Skin-deep
©2004, 2008, 2011, By Julia and Tania
Cardcaptor Sakura Fanfic
Chapter 04
01 January 2004

On the previous chapter: Sakura executed her performance to seduce Syaoran but it didn't go so well. His quick interjection saw her needing to make a story about wanting to see his cell phone as her reason for the unexpected visit. The game was lost for Sakura.

Location: Calculus class
Time frame: Fifth period
Point of View: Sakura

"The question asks you to find the angle the path of the ball makes with the horizontal plane after six seconds. So, what you need to do is pick out the information…"

I looked up to see Mr. Hisamatsu circling a few equations. I sighed, not understanding what he circled and why he circled what he did.

"Differentiate this here and we get: d x over d t equals…"

I sighed again. My mind was differentiating. I wished I had transferred out of this class when I had the chance to. This subject was beyond me: the calculations, the formulas, the questions—everything about Calculus was confusing and infuriating. I only took up Calculus because I didn't know what else to choose and my friends chose it. I believe I am a goner and I'd have to accept that maybe I won't ever get this subject.

I shook that thought off—No! I was not going to quit. Calculus was not going to defeat me! I focused on the instructions Mr. Hisamatsu was giving and attempted to understand what was on the board.

Mr. Hisamatsu was speaking and writing too fast. He advanced onto the next line when I was still trying to jot down and understand the previous line. I now sigh. I think I had been too ambitious to believe I could do this and I was stupid to go against transferring out of this class when I had the chance to. Learning French or Chinese would probably be easier than trying to understand how to differentiate a line of letters and numbers to come out to some different line of letters and numbers. I rubbed my temple hard and choked the pen in my hand.

I was then caught by the sight of Kansuke in the middle of the room, poking the girl beside him at her waist. She playfully returned it. The annoyance I had suppressed since the beginning of the class returned.

This girl, she was known as Hisa or as I liked to call her, Witch. She had only been at this school for a few months, transferred from another school because her father got a new job in the city. I thought she was quite nice at first. I remember her approaching me after Homeroom, asking me to help get her to Geography class on her first day. I thought we gelled well and I was her so-called first friend. Then she became an ex-friend when she got more familiar with the school and befriended a lot of the guys in our group. From that point onwards, she decided she didn't need me anymore with—what?—her three female posses and attention from a few of the cool guys. The rest of the school thought she was a Witch like I did.

Sadly, she'd gotten the attention of the hottest guy in the school, too. It took me almost a year to get Kansuke to just say hi and notice me (somewhat notice me), and then another few months to get his phone number (which I rarely use since I was too scared to text him from fear he'd not reply or answer if I called), but the Witch, she got him to smile and laugh, and play pokes with her in class. She probably got his home phone number, too! I say, it was unfair! She needed to stop casting spells on my guy and back off!

"Miss Kinomoto, is there a problem back there?" Mr. Hisamatsu said.

I straightened in my seat, realising I had growled aloud and not in my head. I immediately feared Mr. Hisamatsu might make me do an entire calculus problem in front of the class—as he had done so in the past to others who disrupted his class. Mr. Hisamatsu was an easy-going teacher, but sometimes he could be extremely strict and enforced orderly behaviour and punctuality scarily. Yeah, doing an entire calculus problem in front of the entire class was scary for me because I was that bad at Calculus.

"No, Mr. Hisamatsu. I'm sorry for disrupting the class."

"If you do need help, ask. Don't groan. Do you need help?"

"No, I'm fine. I don't need help."

He looked at me one last time before he turned back to the whiteboard and resumed solving the Calculus problem at hand. There were some looks my way and a few chatters and giggling. I ignored them all. I decided I needed to leave these thoughts to after school.

I looked at the whiteboard and found a board and a half filled. I began jotting it all down without trying to understand it. I was going to study it later and beg my friends to spend a lot of time helping me understand it. Otherwise, I definitely had no chance with this damn awful subject.

I had almost finished copying everything down when the Loner pointed out to Mr. Hisamatsu that a part in the solution was wrong. I tried to follow the Loner's explanation, but I couldn't understand his reasoning. Mr. Hisamatsu stood with his forefinger and thumb at his chin. He looked over his work for a while. He then nodded.

"I see it now. You're right, Mr. Li. Good work." Mr. Hisamatsu went to correct the mistake.

After that, the Loner sat with his back against his chair, looking proud. I rolled my eyes: Mr. I'm-so-smart, I'm-so-calm. Mr. It's-not-there! Annoying and arrogant! And most definitely gross! I looked to the hand that almost touched him: I have to remember to take a visit to the girl's washroom and wash my hands off of his microbes thoroughly.

I went back to writing, crossing out the mistakes then jotted the corrections down.

Time had flown by me in the last half an hour as the bell sounded. I sped up my writing as the class began packing up and Mr. Hisamatsu addressed the class.

"Okay. We did a lot of work today. If you haven't finished the exercises set out for today, finish them for homework and we'll go over anything you had troubles with on Monday. Also, I'll be discussing about the upcoming test next week."

Groans and moans came from me and the class.

"Moan all you like, tests let you know how well you understand the material. Those who borrowed a textbook from me, please return them to the shelf at the front. Alright, that's it. Have a good weekend, all!"

Some people were filing out of the classroom as I tried to finish off the last line. Another time, I would have told them to get out of the way, but this was my last class for the day, so I waited until I could see. Once I finished copying all the work down, I returned the textbook I borrowed back to the bookshelf at the front then came back to my desk and packed up my gear, ready to go home.

Tomoyo and Chiharu had finished packing and stood at my desk. They helped me along, handing me my gear to put into my tote bag. Upon seeing Kansuke leave with Hisa by his side, I turned to my friends and glared at them.

"What?" Chiharu said.

"What do you mean, 'what'?" I said.

"Why do you look like you want to kill us?"

"Why would I not want to? Remember, the idea you guys suggested—the one that you said will totally work, but didn't?"

Tomoyo shrugged and tried to look innocent. "I guess I miscalculated. I really thought it would get Ashida to react. Who knew Ashida wouldn't react."

Sourness streamed through every part of me. "Yeah, okay, right, I totally believe you guys didn't have one ounce of doubt that it wouldn't work." I shook my head. "I don't know why I listen to you two. Look at how he's with that Witch. What a total waste of effort! The only thing your idea got me was the Loner's disgusting microbes all over my hands!" I held my hand out and placed it in the faces of both of my friends, trying to nauseate them. Their heads remained solid in their unmoving positions. I returned my hands back to my side then rolled my eyes at them. "You guys are stubborn. Euh! Totally disgusting. Don't ever get me to do something so gross again!"

"You are being overly-dramatic, Sakura," Tomoyo said. "This isn't a waste of effort, you know. You benefited from this. Now you have knowledge that 'the Loner' doesn't do anything, so onto the next, right?"

"No, not 'onto the next', Tomoyo. If you guys want to have some fun, let one of you—or both—provide the entertainment. Plain evil you guys are. And no—I am not being overly-dramatic!"

"Hey, we like to think of what we do as help than evil," Chiharu corrected me.

I rolled my eyes.

Tomoyo copied me and rolled her eyes bigger in sarcasm before she relented. "Okay, how's this, then, Sakura? There is a party on tonight. Kansuke is going to be there—or when he hears about it, he will be there. We'll prove to you we won't do anything. Come to it and we'll let you see that we are sorry and both of us will let you get his attention on your own."

Chiharu had a surprised expression. I was surprised, too, unaware that there was a party going on.

"A party?—where and whose?" I asked.

"Eriol's. I just got the message before class ended. He wanted to hold one all of a sudden. You guys keen to come?"

"Definitely!" Chiharu said.

"Yeah, totally!" I said.

Tomoyo clapped her hands together. "Great! And to say how sorry I am—how truly sorry we are (looking at Chiharu as she said that)—I'm going to call Ashida to give us girls a ride. Eriol will be getting things jazzed up, so he can't take us there. Let's walk. I'll call outside."

We walked out to the hallway then stopped by some lockers. Tomoyo took her phone out and dialled his number, then waited. She poked her tongue out at me when she found my eyes staring at her. I was impatient and even though I wasn't the one making the call, I was nervous. I straightened when Tomoyo spoke.

"Ashida, Daidouji here. Tonight, you know Eriol's holding a party, right? You are going? Good. Are you taking anyone to the party?" Her brows creased. "Oh, you are? Oh okay, well then, do you by any chance have room for one more? I have a friend who doesn't have a ride."

I swiped a hand across Tomoyo's shoulder. She, in turn, swiped it away and mouthed, "Don't worry. It's okay." Her attention then snapped back to the phone.

"Oh well, there are three of us: Sakura, Chiharu, and me."

I stopped protesting and allowed her to speak to Kansuke in peace, hopeful again. It was a while before Tomoyo spoke.

"Oh, that's great then! Yeah, I'll text you all the details. Thank you, Ashida. You are very sweet. I'll get off now and text you the details. Alright, bye."

The call ended and she looked at me with a grin.

"A ride from your Kansuke. Cool, huh?"

I jumped in joy. "Yeah!"

"Am I back in your good books? Oh and Chiharu, too? This is making up from both of us for being—as you say—evil."

"Thanks, Tomoyo," Chiharu said.

"Yeah, totally! I can't wait! Oh my gosh! I gotta go home and figure out what I'm going to wear!"

Chiharu placed a hand on my back and smirked. "Make sure it's something hot and revealing. Show him your stuff and make him drool!"

"Chiharu, you think too much like a pervert. Besides, who said I wasn't going to?—make him drool, that is. I'm just going to make him drool in a classy way and not like the way you suggested."

"Okay, well, classy, revealing—just dress hot! You want to get his eyes looking you up and down the whole night—and then some more." Chiharu wiggled her eyebrows.

"Don't you worry! I have many outfits to make any guy drool!"

Chiharu laughed. "Confidence, that's right. Anyway, must get to class. Later girls!"

"Yeah, me too," Tomoyo said. "I'll text you both all the details when I get them. See you this evening for some Friday night fun!"

Tomoyo and Chiharu headed to their classes while I made a stop to the girl's toilets to wash my hands off. When I came back out into the hallway, in my haste and excitement to get home, I collided into the person whose microbes I'd just washed off.

"Sorry," the Loner said with his hands held up.

I've had enough of him for today. I walked straight past him without a reply.

Location: Outside the residence of the Kinomoto's
Time frame: Friday evening
Point of View: Sakura

Tomoyo called me at home around five in the evening. She told me Chiharu was going to take a ride with Takashi while two of my other friends, Rika and Naoko, were coming in our ride. She also told me that Kansuke will be picking each of us at our places so he will be at my place around seven-thirty.

When Tomoyo told me Rika and Naoko were coming out tonight, I was surprised. Though we go to the same school, it has been so long since I've hung out with them. When we were still a group, Rika always liked to stay at home to watch rented movies. She only went out to go hang out with her boyfriend. Naoko, she was always indoors, liking to hang out in libraries with her head in books. I loved to party and be sociable, they didn't like to go to parties much and were very select with who they socialised with. Staying at home watching rented movies or going to the library aren't exactly what I call fun, so with time we slowly drifted apart. It means seeing them at this party would be the first time we've hung out for years! Actually, it would be the first time the two went to a cool person's party as well.

I was beginning to wonder where they were after standing twenty minutes by my fence with no sign of them. I sent a message to Tomoyo ten minutes ago and she told me that they'd be a little late. I looked at my phone again: a minute had passed from the last time I checked.

A click and a creak of a door came from behind me. My surroundings brightened as I turned around to see Dad walk down the driveway and come to me.

"Sakura, why don't you wait inside? They will come to the house and ring the doorbell when they arrive. You will catch a cold out here. Come inside."

"I'm not that cold. I'll be fine."

"Standing out here in the dark is unsafe."

This street I lived on, it was a quiet neighbourhood and everyone who lived here were neighbourly and friendly. The streets were well-illuminated and clean and with this a side street from the main road, not many walked or drove past here. It wasn't at all dangerous; quite safe in my opinion; not as dangerous as Dad had made it sound. Also, I'd not seen any strangers pass by in the time I had been out here.

"I know they will, Dad. I'll continue to wait out here, if that's okay. I'll come inside if I don't see anyone soon. I'm sure they will be here soon, though."

He hesitated to speak as a troubled brow and depressed lips formed on his face. He then nodded. "Alright, I will return in five minutes to call you back in if they don't arrive by then." I nodded. Dad went back inside.

My dad, a University professor, was a busy dad, but he was a great dad who did worry about me a little too much. My mum passed away when I was very little and my older brother, Touya, he moved out two summers ago to an apartment closer to his place of study, so now it was just Dad and me living in this modest family home of ours and he has become a little more edgy about things. "You are very special to me. I worry because I care and love you very much," he has told me. I understood that, but I told him that I was very responsible and had a good sense of judging right from wrong.

Dad was reluctant to let me go to tonight's party, but I reminded him what I told him once before. He eventually let me, but asked that I was back by ten. I negotiated and asked for midnight. It was still too late for him, but I convinced him that I would return at that specific time, especially when I had planned for myself to study Calculus after I came back. It was not a lie to get Dad to agree, by the way. The work we did this afternoon did worry me, with a test coming up and all, so it was all true. How much I'd do or how well I'd concentrate was undetermined.

The lamp post directly across from me on the other side of the street provided me entertainment for a couple of moments, scrolling my eyes up and down its length a few times, before my mind drifted off to thoughts of the party.

Tomoyo told me Eriol had invited around fifty plus people with the freedom to invite more, so the party was going to be a huge one. His place could fit a hundred people easily, too, when the place was an old English manor. It had eight bedrooms, four bathrooms, a humungous kitchen, and three living rooms.

I am never too exact with the owner of this manor—whether it was his or someone else's in his family. He actually never made it clear to me if it belonged to anyone else but him, so whenever I told people about his gigantic house, I say it is his. Some people have asked me how he could own such a place at his age, I just shrug and say I didn't know. Eriol was a really good friend of mine, but some things about him were a mystery. I'm sure Tomoyo knows the answer to this and a lot of other facts about him, but I never tried asking her for a bio of him, thinking that she'd probably keep answers to questions about Eriol a secret for him. That particular fact wasn't particularly important to me, anyway. I know Eriol's a nice guy, from England, has the coolest girlfriend ever, and is very kind and generous to us all. Those things are all I needed to know about Hiiragizawa Eriol. And as long as I got to use his pool during hot summer days and go through his huge pantry and fridge of food when I was over, I'm happy (yes, he had a pool and a huge pantry and fridge)!

A couple of short honks jolted me out of my thoughts. A couple of bright headlights shone directly into my eyes. I blocked the unbearable brightness with my arms as I looked in the direction where the headlights came from. It took moments for my eyes to adjust, but when I did, I found Kansuke's car approaching the side kerb. The car stopped in front of me and the passenger door opened. Tomoyo hopped out.

"Sakura, sorry we're late."

The back window rolled down. Two heads stuck out. It was Naoko's in the front, and behind her, was Rika.

"Hey, Sakura. I had trouble finding something good to wear to the party. Sorry for making you wait," Naoko said.

"It's okay," I said.

"Hey, Sakura. Good to see you again!" Rika said.

"Mm, long time no see. What made you both decide to come out? I remember you guys not liking these sorts of things."

"Yeah, well, Tomoyo told us that it's been a while and it's true… I thought it would be good to catch up, so I thought: okay, why not. Well, that's me…" Naoko said.

Rika nodded. "Yeah, me too. It's been a while and Tomoyo made it sound fun!"

Yeah, it was fun, but I don't know if their meaning of fun was the same as ours. I don't know if Tomoyo explained fully what our parties were usually like. It wasn't going to be quiet orderly chit-chat around the coffee table like a girl's sleepover, eating ice cream and junk food, talking about guys each of us liked. There were going to be actual guys—hot, popular guys, and crazy fun. I did a quick scan on both their outfits and it was a little off. Naoko had a dress in moss-green and brown shapes with a pair of dark-coloured pants underneath the dress. Rika was a little more stylish with a white top and a dark-coloured long skirt. If she'd swapped that long skirt to a pair of blue jeans or a mini skirt, she would look perfect for the party.

I smiled. "Oh okay, well, it's definitely great to catch up with you guys. Cool, let's get going, shall we? I'm going to hop into where you are, Naoko." She slid over one seat as I reached for the door handle to get in the car, but Tomoyo placed a hand between.

"Wait, Sakura. I'm moving to the back. You take my seat at the front with Ashida." She winked at me.

I thought I told her no more little plans, but here she was again doing something. I glared at her, but she ignored it and took my seat at the back. Kansuke's handsome face then appeared before me as I turned back.

"Hey, Gorgeous. Hop in." He then winked at me. Words would not come out of me even when responses ran through my head. I only nodded and hopped in.

I struggled with my seatbelt as my hands were shaky. I mistook his arm that eventually passed me to go across the back of my seat and jammed the clip into the area between my thumb and forefinger. The pain lasted a couple of seconds before it dissipated.

"Whoops, huh?"

Kansuke had been watching me all that time? Internally, I scolded myself for being so stupid and clumsy in front of him. I then told myself to calm down and focus on the task: buckle to clip. This time it clicked.

I sheepishly smiled at Kansuke. "I'm done."

"No rush." He flashed me a smile that turned me hot. Thank goodness it was dark or else he'd probably see my face coloured with red. He turned his attention to the girls at the back. "Alright, beautiful ladies: I'm running low on gas. You all don't mind a pit stop at the gas station for a fill?"

Everyone had no objections. We rocketed off.

The gas station was only a short distance's drive from my house. For that amount of time, I was stiff and self-conscious. When he complimented me on my outfit (a cyan backless top, jacket, and white skirt), I stuttered and replied with stupid things like where I bought them from and how I got them on sale. When we reached the gas station and Kansuke got out of the car to fill his tank with gas, I cursed at myself for being such a weirdo.

Tomoyo laughed at me for it. "You should stop being so nervous around him, Sakura. It's not like you're a stranger to him! You hang around him five days a week at school, morning tea and lunch. He knows you and you know him very well."

"I know, but this is the first time we're hanging out outside of school and in his car. He probably thinks I'm a retard."

"He doesn't think that! Why are you always saying things like that? It's all in your head. Relax!"

Rika joined in. "You like him a lot, Sakura?"

Tomoyo interjected and answered for me. "Yeah, she is head over heels for him, but she won't let him know, even when opportunities pop up and allow her to give him hints."

"You are being unfair, Tomoyo. He's Kansuke, the most popular and hottest guy in the school. It's not that easy to say, 'I like you. I want you to be my boyfriend,' Right, Rika, Naoko?" I said. They agreed with me with a nod, but Tomoyo still had something to say about that.

"That's true, he's very popular, but Sakura, you are also very popular and definitely the prettiest and cutest girl in our school, so it should be easy."

The compliment was kind, but I shook my head. "It's not easy at all."

Rika entered. "Um, well, for what it's worth, I did see him look your way a couple of times when you weren't watching, so he probably, maybe, likes you, too, Sakura."

"You think? Maybe he was looking at the traffic on my side."

She took some moments to think. "No… I'm sure it was because of you."

Rika's observation had me wondering if it was true or if she had just sugar-coated it to make me feel better. I took her word for what it was.

"I hope so then, because I dressed up especially for him."

"Oh yeah: and that, too! He did compliment you earlier. I remember he did this." Rika sat up straight then held two of her hands out to grip onto an imaginary steering wheel. She turned left to eye Naoko up and down. "You're looking good tonight."

The entire car was then quiet as Rika froze her actions before she wiggled her eyebrows up and down. That was when everyone but me burst into laughter. You see, I was much too worried about Kansuke seeing what was happening in here to laugh—funny as it was.

"Guys, shh... He's just outside," I said. They all went into silent laughter, hands over their mouths like three mice nibbling on cheese. "Guys, come on. What if he comes back in and asks what was going on in here?"

"Don't worry! We'll just say Rika had told a funny joke. We'll make one up," Tomoyo said. "Besides, look: he didn't notice. He's still looking out."

I looked out the window and found him looking at the meter.

"Fortunately!" I said.

"Yes, so no need to be alarmed," Tomoyo said.

Then there was a rattle of metal and then a clank. I lowered my head and looked out the side window on Rika's side. Kansuke was putting the pump back. He began heading into the station.

I saw an opportunity, but couldn't decide if I dared to go get out of this car and make a run to catch up to him. A moment more, I decided I would head out and if he asked why, I'd tell him I wanted to get some snacks and things for the party. I quickly unbuckled myself and turned to my friends.

"Hey, guys: I'm going inside. Do you guys want anything? My treat."

"There'll be heaps of snacks and drinks at the party, Sakura," Tomoyo said.

"I know. I just feel like something now to snack on."

"Oh, okay. Well, I'm fine." The others nodded to Tomoyo's response as well.

I hurried out of the car. By the time I caught up with Kansuke, he was just outside the door. Kansuke turned around—a little shocked from my sudden arrival. He then gave me one of those smiles that made me melt.

"Hey, where did you come from?"

I pointed over my shoulder. "From back there. I got a little peckish, so I want to get something from inside."

"Alright, let's go in and feed you, Gorgeous."

I told myself: I shouldn't be so intimidated by him. Tomoyo is right. He is approachable! I linked my arm with his. When he didn't shrink or move away, I pulled him closer and dragged him through the door. "Let's go!"

I had seen the long line at the service counter before we headed in. I told Kansuke I would be quick. He told me not to worry and take my time because he'd wait in line whilst I looked around. I went fast anyway because the faster I went, the longer I could stand next to Kansuke and admire him.

I had gone into the drinks section to grab an eighteen pack of beer before I headed over to the confectionery section to choose a bag of fruit chews. The line had moved quite fast. By the time I returned, we were fourth in line.

"Hey, I've finished choosing."

Kansuke looked at my choices. "Beer and candy. Nice."

"Yeah."

Kansuke pointed to the items. "Do you want me to help you pay for those or are you fine with that?"

I momentarily stared at him, not understanding for a moment. "Pay?—Oh no, it's okay, Kansuke. I'll pay for them, myself."

He extended me a huge smile and winked. "Your wish is my command. If that's what the lady desire, then the lady gets."

"Mm, yeah, no problem. I'll pay for them myself."

I then smiled. It was a strange, but good feeling to be standing here with him and being so gentlemanly. There was none of his friends to interrupt the moment, too; and no Hisa. It was just him and me. I looked up at him and wondered what it was like to be called his girlfriend. I then saw the huge gap between Kansuke and me. I inched closer till I felt his arm touch mine.

I started to find it difficult to wait in line after a while. My arms were feeling tired from holding the pack of eighteen beers. I didn't know how much longer I could hold this without screaming aloud for these people to hurry things along. The first person had taken five minutes to serve: along with gas, he ordered a couple coffees from the café adjacent. This current person would have not taken up so much time had the service guy not gotten the prices wrong for the bottles of drinks he bought. It didn't help the service guy go any faster when the customer wouldn't stop talking for one moment to let him think.

The service guy finally decided to ask for help. He looked out the window, tapped on it, then waved to someone outside. The person who had been at one of the bays filling an LPG cylinder nodded. I saw him quickly finish the job before he jogged his way in. When he got to the door and came through, my eyes widened. The guy was the Loner. I turned to Kansuke.

"Hey, Kansuke, look: that Loner works here."

Kansuke had been peering down at the magazines on the shelves below him. It look him a second more before he looked up to where I looked. "What was that, Gorgeous?"

"The Loner, look."

He snickered. "Guess the loser needs to earn a buck." He then returned to the magazines, apparently not as surprised as I was to find the Loner working here.

I tried to hide myself (yes, I know it seems a little silly to do so when eventually he'd see us up at the counter serving us), turning my face away from the Loner, but he did not see us when he dashed straight to the service counter and asked his colleague what the problem was. When he explained it, quickly the Loner went to work. A couple of moments later, everything was fixed and the customer left with everything in order.

I was glad of it. The edges of the pack of beer were now starting to dig into my bones. I heaved it up to settle it in a different way then used my left hip to support it. For now, that had relieved the ache on my right arm.

Seemingly, the Loner's colleague was a new worker as the Loner directed him to go help those patrons outside as he was going to take over to move things along. I was actually hoping the Loner would return to working outside and his colleague would serve us, so I didn't have to face him. Luck wasn't on my side, I guess.

A middle-aged man was next in line. After him, we were next. I breathed a sigh of relief. We were finally almost at the front.

I may have breathed a sigh of relief too soon when seemingly this next customer knew the Loner and small talk ensued.

"Hello, Mr. Li. A busy night for you, tonight, isn't it?" the middle-aged man asked.

"Yes, quite busy," the Loner said.

"People must be running out of gas at the same time. Number six, good man."

The Loner laughed. "Yes, they must be."

Huh, what a strange thing to hear. I've never heard the Loner laugh. He was always so serious and rigid at school and I was surprised to hear that he could actually laugh—even if it was one out of politeness.

The Loner punched some keypads on his register then spoke the amount. The middle-aged man swiped his cash card and punched in his pin number in the cash machine.

The machine took some time to process the transaction.

The Loner's expression was serious. His next words were spoken quietly. "Mr. Honda, have you had time to look over my resumé?"

"Oh, yes, I had told myself before coming in to talk to you about that. Short memory, I have."

The Loner gave a polite smile. "It's quite alright."

"Well, yes, your resumé is impressive. We're quite full with workers at the moment, so I don't have anything for you currently I'm afraid."

"Yes, I understand." The receipt extended fully from the machine. The Loner tore it off and handed it to the man. "Actually, I was looking for a little work experience whilst I worked here. Do you have anything in that way? I would love to assist your team whilst I learn from you. Payment is not necessary. I'm willing to work for free."

"How dedicated you are." The Loner smiled and bowed his head to the man's compliment. I was also impressed to hear he was willing to work with no pay. The man looked behind then back to the Loner. "Look, you seem like a very busy man right now, so how's this: I have an overnight job, tonight. Come over some time after work. There, I can see what you can do and we can further discuss things. How's that?"

The Loner's expression brightened. "Great! I should be able to come by at ten-thirty. Thank you for the opportunity."

"Excellent." He then turned around and looked at me before he turned back. "I will get out of the line now. These poor people have waited long enough." The Loner smiled and bowed. The man turned around and apologised for making us wait. I smiled and stepped aside to provide him room to pass.

The Loner looked up. The widening of his eyes and longer than usual stare on us told me he recognised us.

"Good evening. I'm sorry for the wait. How can I help you both?" he said.

Kansuke went ahead of me and leaned onto the counter, taking the space that I had intended use to put my items on. I held on a little longer. He called his number out. "Number ten."

The Loner looked at me and the things I held. "Will that be paid for altogether?"

"No, I'll be, um—" I heaved it up to relieve the ache in my arms and wrist, seemingly losing the power to hold them anymore. The force was a little too much for me when it came back down onto my arm. I winced in pain. The Loner saw my struggle and he rushed to my aid.

"Having some trouble there? Here, let me help you with that." He took the pack of beer out of my hands and excused himself from Kansuke to let him have some room for my items. I felt bad for getting in Kansuke's way and making him move.

"Sorry Kansuke. It was getting a little heavy."

"Hey, you should have told me you needed help holding it. I could've held it for you if you spoke up."

I shook my head. "No, it wasn't; just at the end, that's all. I was fine holding it myself."

There were no "It's alright, Gorgeous" or "No worries, Gorgeous" with one of Kansuke's trademark smiles when he spoke, and he sounded so mad. Annoyance towards the Loner rose in me. He didn't have to show Kansuke up and make an issue out of this by coming to help me—now Kansuke will have second thoughts about knowing me.

I directed the Loner a steely glare for that embarrassing moment. "I'll be paying separately, thanks."

The Loner nodded before he resumed processing Kansuke's transaction. He spoke the amount. Kansuke took his card out from his pocket. "Here: you can swipe it for me." And he tossed his card onto the counter with a bit of strength. My heart leapt momentarily when I thought it would move beyond the edge, but the Loner seemed to have good reflexes and stopped it dead in its tracks. He swiped it through the money machine.

"Nice catch," Kansuke complimented.

The Loner paid no attention to the compliment. He continued waiting for the machine to process the transaction. His eyes left the machine to look at me. I disliked it and I averted his gaze.

"Thanks, gas man," Kansuke said as the Loner handed him his receipt. He then smirked. "Looking good in that uniform." I giggled at his comment. I stopped when Kansuke tapped me on my shoulder with a neutral expression. "Don't take too long, alright? I'll wait in the car."

"Okay. I won't."

And then Kansuke left, leaving me alone with the Loner. I no longer smiled, giggled, or cared to be polite and kind as I had been when Kansuke was next to me to see me at my best. This was the Loner. I cared little what he thought of me.

"Will it be just those?" the Loner asked.

"Yes."

"May I ask for some sort of identification please?"

"I am of the legal drinking age. I turned eighteen in April."

"Yes. I still need to check. Please can you provide me identification?"

Why did the Loner have to be so infuriating even outside of school? My bag was full of stuff. I didn't want to go digging through all of it to find my I.D. card. Why did he have to be such an uptight fun-hater?

I reached in my bag, rummaged past some receipts, keys, creams, mascara, and lip gloss, before I found some cards and searched for my I.D. card. It was even more of a nuisance to have to look through and check which one was my I.D. card when my bag wouldn't hold the things inside without one threaten to pop out. When I finally found it, I slapped it on the counter for the Loner to check for himself that I was indeed the legal drinking age.

He took it from my hand and began checking the details of my card. He was very thorough, looking at my I.D. card then at me for a very long time. It wasn't as if he didn't know me, so it shouldn't be that hard to see that I was the person on the photo. Surely it cannot possibly be because he was finding it difficult to calculate that I was of the legal drinking age?—what, he couldn't with his superior maths skills?

He finally gave me my I.D. card back. I took my anger out on the cash machine; I clenched a jaw for its slowness in processing things. The Loner used the time to ask me a question.

"You look like you're ready for a night out. Do you have a party to go to somewhere?"

His niceness was late and unwanted. I let his comment and smile go unanswered. After a moment, the receipt finally extended fully and he handed it to me.

"Okay, well, here you are. Have a good night, then."

Again, I left him without speaking a word.

It took another twenty minutes before we finally got to the party. When one of the party goers opened the door, loud music blasted out and I looked in to see the place packed. Kansuke entered and he was immediately greeted by a large gathering of his friends. Tomoyo and I made our way in, but I halted when I saw Rika and Naoko stay standing outside the door.

"Guys, aren't you coming in?" I asked.

"There are quite a lot of people," Naoko said.

"And it's loud. I can barely hear myself speak."

"Yeah, it's a party—of course it's going to be loud and packed. If you are uncomfortable after a time, you can leave then, but you have to at least go in for a bit. Come on, guys. Let's go in and have some fun. I'll show you around."

Slowly, but surely, the both nodded and followed me in.

I took Rika and Naoko into the kitchen to first place my pack of beers and fruit chews on the food and drinks table then to grab my friend a cup of soda each (it was what they both requested).

I felt a tap on my shoulder as I poured. I turned to it and found one of Kansuke's friends and football team mate.

"Sakura: hey, Ashida said you were looking good tonight. He wasn't lying. You really are hot stuff, tonight! Go on the dance floor with me later, alright? Promise me."

I smiled widely. "Sure! You got it, but you have to come find me. If you don't, then no promises, okay?"

"Alright! Later, beautiful." He then exited the kitchen.

I smiled again to myself. I could tell tonight was going to be one hell of a fun and eventful night. It was already turning out to be one.

01 January 2004