Chapter 2

8 MONTHS

-ERIOL-

"Wow." A voice said next to me. "So all this time, what you were hiding under that ribbon, was a zero."

I jumped, and hurried to cover my counter. Turning around as fast as I could, I saw Daidouji, who was now looking at the far away scenario, as if she just didn't spoke to me.

"Daidouji." Was the only thing I could say, as I tied the ribbon.

"Don't worry." She replied, visibly bored. "I won't tell anyone. I mean, I got no one to tell."

I frowned. Three years ago, when Daidouji arrived at Tomoeda, she soon became one of the most popular girls at school. Just a couple of months later, when the whole school community found out her counter wasn't moving, she became a victim of discrimination: she was different, and the rest of the normal people, weren't going to let her forget it. And so, it was Daidouji herself who recluse in the anonymity, becoming someone forgettable and almost unsociable.

We were friends three years ago. Before her counter fucked up, and then she decided to stop being friends with Sakura and me. Sakura had insisted, several times, but it was Daidouji herself who pushed her away. Her personality had completely changed, and since I wasn't sociable at all, I didn't even try to keep in touch, and just came to the conclusion that Daidouji and I were no longer friends anymore.

That's why I didn't understand what she was doing here, next to me. It somehow felt as if time hadn't pass. But in the end, I ruined it all when I said:

"Bell's about to ring. Think the best to do now is look for my classroom."

Daidouji didn't reply, so I just walked away. For a moment I thought of looking for Sakura and search for the 1st grade classrooms together, but then I remembered her counter had just hit zero, and she'd probably be too busy with the love of his life, so I end up deciding to just walk alone.

The opening ceremony had come to an end. It was easy to tell since all students were standing in front of the bulletin boards that indicated the classroom distributions. It was a whole quest to get close enough to the first grade lists, and when I could finally read them, I felt heaviness in my stomach: Sakura and I weren't in the same classroom.

Resignation was all I could do. So in the end, I just say hi to Yamazaki (another friend from middle school days), and we walked together towards the first grade classrooms. We weren't in the same class, but since the three classrooms for first graders where located next to each other, it was kind of logical to just head together.

When we reached classroom 1-2, Yamazaki said goodbye and walked in. I kept on walking towards classroom 1-1. I ended up picking one of the seats in the back, and after placing my backpack on the desk, I finally sat. I couldn't help but think about Sakura again, wonder if she had got busy talking with that boy, and that had made her forget to check the boards, and then I got paranoia of thinking maybe she wouldn't find her classroom on time, and the professor might scold her, and this was just her first day… My anxiety died when I looked at the door, and saw Daidouji coming in. Once again, I felt heaviness in my stomach. The least I could do was to behave politely, and ask her if she wanted to check the boards together. Then we would've noticed we're both in the same class, and so we could've walk together, along with Yamazaki, and I wouldn't end up looking like a rude jerk.

Daidouji saw me, but she pretended she didn't. Most of the seats were already taken, so after thinking about it for a second or two, she walked towards the empty desk located at my right (not saying hi to anyone). Nervous, I whispered:

"I'm sorry."

But she pretended not to listen to me, and so, I understood she was still hidding in her bubble. And the harsh reality of us not being friends anymore, once again prevailed over my fantasies of our old middle school days.

The bell that indicated the end of our first school day finally rang, and as the class president (a girl with short brown hair named Sasaki Rika) told us we got until Friday to sign up for a club, the whole class soon started to walk out of the classroom.

I took my time, on purpose. First, since I didn't want to meet Sakura and his soulmate, and second, since I saw Daidouji taking her time too. I guess this is the type of things weirdos are used to: separate yourself from the rest, try not to get involved, don't fit in, but also don't stand out.

"I don't get it." I finally said, unable to hold it any longer, as I looked at Daidouji, who was staring at her desk. "You were one of the popular girls, you were Sakura's best friend… you could've just hide your counter, blend in, and keep on having a normal life. Why would you expose your broken counter, and thus become an outcast?"

She finally turned to look at me. Her eyes were watery, and his lower lip trembled. I was about to say I was sorry for hurting her feelings, when Daidouji finally answered:

"I still have this foolish hope it will get moving once again."

She suddenly stood up, and after taking her backpack, she walked out of the classroom, pushing away a couple of students. They looked at her, surprised, but soon pretended nothing had happened, as if she was something so insignificant and forgettable, not worth of their attention, and they too walked out of the classroom, leaving me alone.

I felt desolated. With all of these thoughts and memories of middle school days that had flooded my head, it kind of felt as losing Daidouji's friendship once again. But this time, it felt so much worse, since I didn't have Sakura next to me.

"Eriol!"

I turned around, and the smile in my face trembled. It wouldn't be easy to get used to that guy who now held Sakura's hand and intertwined her fingers with.

"Morning, Sakura." I said, doing my best to hold my smile. Sakura, completely oblivious to my inner monologue, smiled back, being her expresion honest, pure and lively.

"Morning, Eriol." She replied, as her soulmate looked at me, visibly suspicious of who I was. "I didn't see you yesterday anymore…"

"Ah, yes. Sorry about that." I said, pretending it wasn't a big deal, and not knowing why (maybe it had to do with the way his boyfriend looked at me) I son added. "I was hanging with Daidouji."

"Tomoyo?" She asked, slighly surprised. I nodded, still trying to make it sound as something casual.

"Yeah, we're in the same class, so we thought it was best to catch up, and…"

"I'm so happy to know Tomoyo's doing okay."

Her warmth smile make me smile, for real, too. That, until…

"Tomoyo, good morning!"

Sakura jumped, and raised her arm, looking at whoever was standing behind me. My heart jumped nervously, and somehow scared, I slowly turned around, only to see how Daidouji was standing there, three steps away from us.

"Good morning Kinomoto, Hiragizawa…" She said in her usual harsh tone, as she looked at the new guy.

"Li Syaoran." Sakura's boyfriend introduced himself.

"Li." She said firmly. "Daidouji Tomoyo." She then introduced herself. Without saying anything else, she then looked at me. A cold stare that froze me down to the bones. I couldn't help but ask myself if she had listen the lie I just had told Sakura. Still, knowing I wouldn't be able to stand next to Sakura and that guy any longer, I soon stood next to her.

"It would be better if we head up." I said to my best friend, as I turned and smiled at Daidouji, who once again looked at me with that ice cold stare. "Shall we?"

I didn't give her a chance to reply, and so, as Sakura said goodbye to both of us, I held Daidouji by her arm, and pulled her towards the main building.

"You're such a liar." She said as we stopped in front of our lockers. I just shrug my shoulders, and finally let go of her. "So we're now catching up?"

"I didn't know what else to tell her. I can't just say I've been avoiding her…"

"But she's still your best friend." She replied as we both opened our lockers, and proceeded to change our shoes.

"Yeah, she is. But not her boyfriend."

I heard how Daidouji's shoes hit the floor, and I could feel how she was now looking at me.

"You like her." She whispered. I looked back at her, visibly panicking. "You like her." She repeated in a much higher tone, and unable to hold it in, I jumped over her and covered her lips with my hand.

"No one can know!"

"That's the reason your counter…" I pressed my hand even more firmly against her lips, and locked my eyes on hers.

"You can't say anything, to anyone." I whispered. She pushed my hand away, and proceeded to fix her hair.

"Ah yeah, since I got a lot of people to share this information with." Her sarcasm felt like a dagger.

"Let's get this straight." I said. "We're going to be classmates for at least one whole year; I think the least we can do is to act civilized during classes, and try to be as polite as we can outside of them."

"And when you need my help to get rid of Sakura, then what?" Am I back again in your game and schemes?" Daidouji crossed her arms, as I frowned.

"I was hoping I didn't need to do that again…"

"Let's see for how long our plan works, then." She said, and hurried to put on her school shoes, and place the other ones' inside her locker. Then, she slammed close her locker, and left me there. Standing alone.

I arrived the classroom just two minutes after. Once again, there weren't many available seats, so this time, I had to sit behind Daidouji. That didn't sound so bad; I was completely sure she wouldn't turn around at all to talk to me, and so, we spent the whole morning like that, not giving each other uncomfortable looks. That, until it was lunch time.

"Eriol!" I looked at the door, and there was Sakura, smiling at me.

She signaled me to come close, and it took me just a second to know what she wanted: Let's eat lunch together. I didn't need to look at Daidouji to know she was eyeing us both, completely aware of our movements.

I sighed, and looked at her.

"Wanna come?" She looked back at me, as if she didn't believe that was happening. I looked at her, in desperation.

My eyes yelled what my mouth couldn't even whisper: Help me. She looked at me, almost pouting, which I understood immediately: You owe me this one.

We both took our lunch, and walked towards the door. Sakura said hi to Daidouji with her usual beautiful smile, as if not a day had gone by since they stopped being best friends, and I just nodded when I saw her boyfriend, pretending his presence didn't bother me at all. And then, the four of us walked downstairs, towards the school gardens'.

Since Daidouji and I had supposedly catch up yesterday, Daidouji ignored me and proceeded to talk with Sakura, catching up too, and while I pretended to already know all that she was saying, I was actually listening carefully to not miss any detail. Although, to be honest, Daidouji didn't spoke that much, and we soon listened to Li Syaoran, and the reason he had moved to Tomoeda.

"My father died not long ago." He said, trying not to make it sound as bad as it was. "So my mom thought it would be best to move out of Hong Kong, to a much calmer place. We have lots of relatives whom live in Japan. We got some uncles who live in Tokyo, and I think we also got some cousins in Fukuoka. Director Yue is related to my mom. I think he's his second uncle, or something like that. He's the one who invited us to Tomoeda. He found us a place to stay, and helped with the moving expenses…"

Daidouji and I exchanged looks, for a fraction of a second. We both came to the same conclusion: So now we were officially the mono-parental families club.

Sakura and Li kept on chating, as Daidouji and I continued eating. Approximately ten minutes later, when all of us were done with our lunches, and there weren't more excuses for us to not be part of the conversation, the heard the bell that indicated the end of lunch break, and to our (I don't know good or bad) luck, Sakura said:

"Syaoran and I got sports class."

That meant Daidouji and I needed to go back to our classroom, alone. None said a word, and so, as Sakura and Li walked towards the field, Daidouji and I walked side by side towards our classroom. It was a silent walk, until she said:

"You're going to keep on asking for my help, every time you need to face Sakura?"

I didn't reply. After all, I had no idea what to say.

"If this keeps on, she'll soon notice we're actually not friends again."

"We stopped being friends since you wanted it, in the first time." I couldn't help but spit.

We stopped walking. She looked at me. Her eyes were cold, but at the same time, there was sadness in them.

"Why would you guys want to be friends with someone like me? Someone that's broken."

Her words made me furious.

"You're forgetting about this, it seems." I said, as I pushed my wrist to her face, and the ribbon ends almost touched her nose. "I think this is enough for you to not be the only weirdo here."

She didn't reply, so I lowered my arm, and proceeded to play with the ribbon, nervously.

"Sakura… Sakura wouldn't reject us. She didn't reject me. I'm sure she wouldn't reject me even if I ever decided to show her my zero."

We both were unable to say anything else. Sakura had known Daidouji's counter had stopped before reaching zero. Everybody at middle school knew about it. And yet, Sakura never stopped being kind and considerate towards Daidouji. But Daidouji pushed her away. She pushed us both away. We were friends, and she decided to leave us…

I'm sure that, if Sakura ever knew my counter had already hit zero, she would be happy for me. But still, it was painful to imagine what would happen next: she would ask me who was the person that had made my counter hit zero, and I wasn't sure if I had the guts to answer her. Should I lie? Lie to my best friend? Telling her the truth would only feel worse. And yet, I was sure that Sakura wouldn't reject my friendship, the same way she hadn't rejected Daidouji.

Those old days of middle school felt so far away and so surreal, I wasn't sure if we could ever go back to how we were. How we even were? For a moment I found it impossible to picture it. As if it had happened millions of years ago. Or worse, as if it had actually never happened.

"If we're going to be classmates for over a year-" I say, using Daidouji's own words against her. "I think the best we can do is to behave ourselves. I thought it would be easy for me to simply not have any friends anymore. I mean, I was like that in elementary school, before meeting you and Sakura. I thought you'd also get used to being alone all the time. But…" And I couldn't help to take a minute to actually think in what I was about to say. "Maybe it isn't as simple for you as it was for me. After all, we had history…"

Daidouji looked at me, visibly impressed.

"I mean, we were friends. I know you pushed us away, but still… Sakura wasn't willing to let you go so easily. You were her best friend. I also liked you."

"I appreciate you too, Eriol." She replied in a whisper. "It was nice to see how you slowly opened your heart to us, and left your shyness behind."

I smiled. A weak smile. Yes, we had been friends. Real friends. We used to hang out at Sakura's place every afternoon. We used to do our homework together. We used to hang at Penguin Park, not worrying about anything, and making plans to go to the movies or the aquarium…

"I think, for Sakura's sake, and the rest of the school year that lies ahead of us, the least we can do is try to be kind and respectful towards each other. We can talk every now and then, and spend some time together… I don't know if we can go back and be as close as we were before, but… At least I'd like you to consider us being friends again."

She didn't reply. She just looked at me, still her arms crossed, as if she was analyzing the pros and cons of my proposal.

"I can try to tolerate you." She finally said, and without waiting for me to reply, she turned around. "Now, it's best if we go back to class."

When the bell rang again, indicating it was the end of our classes, and we were free from school, once again Daidouji and I took our time putting our stuff in our backpacks. Most of the class was out of the room almost instantly, and when we finally stood up, there were barely two people there besides us.

We walked together towards the locker area, were we changed our shoes back. Luckily, we lived in opposite directions, so there was no need to walk together any further than the school main gate. I think Daidouji thought the same, since, after we reached the school entrance, when I said "See you tomorrow" she just nodded, and walked away.

To be honest, I had no idea what was about to happen, but somehow, I felt happy knowing that I could, even if it was just a little, trust Daidouji Tomoyo, once again. Maybe her friendship could help me forget my unrequited love towards Sakura.

Weirdly enough, instead of being worried about her knowing my deepest and darkest secret, at that moment, it felt good to know that someone was aware of my abnormality, and yet, accepted me as I was.

Once again this work week drained me from all energy, so I'm really happy I changed the update days to the weekend. Hope you didn't feel it took ages for me to update. I also feel this revision went much smoother, but still feel free to point any typos or gramatical errors.

See ya next saturday.

Ribo~