The Ripple Affect
By: Xiao
` This is AU and OOC, by the way. `
-- Chapter I --
'Just ignore it, it's probably not what you think, Tomoyo.' She took in one more quiet breath and made her way to the side of him, and pulled the chair out with her foot before taking her seat. "Hey. Mind if I sit with you?" She asked, offering him a friendly smile. She watched as he shook his head, and without even glancing at her, slowly rolled his sleeve back down, so discretely that Tomoyo didn't even notice him doing such a thing.
"Your name is," she paused as she thought back to her class when Matsuki-sensei had called upon him to answer a question. "Eriol Hiiragizawa, right?" She was already sure that she had his name correctly, and feeling a bit accomplished with that task, let herself relax slightly.
"Yes. You're Tomoyo Daidouji, and in fact, you are the new comer to our school, and specifically, one of my classes." She tensed up as she realized that he wasn't going to make this easy on her. Perhaps, if she wanted to be his friend, then she'd have to prove it and make it worth while. "You just moved here from England." He added.
She nodded lightly. "Well, it's good to know that someone paid attention when I was speaking. I could of sworn that everyone was either dead or slowly drifting there, with all those dazed looks on their faces." She caught him taking a glance up at her, before quickly going back to his book. 'He has such gorgeous eyes..' she thought, as she continued her speaking. "It's weird because it's nothing like my old school, because when we had a new kid everyone wanted to be their friend and show them around and everything. I suppose it was a little frustrating at first, but at least people wanted to be around you, and there weren't many outcasts because of it." She winced at her choice of words.
"There's aren't many outcasts here." He stated, as he took a glance around the lunch hall. Every other table had been filled to the brim with students, and then there he and Tomoyo say, two at one table. Most likely the only outcasts.
"Well, why don't you hang out with anyone?" She said.
"Why aren't you hanging out with them?" He shot back, coolly.
"Well," she paused, biting her bottom lip for a second. Why did she decide to hang out with him instead of everyone else? It was probably because everyone else didn't want her, but she didn't want to tell him that. Instead, it had to be that he reminded her of one of her old friends. "You look like one of my old friends, and anyway, at least now we can actually be friends, instead of just being a person in a huge group."
Eriol shook his head, slightly sighing. He folded the corner of the page in his book and shut it calmly before setting her hands on it and looking over at Tomoyo. "Just trust me, you don't want to be friends with a guy like me."
"Why not? You seem perfectly fine, just like everyone else here." She said, as she decided that the food she had received wasn't looking too appetizing and quietly turned behind her chair and tossed it into the trashcan, before taking her seat again. She folded her arms and leaned forward onto the table.
"Looks aren't everything." She had nothing to say in response to that. Eriol grunted lightly, and looked around at everyone, who were occasionally giving him and Tomoyo looks. "It's about how you act, talk, do your school work, and probably what your house and family and everything is like. A lot of these shitty groups want perfection, and if you're anything lower then to hell with you. It's not just looks, Tomoyo. And you hanging around me is going to give you a bad reputation." He shook his head, as if taking everything into consideration on her behalf. "Doesn't matter how you act, or talk, or how you do your school work, or what your family is like, and your house, or even how pretty you are. Doesn't matter how perfect you are, just hanging around a guy like me is going to make everything think less of you."
She raised an eye brow lightly, as if wondering where he got that idea. If she wanted to be his friend, then why did everyone else matter? "And if you don't care about what other people think of you, what then?"
"It's not just the students, either. You don't want to have to share the hell I'm going through," he stood up and grabbed his book and took a glance at the clock, realizing that the bell was about to ring, symbolizing certain classes and this lunch period were over and that the five minute passing period would begin. "Just don't hang out with me. I'm sure you deserve better, anyway." He said, as the bell erupted and, what seemed like, everyone stood up in time and left.
She sighed, frustrated. 'What the hell does he mean.. It's my choice to be putting myself in a situation like this. And even if what he says is right, it will just affect me, and not him, so why should he care?' Tomoyo stood, and grabbed her things before pushing her way through the crowd until she made her way to the hallway and found Eriol making his way to his next class.
"Listen to me for a second!" She said as she grabbed him by the shoulder and swiftly caught her gaze with his. "Whatever happens in result shouldn't affect you because it happens to me. Please, Eriol, just give me a chance, okay?" She said, almost pleading to him. She couldn't understand why though, she probably could just get into another group if she put her mind to it, but there was something about him that she just couldn't give up.
He shook his head, and took her hand off his shoulder before walking a few feet and entering his classroom, leaving Tomoyo to be annoyed by herself. She shook her head, decided that she wasn't going to give up on him. After all, everything he said couldn't be true, right? She came to the conclusion that she would soon find out.
For a moment, she dug her hand into her skirt pocket and pulled a neatly folded piece of paper. She looked down at the sloppy handwriting of one of the teachers and shook her head, her own dark lavender tresses swinging back and forth with her motion. "Fourth period," she read, her finger slowly tracing the word. "Choir." She grinned, and folded it neatly before putting it back in her skirt pocket.
Music had always been a thing she could easily get. For as long as she could remember, she had always had solos in the concert, usually got main leads in musicals, and was always loved by the teacher because of her voice. Singing had always been a soothing thing in her eyes, a way to express the inexpressible, thus she sang a lot. It was a way to get out how she felt and enjoy doing it at the same time.
"Class," she heard the teacher begin as Tomoyo came to the doorway. The bell had already rang, but considering she was new to the school, it would be an easy excuse to use, not that she liked be late, especially to choir. Being late meant you missed out on something, from music to an important note from the teacher about the test next Friday, which happens to be 25% of your overall grade. "We will be having a new student in our choir class. She has just moved here from England and I am expecting that you all will treat her nicely. Ah, look, here she is." The teacher smiled as Tomoyo opened the door. "This is Tomoyo Daidouji, class." The teacher walked to the girl and rested her hand on Tomoyo's shoulder.
"Now, Tomoyo, dear," the teacher said as the rest of the class began to erupt in some random wave of talking. "Since I haven't received any note from your previous teacher about what singing level you are, would you mind staying near the piano with me as we warm up."
"I don't mind." She smiled, happy that she would be able to be heard from her teacher, and hopefully get a nice reputation with her.
"Alright. Everyone, quiet down. Warm ups." She raised her hand, and most of the students instantly looked at the teacher and stood up from their seats. A few moments later, everyone had stood and was quietly waiting for the piano to began to play. The class began to sing 'doe, rae, me, fa, so, la, ti, doe. Ti, la, so, fa, me, doe.' The second round, the piano brought the tempo a bit faster.
"Doe, rae, me, fa, so, la, ti, doe. Ti, la, so, fa, me, doe." Tomoyo began with the rest of the class as the second round began. The teacher took a side glance at Tomoyo and gave her an approving smile as the rest of the class continued. Tomoyo smiled in return, and looked around the class as she sang, noticing that a few girls in the front row were glaring at her.
The warm ups continued as they switched from doe, rae, me, fa, so, la, ti, doe to various warm ups. After at least ten minutes, the teacher stood and pointed to a seat on the top row, between a raven haired girl and a red haired girl. "A soprano, I see." She grinned, and Tomoyo quietly went to her spot and stood between the girls.
---
At the end of the class, Tomoyo pulled out her schedule and ran her finger across as the rest of the class piled out of the door. She noted that she now had drama, and then walked down the carpet steps and wished the teacher a good day.
She quickly walked down the hallway, already knowing where the classroom was, considering she had passed it on the way to Choir. She had been one of the first students in the door, and went straight to the teacher and introduced herself. As the class piled in, the bell rang and the teacher introduced her. Tomoyo basically ignored the words that the teacher had spilling out of her mouth, and scanned the room and the faces. "Tomoyo?" She continued and ignored the teacher, as her eyes caught Eriol's, sitting in the back of the room. "Tomoyo?"
She shook her head lightly, and took one more glance at Eriol before looking at the teacher. "Sorry. Yes?" The teacher then asked her if she knew anyone in the classroom, and then Eriol looked up and sighed lightly as he realized that she was going to say that she knew Eriol. "I know Eriol."
"Ah! Splendid!" The teacher said, oblivious to Eriol's reputation. "Eriol is a very good actor. Why don't you go sit next him, and we'll start class." Tomoyo nodded lightly, and walked to the back of the class and took a seat next to Eriol. As she did so, students slowly muttered amongst themselves and gave her weird looks, as if to say, 'why do you bother with that loser?'
"I told you not to bother with me," he whispered, not even looking at her. Tomoyo took a side glance at him and shook her head lightly, ignoring his comment and just directing her full attention to the drama teacher, who had just instructed that each student get with a partner. Tomoyo smiled and gazed at Eriol. He sighed, and shook his head.
"No." He mumbled as everyone stood up, and quickly went to one of their friends, or their best friend. Tomoyo rolled her eyes, and pulled him up. He grunted, and stood, not at all happy with this decision, and thus, began to mumble 'why can't I just work alone like always?'
She pushed him, slightly, but not enough to make him move what so ever, and received a glare from him. "You can't work alone, I'm assuming, because now we have an even number in this class, am I right? Previously you probably worked alone because there was an odd number." She smiled, almost in a joking way.
"Okay! Everyone have a partner? Okay, good! Anyway, as everyone knows we have been practicing to perform certain scenes from Romeo and Juliet." A few of the students, who had same sex partners, gave the teacher and uneasy look, as if already expecting what she was going to say next. "And, I would like to be the one to announce that you and your partner will be performing scenes from the play!" Two of the boys in the front instantly gagged, as if the teacher had asked them to kiss each other, most likely thinking of the scenes with just Romeo and Juliet. "I hope you're happy with your partners, because you will be drawing scenes out of a hat, and cannot change them. It's fate, my friends. And if by some, "misfortune" you and your parent are of the same gender and you get a scene with Romeo and his love Juliet, that is just too bad, you'll just have to make it work!" The same too guys gagged again, and a few girls sighed lightly, and looked at their partner in disgust.
"See." Tomoyo pointed out, as she looked around the classroom as the teacher went around with a black top hat, which carried slips of paper that gave the act and specific scene (or page numbers) that they would be performing. "At least you don't have to be two people performing when you are only one person. And also, be happy because if we get the ending scene, it has a kiss. At least you'll be kissing a girl, and maybe if you weren't with me, you would of kissed a guy!"
The teacher came around and held out the black top hat, and Eriol quietly put his hand into the hat, and ran his fingers through the white papers, specifically at the bottom before coming a slip of paper that he hoped would be a good choice to perform. He pulled it out and handed it to the teacher, without even looking at it. She smiled happily. "Ah! This will be a lovely scene for you two! Yes, it is the scene when--"
---
"I'm home!" Tomoyo rang cheerfully as she walked into the house, before setting her bag down at the side and slipped off her shoes, and placing them aside. Quietly, one of the maids came to meet her and quietly took her things and led her into the kitchen, where her mother sat, sipping some hot tea.
"Please have a drink, Miss. Daidouji," the maid said politely and offered her a cup of steaming tea. Tomoyo politely refused, and then the maid exited leaving the mother with her daughter. Tomoyo took a seat across from her, and smiled. The mother smiled in return.
"So, how was your day, Tomoyo?" She asked.
"It was fine."
"That's wonderful. If you want, I'm sure Sakura would love to hear from you back in England--"
"Oh! Thank you!" She smiled as she got out of her chair and ran up the stairs, nearly knocking over a maid who was caring some clean laundry. The maid, which had been one of Tomoyo's closest friends (despite being older than her), went to her mother and asked how her day had been. Being informed by how it was fine, she smiled and continued to take the clean laundry to it's respected room and place.
She quickly dialed in the phone number to Sakura Kinomoto's house and pressed the phone to her ear eagerly as she listened to the dead toned ringing. She smiled and fell backwards onto her comforter as she heard her best friend pick up the phone. "Sakura!" She said, already excited. She hadn't spoken to Sakura for two weeks during their move from England to Japan (Tomoyo was of Japanese decent, but had moved to England when she was little, because of her father's job. Their parents had divorced and thus Sonomi, Tomoyo's mother, insisted that they move back to Japan because of it being where Tomoyo had been born)., which had been very lonely indeed. "Oh my stars, I've missed you!" She said immediately afterward.
"I've missed you, too! Really, it is so dull in England now!" Sakura replied back, equally happy, which was told her soft and girly voice. Sakura's mother had been best friends with Tomoyo's mother, and so when Tomoyo's father decided to move to England, the Kinomoto family followed. Sakura's father hadn't moved back with Sonomi because of the work he had been accomplishing in England, which was much better pay and easier in England than in Japan.
"Really? Well, guess what!" Tomoyo said, so loudly that her mother had glanced up the stairs, as if expecting Tomoyo to come running down to say something to her. "You remember Xavier, right? Well, I when I was at school today, I found this guy who looked exactly like him! I was so surprised! What are the chances of that?!"
"You're kidding me!" Sakura said. "You mean exactly? Does he have black hair, blue eyes and glasses? About our height?"
"Well, he has dark blue hair, but still. You want to know the downfall of the whole thing though?" Sakura didn't respond and just waited for Tomoyo to continue in what she was saying. With a sigh, she sat up and pressed her back against the pillows near her headboard and crossed her feet over each other. She took a glance at the nightstand which held a picture of Sakura, Tomoyo, Xavier, and one of their old friends, Xiaolang. "He is nothing like him. I mean, I want to be his friend and he kept saying how I shouldn't hang around someone like him! He's a loner or something, and so am I, so I was trying to be nice, but he doesn't want me to be!"
"Aw! I'm so sorry, Tomoyo.. I'm sure things will get better."
"I hope so," she said as she looked down at her toes, and wiggled them lightly. "But, I'm sure they will, too, because he's in my drama class, too. We're all performing scenes from Romeo and Juliet, you know the play, right? Two of the family's hate each other yet Romeo and Juliet fall in love, and then after one kiss they kill themselves? Well, Eriol is my partner for that, because he's the only person I know in that class, but we got the scene where--" The vacuum turned on downstairs, as the maid began to vacuum the pure white carpet.
"Really?!" Sakura said, happily at the choice they had received. The vacuuming had stopped a moment earlier. Tomoyo giggled lightly. "That's going to be a good scene, Tomoyo. And knowing you, you should be able to make it great. I'm sure that you and Eriol will become friends during that, too, because how can you work with someone you hate?!"
"Oh, I don't think he hates me.. I think maybe he just prefers to be alone. He said something about how he didn't want me to go through the hell that he's going though, with him. Maybe he's just trying to do what's best for me?" She said, already a little confused on why Eriol didn't her to be around him.
"Well, who knows. You'll find out soon enough, right?"
"Yeah." She turned her head as she heard her mother open the door to her room.
"Tomoyo, we're going to go out to eat tonight. You can call Sakura another day, because I need you get ready as soon as possible. Tell Sakura I said hello, as well." Sonomi said, smiling. Her daughter smiled as she told her best friend that her mother had said hello, and then promised she would call her again and said good-bye.
She stood up as her mother exited, and one of the maid's entered to help her decide on a nice outfit. "So, I see your day was fine, Miss Daidouji." The girl smiled. She had been in her early twenties and had long, black, curly hair, with a pair of soft jade eyes. She stood a few inches taller than Tomoyo. The girl had been like an older sister that Tomoyo never had, and so Tomoyo treasured their friendship.
"Stop calling me 'Miss Daidouji,' Rae-Lynn. And yes, my day was fine. I'm sure things can only get better from now on, as well." She said, as Rae-Lynn handed her an outfit. Tomoyo smiled, as her phone call had set her in high spirits. Yes, everything had to get better from now on. Surely, Eriol would give in and let fate take it's place. Well, at least that's what Tomoyo wanted to happen.
By: Xiao
` This is AU and OOC, by the way. `
-- Chapter I --
'Just ignore it, it's probably not what you think, Tomoyo.' She took in one more quiet breath and made her way to the side of him, and pulled the chair out with her foot before taking her seat. "Hey. Mind if I sit with you?" She asked, offering him a friendly smile. She watched as he shook his head, and without even glancing at her, slowly rolled his sleeve back down, so discretely that Tomoyo didn't even notice him doing such a thing.
"Your name is," she paused as she thought back to her class when Matsuki-sensei had called upon him to answer a question. "Eriol Hiiragizawa, right?" She was already sure that she had his name correctly, and feeling a bit accomplished with that task, let herself relax slightly.
"Yes. You're Tomoyo Daidouji, and in fact, you are the new comer to our school, and specifically, one of my classes." She tensed up as she realized that he wasn't going to make this easy on her. Perhaps, if she wanted to be his friend, then she'd have to prove it and make it worth while. "You just moved here from England." He added.
She nodded lightly. "Well, it's good to know that someone paid attention when I was speaking. I could of sworn that everyone was either dead or slowly drifting there, with all those dazed looks on their faces." She caught him taking a glance up at her, before quickly going back to his book. 'He has such gorgeous eyes..' she thought, as she continued her speaking. "It's weird because it's nothing like my old school, because when we had a new kid everyone wanted to be their friend and show them around and everything. I suppose it was a little frustrating at first, but at least people wanted to be around you, and there weren't many outcasts because of it." She winced at her choice of words.
"There's aren't many outcasts here." He stated, as he took a glance around the lunch hall. Every other table had been filled to the brim with students, and then there he and Tomoyo say, two at one table. Most likely the only outcasts.
"Well, why don't you hang out with anyone?" She said.
"Why aren't you hanging out with them?" He shot back, coolly.
"Well," she paused, biting her bottom lip for a second. Why did she decide to hang out with him instead of everyone else? It was probably because everyone else didn't want her, but she didn't want to tell him that. Instead, it had to be that he reminded her of one of her old friends. "You look like one of my old friends, and anyway, at least now we can actually be friends, instead of just being a person in a huge group."
Eriol shook his head, slightly sighing. He folded the corner of the page in his book and shut it calmly before setting her hands on it and looking over at Tomoyo. "Just trust me, you don't want to be friends with a guy like me."
"Why not? You seem perfectly fine, just like everyone else here." She said, as she decided that the food she had received wasn't looking too appetizing and quietly turned behind her chair and tossed it into the trashcan, before taking her seat again. She folded her arms and leaned forward onto the table.
"Looks aren't everything." She had nothing to say in response to that. Eriol grunted lightly, and looked around at everyone, who were occasionally giving him and Tomoyo looks. "It's about how you act, talk, do your school work, and probably what your house and family and everything is like. A lot of these shitty groups want perfection, and if you're anything lower then to hell with you. It's not just looks, Tomoyo. And you hanging around me is going to give you a bad reputation." He shook his head, as if taking everything into consideration on her behalf. "Doesn't matter how you act, or talk, or how you do your school work, or what your family is like, and your house, or even how pretty you are. Doesn't matter how perfect you are, just hanging around a guy like me is going to make everything think less of you."
She raised an eye brow lightly, as if wondering where he got that idea. If she wanted to be his friend, then why did everyone else matter? "And if you don't care about what other people think of you, what then?"
"It's not just the students, either. You don't want to have to share the hell I'm going through," he stood up and grabbed his book and took a glance at the clock, realizing that the bell was about to ring, symbolizing certain classes and this lunch period were over and that the five minute passing period would begin. "Just don't hang out with me. I'm sure you deserve better, anyway." He said, as the bell erupted and, what seemed like, everyone stood up in time and left.
She sighed, frustrated. 'What the hell does he mean.. It's my choice to be putting myself in a situation like this. And even if what he says is right, it will just affect me, and not him, so why should he care?' Tomoyo stood, and grabbed her things before pushing her way through the crowd until she made her way to the hallway and found Eriol making his way to his next class.
"Listen to me for a second!" She said as she grabbed him by the shoulder and swiftly caught her gaze with his. "Whatever happens in result shouldn't affect you because it happens to me. Please, Eriol, just give me a chance, okay?" She said, almost pleading to him. She couldn't understand why though, she probably could just get into another group if she put her mind to it, but there was something about him that she just couldn't give up.
He shook his head, and took her hand off his shoulder before walking a few feet and entering his classroom, leaving Tomoyo to be annoyed by herself. She shook her head, decided that she wasn't going to give up on him. After all, everything he said couldn't be true, right? She came to the conclusion that she would soon find out.
For a moment, she dug her hand into her skirt pocket and pulled a neatly folded piece of paper. She looked down at the sloppy handwriting of one of the teachers and shook her head, her own dark lavender tresses swinging back and forth with her motion. "Fourth period," she read, her finger slowly tracing the word. "Choir." She grinned, and folded it neatly before putting it back in her skirt pocket.
Music had always been a thing she could easily get. For as long as she could remember, she had always had solos in the concert, usually got main leads in musicals, and was always loved by the teacher because of her voice. Singing had always been a soothing thing in her eyes, a way to express the inexpressible, thus she sang a lot. It was a way to get out how she felt and enjoy doing it at the same time.
"Class," she heard the teacher begin as Tomoyo came to the doorway. The bell had already rang, but considering she was new to the school, it would be an easy excuse to use, not that she liked be late, especially to choir. Being late meant you missed out on something, from music to an important note from the teacher about the test next Friday, which happens to be 25% of your overall grade. "We will be having a new student in our choir class. She has just moved here from England and I am expecting that you all will treat her nicely. Ah, look, here she is." The teacher smiled as Tomoyo opened the door. "This is Tomoyo Daidouji, class." The teacher walked to the girl and rested her hand on Tomoyo's shoulder.
"Now, Tomoyo, dear," the teacher said as the rest of the class began to erupt in some random wave of talking. "Since I haven't received any note from your previous teacher about what singing level you are, would you mind staying near the piano with me as we warm up."
"I don't mind." She smiled, happy that she would be able to be heard from her teacher, and hopefully get a nice reputation with her.
"Alright. Everyone, quiet down. Warm ups." She raised her hand, and most of the students instantly looked at the teacher and stood up from their seats. A few moments later, everyone had stood and was quietly waiting for the piano to began to play. The class began to sing 'doe, rae, me, fa, so, la, ti, doe. Ti, la, so, fa, me, doe.' The second round, the piano brought the tempo a bit faster.
"Doe, rae, me, fa, so, la, ti, doe. Ti, la, so, fa, me, doe." Tomoyo began with the rest of the class as the second round began. The teacher took a side glance at Tomoyo and gave her an approving smile as the rest of the class continued. Tomoyo smiled in return, and looked around the class as she sang, noticing that a few girls in the front row were glaring at her.
The warm ups continued as they switched from doe, rae, me, fa, so, la, ti, doe to various warm ups. After at least ten minutes, the teacher stood and pointed to a seat on the top row, between a raven haired girl and a red haired girl. "A soprano, I see." She grinned, and Tomoyo quietly went to her spot and stood between the girls.
---
At the end of the class, Tomoyo pulled out her schedule and ran her finger across as the rest of the class piled out of the door. She noted that she now had drama, and then walked down the carpet steps and wished the teacher a good day.
She quickly walked down the hallway, already knowing where the classroom was, considering she had passed it on the way to Choir. She had been one of the first students in the door, and went straight to the teacher and introduced herself. As the class piled in, the bell rang and the teacher introduced her. Tomoyo basically ignored the words that the teacher had spilling out of her mouth, and scanned the room and the faces. "Tomoyo?" She continued and ignored the teacher, as her eyes caught Eriol's, sitting in the back of the room. "Tomoyo?"
She shook her head lightly, and took one more glance at Eriol before looking at the teacher. "Sorry. Yes?" The teacher then asked her if she knew anyone in the classroom, and then Eriol looked up and sighed lightly as he realized that she was going to say that she knew Eriol. "I know Eriol."
"Ah! Splendid!" The teacher said, oblivious to Eriol's reputation. "Eriol is a very good actor. Why don't you go sit next him, and we'll start class." Tomoyo nodded lightly, and walked to the back of the class and took a seat next to Eriol. As she did so, students slowly muttered amongst themselves and gave her weird looks, as if to say, 'why do you bother with that loser?'
"I told you not to bother with me," he whispered, not even looking at her. Tomoyo took a side glance at him and shook her head lightly, ignoring his comment and just directing her full attention to the drama teacher, who had just instructed that each student get with a partner. Tomoyo smiled and gazed at Eriol. He sighed, and shook his head.
"No." He mumbled as everyone stood up, and quickly went to one of their friends, or their best friend. Tomoyo rolled her eyes, and pulled him up. He grunted, and stood, not at all happy with this decision, and thus, began to mumble 'why can't I just work alone like always?'
She pushed him, slightly, but not enough to make him move what so ever, and received a glare from him. "You can't work alone, I'm assuming, because now we have an even number in this class, am I right? Previously you probably worked alone because there was an odd number." She smiled, almost in a joking way.
"Okay! Everyone have a partner? Okay, good! Anyway, as everyone knows we have been practicing to perform certain scenes from Romeo and Juliet." A few of the students, who had same sex partners, gave the teacher and uneasy look, as if already expecting what she was going to say next. "And, I would like to be the one to announce that you and your partner will be performing scenes from the play!" Two of the boys in the front instantly gagged, as if the teacher had asked them to kiss each other, most likely thinking of the scenes with just Romeo and Juliet. "I hope you're happy with your partners, because you will be drawing scenes out of a hat, and cannot change them. It's fate, my friends. And if by some, "misfortune" you and your parent are of the same gender and you get a scene with Romeo and his love Juliet, that is just too bad, you'll just have to make it work!" The same too guys gagged again, and a few girls sighed lightly, and looked at their partner in disgust.
"See." Tomoyo pointed out, as she looked around the classroom as the teacher went around with a black top hat, which carried slips of paper that gave the act and specific scene (or page numbers) that they would be performing. "At least you don't have to be two people performing when you are only one person. And also, be happy because if we get the ending scene, it has a kiss. At least you'll be kissing a girl, and maybe if you weren't with me, you would of kissed a guy!"
The teacher came around and held out the black top hat, and Eriol quietly put his hand into the hat, and ran his fingers through the white papers, specifically at the bottom before coming a slip of paper that he hoped would be a good choice to perform. He pulled it out and handed it to the teacher, without even looking at it. She smiled happily. "Ah! This will be a lovely scene for you two! Yes, it is the scene when--"
---
"I'm home!" Tomoyo rang cheerfully as she walked into the house, before setting her bag down at the side and slipped off her shoes, and placing them aside. Quietly, one of the maids came to meet her and quietly took her things and led her into the kitchen, where her mother sat, sipping some hot tea.
"Please have a drink, Miss. Daidouji," the maid said politely and offered her a cup of steaming tea. Tomoyo politely refused, and then the maid exited leaving the mother with her daughter. Tomoyo took a seat across from her, and smiled. The mother smiled in return.
"So, how was your day, Tomoyo?" She asked.
"It was fine."
"That's wonderful. If you want, I'm sure Sakura would love to hear from you back in England--"
"Oh! Thank you!" She smiled as she got out of her chair and ran up the stairs, nearly knocking over a maid who was caring some clean laundry. The maid, which had been one of Tomoyo's closest friends (despite being older than her), went to her mother and asked how her day had been. Being informed by how it was fine, she smiled and continued to take the clean laundry to it's respected room and place.
She quickly dialed in the phone number to Sakura Kinomoto's house and pressed the phone to her ear eagerly as she listened to the dead toned ringing. She smiled and fell backwards onto her comforter as she heard her best friend pick up the phone. "Sakura!" She said, already excited. She hadn't spoken to Sakura for two weeks during their move from England to Japan (Tomoyo was of Japanese decent, but had moved to England when she was little, because of her father's job. Their parents had divorced and thus Sonomi, Tomoyo's mother, insisted that they move back to Japan because of it being where Tomoyo had been born)., which had been very lonely indeed. "Oh my stars, I've missed you!" She said immediately afterward.
"I've missed you, too! Really, it is so dull in England now!" Sakura replied back, equally happy, which was told her soft and girly voice. Sakura's mother had been best friends with Tomoyo's mother, and so when Tomoyo's father decided to move to England, the Kinomoto family followed. Sakura's father hadn't moved back with Sonomi because of the work he had been accomplishing in England, which was much better pay and easier in England than in Japan.
"Really? Well, guess what!" Tomoyo said, so loudly that her mother had glanced up the stairs, as if expecting Tomoyo to come running down to say something to her. "You remember Xavier, right? Well, I when I was at school today, I found this guy who looked exactly like him! I was so surprised! What are the chances of that?!"
"You're kidding me!" Sakura said. "You mean exactly? Does he have black hair, blue eyes and glasses? About our height?"
"Well, he has dark blue hair, but still. You want to know the downfall of the whole thing though?" Sakura didn't respond and just waited for Tomoyo to continue in what she was saying. With a sigh, she sat up and pressed her back against the pillows near her headboard and crossed her feet over each other. She took a glance at the nightstand which held a picture of Sakura, Tomoyo, Xavier, and one of their old friends, Xiaolang. "He is nothing like him. I mean, I want to be his friend and he kept saying how I shouldn't hang around someone like him! He's a loner or something, and so am I, so I was trying to be nice, but he doesn't want me to be!"
"Aw! I'm so sorry, Tomoyo.. I'm sure things will get better."
"I hope so," she said as she looked down at her toes, and wiggled them lightly. "But, I'm sure they will, too, because he's in my drama class, too. We're all performing scenes from Romeo and Juliet, you know the play, right? Two of the family's hate each other yet Romeo and Juliet fall in love, and then after one kiss they kill themselves? Well, Eriol is my partner for that, because he's the only person I know in that class, but we got the scene where--" The vacuum turned on downstairs, as the maid began to vacuum the pure white carpet.
"Really?!" Sakura said, happily at the choice they had received. The vacuuming had stopped a moment earlier. Tomoyo giggled lightly. "That's going to be a good scene, Tomoyo. And knowing you, you should be able to make it great. I'm sure that you and Eriol will become friends during that, too, because how can you work with someone you hate?!"
"Oh, I don't think he hates me.. I think maybe he just prefers to be alone. He said something about how he didn't want me to go through the hell that he's going though, with him. Maybe he's just trying to do what's best for me?" She said, already a little confused on why Eriol didn't her to be around him.
"Well, who knows. You'll find out soon enough, right?"
"Yeah." She turned her head as she heard her mother open the door to her room.
"Tomoyo, we're going to go out to eat tonight. You can call Sakura another day, because I need you get ready as soon as possible. Tell Sakura I said hello, as well." Sonomi said, smiling. Her daughter smiled as she told her best friend that her mother had said hello, and then promised she would call her again and said good-bye.
She stood up as her mother exited, and one of the maid's entered to help her decide on a nice outfit. "So, I see your day was fine, Miss Daidouji." The girl smiled. She had been in her early twenties and had long, black, curly hair, with a pair of soft jade eyes. She stood a few inches taller than Tomoyo. The girl had been like an older sister that Tomoyo never had, and so Tomoyo treasured their friendship.
"Stop calling me 'Miss Daidouji,' Rae-Lynn. And yes, my day was fine. I'm sure things can only get better from now on, as well." She said, as Rae-Lynn handed her an outfit. Tomoyo smiled, as her phone call had set her in high spirits. Yes, everything had to get better from now on. Surely, Eriol would give in and let fate take it's place. Well, at least that's what Tomoyo wanted to happen.
