AN: Hey guys! I hope you like this, it's my new story. I'm not very sure of this one so please tell me what you think! :D
The List
S
It was a cold day. I could tell as I sat on a bench alone in the playground wearing the flimsy school PE kit that consisted of an ugly pair of green shorts and a thin white polo. People surrounded me but didn't talk to me, they stayed in their groups, ignoring my presence completely as they gossiped or laughed or played with each other.
It didn't bother me in the least that I was being left out; the solitude of life comforted me, no annoying people or things to worry about; however, not everybody thought the same.
It started with my brother, Itachi, claiming that he was worried for me, 'it's not healthy Sasuke, you need friends Sasuke, talking to yourself is the first sign of madness Sasuke etc'. His holier-than-thou attitude always pissed me off royally but this seemed to take the biscuit; my sadistic, rude, slave driver of a brother was lecturing me about my social life when he couldn't get most people to come within a 5 meter radius of him.
But that wasn't the end, my brother nagged me for ages on end and eventually my parents got involved, some may think that was normal, your parents should be concerned about your life enough for them to want you to have friends but it was different for me, my parents were very different.
Parents have a phase right after marriage, normally known as the honeymoon phase where they cannot see anyone other than themselves; for my parents that phase has never ended. For as long as I can remember it has, sadly, only been me and Itachi to fend for ourselves while we grew up so when my parents get involved it means it's serious enough to bring them out of their bubble of love.
So after my parents and Itachi were on my back, in came my History teacher, Iruka. He was a nice teacher, everyone knew that and since we had to do quite a lot of project and group work in History, he was understanding enough to let me work alone but that obviously couldn't last forever. Yesterday he called me out and told me that for our latest project in class, we had to be in a group; it was a very important part of our exams and if we weren't in a group of at least four people, we wouldn't be graded properly.
It was degrading how I had to rely on other people for a good grade, I couldn't trust other people, they would bring me down and most definitely annoy me to no end.
I scowled in disgust as a group of girls giggled uncomfortable close to me and shuffled away slightly while shivering in the cold, "hello, youthful students!" I looked up from my almost purple, shivering hands at my 15 minute late to class teacher Gai and glared menacingly. He didn't seem to notice and laughed as everyone began to stand up, "I was caught up in a battle against my longstanding rival Kakashi! I brought my score up to 325 to match his!"
The class, except me of course, clapped happily for him, it was no secret he had an ever going competition with our Art teacher Kakashi. "I'm all pumped up for our lesson now so for warm up lets have 50 youthful laps around the playground!"
Everyone groaned, excluding me, and reluctantly stood up. I waited for everyone to pass by before I started the long trek as well while thinking up a way to increase my numbers by three.
S
"Hey Sasuke!" As I walked away from the changing rooms I heard my name being called by a familiar voice, "Iruka-sensei." I greeted as I turned to see him.
He smiled and jogged slightly to catch up with me, "have you thought of a way to make friends?" he asked in a nervous tone, "I told you about the project two weeks in advance so you'd have time to think about who'll join your group, I know you're an extremely picky person."
I sighed, Iruka was a nice guy but he didn't need to dote on me so much, "firstly, I don't need friends, just acquaintances, secondly, thank you for taking me into consideration and thirdly, I've already got something in mind, you don't have to worry so much about me."
He sighed and ruffled his hair slightly, "I know, but you're just one of those people who I can't help but worry about, just promise you'll tell me if you're feeling troubled or things aren't working out for you."
Iruka was one of the very few people who were special to me, I wouldn't worry him with my problems, "I promise." But I'd lie if it put his mind at ease.
Grinning slightly, he patted my shoulder softly before turning to walk away, "oh and Iruka?" He turned inquiringly to face me; I gave a small smile, "thanks."
I didn't have to turn to know that Iruka was a red fumbling mess at the sight of one of my rare smiles.
S
Laid in-front of me innocently on the floor was a piece of paper. I store at it intensely as it rested empty apart from the few words scribbled at the top to be the title, 'how to be social'.
It was a list, well it was going to be a list once I thought of things to put on it but it was quite hard for a guy who had never interacted with people other than his family and teachers to know what to put down.
I sighed as I ran a sweaty hand through my hair; they had been clenching and unclenching as I thought, "OK, let's start with the simple things." I chided to myself as I picked up my pen and wrote the first component onto the paper.
'1. Smile'
I had learnt throughout my years of existence that smiling was the best way to make friends. It was odd how a smile could put some people at ease and could easily create friendship. My head tilted slightly as I thought about it, I would have to incorporate smiling regularly into my life, then as I talked to more people I could add more things to the list and I could slowly get more friends and eventually have enough for the project.
"Then after I can be alone again." I assured myself, theses people would only be temporary, all I needed was myself.
I put my pen down before folding up the paper and slipping it between my books in my bag. It was only 9 o'clock but I wanted an early start tomorrow, it was going to be tiring since my mouth would most definitely move more than it normally did.
S
The first reactions to my constant smiles were unexpected. I came down for breakfast as usual, my family said their 'good mornings' as usual but instead of my unhappy grunt, a smile bloomed on my face, "good morning family, what a wonderful day it is, do you not agree?"
I had learnt this morning when I watched TV as I got ready, that smiling continuously meant that you were happy and because you were happy you normally said nice things so right underneath my number one I scribbled in
'2. Be optimistic'
Before slipping it back into my bag.
The whole room froze; my parents were actually able to peel their lips away from each other's long enough for their jaws to fall to the ground. Itachi, who had just finished making his usual morning coffee, dropped his mug on the floor, the sound seemed to snap everyone out of their stupor as my parents jumped out of their seats and rushed over to me but didn't dare touch me.
"S-Sasuke, are you OK? Are you feeling alright?" Itachi spoke first as he reached out to touch my forehead, I slapped his hand away before smiling again, "of course I'm OK dear brother of mine, how can I not be after seeing my wonderful family on this fine morning."
It was hard for me to be happy all of the time so I barely squeezed that out through my gritted teeth, I grabbed a slice of toast of my Father's plate and made my way towards the door before any of the could stop me.
I flashed them a smile over my shoulder, "I'll be seeing you!" I called out before I left causing both of my parents to faint.
S
On the bus to school, I had smiled at everyone who had caught my eye, whether they went to my school or not and by the time I had made it to my locker my cheeks were starting to hurt.
I opened my locker and sighed into it, why was life so hard? All I wanted was to pass the group project but was all of this hassle really worth it?
I took out the books in my bag and replaced them with some of the books in my locker before shutting it and turning to walk away, "hey, Uchiha, wait, you dropped something!" I had taken two steps before someone called out to me.
Sighing, I plastered a smiled onto my face, turned back around and stuck my hand out, "than-"
Before I could finish what I was saying I noticed a blond boy who I had never talked to before reading a paper that seemed oddly familiar. My eyes widened and my smile fell as he looked up at me questioningly, "is this a 'how to be social' list?"
It seemed like today was about to take a turn for the worst.
"Yes." I replied with a scowl, "yes it is."
AN: I hope you liked it, please follow, favourite and/or review if you did and please go check out my other stories!
