the homecoming bet//a cardcaptor sakura fanfic

ᴄᴀɴᴅʏ

hey

sakura

sakuraaaa

where r u??? (*≧A≦*)

the cheer meeting started half an hour ago (ꐦ -᷅д-᷄) 

GET OVER HERE

Rika's texts got more and more frantic as Sakura's phone vibrated continuously. Although her setting was loud, it still wasn't enough to wake her up. On the other end, Rika decided to call.

Sakura's boy-band ringtone was enough, she discovered, as she rolled out of bed to brush her teeth in less than thirty seconds and to race out the door with a slice of toast in her mouth. Hurriedly, she scrolled through what else she had missed.

SAKURA! Where are you? We have an essay due today. You better not leave it at home, okay? You know Mrs. Nakano isn't allowing late work this year, do you? 

Tomoyo's text read like a story, that was her style, but Sakura was more invested in the fact that she had left people hanging. 

Sakura had arrived just in time; the bell hadn't rung yet and everybody had managed to get started without her. "I'm sorry guys, I overslept."

"We thought you got into a car crash and died!"

"Did you?"

"No." This was lighthearted. Nobody seemed to be pissed at Sakura other than herself, and probably Mrs. Nakano later in the day had she not remembered to pack her homework.

It had later turned out that she had not indeed packed her homework in her whirlwind that morning, she had discovered when she rummaged through her backpack during the turn-in time. 

------

A permanent stain. Mrs. Nakano couldn't be reasoned with no matter how hard Sakura tried. her missing work leaving a permanent zero on the second day of school. Well, maybe it was Mrs. Nakano's fault, assigning an essay on the first day isn't number-one teacher material.

Perhaps an extra-credit assignment would prove sufficient, Sakura thought as she approached the portable classroom that afternoon.

"'Sup?" A boy in a hat leaned over the railing on one elbow. "Sakura Kinomoto, right?"

"Y-Yeah," Sakura looked up at Syaoran. "Skipped out on the essay?"

"Not on purpose. You?" Syaoran twirled an unwrapped lollipop in his mouth.

"Forgot it when I overslept."

"Of course. Miss Kinomoto-A student-would never skip out on school work." He chided, smirking slyly at her. Sakura felt the heat reaching her cheeks rapidly. 

"At least I'm not a-" She stopped herself short of angering him. 

"Go 'head. Say it." Syaoran seemed entertained by her embarrassment as if he knew something she didn't want him to. 

"A FAILURE!" To her surprise, he started to laugh genuinely, not to hide any pain. 

Mrs. Nakano opened the door briskly for the two to enter. "Extra credit, I presume?" She straightened the world nation flags around the room to ruler-straight lines. 

"Yes, Mrs. Nakano. It's for the essay."

"You know you can't turn it in late."

"Yes, Mrs. Nakano, but-"

"You can receive full credit for the assignment by completing a worksheet."

"May we have said worksheet?" And then in their hands was a four-page paper.

"On your way now, finish it by Friday."

-----

"Shit, dude, this looks really hard!" Syaoran exclaimed a little too loudly upon exiting. The paper consisted of paragraph-answer questions about the Japanese empire of World War Two. Easy stuff for Sakura.

"Do you want help?" She blurted, her heart pacing incessantly.

"Sure. Could use it." Syaoran turned to face her. "How about my place right now?"

"O-Oh, yeah, I could make it!" Sakura turned the color of her running shoes. 

"Alright, walk with me then."

------

Syaoran's place was lit warmly as the air inside, there being a place to sit almost anywhere between two feet. This was something he recognized well and understood the striking that came upon new visitors. As he sat at the dining table, he noticed that Sakura had already pulled out her worksheet, which was already halfway complete as she zoomed through each question. "Slow down, Kinomoto. You're supposed to be tutoring me, aren't you?" He giggled. Sakura began to blush softly. 

"Sorry about that. Just got carried away."

"No worries." Sakura had her textbook with her (conveniently) and rapidly flipped to the chapter they were to discuss. She began a slow drawl, but her light voice prevented it from boring Syaoran to tears. She read through the chapter for a basic introduction, her eyes closing as she went into her own detail at minute points.

Syaoran observed carefully as she popped one of the biscuits on the table into her mouth, trying to chomp on it as fast as she could before speaking again. Whatever brand of lip gloss she was using, it was of better quality than Meiling's, because it shone in the afternoon light that spilled out of the windows, twinkling softly with each movement of her mouth. What flavor could it be?

It was pink, he noticed, as her lips already were without it. The shade reminded him of bubblegum and strawberry candy, and he could only wish that it tasted the same, if that's how lip makeup worked. Of course, he wished that it tasted pleasant to her, not him. Why or when would he taste it?

Sakura pulled the page's corner in and closed the book. "Can you tell me how far the Empire extended to as of the mid-forties?"

"What?"

"How far did the-"

"Oh, uh-"

"Were you not paying attention?"

"I was, I promise!" Syaoran promptly marked the letter c on the answer sheet. "There better not be any essay questions."

"Don't worry, there aren't." Sakura glanced at her watch swiftly. "It's five already! I have to go feed Kero. God knows if Touya's even coming home tonight."

"Er, thanks, Kinomoto." Syaoran awkwardly helped her pack her things. She smiled briefly at him before leaving the house. 

"You can call me Sakura."

It echoed in his mind's chambers, with the cinema of his neurons watching her eyes smile with the rest of her face. This girl had just sat with him for nearly two hours to teach him something, and he couldn't even pay attention to her. The sweat of his guilt came with the price of rereading the same passage over and over again, the minute details of Sakura's lecture not coming to him at that moment.

His laptop sat in a corner, unused since his parents had bought it, so he quickly grabbed it by the pale-blue case and looked up the information.

Shameless cheating it was, but he accomplished the task nonetheless. What other tasks could he complete, anyway? The gateway to her heart remained open to him-to anyone.