The Show

I'm just a little bit caught in the middle, life is a maze and love is a riddle, I don't kow where to go and I cant do it alone, and I don't know why

They always say that the first day of high school is always the hardest. Kids from other middle schools are joined under one building and it's almost as if you're starting all over again. What makes it even more intimidating is getting lost and being the loser with no friends; which was exactly what Emiko Kawamura feared.

Her closest friend, Hana, wasn't in a single class she was in and even their lunch period wasn't the same time. It wasn't like Emiko didn't have anyone else to go to, but she didn't really have any close friends and people she was had already stuck to a group.

By the time it was third period Emiko had decided that she just needed to suck it up and try and find someone to befriend. She surveyed her home economics class and found two girls that she had seen in most of her classes.

Their appearance told her that they were really girly and preppy; she could only guess this since they mainly wore bubblegum pink and white, their nails were neatly done, and she could over hear their conversations about their boyfriends and what they did over the summer. Of course she wasn't one to judge by the cover but it was just a small assumption she had made.

Emiko walked over to the two and as she got closer she was able to make out the conversation more clearly. She finally stopped once she was right in front of the two and had sat down in a desk in front of the girl who was listening animatedly to the girl that was talking.

"-Yeah it was really nice, we went to his beach house and we just spent the weekend together it was so awesome" she heard her boast and the girl that was listening just groaned as her response.

"You're so lucky Ai! My boyfriend is still in high school and his parents aren't even rich, we just went into town most of the time." Sighed the girl that was listening to Ai; she was about to say something else when she stopped herself and glanced over at Emiko, who had stuck out like a sore thumb between the two girls. Emiko had worn her hair in a braid so that she could show off the pink strips that could intertwined in the braid as it would mix with her light blonde hair. She wore a pink sweater with the word 'Geek' on it and some tiny black shorts with some vans, her skin was slightly sun kissed and her nails had peeling nail polish on them.

Emiko looked at the other girls, Ai had red dusty hair that was pulled back into a messy pony tail, she had bright green eyes, and a dark tan, she was wearing a bubble gum pink dress that stopped at her knees but had a long train in the back with nude heels. The other girl she assumed her name was Rue, since she had a necklace that said so and it was sketched on her notebook, she had jet black hair that was pulled up into a messy bun, she was also sporting a tan but it wasn't as dark as Ai, she wore a white tank top that said 'New York' on it with bubble gum pink shorts and gold heels with it.

Usually she wouldn't really try and be friends with these girls but they didn't seem really bitchy, they just seemed kind of in their own world, and they seemed pretty nice so far.

"So what about you?" Ai asked, "Do you have a boyfriend?" She didn't have one, she didn't even have a crush, but something in her made her say yes and then she gave them a whole story about her and her summer fling that would quickly change into something more serious and would turn to the "relationship" that they'd have now.

"So when are you going to tell them you don't have a boyfriend?" Emiko looked over at Hana and shrugged.

"Um well I was kind of thinking I'd never have to tell them because if I did I'd sound ridiculous and absolutely crazy." She pointed out and took a bite out of her ice cream so she could do something and not looking at Hana's disapproval stare.

"Emiko this is crazy! I'm still in the same school as you and-"

"And you don't have anytime to see me, or hang out in class, these girls are in almost every class with me so it makes socializing easy I mean I've been hanging out with them for a few months now and I feel like I belong somewhere and besides…this is the first time we've hanged out since school started…" she frowned and took another bite and Hana sighed slowly and smiled sadly at her.

"Ok yeah I get it…" she mumbled and took a sip of her milkshake and after a minute went by she looked at Emiko again "you know they're gonna find out sometime right? I mean you have no pictures of the two of you together, he's never around…I think you should tell them that you two broke up." She pointed out; Emiko stopped and nodded her head

"That's a pretty good idea…but the problem is that I think they're starting to figure out that its all fake…if we "broke up" now I'm pretty sure they'll think I'm proving them right" she sighed sadly and looked out the window.

"Well maybe just show them a photo of some random guy, make them settle down," Hana snorted at her joke but Emiko had an imaginary light bulb that went off.

"Oh my gosh, Hana you're a genius!"

"Oh no no no no no" she said quickly and shook her head "Emiko I was just playing don't take it-"

"Too late! I'm gonna take a photo of some random guy and tell them he's my boyfriend this is perfect!" Erika got up quickly and dashed off to find

Emiko was in the center of town and she was sneakily searching for a cute guy she could sneak a picture of. The only problem was that the cute guys would have a girl draped all over them or sneaking a picture would be impossible. She was on the brink of giving up when she saw a flash of red hair that was captivating. She stopped moving and stared at the tall pale figure with the bright red hair.

He was sitting at a café, reading a book and she assumed he was listening to some music on his phone. He was wearing a dark blue button up and some slim pants with vans. He seemed pretty handsome and he had a small tattoo on his forehead, she couldn't make out what exactly it was as his hair was covering it a bit.

Emiko knew he would be perfect to take the picture of, he couldn't possibly notice since he was so immersed in the book that not even passerbys stirred him.

Emiko quickly took out her phone and held it up and right when she was about to take a photo he looked up, right at her. Erika's face went bright red and she quickly turned around to walk away.

"Hey wait!" she heard him call out but she began sprinting as fast as her little legs could carry her until she knew she had lost him and hopefully would never see again.

"Woah he's totally cute" Rue admired at the photo of what they believed was Emiko's boyfriend, Rue nodded her head in approval.

"Yeah he is…hey you know he looks similar" Ai mumbled, Emiko's eyes went wide. There's no way she could have the worst luck ever and took a picture of a guy in her own school, or better yet, someone Ai personally knew. "I know this face from somewhere" she kept musing to herself and Emiko swore she felt her heart stop. Quickly the blonde turned around and shut her phone

"Yeah well maybe it's cause he has a brother…he has similar features you know" Ai pursed her lips and decided to drop it, figuring that she was probably right, and that maybe it wasn't someone she knew.

"Yeah maybe" she mumbled to herself as she kept thinking of the red headed figure.

Lunchtime had rolled around and Emiko and her friends were eating lunch, they were in the middle of talking about some assignment they were doing when Ai and Rue saw a familiar figure walk into the cafeteria and was walking their way. The two girls looked at each other and smirked, Emiko wasn't facing the door so she didn't know what had happened to cause the strange behavior. She raised a brow and was about to ask them what the problem was when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

She literally felt like she was about to puke up everything she had just ate, standing in front of her was the guy she took the photo of. There was no way she had this shitty luck…right?

"Emiko! You should've told us you were dating Gaara! I knew I recognized him," Ai squealed, Emiko just laughed and nodded her head excitedly as she glanced up to see confusion quickly spreading on the red head's face.

"Ah… yeah I was trying to keep us on the down low" he responded with a gruff voice. Emiko sivered slightly at the voice before processing what it said, had he actually just went along with it? Shit this guy was nice; maybe luck was on her side. "is it ok if I talk to my girlfriend?" or maybe not. Emiko slowly stood up and looked back at her friends who were egging her on to follow him.

The red head led her outside to the courtyard and sat on a bench, he patted the seat next to him to indicate he wanted her to sit next to him. For a couple minutes they sat in silence and finally he spoke.

"I'm sorry but I feel like your…fixation on me is strong and-" Emiko immediately raised a hand, silently asking for him to let her go ahead and speak before she was anymore embarrassed.

"That's not what this is about" she laughed awkwardly "I uh…I don't actually know who you are it's just…" she took in a deep breath and explained her situation; how she was pretending to have a boyfriend, how she needed to convince them she wasn't lying, how she thought he was probably in college or just went to a school somewhere else and how she in no way was an obsessive fan girl.

After her whole story he just stared at her, slowly blinking as he tried to process the newfound information. To him he wasn't sure if he was glad she wasn't a crazed stalker or if he was concerned about her well being as she seemed insane for doing all of this.

"I'm extremely sorry and I can tell them that you're not my boyfriend and I'll try and tell them the truth and-"

"I'll do it" he quickly cut her off and it was now her turn to blink at him.

"Do…what exactly?" she asked slowly, concerned about what he was talking about.

"I'll…pretend to be your boyfriend." He stated, it completely took her aback, mainly because he didn't know her and he didn't have a reason to help her out.

"Um…may I ask why?" maybe this guy was actually a nutter and not her

"It's because I'm tired of girls flinging themselves at me, I know most guys like that but it gets annoying after a while since it causes a lot of drama and all I really want is some kind of peace. At least now if I have to reject someone I can say I'm dating someone." Erika nodded her head and she smiled brightly

"Oh wow! Um yeah that's great! Thank you so much I'll make this up to you I swear!" she said eagerly, she jumped up happily and sighed, now that was one load off her shoulders.

"Hey now, you're not getting my duties for free" Erika froze, the worst had came to mind, did he want sex? She glared at him and looked away and before she could reject him he continued talking "I don't want anything extreme…but I've always wanted a pet…be my pet kitty" he chuckled. This totally did not calm her down, it just made her believe he was seriously insane

"Um…what?"

"Be my pet, you know fetch me stuff, be obedient, stand in the rain waiting for me, answer to my every calling, speak when I tell you and if you don't then you'll be punished" Erika's eyes went wider and she pursed her lips and looked away.

"Um hello? You're fucking insane there's no way in hell I'm doing that and on a second note that's a dog you're describing"

"Yeah but I hate dogs, cats are better" he pointed out "but I get it, if you want everyone to know that you're lying to them and complete scum then-"

"I'll do it," she blurted out. Gaara didn't give her any expression, just like this whole conversation, he just nodded his head and stood up.

"Alright, that was quick, but that's what you'd expect from a cat right?"

'Not really you fucking creep…' she chuckled inside her head as she looked at him.

"Right…well I'm gonna go and see my friends now" she said slowly, as if she was asking him permission and also seeing if he was going to follow her now that they were an "official couple".

"Bye then" Erika gave him a look and he sighed, knowing what she was thinking "I'm not eating with you so soon, there's a reason we're on the down low and why you couldn't tell your friends the truth, remember? Tell them it's cause I'm running for president for student council and don't want any dirt on me." Erika nodded her head and went back to the cafeteria where she knew she was going to get a thousand questions.

A/N: I'm sorry if the first chapter wasn't great. I'm quite horrible at beginnings but after that it should be good! Gaara is going to be a bit out of character mainly 'cause it's hard to portray him in a highschool AU. Anyways please follow the story if you want to see what happens and stuff and thanks for reading! 3