I ain't gonna bother with the intro song, 'cause there's already a song I squeezed inn near the end of the chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own:
iPhone
CSI: Miami
Electric Company
PBS

Tomoyo walked through the halls keeping her calm façade, but inside she was smiling like she just got a year's supply of Hershey's Hugs. She felt so giddy that she didn't bother to tell a girl to pull up her cami to cover the cleavage spilling out of her v-neck sweater or lecture that guy about the dangers of ripped jeans.

She worried about how she was going to face Hotaka during classes or student council meetings, and she hoped the best thing to do was ignore him but the thoughts of Hotaka had melted away from her mind constantly as Tomoyo remembered her winter break that she spent with Eriol most of the time.

While her father was away, they found time together to hang out at each other's house and talk all night long on her roof top or on Eriol's pier. She taught him how to make lemon meringue pie, which together, they found out cinnamon was his mother's secret ingredient, and he bore through the nauseatingly, tedious chore of going Christmas shopping for their families. They spent Christmas together with a dinner party, and Tomoyo was able to give Eriol a hand-knit scarf she made, while he gave her a Swarovski swan necklace, which she wore, tucked beneath her t-shirt, this very moment. She told him how much she regretted getting him such a cheap gift, compared to the necklace he gave her, but he told her he felt the same way with Tomoyo's hand-made scarf, which she took the time to make. They spent New Year's Eve together on her roof, with permission from her father and endless teasing from Eriol's sister, and Tomoyo was glad she was the first to give Eriol her smile and she was the first to receive his smile for the beginning of the year.

She felt giddy every time she saw Eriol wearing the scarf she made when he visited her every morning before going off to Seijou High School, since his winter break started earlier thus ending earlier than hers. But the student body greatly contrasted to the giddy feeling their vice president held inside. She didn't notice the whispers and looks of shock and envy as she fumbled with her locker combination.

She bit her lip and pouted, wondering why her locker wasn't opening. She tried the fifth time, but the black lock didn't budge.

"Tomoyo."

She turned to her left abruptly and found Syaoran; his lips were in a thin line, and his brows furrowed in concern.

"Are you alright?" He continued.

"No." Tomoyo pouted again, "I can't get my lock to open." She fumbled with her combination again, and sighed.

Rika came up to her right and meekly said, "That's not your locker, Tomoyo."

She stared at Rika, who also looked at her concerned, then stared back at the locker that supposedly wasn't hers. The locker number said G1028, but her locker was G1209. Tomoyo brought her index finger to her temple, and chuckled. She moved to the locker on her left, and tried the combination again. She giggled as her locker opened, "Thanks, Rika." She said.

"Are you okay, Tomoyo?" Rika said, as Naoko appeared next to her with her brows furrowed together in concern along with Rika. Sakura walked up next to Naoko and bit her lip with worry.

"Yeah," Tomoyo raised her brow, "I just forgot my locker for a sec." Cautiously, she grabbed her books she needed for her morning classes, contemplating why her friends seemed so worried. She noticed the tension in the corridor as her friends nervously shifted their weight on their feet and exchange looks of worry. She turned around slowly, finally noticing the chatter between random students as they passed by her, and the faces they were giving her as they looked her up and down, and turned away, embarrassed, as she noticed the looks and eyed them with suspicion. She'd never cared about what the student body thought of her, but she couldn't help but worry. What could she have done to make them look at her like she was some person they've never seen before?

"What's going on?" She asked her friends softly. Sakura turned to Rika and Naoko for help on what to say, but they looked at each other gaping and closing their mouths.

"Some-," Syaoran paused, and hesitated, "Some stuff-you know the school's website that premiered just yesterday by the Commercial Design students?"

Tomoyo nodded. The premiering of the school's website seemed to be a really big tradition considering the Commercial Design students were always really talented and creative with the new designs they come up with every year and the school's website was a website for the student body population rather than the parents or anybody who wanted information about the school (that kind of information was reserved for another website). The school's website usually had the latest events, latest pictures of the students taken by the yearbook committee, and there were polls, like which "well-known"(in the site's terms) student has the best baby pictures, who had the best outfit that week, or who had the best smile, etc. The former principle came up with the idea; a separate school website for students would make them more involved, and it did, but everybody knew it was all just some popularity contest, yet being on the World Wide Web made it even more addicting. Tomoyo never gave it a second thought to not look on the website, knowing all it would ever say was about her being mean and "anal", which didn't really matter to her, as long as students kept their drama away from her.

"Well, there have been pictures that have somehow made its way to the website." Sakura said softly, gripping her books in front of her chest nervously.

"And we guessed it's from your St. Augustine 'days'." Naoko said, making quotations with the word 'days'.

"Or rather," Rika said meekly, "everybody guessed."

"My St. Augustine days?" Tomoyo said, the sentence barely escaping for her throat. She hoped what they were saying wasn't what she was thinking, but her heart started sinking anyways.

"It's from our partying days, Tomoyo." Syaoran said, telling it like it is, straight-forwardly.

"What? You mean, like, clubbing? With-" Tomoyo pried from Syaoran.

"With your St. Augustine friends, Georgina and them." Syaoran nodded slowly, as he felt regret from telling Tomoyo. It was like slow motion as it dawned on her; her eyes were wide as she watched everybody who passed by her, gossiping, and staring at her like she was a new person, not the "anal", "tight-ass" vice president. She remembered those pictures; pictures of having her arm around different guys, holding virgin cocktails in tight dresses, and her hair swaying all over her head on the dance floor. She thought she escaped that stupid side of her.

"I'm not sure what this situation might mean to you, Tomoyo, but I know it's bad. Just know that we're there for you." Sakura said, with a small, yet assuring smile, but she'll never know what it's like to build your reputation into a serious student, who usually doesn't bother with the partying portion of high school life, from being a popular, well-liked, rich, party girl from St. Augustine's and have it all come crashing down with a click sending the student body into her past.

"Thanks." Tomoyo said feebly to her friends. She made her way to her class, knowing the morning bell would ring soon, without giving her friends a farewell.

She bit her lip, on the verge of tears. She knew she didn't care what the student body thought of her now. She built her reputation at Tomoeda Academy intricately to make her dad proud after her St. Augustine past, but what if the principal or the school staff gets a hold of these pictures? Will they suspend her or place her in detention, ruining her already cracked, but refurbished reputation? Her father had already seen the worst of those pictures, thanks to Charlotte, but will he burst all over again like he did when Tomoyo came back to Tomoeda, jet-lagged from her flight from England?

Tomoyo remembered the vein clearly popping out of her father's temple as he threw placemats, a table blanket, and a soup spoon across the dining room; she remembered wincing as her father threw a plastic bowl at her arm in the kitchen and ducking to her room as he attempted to throw her heavy, St. Augustine messenger bag her way, but it landed on her safely locked door instead. She remembered crying heavily and trembling scared as her father banged on her door, yelling unfathomable curse words and phrases. She knew her father had a temper; her mother would scold her every time she did something bad as a child, telling her that her father would blow up on her if she ever did something bad again. She stayed in her room for a day, without food or water, and left her brief prison, with a promise to be the best she can be, after her father flew to another foreign land for another business trip.

Tomoyo walked into her government class with her chin up, and slightly proud that she ignored the cat calls thrown at her once she entered. She wasn't going to break the promise she made to herself that day just because some stupid pictures of her were spread on the World Wide Web. She listened to her teacher's lessons, gripping her pencil determined to prove herself even more. She had nothing to hide from anybody now, and they can't blame her for anything. She cleaned up her act; she'd been studying vigorously for the SATs, ACTs and whatever test thrown at her since that fateful day, three months before junior year of her summer started, and her recent, first semester report card proved it.

It's not easy making your way to the library when everywhere you look there's a student just waiting to see you, and gossip to their friends or give you dirty or bewildered looks; in fact, it wasn't easy for Tomoyo to make her way to every class that morning.

Ignoring the cliché whispers from the tables and the shushing of the librarian, Tomoyo pushed the start button and pushed herself closer to the computer desktop. She told her friends to go without her during lunch, knowing some kind of commotion would start if she was present. They agreed, aware of her plan; if they, Tomoyo's dear group of friends, sat in the cafeteria without Tomoyo, like nothing ever happened then her situation might dwindled down. They knew not to push any farther if anybody asked them about Tomoyo's pictures.

She clicked through the web browser and clicked on the link of the student school website. Immediately, her pictures with her St. Augustine friends: Georgina, Charlotte, Billy, Antoine, etc. were posted on the home page. Pictures of her dancing in the club, hugging different guys, drinking virgin cocktails, along with Syaoran, were found as she scrolled down. She knew Syaoran couldn't care less if people found pictures of him, but she knew he cared for her well-being.

She could feel her heart ache with regret as she saw the pictures that Charlotte had shown to Takao, the nuns, and the headmaster. The digital picture had shown her arm around Antoine, a guy who always flirted with Tomoyo, while he held a beer and had his arm wrapped around Tomoyo's waist, which was decked out in a cinched purple dress that showed off her curves. She found another shameful picture of her kissing the cheek of her friend, Fred, with his face squished and her arm around his neck affectionately.

She clicked through to find pictures that made her smile. It was Tomoyo, wearing a black, one-shoulder, bandage dress and Georgina wearing her powermesh tuck dress, which they made together in Fashion & Design class, and they were dancing in a rave. Another picture was Tomoyo smiling in a park in a blue, butterfly-patterned, v-neck pinafore dress that Georgina had lent Tomoyo for a photo shoot they volunteered to do for Georgina's aunt who was a photographer for a clothing boutique. The picture didn't make her look bad, but different from her usual attire. Was that the plan of whoever posted these pictures? To make her look different from her "anal" vice president behavior?

She clicked through the whole website and noted that all of the pictures of her past weren't there, only the ones that made her look bad or different. Tomoyo leaned her chin on the palm of her hand as she looked through the pictures again. She had a hunch that it was Chiharu, but how could she have gotten the pictures? Although Tomoyo didn't have a social networking profile herself, she knew Georgina and her friends that posted the pictures on their own social networking profiles had their profiles set on private. They were smart enough not to make it public, in case, the nuns or school staff found out about it. Tomoyo concluded that it could've been a hacker, somebody who hacked through social networking profiles, but she was aware Chiharu wasn't very good with computers, considering most technology she touched, broke into tiny little pieces (resulting in a new kind of insurance for people like Chiharu) except for her precious iPhone, which, amazingly, seemed durable under her possession. Miki and Hana didn't seem too bright, considering the use of computers during class to look at clothes online. It must've been somebody whom Chiharu trusted with computers, but who?

Tomoyo trudged through the halls to brave her next class, English AP, and the looks and whispering connecting her were starting to feel numb. The thought of wondering who the hacker is kept racking through her mind so much that she didn't even notice Arata, the notorious playboy, address her until he roughly grabbed her wrist while making her way to her seat in class.

"Hey! I was talking to you." Arata said, annoyed.

Tomoyo grimaced, "Uh, yeah?"

"I said," He rolled his eyes, "How about we go out sometime? You can show me some of those moves and we can have a little drink," he winked, making Tomoyo vomit slightly in her throat, "in my bedroom." Arata smirked proudly, as cat calls and whistles were heard from his peers.

Tomoyo laughed freely, "Did you really think that was gonna work? Or did you really believe that was original? You're not the only who's said that to me." She shook her head, and sat in her seat, once his grip on her wrist loosened. Humiliated, Arata sat in his own seat on the other side of the room, ignoring the snickers from his peers.

She smirked, and muttered to herself, "You'd think being a student in some rich 'academy' would create some originality. I swear, it's like nobody's ever heard of creativity."

Tomoyo heard a quiet snicker from the seat behind her left shoulder. She turned around, wondering if her comment wasn't too loud, to find Yamazaki shake his head and smile beneath his bangs. She saw that he was wearing a graphic tee and a peacoat that seemed to fit him well compared to the baggy clothes he usually wore that made him look like a string bean. She turned to her front and contemplated on what would've made the sudden change in Yamazaki? It could've been Syaoran since he helped him with the winter break party, he must've helped him with his attire, too.

The teacher returned with a satisfied look on his face, and briefly told the class his "whimsical" adventures in the potty, while his students made a chorus of groans in disgust. Oh, the joys of an English teacher.

"Tomoyo, psst." Hotaka uttered mid-way into the weary lesson. Tomoyo stiffened remembering the night with Hotaka during Yamazaki's party; carefully, she turned her head towards him. He seemed apologetic, with his eyes full of worry and his infamous puppy pout. Instantly, her thoughts went back to Eriol when she dragged him around the mall against his will, thinking back to his puppy pout which was ten times better than Hotaka's.

"Can we talk? You know, after school?" Hotaka pleaded.

"After class." Tomoyo said, briefly after the teacher paused during his lecture to glare at them.

"I can't, my next class is on the other side of the building. I promise I won't be long." Hotaka pleaded once again. She nodded once to end the conversation, since the teacher kept glaring and pausing during his lecture

A folded note landed softly on her desk that read, 'Meet on the rooftop', in chicken scratch. Tomoyo bit her cheek, annoyed that she has to postpone at least five minutes of her after-school time with Eriol for Hotaka. So much for ignoring him, she thought to herself.

She walked towards the edge of the roof top of the school and leaned her hands on the fence that prevented her from feeling the strong force of gravity. She heaved a sigh, while watching the soccer team practice vigorously. It seemed fate wanted her take her time to talk to Hotaka, considering the fact that Eriol texted her earlier during her free period saying he'll be two hours late picking up Tomoyo, since he has soccer practice at Seijou High himself.

"Hey." Hotaka said, as Tomoyo spun around to find him smiling relieved, "Thanks for coming."

"No problem." she shrugged, while he joined her to lean his back on the fence.

He stuffed his hands in his pockets, "I wanted to apologize. I get a bit frisky when I'm drunk-"

"And aggressive." Tomoyo interrupted with a scowl.

"Right, and aggressive, but I know that's no excuse. I'm sorry for hurting you like that, Tomoyo." Hotaka pleaded with her.

"Are you okay?" She brought her index finger to her nose to brush it slightly, indicating his nose injury at the party.

"Oh, yeah. I'm fine, that kid packs a punch." Hotaka said, glaring at nothing in particular.

"I'm sorry about that. He was just-you know," Tomoyo hesitated and blushed slightly, "protecting me."

Hotaka grunted, ignoring her comment, "Where'd you learn to dance like that? And who were those people you were dancing with? And there was this girl that kept hanging around that Eriol guy and she just bad-talked about you the whole night."

"Dancing just comes natural. And those were just old friends."

"Even that girl that bad-talked you?"

Tomoyo nodded, aware he was talking about Charlotte.

"You've really changed, Tomoyo. I didn't know you had friends like that." Hotaka said softly, looking up at the sky. Tomoyo snorted. Who did he think he was?

"I've changed?" she said incredulously, "You're the one making friends with jerks! Thanks to them, everybody calls me 'anal', but now they're hitting on me? And you're one to talk! You make fun of Yamazaki, but show up at his party? The only one that treats him fairly decent is Chiharu!"

Hotaka scoffed, "Me? You're the one with all those slutty pictures! Flirting with different guys, and dressing like a slut! Maybe you were the one who put up those pictures! So you can get the attention you used to get at your old school!"

"A slut?" Tomoyo hissed, "Is that what you think I am? The most I've ever done with a guy is a hug and a kiss on the cheek! You're calling me the slut? When everybody knows you lost your virginity to Chiharu, who lost her virginity way before you came along!" Which was true. Before Chiharu hated Tomoyo like how she hated seeing a girl wearing Burberry when it was out of style, Chiharu told her everything including her first time with Yamazaki whom she used to call by his first name, Takashi, until she, too, pretended like he didn't exist. Tomoyo catches, once in a while, Chiharu and Yamazaki talking in the halls when they thought no one was around, and it seemed like they were on friendly terms, but then again, all they ever seem to talk about is the next family get-together.

Hotaka's face broke out in surprise then hurt. How could he call Tomoyo a slut when she is such a dear friend? She was the only one who actually left a voicemail wishing him a happy birthday instead of the dinky texts from his so-called friends, who didn't even bother talking to him until word went out that he did it with Chiharu, even though, she only let him grope her here and there, nothing less, nothing more. And how could he call her a slut when he liked her so much?

He breathed a sigh and combed his fingers through his hair, "Look, I'm sorry, Tomoyo. About everything. About treating you this way. I'm sorry for not being there when your mother died. About totally dissing you in freshman year. About what I did to you in that party. I'm sorry for calling you a slut. I'm sorry about those pictures even though I have no idea who did it." He slid down on the fence, holding his head in between his knees. Tomoyo knew that he may be an idiot, but he knows when he really screws up. Her face softened from Hotaka's confession. She could tell he really was hurt instead of the fake pouts he plasters on to get girls to forgive him whenever he forgets something they tell him or when they tease him.

"That's okay." She patted his hunched back, while he lifted head to rest his chin on his knees and he watched as Tomoyo sat down with him. She leaned her arm and her head on his shoulder, while they sat in silence with soccer practice still bustling from afar.

"Where did those pictures come from?" Hotaka inquired quietly.

"I don't know. I wish I knew." Tomoyo replied, shaking her head sadly.

"No, I meant, where? Like were you in a club?" Hotaka asked, while Tomoyo took her arm and head off of his shoulder and laughed.

"Yeah. I went to a private school in London during sophomore year, and I made some new friends. And being the all-girls school that it is, we were tempted to go out and meet boys." Tomoyo chuckled at how boy-crazy she used to be, "So, we did, but they weren't random guys, like forty year old men or something." She assured Hotaka when he stared at her like she went hunting for sugar daddies, "We met up with guys from the brother school of St. Augustine's, and we would meet up at dances, too." Tomoyo sighed and placed her arms behind her head, reminiscing the fun she had with her group of friends that seemed to be the center of attention during school games or dances. They were popular, drama queens, and snobby, but some of them were some pretty genuine friends.

Hotaka felt betrayed. Tomoyo had this kind of past, and she didn't bother to tell him, but then again he hasn't exactly been the friend he ought to be. He wanted to know everything about her to make up for all the time he had lost.

"What about that Eriol kid? Where'd you meet him?" Hotaka asked. If he wanted to know everything about her, then he was going to start with the first thing that popped up into his mind, that annoying, Eriol guy that always seemed to be with her.

Tomoyo went flustered and laughed nervously, "What's with all these questions? Geez, are you planning to be some CSI: Miami detective when you grow up?"

"Tell me." Hotaka demanded, ignoring the blush creeping onto her cheeks and ears. How did Eriol have the power to do that when he wasn't even near?

"He's this guy," she said, bowing her head to hide her blush, and pulled a stray thread from her sneakers, "he's gonna take over my dad's company and he comes over a lot to train for it, you know? It's no surprise we've become friends." Tomoyo shrugged, smiling shyly.

He heaved a sigh, again. Just friends, meaning he still had a chance, unless, "Do you like him?" He held his breath, waiting for her reply. Tomoyo eyes widen, still staring at the stubborn, stray thread from her sneakers. Hotaka was her friend, so it would be alright to tell him. But then she hadn't even told Sakura, Rika, Naoko, or Syaoran. But they must've guessed she had something for him, taking note of the fact that they witnessed the moment she shared with Eriol concerning cake from a certain Talent Show celebration party.

She glanced at her watch, which told her she had thirty minutes to kill until Eriol got here. She shrugged and stood, hoping Hotaka wouldn't pry unnecessary information from her anymore. If she hadn't told her closest friends about her crush, then she wasn't going to tell Hotaka. She brushed the dirt off of her jeans, and helped Hotaka from his sitting position, in which he accepted her hand.

He mimicked Tomoyo's shrug, "What's that?" He mimicked her again in frustration.

She walked to the exit door and turned the knob, while Hotaka followed, "Tell me!" He whined.

She chuckled and shook her head, "It's exactly what it means." She raced down the steps of the staircase and made it all the way to the bottom before Hotaka. She ran outside to the soccer field, out of breath, she swiftly passed by Sakura, who was watching Syaoran practice, from a bench.

"Where are you going, Tomoyo?" Sakura said frantically, as Tomoyo turned around and walked back to Sakura.

"I'm just going to the parking lot, you know, since school is over and all." Tomoyo panted. She needed to get out more.

"Ah, Eriol's here to pick you up?" Sakura asked. Tomoyo shrugged, and said maybe, repeating what she said to Hotaka, while Sakura cocked her head to the side, completely confused.

"Are you okay, Tomoyo?" Sakura asked worried, referring to the pictures.

Tomoyo waved her worry away with a 'pfft', "I'm fine. I can handle a little bit of gossip."

"Well, if you need me, or Rika, or Naoko, or Syaoran," Sakura listed her friends, "Then call us and we'll be right by your side." Sakura giggled, "Like the Electric Company! You know? 'Hey, you guys!' " She mimicked the show that has recently been remade on PBS.

Tomoyo giggled, "Right. Thank you, Sakura. And if anyone asks," she said, spotting Hotaka walking out in his soccer uniform from the boys' locker room, catching sight of her and began walking her way, "tell them I left." Tomoyo said briefly, before running to the parking lot, leaving Sakura in her dust without a bye.

She slowed her pace once she saw Eriol in the parking lot, leaning against his Buick, holding his cell phone to his ear. She giggled when she answered her phone that rang in her pocket of her jeans.

"Hello?" She answered, making her way to his car.

"Hey. Practice ended early, 'cause coach gave us a hard time on Saturday's practice. I'm at the parking lo-"

"Boo." Tomoyo exclaimed with a smirk, as Eriol jumped and juggled his phone in his hand.

He blushed and chuckled, "Let's go." He walked past her to open to the passenger door.

"Ah, such a gentleman." Tomoyo ducked her head into the car, while Eriol made his way to the driver's side, shaking his head.

A familiar song blasted through his radio, which made her jump from its volume.

Eriol chuckled at the unintentional revenge and turned the volume down, "Sorry."

She's my smile when I'm feelin' blue,
She's my midnight sleep when the day is through
Let me tell you what she means to me,
Kind of like the feelin' after your first kiss

"You listen to Passion, too?" Tomoyo asked, waiting for Eriol's reply but instead, he sang along dramatically with the chorus.

She's soothing like,
the ocean rushing on the sand
She takes care of me

Tomoyo tilted her head back and laughed at how wonderfully in tune he was. She thought it must've been from the many years of playing piano. She sang along with him for the rest of the short-lived song.

And she helps me to be a better man
She's so beautiful,
sometimes I stop to close my eyes
She's exactly what I need…

FINISHED CHAPTER 24. We're almost there, you guys!

I'm almost done! I wanna finish this story so baaaaaaad!

I wanna start typing up a new story before school starts! But I don't think I'd have the time once school starts. But whatever, I'm gonna hang out on tumblr now.

BTW, song is called Lemonade - Passion. Love that song.

Thanks for your reviews and alerts!

You guys are cool.