Preview of last chapter:

With only one of Syaoran's friends, Rai-san and her best friend, Tomoyo to console her, Sakura kept living on a hope that Syaoran still had those feelings for her. It wasn't exactly confirmed when she went back to school…

Chapter 2

"Sakura!"

Sakura turned her head to see her best friend/cousin waving at her and grinning wildly. "Tomoyo!" she squealed, throwing her arms around her neck. "Gosh, I've missed you so much!"

"I know, me too!" Tomoyo said, still grinning. They waited in the assembly hall, waiting for other old friends to arrive. Syaoran was already there, and he didn't pass Sakura a second glance, making her heart sink lower. Tomoyo noticed her eyes downcast for a while and put her hand on her shoulder to reassure her.

Sakura touched it, trying to reassure herself too. The bell rang, and the two went up to their classroom. As usual, Tomoyo and Sakura sat next to her, but unusually, Syaoran distanced himself from them, choosing instead to sit on the far end of the classroom.

..::..

Syaoran didn't talk to her nor spend time with her, making her heart slowly tear apart. All his time was spent with his friends, not a second with her. Whenever she asked Tomoyo to find out from him, his reply was always, "Too lazy to answer, ask me later."

He kept acting like a jerk, especially towards his heartbroken girlfriend. One morning, on the way to class, Sakura's mind wandered off to the day where she thought Syaoran was avoiding her.

Eriol took her by the wrist and pulled her towards Syaoran. "No, Eriol, I don't wanna go!" she grumbled, easily wriggling out of his grasp and crossing her arms.

"You have to get things sorted out, Sakura!" Eriol protested, starting to get annoyed. "Both of you think you're ignoring each other and things are starting to get complicated." When she refused to move, he said, "Fine. If you won't go to him, I'm making him come to you."

He made his way to Syaoran and had reached him when Sakura sneaked out of the classroom to her locker. Purposely she took ages, sorting out her books even though she did that the previous day. After a couple of minutes of 'sorting', Syaoran emerged from the classroom with Eriol at his side. Eriol went to his locker while Syaoran went to his. When Eriol finished, he got up and whispered into Sakura's ear, "Stay out here and talk to him," before leaving.

When his best friend finally did leave, he said, "I've got nothing to say…" but unfortunately, that wasn't what he should've said. Sakura slammed her locker shut and walked out on him. In the class, when Eriol saw her approach, he approached her and said, " I thought I told you to stay there!"

Sakura replied, "The silence got a bit awkward, Eriol." She knelt down and started putting things in her slingbag when Syaoran sat down next to her.

"Sakura, I'm not avoiding you," he said.

"Yea, sure looks like it," Sakura answered with a tint of anger in her voice, unable to control it.

"I'm not!" Syaoran protested. "What makes you think I'm doing that anyway?"

"Well…you always looked so pissed off when I'm around!" Sakura said, her voice trembling as she got up and went to her locker again to avoid more questions. At the locker, she felt tears brimming. She quickly blinked them away and said firmly to herself, "Sakura, get a hold of yourself! You had to learn the hard way that nothing ever came from crying."

Seconds after she said that, Eriol and Syaoran came out again. She noticed her boyfriend was about to say something when a group of girls came out. That was when the two bolted back in. Sakura sighed; sooner or later she would have to face them anyway.

She walked into the class and to her bag. Syaoran gazed at her for a while before he said, "Sakura, I love you, and I would never avoid you! I thought you were avoiding me…"

Sakura cut across. "I love you too, Syaoran, but I wasn't avoiding you either! I was keeping my distance because I thought you were avoiding me…"

Syaoran interrupted. "I'm not." He took her by the hand and seated her next to him. "Look, I love you. And it would be nice if we could forget this. Okay?"

Sakura smiled, resting her head on his shoulder. Everything seemed right again.

That old memory comforted her for a moment, convincing her that Syaoran might have a very good reason for not talking to her and stuff like that. Unfortunately, that comfort lasted for a very, very short time.

In class, Syaoran was sitting next to one of the new transfer girls, quite oblivious that she was flirting with him. Despair returning, she walked to her seat, put her hand in her arms and began to cry. She was rather inconspicuous, controlling the shake of her shoulders. Tomoyo, however, knew instantly and walked to her. "Sakura," she said softly. "Please don't cry… Look, I'm pretty sure Syaoran still cares for you…"

Sakura lifted her head and wiped the tears away faster than you could say her name. "Tomoyo, don't you see?" she asked angrily, gesturing toward Syaoran. "Syaoran used to care, he used to love me…it's clearer than crystal that he doesn't anymore." She glared at him before a teacher walked into the class.

Sakura shook her head and just dealt with the fact that her boyfriend was probably watching her obvious misery with a satisfied smirk and just waiting for the day where he could ditch her and ruin the rest of her life.

Lunch time…

Somehow, Tomoyo and one of Syaoran's friends had managed to cheer her up again. She was laughing with them and occasionally pointing out other cute guys. She had just pointed out her second when Syaoran made her way to her.

The whole table fell silent when they saw him, and Sakura just glared in silence. Feeling a bit uncomfortable with the sudden attention, he asked, "Hey…umm, Sakura, can I talk to you?"

Sakura, of course, was rather surprised when he asked this, after weeks of silence between them, but she didn't show it. Instead she sighed in obvious apprehension and said, "Fine. Guys, I'll see you later." She got up and followed Syaoran all the way upstairs to the top floor. He led her out to the balcony, opening the door for her and acting like a complete gentleman. Acting like his old self again. She went out, and she leaned against the netting with Syaoran in front of her.

"Why did you bring me up here, Li?" she asked, using his surname. He winced when she did. Could you hate me that much, Sakura? he thought, his pain almost consuming him.