Chapter 6 – Back to School

"Good day Tereda-sensei!" Meiling, Sakura and Tomoyo chorused at the same time while bowing their heads in front of their teacher.

"Good day! Welcome back to Tomoeda High." The teacher greeted them back with a smile. Tereda-sensei scanned the room for vacant seats.

"Sakura-chan did you take your medicine this morning?" Meiling whispered worriedly. Sakura grinned at her then nodded. She felt so blessed for having two good friends that were always there for her, that always stay with her.

"Okay… Well, there are exactly three vacant seats. Tomoyo, you'll be sitting there!" Tereda-sensei pointed out a vacant seat next to Eriol. Tomoyo beamed, delighted that she's sitting beside her boyfriend. She smiled excitedly at Meiling and Sakura and her friends did the same.

"For you Meiling Li, you'll be taking that seat next to Tomoyo's. And Sakura, you'll be sitting there beside the windows, next to Syaoran." The teacher finished assigning seats. Meiling smirked upon seeing a cute guy near her desk while Sakura was kind of surprised that she'll be sitting next to Syaoran.

'Great! Of all the chairs, why there? No… it's okay, much better… perhaps I wont get bored there for it is near a window… hope so…' She thought to herself. Tomoyo eyed at Sakura worried because Syaoran is also sitting next to Mitsuki. Sakura smiled at her and winked, indicating that she's fine. They all walked straight to their respective seats with all eyes up to them.

Sakura took a glimpse of Syaoran before taking her seat and saw the latter glaring at her. She hastily looked down and sat gently on her chair. She slipped her backpack on the backrests of the chair and eyed forward to their teacher.

"Okay, now that you're all here, prepare your notebooks and jot this down. You'll be needing this for your final exam." Tereda-sensei announced and started writing notes on the green board.

"Great! Notes on my first day!" Meiling murmured. She and Tomoyo turned their heads to check on their best friend. Sakura wagged her hand at them then beamed. Syaoran watched her from the corner of his eyes.

'Her emerald orbs, it has lost its spontaneity and sparkle…' He thought as he enlivens her every smile before. Sakura took a notebook out of her bag and started scribbling down the notes on the board with her chin on her upturned palm.

"Hi Sakura! I am Machiko! I am one of your avid fans…" A girl sitting in front of her introduced herself with glimmering eyes.

"And I am Chiharu! I love your songs!"

"I'm Naoko! You're so hot…"

Sakura waved her hand at them then smiled. "Hi Machiko, Chiharu and Naoko! Nice meeting you and thank you… " She greeted cheerily. The three girls flushed in their seats and waved back at Sakura.

"You know what, I am the founder of your fans club and we need some… Ammnn… What I'm trying to say is that, can we have a solo picture of you?" Machiko questioned hesitantly. Sakura chuckled cutely at her. She grabbed her wallet from her bag and took one of her pictures.

"Here, you may have this…" She handed the picture to Machiko and grinned once more. Machiko grinned back and bowed her head in gratitude.

Sakura peeked at Syaoran from the sides of her eyes and saw the latter seriously jotting down the notes. She simpered. 'He's still so cute. Maybe that girl sitting next to him is his new girlfriend. I wonder if he loves her..." She said to herself with pain in her eyes while drumming her pen on the table.

"Ms. Kinomoto, would you mind stopping that drumming?" Tereda-sensei approached aggravated. Sakura twitched out of her thoughts and sweatdropped when it dawned to her that everyone's eyeing at her.

"Gomen! Gomenasai! I am…" She apologized with a shy smile. Just as when she's about to say another word, the bell rang…

"Hoohhh!" She huffed. "Saved by the bell!" She chuckled to herself.

Lunch Time

Syaoran and Mitsuki ate their lunches together in a table for two. Eriol, Tomoyo, Meiling and Sakura joined together in one table. Sakura glanced at Syaoran with pain whirling rapidly in her eyes, maybe not pain, more like jealousy. She reminisced about how they used to share their lunches before.

"Eriol-kun, we missed you and Syaoran-kun a lot! And honestly, I do miss this school even though classes are boring…" Meiling uttered with a brisk toss of her hair. The rest of the group laughed at her while eating their lunches.

"Yah, Eriol-kun… Meiling-chan's right. We do missed everything here…" Sakura agreed sincerely. Eriol smiled at her.

"What I miss the most is our group and our silly doings! Too bad were not complete anymore because Syaoran isn't hanging out with us this time." Tomoyo said, pointing her eyes at the corner where Syaoran and Mitsuki's table is.

"Yah, too bad. Sakura-chan, I already knew about your true reason of leaving… Tomoyo told me, but don't worry I won't tell Syaoran." Eriol promised reassuringly. Sakura nodded her head in agreement.

"Oh I see… That's all right… I trust you…" She responded with a beam. They all continued eating.

There was a sudden silence between them for a while until Meiling spoke up "Guys, do you still remember how Sakura cooks for us before?" She started while chewing her food gingerly.

"Oh yah, I remember so well! Especially the delicious taste of her pastries and sushi's…" Eriol said with glittering eyes, recalling the taste of the sushi. Sakura eyed at them cheerily.

"Yes, I remember that too! Sakura will cook something special for Syaoran that she will pack it in another lunch box separated from the ones she cooked for us…" Tomoyo said exceedingly. The three were all restoring the scrumptious taste of Sakura's dishes. Sakura chuckled at them and once again, she cocked her head to check on Syaoran. She abruptly lowered her head down seeing Syaoran eyeing at them.

"Hey guys, don't worry, I'll cook for you one of this days…" Sakura assured and batted her eye at them.

---Next day---

"We'll have our Math class today. You may all take your seats now." The teacher enunciated in front of the class.

"Oh great, it's Math again." Sakura said to herself with a sweatdrop. She slouched on her seat and gazed at the window… Great memories started crowding the corners of her mind.

FLASHBACK

"Ms. Kinomoto, would you mind solving the problem on the board instead of tapping your foot on the floor?" The teacher commanded furiously. Sakura rose from her seat with a worried look and headed to the board.

'Great! Now, how can I solve this?' She thought to herself upon seeing the problem in front of her.

"Ma'am, I want to solve the second problem." A boy raised his hand and volunteered.

"Sure Mr. Li, go ahead." The teacher acknowledged. Syaoran bowed his head and walked forward to the board. Sakura was still there, having no idea of how she can work on the problem.

"5x-2… That's the answer…" Syaoran whispered to Sakura silently that only the two of them could hear. Sakura grinned and hurriedly scribbled the answer on the board.

"Thanks Hun!" She whispered back with a cute smile. Syaoran winked at her. She walked back to her seat then Syaoran followed.

"Good work Sakura and Syaoran! Ms. Kinomoto, looks like you're getting interested with math lately, keep up the good work!" The teacher complimented, now with a smile smeared across her face. Sakura and Syaoran eyed at each other then they both giggled.

END OF FLASHBACK

"Ms. Kinomoto, since you're not paying attention with our lesson, I guess you know the answer very well. Would you come over here and solve this problem #1?" The teacher ordered strictly. Sakura jerked out of her thoughts when she heard the teacher's scolding.

She gulped and stood off her seat then walked towards the board with a sweatdrop.

'How can I solve this now? Syaoran's not here to help me this time…' She pondered, examining the problem on the board. 'Wait, this is the same problem asked before… when Syaoran helped me… What's that answer again?' She realized and recalled the moment Syaoran whispered the answer to her.

"5x-2! 5x-2! That's it!" She mumbled to herself happily. She wrote the answer in the board. "I'm done." She bowed her head in front the teacher.

"Thank you Ms. Kinomoto, your answer's correct, good job!" The teacher approached.

Tomoyo and Meiling both raised their thumbs at Sakura. She smiled at them and went back to her chair. She exhaled. She dropped her head onto her desk and remained in that position.

'I can't believe she made it. Maybe she has improved her math skills…' Syaoran thought to himself while glimpsing at Sakura from the corner of his eyes.

Sakura's P.O.V.

'Well, it's been a week now since we arrived here in Japan. It's been quite a while and still, nothing improved between Syaoran and me. He's not talking to me or even bidding hi. He's averting me in every way he could, and he's still steady with Mitsuki. Actually, I find her nice, she even told me how she really admires me. Flattering though. I can't help but feel guilty if I will snatch Syaoran from her. Everything's getting worst, I don't know what to do. I don't know what to think. I don't know where I should place myself.' I thought to myself as I pretend reading this book in front of me. Our class was assigned to research about the environment here in the library.

"Sakura, are you alright?" Tomoyo asked me. I brushed out of my thoughts immediately and managed to smile at her.

"Oh yeah, I was just thinking about something. Don't worry, I'll just return this book and search for another one." I responded, trying to avoid my best friend's torment questioning. Tomoyo just smiled at me.

I headed to the shelf and returned the book I previously read. I searched for a better book, but I haven't found one in the bookshelves in the lower section so I climbed the wooden ladder to seek for a complete, thicker book.

Mitsuki on the other hand climbed the ladder too to search for another book. She and Sakura met each other's gaze.

"Sakura, what are looking for?" Mitsuki questioned, staring at Sakura's captivating emerald orbs. She just loves gazing at Sakura's light skin face. Sakura eyed at her then smiled.

"I am looking for a book with complete ideas, you know!" She responded with another beam. Mitsuki bowed her head at her then they both continued searching.

"I finally found the right book…" Sakura smiled to herself.

"This is it, this is what I'm looking for." Mitsuki screeched in joy.

They both pulled the book hard and because of its bulkiness, they both dropped it on the ground. They shouted in unison because they feel like falling, they were both out of balance.

"Sakura!" Meiling shrieked.

"Mitsuki!" Tomoyo screeched.

Syaoran eyed at them both, seeing their position, they might fall anytime. He was so confused of whom to save, Sakura or Mitsuki?

"AHHHHHHHHH!"

"AHHHHHHHHH!"

The place was filled with intense, fear and surprise…

"Are you okay Saku…" Syaoran asked but was cut off when he saw Mitsuki in his arms, raising blurred eyes at him.

"Are you okay Sakura?" Eriol questioned with a worried look on his face. Tomoyo and Meiling were around them, eyeing at Sakura worriedly.

"Sakura, it's okay to open your eyes now…" Meiling chirped while caressing Sakura's cheek. Sakura fluttered her eyes open. She was misty-eyed. She slowly raised her eyes on the one carrying her, hoping it was Syaoran.

"Thanks Eriol for saving me…" She looked nether side disappointed. She jumped down from Eriol's arms then Meiling and Tomoyo hugged her.

Sakura turned her head to Syaoran---he was still carrying Mitsuki who was hanging tightly on his boyfriend's neck. Sakura winced in pain. Syaoran noticed her looking so he hastily put Mitsuki down. Sakura turned her gaze away from them.

'What am I thinking? That Syaoran will save me instead of Mitsuki? I'm insane, she's the present, and I'm just the past… Maybe Syaoran does love her… Maybe…' Sakura pondered to herself, blocking the tears from streaming down her cheeks.

Author's Notes: That's it for now… .