Sakura had managed to get through the rest of the day unscathed, for the most part. There was still a matter of her textbooks that she would need to check out from the library. Thankfully she wasn't required to pay any fees unless she forgot to return them at the end of the year.

Originally intending to leave straight for home once the last bell of the day rung, Sakura decided it would be best for the foreseeable school year to see to her textbooks before she finished here.

Stuck with her own preoccupied mind, she almost didn't see the tall body headed straight her way in the doorframe of the library entrance. Giving a startled yelp, she abruptly stopped before she collided with the other student, who also in turn, stopped just shy of her nose.

Sakura slowly looked up with panicked, widened eyes, mouth slightly ajar, until she met the harsh glare of an unfriendly looking boy. Panic rose in her throat, and she pressed her lips together so that nothing would threaten to spill out.

"Excuse me," he bit out, and it was meant to be polite, although it was obvious to both of them he didn't really mean it.

His hostile eyes swept sideways at the little bit of exit way to her left, hoping she would take the hint and move. Sakura hurriedly scuttled out of the way, and the taller boy breezed past her. She blinked, still processing what had just happened.

How could anyone be so unfriendly and abrupt? How could anyone so rude, be so pretty? Sakura scolded herself, and shook her head.

There were books that needed to be checked out, and they would be checked out today!

Nothing would deter her good mood and determination.

Sakura pressed onward through the library doors, easily locating the service desk. A woman with a dreamy look in her eyes manned the desk, downturned to a book in her lap that she seemed to be reading very thoroughly.

"Excuse me…" Sakura tapped on the table with the nail of her index finger, a satisfying tap sound ringing out against the wood counter.

The woman looked up from her book, instantly locking onto Sakura with her bottle lens glasses. "Hello," her smile was welcoming and Sakura felt a wave of relief wash over her. "How may I help you?"

"I'm here to check out any textbooks I might need," Sakura began, "I'm a foreign exchange student, but I arrived a little later."

The woman nodded understandingly, "I'm Linda, the librarian and book keeper. If you need any help with the library, or textbooks, late fees, rentals, I'm the one you go to."

Sakura nodded appreciatively, "I'm Sakura Doihara. It's nice to meet you."

"And it's nice to meet you," Linda smiled, deep laugh lines folding into her cheery face, "now let's see about those textbooks. Do you have your schedule?"

"Yeah, it's here!" Sakura took off her backpack and fished around inside of it for her schedule, folded neatly in four. She handed it over to Linda after unraveling it for the older woman.

Linda tapped her lips, examining the small print on the paper, before looking over Sakura's shoulder. Her eyes lit up with an idea.

"Grant!" Linda called after a student entering the library, "come here."

The name was familiar to Sakura in the least, although she couldn't come up with a reason as to why that was so.

Sakura turned around to catch a glimpse of this 'Grant' and no sooner did she wish that she hadn't. It was the rude child from earlier, sauntering back to the library for who knows why. Her heart sped up, and she felt the need to run away.

Grant sighed dramatically and rolled his eyes as he turned towards their direction, stalking over on his long legs.

"Don't give me that," Linda scolded lightly, the tone more playful than drilling. "This is Sakura, one of our foreign exchange students this year. She needs help locating her textbooks. Would you please help her?"

"I can't exactly say no, can I?" He countered.

"No," Linda smiled, her book still in her hand.

"And why can't you do it?"

"I have to tidy the library up and close it properly after everyone here leaves. You can do this one thing and go straight home."

Grant seemed to comply, albeit a little reluctantly as his gaze fell upon Sakura.

Instantly, Sakura felt conscious and awkward.

After a few moments of scrutiny, he spoke. "Fine."

Linda smiled at Sakura when she looked over to confirm if this was really happening.

"This way," Grant didn't wait to see if she was coming.

Sakura scampered after him when Linda gestured for her to follow.

"C–could you walk a little slower?" Sakura breathed, her short legs struggling to match his longer strides.

Grant only looked back and huffed, turning forward again.

Sakura smashed into his back when he suddenly stopped. She was thankful to find that he hadn't bothered to toss her another glare.

"Let me see your schedule," he held a hand out, long digits fiddling in the air for the slip of paper he meant for her to place in his grasp.

Sakura complied, reaching to hand over her schedule. He took it swiftly, unfolding the neat edges to reveal the necessary information. Grant seemed to take everything into consideration, and Sakura found it a little bit funny that he would take finding textbooks so far.

"You'll need this one," he walked over to a shelf labeled 'pre-calculus' and handed her one of the paperback textbooks, before proceeding to locate each of the necessary textbooks for her classes.

By the end of it all, she had a considerable stack of books.

"But you won't have to worry about carrying all of them in your backpack. The schedule's split so that half of the classes fall on one day, and half on the other. A and B days, we call them."

Sakura nodded, that much was apparent to her. All the same, she appreciated him telling her. In that moment, he was nice to her.

"You'll want to talk to Linda so she can check them out in your name. Make sure you write the date and your name in the checkout slip inside the book."

Grant flipped open one of the textbooks, locating the slip on the inside of the book cover. He tapped it, and sure enough his name was there, dating the previous year and the day he checked it back in.

"Grant Hughes…" she read it off slowly, "is that you?"

Grant stepped closer, peering down at the book more closely. She tried not to look at him.

"Yep. What book is this?" He flipped the cover closed, it was the pre-calculus book he first handed her. "Ah, good ol' precal. The teacher was shit."

Sakura cringed, his words were harsh.

"Thankfully you don't have him. You've got Fossen. He's a better teacher than anyone could ever hope for."

Sakura looked up to meet his gaze. "Have you had him before?"

"Yeah, I have him for physics this year. You'll like him." Grant smiled, as short lived as it may have been she was still dazzled by it.

Sakura wanted to punch herself.

"Can you find your way back to the service desk from here?" Grant asked, arms crossed over his chest.

Sakura looked back over her shoulder, where many tall shelves overshadowed the pathway back to the service desk.

"Let's go," Grant brushed past her, still not bothering to check and see if Sakura followed. She exclaimed before ushering her legs to move, arms still laden with the stack of books.

Sure enough, he knew the library inside and out, through sharp and twisting turns he managed to guide them back to Linda's desk.

"Wow, you managed to find them all," was all she had to say to Grant. "Here dear, put them on the counter. I can take care of the rest. Don't forget to check them out on the slips too."

Linda handed Sakura a black ink pen. "You spend too much time here, Grant. No student should know their high school's library this well. Except for Wyatt."

"It's not like I mean to," Grant sighed. "I'm leaving."

Sakura looked up from writing down her name at the mention of Grant's departure.

"Wait," she said as loud as she dared to in the library, "thank you."

Grant was nearly halfway out of the door, but offered a solemn wave of his hand and kept walking forward.

"What a troublesome kid," Linda chuckled, "he's always been like that for as long as I can recall. He's my little brother's kid."

Sakura turned to look at the librarian. "He's half?"

"Yes, his mother's Korean," Linda nodded.

Sakura found it intriguing. She wondered if she'd ever talk to him again.

"He's your age. Maybe you have a class with him. Although he's a little rough around the edges, Grant has his good side."

"That's what everyone says about people like him," Sakura closed the cover of one book, starting on the next.

"Then it must be true. If there are a majority of people that say the same thing many different times, there must be a reason why. Trust me on this, Grant is a good person. It just takes some time."

"You're right. But it's not like we'll be seeing each other too often, anyways." Sakura assured herself.

Linda chuckled knowingly, running the last textbook through the scanner. "Alright dear, when you're finished here you're free to go!"

Sakura smiled with relief, "thank you Linda."

"Not a problem. Enjoy the rest of your day."

Sakura handed back the dark pen, before shoving what textbooks she could into her backpack, carrying the rest in her arms.

Making her way towards the entrance of the school, Sunday spotted Sakura and called her over before she could escape.

Sakura turned at the sound of her name said aloud, and she spotted Sunday with Teddy, Julian and… Grant? The black haired girl looked on with confusion, slowly walking towards the four.

"Hey Cherry," Teddy greeted, his thumbs hooked around his backpack straps. He offered three out of five fingers in a wave.

"I know you can't do anything after school today, but we were going to walk to a cafe not far from here and hang out a little bit. Which way do you live?" Sunday asked, grabbing hold of Sakura's hands.

"I live a little North of the school," Sakura stated simply.

Sunday smiled, "perfect. The cafe's on your way home. Please, oh please come, Sakura!"

Sakura debated against going, because it was only her first day of school. She needed time to relax. However, on the other hand, it was only her first day of school, and she already had friends that were eager to spend time with her.

The black haired girl pursed her lips, "okay. I'll come with you for a little bit."

"Great!" Sunday smiled, "let's go then!"

"Oh right, this is the infamous Grant that we were talking about earlier today at lunch!" Julian motioned in Grant's direction, a great ray of sunshine in contrast with a dark, greying rain cloud.

A light bulb moment, Sakura realized why his name was so familiar suddenly. "Oh, we already met."

Teddy and Julian looked at each other in surprise, and then at Grant, who didn't seem to be paying much attention.

"He helped me find my textbooks," Sakura explained further, motioning towards the books she had tucked in her arms.

"Oh! You know, you don't have to carry all of those home," Sunday said, "that's what the locker is for."

Sakura nodded, "yeah, but I'd feel safer if I had them all with me at home as opposed to leaving them in the locker. What if I need it for an assignment and I don't have it?"

Sunday seemed to take her words into consideration. "How smart! I should start doing that too, instead of keeping them here."

"Are we going yet?" Grant's sonorous voice rang out over the commotion, and Sakura turned to look at him, captivated by the sound.

"In due time, Grumpy," Teddy patted Grant on the back.

Sakura laughed lightly at the nickname. Somehow, it made Grant seem less intimidating and large.

"What are you laughing at, Shrimp?" Grant addressed Sakura, who immediately stopped laughing. It didn't seem as if he meant anything by it, but she didn't take it in stride.

"At you," she simple stated. Sunday turned to leer at Grant, Julian clapped Teddy on the back.

"Okay, okay, I think we should go," Sunday ushered the group onwards, hands still intertwined with Sakura's.


wow it's been so long lol
i finally gathered up the courage to read the reviews and i was so touched that they were nice and encouraging, so finally after three years i've posted another chapter!
i was kinda impressed by the writing fifteen year old me did, not to pat my own back, but it was just so structured that it inspired me again. chapters every few years or so is probably going to happen a lot.
on another note, we finally get to meet grumpy! and if you couldn't already tell based on a whole chapter being named after him, he's an important character!

we also get to meet one more bear—daydream bear—our linda von werssowettz, the dreaming librarian!
i get a feeling that little side stories about the other carebears and cousins are well on the way.

please read & review :