There's got to be some kind of jinx, as far as my waking up on time is concerned. Yesterday I broke my new alarm when I threw it out of the window. (Un)luckily, it missed Meiling's head by inches. She was after my life the whole day, blaming me of 'attempted murder'.
It was not even my fault. I was half asleep and it was ringing so loudly. Plus I just couldn't figure out how to turn it off.
So today I had to get up without an alarm (Dad totally refused to buy me another- that had been my sixth). And now I'm extra late.
"Sakura! Hurry up." I heard dad's voice. "Your sisters have left already."
"Oh great!" I mumbled, trying to put on my other shoe, which suddenly seemed to have shrunk, or maybe my feet had expanded overnight.
I grabbed my bag and hopped out of my room. Dad looked at me and shook his head. "You're late again Sakura." I gave him an 'I-can't-help-it' look, while somehow managing to squeeze my foot into the shoe and rushed out of the house.
I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that there was no teacher in the class- I was 15 minutes late. I entered quite unnoticed and went to take my seat near Tomoyo and Meiling, who were busy talking.
"I wonder who they are. They do seem awfully rich, considering the amount of stuff they've got." Tomoyo was saying. Meiling nodded.
"Whom are you talking about?" I interrupted.
"Our new neighbours." Meiling replied.
Tomoyo looked at me. "Wow Sakura. That must be the first time you managed to enter Mrs.Amano's class without getting detention. Good for you she's not come today."
But I was too interested in what Meiling had said to reply to Tomoyo. "New neighbours? When did we get new neighbours?"
"This morning." Meiling said offhandedly. "Geez, Sakura, how thick can you be. Didn't you see those huge vans parked outside their house?"
"Uh, I didn't notice. I was in a real hurry-"
I suddenly noticed that Tomoyo was staring at me oddly. "What?" I asked her.
Trying hard to suppress a smile, she said-"Well, you were in a hurry. So I guess that explains it."
"Explain what?"
Tomoyo burst into a fit of giggles. Confused, I looked at Meiling. She too was smiling. "What?" I asked again.
"Sakura" she whispered, "You've worn your shirt inside out."
Grrr...I hate Tomoyo. My day had already gone horribly bad, what with Tomoyo laughing all the way back home at the 'inside out shirt' incident. As we neared our house, she started off again.
"Oh Sakura, sometimes you can be just so thick."
"Shut up."
"And that look on your face when Meiling told you-"
"Shut up."
"And then the way you ran to the bathroom- I never knew you could run so fast."
"Tomoyo, I told you to shut up."
Tomoyo smiled and hugged me. "You look so kawaii when you get angry!"
Well, I definitely did not want her to get started on that subject. I quickly changed the topic. "Looks like they've still got lots of unpacking to do." I said, pointing to the loads of cardboard boxes lined up at the opposite mansion.
"Uh-uh." Tomoyo nodded.
"Who's he?" I asked, suddenly seeing an elderly man standing at the door of our house and talking to dad. He was quite smartly dressed.
Tomoyo shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe he's the new owner of that house."
As we walked closer I could hear dad saying- "Sure. You can tell Mrs Li Yelan that we'll definitely come. Nice meeting you Mr.Wei."
"Hi dad." I said. The man looked at us. "Ah, these must be your daughters. What beautiful young ladies!" He said bowing to us.
Dad nodded "Yes. This is Tomoyo and this is Sakura."
He smiled at us. "You two remind me of our mistress's daughters." He turned back to dad. "Well Mr.Kinomoto, I must go now. Mistress will be coming soon." Shaking dad's hand, he said." It was a pleasure meeting you all. Don't forget to come for dinner on Saturday."
Tomoyo poured out a glass of water for herself. "And I actually thought he was the owner."
"So did I. Dad said the Lis are a very influential family. They've got about 25 servants." I said. "I wonder what they do with 25 servants. And that man didn't look like a servant to me."
"Where did he say they are from?"
"Hong Kong, I think."
"Well, that's a nice & happening place. I wonder why they are moving here. If you ask me, Tomoeda has to be one of the most boring places on this planet." I had to agree with her. Tomoeda's a really dull place to live in. Nothing ever happens up here.
"Oh by the way, I forgot to tell you." Tomoyo said, biting her lip. "I called Eriol over to help me with my homework."
I stared at her. "You WHAT?"
She sighed. "Sakura, come on. Eriol's not such a bad guy. I don't know why you don't like him."
"I never said I didn't like him."
"Well, then why don't you like it when he comes here?"
I frowned and sat down on the sofa. "Because you two are always so lovey- dovey all the time and it gets on my nerves- that's why! He's always like- 'I love you my sugar pie' and you're like- 'I love you too my sweetie plum'."
Tomoyo laughed. "It's sweetie pie and sugar plum."
"Whatever."
Tomoyo came and sat beside me. "You know Sakura, I think you are just feeling a bit- lonely."
"What do you mean? Why should I feel lonely? I've got you, Meiling, dad-"
"No Sakura. What I'm trying to say is- you need that special someone in your life, like Eriol is in mine. You need a boyfriend who understands you."
I knew how right she was, but I wasn't going to admit that in front of her. "Tomoyo, it's easy for you to say it, but you know very well that I'm not interested in boys and nor are boys interested in me."
Tomoyo shook her head and opened her mouth to say something, but I held up my hand. "Please, I don't want to talk about it." I stood up. "I'm going for a walk."
"Walk? Since when did you start taking walks?"
"Since Hiirigizawa Eriol started coming into this house. I don't think I can stand one more minute of you two cuddling, snuggling and teasing while I'm trying to do my math." I said, heading towards my room. "And Meiling would be coming back soon from her cheerleading practice and I can't stand her going on with the never-ending story of her ever-changing love life either."
A cool breeze was blowing outside, but my mind was still full of what Tomoyo had said a few minutes back. I sighed. I hate it when Tomoyo's right.
"If I told you a secret you wouldn't spill it out, would you Kero?" I looked down at my cat, walking beside me.
"Hey, where did you get that?" I asked, seeing something sticking out of his mouth. "Give me that." I said bending and pulling it out. It was a small stuffed teddy bear, though not in a very good condition. Picking him up, I scolded him "Stuffed toys are not cat food, Ok? They can get stuck in your throat."
Suddenly for some reason he became rigid. With a frightened 'MIAO', he jumped out of my arms and ran up the nearest tree. "Kero! What's the matter with-" A growling sound made me stop and turn around. To my horror, I saw a huge three-foot tall dog running towards me. And before I knew what was happening, it knocked me down on the pavement and started barking at Kero, who was holding on to a tree branch for dear life.
"Spinel! That's it. I've had enough of you!" came a voice. "I'm- uh- sorry. My dog just gets excited every time he sees a cat."
I was a bit dazed by the fall and it took me a few seconds to realise what had happened. And when I did, I looked up to see who the voice belonged to. I had meant to say something like "It's Ok".
But all I could do was gasp.
He was better looking than any of the sexy fashion magazine models Meiling keeps drooling over. His messy brown hair falling over his amber- coloured eyes. His lips set in a very firm, serious manner. And right from his loose white shirt to his blue jeans he was just- Wow!
I suddenly realised I was staring and looked away. I felt my cheeks getting warm.
"Umm- let me help you get up." He said, offering his hand. I took it and got up awkwardly. "I really am sorry," he said again. I gulped, trying to get some words out. For some reason, my throat muscles seemed to have ceased functioning.
He bent down and silenced his barking dog. He then looked up at Kero. "Ok. You can come down. It's safe now."
Kero stayed still for a moment. Then very carefully, he climbed down, his frightened eyes watching the dog, and jumped in to my arms.
"He seems to like you very much," the guy said. I nodded lamely.
Ok Sakura, I straightened up and said to myself. Here's the cutest guy on this planet standing right in front of you, looking at you and trying to start a conversation with you. You've got to help him out, you know. Say something. Anything that comes to your mind.
"Stuffed toys can get stuck in your throat." I blurted out.
Oh my God, WHAT did I just say?
He looked at me strangely, as if I was mad, and I probably was. But then his expression changed into an amused one and with a half smile he said- "I guess so, but only if you tried to eat them."
I wished I could just evaporate on the spot. But since that was not very possible, I chose the next best option. I ran.