Chapter 10

I finally got my performance over with, and everything looked like it went well. I was feeling so relieved, until I saw Sakura walking out of the auditorium as soon as I was finished. Something had to be up.

I was the last performer, so as soon as I left the auditorium, the halls were crowded with people from the audience. Then, a rush of people gravitated towards me, and they started congratulating me. I heard things like "You were awesome!" and "I never knew you had a great voice!". I knew people wanted me to thank them, but I was in a daze, trying to figure out where Sakura had run off to. I never was this eager to see her.

I broke free from the crowd and walked into the ladies room. It seemed empty, so I walked up to the sink and looked in the mirror, trying to regain my composure. I was so exhausted. I had never had a crowd of people rushing towards me like that, so I was taken off guard a little. After I got myself together, I decided to give up on Sakura and look for Ryouta. As I was walking out, one of the stalls opened, and I stopped. I thought maybe it would be my mom or Hiromi.

Looking back on it now, I wonder how my life would have been if I had kept walking.

"Chibi-chan, what a great performance!" I sure do have the best luck.

"Thanks, Sakura. I'm glad it was up to your standards." I replied.

"It sure was. What a great way to leave your mark on the school, huh. I gotta hand it to you, you didn't screw up this time." she said with the fakest smile I've ever seen. She really wanted me to mess up.

"So tomorrow's the last day, huh? You're finally leaving." she said, pulling out a hair tie and fiddling with her hair. "I can't say that I'll miss you, though."

"I could say the same." I said.

"Is that so?" she said, letting go of her blond hair and looking straight at me. "If that's how you feel, then I'm glad you're leaving tomorrow. Ryouta can finally forget you and we can actually start having some sort of relationship." she said, smiling.

Remember how I said I rarely lose my temper? Yeah. This would be one of those times. Without thinking of the repercussions, I slapped Sakura right across the face. The sound it made still haunts me a little.

"Will you be quiet about Ryouta?" I yelled. "You have absolutely no feelings for him! You could care less! You know I like him, so you're going out with him to get back at me! I can see right through you! You're as transparent as a window!"

It really did feel good to blow of some steam, but all of that steam flew right back at me. Sakura stared at me for a moment, but then she smiled a real evil smile. The next thing I knew, she slapped me across the face with 10 times as much force, followed by a marvelous punch to the pit of my stomach. It felt like I got run over by a rocket.

"Could you see that through the window?" she said as I stood there, trembling in massive pain. Because I'm such a weakling, I felt my knees begin to buckle, and I felt like I was caving inwards. As Sakura walked out of the bathroom, I sank to my knees, and the world started to turn black. The last thing I heard was another stall opening, and finally, I was unconscious.