"Did you see him?"
"The one with the messy brown hair?"
"Yeah..."
"God! He's cute."
That morning the classroom was full of whispers, mainly of the girls- the topic of discussion being the new guy (the very guy whom I'd bumped into yesterday). I'm sure he was quite aware of the stir he was creating, but chose to ignore it and coolly leaned back on his chair, skimming through a book. Maybe he was used to drawing attention.
Meiling eyed him up & down. "Yeah- he's really cute. Wonder if he's available." I looked at my sister. "Meiling. Don't you already have a boyfriend?"
"Boyfriend? Who?
I rolled my eyes. "Suzuki Riyu." I stated matter-of-factly.
"Oh him. That's no big deal. He cheats on me all the time."
"How do you know?"
"I walked in on him kissing one of those airheads- what's her name- Megumi- Migori-"
I stared at her. "And you still put up with him?"
"Sakura, he's a basketball player- one of the most popular guys in this school. And he's good-looking. It's cool to date him."
"So you go out with the biggest jerk in the school just because 'it's cool to date him'?"
Meiling shook her head and gave me a patronizing stare. "Sakura, you're too naïve & inexperienced. You'll never understand all this stuff." I rolled my eyes again. Like I want to.
"So what do you think of our new classmate?" I turned to look at Tomoyo, who had a mischievous grin on her face. I gulped. I didn't like the look of that grin at all.
"He's cute, I guess."
"Well, you seem to know him."
"Not really."
"What do you mean- 'not really'? He smiled at you when he saw you. And then your face was as red as a tomato."
I turned pink. I remembered how shocked I was when I had spotted him in my class. And though I'd tried my best to hide myself and not let him see me, he had caught sight of me and given me a small smile. To which my face had responded by going red, mainly because of being reminded of yesterday's little incident. And my dear sweet sister had to notice that.
"Umm...we've sort of met."
Tomoyo's eyes widened. "Really. When?"
"Er- yesterday."
For the first time I was glad when Mrs.Amano entered the class. That stopped Tomoyo from grilling me any further with her questions, for now at least. But the sight of our Math teacher didn't improve my mood. She was one of my least favourite teachers and I wasn't exactly in her good books either. I watched her as she introduced the new boy to the class.
"Class, this is Li Syaoran, who recently moved to Tomoeda from Hong Kong-"
Li? Hong Kong? I caught Tomoyo's eye and she nodded. Could he be... oh god. This couldn't get any worse. If he was living next door and was in the same class as me, then I would be seeing him practically everyday and probably talking to him as well. And I really didn't think I could face him after yesterday's mess up.
"Well. I would like a volunteer who would like to show Mr. Li around the school during recess." Our teacher's voice cut into my thoughts.
Almost all the girls' hand shot up. Even I had half a mind to do so. But I decided against it. There was no point anyways. I knew who Mrs.Amano was going to choose- her favourite student, of course-
"Miss Kinomoto."
There. What did I tell you.
If you by any chance thought 'Miss Kinomoto' was referring to me, you're so mistaken. Our dear teacher obviously meant my dear sister Meiling. Meiling had almost jumped out of her seat when she had picked her. Geez, I had wondered, doesn't this girl ever get enough of guys. I mean- she changes her boyfriend every month.
But that evening she was in a very bad mood. Apparently Li Syaoran wasn't like other guys. He had ignored her advances throughout the tour of the school, merely nodding whenever she pointed out a room or a building.
Meiling came and sat between Tomoyo and me, practically fuming. "Not a word. To him, it was as if I didn't exist."
Meiling was quite pretty and one of the most popular girls in the school. She had half the guys in the school eating out of her hand. It was not everyday that you met a guy who could resist her charm.
"Or maybe he was just pretending to ignore me." She said suddenly, standing up.
"Why exactly would he pretend to ignore you?" Tomoyo asked lightly. I could see that she was trying hard to keep a straight face.
"So that I don't realise that he likes me. I mean come on, who can resist me?" Meiling said, tossing her hair back. Tomoyo rolled her eyes.
"So he thinks he's too cool. Well, I'll show him what stuff Kinomoto Meiling is made of. At that dinner tomorrow Li Syaoran won't know what hit him." She said firmly, as she walked out of the room.
I watched her leave, but something she said struck me. Dinner? What dinner is she talking about?
I suddenly remembered a vague image of Mr.Wei- 'Don't forget to come to dinner on Saturday' And today was- Friday.
Oh dear.