Li Syaoran was in his homeroom earlier than usual. It was only 8:30 but he didn't feel like socializing with people.

He didn't even feel like sitting in the hallway reading like he often did. He just wanted to be alone. He needed quiet. That's why he was in his seat, half an hour before class started. Surely nobody would go into class until the bell rang.

"Sakura. I'm sorry." Syaoran said before drifting off into a daze.

Tomoyo and Meilin walked towards their classroom after they got their books from their lockers. The two had become very close after Sakura's accident. The two were the most unlikely of friends, having totally different views and beliefs, although they did agree on some things. Example: the suckiness of Mondays. But the two had fun, and they were always laughing. Their jokes usually revolved around a certain brown-haired Chinese warrior, whether it was something embarrassing that happened to him the other day (courtesy of Meilin) or a moment caught on tape (courtesy of Tomoyo). It's actually a lot funnier if the embarrassing moment is caught on tape so you can blackmail the person. But one thing is for certain. Their favorite guy friend is definitely Syaoran. Their friendship with Syaoran was another thing they both had in common. Tomoyo and Meilin were the only girls that Syaoran could actually tolerate because they knew all his secrets and they didn't want his handsome butt on a date. Sure there was Chiharu and Rika and Naoko. But those girls hadn't been through as much with Syaoran as Tomoyo and Meilin had so they didn't really understand.

Meilin opened the door but her laughter died down when she saw Syaoran staring at the blackboard. He was looking in the direction of the blackboard but his eyes didn't seem to be focused on it but on something behind it. She nudged Tomoyo to shut up and they both walked quietly to their seats. Nobody should disturb Syaoran when he was thinking. Who knows what he would do to them? He would most probably get really mad and snap at them.

Sitting down in her seat next to Syaoran, Meilin twiddled her thumbs impatiently. She heard Tomoyo shuffle in the seat behind her. Time seemed to tick by with the occasional ruffle of clothing or tapping of the pen on the table. Tick-tock. Tick-tock. God. Meilin thought. This is really boring. When is he going to wake up again? Looking at Syaoran, Meilin saw that he was still in the same position he was a couple of minutes ago. Drumming her fingers on the table, she waited for the bell to ring.

Ayame was not sure where she was. When she entered the school, she had asked for directions to the principal's office but, after the second right, she was utterly lost. Looking at her watch, she realized that it was already 8:55. In 5 minutes, class would start. Sighing, Ayame walked around aimlessly. When she grew tired of that, she flopped on a couch and sighed again. I'm never going to find the principal's office. Just then a shadow loomed over her form, blocking her light. Looking up, she met the eyes of a stern man with gold-rimmed glasses and a frown on his face.

"Do you need help?" The man said curtly.

"Is this the principal's office?" her meek voice replied.

The man nodded and gestured her to follow him. Thanking her luck, Ayame grabbed her school bag and dashed after the man, who was taking really long strides for such a small man. As they walked (or rather jogged in Ayame's case), the man unfolded a piece of paper and handed it to her. Looking down on it she realized it was her schedule. Homeroom first, then Japanese, then PE, Lunch, English, Math, Science, and World History. I can do this no problem! Looking up from the page Ayame allowed herself to smile in anticipation of the day ahead.

"Now you listen here. Your reputation in the other schools was rather… unpleasant, but I expect you to rid yourself of that and start anew here at Tomoeda Middle School and to be at your best!"

"Thank you sir. I won't disappoint you."

"Well I certainly hope so." They stopped at a door. "Here Miss Mizuki is your room. The other rooms are on your schedule and you should be able to find them easily." And the principal swiftly about faced and walked away. Staring at the plain wooden door, Ayame felt a moment of trepidation. What if her classmates didn't accept her? What if she couldn't remember how to do the math problems or the date of the Second World War? What if she was really bad at sports? But it wasn't just the fear of embarrassing herself in front of others. There was something else. Something else was tugging at her mind but she couldn't seem to place it. Feeling a sense of vertigo, Ayame clutched the cool tile of the wall and hoped the confusion would go away. She heard the bell ringing and the slamming of the door next to her and the sound of running. She paid the noise no heed and willed the throbbing of her head and the sense of unease to disappear. Finally, when she felt somewhat better, she walked into the room.

For the past five minutes, Meilin had occupied herself by drumming her fingers on the table. She found that drumming different fingers on different spots on the table made different sounds. She was playing something akin to Mozart's "Piano Concerto no. 21" before the bell rang and the door opened.

It was closed earlier by Tomoyo because the noise in the hallway was unbearable. Some kid decided that he was the next teen sensation and the best thing to hit Japan since Utada Hikaru. So he demonstrated his wonderful "skill" by singing American pop star Avril Lavigne's "Complicated". Tomoyo was glad he wasn't in chorus. Well, he probably wouldn't have passed the tryouts for Junior Chorus anyway. Then again, the guy wasn't so bad, just untrained. He had to learn that he couldn't hit the high notes.

Tomoyo didn't have time to decide whether she thought the guy was overall worth recommending to the music teacher (she was after all, the President of the Junior Chorus). She heard the bell ring a second time indicating that students only had a minute to get to their rooms before they were officially marked late. Looking around the room, she noticed it was almost full. The teacher, Tougeika-sensei, was already taking attendance.

"Daidouji, Tomoyo."

"Here."

"Edo, Takato."

"Yo."

Looking at Edo-kun, Tomoyo was reminded of the rap stars she saw on television. If it wasn't mandatory to wear a uniform for school, he probably would've come in with baggy pants and a hoodie. Then again, he didn't need the baggy pants. It was a miracle how Edo was able to make even the business-like school uniform look ghetto. Maybe it was the spiked up hair. She made a mental note to ask him about that sometime.

"Meilin?"

"Yeah?" Meilin was brushing invisible lint from her navy blue cardigan.

"I had a dream yesterday."

"What was it about? I had a dream too. Only I don't remember it."

"I know. I woke up crying and not knowing why."

"Hmm. You know what; I think we're getting old."

"What?"

"We can't even remember our own dreams"

Tomoyo thought about that. "I think we don't remember because we don't want to remember. Memories I like I remember in detail… like that time when Sakura…" Tomoyo couldn't finish her sentence. She felt guilty because her friend was in the hospital and she was here in school talking about a nightmare she had. She felt stupid and useless. While Sakura was saving the world, she was on the sidelines taping. She didn't know why she had a fascination with Sakura. Probably because nothing much in her life made her happy like Sakura did. She was not only her cousin but her best friend. Tomoyo was always the perfect student, the singer, the artist. When she found out that Sakura had a skill that she didn't, she was at first jealous, then thrilled. Who wouldn't love to have a sorceress as a best friend?

"It wasn't your fault." Meilin tried to comfort her.

"I know, but I feel useless. Back then I was never a help to Sakura, and now that Syaoran is Card Captor, I'm still no help."

"Well you don't have magic."

"You don't either!"

"Hmph! I have my superior martial arts skills."

"Li, Meilin."

"Here."

"Li, Syaoran." Tougeika-sensei didn't get an answer so she looked around and spotted Syaoran. She didn't reprimand him for his inattentiveness though. Tougeika-sensei was the school's new English teacher. Her English name is Ms. Potter, but she decided she would adapt easier to Japanese culture if she translated her name to Tougeika. Tougeika-sensei was a very nice person. During the test last Friday, she gave the students candy to "get the brain-juices flowing". Was it an English thing? Hmm. Another thing to ponder.

"Mizuki, Ayame"

"Here." A timid voice said from the door. Tomoyo trained her eyes on the girl at the door. She had long dark hair and green eyes. She looked frightened and seemed to not want to take a step forward into the classroom. The girl's green eyes looked up from the spot on the floor it was staring at and scanned the room. When her eyes met Tomoyo's on the left side of the room, a brief flicker of emotion flashed in her eyes. Tomoyo smiled and slowly but surely, the mysterious girl smiled also.

After attendance was called and the general ruckus of homeroom quieted down, Tougeika-sensei called Ayame before the other kids.

"Okay Ayame. No need to be nervous."

But I am sensei, I'm terrified. Of course, Ayame didn't say that. She just smiled to assure the teacher that she was alright. But she didn't feel alright at all. She felt like running out of the room and screaming at the top of her lungs. Now, that wouldn't solve the problem would it? So she stood there rooted to the floor imagining the eyes of the students in the class boring into her, analyzing her.

"So, tell us a little about yourself."

Ayame didn't know what to say. Suddenly her mouth felt hoarse, like the desert emptied its sand in it. She couldn't speak.

"Go on."

Shuffling her feet, Ayame mumbled, "I don't know."

Murmurs of 'what a dumb girl' and 'is she retarded?' spread through the class.

"What do you mean?" Tougeika-sensei asked.

"I just came from the hospital yesterday. I'm suffering from amnesia and I don't remember anything past yesterday."

A burly boy with red hair sitting in the back shouted loudly: "SEE! SHE IS STUPID!"

A couple of the kids sitting around him laughed. The teacher was too nice of a person to tell them to shut up.

"WILL YOU ALL SHUTUP!" a loud voice screeched. Looking up at the teacher, Ayame found that Tougeika was just as confused as she was. Scanning the crowd once again, she locked her eyes with the girl with the violet hair and eyes.

Seeing that Ayame wanted an explanation, Tomoyo grinned. Making an exasperated gesture, she pointed behind her at a slim girl with raven hair tied in two buns. The girl looked so small and childish, but it was clear that everyone was afraid of her. Everybody who had laughed before was quiet and the only person standing in the room besides Ayame and the teacher was none other than Li Meilin. Li Meilin standing ramrod straight with her hands flat against the table and her chair, her amber eyes flashing threateningly at the chubby boy with red hair. Seeing as Meilin wasn't going to say anything anytime soon, Tomoyo decided to speak for her.

"You know Satoshi, she's amnesic not deaf. And loss of memory does not mean loss of brain cells."

The boy at least had the decency to blush.

The day had been bearable. After Meilin's outburst, Ayame found that everybody was really nice to her. Extremely nice. Their smiles put her on guard, and wary that everybody was really being friendly because of Meilin, Ayame couldn't enjoy her first day at school. She breathed a sigh of relief as the bell rang for the dismissal of the last class of her day. Putting her books into her pack, Ayame stood up and prepared to walk out of the classroom.

"Hey." A voice made the young girl look up and she met the determined eyes of Li Meilin. She offered a weak "hi" in the face of such a strong presence. Dadouji Tomoyo stepped beside Meilin and Ayame felt the comforting presence that the girl seemed to emanate.

"Ayame-san, if anyone picks on you again, do not hesitate to tell me," stated the soft-spoken girl, her eyes closing in a pleasant smile.

"And me too! You can count on Li Meilin!"

Ayame met the eyes of the two slight girls standing near her, and for the first time that day, she beamed.

"Thank you."