Author's Notes: I'd like to thank Kyria Hyuuga for the review. Lmao. Flattery will get you everywhere. Lmao.


CHAPTER SEVEN: Paper Heart Beats

It was a very wonderful Monday morning. The sun is bright. The birds are merrily chirping with their 'Anberlin' tunes. Everyone in the University was happily chitchatting throughout the hallways. Some students were late but they still manage to keep a cheery smile.

"GOD DAMMIT!" Syaoran Li yelled in the first floor corridor. Eighty percent of the people within a mile looked at his direction.

Sakura sighed and stopped at her track. They were walking side by side for more or less five minutes now. "Good morning to you too." Sakura told him.

"Sakura!" His amber eyes widened and shook his best friend. "I gotta go to the Counselor's Office!"

Her eyebrows furrowed. "Why?" She asked calmly.

He scowled. "I've been skipping classes."

"Oh." She said simply and continued walking again.

"We gotta go!" Syaoran exclaimed. "Now!"

"What do you mean 'we'?" She eyed him suspiciously. His eyebrows dropped and his lips straightened. In a quick second, he took her right wrist and he marched off to the Counselor's office while dragging her with him.

After twelve minutes…

"Let's tell him it's you..!" Syaoran stood outside the Counselor's Office.

"No." Sakura had her hand on the door knob of the Office room. "You are much more believable loser."

"Oh c'mon!" His fists landed on his hips and his head tilted a bit sideways, making an irritated look. "He won't judge you!" He said in a whining tone. "He loves you! I mean, he even asked you to the prom."

At that, Sakura rolled her eyes. "Fine." And then she finally turned the door knob.


The next afternoon, Eriol was found in the Li mansion. He is in the kitchen, helping him self for some food. After that, he casually walked over to the staircase that leads to the basement. He entered the movie room located at the foot of the stairs.

Instantly, he found Syaoran and Sakura seated on a couch. "Aah." Eriol uttered in a smile. "It's as quiet as a movie room with two best friends in it who don't know they're in love with each other." The two eyed him. He flashed a grin in return; and then he sat on another couch.

After a few seconds, Tomoyo entered the room and there was Shinn following her closely. She sat next to her boyfriend and Shinn sat in between Syaoran and Sakura.

An eyebrow raised in Syaoran's face. "Hey Shinn..!" He casually elbowed him right before Shinn managed to plant a kiss on Sakura's neck.

"Yeah?" He asked irritatingly while shifting his body towards Syaoran.

"Why are you still here?" He asked plainly. Syaoran checked his silver wristwatch "It's almost two o'clock." Syaoran nudged Shinn. "It's almost dinner time." Between his lines was 'your-momma's-looking-for-you-so-stop-hogging-my-best-friend'.

"No, it isn't!" Shinn grinned and turned away from him.

"Anyways… I've been eying that trench coat I saw in the mall the other day…" Sakura began to speak dreamily.

"WHAT? It's too expensive!" Shinn snapped.

"Well… I'm not asking you to buy it for me…" Sakura said lowly.

"Why don't you just give me your money and I'll buy you something pretty." Shinn smiled menacingly.

"Really?" She asked him in glee.

"No."

'PAK!' The remote control just hit Shinn's head.

"Hey! What'd you do that for?" Shinn whined to Syaoran.

Syaoran kept his eyes on the screen. "Start acting more pleasant or that's not going to be the only thing hitting your head."

"So… Are you punishing me or something?" Shinn snapped.

"Who knows..?" Syaoran responded plainly and walked out.


The next evening, Sakura found Syaoran having chips in his kitchen. "Hey." She greeted him and dropped her cell phone on the counter top. After a few seconds, it rang.

No one answered it. Syaoran didn't bother to answer it, Sakura was busy rummaging in his refrigerator. "Looks like I'm unable to pick up the phone at the moment. Please leave your message after the beep. Beeeep." Sakura's voice in her cell phone went off.

"Hey Sakura. It's Shinn." Shinn's voice was on speaker mode. "My classmates are going to come over to hang out." And then he hanged up.

"You hear that?" Syaoran picked up the girly cell phone. "Hang out!" He tossed the cell phone to his best friend. "They're going to have sex."

Sakura successfully caught her cell phone and leaned beside him. "How does hang out mean have sex?" She asked him annoyingly.

He raised an eyebrow and a smug appeared in his face. "I can make a sexual ending out of anything." He swallowed one potato chip. "Try me."

She looked around and pointed something with her lips. "Umm… Stove."

"Well I'd like to cook something on your stove." He said fancily. "See? Anything." Sakura's eyebrows furrowed and left. He followed her.


"Makoto Itou?" Eriol uttered one Saturday afternoon in the dining room. "Oh barf!" Eriol let out a snicker. "Shinn, remember when you beat him up on the playground?" He recalled those days when they were still very little way back in Hong Kong.

"Yup!" Shinn raised a fork happily and placed an egg roll in his mouth. "I kicked his ass!"

"Wait..!" Syaoran butt in. He was there too; having lunch with everyone in Eriol's house. "Wasn't he the kid with scoliosis and asthma?" He also tried to recall their childhood days.

"Yup." Shinn kept his grin. "And I kicked his ass."

"Sir," the butler entered the dining room and referred to Eriol "your guest has arrived."

"Oh, he's my guest!" Shinn stated excitedly. After a few seconds, a guy with jet black hair and dark eyes entered the dining room. "Makoto Itou!" Shinn said his name out loud.

"Nice to see you again, Shinn, Eriol…" Makoto looked around. "And Syaoran…"

Syaoran was staring at him for a second. "Call me Li." And then he returned his focus back to his lunch.

"Makoto?" a girlish voice entered the dining room.

Makoto turned to the dining room door and saw Sakura coming in. "Sakura!" He cheered.

Shinn grabbed Sakura and put his arm around her. "So! Makoto! How do you know Sakura? We're dating."

"We were classmates two years ago." Sakura responded bluntly.

"You were?" Shinn asked in doubt.

"Yeah," Syaoran spoke up from his chair, but he kept his eyes on his lunch "even I know that."

Shinn kept an annoyed facial expression. Makoto began to talk "So! Uh, Sakura, are you still collecting dolls?"

Shinn butt in to answer "Well, not very-"

"Yeah! I still do!" Sakura cheered.

Shinn shook his head in shock and turns towards her. "Um, you do?" He asked her.

"I mean, I'd love to see your collection." Makoto gently smiled at her.

"Yeah?" Sakura was happy that there is a guy in the world who is interested in dolls, or her dolls for that matter.

Shinn began to feel left out. And then he began to speak again "Well enough about us, tell us about you! Makoto, you still got that big old curve in your spine?" And then everyone laughed.

After for an hour, everyone found themselves settled at Eriol's porch. "Okay," Sakura giggled in the middle of her conversation with Makoto "I'll just go get some juice." And then she happily skipped off inside the house. Shinn followed her. "What is it with you?" Sakura asked Shinn the moment they were alone in the kitchen. "I saw you glaring at us the whole time!" She stated in an irritated tone.

"Me?" Shinn pointed him self. "He's hitting on you!" And then he pointed her.

Her eyebrows furrowed. "He is not! We're just friends! He talks to me, listens to me, shares ideas with me!"

Shinn stopped her from getting juice from the fridge. "Oh my god, Sakura, you are so naïve!"

"Shinn, just cuz a guy pays attention to me, it does not mean he wants to get me naked!" She blurted.

"OH! GROW UP!" A divulge came out of his mouth with a roll of his eyes.

She eyed him doubtfully and asked "Is that why you paid attention to me?"

"OF COURSE!" He shouted "…" and paused. "No! Of course not!" He waved his hands in front of her. "I love your mind. That's the thing I love." At that, she glared at him and walked out.


That night, Eriol, Tomoyo, Syaoran, Sakura and Shinn were at 'The Aquarium' downtown. "Tomoyo, how long do we have to stay here?" Syaoran looked around the place. Tomoyo brought them there.

"I just need to gather some ideas just so I can continue with my work..!" Tomoyo was also looking around, watching the fishes go pass them behind the glass walls.

"Can't you just look at books?" Syaoran stared at one big fish boringly. He looked around once again, this time, he wasn't aiming to see the fishes, he was eying for his best friend. Sakura's not around. She went off with her boyfriend. She said she wanted to see the Penguins.

"The books have lesser pictures." Eriol answered Syaoran.

Syaoran snapped his fingers. "Internet!" He raised his pointing finger. "Have you guys heard of Internet?" He asked sarcastically. "I heard it is really handy."

"Oh c'mon Syaoran, being in an educational place won't harm you." Tomoyo giggled after that. Syaoran meant to scowl and growl at that but he was overpowered by the screams and yells that followed after.

'The Aquarium' just had a black out. "See?" Syaoran talked through the dark.

"Syaoraaaan!" He saw Sakura came screaming towards him after the miniature emergency lights turned on. "I can't find Shinn!"

"Aww." Tomoyo looked at her notebook. "How can I write without enough light?"

"Don't worry about that, Tomoyo." Eriol handed her his cell phone. "Jut down your notes here."

"Actually," Syaoran spoke again. This time, he is holding Sakura in his arms. "I'm worried about Shinn." He began. "It's dark, it's cold, there's no pornography everywhere." He slightly shook his head. "How can he last without it?"

Sakura stared at him. "I wanna go home."

"Sure." Syaoran said instantly and dragged Sakura outside 'The Aquarium'.

After thirty minutes, Syaoran found him self in traffic. He looked to his right and saw his best friend staring out the car window with a miserable face. He sighed in defeat. "What's up?" He asked in concern.

"I feel bad about leaving him like that…" She answered immediately without a sound of remorse. "Even if we're not on good terms at the moment."

"That's alright." He replied while looking at the traffic light. "Anyways, he's a perve-"

"SyaoRAN!" She suddenly vociferated in the car. "All this time you've been badmouthing him! What's up with you? He's my boyfriend, you know..!"

He stepped on the gas. Traffic was over. "I mean what I say."

"What's your point?" She asked. She knows this conversation won't be too fruitful since they are in a car. Men are somehow different when they are driving.

"Who knows?" He responded. She wasn't surprised with his lame reply.

After a few minutes…

"Okay." Syaoran's oh so handsome voice erupted in the car. Her emerald eyes wandered from his amber depths to the frontal car window shield. She didn't know they were at her house already. "You're here..!" He forced a smile.

"Syaoran…" She said. "You haven't answered me properly yet."

"With what?" He knows what she means.

"You know what I mean."

"Don't have sex with Shinn." He said bluntly.

"Are you kidding?" She was shocked with his sudden randomness. Now, was that really random?

"That's not a yes I heard or a nod I saw." He flashed some sort of a negative smug. "How about 'I will not have sex with Shinn.' I can even say it backwards 'Shinn with sex have not will I.'"

Her eyebrows furrowed and she seemed really pissed. He began to feel that he may have been a little overboard.

He calmed down and stared at her pissed and very-much-annoyed facial expression. And so there was only one thing for him to say.

"Apologetic look accepted."

Sarcasm, it will get you far, and so he thought.

END OF CHAPTER


Author's Notes: If there were some proverbial lines… guilty as charged.

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Makoto Itou from School Days