Location: School field, sitting on top of a tree
Time frame: Morning recess
Point of View: Syaoran

Before classes resumed again, morning recess of a brief fifteen minutes was in progress at the moment. For the general school population, it was a time where the students seized upon the opportunity to stretch their legs, play a short game, or sit down and talk with friends. I, however, saw it as an opportunity to do some studying and revision of school work.

Understanding the material previously set for my classes has always been important to me. If I wanted to get into a prestigious university and continue studying abroad, I needed to put in a bit of sweat to achieve and maintain the grades expected of these universities. But my studying during recess was not only derived from my desire to maintain my grades; the truth was the time available to study had not come in abundance lately.

The entire week I had either been scheduled for work at the petrol station, or at the panel beaters, doubling the amount of hours I normally worked. Although I welcomed the extra money which paid for the expensive monthly rent, it had come at the expense of my studies.

With my previous class ending a little earlier than usual today and the sun beaming, I thought to take my studies outside to soak up a bit of sunshine. Sitting up in the tree that was still my place of solitude, I sat reading and working through a few of the examples in my physics textbook. The chapter on rotation and torque was the class' current topic and despite losing a week's revision time, I found it straightforward. During my extended recess I was able to get through the entire chapter with little difficulty; I was even able to finish off a neglected portion of the previous. Perhaps working with cars and being surrounded by people who were mad about them had its advantages after all.

Confident that I had absorbed enough information to ace a test—were the teacher to set one tomorrow—I packed up my school work before reclining myself against the trunk of the tree to finish off the last of the sushi I had in a container. For a few moments I blankly stared into the distance, focusing on nothing in particular, until a group playing a casual game of rugby caught my attention.

Running with the ball was the guy that Kinomoto liked so much. He stuck out like a guy without a shirt—literally. The temperature was barely twenty degrees and he had already taken off his shirt: obviously this was not because of the heat, but for those non-existent stares he thinks he's getting from the girls out on the field. What a complete and total wanker. Sometimes the degree of arrogance and self-admiration that this guy had surprises even me.

What did Kinomoto see in this guy? All he's ever done for her was get her drunk and wandering the streets in the middle of the night, leaving her vomiting and crying over a gutter. When was she going to realise that he was nothing more than an egotistical bastard who was only interested in looking out for number one? She could do a hundred times better than this poor excuse for a man.

"Hey, You: could you get that?"

Instinctively I looked below. There the rugby ball lay. Ashida, who was not more than ten or so metres from me, obviously decided he'd save a bit of walking by asking me to get down from my tree and fetch it for him. It seems he was not only a poor excuse for a man, but also lazy.

Looking at the time on my cell phone, I figured that I had probably less than a minute before the bell went for our school assembly. I should head off. Grabbing my bag which hung off another branch, I made my descent to the ground. Although the ball was on my way, I had no intention of heeding to his request; I walked straight past the ball and him.

"What a loser; this guy can't even pick up a ball," he bellowed out to his rugby mates, attempting to steal a bit of face from me.

I turned to look squarely at him, "Look, what's your problem?"

He proceeded to invade my space: "You," he stated, as if he had come up with the cleverest retort in all of human kind.

"You're not worth my time; get out of my way."

"What if I don't?" he challenged. Internally, I rolled my eyes and continued walking as he bellowed out some more of his nonsensical babble: "Come on, give me your best shot..

"I knew you were all talk and no walk, Loser."

...Fortunate for you. You would have lost had you gone up against me, Ashida.

Location: School hall
Time frame: Late morning
Point of View: Sakura

Today was Tomoyo's fashion show—at least that's what I liked to call it. Ever since Tomoyo's entrance into the textiles class five years ago, she has amazed the teachers and everyone else that lay witness to her artistic, one-of-a-kind designs. Comments about her being some sort of sewing machine prodigy were made some years back: no one had seen a fourteen-year-old girl work the sewing machine like she did; and her designs and creativeness: it was "out of this world".

Not only that, every year since then, she has been a successful candidate in the regional high school fashion show held in town; and last year she was the winner of the 'up-and-coming young designer of the year' award. There was no doubt that this year she was going to bring home a truck-load of awards again. Because of all this success, she has always been and will always be regarded as the star fashion designer at our school.

So, although today's fashion show featured designs from many of the school's best fashion design students, with all her accolades outside its confines, clearly, this was Tomoyo's show.

In place of the usual senior students' school assembly, the fashion show took its place. Today, I was not standing at the front of the hall along with my fellow prefects, watching on at the rest of the senior students; today I was moving through them, dressed in Tomoyo's latest and greatest. Today, I temporarily relinquished my prefect title for the title of Tomoyo's fashion model.

Positioned about a foot or so above, I made my way along the makeshift platform that was constructed for the specific occasion. A few hundred pairs of eyes sitting on bench chairs on either side had converged to focus on my presence. Had I not been doing this for the past four years, I would have felt rather nervous and a little self-conscious, but being not the case, this was nothing to me. I felt as calm and as confident up on the catwalk as I would be had I been anywhere else. In fact, I liked the attention.

"Sakura! ... Yeah!" I suddenly heard.

Flicking my eyes across the direction of the cheers was Kansuke and his friends. My lips tugged upwards at the corners in response to their boisterous cheers. Reaching the end of the catwalk, I struck my best pose just for them; more cheering and whistling followed, this time from more of the audience. What satisfaction I felt; never had I imagine I'd get such a great reception from the audience. Even as I left to return to backstage in Tomoyo's final design, I could still hear them continuing to shout out my name and whistling.

Upon returning to backstage, a rather flushed Tomoyo stood waiting. Still, despite having worked many long days and nights preparing for the fashion show, her greeting sounded as energetic as ever, "Great job, Sakura!"

"Thanks Tomoyo," I responded, still pumped up by the audience outside, "That was some show, eh?!"

"The show's a success because of you, Sakura," she stated simply, "You make my clothes look good."

Having sat down in a chair in front of a mirror, I sharply turned around to face Tomoyo at the inaccuracy of her comment, "Are you kidding me?! Tomoyo, it's your incredible designs that make me look good, not the other way round."

"Thanks, Sakura," she said in her soft, modest voice.

I turned back around to face the mirror and began undoing the side of my hair which wasn't attended to by Tomoyo. "You're going to be such a famous fashion designer one day," I said to her. Again, the modest designer's reflection smiled. "When you get famous, Tomoyo, don't forget us little people down here, okay?"

"Thanks Sakura. But you know, if I ever get famous—"

"...when you get famous..." Again she responded with a smile at my interjection before continuing—

"You know you're coming with me. I can't possibly do a show without my star model."

I smiled, but inwardly, I was in contemplation: her answer had sent me off into a brief muse over something I hadn't considered before; over the prospects of me becoming a professional, full-time fashion model. For the many years I've been Tomoyo's fashion model, such a career choice never even crossed my mind. Being uncertain of where I wanted to be, I just figured I'd end up in law or maybe economics—they seemed like common, stable career options, so my subject choices revolved around those areas.

I moved to stare at my own reflection, at the beautiful silk dress I was wearing and the beautifully done make-up that I had on. How strange would it be were I to end up a fashion model?—I'd be following in my late mother's footsteps. In her life time she was a model. I didn't know it from first hand experience (since she passed away when I was only a child), but looking at her photos, I can tell why she was one. She had such delicate and soft features that radiated her beauty and innocence. I hope that, if I do end up choosing modeling as my profession, I've inherited enough of my mother's good looks to try making it as a fashion model.

Location: Home room
Time frame: Afternoon
Point of View: Sakura

"Hey Sakura," a familiar male voice called for me. "You were one hot babe up on stage," he continued.

"K-Kansuke..." I felt my face heat up upon seeing him approach my desk. "Thanks, I'm glad... you enjoyed the show." Damn, I sounded so retarded! I hope he didn't notice my stutter.

It was at this moment I also noticed Li's entrance. For some reason, his presence also made me uncomfortable; I felt myself wanting to hide from his gaze. But then I realised of all the expressions I had expected from him, it wasn't the one he had on. For the briefest of seconds, I watched him with curiosity: his brows were furrowed, seemingly bothered by something; his eyes were looking in my direction, but apparently they were not directed at me; and then the frown wiped away to show a smile. I softened my frown and felt a corner of my lips twitch in response to his confusing display.

"Aw yeah..." I heard Kansuke speak, "With such a hot chick like you in the show—how could I not?"

There was that word again: Kansuke really thinks I'm hot. My five years of being Tomoyo's model finally got his attention. Suddenly my throat began to tighten; my throat drying. I wanted to speak, to say something in response to his compliments, but nothing came to me; all I could do was stare at him. What a sexy smile he had; and those blue eyes—they seemed to flicker like pretty gems.

Then, even before I had realised what I wanted to say, my body had already begun reacting. My heart began to beat, picking up speed as a rush of light-headedness overcame me. It was now or never. Summoning up the courage, I began to ask him out:

"Umm... Kansuke, I wa—"

"Kansuke, c'mon... what are you doing over here?" My heart suddenly broke in half as I snapped towards the feminine arms that was wrapping around Kansuke's torso.

"Hello angel-face. Not much, I was just telling Sakura how good she was in assembly today."

"Come back over here," she said, seductively, dragging him closer into her body.

This was the same girl I saw at Eriol's place, the same girl I saw Kansuke play with the spaghetti strap of her top: her name?—Hisa. I guess they hooked up after all.

"Sakura," I heard Hisa call, snapping me out of my thoughts. "What's up with you? Are you alright?"

I had no idea what she was referring to: as far as I knew, I was alright. Suddenly, I saw her develop a very dangerous-looking smile, and I knew, from that smile, that whatever was going to come out of her mouth, it was not going to be pleasant.

"You look a little red, girl..."

Oh no, she wouldn't dare...

"...You're not crushing over my man, are you?"

She did. That B—

Internally, I bit my tongue, refraining from finishing the sentence. But soon after that, my annoyance quickly restored to embarrassment, feeling the heat intensify as I realised that Kansuke had just heard about my feelings for him second-hand. I could hardly move and began to feel light-headed; I didn't want him to know like this.

Forcing myself to pull together, I set my embarrassment aside and denied it with vigour, "No—of course not!"

"Although, I wouldn't blame you if you did," the girl continued—her voice full of conceit, "he's such a hunk..." Then she moved in close to him; I felt my eyes twitch as she kissed him deeply and passionately.

"Who at this school doesn't have a crush on him?" Hisa finished off after breaking away from that kiss.

Done with her performance, she moved to stand in front of him and shot me a glare that suggested for me to stay away from him. Then as fast as she had changed from "pleasantness" to total nastiness, she changed to sweetness just as quickly—"So Kansuke, should we take our seats?"

Sporting a wide grin, apparently unperturbed by Hisa's rude treatment towards me, he walked away with his hands around her waist:

"Bye," Kansuke said then they waddled away in synchonised steps; flirting with each other like there was no tomorrow. A feeling of anger—or was it jealousy had brewed. Whatever it was, I was left watching them leave as I felt this incomprehensible feeling deep in the pit of my stomach.

Location: School grounds
Time frame: Late afternoon
Point of View: Sakura

"That bitch totally called me up on it— in front of Kansuke! Can you believe that, Tomoyo?!"

The school day was over and Tomoyo and I were heading over to her house to get some alterations done to a few of the fashion pieces that didn't quite work today. Two hours had passed by and I was still very much affected by the whole Kansuke-Hisa situation. I was still a little embarrassed, but I felt angry more than anything: sitting behind that nasty, snooty, bitch for two hours, staring at her bony back only fuelled my anger even more; and Tomoyo, being the good sport that she is, was my unfortunate release valve.

"Ooh! I can ask Eriol to get some toads..."

"Toads?" I asked, confused. What possessed Tomoyo to think about those disgusting creatures? "Why would I need some toads?"

"Yeah, Sakura—I could get Eriol to get some and then when Hisa's not looking, we can sneak them into her bag! When she opens her bag and sees them—" her eyes seem to get brighter and brighter as she spoke, lips lengthening into a devilish grin, "It'll be great, Sakura. That would so get her back!"

Seeing the excitement exert from Tomoyo, it took me next to no time to sign up and agree to this plan of hers. I'll admit, maybe it was a little childish of me to stuff live, slimy amphibians into her bag, but what she did, I just couldn't let it go; she was so proud of herself; she was so stuck-up.

Turning to face my best friend, I enquired the possibility of executing such a plan, "Where would he get these toads from?"

"Eriol has his ways. He's quite resourceful."

Out of nowhere I felt a weight on my shoulders, followed by a pungent smell of sweat that stung my nose. Instinctively, I jerked away from the source of the smell, but not far enough to escape an aural assault on the ear drums:

"Yes I am!"

It was Eriol. He had come up from behind to drape his arms over the both of us, his breathing heavy and more drawn out than usual.

"What are you doing here?" Tomoyo enquired with surprise, "I thought you had soccer practice."

"Mm hmm," he affirmed. He continued in between laboured pants, showing us an empty water bottle, "I was going... to get some water." He then poked his head between the two of us, looking at each of us in turn, "So, girls, what were you two after?"

"First of all, do you mind getting off us? You kind of smell..." Tomoyo requested.

Immediately, he stepped back from us, "Oh, sorry girls."

"No worries, dearest," Tomoyo then pulled out a clear bottle filled with water and handed it to him, "Here."

"Oh thanks, Tomoyo. You're a life saver!" Eriol passed the empty one in his hand to Tomoyo to hold onto before taking the one she offered.

Not even bothering to try drinking from it, he unscrewed the sipper from the bottle neck, and began emptying it. Loud audible gulps could be heard as he quickly lapped it up.

"So, we were wondering, could you get your hands on a couple of toads?" Tomoyo carried on as Eriol finished the last of the water.

Screwing the sipper back on, his brows knitted together before raising one of them: "Thinking of turning them into princes and leaving me, Tomoyo?"

Princes and toads... clever, sarcastically I thought.

Eriol was this type of person, always playing around. Okay, so he doesn't always play around; he can be quite serious at times, but the amount of times he is serious, he is twice that amount kidding around. Tomoyo, being his exact equal, always managed, and was very capable of talking back:

"That's girls business. It's for us to know, and for you... to never know. So never you mind what we're doing with them," Tomoyo jested, standing akimbo.

He moved his attention to me, obviously searching for the answer to our intentions that Tomoyo refused to offer him: "Sakura?"

"Nothing much," I said just as firmly, "...just wondering if you could get maybe... two or three for us. That's all."

His eyes moved between mine and Tomoyo's as if he was still trying to suss it out for himself—not that he needed to. Tomoyo told him everything. When they got home tonight, I'm sure she was going to call him and update him on everything.

"Alright girls," he said finally and simply.

"Great! Thanks, Eriol," I said, over the moon.

"Wait, not yet. For the toads..." he motioned towards Tomoyo, "I want a kiss from you."

Tomoyo obliged, "There. Happy?"

"Very." He shuffled across to me, levelling to my height. Before I realised what he was doing, I saw him close his eyes, pucker his lips together, and utter, "You too, Sakura... c'mon, right here," indicating his mouth.

I slapped him across the arm—as did Tomoyo—and we both pushed him away: "Eriol!"

See, this is what I was talking about, always the comedian.

Eriol backed away and erupted into a full belly laugh, "I'm only having you on. Well, as much as I'd like to hang around... I better get back to it. I'll talk to you at home then, Tomoyo?" She nodded. "Later, Sakura."

"Later," I returned, and we began walking again.

"It looks like our plan's all going accordingly... As soon as Eriol gets them, I'll call you."

"Sure—That Eriol of yours, he's really something, isn't he?"

"Tell me about it. But that's what I love about him," she stated.

I could tell from her intonation and the smile that she wore that she was really happy to have him in her life. I would be too if I had someone like Eriol in my life; to have someone who understood me; who laughed at my jokes. Many times I would watch on thinking how great it would be to have someone who wanted to see me, and be with me, everyday, day in and day out...

"You know, you'll find your 'Eriol' too," she suddenly said to me; she must have read my thoughts. She was really good at that.

"I know, Tomoyo... One day." That was what I had said to her, but the truth was, it looked doubtful. The one person I really wanted to be with was not only taken, but he didn't even react one bit when that bitch made a fool of me. The whole time I stood, feeling naked against this girl's taunt, he barely—if at all—gave me a thought. It was in that instance, had I ever doubted my chances with him.

I forced myself to put those thoughts aside as I returned my attention back to the present. "Let's get going, or we'll never get the alterations you want done."

"Mm," she nodded.