Rules of Popularity ...be careful who you fall in love with.
Chapter 5: Pep Rally
Touya Kinomoto fixed green tea for Sakura and her friends—it wasn't often that Sakura had them over. Mostly, they went to that rich model's house. Alice? Alexa? Alex? Alex, that's it. Alex Bolton. That blond who told him that he needed to buy Smart Choice green tea, or she would gain weight.
So, naturally, Touya never bought Smart Choice green tea. He only told Alex he did.
Obviously, using other brands of green tea made no difference. The incident occurred two years ago, and Alex Bolton hadn't gained a single pound.
Damn.
Touya climbed the stairs to Sakura's room where her friends were busy reading magazines out loud. "To properly obtain an orgasm..."
Sakura looked up. "Put it over there, Touya. You did use Smart Choice green tea because of Alex, right?"
Touya nodded. "Of course."
He closed the door and walked into the living room. Why was Sakura friends with those self absorbed wannabees? What happened to Tomoyo? Nikki? Chelsea? Rika? He had never approved of these new girls, not once. They had never thanked him or Sakura for dinner or tea; never once properly acknowledged his presence.
"Touya, you know Sakura has the right to chose her own friends," a young boy of 24 said. His silver hair and glasses sparkled in the sunlight.
Touya gave the boy a half smile from the living room entrance as he joined him on the couch. "Yukito, you sound more and more like my father everyday."
Yukito nodded silently. "Sakura has changed so much since your father decided to start doing digs around the world."
Touya nodded sadly. "It impacted her so much. I guess, now that I'm in my final two years at Tokyo University, I could move back and live with her, again. It's not healthy that Dad decides to pick up and leave for three months at a time, stay home for two weeks, and leave again. She can't live on her own like this. It's not right."
Yukito gave his best friend and roommate a half smile. "In two years, our little Sakura will be in university herself. Besides, you're going to be working in Tokyo, so you wouldn't move back here anyway."
Yukito had known the Kinomotos' for six years; it was almost as if he was family with them all. Their problems were his problems, too. But, if there was absolutely nothing he could do to fix them, the least he could do was lend an ear or a shoulder to lean on.
Touya scowled. "The least Dad could do was be here with her for until she graduates! Does he not see how she's changed?"
"It was selfish of him, I know, but you come over at least once every two weeks."
Touya hit a near by pillow. "It's not enough to come and spend two days with her every two weeks! She needs more family, Yukito! What happens when finals come up? I won't see her for TWO MONTHS!"
Yuktio silently nodded his agreement.
"And, what kills me even more, is that Sakrua's turned into that!," Touya picked up a picture that had been lying on the coffee table of Sakura and her friends at a high school dance, and, as Touya put it, 'they might as not be wearing anything'. Sakura was in the middle wearing a black low cut halter top that stopped a good inch above her belly button and a magenta pink sequence skirt that sat extremely low on her hips, yet still stopped at high thigh. Black sandals with two inch heels and straps that went up her legs tied in with the black eyeliner and straight hair.
Touya growled and threw the picture to the other end of the coffee table. "A slut faced girl who won't get anywhere in life! Yukito, it's just not fair! Every day, I watch her become more and more of what she is; she's not the girl she was anymore. Especially since she got that boyfriend, Matt. I don't even think she's a virgin!"
Yukito's face fell as he slowly poured himself more tea. "Touya, I'm so, so sorry..."
Touya gave a half-hearted laugh. "I'd give anything for those Chinese kid-brats to come back, again. Maybe they'd put some sort of sense into her head, again. And not just the common sense to double up on condoms."
"So, Sakura, when does your annoying brother leave for Tokyo, again? I mean, it's a weekend, does he not start school yet?," Sara asked.
Sakura looked up from her sex article. "Tomorrow's Monday right?"
"Yeah."
"Then he leaves tomorrow night."
"Why don't you have a party on Friday, then? Help us with our plan to crush those Li's."
Sakura tilted her head. "Sounds like a good idea." She looked around and realized Lyndze had gone to the washroom. Good. This might put help my plan out. Put two little rebels in their place. "And I think I'm gonna put a little match making to the test..."
Kaho sat at her desk. The whole room was dark, except for a overhead light and the white light coming off of the computer screen. Red hair was let down from the bun she had in this morning and looked as if not long ago fingers had been wildly running though it. Currently, her fingers drumming over the desk, staring at the English paragraphs—a certain someone's paragraph—she had class English 30S-4 write.
Sakura Kinomoto's class.
And, ironically enough, the paper she was staring at was no other than Sakura Kinomoto's.
In fact, she had been staring at Sakura Kinomoto's paragraph for the past twenty minutes. A red pen lay ready by the paper ready to make remarks, give praise and point out errors.
No mark at all had been made on Kinomoto's paper yet.
Kaho closed her eyes, reopened them, and let her eyes take in what Sakura had penned. The topic was of each students own choosing. Funny, though, out of everyone she expected Kinomoto to write a paragraph on some girly subject: makeup, hair, soap oprahs, reality TV—just as her I'm-better-than-you nature would most likely be interested in. But, no. The deceiver has become the deceived.
Kaho sighed; she couldn't ignore this paragraph—or, should she say multiple paragraphs—for much longer. But what could she do? Her eyes traveled to the title again.
Rules of Popularity
Syaoran got up from reading his textbook to get a cup of water from the kitchen. After getting the cold, chlorine tasting liquid, he wandered towards the phone where a red light was flashing. A few messages were on the answering machine from people calling while he was locked away in his room studying.
He pushed the play button.
"Syaoran, it's me, Jessie. I'm in your science class and I thought maybe-"
Delete.
"Li Syaoran, hi, this is Madeline. Actually, we've never met, but I got your number and I was wondering if you want to hook-"
Delete.
"This is Karen calling for Syaoran. I know your single, so if you want to-"
Delete.
Syaoran shook his head; what was the female population of the school coming to? It was a Wednesday night; ever since Monday he had been getting these weird looks from girls in the hallway, during class, at lunch, after school, at football practice—they were practically stalking him! He downed the rest of the water and let his memory travel back to Monday at lunch....
"Syaoran, Eriol! Thought you two were gonna actually gonna go sit with those losers," Matt answered calling them over to the "jock" table.
Eriol gave Syaoran a quick look and sat beside Matt, indicating Syaoran should follow his example and sit beside him.
Syaoran, lucky for him, took the hint as he sat down and remained quiet. He half heartedly listened to the conversation going on between him and his fellow teammates, nodding and smiling and the appropriate places, but his main attention was at the other end of the table.
Specifically on Sakura Kinomoto.
The way she smiled at comments, her laugh that he hadn't heard in so long, the way her eyes went big at startling statements, how her smooth, split-end free hair moved when she shook her head. She was perfect in every way.
Just as every popular cheerleader should be.
Syaoran shook his head; there was no way Sakura was only popular because she was pretty. She was popular because she was nice...
...right?
A few other cheerleaders came to join the circle at the opposite end, dragging Sakura away with them.
He let his gaze wander down towards the three other girls who seemed most close to her. There were two blonds he didn't recognize, and a brunette who seemed oddly familiar. Wait! I know her.
Lyndze Johnson from his math class. But, if she was a senior, why was she hanging with juniors? Could she be a junior too? Like Sakura was?
He poked Eriol. "Eriol, who are those girls down there?"
Sakura came back dressed in a red and white skimpy cheerleading suit.
Eriol raised his eyebrows. Poor Syaoran was having such a hard time adjusting to this popular thing. Oh, well. He needs to know the brutal reality. "The Barbies. Juniors, actually. From left to right: Sakura Kinomoto, Lyndze Johnson, Sara Greenwell and Alex Bolton. If you touch Sa-"
"Sakura, baby, come here for a sec will you?," Matt called out.
Eriol sighed. I am so stupid! If only he had explained the whole Barbie thing to Syaoran a while ago...
Sakura flashed a seductive smile before realizing Syaoran was sitting in the little circle.
Her smile fell.
She walked up to Matt, who pulled her on to his lap. "Syaoran, this is my girlfriend, Sakura Kinomoto."
Eriol tried his hardest not to laugh for three reasons:
One the irony of this timing. Syaoran was really being dragged to hell and back over being popular; even he himself didn't have to get taught about the Barbies this way.
Two the look on Kinomoto's and Li's face was priceless. Kinomoto practically straddling her boyfriend's lap and Li's eyes traveling up and down Kinomoto as his mouth hung open.
Three, because, the two were obviously head over heels for one another; considering Kinomoto usually did a lot more than straddle Matt in front of the football team.
"I-we did met Syaoran," was all Sakura could manage to get out.
Eriol bite his finger. Make that four: not once had he seen Sakura Kinomoto, ruler of the school, stumble over her words before. Which left him wondering, just what did happen between Kinomoto and Li all those years ago?
Syaoran simply nodded, dumbfounded. Girlfriend?!
Matt grinned oblivious to the situation. "Yeah, baby, I know you've already met, I just thought you deserved a proper introduction."
Syaoran blinked a few times. "...girlfriend..."
Eriol's eyes watered with tears.
Matt nodded proudly. "Since grade 9. Though it's been on and off. You remember our anniversary, right baby?"
Sakura and Syaoran blurted out their words at the same time.
"Anniversary?!" "December 13."
Eriol chocked on his sandwich.
"Sakrua! Come here!," a red head with the same uniform called. "We're ready to start!"
"I have to go," Sakura said, sprinting for the group of cheerleaders by the cafeteria door. It was now time for a little Meiling Li revenge.
Eriol shook his head. Yet again, providence saves another ungrateful person. Where was providence when buses are getting blown up in Isreal?
When a love-struck young man gets pulled into a social jungle for revenge purposes?
Sara threw her Cosmopolitan magazine across the room. The other three looked up from whatever they were doing; minus Lyndsey, who was working on math, again, after coming back from the washroom.
"What else are we going to do about those Li's?," she asked.
"God, Sara, that has got to be the first question that makes you sound smart," Alex said, awe struck. Who knew Sara could be this smart?
"If you don't get him, Sakura can I have Syaoran? Oh, please, can I have Syaoran?"
Alex snorted. "I take it all back."
Sakura rolled her eyes; would they ever get along? "Alex, Sara, knock it off. And, yes, actually, I have another idea. Care to hear?"
Both blonds leaned in enthusiastically. Sakura turned her attention towards Lyndsey, who simply kept on working away at her math problems. "Lyndsey?" Put a rebel in her place, I will. Something's up with Lyndze—and I don't know what. But, I do know this—she can be worse of an enemy than Meiling. I need to keep her close.
Lyndsey silently joined the circle.
Sakura smiled. "All right. Now, this is the trickiest thing I have ever attempted, but Meiling isn't playing around here. She's smart. So I propose this—we take,"she bit her lip and closed her eyes, "we take in Syaoran—the blonds gasped—into our group and keep him close."
Alex crossed her arms and leaned back against the bean bag floor pillow. "Why? But—but, we hate, Syaoran!"
Sakura nodded. "Yes, yes we do. But, unknowingly, Syaoran thinks I'm friends with Meiling. He even started to crack with the info behind her! Don't you remember yesterday? We need him. So, I suggest this: why don't we play him?"
Sara nodded. "Like in bed?"
Alex rolled her eyes. "Sara, how many times did your Mom drop you, God dammit! Sakura means, lead him on. Make him think what we want him to; makes him see what we want too."
A grin rose on Sakura's face. "Yes—but, not only that. We are going to do so much more than that. Syaoran Li will be our puppet to control; unknowingly will he be our spy. And—not only that, but it'll be the first step to payback on Meiling! She wants us soooooo badly to kick Syaoran off the football team-"
"Thank God Syaoran's still on the football team! I know Damen couldn't kick him off—Syaoran's just too good!," Meiling shouted. Raising a glass of apple juice in a toast to Tomoyo beside her as they studied for a history test at Daidoji's house. "Just wait until we get all of the info from the little Barbies! We will be in business, sweetie! And to think, Kinomoto of all people didn't spill about us hating each other! "
Tomoyo shrugged. "It just seems mean. Not telling Syaoran what's going on-"
"Oh, but that's the best part, Alex! We're not going to tell Syaoran he's being used. Oh, eventually, he'll figure out what's going on. But, we can prolong that—for a while. Huddle up, everyone—I have an idea! And this one won't get wreaked. Tomorrow, this is what we're going to do—kill three birds with one stone."
Alex laughed. "He still doesn't know what's going on even after yesterday..."
"Attention all student body!" Sakrua's voice came over a speaker phone by the cafeteria door. "As you know, Tomoeda High Senior Football plays their first game tomorrow!"
Sakrua paused for the students to cheer.
"And, not only do they start tomorrow, but they make their first step towards defending their National title!"
The students went crazy.
"So, let's all give them a bit of support!" Sakura put down the microphone, and replaced them with pom-poms. She and the other cheerleaders did a small, gymnastic packed routine down the rows of tables onto a mini stage on the grass, a few feet away from the cement floored out door lunch tables. On stage, they perfectly performed boots and flips, with Sakura always the center of attention, and landed in splits.
The students began screaming; not only were the Senior Football team a national title defender, but so were the Tomodea High Cheerleaders.
Sakura smiled at the crowds enthusiasm. That was only the tip of the ice burg of things she taught her team to do. Gymnastics was something she had always excelled at. Moving up through the ranks of member, treasurer, public relations, vice president to finally president hadn't taken long; how could her coach deny her what was rightfully hers? Just like being popular was rightfully hers. She had worked for this power by making friends with the right crowd. She had payed the price by leaving a life-long friend for this. And now, she was the most popular girl in school—just as Meiling could have been.
Speaking of that, someone's looking a little jealous, Sakura noted. In the far corner, the black hair with red streaks girl was watching her with an envious eye. Perfect. Time to put the plan into action. Standing up she walked over the microphone as a few cheerleaders walked over and escorted the Senior Football Team onto center stage. "Alright, looks like we have everyone here. Teachers, members of the student body, I present you with the Senior Football Team, winners of the National A Side! But, we all know they'll go all the way to AA this year!"
Sakura smiled as the crowd shouted words of encouragement. Now, was the fun part. "So, let's get this pep rally stared! Now, we need a volunteer for this first one...how about Tomoyo Daidoji?"
The crowd went dead silent.
Meiling looked up with a suspicious look that Sakura met evenly. "Aren't you going to come up Tomoyo?" She arched a perfectly waxed eyebrow and began chanting, "Tomoyo...Tomoyo....Tomoyo..." The rest of the students caught on and it began to grow until Sakura broke the rhythm. "Are you scared, Tomoyo?"
Tomoyo began making her way up as the crowed clapped politely. Two girls lead Tomoyo to the center stage. Sakura scanned the crowed until she found Alex, Sara and Lyndsey sitting at an off side table, by the sound system. Alex held a CD in her hand. Sakura nodded towards Alex, who placed the CD in the stereo. It began to play with 'Get Ready To Rumble'."Now, we thought to get the teams' spirits up, it would be fun to show them just how much harder cheerleading was than football. Make them feel better that the pressure isn't just on them to perform well."
----
Lana Carter's eyes widened as she watched from the main cafeteria door with the other teachers the 'pep rally' the cheerleaders were giving the Senior Football Team. The coach, Cassandra Brown, hadn't mentioned anything about volunteers; in fact, weren't they supposed to just do a cheer? Maybe she had heard wrong...
"Cassandra, why-" Lana began. Then it hit her; why did Cassandra look just as confused as herself? "Did you plan a little cheer leading clinic here....?"
Kaho Miziuki leaned against the far wall, interested in both ladies reactions. What was going on here?
-----
"So, our lovely volunteer here, Miss Daidoji, is going to demonstrate to us why the football team shouldn't be so pressured." Sakura did a somersault; a basic element learned in gym at a grade 4 level. "Tomoyo?"
Tomoyo gulped. She hadn't taken gym since grade 9. How was she supposed to know how to do a somersault?
-----
Lana Carter grabbed a paling Cassandra's arm. "Did you plan this? Do you know how much trouble our school could get in trouble for! Do you have any idea how dangerous-"
Cassandra shook her head. "I never planned this..."
----
"I-I-can't do it. I don't know how."
Sakura eyed Meiling getting angrier by the second. "You did them so well in grade 4....when you were behind me that is. Then again, I don't know how long pants motivated you to do it." The students burst out with laughter. Matt began crying with laughter; Syaoran just stood there dumbstruck. Why was everyone laughing?
"You know, Tomoyo, unless you want to go see the angry mob down there, I suggest you do-"
"I'll do it."
Everyone turned around to see a ruby eyed girl standing by the back. "I'll-do-it."
Sakura smirked. This is what she was counting on Meiling to do. "Alright. Let's give Meiling a shot."
Meiling passed by her terrified friend and executed a perfect somersault.
-----
"Oh, thank God," Lana breathed. "I thought for sure we'd get the Minister of Education knocking on my door tomorrow."
Cassandra nodded. She was very relieved, too. Man, was Kinomoto going to get it next practice.
Kaho, was not so easily convinced though. She has observed strange behavior between Kinomoto and Li Meiling; something was up. Almost as if Kinomoto knew Li would take that Daidoji's girl place...
-----
Sakura did a cartwheel; Meiling did a cartwheel. Sakura did a round off; Meiling did a round off. Sakura did a back flip; Meiling did a back flip.
"I can do anything you can do, Kinomoto. I was trained in gymnastics, you know. So next time you pick on—," she cut herself short, as Syaoran gave her a confused stare.
Sakura smirked, Meiling almost ruined it for herself. Now was time to act, before Syaoran got suspicious. She took a few steps back, remembering the past conversation she had with Syaoran the day she first ran into him...
"So, what did you say again Meiling had trouble with again? Maybe I can help..."
Syaoran blew out his breath. "Oh, I didn't say."
"I thought you did."
"Oh, well, ariels and twists. Particularly, this sequence where you run and do this flip combo and end with with a 180 ariel twist dive."
"Never heard of such a thing."
Syaoran laughed. "That's because it was to the song 'Can't Touch This'. Like a creative dance move, thing. She fell in tryouts when they asked her to do it. It was at the beginning actually, when they go 'Can't Touch This'....."
Big Mistake, Meiling. You can't do everything I can. Sakura heard muffled sounds over the intercom as the, Can't Touch This, song began. Meiling's face dropped as she perfectly executed four back flips, leaped into a 180 aerial and finished with a tight twisted dive and landed just in front of Meiling.
Meiling attempted the same, but fell when she attempted the aerial, landing on her side right in front of Kinomoto.
"Can't touch this," Sakura said, the song singing in unison with her.
But, the music didn't quite make it. Instead, it got threw 'Can't Touch-'.
All the bright main lights went off throughout the school. Panic broke out through out the eating area as scrams of a power outage could be heard. Meiling ran off the stage, unnoticed by the confusion.
Sakura looked over towards the sound system; maybe Alex tripped over a cord? Everything was fine—except the way Alex looked confused. The she looked a few feet behind her blond friend—where a certain English teacher had pulled main plug on the power supply.
Ms. Kaho Miziuki was going down. She ruined Sakura's plan. Tomorrow morning she would get the blackmail.
-----
Eriol felt a smile rise as he figured out was happening. "And maybe providence is fair sometimes...."
Syaoran ran a hand through his hair as he let himself slip into reality again; why was this whole popular thing so hard? Did Sakura purposely do that to Meiling? No. Other songs were playing; it was a dance mix or something. I'm just glad the power shorted out.
He glanced towards his answering machine. Still one message left? He ran his finger over the play button and applied pressure.
"Hey, this is Sakura calling for Syaoran. Can you meet me sometimes today for a schedule check of the games?—I seemed to have lost mine, and Matt's out-of-town with a few other friends, so, call me back...."
Syaoran smiled at the angelic voice over his answering machine. But, most likely, it was another one of life's little coincidences'.
Kaho looked at the clock; 8:58 PM.
Not a single red mark on Kinomoto's paper yet.
She sighed and picked up the paper. How could she mark this? She couldn't even get past the title—half of it hadn't been read yet! Walking towards her photocopier, she placed the paper face down and pressed 3 copies.
One for her desk at home.
One for her desk at school.
One for her book bag.
She took the freshly copied papers out of the tray and the end of the machine. Taking the first one, she pinned it to her cork-screw tack board.
And almost fainted.
The white light was hitting the words: Rule #6: Eliminate all teachers in your way. Grade 9—Mrs. Dubose, English. Grade 10—Mr. Weeden, Math and English. Mrs. Fox, English; History. Grade 11—
Ms. Mizuki, English.