THANK YOU for the reviews! I didn't expect 6 in a day, so TY again:D Yes, there will be a little of the cards in this story, but later on...
Chapter 2: Disaster
This is not happening.
Kinomoto Sakura put her hands on her knees and used every ounce of willpower she possessed to keep herself from jumping up and running out of the auditorium. She stared straight ahead with her back rigid, earning herself strange looks from the other girls auditioning for Sleeping Beauty,
Beside her, Syaoran took one hand from behind his head and put it on her shoulder.
"You nervous?"
It was kind of nice that he noticed she was having a hard time. As far as Sakura was concerned this was the stupidest thing she'd ever done in her entire life, so she'd need all the encouragement she could get.
"Syaoran-kun?"
He smiled. "Yes?"
"You're touching me."
It was kind of annoying that no matter how mean or sarcastic she tried to be, all he did was laugh and shake his head. Syaoran seemed to be very patient. Sakura was not. She wanted to sing her part and then get out of here as fast as she could.
Wait, no, she didn't want to sing at all.
"Kinomoto Sakura?"
Syaoran stood and held out a hand. "That's your cue."
Normally she'd have given him a contemptuous glare and stood up on her own, but Sakura suddenly felt her knees grow weak with nervousness. She reached out to grab his wrist for support—
—and then almost fell out of her seat when he tucked his hand back into his pocket and turned away. Sakura glared at the back of his head and followed him up the steps to the stage. Syaoran handed some sheets of music to the pianist and then retreated backstage to her left, grinning.
And she was alone on the stage with everyone staring at her.
Yesterday…
"Why, do you have stage fright?"
"No."
That was a lie, and not a very good one. Sakura heard the first few bars of her chosen song being played, and then there were only a few beats left before she had to jump in…
I can't do this, I can't, it'll be all over the school, I'll mess up, I'll forget the lyrics, I'll hit a bad note, I'll trip over this never-ending wiring, I'll be the laughingstock of the drama club and they'll all say "Oh, why did she ever audition in the first place?" all because of that Li getting into my head and making me think that I could actually get up here, stand up here, crap, this is not helping, and he's… he's…
She whipped her head to look left and saw him talking to the person beside him and laughing. Then she saw him see her looking at him. Any other backstabber caught in the act would be at least a little embarrassed, but Syaoran stared her straight in the eye and smirked.
He's laughing at me!
There is no way I am
letting Syaoran laugh. I've got to...
When you get caught in the rain
With nowhere to run
She let her voice work and squeezed her eyes shut; when she opened them she saw there were only about 2 people actually listening to her. She liked it better that way.
When you're distraught and in pain
Without anyone
It was much better to keep her eyes closed because she could pretend that she was at home using karaoke tracks on the computer.
When you keep crying out to be saved
But nobody comes
And you feel so far away
That you just can't find your way home
Sakura was getting the hang of this. She opened her eyes and saw that Syaoran had walked down to the audience and was watching her like she'd just scored perfect on the SAT's. She looked around and saw the same admiration in everyone's faces.
You can get there alone, it's okay
What you say is…
Syaoran smiled to himself, as if to say, 'I knew it'.
I can make it through the rain
I can stand up once again
On my own and I know
That I'm strong enough to mend
And every time I feel afraid
I hold tighter to my faith
And I live one more day
And I make it through the rain
They'd cut the song a bit because if she sang the whole thing it would take up too much time, and they only had a few minutes of lunch time to use the auditorium because the 6th graders were having a puppet show or something next period.
Here goes, Sakura thought.
And when the wind blows
And shadows grow close
Don't be afraid
There's nothing you can't face
Syaoran's expression softened and when Sakura saw it she wanted to blush—his eyes showed that he was looking at something beautiful, that he was… touched.
Touched in the head, more like it.
And should they tell you
You'll never pull through
Don't hesitate
Stand tall and say
Her voice filled the auditorium and the other auditioning girls seemed to shrink back in their seats, realizing that Sakura's voice could be much, much better than theirs. Sakura didn't let herself think, because if she did she would chicken out.
I can make it through the rain
I can stand up once again
On my own, and I know
That I'm strong enough to mend
And every time I feel afraid
I hold tighter to my faith
And I live one more day
And I make it through the rain—
Eriol put a hand on Syaoran's shoulder and said something, shaking his head in amazement. Syaoran grinned back.
I can make it through the rain
And stand up once again
And I live one more day
And I make it through the rain
She drew out the last note and felt as if it was pulling the audience along with her. Then at last, softly, perfectly, the song ended.
No one breathed, no one said a word. Sakura's face grew hot.
"Right," she mumbled. "Through the rain, by Mariah Carey."
There was a short silence, and then—
"Where have you been hiding!" Eriol said, half-laughing in disbelief. As soon as he spoke, the drama club started clapping. It wasn't thunderous, and there were no screams or cheers, but for the first time Sakura was being applauded, and it felt good.
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"…Oh my God, you were great, Eriol loved you and gave you the part right there, the props director somehow got it into his head to ask you to marry him, and I had no idea we had an actual star in the making here!"
Walking backwards in front of her, Syaoran was thrilled to the point of being ridiculously flattering. He'd wanted to walk home with her because his friends all lived nearer the school anyway.
"So anyway, there's practice every day except Thursday. You just have to be there tomorrow at the auditorium. I'm going to be behind the scenes helping them set up some new props, but you have to go meet with the cast yourself."
"The cast? Who else…?"
"The girl playing the evil fairy… king and queen… fairy godmothers… didn't you ever read Sleeping Beauty?"
"All I know is that she wakes up because of some kiss and then she marries the prince."
Syaoran shook his head. "That's just sad, don't tell me you never read fairytales? Beauty and the Beast? Cinderella?"
"Stop making it sound like I had an abused childhood. We didn't read fairytales." She looked away, thinking of the various adventures she'd had to go through to capture Clow Cards. "We'd probably end up making our own."
They were almost at her house now.
"Sakura-chan—"
"Don't come in my house, Li-kun." He laughed back. She'd caught him.
"Why nooot?" he whined like a little kid. "Can't I have a snack or something?"
"You have homework?"
"Yes, but—"
"Then go do it and stop bothering me."
He laughed again. She was never really serious about telling him to go away, probably because she could never make him go away. He'd followed her around a little at lunch and between classes, because he found her interesting.
Yeah. Kinomoto Sakura, the outcast. Some people didn't even know she existed, and this… this particularly annoying 'cool kid' decided to find her interesting.
"So you have your costume, right?"
"Yeah." Eriol had already given her the princess costume she was supposed to wear, because it would probably be lost by the end of the week with all the props and decorations being made backstage. Syaoran and the others had decided on a pink dress because they had more of the pink fabric. It was every little girl's dream princess gown with an off shoulder bodice, long smooth sleeves, and an extremely puffy skirt.
To Sakura it was a nightmare solidified. She hated big dresses like this, and even as a Card Captor she tried to wear clothes that were simple so she could move freely. How are people supposed to breathe in this thing! had been her first thought when Eriol made her try it on. It had been hot and stuffy backstage and Sakura vaguely remembered being very close to flying into a blind rage and blowing up the whole place.
But of course, she had to wear it, because she was going to be Sleeping Beauty.
I'm liking the idea less and less.
She knew Syaoran didn't know she was thinking all this, of course. She'd always been good at keeping her emotions hidden, and he never really noticed how she felt because he was so caught up in being the brainless lazy flirtatious slacker that he always was.
"See you tomorrow then?"
She turned and looked at him, really looked at him. Maybe I'm the one not noticing, she thought, seeing that Syaoran's face was eager and openly friendly. …He finds it so easy to talk to people, to make people feel good.
"Yeah, I'll be there," she said, smiling a genuine smile. Syaoran gave her a little wave and then started walking home, hands in his pockets. Sakura didn't stay to stare after him, but she had to admit it was nice to have a friend for once.
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Being in the drama club was weird.
That was Sakura's first conclusion as she stepped into the hallway of their high school and actually saw people taking the time to smile and greet her. She recognized some of the kids from the audition, but the others had been backstage when she was singing, how did they know she was playing the part now?
Of course, those questions in her head disappeared as she rounded the corner and saw it.
Tacked up on the wall of her homeroom classroom was a giant, hideous, blindingly brightly-colored poster with a badly drawn imitation of the Sleeping Beauty cartoon. "SLEEPING BEAUTY MUSICAL" was printed across the top of the poster, and "By the Drama Club" had been hastily scribbled in the lower right corner. And there on the left side in big red-orange letters for the whole school to see—"Starring Kinomoto Sakura".
A few minutes went by as she stared blankly at that banner across the hallway from her.
This is bad.
Very bad.
She was about to sidle alongside the row of lockers and make her way to the classroom door without anyone else seeing her when she heard them. Two girls, probably a year younger than her (and definitely a lot noisier) were giggling to each other in front of the banner, pointing at the cast list on the left and whispering.
Sakura narrowed her eyes, her heartbeat quickening as it always did when she was embarrassed. She had to stop this. If the whole school was whispering about her and saying bad things, it wasn't worth it to join the stupid musical; who cared about showing her talent to the world and all that crap Syaoran had shoved in her brain?
"…yes, he's the Assistant Director, can you believe that?"
Sakura stopped. She'd been getting ready to rip that poster off the wall and grind it to pieces under the heels of her shoes, but they were talking about a "he"… Eriol? No, Eriol was the Director, so the Assistant Director must be…
"Do you think Syaoran-kun will notice me if I try out for one of the extra parts? There's a scene where all of them are singing and maybe if I'm good enough…"
They're talking about Syaoran, Sakura realized. Then she heard their next sentence.
"Nah, he's so busy going around with that Kinomoto girl. He walked with her all day yesterday, you know. He says he's helping her rehearse."
It took a moment for her to understand it fully, but when she did her eyes widened and she had to stop herself from laughing or gagging (she didn't know which). They're actually jealous of me?
"Why does he need to? She's got a great voice! She doesn't need a guy like him, and besides, he doesn't really listen to much Broadway music, so how will he help?"
"I know, it's weird. I mean, why her? She never even talks in class, and last year there were rumors about… strange things she was involved in, if you know what I mean."
Sakura stiffened, and then turned and walked the other way. If the whole school wanted to wonder why Syaoran was spending his free time with her, she didn't care.
Besides, she thought, Li's not too bad.
Immediately after that thought, images of Syaoran knocking over books and decorations, bringing dirt into her house, annoying her brother, and talking nonstop until her head ached came to mind.
Hah, not too bad? Sure.
Sakura reached her locker and was about to open it and put books in when she realized she'd forgotten the combination. Groaning inwardly, she looked around for the janitor who had a key that could open all the lockers, but he was nowhere in sight.
"Need help, Sakura-chan?"
She nearly jumped out of her skin, and then glared when she saw it was Syaoran. He had his annoying face on, the one that implied that he knew more than her. "No, I'll just find the janitor…"
Syaoran sighed and fished a key out of his pocket, sticking it into the emergency keyhole. "No need to thank me," he said as the lock popped open.
"I wasn't going to thank you," Sakura snapped. "Where'd you get the master key anyway?"
Syaoran shrugged. "I have my sources." He grinned when he saw Sakura's disgusted expression, and then insisted on following her as she started walking down the hallway.
The two of them reached their classroom and Sakura saw that her usual back desk was taken. There was one in the middle of the room, where the teacher's eyes usually drifted to, and she groaned mentally as she started walking up the aisle to that desk. The only other vacant seat a few rows back was known to have uneven legs, and she just wasn't in the mood to put up with a broken chair just now.
Then Sakura felt something warm bang against her ankle, and the next thing she knew she was on the floor with her books irreversibly bent under her. A wave of well-hidden giggles swept through the class, and Sakura got up, cheeks burning.
When I get my hands on that Syaoran I'm going to—
She turned and saw him all the way at the back of the classroom, arms folded. He was looking straight at the girl sitting to her right, and then she knew that it wasn't he who'd tripped her. Picking up her books, Sakura went to sit down and kept her eyes down for the entire period, even when the teacher called her.
Before this whole musical thing, people hadn't even known her name. But at least it was better than being gaped at.
A few minutes Sakura looked away from the window to see Syaoran leaning forward in his chair, eyes narrowed slightly with concentration at the girl directly in front of him—the one who'd tripped her awhile ago. Turning away from the teacher, she tried to catch his attention so she could tell him to stop whatever he was planning right now.
But it was too late. Syaoran frowned straight ahead for a full four seconds, and then he smiled and leaned back. Sakura saw a small black object crawl up her back from where Syaoran's hands had been. In a few seconds the girl screamed, loud and shrill, waking up everyone who was slouching half-asleep in their desk chairs.
"Get it off get it off get it off get it ooaaahhhhhhh!"
The girl jumped to her feet, grabbed her notebook, and swiped it against her head several times, almost on the verge of tears. The teacher looked on curiously, and Sakura's classmates whispered among themselves. Finally she seemed to calm down, and slumped in her chair wailing things like, "It was horrible!" and "It-it-went on my hair!"
The girl's seatmate leaned down and peered at the black dot on the floor. His eyes widened, and then suddenly he burst out laughing.
"It's only a spider!"
The class erupted in laughter, glad to have something exciting happen just then. None of them saw Sakura staring at Syaoran, who was snickering with his arms folded across his chest. After a while she shook her head, amazed at how childish he could be, but a small smile made its way onto her face.
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"Kinomoto-san, did you bring your costume today?"
Sakura looked up from her locker to see one of the girls she'd heard talking in front of the poster. She nodded slowly. The dress was in her backpack folded up, since Sakura had been planning to leave it in her locker or something instead of having the hideous thing in her room.
"Thank God! I forgot to get your number from the school directory last night to call you. Could you wear the dress to practice later on, please?"
"A dress rehearsal this early?" Sakura asked.
"No, the art club's going to help us do adjustments on everyone's costumes. You mentioned it was a little uncomfortable around the elbows…?"
And the shoulders, and the waist, and the chest, and everywhere else. "Oh… yes."
"So we're going to pin up some parts of the dress and then sew in a few seams that we'll rip out after the musical. Sorry you have to wear it, but it's the only way we'll know how it fits." The girl grinned. "It'll be like a costume party, anyway."
Sakura nodded. "Okay." There was nothing else to say.
The girl turned to leave, and then stopped and smiled again. "By the way, I'm Ami," she said, bringing her right hand up.
Thinking she was supposed to shake it, Sakura reached out for Ami's hand, and then stood dumbfounded as the girl ran her fingers through her hair instead, leaving Sakura with her hand in front of her like an idiot.
Ami grinned. "See you later."
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As soon as school ended Sakura went and hid in the bathroom nearest the Auditorium, fishing the silky layers of cloth out of her bag. She made a face at it and thought that she would be glad to stuff it down the toilet, but it couldn't be helped—she took off her school uniform and pulled the dress over her head, ignoring the itchy fabric and the way the sleeves fit her like a second skin. A very hot and sweat-inducing second skin, that is.
She put her uniform skirt and blouse into her backpack, ready to be jumped into when she took the dress off, and came out of the bathroom cubicle, setting her bag down on the sink. She stepped back a little, took a good long look at herself in the mirror, and almost smiled.
…Okay, okay, if she hadn't cared about the increasingly annoying feel of it against her skin, she'd have said that this dress was… amazing. Held up on a hanger it looked goofy and over-the-top, but when she was actually wearing it…
Breadths of pale pink silk—low-quality silk, Sakura reminded herself, but still silk—cascaded down from her waist, overlapping each other in leaf-shaped pieces to rest on top of the stiffer white skirt underneath. White lace was sewn around the off-shoulder cut and her cuffs, adding elegance to the simple pink long-sleeved bodice.
And for the final touch… Sakura reached into the pocket of her backpack and brought out a crown of paper roses. Sleeping Beauty wasn't supposed to have a tiara, because no one was supposed to know she was a princess. (She'd borrowed an old book of fairytales from the library that lunch time since Syaoran had made fun of her yesterday.)
Wearing this costume, Sakura decided that she was almost glad to get up on stage and perform in front of the whole school.
…Almost.
She took a deep breath and then walked out of the room, holding her bag's strap in her hand. Backpacks didn't go with princess dresses. On her way to the auditorium she passed a janitor, who looked at her strangely, but Sakura shrugged it off. He'd see the others' costumes too, later on; she was still a bit early.
She realized she was a little excited to show the others her dress, simply because it looked so good. She actually wanted someone to say something nice about her… she wanted… attention, Sakura thought. Something must be wrong with me right now.
With that growing eagerness and a shy smile on her face, Sakura pushed open the door of the auditorium, stepped inside, and froze, letting the door bang closed behind her.
Each and every member of the drama club turned to look at her with questions in their expressions, whispers on their lips, and… and…
Normal school uniforms.
It took a second for Sakura to realize that she'd been tricked. Her cheeks flamed long before she knew Ami had set her up. The other members of the drama club hid smiles behind their hands, but she could hear them trying to hold in their laughter.
Sakura felt herself shaking. Never in her life had she embarrassed herself like this, drawing so many stares to herself like this. It felt horrible, disastrous, like she'd been grounded for a month.
And never in her life had she felt this weak.
I was so stupid, she thought, clenching her fists. I am so, so stupid.
She was surprised when Ami came up to her, concern on her face but laughter in her eyes. Sakura wanted to slap the girl. "Oh, Kinomoto-san, we don't need to wear the costumes until dress rehearsal," she said gently. Someone behind Sakura guffawed.
"Kinomoto! It's not Halloween yet!" a boy shouted from the props team.
"Or were those the only clean clothes you had?" one of the extras snickered. One by one the members of the drama club started laughing, throwing out snide comments and suggestions. Sakura wished she could turn back time and run as far away from the auditorium as she could.
Surrounded by laughter, she took a wild look around the auditorium through eyes blurring with tears, and noticed that Eriol and Syaoran weren't there. Sakura turned and ran for the door only to trip over the backpack she was dragging around. The laughs grew louder and seemed to crash against her ears, but when she looked up at Ami the other girl simply smirked.
Her shoe was tangled in the backpack strap. Sakura wrestled it out, accidentally lifting her dress above her legs as she did so. Some of the boys in the back hooted wildly. Biting her lip till it bled, she stumbled to her feet again just as Ami stepped forward ready to say something else. Sakura was suddenly aware that she didn't know anyone else here except Eriol and Syaoran.
They're all against me, she thought, angrily brushing away the tears that started to fall.
"Aww, she's crying!" Ami said. That was the last straw. Sakura wiped at her cheek and then glared fiercely at the girl, clenching her fists as she got ready to slap that smirk off Ami's face. Fortunately, it never happened.
"What the hell is going on!"
The drama club fell silent, looking down at the floor. Ami closed her mouth and retreated behind a few of her friends, becoming just one of the crowd. And Sakura turned to see Li Syaoran making his way across the auditorium.
For a moment he looked at her blankly, clearly not recognizing her, and then his eyes grew wide.
Not him, too, Sakura thought furiously, her eyes daring him to say something. But she sure didn't expect him to turn back to the rest of the drama club, his voice icy.
"Why is Kinomoto wearing her costume?"
Ami was all the way in the back, but everyone heard her clearly. "I don't know," she said. Her voice was challenging, telling Syaoran there was no way in hell she was scared of him. "But… it sure looks pretty… stupid, honestly." She choked back a laugh and someone else giggled out loud, but they didn't see who.
Sakura was staring at the floor now, trying unsuccessfully to stop herself from crying. If she'd looked up she'd have seen Syaoran's fists tighten and then relax. He walked over to her and put a hand on her left shoulder, and for once she didn't push him away.
Syaoran led Sakura out of the auditorium, even opening the door for her. As it began to close behind them and as Sakura sat against the wall and let the tears come hot and fast, he turned around to face Ami and the others.
"I think it looks beautiful," he said fiercely.
The door slammed shut, and Syaoran sat beside Sakura and waited for her to finish crying.
Liked it? Anyway, next chapter might not be out for a while because I'm starting school and I won't have as much time to write. Review please!
