Perfect You

Sakura Haruno's life has gone downhill fast. Her father has quit his job to sell vitamins at the mall, and Sakura is forced to work with him. Her best friend has become popular, and now she acts like Sakura is invisible.

And then there's Sasuke.

Gorgeous, unattainable Sasuke, whom Sakura acts like she can't stand even though she can't stop thinking about him. When Sasuke starts acting interested, Sakura hates herself for wanting him when she's just his latest conquest.

Sakura figures that the only way things will ever stop hurting so much is if she keeps to herself and stops caring about anyone or anything. What she doesn't realize is that while life may not be perfect, good things can happen--but only if she lets them…

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Vitamins had ruined my life.

Not that there was much left to ruin, but still.

I know blaming vitamins for my horrible life sounds strange. After all, vitamins are supposed to keep people healthy. Also, they're inanimate objects. But thanks to them I was stuck in the Hidden Leaf Center Mall watching my father run around in a bee costume.

I sank into my chair by our cash register, as my father walked up to two women, trying to reel them into another bargain. They smiled politely and side-stepped away, an almost dance I'd seen plenty over the few days I worked at the hip-hip-hooray vitamin counter. Hoo-ha! …not.

"Sakura, I think I made a sale! Those two kind ladies told me they'd be sure to tell their husbands about the new vitamin tablets! Oh, hey, I think I'll go down to the department store and hand out a few samples to people as they walk out."

He grinned that childish smile of his, and I winced as I handed over the plastic bag of samples. The bag was stamped with the bright purple Perfect You logo. My dad skipped away, and as soon as he turned the corner I dished out my homework.

This was not how I pictured my Junior year. Not that the first half had been wonderful so far, but this was definitely an all-time low.

Four hours and at least five pounds of homework later, the mall began to close. Dad and I boxed up the extra vitamins Dad had had so much faith in selling, and I waited while he carried it to the storage closet.

That wonderful, wonderful storage closet. But that comes later.

"I thought today went pretty well." My father smirked when he came back, his read hair dulled underneath the lights of the mall. "Naruto and I sold one bottle in the morning, and I'm sure those two ladies will come back. Won't they?"

I shrugged, because it was much easier than telling Dad I was sure they wouldn't.

When we got home, my mother was flipping through her checkbook and frowning. She'd been doing that a lot lately.

"How did it go?" She asked, her voice tight.

I left before she could say anything else, heading back to my room. I took a second to stop in the living room and stand in front of the television. My brother, Naruto, lifted himself up off the sofa long enough to say, "Sakura, you freak, move. I'm watching something important."

Last week Naruto decided he wanted to become an actor. So far, all it meant was watching television more than usual. For a college graduate, he sure was on the fast track nowhere.

"You can't learn to act watching wrestling."

"You can't. I can. Scoot!"

I started singing and then he lunged at me.

I have a terrible singing voice, and not in the "I'm saying it's terrible to be modest" kind of way. Last week, when I quit the school choir, the director tried to keep the joy off his face. He couldn't quite control himself.

I didn't really care. I knew my voice sucked, and quitting choir was such a big lift off my shoulders. The only reason I stayed as long as I had was because of Ino. All fall I suffered practices and singing folk songs, hoping she'd come back.

That she'd want to be in choir again. That she'd want to be my friend again.

That maybe at least she'd talk to me.

In the fall, I thought there was no way life could get any worse.

I was wrong. So very, very wrong.

Almost a month ago, my father got up and went to work, running late again because he had been playing his newest video game, slaying dragons or driving cars or whatever obsessed him last week.

But when he got to work, he found his desk was broken. It was cracked, and split right down the middle. Everything was ruined, except for a small jar of vitamins. Perfect You vitamins.

Dad saw this as some sort of "sign" in his life and he quit his job at this big software company to sell Perfect You vitamins.

Yes, really.

He cashed in his retirement fund, buying truckloads of Perfect You vitamins, and then rented a freestanding booth in the mall. That's when I had to quit choir and start working in the mall.

So now I had no best friend, and a job selling vitamins at the mall with my father.

Life had definitely gotten much worse. But of course it was only the beginning.