Chapter 2:
Stupid Teachers
"Ohayo, minna!" Sakura cheerily approached the hang out spot at the back of the classroom; She tossed her honey-glossed hair to the side, her face cracked with a smile.
"Ohayo, Sakura-chan! Hehehe!" Everyone seemed giddy about something. Sakura narrowed her eyes in suspicion. (Sakura's not so clueless anymore, ne?)
"What're you guys so happy about?" She asked, peering at them as though a single look could discern their intent.
"Oh, nothing, hehehe!" All the girls in the class shifted uneasily, placing hands over their mouths to hide their smug grins.
Sakura's suspicions were confirmed: they were up to something. She tried to shake it off and enjoy the morning. They had turned in their permission slips yesterday and were going to pick partners today. The class would begin their voyage tomorrow.
"Okay, class, settle down. There shall be but 10 math problems for homework today, so that you may all have more time to pack." Terada sensei had entered with this announcement and a bright smile for his class.
"Yay!"
"Shh, shh! Anyway, today we shall have Math, English, and Science. After break, we shall have a long discussion on survival, and then write 3 paragraphs about what we shall do in 'The Real World.'"
'Why! Why must there always be Math? WHY!' Sakura's eyes were spiraling, a load of sweat drops at the back of her head. She really sucked at math. (Sakura: Hey! I don't SUCK; I just don't like it! Adda: Whatever. ^.^)
~~~~~~~~~~~
As the day wore on, the students had been preoccupied, breezing through their lessons with little or no effort; it seemed that the true purpose of having class at all was for Mr. Terada to torture their young minds with questions so easy that they were chained to the inevitable walk of boredom.
Sakura sat through 3rd hour, staring at the sensei; her placidly spiraling eyes were a sharp contrast to her blank mind; suddenly she noticed a small flash of white appear on the corner of her desk; the ornately illustrated purple edges suggested that someone had worked hard to create this beautiful paragon of gel pen art. She smiled; it was from Tomoyo.
Meiling already asked me--
Sakura's eyebrows furrowed, but she continued.
Meiling already asked me, so I cant be your partner, Sakura. I'm so sorry. Please understand. I'm sure you'll find someone else.
Someone else? The thought struck her, as a thunder bolt splits a tree. She and Tomoyo were ALWAYS partners, for everything! Was hell freezing over? She was shocked at her own thoughts, and visibly shaken. Wait. She knew this would happen one day and she thought she had prepped herself for it…
Sakura heard a tiny… growl.
"Mrrph!"
Sakura smiled slightly; she knew that something had happened to Li. 'Li.' The thought widened the smile that played at the corners of her mouth; her cheeks took on rosy hues. 'Li Syaoran'.
'Hello, Sakura this is reality speaking. Li Syaoran is a scowling boy who does not like you; he barely considers you a friend. And Yukito does not love you either.'
The rosiness abruptly drained from Sakura's face; her eyes, no longer starry, misted with salty liquid. Yukito didn't love her. Sakura banished the thoughts; and her sadness. She decided to write a note;
Hey, Li! Is there something wrong? What's the matter; you sound upset.
Sakura
When she had finished, she folded it up into a neat origami swan, fitting the creation to the palm of her hand. She "stretched", depositing the note on the desk behind her.
After a while, she saw another flash of white at the bottom corner of her desk, just as Terada-sensei had turned his back; this one bore no fancy plumage. She smiled; Li had replied. She carefully unfolded the note. As she read it, her face fell.
It's none of your business.
Sigh. 'Oh well'. 'What did you expect?' She then re-read Tomoyo's note… Please understand. She tried to understand. She *did* understand, She told herself. But still, a curious sense of 'wrong' formed at the thought of any arrangement not being Kinomoto and Daidouji, Daidouji and--
" Kinomoto Sakura, since you were concentrating so hard, why don't you come work out this problem on the overhead?" Sensei's arm was still outstretched on the overhead as his agitated gaze pinned her.
"O… Okay, Terada-sensei," she complied. Her brow furrowed once more.
Sakura walked to the overhead; her feet protested, dragging, her eyes remained glued to the floor, her mind worked furiously. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, looked down. Her face broke into a relieved smile; it was just factoring! She allowed herself to breathe.
"Oh, sorry, not that one." Terada-sensei reached a traitorous hand out and scrolled the overhead projector up. "This one."
"Hai!" Sakura smiled at the sensei. She looked down and read the problem;
Jimmy and Janice want to build a clubhouse, using 3,473-sq. ft. of total volume. The clubhouse is 2 stories tall, and in an elliptical shape. If f= mV, y= m(x) + b, a^4 + 203= 70m, and e= mC(squared), what is the radius of the lamp that takes up .3348923-sq. ft. of volume on the 2nd floor?
Sakura's breath caught. She gulped for air, desperately trying to restore her senses. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.
She looked again at the problem, and each moment that it remained the same, her troubled green eyes grew a fraction wider.
Sakura's eyes resumed spiraling, as she tried to figure out where to begin.
Terada-sensei seemed to be on a mean streak; instead of letting Sakura sit down and calling someone else up to solve the problem, he suddenly snarled,
"Well, Kinomoto-san. I hope you were paying attention, because you will not be allowed to go on the field trip if you leave here without answering this question. Correctly."
Tomoyo and a few other students gasped. A trip without Sakura-chan? What about all of their careful planning? Oh, Terada-san, why! You know Sakura's terrible in math!
As the bell for lunch rang, Sakura stared at the overhead, as if blinking at it would summon the answer from her tremulous mind. She had yet to write anything on the laminated sheet.
"Kinomoto-san, you will take your lunch in the classroom. Rika-san will get your food for you and bring it here in your stead."
Sakura's friends, on their way out to lunch, each cast sad looks at her. Some were more apologetic, as if to say "I'm so sorry, Sakura…" Sakura looked into Tomoyo's misty lavender orbs. As Sakura gazed deeper, however, she saw the emotion change from sadness to anger. Tomoyo then glanced at Terada-sensei and pursed her lips, lifting her nose as she swept out of the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Poor Sakura-chan," said Rika as she sat down in the group that had already gathered, dolefully beginning their first un-genki lunch.
"She had just started marking out distracters when I brought her food. And the wrong ones, at that."
"Why did Terada-sensei do this? He's usually not like this!" Chiharu exclaimed, the corners of her mouth down turned in malaise.
"I'll tell you why," said Tomoyo, sounding darkly serious. "It's because Sakura-chan is not very good in math and he doesn't want her on the field trip." She said it matter-of-factly, as if it were the most undeniably true thing in the world.
"Yeah, that, but why doesn't he want her to go, I mean," said Naoko.
"Because he hates her."
"WHY!" Meiling was disconcerted at the thought of anyone disliking Sakura, let alone HATING her. She herself had been the only one to ever dislike her, and that had been a based on childish, charlatan jealousy. Now Sakura was among her closest friends.
"… I don't know," Tomoyo confessed proscriptively.
"Tomoyo-chan, you're such a drama queen!" Rika exclaimed. She looked with distaste on anyone who would question or deface Terada-chan with nescience. She continued.
"Terada-sensei doesn't hate Sakura-chan; he just noticed that she wasn't paying attention."
"But why was he so harsh?" Tomoyo countered, her arms folded coldly over her chest.
"Maybe he wanted to make her an example?" Rika was giving ground, little by little; she really didn't know what had possessed Terada to prevent the most likable girl in the school from going on a class field trip. She frowned.
"Well, I say we boycott the trip if he doesn't let Sakura-chan go," resolved Tomoyo.
The others nodded their heads in assent.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After break, Terada-sensei began explaining the details of the trip; there would be two people per room, 2 rooms per cabin, one chaperone per group, etc, etc.
As he started specifying the activities that would get people thrown out of the cabin area, there were a few dirty jokes from the back of the room. Terada-sensei looked at the kids, sternly glaring. He ignored them, and, as he was continuing, there was a sudden rrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiip, heard throughout the classroom. Sakura had been scribbling and erasing her answers furiously… apparently the paper couldn't handle her abrasive assault.
Sakura stood up, slightly pink, and asked the teacher "Eh hehehe… do you think I could… uh… get a new paper? Uh this one kinda…." She held up the disjoined paper. "Uh… broke."
The class hid smiles behind their hands. Sakura walked chagrinned to her desk, took out a sheet of paper, returned to her "study carol" at the front of the room, and began concentrating, furrowing her brow.
When the essay part of the class finally came, the sensei let Sakura rest her mind for a little while, then gave her a prompt to write on. When the bell had rung, Sakura turned in her paper, hugging Tomoyo and her other close friends good bye.
She got back to working and, after a long while, the sensei left. As she brushed the remnants of her eraser from her study carol, heading to her desk for more paper and pencils, she noticed a dark, moss-hued book bag.
'Oh no', she thought. 'Li left his stuff… oh well, I'll give it to him on my way home.' She took the bag with her as she walked back up to the front of the classroom, settling into her work once more.
Some time later, she glanced at the bag again, and a glint of white caught her eye. It said "Sakura".
She timidly took out the note, looking to the left and right, as if she were doing something terribly clandestine. She opened the note. It read "7.26339-sq. ft." A smile brushed Sakura's lips; Li-kun had left her the answer to the problem. She wrote it on the back of her abused paper, brushed the curls of her last eraser from the study carol, and set her work on the sensei's desk.
She gathered up her things, Li's bag among them, and began walking out of the classroom. When she got to the doorway, she bumped into someone.
"Oh, I'm so sor-- Li!" She rubbed her lower back and looked up, into his brooding eyes.
"Hey, Sakura." He said, lifting his scowl. The way he said her name was so… Sakura's cheeks grew rosy.
"Oh, Li, thank you! Thank you so much!" Sakura threw her arms around his neck, hugging him gratefully. At first he just stood there, letting the smiling girl embrace him. Then, slowly raising a hand, he smoothly placed his palm on the small of her back, a half-hug. A slight smile melted the edges of the cold set of his mouth. As soon as he had touched Sakura, she relaxed in his hold, letting herself fall against him.
Suddenly she remembered where she was… she remembered who this was. Li felt her tense in his grasp. He quickly stepped away from her, at the same time she stepped away from him. She bit her lower lip slightly, clasping her hands behind her back, scuffing the soles of her feet on the floor, looking anywhere but those beckoning, tawny-brown eyes.
With a startling suddenness, she looked up and blurted out,
"Here'syourbagIgottagoseeya!" And took off sprinting down the hall. Li was left standing in the hall way by himself, still wearing his soccer practice clothes. He blinked and slowly began the walk home.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Sakura got home, she began packing. Packing was no hard task; her mind began to wander. It stopped when she started thinking about Li. Funny, how it did that more and more of late.
'Well, it was just a thank you hug,' She told herself. 'It doesn't mean he wants to be my friend now… or anything more.'
But still.
She remembered the moment vividly. The way she had been possessed by something to hug him like that. The way the he hadn't pulled away. The way she could smell him underneath all the practice smells of grass and sweat. The way her spine shivered when he touched her… She pushed all thoughts of Li to the back of her mind and focused on packing; She was leaving tomorrow! Thanks to Syaoran…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sakura was in the car with her brother, her two bags packed with clothes, shoes, toiletries, etc. She was thinking about what would happen during the trip, what she and Tomoyo would do. Then she remembered.
Meiling already asked me, so I cant be your partner, Sakura. I'm sorry. Please understand. I'm sure you'll find someone else.
Oh no… Sakura panicked, not knowing who she could partner up with. She tried to relax; Tomoyo was not her only friend, she reasoned.
She entered the classroom, and, huffing and puffing, she greeted everyone cheerfully, dragging her bags behind her.
"Ohayo… min…na…!"
"Sakura!" There was shocked pleasure in each sing-song syllable as it emanated from the class.
"Sakura, we thought you couldn't go…"
Everyone began milling around sheepishly.
"So what are all those signs you're holding?" Sakura looked equivocally about the room.
"Eh… hehehe, see the thing is, we were gonna have a protest about you not being able to go, so… we were all over at my house and we made these signs…" Tomoyo seemed guilty. She blushed a deep, deep crimson. Her sign read 'We won't go without Kinomoto!'
Sakura blushed; her friends' caring touched her.
"Oh, you guys!" She said genkily, smiling.
She had momentarily forgotten that she had no partner, when Mr. Terada began speaking.
"Okay, you all. We have 1 hour before the bus comes to the train station. Before the partner selection begins, I should like to make known that there are two buses: 1 for people, the other for bags. Now, you may all choose your partners."
You may all choose your partners… What am I gonna do!? Sakura then spotted Chiharu. She waved, running over to her.
"Chiharu-chan, do you have a partner?"
"Uh…" Chiharu looked over at Takashi. He was making his way toward her, his eyes closed and crinkling in a smile. "Yeah." She blushed.
"Oh… okay, then, have fun!" Sakura returned to looking for her partner. "Naoko, do you have a partner?"
"So sorry, Sakura-chan, but I do!" she offered a wan smile as complaisance.
"Okay, then, good luck!" In about ten minutes, Sakura had discovered that everyone already had partners.
"Okay, class. If you don't have a partner, come to the front of the room."
Sakura pushed out her chair and stood up, setting her shoulders to make the desolate walk to the front of the room. When she made it to the front, she was surprised to see another pair of shoes beside hers; Li didn't have a partner.
"So what happened?" She whispered.
"Takashi cancelled for Chiharu," he growled. She didn't reply for a moment. He looked into her direction. He had intended to glance, but her eyes caught and held him, defenseless in their depths. It seemed like she actually cared.
Her cheeks crossed a warm pink color as she looked away.
"Ahem, Li Syaoran, Kinomoto Sakura, it would seem that you two are the only partnerless people in the class therefore, you will be paired together."
Sakura's jaw went slack. She looked at the sensei, dazedly. He looked back as if she were crazy. He looked behind her and stifled a laugh with his hand. Sakura looked puzzled. She turned around and saw that Syaoran wore the same expression, his eyes still on the sensei. Sakura almost started laughing, putting a hand over her mouth to muffle the sound. But her eyes smiled nonetheless.
Li snapped back to reality and looked around. When his eyes settled on Sakura, she was smiling. He put one hand behind his head and tried to shake off his awkward episode.
"Eh… hehehe… Uh… " He stammered with embarrassment. Finally Sakura could hold her laughter no more.
"Hahaha! Let's just sit down, okay? Hehehe," She said, panting with the effort it took to make the simple statement. Syaoran began walking toward his desk, her following, giggling most of the way. As he sat down, she flashed him a small smile that said "Thank You". 'Whatever could I have done for her to thank ME? Sigh, girls.'
After a while of talking to each other, Terada-sensei sprang back to life.
"Okay, everyone, grab your bags, the bus is here."
Everyone hurriedly collected their over-stuffed bags, taking them out the doorway. As Sakura was dragging hers across the room, she heard someone clear their throat behind her.
"I could carry that for you. If you like."
It was Li. She turned to him, surprised; she was behind everyone else, she'd thought. Her surprised face melted into a smile.
"Would you? That would be so nice of you."
"Sure." Li bent over and scooped up her bags, heaving them over his shoulder with ease. "No problem." The corner of his mouth raised slightly, his scowl lifting.
Sakura looked down then, pinkening.
When they got to the cargo bus, Li gently put her things in, placing them neatly beside his own, as if her bags held some fragile cargo.
He sensed eyes on his back. When he saw Sakura standing there, looking at him fondly, as if he were doing some great deed of kindness, he reddened slightly. He tried to cover the true nature of his redness by coughing. Sakura's eyes lit with concern.
"Are you okay, Li?" She asked, tilting her head.
"Uh… yeah. Let's go."
They got on the bus, Sakura sitting by Tomoyo, chattering, smiling. Syaoran sat beside Takashi, glaring at him.
And so began their mountain trip.
]**********************************
Lemme start by saying thank you SO much to all the people who reviewed! It makes me feel so special ^.^ (Not special ed!) But seriously, before I actually posted something I always thought 'Man… Authors really are pathetic, always begging for reviews…(^.^)' (Big, glassy eyes) But now I know… yes, I know why they are so pathetic… Feed back really IS the food for thought! It really DOES make people want to write more! So what did you think? no, don't SAY it, write it in the box… please? (I'm begging now…) PLease? (note that this entire author's note was an appeal to Bathos ^.^)
{Disclaimer goes here}
Stupid Teachers
"Ohayo, minna!" Sakura cheerily approached the hang out spot at the back of the classroom; She tossed her honey-glossed hair to the side, her face cracked with a smile.
"Ohayo, Sakura-chan! Hehehe!" Everyone seemed giddy about something. Sakura narrowed her eyes in suspicion. (Sakura's not so clueless anymore, ne?)
"What're you guys so happy about?" She asked, peering at them as though a single look could discern their intent.
"Oh, nothing, hehehe!" All the girls in the class shifted uneasily, placing hands over their mouths to hide their smug grins.
Sakura's suspicions were confirmed: they were up to something. She tried to shake it off and enjoy the morning. They had turned in their permission slips yesterday and were going to pick partners today. The class would begin their voyage tomorrow.
"Okay, class, settle down. There shall be but 10 math problems for homework today, so that you may all have more time to pack." Terada sensei had entered with this announcement and a bright smile for his class.
"Yay!"
"Shh, shh! Anyway, today we shall have Math, English, and Science. After break, we shall have a long discussion on survival, and then write 3 paragraphs about what we shall do in 'The Real World.'"
'Why! Why must there always be Math? WHY!' Sakura's eyes were spiraling, a load of sweat drops at the back of her head. She really sucked at math. (Sakura: Hey! I don't SUCK; I just don't like it! Adda: Whatever. ^.^)
~~~~~~~~~~~
As the day wore on, the students had been preoccupied, breezing through their lessons with little or no effort; it seemed that the true purpose of having class at all was for Mr. Terada to torture their young minds with questions so easy that they were chained to the inevitable walk of boredom.
Sakura sat through 3rd hour, staring at the sensei; her placidly spiraling eyes were a sharp contrast to her blank mind; suddenly she noticed a small flash of white appear on the corner of her desk; the ornately illustrated purple edges suggested that someone had worked hard to create this beautiful paragon of gel pen art. She smiled; it was from Tomoyo.
Meiling already asked me--
Sakura's eyebrows furrowed, but she continued.
Meiling already asked me, so I cant be your partner, Sakura. I'm so sorry. Please understand. I'm sure you'll find someone else.
Someone else? The thought struck her, as a thunder bolt splits a tree. She and Tomoyo were ALWAYS partners, for everything! Was hell freezing over? She was shocked at her own thoughts, and visibly shaken. Wait. She knew this would happen one day and she thought she had prepped herself for it…
Sakura heard a tiny… growl.
"Mrrph!"
Sakura smiled slightly; she knew that something had happened to Li. 'Li.' The thought widened the smile that played at the corners of her mouth; her cheeks took on rosy hues. 'Li Syaoran'.
'Hello, Sakura this is reality speaking. Li Syaoran is a scowling boy who does not like you; he barely considers you a friend. And Yukito does not love you either.'
The rosiness abruptly drained from Sakura's face; her eyes, no longer starry, misted with salty liquid. Yukito didn't love her. Sakura banished the thoughts; and her sadness. She decided to write a note;
Hey, Li! Is there something wrong? What's the matter; you sound upset.
Sakura
When she had finished, she folded it up into a neat origami swan, fitting the creation to the palm of her hand. She "stretched", depositing the note on the desk behind her.
After a while, she saw another flash of white at the bottom corner of her desk, just as Terada-sensei had turned his back; this one bore no fancy plumage. She smiled; Li had replied. She carefully unfolded the note. As she read it, her face fell.
It's none of your business.
Sigh. 'Oh well'. 'What did you expect?' She then re-read Tomoyo's note… Please understand. She tried to understand. She *did* understand, She told herself. But still, a curious sense of 'wrong' formed at the thought of any arrangement not being Kinomoto and Daidouji, Daidouji and--
" Kinomoto Sakura, since you were concentrating so hard, why don't you come work out this problem on the overhead?" Sensei's arm was still outstretched on the overhead as his agitated gaze pinned her.
"O… Okay, Terada-sensei," she complied. Her brow furrowed once more.
Sakura walked to the overhead; her feet protested, dragging, her eyes remained glued to the floor, her mind worked furiously. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, looked down. Her face broke into a relieved smile; it was just factoring! She allowed herself to breathe.
"Oh, sorry, not that one." Terada-sensei reached a traitorous hand out and scrolled the overhead projector up. "This one."
"Hai!" Sakura smiled at the sensei. She looked down and read the problem;
Jimmy and Janice want to build a clubhouse, using 3,473-sq. ft. of total volume. The clubhouse is 2 stories tall, and in an elliptical shape. If f= mV, y= m(x) + b, a^4 + 203= 70m, and e= mC(squared), what is the radius of the lamp that takes up .3348923-sq. ft. of volume on the 2nd floor?
Sakura's breath caught. She gulped for air, desperately trying to restore her senses. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.
She looked again at the problem, and each moment that it remained the same, her troubled green eyes grew a fraction wider.
Sakura's eyes resumed spiraling, as she tried to figure out where to begin.
Terada-sensei seemed to be on a mean streak; instead of letting Sakura sit down and calling someone else up to solve the problem, he suddenly snarled,
"Well, Kinomoto-san. I hope you were paying attention, because you will not be allowed to go on the field trip if you leave here without answering this question. Correctly."
Tomoyo and a few other students gasped. A trip without Sakura-chan? What about all of their careful planning? Oh, Terada-san, why! You know Sakura's terrible in math!
As the bell for lunch rang, Sakura stared at the overhead, as if blinking at it would summon the answer from her tremulous mind. She had yet to write anything on the laminated sheet.
"Kinomoto-san, you will take your lunch in the classroom. Rika-san will get your food for you and bring it here in your stead."
Sakura's friends, on their way out to lunch, each cast sad looks at her. Some were more apologetic, as if to say "I'm so sorry, Sakura…" Sakura looked into Tomoyo's misty lavender orbs. As Sakura gazed deeper, however, she saw the emotion change from sadness to anger. Tomoyo then glanced at Terada-sensei and pursed her lips, lifting her nose as she swept out of the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Poor Sakura-chan," said Rika as she sat down in the group that had already gathered, dolefully beginning their first un-genki lunch.
"She had just started marking out distracters when I brought her food. And the wrong ones, at that."
"Why did Terada-sensei do this? He's usually not like this!" Chiharu exclaimed, the corners of her mouth down turned in malaise.
"I'll tell you why," said Tomoyo, sounding darkly serious. "It's because Sakura-chan is not very good in math and he doesn't want her on the field trip." She said it matter-of-factly, as if it were the most undeniably true thing in the world.
"Yeah, that, but why doesn't he want her to go, I mean," said Naoko.
"Because he hates her."
"WHY!" Meiling was disconcerted at the thought of anyone disliking Sakura, let alone HATING her. She herself had been the only one to ever dislike her, and that had been a based on childish, charlatan jealousy. Now Sakura was among her closest friends.
"… I don't know," Tomoyo confessed proscriptively.
"Tomoyo-chan, you're such a drama queen!" Rika exclaimed. She looked with distaste on anyone who would question or deface Terada-chan with nescience. She continued.
"Terada-sensei doesn't hate Sakura-chan; he just noticed that she wasn't paying attention."
"But why was he so harsh?" Tomoyo countered, her arms folded coldly over her chest.
"Maybe he wanted to make her an example?" Rika was giving ground, little by little; she really didn't know what had possessed Terada to prevent the most likable girl in the school from going on a class field trip. She frowned.
"Well, I say we boycott the trip if he doesn't let Sakura-chan go," resolved Tomoyo.
The others nodded their heads in assent.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After break, Terada-sensei began explaining the details of the trip; there would be two people per room, 2 rooms per cabin, one chaperone per group, etc, etc.
As he started specifying the activities that would get people thrown out of the cabin area, there were a few dirty jokes from the back of the room. Terada-sensei looked at the kids, sternly glaring. He ignored them, and, as he was continuing, there was a sudden rrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiip, heard throughout the classroom. Sakura had been scribbling and erasing her answers furiously… apparently the paper couldn't handle her abrasive assault.
Sakura stood up, slightly pink, and asked the teacher "Eh hehehe… do you think I could… uh… get a new paper? Uh this one kinda…." She held up the disjoined paper. "Uh… broke."
The class hid smiles behind their hands. Sakura walked chagrinned to her desk, took out a sheet of paper, returned to her "study carol" at the front of the room, and began concentrating, furrowing her brow.
When the essay part of the class finally came, the sensei let Sakura rest her mind for a little while, then gave her a prompt to write on. When the bell had rung, Sakura turned in her paper, hugging Tomoyo and her other close friends good bye.
She got back to working and, after a long while, the sensei left. As she brushed the remnants of her eraser from her study carol, heading to her desk for more paper and pencils, she noticed a dark, moss-hued book bag.
'Oh no', she thought. 'Li left his stuff… oh well, I'll give it to him on my way home.' She took the bag with her as she walked back up to the front of the classroom, settling into her work once more.
Some time later, she glanced at the bag again, and a glint of white caught her eye. It said "Sakura".
She timidly took out the note, looking to the left and right, as if she were doing something terribly clandestine. She opened the note. It read "7.26339-sq. ft." A smile brushed Sakura's lips; Li-kun had left her the answer to the problem. She wrote it on the back of her abused paper, brushed the curls of her last eraser from the study carol, and set her work on the sensei's desk.
She gathered up her things, Li's bag among them, and began walking out of the classroom. When she got to the doorway, she bumped into someone.
"Oh, I'm so sor-- Li!" She rubbed her lower back and looked up, into his brooding eyes.
"Hey, Sakura." He said, lifting his scowl. The way he said her name was so… Sakura's cheeks grew rosy.
"Oh, Li, thank you! Thank you so much!" Sakura threw her arms around his neck, hugging him gratefully. At first he just stood there, letting the smiling girl embrace him. Then, slowly raising a hand, he smoothly placed his palm on the small of her back, a half-hug. A slight smile melted the edges of the cold set of his mouth. As soon as he had touched Sakura, she relaxed in his hold, letting herself fall against him.
Suddenly she remembered where she was… she remembered who this was. Li felt her tense in his grasp. He quickly stepped away from her, at the same time she stepped away from him. She bit her lower lip slightly, clasping her hands behind her back, scuffing the soles of her feet on the floor, looking anywhere but those beckoning, tawny-brown eyes.
With a startling suddenness, she looked up and blurted out,
"Here'syourbagIgottagoseeya!" And took off sprinting down the hall. Li was left standing in the hall way by himself, still wearing his soccer practice clothes. He blinked and slowly began the walk home.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Sakura got home, she began packing. Packing was no hard task; her mind began to wander. It stopped when she started thinking about Li. Funny, how it did that more and more of late.
'Well, it was just a thank you hug,' She told herself. 'It doesn't mean he wants to be my friend now… or anything more.'
But still.
She remembered the moment vividly. The way she had been possessed by something to hug him like that. The way the he hadn't pulled away. The way she could smell him underneath all the practice smells of grass and sweat. The way her spine shivered when he touched her… She pushed all thoughts of Li to the back of her mind and focused on packing; She was leaving tomorrow! Thanks to Syaoran…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sakura was in the car with her brother, her two bags packed with clothes, shoes, toiletries, etc. She was thinking about what would happen during the trip, what she and Tomoyo would do. Then she remembered.
Meiling already asked me, so I cant be your partner, Sakura. I'm sorry. Please understand. I'm sure you'll find someone else.
Oh no… Sakura panicked, not knowing who she could partner up with. She tried to relax; Tomoyo was not her only friend, she reasoned.
She entered the classroom, and, huffing and puffing, she greeted everyone cheerfully, dragging her bags behind her.
"Ohayo… min…na…!"
"Sakura!" There was shocked pleasure in each sing-song syllable as it emanated from the class.
"Sakura, we thought you couldn't go…"
Everyone began milling around sheepishly.
"So what are all those signs you're holding?" Sakura looked equivocally about the room.
"Eh… hehehe, see the thing is, we were gonna have a protest about you not being able to go, so… we were all over at my house and we made these signs…" Tomoyo seemed guilty. She blushed a deep, deep crimson. Her sign read 'We won't go without Kinomoto!'
Sakura blushed; her friends' caring touched her.
"Oh, you guys!" She said genkily, smiling.
She had momentarily forgotten that she had no partner, when Mr. Terada began speaking.
"Okay, you all. We have 1 hour before the bus comes to the train station. Before the partner selection begins, I should like to make known that there are two buses: 1 for people, the other for bags. Now, you may all choose your partners."
You may all choose your partners… What am I gonna do!? Sakura then spotted Chiharu. She waved, running over to her.
"Chiharu-chan, do you have a partner?"
"Uh…" Chiharu looked over at Takashi. He was making his way toward her, his eyes closed and crinkling in a smile. "Yeah." She blushed.
"Oh… okay, then, have fun!" Sakura returned to looking for her partner. "Naoko, do you have a partner?"
"So sorry, Sakura-chan, but I do!" she offered a wan smile as complaisance.
"Okay, then, good luck!" In about ten minutes, Sakura had discovered that everyone already had partners.
"Okay, class. If you don't have a partner, come to the front of the room."
Sakura pushed out her chair and stood up, setting her shoulders to make the desolate walk to the front of the room. When she made it to the front, she was surprised to see another pair of shoes beside hers; Li didn't have a partner.
"So what happened?" She whispered.
"Takashi cancelled for Chiharu," he growled. She didn't reply for a moment. He looked into her direction. He had intended to glance, but her eyes caught and held him, defenseless in their depths. It seemed like she actually cared.
Her cheeks crossed a warm pink color as she looked away.
"Ahem, Li Syaoran, Kinomoto Sakura, it would seem that you two are the only partnerless people in the class therefore, you will be paired together."
Sakura's jaw went slack. She looked at the sensei, dazedly. He looked back as if she were crazy. He looked behind her and stifled a laugh with his hand. Sakura looked puzzled. She turned around and saw that Syaoran wore the same expression, his eyes still on the sensei. Sakura almost started laughing, putting a hand over her mouth to muffle the sound. But her eyes smiled nonetheless.
Li snapped back to reality and looked around. When his eyes settled on Sakura, she was smiling. He put one hand behind his head and tried to shake off his awkward episode.
"Eh… hehehe… Uh… " He stammered with embarrassment. Finally Sakura could hold her laughter no more.
"Hahaha! Let's just sit down, okay? Hehehe," She said, panting with the effort it took to make the simple statement. Syaoran began walking toward his desk, her following, giggling most of the way. As he sat down, she flashed him a small smile that said "Thank You". 'Whatever could I have done for her to thank ME? Sigh, girls.'
After a while of talking to each other, Terada-sensei sprang back to life.
"Okay, everyone, grab your bags, the bus is here."
Everyone hurriedly collected their over-stuffed bags, taking them out the doorway. As Sakura was dragging hers across the room, she heard someone clear their throat behind her.
"I could carry that for you. If you like."
It was Li. She turned to him, surprised; she was behind everyone else, she'd thought. Her surprised face melted into a smile.
"Would you? That would be so nice of you."
"Sure." Li bent over and scooped up her bags, heaving them over his shoulder with ease. "No problem." The corner of his mouth raised slightly, his scowl lifting.
Sakura looked down then, pinkening.
When they got to the cargo bus, Li gently put her things in, placing them neatly beside his own, as if her bags held some fragile cargo.
He sensed eyes on his back. When he saw Sakura standing there, looking at him fondly, as if he were doing some great deed of kindness, he reddened slightly. He tried to cover the true nature of his redness by coughing. Sakura's eyes lit with concern.
"Are you okay, Li?" She asked, tilting her head.
"Uh… yeah. Let's go."
They got on the bus, Sakura sitting by Tomoyo, chattering, smiling. Syaoran sat beside Takashi, glaring at him.
And so began their mountain trip.
]**********************************
Lemme start by saying thank you SO much to all the people who reviewed! It makes me feel so special ^.^ (Not special ed!) But seriously, before I actually posted something I always thought 'Man… Authors really are pathetic, always begging for reviews…(^.^)' (Big, glassy eyes) But now I know… yes, I know why they are so pathetic… Feed back really IS the food for thought! It really DOES make people want to write more! So what did you think? no, don't SAY it, write it in the box… please? (I'm begging now…) PLease? (note that this entire author's note was an appeal to Bathos ^.^)
{Disclaimer goes here}