Disclaimer: Jenna&Eileen own nothing related to CCS.
Summary: All their lives, best friends Kinomoto Sakura and Daidouji Tomoyo have competed, but never has Sakura come out on top. This year, she decides it'll be different, and is determined to win their annual bet: Who can go out with the most guys by the senior ball? Sakura believes she has an excellent chance of winning this year… until she gets to a certain boy. How many hearts will Sakura break until she gets her own broken? Heartbreaker
:peachesxcream:
Chapter 1: Perfect x3
I was grumbling to myself.
I'm not normally a grumbling type of person – I'm actually quite the opposite – but when I entered homeroom on the first day of school at Tomoeda High, it was a mess. Obnoxious seniors were scattered throughout the room, playing cards, listening to i-pods, hanging off of each others' necks like there was no tomorrow. Hoping to go unseen, I shuffled to the back of the classroom, but unfortunately for me, I was spotted.
"Looking good, Kinomoto!" One of the jocks smirked and cat-whistled. Disgusting. No, revolting. And the way he said my name, it was like four different words: "Kee-no-MOE-toh!"
Not to go about sounding conceited, but it's difficult being popular.
At last, the bell rang. Music to my ears. A gorgeous girl entered the room, her features traced with youth. If she had not been professionally clad in a matching gray suit and skirt, I would've thought her to be another student.
The jock that was checking me out earlier nudged his friends eagerly, nodding in the teacher's direction. "Check out the new kid!"
And that, kiddos, is what you should never grow up to be.
The sensei glanced upwards, mahogany locks flowing over her shoulders. "I am what you call a sensei – I don't know if you pathetic excuse for a human can comprehend that two-syllable word – but you will address me with respect by calling me Mizuki-sensei, or you WILL be kicked out of my class. Same goes for the rest of you deranged creatures."
Jaws dropped.
Then she smiled sweetly. "I will be your sensei for homeroom and Japanese. If you have any questions, I encourage you to ask with no reluctance!"
While we all stared on, stunned by her change of personality, she continued. "You are no longer middle-schoolers, so we won't go around the room asking how your summer vacations were. I'm assuming you had the time of your life partying, maybe even trying to prove your calculator wrong…" Here she raised an eyebrow at the kid sitting in the front row, carefully arranging three sharpened #2 pencils next to a typewriter… or was that a calculator? "…so let's get down to the assignment."
Groans emitted from almost every student, but Mizuki-sensei smiled delightedly. "I want a six-paragraph essay, no more or less, typed, double-spaced, size twelve, Times New Roman, due tomorrow, no exceptions." A student audibly whimpered. "The topic will be on your best friend: how you met him/her, some of your most vivid memories with him/her, his/her most prominent traits, and a one-word description of him/her, along with a paragraph with supporting details. Understand?"
One timid boy raised his hand. "S-s-s-sensei, what if we have no best friend?"
With a sympathetic glance, she walked over to him and patted his head. "Oh honey, I'm sorry…" Then she glared menacingly and barked, "WRITE ABOUT YOUR PET!"
A few sniffles later (from the boy) and Sensei-Mizuki was back at the front of the room. "Seeing as though I've already thoroughly explained the assignment, I suppose we could sit back and discuss some of your summer vacations…"
Here I decided to tune out and start planning my essay. It seemed easy enough, but I've always had a tendency to start assignments in my head. Now, how my best friend and I first met…?
We were both four years old. My okaa-san took me to Penguin Park, where she was reunited with Daidouji Sonomi, her best friend she hadn't seen in years. Apparently, Aunt Sonomi had a four-year-old daughter, too…
As our mothers caught up on lost time, I wandered off, plucking some things up from the ground that caught my eye. I trotted around, still on my mini-expedition when I came across a snail. I wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed back then, and I believed the snail to be a piece of chocolate shaped like a snail (don't ask) so I picked it up and did one of the stupidest things I've ever done in my life.
I ate it.
So there I sat, choking on the hard shell, while my okaa-san chatted away.
Meanwhile, Sonomi's four-year-old daughter, Tomoyo, had passed the time by stalking me. And that girl just did not shut up.
"Whatcha doin'? What's ya name? How old ahh you? What color's ya toenails? How many crayons do ya have? Why's yoh face turnin' bloo? Why yoo makin' funny noises? Huh? Huh? Huh?" she curiously interrogated me, poking me with every question.
To this day, I firmly believe that if she had never realized I was choking, she would've kept on talking… and talking… and talking.
So when she finally realized I was choking, she gasped, ran behind me, and began performing the Heimlich maneuver. While this little girl was miraculously saving me, she rambled on about how she learned the Heimlich maneuver from the Baywatch episode the other day, and how Muscle Man did the exact thing to the girl with the cantaloupes hanging off her chest… ahem.
And finally, I coughed up that damn snail.
After I sat, paralyzed with shock, I began wailing. Confused, and not wanting to be left out, Tomoyo started wailing as well. So on we wailed, still going unnoticed by the adults, until I gasped for air long enough to promise her, "Since yoo saved my life, I'll save yors one day too." And that pact was the origin of our friendship.
We've been best friends ever since, constantly doing things for one another. One day, in kindergarten, my pink crayon split in two. I sobbed over the loss until feisty little Tomoyo got fed up and stole a pink crayon from the boy next to her and handed it to me. And when my okaa-san passed away the year after, she took care of me like I was her sister.
I loved her to death, but I couldn't shake a certain feeling that formed at the pit of my stomach in our later years…
Jealousy.
Tomoyo and I had gone out fishing with our parents and my onii-chan. She caught three of the prettiest fish I'd ever seen, and I was determined to catch three beautiful fishies, too.
Ohoho, was I wrong. Instead, I caught a dead fish. And let's not forget that good ol' rotten boot!
In second grade, Tomoyo and I were jump roping. I forced my scrawny legs to jump all the way to ninety-nine, until I finally collapsed in exhaustion. Triumphantly, I stood up, counting how many jumps Tomoyo's skinny legs could do.
Lo and behold, she jumped one hundred!
I suppose that's when our competitiveness raised to such an extent that we made a competition out of the smallest things, to the point where we would compete over how far we could count.
In third grade, Tomoeda had a coloring contest sponsored by a popular magazine. The assignment was to "color a provided image on a white sheet of copy paper, using unique color combinations that contrast well with one another to demonstrate how much our creativity and imagination distinguishes from the rest of the other third graders in Tomoeda."
I didn't know what the hell that meant, so I just colored like I would color a page from my Barbie coloring book.
Tomoyo, of course, used her natural shading talents and won second place. I received an Honorable Mention award for coloring inside the lines. Tomoyo got hers placed in a magazine, distributed and received nation-wide.
Mine was placed on our classroom wall.
In fifth grade, Tomoeda Elementary held a Spelling Bee. The two finalists were, of course, Tomoyo and me. They asked me to spell "judgment." Caught up in nervousness, I blurted out the first letters I that came to my mind, and ended up spelling "judgment" with an extra "e."
But of course, Tomoyo got it correct and received first place, and I placed second.
The winner was allowed a free lunch from the cafeteria. I, being the little overconfident girl I was, didn't bring a lunch, thinking I would win the contest, fair and square.
Like I said… I wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed.
During our eighth grade year at Tomoeda Middle, both Tomoyo and I entered an ice-skating competition. I must admit, I was quite the ice skater. You see, there was a difference when Tomoyo and I skated. Tomoyo did it with no mistakes: just plainly, nicely, and with ease. But I… I skated with such passion and feeling that the judges were simply awed by my performance…
…except for when I did my triple axel and fell.
So naturally, Tomoyo's nice skating landed her with a 9.98.
I would have received a perfect 10 for my awesome performance, but because of that one fall, I got a 9.97. That year, when Tomoyo placed first (big surprise), she got an interview, which was later aired on television.
I obtained a spray-painted silver medal (the color deteriorated when I accidentally wet it) and a pat on the back.
In sophomore year, our yearbook included a page with the "Most…"s and "Best…"s, and other things in that category. That year, I decided I wanted to be known in our high school. Not just that plain-looking girl who was known as the "best friend of Daidouji," but as someone different. So, I gathered old clothes from the attic, unique accessories, and articles of clothing I found in vintage shops.
Instead of getting "Most Stylish" that year, my best friend, with outfits (designed and sewed herself) fit for a movie star, got "Most Stylish."
And me?
I got "Class Clown."
Most recently, in our junior year, I was nominated for Prom Queen. Yes, I did eventually become known as someone different after that horrible day I was voted "Class Clown." Tomoyo and I became two of the most popular girls in school.
The violet-haired beauty, my best friend, was nominated for Prom Queen, as well. We were each assigned partners so we would be able to appear as couples in front of the whole school. That night, excitement was thick in the air as the King and Queen were, finally announced. Yet, that year, that gorgeous, popular best friend of mine was voted Prom Queen, and her escort Prom King. That boy was the hottest senior in school. Yes, senior.
My partner was a foot shorter than me. How and why he was nominated is still an unsolved mystery.
No, that's not all of the stories, but I'd prefer not to continue unless you'd like me to die of embarrassment.
But honestly speaking, when I'm alone, I begin contemplating… Why bother? She's better than me at almost everything.
Well, except for the fact that I can draw better stars than her. If that counts for anything.
But even though we may be always competing, our friendship never fades. This I know for sure because she never puts me down or makes fun of me when I'm not as talented at something as her. She could have been part of the "I'm-Only-Popular-Because-Everyone-Hates-Me" clique, but instead, she hangs out with me, her best friend of thirteen years.
Oh, I could go on and on about her characteristics: loving, tender, compassionate, trustworthy, humorous, adventurous, exciting, audacious, loyal…
But to describe Tomoyo in one word? That's easy.
Perfect.
x3
Read and review, loves
:peachesxcream:
