about for a long time but didn't know why. She'd never told anyone about it, not even Syaoran, and he was the person she felt most comfortable with, being the one she'd known since she was five. He was the person that threw sand into her eyes when the teacher made them play together in the sandbox. Right now, she could see that her friend was very worried about something under his spaced exterior. "Is something wrong?" Meiling asked in a more serious voice.

"No. Nothing. Why?" Syaoran replied.

"You don't seem very...happy....." Meiling trailed off. She couldn't find the right word for it.

"What makes you say that? I'm not upset or anything, but then there's not really anything to be happy about."

Meiling looked at him doubtfully. He saw her expression, and said in lighter tone, "Mei, if there was anything bad that was worth telling, don't you think I would tell my very best friend?"

"I'm your best friend?" asked Meiling playfully, but still in a little bit of wonder.

Syaoran looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Are you?"

"Okay, I am," Mei answered quickly, before he changed his mind. She liked the idea of being someone's best friend, even though she wasn't exactly sure if Syaoran was joking or being serious. "But still, would you tell your best friend if something was bothering you?"

"Sure," he said. Then he brushed a wisp of her dark hair back. "Meiling, I'd tell you anything."

She thought that was sweet, but she knew he wasn't telling her everything. She just didn't know what he was hiding. As the two walked past several peers, Meilin could feel the other peoples innermost thoughts.

There's Meiling and Syaoran. They look so right together. I wish I could have that with my boyfriend. It's not fair. He doesn't talk to me much anymore.

Meiling laughed to herself as she heard that. She and Syaoran were not together. The only thing he'd ever been to her was a good friend. Even his good looks went by her unnoticed. He looked the same to her. Same as he did when she first met him.

Oh, look. It's the dumb guy. Doesn't even know the simplest question the teacher asked him. Told her she was stupid. Troublemaker, thought a guy as he walked by. Meiling glared at him, and he looked at her like she was crazy.

It came time for Syaoran and Mei to go their separate ways, so they said their goodbyes and went off. Meiling reached home, where she lived pretty much by herself. Once in a while, she'd get a phone call from her uncle, who was now her guardian, but he didn't live there, so she was alone. As soon as she changed and put her things away, Mei immediately called her friend Daisy, who lived pretty far away. Far enough that Mei only saw her when she visited every two years.

"Hello?"

"Hi! I'm bored and lonely so I called you."

"Well, I was going to call you. I have news for you! There's this girl at my school, and her family has lived here forever, but yesterday, her parents died in a car accident."

"That's awful. What happened? But wait, what does that have to do with me?"

"Drunk driver. Just listen. So she and her brother didn't want to stay here where all their memories are, so they decided to move to Tomoeda, where their father had always talked about moving to. And if she goes to your school, you get to meet her. She's really nice."

"Ooh! She's coming to Tomoeda? I hope she does come here. I like to know new people. It's fun to have a new person in your class to brighten up your dull day at school," Meiling said happily.

"So, are you gonna talk to her then?" Daisy questioned. It seemed unusual for Mei to actually talk to someone she didn't know.

"No, of course not. I'll volunteer to show her around the school. If I don't get the job, I'll just watch her from a distance."

"You gonna stalk her?!"

Meiling laughed. "By the way, what's this new girl's name?"

"Sakura Kinomoto."

Author: not much of a cliffie, but I can't do much about that right now. Nothing BIG happened in this chapter, and it's kinda short, but hey, it's the first one. Actually, maybe first chapters should be really good so the readers come back, but I hope you liked it anyway, and that you'll read the next chappie. Review, pleez!