Disclaimer: I do not own Sakura, Touya, or any of the songs in this fic. Clocks is by Coldplay in particular. I don't own the idea of Touya being a teacher, either. Lauren is mine (cuz she's me) and so is Sandi, Mrs. Reynolds (who is actually my music teacher), Hanka-sensei, and um. The other people who aren't CLAMP's. Oh, the book Choices is random; it's not anything by anybody I know.

Choosing Clocks: Chapter 1

AN: Finally I'm getting the second chapter up! I've been sitting around and typing ALL day. It's fun! I feel very very very accomplished. Well, enjoy! This chappie will probably be MUCH more interesting than the last. I hope.

Monday

Lauren finished unpacking her last pair of pants and folded up her bag. She looked around the small dorm room and sighed with happiness. ~I finally belong to a university!~

"Hayaku, Nyann-san, class starts in a minute!" Sandi, Lauren's room mate, called. "Hanka-sensei said I should show you to the Literature building." She beckoned.

"Arigato!" Lauren grabbed her books and followed Sandi down a flight of stairs and out of the building.

It was a sunny day, and the warm winds were high. Students swarmed around the courtyard. Lauren was awed once again by the beauty of the campus.

"Watch out," Sandi muttered. She pointed to a boy. "He's the biggest pervert on campus. Girls' skirts get caught in mysterious updrafts when he's around."

Lauren blushed and giggled, glancing down at the short pleated skirt she was wearing. "I'd better be careful, then."

Sandi quickly delivered Lauren to the Literature room and hurried off to her own class.

"Welcome, welcome, Nyann-san. I'm Hanka, the assistant principal to this college. Your Literature/Writing teacher is Reynolds-sensei. Call me if you need anything!" He left with a wave.

Reynolds-sensei was an older woman with very short brown hair and kind eyes. "You may sit over there next to Kigo Ekicho."

Lauren nodded and slid into the seat.

"This is only the second day of this term, so you won't be too lost in what we're doing. I'm just going to pass out the book that we are going to be reading for awhile." Reynolds-sensei picked up a stack of books and began to pass them out.

Lauren looked at the title. "Choices," she read to herself quietly.

"It's a story about the choices of one girl and how they affected her life and the life of the man she loved. A lot of you may thing that it's another one of those pointless romances, but it definitely isn't. This book has messages that really make you think. I'd like you to read the first two chapters and write about something that's surprised you in two paragraphs. I know this is your first of second day, so I'm sorry if I'm coming on too hard with homework. Well, I have nothing more to say, so. Class dismissed."

Lauren picked up her books and headed to Science, and then to Math. She didn't get to actually start the book until lkunch, even though it had been beckoning to her all day. She was ensnared by the first sentence as she read it while taking a bite of her sandwich. "I never thought I would fall in love again after I had been hurt so badly, and it was even more surprising to me that it was a forbidden love," she read quietly. "Sounds like Romeo and Juliet," she scoffed, but nevertheless she kept reading until the end of the second chapter.

"Lauren!" Sandi called for what must have been at least the sixth time.

Lauren's head snapped up and she closed the book. "What?"

"You're going to miss your next class! You already missed last class!"

"Oh, shoot!" Lauren exclaimed. She threw away the rest of her untouched food and hurried off to class.

***

"Agh, this is so difficult," Lauren complained, tilting her desk chair back and chewing on her pencil.

"What homework are you working on?" Sandi asked from across the dorm room. "Math?"

"No, I don't have any math. It's Literature. We have to write about something that surprised us about the book. Or the first two chapters, at least. The thing is, I wasn't surprised as much as I was amazed. The amount of feeling that Sandra has for her teacher is amazing. I can just feel her sadness when she struggles to keep her emotions under control."

"Mm," Sandi said distractedly. She had spotted her boyfriend.

Lauren sighed and left to go for a walk. "I need to think," she told unhearing ears. She sat down on a bench under a tree and looked up at the moonless sky. The wind stirred her hair and on unexpected tear rolled down her cheek. ~Sandi and her boyfriend reminded me that I am alone. But in the end everybody is alone, aren't they?~ She stood up and strolled towards the building that housed the music room. Lights were on, and she heard music coming from within. She went inside to investigate.

The door to the piano room was open a crack and she peered in. Nobody was inside, but a CD was playing. Lauren recognized it as the Shrek soundtrack. She turned it to the theme song and closed her eyes as the music surrounded her. As music always did, it began to lift her soul and helped her forget all about her troubles and worries. "There's no more mystery, it is finally clear to me, you're the home my heart search for so long. It is you I have loved, all along," Lauren sang with the song, her eyes still closed, her hands resting on the windowsill.

Unbeknownst to her, there was someone watching her. He was standing in the doorway, his head resting against the frame and his mouth open in surprise. When the song was over he brushed his shiny dark brown hair out of his eyes.

Lauren shut off the CD and let her finger slide from the button. She continued to look out the window.

"You sing very well," the man remarked in a deep voice.

Lauren jumped and whirled around, blushing furiously. "I-I didn't know anybody was here." ~Judging from his suit he looks like a teacher.~

The man's face was straight and emotionless. "I'm sorry to startle you. I just went to get something in the auditorium and when I cam back you were here."

Lauren's blush spread. "I'm so sorry to intrude. I guess I got caught up in the music."

"That happens quite a bit to me, it's nothing to be embarrassed about, miss.?"

"Nyann, Nyann Lauren." Lauren stumbled over her words. ~What is wrong with me? Why am I so nervous?~

"I'm Kinomoto Touya." He looked at her closely. "For some reason I feel as if I should know you."

Lauren's heart caught in her throat. "Are you Sakura's brother, by any chance?"

Touya jumped. "Y-yes, why? How do you know her?"

"I sat next to her on the plane on the way here. She told me she was coming to see you because." Lauren stopped and swallowed. "Er, anyway."

"It's a small world, isn't it?" He smiled and motioned for her to sit down in a chair. "Why did you come into the building?" He went to a small fridge in the corner and took out two iced teas. He handed one to Lauren.

Lauren leaned back in her chair. "I just needed to think about my Literature homework so I went for a walk. I got caught up in my own dazings, though. I was thinking about my singleness." She suddenly blushed again. "Oh, sorry, that was uncalled for. I was thinking out loud."

Touya hid his smile, but Lauren saw it. She snorted.

"You find it funny that I let things slip?"

"No, I'm smiling at the fact that you're so energetic even at this time of night. I'm usually dead asleep by now, but." He trailed off and looked out the window.

Lauren wondered what he was looking at, but thought against asking. ~He looks so sad. I wonder what happened to him.~

Touya was suddenly aware that Lauren was looking at him. "Oh, sorry, I was just thinking." He stood up. "I have to teach a class tomorrow morning, so I should get to bed."

Lauren nodded and smiled slightly. "You do realize that I'm in your class tomorrow, right?"

"You are? I hope you're as sane in the morning as you are at night. My other students are crazy."

Lauren giggled. "I'm more sane in the day than I am at night. I think."

Touya was close to laughing as well, Lauren was sure of it, but something that he suddenly remembered stopped him. "Well, come on, let's go." He began to shut off the lights.

They left the building in silence, only uttering a quick goodbye before going back to their place of residence to sleep.

~Touya is a decent man,~ Lauren thought as she drifted into sleep. ~He's not that much older than me, either.~ She internally whacked herself for thinking such things. ~That book must be getting into my mind.~

AN: Yay, I hope you read this far! If you did, THANK YOU! Please r/r!