This is my first fanfiction story so y'know, go easy on it :)

The first chapter focuses on Naruto's POV, and my OC is also introduced. Each chapter, i'll write a different character's POV, but i will tend to focus more on Gaara and my OC at some point.

I'm focusing this story on the characters being in high school and how they cope with the assignment, and there are also romances to bloom and teenage drama. It's set in Konoha High School by the way.

Okay, hope you like, i've been wanting to write this one for a loooong time lol.

Chapter 1- Project

-NARUTO-

"Naruto, you dummy!"

"Shut up Sakura! I already told you the truth!"

"I don't believe you!"

"Of course you don't, you're stupid! I didn't eat it, i swear!"

So this is me, Naruto Uzumaki, and my pink haired, large foreheaded buddy, the queen of nag, nag, nah- Sakura Haruno. You see, we're arguing about the donut she was supposed to have for lunch that mysteriously disappeared. Like always though, she blames me for taking it before the lesson even starts.

"It was on my desk, but when i turned around- it was gone," she growled at me. "I was saving it for later!"

"Are you sure Choji didn't eat it?" I sighed, sitting back down at my desk so i don't tire myself standing up while she continues to rant at me.

This is actually pretty much the usual for me and Sakura, we argue our butts off over something stupid then make up after it. Despite all the harsh words and pointless insults, I consider her as my second best friend, in fact she's like my brother -wait, i mean my sister. My really aggressive, manly, pink sister. I've known her for almost all my life, so we have a polished sibling love-hate relationship.

For a minute, we give each other our trademark evil glares until one of us needs to blink really badly. That's when she averts her eyes from mine to gaze at the person who had just walked through the classroom door.

I present to you, the 'extremely good-looking one' in the group, Sasuke Uchiha. Now he is definitely my best friend, no matter how different we both are- Sasuke is quiet and distant sometimes, while i am loud and annoying in an awesome way. But i will always have his back, and he has mine, i know it when i give him one of our bromance hugs that we'll always be there for each other. True friendship.

Oh yeah...the one tiny detail i forgot to mention: Sasuke is Sakura's boyfriend. They spend all their time holding hands, hugging, cuddling- whatever those lovey-dovey couples do. It's quite a gross display of public affection to me, but to the other girls in our class- who are totally jealous of Sakura- it's the cutest relationship in the universe.

"Hey, Sakura." Sasuke grins as he walks over to us and pulls up a seat next to her desk, putting his arm around her.

Now cue their whispering in hushed voices to each other, laughing and smiling to themselves about whatever it is they talk about. They've been together for almost four months, they spend every single day together, they're best friends and in a relationship. This is just me, but i find that kinda weird. I mean...how can you like your best friend?

I'm arrogant about this, but truth is i'm silently jealous of them.

I've liked this girl for a really long time, and everybody knows i like her- except for Hinata. The beautiful, amazing, sweet Hinata Hyuga. She's caring and kind, and she smiles a lot. She's so much fun to be around and when she laughs it's the most awesomest sound ever created. She smells like flowers too...not that i've ever taken a sniff every time she passes by or anything..

Okay, this all sounds so strange coming from the great Naruto, but Hinata is perfect. For me anyway. The best thing about her are her eyes, so big and bright, so easy to get lost in. She's like sunshine.

My thoughts faded away at the horrible sound of a hand banging down on my table. I admit, it made me jump, it almost gave me a heart attack. When i looked up, i saw Sasuke and Sakura sniggering at me, and what was worse, the scariest person known to man stood in from of me, staring into my soul with fierce, hatred-filled eyes.

"Daydreaming about her again, Uzumaki?" he smirked, not taking his creepy gaze away.

I narrow my eyes, crossing my arms over my chest as i waited for him to take his hands off my desk. "At least i have someone to think about. All you think about is beating up the next person who looks at you the wrong way...Gaara."

He smiled now, the one he wore when he felt mischievous. "I don't know why they still think i'm wearing eyeliner after explaining it to everybody a million times."

"Hey Gaara, what's up?" Sakura asks him, casually as he slumps down on the desk behind me.

"Not much. I'm really hungry though." His eyes suddenly brighten up at the couple who both shrugged.

Sakura's eyes pierce at me for a split second then back to Gaara. "My donut's gone, so i don't have anything." She still thinks i took it since the way she said that stabbed me like knife wounds.

Gaara frowns and turns to me. "What about you, Naruto? Any food or what?"

Before i even got to answer, guess whose angelic presence enters the room, instantly making it lighter and fresher.

Even when i lookat her, my palms get sweaty and my entire body freezes with nerves. She's so pretty, it makes butterflies fly around in my stomach. When she walks over to Sakura's desk, my heart races frantically and i can't take my eyes off her.

"Hi, Hinata." Behind me, Gaara practically yelled the emphasis on her name to snap me out of my awkward thoughts.

I look up at her and when she smiles at all of us, i melt like butter inside. Fidgeting in my seat, i can't think of anything else to say except for "Uh..um, hello, Hinata..h-how are you?" That is the brilliant sentence produced from my wonderful social skills and wide range of vocabulary. I am indeed an idiot.

She laughs, probably at me. Someone please kill me. "I'm great, thanks Naruto. You?"

I couldn't say anything. Like always, i lose the ability to speak, the effect she has on me. Sasuke began to laugh at me and Sakura joined in. Jerks.

"He's definitely great now that you're here!" Sasuke teased, making me flush red and i had to turn my head towards the window to hide it. I'm completely and utterly embarassed, hoping that Hinata didn't suspect anything.

"Shouldn't class be starting now?" Gaara sighs impatiently. "Kakashi-sensei should be here now." A small growl escaped from his chest. Typical, typical Gaara.

I stare at Hinata secretly as she goes to sit behind Saskura and the two start yammering on about girly stuff- like Sasuke for example, Sakura will obviously be talking about how great her boyfriend is and then she'll offer to set Hinata up with one of her friends, who probably will not be me.

"If you want, i'll tell her you like her myself." Gaara breathes down my neck, making me jump again. Jeez, if he wasn't so surprising and creepy, i wouldn't be so anxiously traumatised by him all the time.

I shake my head, not bothering to turn and talk to him about this because i know i'll see Hinata and get distracted by her. Sasuke turned to us, leaning forward as he puts his chair closer to mine.

"I know something about Hinata that you don't." he whispers.

I gave him the 'what the heck are you talking about?' stare while Gaara murmurs something to Sasuke, which pretty much sounded like 'Oh yeah, i know too." Sasuke moves closer to Gaara, leaving me out as they delved into a conversation about it. There were even points in that conversation where both of them glanced at me suspiciously.

They're just teasing me though. That is it. So damn annoying.

Well i don't have to put up with them for long as Kakashi-sensei walks in with heavy pile of paper in his hands.

"Class, listen up." he says, but it's not enough for everybody to stop their chatter. He sighs, "YOU GUYS, SHUT UP FOR A FEW MINUTES AND LISTEN TO YOUR HANDSOME TEACHER!" At that exact moment, the class becomes silent and everybody stares questioningly at Kakashi-sensei. He never fails to flatter himself. "Okay, so the Headmaster has considered our class to be special enough for a big assignment, which you will be graded on. To save you the agony, i'll spill the beans already- you have to work in pairs- boys with girls, got it?- and each team will be given a robotic baby."

As soon as those words came out of his mouth, the entire class went wild, half with fury and half with joy. When i looked over to Sakura, her face beamed with happiness and Sasuke's surprisingly, was the same. When i wanted to see the reaction on Gaara's face, just for the fun of it, i got what i wanted: outrage and hatred for our poor teacher. Smiling to myself at this half-hearted victory, i turned back to Kakashi-sensei.

"Each pair will be given a baby diary, it's where you need to write down everything that goes on with your baby, what you do wit hit and also your progress for the three weeks. It's robotic, but you still need to feed it, play with it, change it and put it to sleep. Whatever you do with a real baby basically, and for this assignment to be a success for both me and you, you have to keep it happy!"

I groaned, ugh this is weird beyond many levels. "But sensei- if it's robotic, how are you supposed to feed it?"

He smiled coyly at me for a minute, "It's obviously pretend, Naruto, so you have to pretend to feed it, y'know?"

No, i do not know. Oh my god.

"Okay, so everybody get into pairs and i'll mark you down!" he bellows.

Sakura just about bounces with happiness in her seat, meanwhile me and Gaara sit knowing that we won't get picked. Gaara never gets picked, and i'm just the guy girls go to when there's nobody left. It's Gaara's frightning personality and demeaning looks that scare off the girls, but i still don't see why i'm always the second choice for everybody.

"And no, Gaara, you may not sit this one out." Kakashi-sensei adds as he pulls out a cardboard box from absolutely nowhere- i didn't seem him come in with any boxes, just a pile of paper. "You have five minutes to decide who you're working with, and seeing as though this is a baby assignment, you'll both be married for three weeks! So please pick someone you work well with or hell will break loose if you pick the wrong person.

Sly, sly, sly Kakashi-sensei. Married?

Sasuke turns to Sakura. "Well, Mrs Uchiha?" and she just blushes uncontrollably, she looked so close to going into nosebleed mode. I swear i just threw up a little bit though, and i can tell Gaara almost did too by the looks of his pained, scary face.

I face Gaara's grim expression. "Do you wanna ask if you and me can work together?" I smile a little, hoping to butter the guy up.

He shakes his head straight away, rejecting my suggestion. "Hell no." I sighed, obviously he'd say no, he's Gaara. "Besides, you should ask Hinata."

But when i look at her, she's in a conversation with Kiba. Stupid, dog loving Kiba. He's probably already asking her to be his partner and she's probably already said yes.

"Hey Sensei! What is this supposed to teach us?" I shout at him over the loud hubbub.

"Teamwork and getting ready for the future!" he yells back at me. Great. Now no one will pick me.

"Uh Naruto?" I instantly freeze at the sound of my name being said by the most beautiful voice ever.

I turn around and see Hinata casually smiling at me. "Do you want to be my partner for this?"

Jaw drop.

She asked me! She wants to be pretend-married to me for three weeks! SCORE! That means she turned out KIba. I pity that kid sometimes.

"Sure, Hinata! I'd be happy to." i grin at her, blushing a little bit.

So my partner sorted, and Sasuke and Sakura sorted, the only one left in the group is Gaara. Kakashi-sensei notices that too. "Oh yes, Gaara...I almost forgot, class! I have announcement to make that i should have started with- but you know me, a man of many surprises!" He laughs to himself, we just stare blankly at him. "We have a new girl."

This struck a series of gossip and from the corner of my eye, Hinata looked excited.

Sensei walks over to the door and opens it, holding his arm out to present our newcomer. "Sorry for the wait, i forgot due to the news of this assignment. I'm sure if you didn't hear me explaining it, your partner will talk you through it. Class-" He turned to us now, "this is Ami Kurogane."

When she walked in, i heard a chair graze slightly behind me, i thought i had imagined it too, but i heard Gaara's sharp intake of breath. That was strange.

Ami Kurogane was really pretty, she had long- seriously, it was down to her waist- black hair and the ends of it was streaked with blue while her side-swept bangs were painted with red. Her eyes were a light emerald colour and her eyelids were covered in dark eyeliner, and her lips were smothered in crimson red lipstick. My ears detected a little whistle coming from Gaara, which surprised me again.

"Hi." was all she said, with a wide dazzling smile.

"Since he's the only person without a partner, i'm quite sorry to say that you have no choice but to pair up with Gaara over there." Sensei pointed to our emo friend and Ami made her way to his desk. "He'll also be your guide around Konoha High."

There were a few gasps around the room, Gaara being partners with someone was a rare thing, and him being a guice around the school for that someone is impossible. Ami sat down by Gaara, who tried so hard to keep his face stoic and rigid while he had his arms folded across his chest. I could tell he was trying but i could also tell he couldn't quite succeed in hiding his sudden appeal to the new girl.

Smirking to myself, i waited for one of them to say something.

Ami was first. "Hey there."

He just shrugged, making the new girl laugh. "Hi."

Next to me, Hinata giggled, "I think they'll get along just fine!"

I frowned, "Hinata, are you sure about this?"

She smiled, it was as if a thousand suns burst their rays at me. "About what?"

"Well i'm usually the last person to be picked, i'm the most arrogant person in this school. And i don't know if i'll be a good enough partner for you."

Hinata let out a gentle laugh, "It's true you're really arrogant, Naruto. But i think that's the sweetest thing about you. Your arrogance is what makes you care for others in your own little way. You're funny, confident and supportive, those are your best personality features. I also think you're cute so don't go putting yourself down by saying you won't be good enough. I think you're great! I really like you, Naruto, which is why i chose you."

My heart almost stopped beating but the sweat returned to my palms, i'm dying of happiness on the inside.

I smiled my biggest smile at her, my way of saying thanks, i probably ended up looking like a fool. Who cares? I'm partners with the awesomest girl in the world!

"I like you too, Hinata." And i think you're beautiful.

If only you knew how much i like you.

She said she thought i was cute. You should have said something back.

Naruto, you are one big dummy.

Guess who's POV is next?;)