As Li headed off to school, with the bag of cookies in his bag – he had forgotten to take them back out – he kept thinking back to the previous day, which he hoped was a very vivid nightmare. On the other hand, it could have been even worse, like it was back home. Meilin's mother wasn't that bad, really, compared to his own mother and four sisters. They used to spend hours just going over pictures of him and Meilin – Li and Meilin practicing Karate, Li and Meilin walking side by side, and their particular favorite: Li and Meilin on a swing, snuggled up against one another (or that's what they claimed: Li could swear that Meilin was the one doing all of the snuggling). Not only that, they would exclaim, "Ah, don't they look so cute!" whenever he was even in the same vicinity as Meilin, and constantly crack jokes about how he and Meilin would get married someday. It didn't matter how many times Li told (actually, screamed) them that he did not like Meilin, how hard he tried to scowl whenever she came near, how many times he pushed her away when she tried to hug him, or how long he went without speaking to her. It seemed like they never got a clue as to how things really were.
"Girls." he said to himself, "They're all so dense." He could just picture Meilin right now, her frustration growing as she waited for him in vain. "Serves her right," he muttered, as he pictured what she might do when she found out she had been stood up – wait a minute. His imagination wasn't this good, was it? That meant… that was the real Meilin? In a panic he glanced at the street signs, which confirmed his suspicions – he had come the wrong way! There was one last chance: hope that she hadn't seen him, and walk away. But before he could do so, she turned around and yelled, "Hey, Li! I knew you'd come!" as she ran over. "Did you bring the cookies?" she asked while peeping inside his bag. "Good! You remembered! Let's go!" she exclaimed cheerfully as she took his arm and led him to school.
Somehow, Li got the feeling that this day wasn't going to be much better than the previous one.
Once class started, Li glanced around the classroom – why didn't anyone else bring gifts for the class? Didn't Zachary say, 'White Day is a day when boys are supposed give gifts to the entire class, just like Valentine's Day.' Surely, at least Zachary would have brought something… and while Li was still lost in thought, Zachary announced, "Since today is White Day, I brought presents for everyone." OK, so at least he wasn't the only one that had brought something.
He looked on with amusement as Zachary produced a pile of cards and handed a card to each student in the class, conspicuously skipping over Chelsea. Finally, at the very end, he took out a special card, and walked over to Chelsea's desk. He paused for a second before handing her the card and saying, "Happy White Day." Chelsea blushed in response, and her eyes were filled with tears – and she suddenly took his hands and kissed them.
Zachary did the only thing he could. He yelled out, "I have to go to the bathroom!" before he ran out.
While Zachary was still at the restroom, Meilin nudged Li and whispered, "Hey, Li, isn't it your turn now?"
"Stop it, Meilin," Li answered, "I'm not going to do this." No way, after he saw how Zachary had made a fool out of himself.
"What do you mean, Li? You said you were going to do it last night!" Meilin said pointedly, unaware that she was no longer speaking in a whisper.
"What is it?" Ms. Mackenzie, their teacher, asked.
Meilin stood up and announced, "Li baked cookies last night! And he would like to share them with the class!"
Li was practically seething now, though he did not let it show. Calmly he went to the front of the class and passed out the cookies, one by one. Things were rather uneventful until near the end. After giving a cookie to Sakura, he looked back several times to see her reaction – as it turned out, one time too many. Li was still glancing at Sakura when he passed out a cookie to Meilin. Meilin wasted no time in placing her hand on top of his and exclaiming, "Thanks, Li!"
Stunned, Li dropped his bag of cookies, and staggered backwards, crushing the bag beneath his foot. He calmly put the bag in the trash, and walked over to his seat and sat down, pretending as if nothing had happened. But he couldn't control the fact that his face was currently bright red – which brought whispers and muffled responses from all over the room. The only consolation Li had now was, at least he wasn't suffering alone. Li looked over at Zachary (who had returned from the restroom) with sympathy, and counted the minutes remaining until lunchtime.
Ah! But lunchtime would bring him no relief. He still felt that burning sensation in his cheeks – why? Why had he embarrassed himself, in front of everyone? Why did he bring the cookies in the first place? He took out his school bag and fumbled for his lunch, when he heard some grass rustling nearby – and his face fell. He knew who that was.
"Li, eat something. What's wrong with you?" Meilin asked, while offering some food to Li – who was so downcast, he forgot to make his escape.
"It's your fault, Meilin. It's all your fault." Li accused.
"My fault? Why are you blaming me, Li, for your own problems?"
"First you make me walk you to school, wait, before that, yesterday, you drag me to your house, you get this stupid idea of baking cookies for the class, and then you make me drop the bag. There, is that enough?"
"Really." Meilin looked skeptical. "I thought – I thought you wanted to do all of those things."
"No. How many times did I tell you, no?"
"But… then… why did you do all of those things for me? If you didn't, I would have understood." Meilin looked at him with watery eyes.
Li paused – he wanted to say something cruel, but decided to ignore her instead. Finally Li said, "Meilin, what's the point of White Day, anyway. You make me feel like a slave every day."
"You – really think I treat you like a slave?" Meilin was about to cry at any moment.
Li nodded his head, and turned his face away so he wouldn't have to see Meilin cry.
Meilin barely managed to compose herself and continue, "Li, how - how could you be so mean! I try so hard to do everything for you."
"Well, stop trying," Li reasoned.
Meilin thought for a moment before giving her answer. "That's it, Li! If you're going to be like this, then you don't have to do anything for me anymore. But today being White Day and all, if you can't be nice to me, then you're going to be nice to someone else. And I think we both know who that someone else is," Meilin challenged.
Li gulped – for that was very moment that Sakura and Madison walked by. Meilin placed her hand on his shoulder as she waved to them and called out, "Hey, guys, isn't Li great? Since today is White Day, Li is eating lunch with me!"
Li buried his face in his hand as Sakura gave them a funny look and walked away, while Madison squealed in delight and started to record them on her video camera. "Cheer up," Meilin consoled, as she held his chin up. "You're going to ask Sakura out after school, aren't you? Come on, let's eat," Meilin said, as she skillfully stuffed a rice ball inside Li's mouth.
Li nearly choked on it, and coughed violently. 'Well, at least I'll get to go out with Sakura now,' Li reassured himself. 'That is, if I can survive these two girls…' he thought to himself, as he glanced at Madison, who was still busy recording away – and at Meilin, who was smiling for the camera.
Once school was over, Meilin had to practically push Li toward Sakura. "Come on, Li. You can do this. All you have to do is to go over to her and ask. You remember your lines, don't you?" Meilin encouraged.
Bravely, Li took a few steps toward Sakura. Luckily, Madison wasn't anywhere to be seen, so he decided to just go for it. "Sakura," Li started – then paused. Was his tone too harsh? Was this part of the script Meilin had him memorize?
"What is it?" Sakura asked earnestly, as she stared into his eyes with those sparkling emerald eyes of hers… wait a minute. What was that rustling noise? Was that Madison again? Just then, another breeze kicked up, producing a similar noise – and Li decided that his mind was playing tricks on him. 'Come on, you can do this. It was easy when you were going over your lines with Meilin.'
"Uh… Er…" Li continued to struggle, when Julian (Tori's best friend) came by. That was the end for poor Li, as his trail of words hit a dead end. To make things worse, Julian casually walked up to Sakura and asked, "Hey, Sakura, do you want to get some ice cream? Your brother wanted to take you himself – but he has to work late tonight."
"Sure!" Sakura squealed with delight, practically jumping up and down. "I want to try the new triple-scoop fudge-covered ice cream sundae!"
"Hey, Li, Meilin, do you guys want to come along?" Julian offered. Meanwhile, Meilin was nudging him from behind and whispering, "Do it. Just go."
Color drained out of Li's face as he fled in terror. "Wait, Li!" Meilin called. "I'm sorry about that. You guys just go ahead, we'll catch up with you," Meilin apologized to Julian, then caught up to Li. "What's wrong with you, Li!" Meilin scolded.
"You wouldn't understand, Meilin. You don't have any magic!"
"Li… what's wrong?" Meilin asked softly, while putting a hand on a shoulder in an effort to comfort him.
Li brushed her hand off before answering, "N- Nothing. Never mind. Just leave me alone," he requested, before slowly making his way home. 'Why is she following me?' he wondered as he glanced back, but never bothered to send her away.