Chapter 9: Summer of Goodbyes
OKAY, PPLZ, I JES REALIZED I DOUBLED THE THIRD AND SECOND
CHAPTERS! I
CAN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT, BUT JUST LETTING YOU KNOW I'M NOT
TOTALLY
STUPID, OKAY? BYEBYEBYE, UNTIL THE NEXT CHAPTER!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
it's june already, everyone...
"I can't believe I didn't see it! I CANNOT believe I
didn't know that Li
and Sakura were going out! Argh! I AM SO STUPID!" Scott
was stomping
around his room. Even after 3 months, he was mad that he had
made the
same mistake as he did at the Winter Wonderland dance. He was
made about
the Spring Fling dance too. Same mistake there. Instead, he asked
Madison
in the end of both dances, but still, he always asked so late.
He liked
Sakura, he had asked her to the dance, and SHE REFUSED because
of his own
mistake?! His mind was like a tornado, going through everything
in his
path. "IT'S ALL LI'S FAULT! ARGH! SO STUPID OF ME! NO, SO
STUPID OF LI!"
Finally he calmed down. "Oh, well. It was really my fault.
I was the one
who didn't see that they were a couple. Twice. That's alright
though.
Madison's a great girl too." Suddenly Scott's heart started
beating real
fast. "Why do I feel like I really like Madison? Even when
the one I
really like is Sakura Avalon?"
li's house...
Li was talking on the phone. "MOM! What are you talking
about? I can't
go back!" "You're coming to visit us, Li! Meilin is
too, and the airline
has a super savings deal! One full price ticket, and the second
at half
price! This is totally perfect! And what do you mean, you can't
come
visit your family! We really miss you, little wolf!" Li
looked at the
phone furiously. Then he calmed down. "Mom, I can't."
"Yes you can,
honey." "But, mom... I promised Sakura I'd stay and
help her get the Clow
Cards back to Sakura Cards..." Li was positively whining
now. "Little
wolf, why don't you just bring her here to Hong Kong?" "Mom,
Sakura has
some club she's staying here for..." "So, you had the
whole school year
to be with her! You WILL come visit us, understand?" Li
sighed sadly.
Then he perked up. 'Hey, I've always wanted to see my family
again! I'll
make the best of this situation' "Alright, mom. I won't
complain no
more." "Remember, Li! You have to tell Meilin about
this! You'll be
coming home the day after school lets out. Love you!" She
hung up the
phone. Li walked over to the couch. "Gosh. Now we can't
convert them."
last day of school...
"Students, please settle down!" All the students
quieted and looked at
the teacher. "Today, we're taking a field trip to the park
to have a
last-day-of-school picnic! Remember, I told you about this yesterday!"
The students who remembered their bag lunches cheered, and those
who
forgot groaned. Sakura cheered. Her dad had cooked enough food
for her
AND Madison. Mr. Kudomoshi shushed everyone, then said,"
Of course, I
already thought that a lot of you would forget your lunches,
so I brought
a whole bunch of sandwiches for everyone! Sushi, sodas, chips,
and
anything else that everyone likes." Now, everyone cheered.
"Also, I
recommend the cheerleaders bring their uniforms and the soccer
players
bring theirs. If you're on any team, you'll be practicing with
them for
about three hours." Everyone cheered again. Madison turned
to look at
Sakura. "Mr. Kudomoshi thinks of everything fun!"
Madison and Sakura walked to the park together. Sakura was retelling
her
favorite time in the past. "It was so cool when my sealing
wand turned
into that silver star. I wonder if it's going to stay that way
or change
some more?"
Her sealing wand key was hung on a necklace around her neck.
It was now
a silver star inside a golden circle connected to a key.
Madison laughed. "My favorite time in the past was when
I videotaped you
capturing and converting those Clow Cards. I still have those
videos!
Maybe we should watch them again." Sakura sighed. "Back
then, things
were, well, kid-like. You know, having fun, adventures. But now
everything has turned serious. I wish we could, like, have a
visit to the
past or something. Wouldn't that be totally cool?" "Yeah.
Then I could
re-retape your adventures again!" "MADISON!"
They reached the park. It was the perfect park for everyone,
at the foot
of the mountains. There was a hiking trail nearby. "Madison,
you wanna go
hike on the trail? I hear it has the best view when you get to
the top."
"Sure Sakura. Let's tell Mr. Kudomoshi first, though."
on the the trail ten minutes later...
Sakura and Madison had decided to travel on the never used trails.
It
had grass growing on the trail, proving that it was hardly ever
used.
"Wow, Madison, look at that!" "Whoa, you don't
see that everyday!"
They had been in a trail with trees all around them, when suddenly
the
trees stopped and there was a cliff. One side had a beautiful
sparkling
beach, and the other side had a lake with romantic trees behind
it.
"It looks like scenes in a play, except it's all real!"
The girls slid
down towards the beach. 'This could be Li's and my secret spot,
even
though Madison knows. It's so romantic and beautiful. It'd be
great to
come during the summer.' Then they scrambled back up to the other
side,
with the trees. 'Wow, I remember Scott told me he loved lakes
and trees.
I could get him to come here with me during the summer.' Madison
thought.
"We should be going back. I'm so hungry!" Sakura said,
and they walked
back to the picnic grounds.
Li was there playing soccer with the 9th grade soccer part of
the team.
Li, of course, was very fast and almost always shot a goal when
necessary. Bryan and Jarad were goalies. Tim and Zachary were
defenders.
Li, of course, and Scott were the forwards. Each team had one
of each
type of player. "Score!" Li had just slid-kicked a
ball into the goal.
"Yeah! Great job!" His team congratulated him. Sakura
walked over to the
girls. "Hey, you guys, let's do our cheers! It'd be good
practice.
Meilin, we can think of a new cheer or something." While
Meilin and
Sakura thought of a new routine, the other girls cheered the
two teams
on. Finally, Meilin and Sakura came back and started whispering
with the
cheerleading team.
When they were done, Sakura backed up. Meilin was at the front.
The
other girls were in their positions. Sakura pressed the PLAY
button on
the tape-player, and cheerleading music started. It was their
"Never give
up til you're gone". Meilin and Sakura were the tossed,
and the other
girls were the tossers. They started with Sakura running up to
the
others, who lifted her off into a flip-toss-jump, then they started
singing along with the music.
"Never give up, til you're gone, flying away, with the
wind...
It's something you should do, even if you feel like dropping
down down down!
Come on let's go, guy, we're flying along with you.
We'll cheer you on, until you're gone, with your goals, set sky-high!"
On the chorus, every 9th grade cheerleader took out their
batons and
tossed them high up. Sakura jumped onto Meilin's hands and leapt
for her
baton, doing her split - jump and flip in the air, then catching
her
baton. By then, Meilin had caught her baton, along with the other
girls,
and twirling them around.
"Come on LET'S GO!
We're cheering for you, until you're in the sky...
Oh yeah oh yeah come on let's go away!
Fly with all your goals!
Please, oh please,
Never give up, til you're gone,
never ever in eternity!"
For a final finish, Sakura jumped onto the pyramid her teammates
had set
up. The soccer team cheered. So did the other students. Madison
ran up to
Sakura. "That was totally great! You were awesome!"
"Thanx, Madison! That
totally felt great"
Everyone ate their lunches, and Sakura was about to go with the
team
again when Li stopped her. "What's wrong, Li?" Li was
trying not to look
at Sakura's bare stomach, which wasn't covered by her uniform.
"Um, yeah,
I need to talk to you."
"Well, if we're gonna talk, you don't need to not look at
me. I know how
you feel about me in my uniform." Li's head snapped back
up, blushing
like those really red apples. "Here, there's this really
cool place in
this hiking trail. I'll show you." Sakura told Mr. Kudomoshi
first, then
they walked to the beach near the hiking trail. When Li looked
at it, he
whistled. "That's a cool place. It doesn't even fit in with
the
mountains. A beach in the mountains, and a forest on the other
side."
"Let's go to the beach, Li, it's really quite and the sand
and everything
is really warm."
When they got to the bottom, Li took Sakura's hand in his hand.
Sakura
looked at him in mild surprise. "Sakura, my parents are
sending me back
to Hong Kong for the summer. For the whole summer vacation. I
won't be
here tomorrow afternoon. I'll be at the airport. I'm leaving
tomorrow
morning." Sakura looked at him, stunned. "What?"
Li took her hand and
gave her back the Clow Cards Sakura had told him to keep "for
the time
being". "These are yours, you should try to convert
them back into Sakura
cards during the summer." Sakura started to cry. "But
you promised you
would stay here and help me, Li." She sobbed out. She started
to hug him,
and stopped. "You promised!" "But my mom pulled
this thing last minute,
so she said I can't refuse, they already bought the ticket."
Sakura
looked at him carefully. 'He is telling the truth'. "Okay."
Li jumped
back. "Huh? Is that all? Okay? I'm leaving, and it's okay?"
Sakura
nodded, wiping her tears. "Yeah. At least you have a mom
to go to. If I
want to see her, I see pictures and in my dreams will I see her
in
person."
Li hugged her carefully. "Well, I'll be back in school when
it starts
again. I'll still be here. I'm not leaving forever." 'Yeah,
but still...'
Sakura thought in doubt.
next morning at the airport...
"All people boarding flight to Hong Kong, please go to
Gate 16"
Meilin was standing near their gate, with Li next to him. They
were
about to go in, when...
"Li! Wait! Before you go!" Sakura ran up to him. "Yesterday,
I made this
for you. Inside, it has my phone number and everything."
She pushed a
little yellow plush star lined with gold cloth on the edges into
his
arms. "If you unzip it, it opens up and you can put stuff
in there."
"All people going to Hong Kong, this is your last call"
Sakura sniffled, and pushed Li to the gate. "You should
go. You guys
don't want to miss your flight." Li took the star and kissed
Sakura on
the lips. Then he hugged her. "Bye Sakura. I'll see you
when I come
back." Meilin tugged his sleeve and then she hugged Sakura
too. They
walked into the gate, and then as Sakura watched, into the airplane.
When
the airplane left, Sakura stood looking in the direction it had
gone,
watching the tiny dot until she could no longer see it. Then
she walked
back to the parking lot to Julian's convertible, and they left
the
airport.
'You shouldn't worry about him, Sakura. He'll be back in 3 months.'
Sakura said to herself in her mind.
Right.
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