Sakura Hanazono knew something was wrong as soon as she sat down in front of her best friend during lunch.
Misaki Ayuzawa never woke makeup.
Sakura had always known that Misaki was one of those rare girls whose natural beauty stood out more than her makeup dusted face.
But something was different today.
When Misaki smiled at her as she sat down on the opposite side of the table , Sakura could only send silent prayers to the all the guys who had played victim to that smile.
Apart from that , Misaki was positively glowing as her eyes sparkled with mischief which was a sharp contrast to the gorgeous smile she was displaying. Her entire look was an appealing sexy and an attractive beautiful at the same time. Such a change over the weekend rose Sakura's curiosity over the top , up several notches.
"Hey girls. How'd the weekend go?"
And she speaks. Did she always have such an alluring voice? Sakura thought nervously almost forgetting the excitement of reciting everything that had happened over the weekend to her best friend "Oh..uh..it went great" She replied in a daze.
"Great?" Shizuko turned to her friend who had been chewing her ear off about all her plans ever since they had gone for coffee with the popular boy squad.
Sakura slowly turned to Shizuko and that seemed to snap her out of her daze "Oh right! Misaki you won't believe what happened?"
"Really?" She smiled , eyes twinkling.
"Yes" Her best friend gushed "So we went with Kuuga and the rest for coffee right? Kuuga asked us whether we would wanna be in the same team as them for the Sports Festival! Oh gosh. I am gonna go faint in my corner now"
Misaki laughed "So what'd you say?"
"What do you think she said?" Shizuko asked.
"Ofcourse I said yes!" A moment's pause "You don't mind right?"
Misaki shook her head "Nope. Not at all"
"I have a feeling our team will win" Sakura ranted on "Especially because we have Misaki. And Misaki never loses!"
Misaki gave a small smile on the outside but a full clap of glee on the inside. Misaki Ayuzawa didn't lose the games she played.
"Anyways.." The bespectacled girl on the table sighed putting a hand over her friend's mouth to stop her chatter "What's up with you?"
"With me?" The amber eyed beauty rose an eyebrow.
Sakura sobered up "Yep. You have ...a different aura today. And I am glad to know you are finally using the make up I had bought you for your birthday"
Misaki laughed again "It's nothing. I woke up feeling great so decided I might as well dress up a little"
Lies. Sakura and Shizuko thought together but didn't say anything. They both knew best that Misaki rarely ever wore makeup.
Also had to show someone his place. Misaki added inwardly.
"You are kidding!" Kuuga exclaimed for the nth time as he shook his head with a huge grin on his face.
"No I am not" The chocolate haired boy defended "That's exactly what happened. I have told you everything. Word by word"
The Student Council President let out a low whistle "Someone's stepping up her game" He spoke as he looked at his friend seated on the far end of the couch , studying the coffee mug.
"It's a Coffee Mug , Takumi. What's so intriguing?" Hinata asked impatiently.
After almost an hour , the emerald eyed model's attention was broken and he smiled as if he was the only one who understood the joke "You won't get it , Hinata"
The navy blue haired girl immediately rushed on to tend to the said boy's hurt feelings "No big deal Hinata. I doubt any of us will get it. But from what I gather a war has just been declared"
"Woah.." Kuuga breathed out "All this is giving me the chills. I need to see her myself to believe it. I still think you are exaggerating"
"No he's not" Kanou answered in a low voice in Hinata's defence "I was present there as well" He added.
"Well you guys have been camping here since the start of the day. Might as well start attending classes" Chiyo reprimanded , hands on her hips.
At that , the first one to get up was Takumi Walker as he lazily strode to the door "See you guys at lunch?"
"Yeah..yeah!" Kuuga dragged out "We'll be there!"
With a two finger salute , he left the Student Council room as the rest turned to face each other. There was a silent discussion and agreement among all of them even though none of them said a word as they all silently picked their belongings up only one question on their minds.
Since when did Takumi Walker start attending his classes so diligently?
Their eyes met before she had even inhaled her next breath.
She walked down the corridor , Ryusuke talking next to her as she locked her gaze on him. Her amber eyes slowly watched his emerald ones dazzle as his mouth lifted in a smirk.
The blonde model wasn't even bothering to pay attention to the gorgeous chestnut haired girl standing in front of him , twirling locks of her hip length hair as she bat her eyelashes and pulled her mouth in a pout every now and then. His eyes were fixated on the ravenette walking down the corridor , in the most sly walk he had ever seen. As if she were almost challenging him to come to her.
"Takumi , are you listening?"
Amber eyes narrowed at the french manicured hand making their way up his lean chest as the chestnut haired girl took an impossibly close step nearer to the emerald eyed gentleman leaning on the wall. The raven haired beauty had to fight the urge to roll her eyes as she tried to tune in to what Ryusuke was saying.
The attempt seemed fatal as she felt an overgrowing urge to claw the flirty chit off Takumi. Her hands were all over him and despite their very close and uncomfortable proximity , Misaki felt a sense of triumph when she realized his eyes were still on her.
It was only when Ryusuke tugged on her arm that she realized and remembered that he was still there "I am sorry what'd you say?"
"I said , let's stop by to grab coffee?"
"Perfect" She smiled at him and in that moment Ryusuke Tatsuya felt that he was going to surrender to a cardiac arrest if she smiled at him one more time.
On the other hand , Takumi Walker wanted nothing other than peeling the over-friendly chick off him to stalk over to Misaki , throw her over his shoulder and take her home.
He didn't know why he felt so possessive or why he wanted to chop Ryusuke's hand which Misaki let him rest on her arm as he led her down the opposite side of the corridor and around another corner.
Something inside him snapped him back to reality just in time to see the chit (whose name he didn't even remember) only inches away from his lips. And in that moment he knew , he somehow oddly knew that he wanted to feel no one else's but Misaki's lips on his.
"Good try , sweet" He started "Better luck next time"
With that he slipped past the girl you just wasn't ready to let him go yet to get to the girl he didn't want to let go off.
"So what do you think?"
"I'll be there" Misaki grinned "On Saturday night at 8 PM?"
"Sharp" Ryusuke added.
"Sharp" Misaki mimicked as she opened the door to her car door "I'll be there!" She called out again.
"You better be!" He called back as he waved at her as she buckled up.
With everything going on around Takumi Walker , Misaki had actually forgotten that she was attending Miyabigaoka University and that the people here were an entirely different league from her.
She had also forgotten that Ryusuke was also a gifted musician with both parents in the same industry and well known stars. And he had invited her for his musical at one of the most popular hotels in all of Tokyo. And he made it a point to make sure that she should definitely come.
Misaki pretended it was okay that Takumi Walker's car was already parked where it usually was and she pretended that she didn't care about it.
That proved to be of no use because as soon as she stepped out of the lift , he turned around , tightly clutching his phone to his ear as his eyes felt like they were scrutinizing her. As if on cue , he ended his call and turned his entire attention to her as she quietly walked to her door.
As she slowly slid her card into the lock she could feel his stare boring into the back of her neck as she slowly opened the door and took the card out of its slot , walking inside her house.
Just as she was closing the door , a foot made its way between the door and the frame , pushing the door open again. Misaki tried to look bored as she locked her gaze with him but something about him sent butterflies fluttering in her stomach.
"Thanks for the coffee"
Misaki smirked and fully opened the door for him to enter again as she turned around and made her way inside the kitchen "Your welcome"
"How did you know I drink Cafe Dé Lait?"
"You didn't crush your coffee mug properly enough" She replied , the answer rolling off her tongue as if she had rehearsed it too many times before.
"How'd you know I had crushed that coffee mug?" He asked in return leaning on the counter as she poured herself a glass of water.
"Like I said. You hadn't crushed yours well enough"
"And how did you know it was mine?" She felt two hands on the counter next to her hips and she knew he had trapped her in between.
"It was a guess.." She replied slowly "If it wasn't yours , I would have shrugged it off but you clearly seem to admit it was yours" At this she slowly turned around to face him.
Surprising themselves , neither inched away as they just stood there , gazes locked , faces almost touching with their breaths mixed.
Neither of them found it uncomfortable anymore. They almost found it ...right.
"Glad to know I am not the only one who notices things about you" At this his hand rose to her hair and brushed through it and out till her cheek.
Feeling something cool slide against her cheek , she reached out to hold it and momentarily lowered her gaze to see her house card. Another one of her house cards.
"Where did you find this?"
"With Mister Lover Boy" His head dropped down to her neck and she shivered as she felt his breath there.
"Who?"
"The red haired guy you hang out with"
"You mean to say he had it?"
"I think I just said that" His lips brushed against her skin sending goosebumps from the roots of her hair all the way till her toes.
"How do you know he took it?" The amber eyed girl seethed.
"I didn't say I knew it. I just said he had it" Takumi replied , calmly.
"Are you sure you didn't take it?" His extremely close proximity was making Misaki lose her line of thought. She was trying her hardest not to concentrate on the hot trail of light kisses on the side of her neck and on what they were talking about.
"For a girl who drops it carelessly everywhere , you can sure accuse people easily"
"What do you mean?" Misaki asked , confused.
"You dropped it in the lobby downstairs. The receptionist gave it to me this morning" He drew his head up again , levelling his eyes with hers.
"Then why are you blaming it on Ryusuke?"
"Why does it matter so much to you?"
The sharp edge in his voice threw Misaki off momentarily. He was ticked off. Clearly. And if she didn't know better she would have thought he sounded - almost sounded...jealous.
"Because you shouldn't blame him like that" Misaki retorted , her own voice gaining an edge.
"The immense amount of trust you show in him is unbelievable" Takumi seethed , his face only centimeters apart from hers.
"And why would that matter to you?" Misaki had no clue where this conversation was leading to and how they had reached to this but she felt her anger burning through her veins "Go and focus on your flirty chits"
"So he's nothing more than a toy to you?"
"He means to me just as much as that flirty chestnut bombshell might mean to you. Or in some cases we could as much as I do"
There was a pause. A long pause. They both slowly inhaled to catch their breaths. They hadn't been shouting but lowly growling proved to be equally exhausting.
"Don't" Takumi started , now in a calm voice his lips just above hers. They were so close that if Misaki exhaled she was sure her lips would end up on his "Compare yourself to her"
"Why not?" She breathed , her knees almost giving out from beneath her.
"Because girls like her are only meant for flirting with" He paused.
And when he continued , Misaki lost her breath.
"Girls like you are meant to be loved"