Rules of Popularity ...be careful who you fall in love with.
Chapter 1: The Deadly Threat

I admit it; I was popular through high school. I, Sakura Kinomoto, was the Queen Bee. I had my trusty clique consisting of three other girls: Alex Bolton, a tall blue-eyed blond; Lyndze Johnson, tanned skin, light brown eyes, long medium brown hair; and Sara Greenwell, short, long blond hair-gray eyed wonder. Of course, I myself was a beauty too. Unlike Sara and Lyndze, me and Alex had shoulder length hair. I had emerald green eyes, and a model body. My little clique and I were the most popular group right through out high school.

Now, you expect a Queen Bee to be self coincided, huh? You're right—I was. I was obsessed with myself. I made sure everyone else was too—no one could be better or prettier than I was.

I wasn't always like this; oh, no. I was nice to people and people in turn liked me for it. This whole popular thing didn't start until grade 9, when I started in a new high school—and lasted peacefully because I knew how to keep my power. Anyways, up until then I had a whole different circle of friends. Tomoyo Daidoji was my best friend. Rita, Nikki, Chelsae were my friends, too; and of course Meiling and Syaoran Li from Hong Hong, though they left a few years back. But, that all changed in grade 9. I became popular along with the former Queen Bees (of their previous junior high schools) Alex, Lyndze and Sara: not only that, I was chosen as the leader after I ditched my former friends. They were losers. I couldn't be seen with them. It's not my fault what happened to Tomoyo.

Then, it happened. A blast from the past. Meiling Li showed up.

My empire came across a deadly threat.

"Tomoyo! Oh my gosh—how have you been?," Meiling gushed. Tomoada airport was as busy as ever, just as she'd remembered it. "I see you, Nikki, Chelsae, Rita—but, no Sakura?"

Tomoyo bit her lip. "She couldn't make it." Nikki rolled her eyes.

Meiling shrugged. "Tomorrow, when I start school then."

Rita smiled. "How long you here for?"

"Well—for the rest of grade 11. It's only October, so I haven't missed much. And, I guess perhaps I might stay for our senior year."

Chelsae put an arm around Meiling's shoulder. "C'mon—we have to still get you ready for your big day. Tomorrow is your first day as a junior here!"

As, yes, the Li's. Syaoran and Meiling. Where should I begin?

Both were my friends through grade school—K-6. In fact, they were more than friends. Best friends, always there for me. I spent a lot of time with the two cousins, and once, I even had a little crush on Syaoran. Amber eyes, messy amber hair is hard not to love.

I'll never forget what Meiling taught me those years. Meiling is unlike any person I've ever met—she doesn't care of others opinions, nor does she follow 'latest trends'. In turn, people admired her for it. Meiling was popular in her own way—not that she cared. Popularity meant nothing to her. She didn't care that people looked up to her. She only cared about what she thought of herself. Meiling was powerful and witty. She showed me what people obtained when given popularity and didn't use it. Nothing but being liked. No special treatment, no envious eyes, no hot boyfriends. Looking back, I admired that all her popularity was because people admired her for being independent.

Now, I feel disgust for her.

How dare she abuse such a rare gift?

People could have feared her. She could have been the leader of all student body activity. Maybe that's why I felt such a strong sense of revenge when I was chosen to be one of the ' in crowd'. A feeling that I could make things right. I swore, from that day on, I would never repeat the past mistakes of Meiling Li.

When they left, I was devastated. All our days having fun together, laughing together and chilling together were over.

Little did I know that those famous ruby eyes Meiling's famous for would come to haunt me...

"Tomoada Junior High. Population 900. Seems like all the local junior high kids all end up going here, huh?," Meiling asked.

Tomoyo nodded; it was the only high school in the district. On top of that, they had no uniforms except for gym. Guess that's why kids ended up going here, no matter if Tokyo High was closer. "Yup—well, better give you a tour, huh? The faster you know who to avoid, the better." Meiling made a disgusted face; she didn't care who she pissed off and who she talked to.

{Try to imagine a tour of a school} Tomoyo started, as they began walking the halls of the school. "This school consists of three major groups: popular kids, middle class, and losers. Popular kids include the famous junior foursome and hot senior guys; middles are the people who mind their own business and aren't on bad terms with the popular ones; and the losers- the "tagged" groups. Don't mess with popular, or you won't attend this school anymore. Basically, avoid making the popular girls mad. They control the school."

Meiling nodded as she, Tomoyo, Nikki and Chelsae stood in the hallway, at Nikki's locker. "So...who are the popular ones?"

Rita came up to them as they started down the hallway, just in time to hear Meiling's question. "Alex Boulton. Tall, skinny model. Blue eyes, blond hair. She knows everything about everyone—on top of that she's mega rich from her family line—all girl Boulton's model.

"Lyndze Johnson...what can I say? She also looks like a model—but isn't. She's tanned, has long brown tresses, and well is really smart. Takes senior level courses. She's also rich—well, they pretty much all are—and only wears designer brands. It's only because her parents give her anything. Rumor has it that the only reason they do it is because they think she needs to be more of a teenager, rather than a girl completely devoted to her studies."

Nikki closed her locker, taking over Rita's descriptions. "Sara Greenwell, the world's biggest slut. Can't even know a guy for even an hour without making out. Long blond hair, short, gray black lined eyes—she's a beauty. She's not to smart though—but knows lots of male models. Likes them from Abercrombie and Fitch. She probably knows more than the Queen Bee."

Chelsae nodded. "Senior boys from the football team. Especially Matt Damen. God, he can he ever play football! Everyone says he's gonna get a scholarship. Brown hair, blue eyes, he's, of course, the boyfriend of the little clique leader those girls have. But, God, he's hot." Chelsae had an everlasting crush on Matt Damen.

Meiling nodded, slowly. There was one thing that nobody had forwardly come out with. Why were they beating around the bush? "Who's this girl? This Queen Bee?"

Nikki narrowed her eyes. "The evilest of them all- add all her people together, minus the fact she doesn't model but should; is a slut but doesn't show it like Sara; is smart in school but not as smart as Lyndze and isn't as rich as Alex. Add in some whore-ness, evil brains, and the ability to make anyone's life a living hell. And, oh look, there they come right now.

Meiling almost fell over.

Four girls came walking thorough the school doors. Done up in little size 2 mini skirts and designer tops, carrying purses, hair looking as if they had just gotten it professionally done and make up perfect. And, in the middle, there she was—pink pleaded skirt, tight white Roxy top showing stomach, brown heeled sandles and a matching brown Roxy purse over her shoulder. Make up done naturally; her black eyeliner more discreet than Sara's. Her hair left down freely, binder being carried by Matt Damon.

The evil dictator of the school was Sakura Kinomoto.

I was surprised the day I saw Meiling Li while I walked down the hallway. At first, I couldn't believe it was her. In fact, I didn't believe it was her—she changed most of her appearance. Instead of those annoying bun-pigtail things, she had her jet black hair down and grew out her bags so they hung towards the side of her face. She worked in red streaks towards the bottom layers—and looked pretty nice. Her skin had darkened—like a tan, you could say. But, those eyes had remained the same. Those ruby eyes haunted me from that day on.

It took me until lunch to realize that Meiling was really Meiling. You see, when you're as popular as I was, you pretend losers aren't there. But, something made me glance at Tomoyo that day—even to this day I have no idea what it was. All I remember were those confused ruby eyes as I walked down the hall that day. But, you see, I couldn't let them get the better of me. I had a job to do that morning.

Meiling couldn't peel her eyes off of Sakura; the source of all evil used to be one of her best friends. Besides all the questions that were created in her head, one stood out.

If Sakura was popular, why wasn't Tomoyo?

And, then, just for a second she though Sakura's eyes traveled towards her.

Tomoyo nudged Meiling. "If you look straight ahead, you'll see why even though they're so evil, they keep their power."

Meiling watched with confused eyes as Sakura made a beeline for a girl who tried unsuccessfully to hide behind her friends.

Sakura walked up to her with Lyndze on her right, Sara on her left, and Alex beside Sara. She stopped in front of a red head, who looked like a prisoner who had just accepted their death sentence.

Sakura smiled sweetly. "Hello, Jane."

Jane gave a nervous nod. " H-hi, Sakura."

"So, tell me Jane, do you like this school?"

Jane threw a 'help me' glance towards her friends pitying looks. "Yes."

Sakura looked from Lyndze to Sara and Alex. "It's ok to want to be popular you know."

Jane paled. "I...wouldn't....I wouldn't know."

Sakura smirked. "I think you do."

Jane almost threw up.

"You take the computers course?"

Jane stood frozen.

"Let's hope Tokyo High has a good one." Sara handed Sakura a slip of paper; long and narrow. On one side it had a swirly design {like a Sakura Card}and on the other side a picture of Jane. A target drawn around her face. Sakura took out a silver felt pen and wrote Jane's name across the top. Below her picture, the famous words 'you've been targeted' across the bottom. Sometimes, more was written. In Jane's case, 'thank you for the lovely information posted about me on the school site' was also included. She smiled as Jane, tear-filled eyes looked in horror at Sakura, quietly accepted the card.

Jane had just been targeted, with, what had come to be known as a 'Target Card.'

Sakura walked off, smiling to herself, as Jane's friends slowly walked off. If you associated with a target, you, too, became a target.

Meiling's face fell. "Tomoyo...what was that?"

Tomoyo shrugged. "A Target Card."

"A what?"

"A Target Card. If you do anything to piss off The Barbies, as they we to call them, they give you a Target Card. It means they're going to make your life a living hell—until you crack. But, almost always, it's until you leave the school. The longest anyone survived in the case of which they want you to leave the school is, well, 4 months."

"What did that girl do?"

"Jane? She posted an article on the school site about the control of The Barbies, only because Sakura targeted her cousin a month ago. That was...yesterday, think. Yeah, it was posted yesterday. Though, most people read it already. Jane's considered a saint now—no one stands up to them."

Meiling looked horrified. "What are The Barbies going to do to her?"

Tomoyo looked down. "Everything and anything. They make up plots and stuff. So far, to targets, they: mess social lives up, mess life up period, prank call about serious issues to parents, publicly embarrass, create true rumors, send embarrassing information around the school in various forms like emails, flyers, break them up if their coupled,tell the person's crush about them, but make it worse—it's pretty bad. I have no idea what they're going to do to Jane, though. No one does." Nikki, Rita and Chelsae nodded in agreement.

Nikki put a hand on Meiling's shoulder. "Welcome to Tomoeda High."

Lyndze sat down in the seat beside Sakura. Sara and Alex sat across for them, adding up calories. "We have a new student."

Alex dismissively waved her hand, still keeping her eyes on the wrapper in of the energy bar. "Meiling Li; transfer from Hong Hong; junior;home room 11-4; courses: pre-calculus, biology, chemistry, gym, English, Japanese, history, law, computers; friends with Daidoji. Anything else you wanna know Lyndz?"

Lyndze shook her head. "She's in my pre-calculus class-"

Alex look up. "Stop talking about pre-calculus. It's not attractive."

Sakrua rolled her eyes. "Shut-up, both of you. We need to plot."

Sara nodded. "For Janice."

"Jane," Alex corrected. "You're so stupid Sara!" Sara simply shrugged.

"No! For Meiling!," Sakura ran a hand through her hair.

Lyndze opened a chewy bar. "What'd she ever do to you, Sakura?"

"She's dangerous. She's going to try and take our popularity."

Alex spit out her juice. "What? As if. Those red streaks are so Avril Lavigne."

Sakura leaned in. "I used to be her friend. I know her, know her."

"You used to be her friend. She's only been here 4 hours. And you already know her? Wow, something bad must of happened between you two to be ex-friends so fast."

Alex turned her head to look at Sara.

Lyndze rolled her eyes. "So..what are we going to do?"

Sara and Alex nodded in agreement.

Sakura shrugged. "Crush her."

Sara's eyes grew big. "Target Card?"

"No—not yet. Let's see what she does first."

Alex flipped her hair out of her face. "God, she's hanging around that Tomoyo girl. What a freak. Didn't we already target her? And her little poise?"

Sakura shrugged. "Yeah. But, whatever. First we crush Jane...say minor pranks this week, a big one next week?," heads nodded in agreement. "Remember to keep an eye on Meiling, though. Alex?"

"I'll keep my phone on vibrate, and keep my my text messaging open. My sources will inform me."

Sakura leaned back. "Soon, Meiling Li will be gone."

Now, I'm sure you're wondering this: if I targeted Tomoyo and company, why weren't they gone? Well, it's complicated. First of all, even back then, part of me still hated the fact I had to target Tomoyo. I mean, she was my best friend, and even as I hurt her she never looked at me with hate—only pity. I guess that's the real reason why I couldn't look any of the people of friends of people I hurt in the eye. I was ashamed, somewhere, deep down.

I couldn't bring myself to force Tomoyo out of the school. I couldn't. To this day, I still can't give a single reason. Was I too soft? Did I keep her there as a reminder of what I was doing to people? Did I still care for her as a friend somewhere deep down?

But, I'll never forgive myself for what I did to her.

"So, guys, when did Sakura become so popular?," Meiling inquired. They sat outside that day in the grass field. It was a beautiful fall day.

"When she ditched us," Nikki replied, voice filled with anger.

Tomoyo looked away. "She didn't ditch us, she found new friends."

Rita's eyes grew wide. "You're right Tomoyo, she didn't ditch us. First she humiliated us—humiliated you. Not to mention it was in front of the whole school. How can you blow this off, day after day, year after year? Open your eyes, honey—she's not who she was."

Tomoyo smiled. "I know. But, if you knew her like I did you wouldn't be saying that."

"Tomoyo...," Meiling started, "what did she do to you?"

Meiling was silent.

Chelsae spoke up. "When Lyndze, Sara and Alex first became popular, they spotted Sakura—according to them she was popular girl material. But, before she could become one of them, she had to ditch her old friends. Sakura, I guess, was hurting from her family life back then—told us she was having problems with her father. These girls made her feel at home, and, well, I guess she liked that because within a month she made the decision to ignore us. Though, that's strictly a theory. Maybe Sakura had other reasons?

When Tomoyo confronted Sakura in front of everyone in the cafeteria on why she was avoiding us, Sakura had to prove that she had ditched us—because, the way it was looking, it was like she was secretly still friends with us. In reality, Sakura just hadn't actually told us she wasn't friends with us anymore. She hoped we would get a hint. So, in front of everyone, Sakura blurted out a rumor. She said something like Tomoyo, I'm not avoiding you. Maybe I'm just trying to get away from your camera! It was a joke we had made up when Sakura would run away from Tomoyo's camera because she was embarrassed and Tomoyo would pretend she was hurt and avoided. Anyway, her clique perceived it as an 'obsession with Sakura'. And, Sakura, encouraged by their approval, went on. Yeah, no kidding, Tomoyo. It is like your obsessed with me. Like a lesbian thing or something.

That was when Sakura knew she said too much. Alex or someone must have blurted out Tomoyo's a lesbian really loudly because up till now, it's still a rumor. After three years."

Tomoyo looked away as Meiling put an hand on her shoulder. "Why didn't you tell me, Tomoyo? I would have come over and knocked some sense into her!"

Tomoyo smiled. "It's alright Meiling. Really. One day, I'm sure we'll be friends again."

Meiling's teasing eyes turned serious. "So, what are we going to do?"

Rita looked gave Meiling a confused look. "What do you mean 'what are we going to do'?"

"Sakrua is not going to get away with this. She is not going to continue to hurt us."

Nikki shook her head. "You'll just get targeted."

"Let them target me. I'm going no where. Sakura Kinomoto can stick those cards up her ass—she will not be able to make me crack. So, let her give me Target Cards. I don't care. She just pissed off the wrong person, not the other way around."

Little did I know what war I was about to fight in. I guess the old saying was right.

You pick your own battles. And as sure as hell, the day I created those target cards, hurt Tomoyo, and became popular I chose to fight whoever stood in my way.

And, so is happened, that Meiling Li stood in my way.

And, thus, the story began.