Rules of Popularity ...be careful who you fall in love with.

Chapter 7: The Party

Sorry this is late! Or, is it right on time according to synchrogirl-time? Ff(.)net has been acting weird lately. I guess it depends how you look at it...

For some odd reason, my Internet has been on and off these past few days. Anyways, I'm done exams now...so updates will go back to every two weeks.

Anyways, enjoy the update!

Sakura Kinomoto was looking in the mirror.

And Sakura Kinomoto was not happy with what she saw.

How did she get this fat? She turned sideways and say how tightly the skirt hugged her body; how tight Alex's skirt hugged her body. She unzipped in the side zipper and glanced at the tag. Size 00. Okay, so Sakura averaged a 3; but that didn't mean a 00 shouldn't fit. Really, 3's were big, right?

...Right?

"I can't wear this tonight," she muttered to herself. The rumor about her being a size 9 still hadn't died down; and, if she wore a skirt that hugged her too tight, it would put the rumor back in the 1 hottest gossip topic.

Besides, Sakura reasoned, that spot is saved for Meiling.

She sighed, taking a final glance in the mirror, picked up a light pink and white skirt, and traded it's size 3 label for the 00 she currently had on.

She felt a smile rise despite her currant humongous-hips-crisis. She never let it get out until after the fact that she was having—had, rather—a party; they usually were invites only. But not tonight.

And, that was all that was needed to put her as-of-yesterday plan in motion.

"Of course you should go to the dance tonight!" Meiling Li shouted across the dinner table. She reached for the pitcher of juice.

"But, if you're not going...and Daidoji's not going—"

Meiling rolled her eyes as she shoveled another fork full of food into her mouth, pausing to chew slowly while she thought up an excuse. She swallowed some water and stood up, banging her hands on the table. "Of course I'm going, Syaoran! You didn't think Sakura invited me? Just...I think I'll do a bit of homework first. Midterms are coming up, you know." She sat back down.

Syaoran picked at the taco in front of him. "Yeah...at the end of January! It's December, Meiling." He took a bite.

Meiling shrugged it off. "You know my parents expect a lot of me. Plus, I'm not all that fast at reading Japanese yet."

"Oh, come on. We lived in Japan for six years!"

Meiling rolled her eyes. "Yeah, we did; but those six years were just over four years ago! Between my junior high years and the past two high school ones in China, I haven't had time to brush up in Japanese!"

"I still know all of it," Li countered.

Meiling ran a hand though her thick black hair, pausing to inspect the red in the bottom layers; an Avril Lavigne-Hilary Duff inspired take off of the black in their hair—except she chose red, being that her hair was already black. "Well, I don't. Besides, my parents will kill me for anything under a 90; you know that!"

"Well, I guess, then..."

Meiling beamed, taking her plate to the kitchen. "Then it's settled! You're going, Syaoran Li, and don't you try and get out of this one!"

Perfect. Mission Busted Kinomoto: was already half completed.

Kaho sat at her dinner table alone that night correcting grammar assignments. No, she had still not given back her classes the first paragraph they handed in—she had a new plan, though. Plan 'keep as a sample of writing and return at the end of the year'.

She sighed flipping her long hair over a shoulder. So many mistakes...her previous class at another school's grammar assignments had been so fast to correct. All in all, there were maybe ten mistakes out of all the assignments. Needless to say, her previous class belonged to a school where the tuition was average for a private school, but the standards to get in were high. You couldn't buy your way in.

But, unfortunately, it had more serious flaws; flaws that she preferred not to think about at the moment.

She refocused her attention to the paper in front of her. Yet, try as she might, there was a feeling that she couldn't shake off.

Tomoyo Daidoji paced her bedroom. This wasn't typical.

In two hours, the famous Kinomoto party would start; but it wasn't typical of her to know that. She usually found out on Monday's that Sakura's party rumored-to-have-been-taking-place-soon took place the past weekend weekend.

Something wasn't right; and it had just struck her a few hours ago. She had known about this for the past two days; usually Sakura kept them on the down low until the school day after. Then the usual who-got-drunk, who-split-up, and who-grew-up became the hottest topic for days.

She paused by her bed with the white, lacy Laura Ashley bed spread and opened her school bag, digging for her cell phone.

"Please, pick up...," Tomoyo prayed as the phone continued ringing.

Sakura sat down beside her boyfriend as they got into his navy blue Echo. "Hey," she said closing the passenger side door, "it's already eight. You were supposed to come at 7:30. I'm going to get back late."

"Relax, will you," Matt said. "It's not the end of the world if you're back a bit late. Alex and Sara can take care of things. Besides, I'm more interested in you—"

"Matt, drive, please," Sakrua said, pushing her boyfriend away from her. She was usually up for a round, or two; but her Dad's supply of Vodka was running on empty.

Matt shifted in his seat and started the car. "How much are you planning to buy tonight anyways? My parents put a limit on my driver's license last week after I came home drunk—"

"Don't worry about it," Sakura said tying her hair into a bun. "you're not even going to go in."

Matt turned a corner. "You're not legal, babe," he informed her. "Nobody in your grade is."

"I know." Sakura smiled as she pulled a white card out of her wallet with the words Tomoeda High School across the top. "Look," she said handing it to him. "this is why I'm going in this time."

"How did you get it?"

"Though Alex," was all Sakura offered as an explaination.

Matt stopped at a red light, inspecting the student ID card. "Looks real to me."

Sakura smirked adjusting the sunglasses on her face and glancing at the black wig in the bag beside her. "That's because it is."

With the spirit week theme forgotten for the moment, the beautiful people were busy getting ready for the party at Sakura Kinomoto's house tonight.

"Does this dress make me look fat?"

"No, but halter dresses are too July anyways."

"How about this scarf?"

"Scarves are out, retard!"

"What about these shoes? I am short, plus the silver looks good with my skin tone."

"It's December—nobody wears an open toe heel in December!"

"Has anybody seen Sakura?"

Both girls looked towards the door of Sakura Kinomoto's bedroom. "Lyndze?" They asked in unison.

"I thought you weren't coming until later," Alex clarified.

"Yeah, didn't you get a call earlier," Sara asked as she dug through the pile of clothes on the floor. She paused as she picked up a tight, red Channel top; deciding she liked it, she put it in a separate pile.

"I did." Lyndze said. She ran a hand through her just-straightened hair; the result of her last three paychecks and a Paul Brown Hawaii straightener. "But I really need to see Sakura. Do you know where she might have gone off to? She was here half an hour ago; but she's not anymore. I checked her whole house."

"Maybe she went out to buy something," Alex suggested, not bothering to look up from the pile of clothes she was sorting through.

Lyndze nodded; not for Alex and Sara's sake—they were far too involved in the clothes to notice her. But for herself—Alex and Sara only cared about what they saw in the clothes piles. "I'm gonna go look—"

"Not looking like that. At least put on a skirt."

"It's December!"

Alex paused and looked up from what she was doing. "If you're not going to stay and let us approve you're outfit, I want you looking decent in case you get back and the party has already started." Alex threw her a deep blue high skirt, which stopped at high thigh, that would match the top she currently had on; after a moment of digging, she also threw her friend a pair of black, high heel sandals with long straps that went around the leg. "Good thing you already did your hair; it looks nice."

"Thanks." Lyndze said, baffled, as came back from behind a closet door with the skirt and shoes on. Alex never complemented her. Ever.

Alex came up to her and quickly applied foundation, mascara, eyeliner, a blue eyeshadow, sparkles and a hint of blush to her friend. "Alright, all good. Wait—do you have a matching purse—"

The slam of a door cut her off.

"—I found one."

But, when she looked up, Sakura's door was already closed and Lyndze was no where to be seen.

Alex shrugged. "Must be some phone call."

"Let me off here," Sakura said a block away from the liquor store. "Then come and pick me up after, in the parking lot across alright?"

Matt nodded. "How much time?"

Sakura paused for a moment to fix her platform shoes that added two inches to her height. "Fifteen minutes, maybe?"

"Alright. Why are you wearing—"

"You'll see tonight," Sakura promised as she made her way to the liquor store.

Matt drove away in silence, as he turned his car around to wait in the parking lot.

"Hello, Miss," the employee said. "How may I help you?"

"Three bottles of your best Cuban Vodka, two bottles of strong, Mexican Tequila—I don't care which brand, as long as it tastes exotic. Preferably something that might go with...oh, I don't know, something fruity most likely."

The employee paused at a shelf. "It might help if you know—"

Sakura took this opportunity to flip her long black hair over her shoulder. "Well, I don't. You could say I'm...picking this up for a friend."

The male wine vendor nodded. "It's for a punch right?"

"That's right."

"A party?"

"Yes."

"I thought university exams started this Monday."

Sakura smirked. This was too perfect. "Oh...yeah. I guess they do."

"I go to university here in Tokyo, too. I didn't hear of any parties."

"It's exclusive."

"I see. Well, I have your purchases," the vendor walked behind the counter, bagging the alcohol. "I'm going to have to see ID."

Sakura smiled. "Sure," she handed him cash and a card face down, at the last moment pulling it back. "Oh. Wrong card."

She handed him another one, almost identical. He bit his lip; the ID did say she was eighteen.

"Anything wrong?"

"No, nothing. Uh, here you go." He said handing her seven dollars in change and two bags of wine. "Have a nice evening."

Sakura smiled. "You too," she reached for her purse, which had fallen on the floor, and threw a white card from it by the front desk. She went towards the door, then paused to turn around. "What do you close tonight?"

"Eleven because it's a Friday."

"Perfect."

And she left the store, heading towards her boyfriend's car.

"The party's in full swing huh," Alex muttered to Sara.

"Yeah...oh, Eric's here!"

"Eric as in your sisters' boyfriend?"

"Yeah."

"How many times have you two—?"

"Every chance we get."

Alex rolled her eyes. "That's not disturbing."

Sara ran her fingers though her hair and Eric came over "Eric, hey."

Alex wandered though the crowds. Why were there so many people here? Sakura's parties we're always exclusive. She spotted a few of the school losers wandering though the crowd with their dragon t-shirts on.

What the fuck?

"Alex, hey," Sakura said, pulling her friend towards the kitchen where pink lemonade punch sat untouched.

"Why are these people here?"

Sakura smiled. "You'll see."

Alex rolled her eyes. "Did you and Matt get enough tequila and vodka if you insist on having all these retarded people here?"

"Yes, yes—but, you can't spike it too much."

"And why not?"

"Just make sure you can't taste it."

"Isn't that the point of spiking things? So you can taste it?"

"Make sure you put both the vodka and tequila in there."

"Both? What about the tequila shots we were going to have? Besides, if we put both in that'll taste—"

"Just do it," Sakura snapped. "I need this to be somewhat mild and tasteless. No one can get past tipsy tonight." She glanced at the clock. Ten o'clock. Perfect.

Alex nodded her head slowly. "You've got something planned, don't you?"

Sakrua winked playfully. "You'll see."

Lyndze, tired of being felt up as she walked by the retarded jocks, went into Sakura's room to get privacy. Eriol had called her, saying that he needed to talk with her and to meet him in the Mango Tango cafe; but, he hadn't shown up.

"I should have known he would have blown me off—"

"I'm sorry."

Lyndze whipped around and saw Eriol standing in the corner.

"Eriol? Why—"

"Look, Lyndze, I'm sorry—"

Lyndze dropped to Sakura's bed. "How could you do that?"

"Because I wasn't sure if you'd come," Eriol admitted. "We haven't exactly talked in a while."

"Well I sure as hell make a commitment to be somewhere if I get asked to meet someone," she snapped. "Even if I don't think they'll be there either."

Eriol ran his hand though his hair. "Please, Lyndze, don't be mad—"

"Too late."

"Lyndze, please, I-I just miss you that's all."

"That's why you wanted to talk? Because you missed me?"

"Yes—"

Lyndze threw her hands up. "I see you everyday in math class, Eriol. Every fucking day after we broke up, I tried to talk with you."

"I'm sorry—"

"Every fucking day. And you blew me off, every time."

Eriol looked down. "I-I know."

"I wanted to be friends, Eriol. But all of a sudden it was like a had a disease or something," Lyndze placed her head in her hands.

"I didn't want things to be complicated, Lyndz. I never meant to hurt you."

"Well you did; for a while at least," she stood up and crossed the room, heading towards the door. She paused halfway there. "I hated you Eriol. Then I thought maybe you needed some space; so I gave it to you. Then you called tonight, and I though 'maybe he's ready to be friends, now'." She looked at him tears in her eyes. "But, you just called me for no reason, s that it?"

Eriol shook his head, crossing the room as well. "No, no! I called to say..."

Lyndze crossed her arms. "To say...?"

Eriol bit his lip. He had to say it. He had too. To save Lyndze the fate Sakura would give her.

"Eriol," she prompted.

"Do you still hate me?"

Lyndze shook her head. "You called to ask if I hate you?"

"No, Lyndze, I meant—"

"Yes, I hate you Eriol," she screamed, reaching for the door handle. "Happy? I fucking hate you." Tears began running down her cheeks as she opened to door.

"I love you Lyndze," he said softly, grabbing her wrist and closing the door with his other hand.

"Let me go."

Eriol wrapped his arms around her. "Please, Lyndze, I didn't talk to you this entire year because I thought it'd be too hard on me. And I blew you off tonight partly because I was a coward and didn't have the guts to face you. And I thought if you we're as mad as I imagined, you wouldn't come anyways."

Lyndze looked up, still in his embrace; her tears stopped coming. "Really?"

"But," Eriol said quietly, "I'll never blow you off again."

Lyndze looked up, shocked. "Are you asking—"

Eriol smiled a bit; man, was he ever digging his grave deep. "Will you go out with me again?"

Lyndze smiled and reached up to kiss him. And, to Eriol's own astonishment, he met her halfway.

Syaoran arrived with Meiling at 10:45 that evening; yes, he had insisted on waiting for her, to Meiling's disappointment. But, as she reflected, it wouldn't affect anything. Her plan was still in motion.

"Syaoran, why don't you go over with your other friends? I'll catch up with you later."

Syaoran shrugged and walked over to where a few of his teammates were standing.

Meiling slipped over to the punch and tasted it.

What—no liquor? This couldn't be happening.

She leaned over and smelt it.

"And that's how you smell a busted Kinomoto."

And, with that, she walked outside the house to make the call.

Tomoyo raced down the street towards Sakura's house; she hadn't been here for how many years? And, to make matters worse, it was a cold December day and the only parking she could find was a block away from the house.

Stupid parties.

She tugged her coat tighter to her body; she couldn't believe what she was about to do. Meiling hadn't answered her cell phone; probably ignoring her calls on purpose. And now, she was about to walk in to her to the party of the person who ruined her high school reputation just so Meiling could be warned that something wasn't right.

The things she did for her friends.

With a deep breath, she opened the front door.

The young bartender was sweeping the floor as he noticed a small, white card on the floor.

Wasn't that the card the young, black haired girl was about to give him?

He turned the card over and gasped.

A school ID from this year. This girl was sixteen and in grade eleven at Tomodea High.

Without a second thought, he called the police station down the street and told them about the girl. Within minutes two cops walked into the liquor store.

"Here's her ID. She gave me a fake one and bought quite a lot of liquor with it. Paid in cash, actually. Said it was for a party tonight. She must have dropped this."

The first police officer nodded. "We got a call about a underage party with alcohol just minutes earlier, so after we check it out, we'll start on this."

Lyndze broke off the kiss with Eriol as she looked out Sakura's window at the flashing red light from a few blocks away. "Eriol, look; do you think—"

Eriol turned around and pushed Lyndze towards the door. "Come on. We should leave just in case."

Lyndze hurried down the stairs, only to see Tomoyo Daidoji come in the front door. "Look, it's Daidoji," she said. Eriol's eyes widened. This couldn't be good.

Tomoyo looked around. "Meiling," she called as he friend walked back into the living room, preparing to leave. "I—"

"Tomoyo," she hissed back, running up to meet her friend. "We have to get out of here. Let's go out the—"

"Leaving so fast, ladies," Sakura asked.

Meiling arched an eyebrow, pulling Tomoyo towards Sakura. "I have no idea, Kinomoto, why—"

"Nobody move," a police officer said, the music stopping as his partner pulled hit the fuse outside, "this parties over. Where's Sakura Kinomoto?"

"Over here," Meiling said, pointing to Sakura. "She's here."

"Miss Kinomoto, you're going to have to come with us."

"Excuse me?"

The police officer pointed to the punch. "Party with alcohol and underage students isn't a smart mix."

"There's no alcohol in it," Sakura answered evenly.

"Then you won't mind if I taste it?"

Sakura shrugged casually as everyone else began whispering. "Go ahead. I've had plenty."

One of the police officers walked over to it and had a sip.

It tasted fine.

He leaned over to smell it; it smelt like mild vodka.

He took out an alcohol sensitive strip and placed it in the punch.

The punch tested positive to vodka and tequila.

The officer headed back to the front door. "Well, Miss Kinomoto, it looks like someone slipped it in there—"

His partner elbowed him and showed him the ID and the list of alcohol bought. "You there," he officer said to Meiling. "What's your name?"

"Li Meiling."

"Well, Miss Meiling Li, I'm afraid I'm going to have to take you in."

As she was being taken away, all she remembered Sakura's superior smirk, Syaroran's worried gaze, and repeating the phrase this isn't happening in her head over and over.

Tomoyo, on the other hand, backed into a wall; she knew this wasn't a typical party and this just proved it.