alright... finally eriol gets dumped.. wahahaha!!! anywayz, something happens in this chap (duh?). it's really nothing much but it will show wut happens due to sakura's breaking up wit eriol. hold it! it's not anything 'bad' or 'naughty', k? i won't write stuff like that in this story. so.. this chap is juz for something... did you actually understand that? oh yea, this chap is honestly boring... so don't expect too much from it... k?

note:

to RmGrace, i appreciate your interest in mah story. really, i do... but i think you should save your energy and review juz once or even twice per chap, if you like. sorry if i deleted some of your reviewz from b4. i juz thought i wanted reviewz from different people, including you as one of them. thanks for understanding! mwaaah!

Disclaimer: does the sentence, "i don't own ccs" make any sense to anyone???

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CHAPTER NINE

The Ice-Skating Trip

Eriol slumped back on his car seat. He was feeling so god damn depressed. As he started the car, he thought about everything that happened. He sighed, feeling ever-so annoyed with himself. He got his car started and went on his way home. As he got home, he quickly parked his car and got out, marching directly up to his room. He closed his door behind him and sat down on his bed. Just when he was about to take his shirt off, a knock on the door disrupted him. He groaned and stood up to open the door. It was one of their maids with a cordless phone in her hand.

"It's a phone call from Ms. Daidouji, sir," the maid informed him.

"Alright, you may go now," he said before the maid gave him the phone then ran off. Eriol held the phone by his ear. "Hello?"

"Hello, Eriol?" Tomoyo answered from the other line.

"Oh, hey," Eriol uttered. Sakura immediately came in his mind. She is Tomoyo's best friend after all.

"Um... I just wanted to see if you're doing okay," came Tomoyo's reply.

"I'm fine. By the way, how is Sakura doing?" Eriol asked. Tomoyo suddenly went silent. "Hello? Are you still there?" he said.

"Yeah, I'm still here. No need for you to worry about Sakura. She's alright, a little down, but still alright," Tomoyo retorted.

"That's good. I was already feeling quite guilty after what happened," Eriol told her.

"Eriol, do you really love Sakura?" Tomoyo asked him all of a sudden.

"Huh? What are you talking about, Tomoyo? Of course I did," Eriol answered with complete honesty. "Why?"

"Did? Why are you using the past tense? I'm pretty sure you still love her. If you do, then don't you think you must win her back? Do you want to see her in some other guy's arms again? And this time, it's going to be for real," Tomoyo said. "Sakura has her weak points too, you know. Like relationships for example. Believe me, I know. She's been my best friend for as long as I can remember. Sakura still loves you, Eriol. It was hard for her to turn you down a while ago. She cried the whole time when she got home."

"Why are you telling me this?" Eriol questioned in curiosity.

Tomoyo didn't answer at once. An unusual silence was present. Somehow, she seemed as though she was hesitating. "Because... Sakura is my best friend. I'll do anything for her to be happy," Tomoyo finally responded. "You love her, don't you? Then show her that you still do," she added.

"But Sakura doesn't want to accept me," Eriol uttered.

"It's not that she didn't want to. It was more like she needed to. Something or perhaps someone caused her to do that," Tomoyo said. "I can help if you want me to. I'll approach her myself and ask her about you. Then from there, maybe we can work something out."

"Alright. But I don't want to do something that will hurt her feelings even more," Eriol told Tomoyo.

"Trust me, you won't. You just have to be true to your feelings as well," Tomoyo replied. "I have to go. I'll talk to you when I have the time." And with that, the call ended. All Eriol could hear was the dialtone so he put the phone down as well.

~*~

Sakura had finally calmed down. This crying thing wasn't new to her anymore. She just didn't feel like torturing herself even more than before. She had dinner and took a shower then soon enough, got ready for bed. Sakura was still wondering about something though. Why was Eriol so mad at Syaoran that day? It's not as if Syaoran was even part of it to begin with, is it? Sakura tried to overlook her thoughts and made herself get some decent sleep for once.

After three days...

Sakura jumped out of bed and got ready for school. They were going to have an ice-skating trip. Sakura remembered how good Tomoyo was at this... sport (?). While she, on the other hand, wasn't even close to Tomoyo's level. But she could skate, no doubt there. When Sakura got downstairs, she caught the scent of sweets. Something like the scent of dessert being baked in the oven. She headed towards the dining table to have breakfast. Afterwards, Touya brought out a container of some sort and handed it to Sakura.

"What's in this?" she asked her brother.

"It's a cake, what do you think it is? I baked it with the help of Yukito's recipe," Touya told her.

"Since when did you learn how to bake?" Sakura said teasingly. "And most importantly, since when did you bake for ME?" she added in disbelief. Touya was being kinda weird. Was he sick or something?

"First of all, I learned how to bake from Yukito. Second of all, it's your ice-skiing trip today, isn't it? Well, if you don't want it, I would gladly take it back," Touya answered as he slowly got hold of the container.

Sakura took it from him and retorted, "I never said I didn't want it." She smiled and checked her watch. "Oh darn! I have to go. I might miss the trip. See you guys later!" she exclaimed before she started to leave. She stopped, looked back and said, "By the way, thanks a bunch for the cake." With that, she left the house and was driven to school [she couldn't bring her Porsche along, could she? if only!].

~*~

Syaoran had just arrived in school. He was early, quite unusual. But nevermind that. He had his bag with him and unfortunately, not his car [all hail Li's car!]. He was pacing around when he saw Eriol. Syaoran thought, 'Should I just come up to him and say, 'hey, you okay?' ? No way. I'll never do that. That would make me sound sick and pathetic.' Soon enough, Syaoran found himself in front of Eriol saying, "Hey, you okay?" Wow, he'll never do that huh?

"Yeah, I'm doing fine," Eriol answered.

"Good for you. So, well, I don't know how to say this but, sorry," Syaoran told him, feeling guilt emerge inside him again.

"No prob, Li. I'm doing fine and Sakura's doing fine. That's all that matters, right?" Eriol said as Syaoran just nodded in agreement. Shortly, after Syaoran and Eriol had arrived, Sakura and Tomoyo showed up. The two guys approached them reluctantly. "Hey, you girls ready for the trip?" Eriol just had to say something.

Tomoyo gave Sakura a slight jab and Sakura replied a simple "uh-huh". Tomoyo eyed at how Sakura was acting but things seemed quite normal. But being Sakura's best friend and all, she spotted the not so obvious uneasiness of Sakura when she was near Eriol. "Um... I heard we were going to be scattered in groups later," Tomoyo brought a subject up. "I'm really looking forward to the trip. I mean, try checking the schedule. It's all ice-skating and eat or rest then back to ice-skating again."

"Yeah, the teachers seem like were finally getting some influence on them," Eriol joked, causing all of them to snicker.

"Anyway, want to sit near each other in the bus? You know, so we could get to hang out together for once," Tomoyo suggested.

"Sure. That'd be great," Eriol answered, expecting Syaoran to complain right after. But... nothing. He didn't say a word of protest at all. The four headed to the buses as soon as their departure was near at hand. They got seated by the back so all four of them were beside one another. Soon, other students started to occupy the seats in the front part of the bus then they were on their way to ice-skating rink.

~*~

I was seated by the window and Syaoran was on the other side. Tomoyo and Eriol were in between us. I was feeling so frustrated that Eriol and Syaoran had to be near us. Because of them, I barely said much the whole time in the bus. I didn't talk when none of them talked to me first. I was... quiet. Can you believe that?

It took some time before we finally arrived at our destination. We all disembarked from the bus and proceeded to the rink. Tomoyo and I got a bench for ourselves. But just then, we had to be grouped. Exactly like what Tomoyo said earlier. Our instructors told to us to listen carefully as they announced our groupings. In no time, I was grouped with Tomoyo... Eriol and Syaoran?! What the hell?! I TRIED to secretly be put in some other group but to my darn luck, failed. I had to be stuck with my yesterday boyfriend and my current rival. Well, I should look on the bright side, right? At least Tomoyo's with me.

Tomoyo and I put our skating shoes on and got in the rink. Tomoyo put on quite a show. She did beautiful twirls and she performed other graceful moves. While she did all that, I just skated around on my own. It was a breeze for me now, very different from before. I skated around for a while until I caught sight of Tomoyo talking to Eriol. They were casting glances at me maybe because they didn't think I'd see them. Tomoyo approached me after that.

"Um... Sakura? May I talk to you for a minute?" she asked me as we skated towards the edge of the rink. I held on to the rail to keep myself steady as I listened to what my best friend had to say. She seemed to stammer at first but I tried to ignore it anyway. "D-do you still love Eriol?" Tomoyo caught me by surprise.

"W-what? What are you talking about?" I uttered. Why was she suddenly bringing that subject up?

"I said, do you still love Eriol?" she repeated her question.

"I... I thought I made it clear that I don't want to talk about him anymore," I said. "I broke up with him and that's that. I'm sure I'll find the right one for me and until then, I'm going to be okay by myself."

"What are you talking about? You love him, don't you?" Tomoyo insisted. But somehow, she appeared as though she was in doubt with what she was saying.

"Tomoyo, I don't love Eriol anymore. I only like him now as a friend and nothing more than that," I replied, trying my best to prove I no longer have feelings for him.

"I... I can't believe you. Eriol's a nice guy and you can let go of him just like that?" Tomoyo started to sound differently. "Why don't you at least try to work things out even for one last time? It wouldn't hurt to love once more, would it? We both know how much you love Eriol. Try to talk to him for once," she continued.

"Drop it, Tomoyo. I don't want to talk about him anymore!" I told her as I skated away. I didn't know what I felt right then. I was confused when suddenly, I saw someone moving my way to confront me. 'Oh shit.'

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wahahaha! cliff-hanger!!! who could it be??? hmm... i dunno. haven't figured that out myself! but seriously, i haven't, but i've got ideas already. wut do you think? anywayz, i really need reviewz. i maybe askin a bit too much but hey, that's the price you gotta pay for readin.. joke! juz want to hear from ya, all clear? so, i'll be expectin reviews to show up or else... O_o lol!