What do you know, when I said I'd upload this within a day or so, I actually managed to do it... =3

Anyways, here it is! Part two of what is chapter 3 (even though I guess the numbering will be a bit off now because of this...)

Thank you for your comment Aritella, and thanks again Mixku~ Glad you like Chiharu, I'll be trying to incorporate more and more characters into my story as time goes on ^^ (because it's boring if it's just a vanilla SxS story, is it not? =P)

Without further ado, onwards to part 2~ thank you for reading!


After completing her little routine, Sakura raised triumphant eyes to the crowd of cheerleaders and to Lily, whose wide-eyed expression of disbelief was the most satisfying of all. Smirking, Sakura ended with a deep bow, arms stretched wide, before quickly turning back to Lily who had regained her composure and was now scowling with open hostility. Suck it, b*tch.

The prolonged silence was cut at last by the sound of slow applause from the doorway of the gymnasium, quickly followed up by the other girls in the squad. Lily looked up at the figure at the doorway and gasped. Sakura spun around to meet a pair of gleaming amber eyes.

"So it's not just the talk, she can walk the walk, hmm?" Syaoran teased. Before Sakura could respond she was almost thrown off balance when a body crashed into her in a big hug.

"Sakura! Sakura! I knew it! I just knew it! You were amazing! You were super cool! How did you do that?! You have to teach me!" Chiharu chattered happily, distracting her for a moment.

"I-it was nothing." Sakura replied yet again, cursing inwardly as she felt a slight blush forming in her cheeks. She shook her head to clear it away immediately. Breaking free of Chiharu, Sakura but was immediately surrounded by some of the cheerleaders who frantically jabbering away at her all at once.

How did she do that? Where did she learn to twirl? Why hadn't she come to them sooner? Sakura made no effort to answer their questions, and was actually saved when Lily cleared her throat loudly and silenced the other girls.

"Just because you got lucky and knew a few cool tricks, don't let it go to your head. You still won't make it on the team." Lily spat. But even Lily was unprepared for the complaints and disagreement that her comment was met with from a few of the other girls.

"It looks like not everyone here agrees with you Ms. Suzuki. And if many of them seem to think she would be qualified for the team, why not let her? She's clearly got a knack for it…" A voice called from somewhere on the other side of the gym. Sakura turned to find the physical education teacher, Mr. Terada, standing there. She quickly turned to scan the rest of the gym. Seriously, how many random bystanders happened to be around watching me just now?

Sakura didn't know what to say. Looking back at the teacher, she met his amused expression with her blank one. "Well Ms. Kinomoto, will you be joining the team this year?" The teacher asked kindly. Sakura didn't have a reply for him. She let her gaze wander until it fell on Chiharu, who was still standing by her side. It occurred to her that the other girl hadn't even had a chance to show her skills yet.

"Give her a chance to try-out, and then we'll talk." Sakura said with a nod in Chiharu's direction, before turning on her heel and walking out the gymnasium doors, accompanied by numerous voices (Chiharu's above all) calling after her.


Walking swiftly across the courtyard, Sakura kept up her brisk pace long after she knew she was at risk of being pursued by anyone, finding herself at the library entrance before she was even aware of anything else. Well, the library would be relatively empty since kids these days seem to want to avoid being labelled "bookworm" like the plague. Without giving it much thought, Sakura walked into the room and plopped down at an empty desk and finally began to process what had just happened.

So, I still don't know how this all happened, but what are my options… Sakura mused. Chiharu Mihara. Strange transfer student, but she seemed nice enough. The girl had been desperate for Sakura to join the cheerleading squad with her, but if she joined on her own, she'd probably make friends soon enough to not care about whether Sakura joined with her or not.

On the other hand, despite how apathetic Sakura might act towards cheerleading, she knew that it was something that she was good at and enjoyed deep down in her heart. It must've been some cruel twist of fate for her to reach her current circumstance: invited to join the squad, but unwilling to join to be stuck with Lily and her crew for any longer than she had to. She had already hesitated enough before deciding not to join the squad at the start of the year, why did she just have to be faced with a second chance now? Her resolve was wavering again.

It was pretty satisfying to wipe those smug expressions off all those who thought that I was just boasting… but will it still be worth it when I have to meet with said b*tches and the queen b*tch, Lily on a regular basis? Sakura would then have to be worried for her life if she chose to join the team. Lily had a reputation of backing her threats with violence or bullying from her connections, and Sakura wasn't exactly looking to be placed at the top of that hit list.

Argh, I don't know! Sakura groaned, throwing her arms up in frustration. What am I supposed to do now? She absentmindedly cast a glance around the empty library, wondering where even the librarian had disappeared to at this time of the day. Then her eyes fell on the row of computers.

Oh yeah, I was thinking about that unfinished rant of mine earlier too… Moving down the line of computers, she came to a stop at the computer she saved her rant on earlier in the week.

She searched through the documents until she found the file titled "reasons why my life sucks" and opened it up. Re-reading what she had written, she felt a smirk tugging at the corners of her mouth. To hell with her education, she could be a writer if she wanted to. Okay no, not really.

After she'd tired of reading her own thoughts written in words, Sakura closed the file with some satisfaction. If nothing else, at least it felt better to write things down to let it all out. Society was too oppressed to give her any other option or form of release, in her opinion.

As she stared blankly at the screen in front of her, something managed to catch her eye. Located right below her file was another file titled "reasons why the grass is greener on the other side". Sakura let out a snort of amusement. Lame filename much? Though she had to admit, there was something captivating about the title, which was coincidentally similar to her own. Sakura's eyes drifted to the modification date, listed as the day before. I wonder if it wasn't a coincidence. She opened the file, just to be sure.

I hate my life-

Sakura raised an eyebrow, noticing that it was exactly the same as her first sentence. Clearly this person had read her file, and hence it also meant that she was free to read theirs. She continued reading.

I hate my life too. You think you've got it bad, I think it's time for you to wake up and smell the coffee. Life's all about social ladders and striving to climb as high as you can up there, haven't you noticed that yet?

You sound like it's all the fault of the popular kids that you don't have any friends. Isn't that just a pathetic excuse for yourself who is either unable or unwilling to make friends? Just FYI, being popular doesn't suddenly equate to a good life of luxury or guarantee you rights to rule the school. I've been there, I'd know. Actually, being popular, there are just times when you don't want people to know who you are. There are times when you want to be forgotten, left to yourself. There are times when you just want to be free.

It's not all fun and games up in paradise. Plus, people generally aren't born popular, they become popular. Some have superficial reasons like money or connections, and sure, there are people like Lily who will be snobs to others because of their position, but have you ever thought that you're overgeneralizing things more than just a little bit? Being popular doesn't equal being a jerk, just like being unpopular doesn't equal being a loser, right?

I am sorry about your friend though; it looks like she just needs time and a little help to get her priorities straight. Even though it seems like it's difficult for you to complain after she's apologized, it sounds like you've got to put your foot down and confront her about the problem, or she'll never change and you'll never be less miserable.

Sakura blinked while continuing to stare at the screen, even after she reached the end of the text. That was… unexpected. Although she had been irritated at the beginning when this person had sounded so arrogant and made it seem like everything that happened to her was her fault, she somehow couldn't find any room to argue with much of their reasoning. So some popular jerk had read her file and thought to reply. Great. Just great.

Okay, so maybe it wouldn't be fair to think of them as a jerk just yet on the basis that they were popular. Sakura decided that she would hold off on that reasoning for just a little bit longer.

So even popular kids had issues… and apparently not all of them were as stupid and full of hot air as she had assumed. The surprises just kept coming.

Well, what now? Sakura wondered, staring at the message again. She couldn't just walk away and leave things as they were, with this stranger thinking they had corrected her and emerged victorious. Clearly she was entitled to defend herself and make a reply.

Just as she was opening a new document and preparing for what she would say next, the school bell rang, reminding Sakura that lunch break didn't last forever, and that she had to hurry to class if she didn't want to get scolded again. She sighed and grabbed her backpack from the seat next to her, leaving the library but vowing to return and write that response when she got the chance.


Things you should probably know about me/my style of writing (#2):

I don't like all the 'fated shoujo moments' where every time you're reading about some characters, they just 'coincidentally' happen to have some eventful encounter with someone else, so I try to include unrelated, regular scenes to mix it up. As a result, we get lots of stuff in between main bits, making it longer and less meaningful for those that just want a quick love story. I apologize if it's slow, but hey, isn't it nice being more realistic for a change? Syaoran happened to appear (fated encounter), but that doesn't necessarily mean she has to acknowledge him, right? -my defence.