It was that kind of love that one can expect from being a teenager. A typical crush on the most handsome, most popular guy in the school. He was the captain of the basketball team. Smart. Mysterious. It is only natural for a girl to take a liking on this kind of guy. He was in a different section, but she knew his schedule anyways. She was one of the girls who would watch him practice in the gym. Every Friday at exactly 5 in the afternoon. She silently begged for his attention. But she never dared to confess her feelings. For all she knew he would not stoop down to her level.
But it all changed when he became her classmate.
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Second year in high school started normally for Sakura Haruno. She carried all her books and notes to her class and settled for a seat in the last row near the window. She often come to class thirty minutes prior to the lecture to read in advance. As she was scanning the pages of her book, she heard the sound of the door closing. She was slightly confused since there were still twenty minutes left before the class starts.
She looked up only to see Sasuke Uchiha already looking at her questionably. He was wearing a hoodie over his school uniform with his bagpack slung over his shoulder. He stared at her expectantly when she continued to gaze at him.
Sasuke cleared his throat when he could not take her silence anymore. "Are you okay? You looked like you had seen a ghost." Only then did Sakura recover from her shock and apologized quickly. Sasuke then repeated his question.
"I asked if this is the room for Mr. Hatake's class."
"Oh! Yes! Uh..but it will not yet start for about fifteen minutes and is late all the time anyways..so uh you see he arrives at least twenty minutes late and also I am rambling. I am sorry." She bowed her head in shame, but to her surprise, Sasuke just took a seat in front of her.
He put his hand under his chin and watched the clouds outside. Sakura began to feel uncomfortable. For the very first time, she could not understand what the book tries to convey. She kept her head down and quietly observed the guy in front of her. After a few more minutes, the basketball heartthrob had used his hoodie to cover his face and slowly inclined his head on the arm chair. He must be tired, being a student-athlete.
The bell rang, and in a minute, the classroom was full of students chatting.
The girls, as expected, took notice of the presence of the most popular guy in school. Many of which tried to fight over the empty seat beside him. However, his best friend, Naruto Uzumaki, an obnoxious, loud, and too bright for Sakura's liking, had immediately threw his bag on the empty seat. The guy had tapped Sasuke's shoulder much to the latter's annoyance.
"Sasuke! Why did you leave me?! I thought I told you last night to drop by early in the morning! I barely made it on time!" He scolded Sasuke.
Sasuke, in turn, glared at him. "What? Did you break your damn alarm clock again?"
Naruto quickly slung his arm on his best friend's shoulder. "Now, now. Don't be mad. It was not my fault that you happened to be living next to our house." And then Naruto crouched down a bit and lowered his voice considerably intending only for Sasuke to hear. "You know I look good whenever I get to walk beside you to the entrance gates."
Sasuke rolled his eyes at that. "If you just bothered to check your phone, I actually sent you a message saying I had training at seven. I did not do it on purpose. I couldn't care less if you'll look cool-" Naruto had covered Sasuke's mouth instantly, laughing nervously.
Seeing her long-time crush interacting with his best friend right in front of her caused a giddy feeling building up in her heart. Sakura had always just watched him from afar. In her opinion, he was not just handsome, he's also cool and smart and just perfect.
Naruto then, noticed her presence. "Oh! Sakura-chan! Glad you're my classmate too! Mom says hi, by the way." Sakura automatically smiled. She and Naruto had been friends because of their parents. They had been neighbors a long time ago. His mom, Kushina, had the same energy for Kizashi's (Sakura's dad) jokes. They got really along until the Uzumaki's have to move to a much larger house.
Sasuke eyed them questionably. "Oh, right. Sakura-chan, this is Sasuke. You know, the one I was telling you with a stuck-up attitude but really popular in our school." Sasuke's eye twitched in response, but Naruto continued nonetheless. "My neighbor slash best friend, yeah?"
Sakura hesitantly extended her hand for him to shake. Sasuke merely looked at her extended hand. "Teme! Don't be rude. Sakura-chan's very nice and well..my future girlfriend so you better get along with her as early as now." Naruto had grabbed Sasuke's right hand, urging the latter to shake Sakura's hand.
Naruto had always joked about their so-called future on her. He had made himself quite clear of his feelings for the girl. But almost all the time, she would brush it off and take it as a joke.
Ten, twenty minutes had gone by and yet, there were still no signs of Mr. Hatake's presence. Being used to that, Sakura had tried to distract herself by reading her book once again while everyone was complaining.
And after another five minutes, only then did Mr. Kakashi Hatake showed up, clearing his throat to make his presence known. "Good morning. I apologize for being tardy in the first day of class, my dear students. You see, there was an old woman who had to cross the street and I had to-"
He was then cut off by Naruto saying their teacher was nothing but a liar. As everybody in the class settled down on their seats, Mr. Hatake had begun his lecture. Sakura had always liked Mr. Hatake's simple and explicit way of teaching Math. But on that day, as she was staring at the back of Sasuke's head, it was hard to concentrate.
And boy, she had no idea that it would be just like that everyday.
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On the third day of class, Sasuke had noticed how her cheeks would blush at the sight of him.
"Are you ill?" He would ask. Sakura, in return, would profusely shook her head no. And if possible, her face would even become redder.
Many girls in their class had gathered around his seat almost all the time. But much to everyone's disappointment, Naruto would be the one to answer the girls' questions. Sasuke had the tendency to look outside, watching the clouds and ignoring everyone in the room. He had been uneasily quiet; he rarely talked unless necessary.
One thing Sakura had also found out was that he was very smart, a genius, in Sakura's opinion. He could remember everything that the teachers had said. He did not even bother to take down notes. Unlike Sakura, who would study and review her notes every night to stay on top.
As the bell rang, all the students had immediately went to the canteen to have their lunch. But not Sakura. She had stayed inside the classroom, waiting for her bestfriend Ino who was placed in another section. The pink-haired girl was then surprised to find Sasuke and Naruto choosing to have their lunch inside the classroom too.
"Eh, Sakura-chan? Are you not going to buy some food?" Naruto asked.
"My mom had prepared my bento box today." She had shifted her eyes on Sasuke then and shyly asked. "How bout you guys? We have P.E. today so you better not skip lunch."
"I'm not skipping. I have ramen for lunch! But Sasuke is being stubborn picky-eater again, refusing to buy some food because of the crowd. Talk to him, Sakura-chan. I even offered my ramen to him." Naruto scratched his head before putting out two cups of ramen from his bag. He had dashed out of the room, saying he would be back after five minutes after he got some hot water.
Awkwardly, Sakura started to eat her lunch. She had been conscious the entire time, looking at her watch from time to time, cursing Ino for being late. A growling noise then echoed the room, making it obvious how hungry Sasuke is.
"Uh..you should probably eat something. If you want, I can buy something for you." She laughed nervously. Sasuke turned his head from his seat and eyed the girl curiously. Sakura automatically melted from her seat, blood rushed to her cheeks. "I can also share my onigiri. I think mom packed more than she usually do. That is only if you want to." She quickly added.
"Hn. Thanks."
Sakura extended her bento box, indicating for him to get some. They silently ate afterwards. "So you're Sakura, Naruto's girl."
"Eh? No. No. You probably got the wrong idea. We just grew up together, that's all." She shook her head too many times.
"That is not what he said." Sasuke replied as he munched his food.
Before Sakura could further protest, Naruto had made his presence known stating that while walking, he had already eaten the last of his food. Even complaining that it used to have more.
Ino did not come that day, texting Sakura that she did not want to disturb her and Mr. Gorgeous.
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It had become a habit, for the three of them to eat their lunch together at the classroom. At first, girls were giving Sakura dirty looks, being close to Sasuke. But Naruto being too vocal about his feelings for his childhood friend had easily made everyone believe that there was really something going on between them. Hence, the girls left her alone soon after.
Naruto had also, without question, picked Sasuke and Sakura to be his groupmates in every project. Sasuke would often comment about how his best friend was just taking advantage of their closeness, choosing the top two students in the class.
Until one day, Naruto had chosen not to attend the class due to a stomachache. Mr. Hatake, valuing teamwork the most, had always been giving activities into groups. And with Sakura not really close to anyone in the room, she had started to worry to be left out. At that time, with Naruto out of the picture, girls in the room had already surrounded Sasuke asking him to be his partner.
Sasuke had been irritated. He had turned his head to look at Sakura, as if asking for help. Until Kakashi had already decided to interfere.
"Settle down, girls. Uzumaki being absent does not mean you can harass Uchiha. Let him decide who he wants to work with." He winked at Sakura's direction as if he knew all along how she felt for the Uchiha.
Hence, Sasuke had stood up from his seat and wordlessly pulled his chair next to Sakura's.
Many had complained, of course. Mostly the female population of the room, saying that the top two students should not be paired up. But Kakashi had already been too busy reading his favorite novel to entertain the complaints.
Lunch was even more awkward. Without Naruto, the silence is deafening. Sakura had always been kind enough to offer some of her food to her companion. And even if Sasuke now had been wise enough to bring his own bento box, he would still silently accept the girl's offer.
"So..uh.. how's your basketball training?" Sakura asked when she could not already handle the deafening silence.
"It's fine." He replied shortly. His back on her while watching the serene display of clouds through the window.
"Why do you think Naruto is absent today?" She asked curiously.
"He's an idiot for exhausting himself during training last night. Also, eating nothing but ramen for the past week."
"Eh? I didn't know Naruto applied for tryouts."
Sakura could not help but sigh inwardly when the awkward silence had settled between the two of them once again.
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Without Sakura realizing, she and the most popular guy in school had been hanging out everyday, with Naruto, of course. It had eventually became a habit for the three of them. Many girls had even asked Sakura for help thinking that their chances would have increased if they got the pink-haired girl on their side.
During the midterms, Sakura had a difficult time finding a room for herself in the library. She also went searching for an empty classroom, but to no avail, she had been unlucky that day. That was when an idea popped into her head. Knowing that there would be no practice for the varsity team since it was midterms, she had went to the basketball gym (thankful that it was not locked) and settled down on one of the benches.
She was writing down formulas for their Math exam when Sasuke entered the gym with a basket ball on his right hand. Sakura had been frozen at first, not knowing what to say. Same goes for Sasuke.
"This is not a suitable place to study, in my opinion." It was Sasuke who had chose to break the silence that time.
"I- I'm sorry, I didn't know you guys have practice. Let me just fix my things and I'll leave." She began to messily put all of her things inside her bag when Sasuke had started to dribble the ball.
"I don't mind. You staying here, I mean." He said in between his dribbling and shooting. "We don't have training, if you were wondering." He quickly added.
Only then did Sakura noticed that Sasuke was still wearing his school uniform. She had stopped in her tracks and decided to continue studying inside the gym. As if the sound of the ball bouncing was not distracting enough, Sakura had discreetly watched the man of her dreams play the sport he loves. He was good, no, he was amazing. And even if Sakura had been watching him almost every week from afar, she could not stop her heart from beating so loudly at the sight of him being so close.
"It seems you had lost your focus." Sasuke said, with his eyes still concentrated on the ring, shooting from beyond the three-point line.
Caught off-guard, Sakura felt that her cheeks had grown warm. "Well, you are not studying, and I am wondering why." She had completely made him the subject of their conversation.
"I don't need to. And you and I both know it." His confidence had slightly irked Sakura.
After that, Sakura had frequently made herself comfortable studying in the gym.
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A field trip to Kirigakure had been arranged for the second year students. It would be for a two days and a one night stay. Obviously, the girls and boys were assigned in a different dorm-type rooms. Sasuke had been irritated considerably. Not only he had to share a room to a certain obnoxious loud-mouth, he also had to deal with two other guys he couldn't care less. He made a note to himself to ask Kakashi if he could have a room for himself.
Sakura, on the other hand, was a little uneasy. She was not given a chance to hang out to the girls in her class. Fortunately, Tenten, a girl with a cute double bun hairstyle, had been assigned to be her seatmate in the bus. In Sakura's opinion, Tenten is weird but in a good way. The idea of weapons and ninja tools fascinated the said girl. Sakura did not know but she was thankful for that.
It had been a long 3-hour drive to Kiri. Kakashi had been pretty lenient. He kept to himself, either sleeping or reading his favorite book during the trip. When Naruto suggested that the class should have a bonfire, Sasuke instantly covered his best friend's mouth saying that their sensei was present. Kakashi shrugged in return. "If you guys are planning to sneak out later at night, how do I say this.." He put his hand on his chin before continuing. "Just don't let other teachers caught you, or else I'll get scolded too."
They went to a museum, a monument, and other historical places. There was a tour guide who explained briefly the history of Kiri. By one o'clock in the afternoon, they stopped by in a famous food park to have their lunch. The students were also given a two-hour free time before they headed to their dorm places, which apparently located by the beach.
Naruto instantly dragged Sakura into their group. The guys started to tease them, asking Sakura when she would accept Naruto as her boyfriend. A blush tinged the pink-haired girl's cheeks; she did not bother to answer the question asking the boys to cut it out. She, instead, turned her head into Sasuke's direction. But much to her disappointment, Sasuke had already slipped out of the group.
In a matter of two to five minutes, Naruto had eventually found Sasuke in one of the tables, quietly eating onigiri. Much to Sakura's surprise, Sasuke did not bother to yell and lunge out at his best friend's proximity. Naruto had left them to the table and went to a food stall selling ramen.
"Sasuke-kun, what do you think should I buy for lunch? Takoyaki sounds good to me, but I think I want some Donburi." She asked him.
But to Sakura's shock, Sasuke glared at her. "You are annoying." He stood up from his seat, leaving a stupefied Sakura still trying to figure out what just happened.
She called for Ino to which she spent the remaining time of her free time with.
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True to Naruto's words, their class had planned to sneak out. Their class representative had even came up with an idea to leave at past midnight so that they would be sure that the teachers were already asleep.
Sakura thought that she would not participate in such thing. First of all, it was a stupid idea. Second, she did not want to get scolded or worse, get her scholarship taken away from her. She was over thinking again, she realized. But when Tenten woke her up at an ungodly hour of one in the morning, she tossed a pillow over her head, hoping that they would simply left her.
"Sakura, you better wake up this instant. Or you'll be sorry, I swear." Hearing that, the sleepy girl could not help but sigh in irritation and rubbed her eyes.
Her classmates used the back door, as to not disturb the other students sleeping in the other rooms.
Sakura was still half-asleep when she had gotten out of the rest house. The breeze of the wind was too strong; she then only realized that she had forgotten her jacket. She was only clad in her sleeveless undershirt and pajamas. She was on her way back when Tenten gripped her arm, accusing her of abandoning the class.
A little too far from the rest house, a bonfire was already lit and most of her classmates had already gathered around. She put her arms around her to keep her warm. Tenten had warned her not to go back so Sakura had no choice but to unsteadily descend the stairs. Even before she could reach the last step of the staircase, a hand pulled her back.
She was ready to punch the living daylights out of that person, but as she turned around, she visibly tensed then relaxed. Sasuke, dressed in his hoodie and sweatpants, stared at her with a raised brow. He still looked impossibly attractive, despite the bed hair. To Sakura, he even looked more boyish and handsome with it.
Remembering his earlier reaction to her, she lowered her head to apologize. "Sasuke-kun. I- Look, I am sorry if I annoy you in any way. Just tell me and I will keep my distance. I will even tell Naruto-"
"Don't." He cut her off. Sakura chose that instance to raise her head to see his face. He pursed his lips together in effort not to lose his control. "I was having a bad day."
She then blinked in response. "Oh." She smiled genuinely, knowing that he was apologizing in his own way. "Let's go then? I think they're waiting for us." She went down the stairs and waited for him to keep up with her steps.
Before she knew it, Sasuke had once again pulled her back. She eyed him questionably. "Sasuke-kun?"
He had discarded off his jacket and quickly shoved it to her hands. She once again blinked in surprise. "You're shivering." Before any protest leave Sakura's lips, Sasuke shook his head. "Just put it on."
She simply stared at his back as he walked away. She fixed her eyes at his hoodie on her hands. She blushed at the thought of wearing it, remembering a particular scene with the novel she was currently reading.
"What? Do you expect me to put it on for you?" The sound of Sasuke's voice startled her; a teasing smirk threatening to appear on his lips as he turned to look at her.
Sakura could swear her face was as red as tomato that night.
Unknown to them, Tenten had hidden in the nearby tree to watch the whole ordeal. The girl would be sure to tease her roommate once they were back in their room.
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A/N: Idk, what do you guys think? This will probably shorter that I intended. Like maybe three-shot? I just like the idea of HS fic. Hence, this story. Thanks for reading! :)