One day in the middle of class in which I had nothing to do I started writing and it was basically a rant of why school sucks. Somehow I took that and am now turning it into a fic. It seems like a strange source of inspiration, I know, but it seems to work.
Disclaimer: Did Orochimaru keel over and die? Did Sasuke get over his prick phase and return to Konoha? Did all the Akatsuki members spontaneously combust? No? Then I don't own Naruto.
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Damn. Another day of school. One more to add to the pile of time wasted. How many more days of this? 106? 105? Something like that. I make a mental note to ask Naruto. He's been counting down since the first day of school. I can't understand why he would want to know when it's such a depressingly high number.
Digging my hands deeper into my coat pockets I watch as the sigh I make turns into a cloud of steam in front of my face. I hate the cold. Unfortunately, I have to put up with it for a couple months yet. Still, there's only a few more weeks until Christmas break. Maybe I can convince everyone else to spend it somewhere with a decent temperature. Somewhere in the high 70's at the least.
Quickly, I weave through the crowd heading for the front doors of the high school in hopes of reaching its heat that much sooner. I slow my pace as the warmth from inside the building washes over me. There is still 15 minutes till class starts. Groups of people are standing throughout the hall and I nod toward the ones that give me a wave or a greeting. And people tell me I'm not friendly enough.
"Sasuke! Oh Sasuke, wait up!" Turning in the direction of the voice that called me I see a girl running towards me, waving a flier in her hand. She's got to be at least six inches shorter than me with blond hair that's been tied back into a ponytail.
Seems innocent enough, right? Well not when you calculate in two alarming facts. 1. She's wearing a red Santa hat with bunches of holly pinned to the sides. 2. She has a large pin on her sweater shaped like a Christmas tree that says in big letters "Santa's little helper". Instantly I recognize the warning signs of a "Christmas cheer pusher" - you know the ones that feel it's their purpose in life to stuff Christmas related activities down the throats of every person who doesn't want it. But it's too late for me to run away now, she's already spotted me.
"Good morning Sasuke! How are you?"
It's early, it's cold, and I have to deal with you. "Fine. What do you want?" People really should appreciate the pains I take to be nice.
"Oh well, uh, the cheerleaders are organizing a, like, special event at the Christmas dance. You know about the dance right?" She pauses and looks at me expectantly.
I vaguely recall reading a poster about some kind of dance. It didn't interest me so I didn't pay much attention. Unfortunately, she's still looking at me for a response.
"It's for a charity right?" I prompt. This causes her smile's intensity to go up a few notches. Joy.
"That's right! Our school is raising money for, like, the local homeless shelters. We want to, like, give Christmases to all the under privileged people of Konoha. But a lot of kids aren't interested in going to the dance during break. So we're doing something to, like, promote..."
I smirk slightly. Yeah, kids don't want to give up their break. That's one way of putting it. Really people just don't want to go to some lame-ass party after the Turkey Dance of Thanksgiving was such a disaster. Why do people have to try and make fundraisers so complicated?
"...and so I was wondering if you, like, would be willing to volunteer as a kisser." What the hell?!
"What?! Sorry I zoned out. Could you repeat that?"
"I said we're having an event called The Mistletoe Encounter. We're going to, like, have people pay a dollar to kiss or be kissed by our volunteers under the mistletoe at the dance. Kisses on the cheek only though. So what do you think?"
What do I think!? I think you have got to be kidding me, that's what I think. There's no way in hell I would agree to something like that. I am about to tell her in a rather colorful way to fuck off when a hand lands on my shoulder. What idiot do I have to deal with now? My anger dulls when I see the familiar smile of my best friend.
"Did you hear about this?" I ask him motioning toward the girl in front of me.
"The kissing thing? Yeah I did," Naruto replies. Turning to the elf-wannabe he says, "Don't worry about it. Sakura signed me and Sasuke up already."
"Oh that's great! I should have figured the captain would have asked you guys already. I mean you guys are, like, best friends, right? You always come to, like, our competitions and stuff to help with set up and carrying equipment. You remember me right? I stand in, like, the 3rd position from the left."
"Of course I remember. You're the one who does the triple back flip during that one routine, right?"
"That's right! I can't believe you remember. Well I have to go now. I want to get some more people to, like, sign up. See ya later guys."
With relief I watch her skip, actually skip, over to some other poor saps.
"Do you really have any idea who that was?" I question Naruto skeptically.
"Not a clue. The cheerleaders all look the same to me when they're performing and they all do the same flips. Besides Sakura, I only remember the one. It was...uh...what's-her-name."
Normally I would berate my childhood friend for his lack of intelligence, but at the mention of our pink haired friend I'm distracted. "Naruto," I say with a hint of a threat. "Tell me that what you said about Sakura signing us up was just to get rid of that girl before I scared her to death."
He looks at me innocently and a feeling of dread settles somewhere around my stomach area.
"Well she asked me and I thought it would be kinda fun...and...uh, Sasuke?"
"I don't want to talk to you. I'm going to class." I turn my back and walk away from my annoying, moronic, dipshit of a friend.
"Sasuke. Hey Sasuke! You can't run away from me. We have the same class! We have the same classes all day, you can't avoid me!"
"Don't remind me!" I shoot back. Damn. This is not a good day.
Entering my first class I head to the back of the room. I slide my bag down to the floor next to me as I sit down in the chair behind the desk. Reaching down, I pull out my laptop to begin working on the project I have for this class. My hand automatically presses the power button and I wait for it to start up.
The warning bell rings to signal everyone had better start heading to their classrooms now if they want to make it on time. As I type in my name and password to log in I keep an eye on the door. Usually it's my job to make sure Naruto manages to get to his classes on time because God knows he couldn't do it on his own. However, since I decided I'm no longer talking to the idiot, I'll have to make an excuse to the teacher if he doesn't get here in time. Hm, what story should I make up to tell him? Whatever, I'll just tell him Naruto had to get something from his locker for me.
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Jeesh, Sasuke sure is cranky in the morning. Actually, he's pretty cranky in the afternoon, too. And most of the evening. Heck the only time he can manage to be a completely decent human being is at night. He must be nocturnal or something.
I finish making my way to my locker, which is where I was going before I ran into Sasuke, and dump my coat in it while at the same time pulling out my favorite hoodie from its hook. It's orange with this cool red spiral on the front over my stomach. Lastly, I pull out the books I will need. Hopefully I didn't have any homework because I definitely didn't do any.
The warning bell rings telling everyone there's five minutes till class starts. Usually it's Sasuke's job to make sure I manage to get to my classes on time because God knows I couldn't do it on my own. For some reason my internal clock is a bit slow so I'm always late for stuff. However, since he's decided to no longer talk to me I'll have to make sure I make it on time by myself. That means no stopping to talk to anyone. It sucks, but having to listen to that jerk make fun of me for not being able to get to class on time without him would suck a lot more.
Once I get to my first hour class (which I got to with two whole minutes to spare - in your face Sasuke) I head to the back of the room. Behind the rows of desks there is a single table with a glaring Sasuke sitting at it. Ignoring the glare, I smile at the uptight prick.
"I'm still not talking to you," he says before I can get a word out. Mentally I sigh, but I don't show any signs that his words have had an effect. I knew I would have to work on him to go along with the whole mistletoe thing and I wish I could have been the one to tell him and not little Miss I'm-(not-so)-secretly-lusting-over-the-idea-of-Sasuke-kissing-me.
"Come on Sasuke," I plead. "It'll be fun."
"When have I ever considered dance-related activities fun?" he retorts. "I don't dance."
"OK- ya got me there. But still, this in no way involves dancing so it could still be fun."
"No. It involves physical contact with a large number of people. Everything I hate about dances."
Before I can argue with him more, the bell rings. Time to use my trump card.
"Look, I promised Sakura we would do it. Half the girls who have signed up have requested one of us. If you want to be the one to ruin her event go ahead. You'll probably survive the beating. But consider this - all those girls who have been drooling over the thought of getting a kiss from you won't be pleased when they're denied their chance. Most of them will decide to take matters into their own hands. Do you really want to be gang raped by a bunch of sex deprived girls?"
After giving my little speech I turn to go to my seat. However, I'm stopped by his hand gripping my arm. Turning back to face him, I see the most hysterical mixture of shock and horror on his face. I knew he would see things my way eventually - he always does.
"I only have to kiss them on the cheek right? Nothing else?" he asks me with a hint of desperation. I decide to take pity on him.
"That's right. Heck, if you charm them enough you might be able to get away with a kiss on the hand or something," I say soothingly.
"Fine," he replies letting go of my arm. "But we are so going some place warm."
I have no idea what he's talking about, but Mr. Iwashi walks in so I go and sit down. I have journalism first thing so there's no need to pay much attention. The only reason I'm taking this pointless class is because I need English credits. Mr. Iwashi, our teacher, gave us a book at the beginning of the year with a bunch of worksheets in it. He spends the first five minutes going over what we did last class and assigning us stuff for this class. Then we have the rest of class to do whatever. Sasuke made me finish a bunch of the worksheets ahead of schedule so I wouldn't have to do anything in class for awhile. He should catch up to what I have done sometime in March.
Once the teacher finishes his short lecture and hides behind his newspaper at his desk, I get up to see what Sasuke is doing. Sasuke isn't really a part of this class. Technically he should be able to graduate because he's already earned all his required credits. Unfortunately for him there's some requirement that you actually have four years of high school or something. Since he took all the AP classes last year, there was really nothing left for him to take his senior year. So he worked it out with the principal and now he takes a bunch of independent study classes. That's why he has the same classes as me.
"Whatcha workin' on?" I ask him as I turn the chair next to him and straddle the seat so I can rest my arms on the back.
"Still not talking to you," he tells me in an annoying I-don't-really-hate-you-but-I-sure-as-hell-am-gunna-act-like-it voice and goes back to typing on his laptop.
"Well fine then, be a butt." I stare at the ceiling for a moment then look back at His Highness, King of the Icy Bastards. "Are you done not talking to me yet?"
"No," he says without pausing in his typing. More staring.
"How 'bout now?" He stops typing and turns to face me.
"You know my life was a lot less frustrating before you came along and started making me do stupid stuff."
"Yeah, what are friends for?"
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Do you have any idea how hard it is not to talk to Naruto when he wants you to talk to him? Trust me it's impossible - save yourself the aggravation and don't try. After years of practice I still can't completely ignore the idiot and I am a master at ignoring people if I do say so myself.
After listening to him for over an hour as he told me in excruciating detail about the dream he had last night I finally caved. Hey, you would have cracked too if you had to listen to someone talk about trying to teach talking cherries to tap dance for an hour. I take consolation in the fact that most people wouldn't have even lasted an hour.
Naruto already left for our next class, but I have to stop at my locker. When I reach it, I drop off my coat. It always takes me a couple hours to get used to the school's heating so I need my coat to keep me warm in the meantime. Adjusting the messenger bag that is carrying my laptop, I start to head to class.
"Hey Sasuke," a girl surrounded by a group of friends calls. "What does your shirt say today?"
This may seem like an odd question, but the majority of my shirts say something. It all started on my fourteenth birthday. I guess it's hard to figure out what to get a kid for his birthday at that age and clothes are a safe bet. If I'm not mistaken I received 24 different shirts, each with its own sarcastic saying printed on it. Over the years my collection has grown and it has become something of a tradition around school to see what "quote of the day" my top proclaims.
I silently turn toward the girl who addressed me to give her a better view. Today I'm wearing a black T-shirt over a white long sleeved shirt. The T-shirt says in bold, white letters "Rehab is for quitters."
The girl's friends all break out in spontaneous twittering that I think is supposed to pass for laughter. It's obvious they are all freshmen who can't believe their friend was acknowledged by the Great Sasuke. I have a very low tolerance for people like that, so I finish walking to class.
Thank God for block scheduling¹. I love only having to deal with four classes in a day. Sure those classes are an hour and a half long, but I only have the class every other day. On top of that I have co-op and dual enrollment² so I really only have three classes a day.
"Hey Sasuke! Wait up," someone shouts from across the hall. Damn it. Is it too much to ask to be allowed to walk down a hall without every idiot in the school stopping me? Recognizing the voice I take a small amount of comfort that at least this idiot is sufferable.
"What do you want Kiba?" I spit out to the boy as he runs up to me.
"Well it's nice to see the stick up you ass is still giving you hell," he responds.
I glare at him, but sadly he is one of the few people who have built up immunity to all but my most lethal of glares.
"All right, all right I'll make this quick. Here. Give that to Naruto," he says as he hands me an envelope.
"What is this? Do I look like a messenger boy?" I ask, my irritation increasing quickly.
"Look, I don't know. Sakura asked me to give that to Naruto, but I don't have any classes with him today and I know you guys leave early. So just give it to him, ok? Oh, and tell him I said hi."
Kiba leaves before I can tell him to do it himself. I'd chase after him and make him, but then I would be late for class and there's no way I'm going to be tardy because of that loser.
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When I finally get to the classroom I head over to the conjoined desks Naruto and I share. Throwing the envelope at him, it hits its intended target of the middle of his head.
"Message delivered," I tell him over his cry of indignation.
"What's this?" he asks me.
"I don't know. Something from Sakura," I reply.
A look of comprehension appears on his face. Instead of opening the letter he folds it in half and stuffs it in the back pocket of his black jeans. This causes me to notice that he has taken off his stupid hoodie and tied it around his waist. More importantly is the shirt he was hiding under it the last time I saw him. It's marine blue and says "Always Smile" in black. Underneath that, in smaller text, it says, "It confuses people."
"That's my shirt," I tell him. Not that I would ever wear it. No matter how sarcastic I get I would never encourage smiling. But that's not the point.
"Yeah, so? It's not like you are ever gunna wear it. I rescued it from the back of your closet where it was doomed to never see the light of day. And 'sides it looks better on me anyways."
"That's not the point. It's mine to bury in oblivion if I want. And who says it looks better on you anyways?"
"Lots of people. It's cuz it brings out the color of my eyes so well. See?" He tilts his head up slightly and turns it side to side to get the light over head to show off his eyes.
Well he does have a point; the blue in the shirt brings out all the different shades of blue in his irises. Whatever.
"Fine keep the stupid shirt. It's not like I'd be caught dead wearing it. But keep out of my closet."
"Oh thank you Sasuke," Naruto says in a fake worshipful voice.
Changing the subject I say, "Kiba said hi."
"Oh? How's he doing?" Naruto asks. "How was did his date with Hinata go? That was last weekend right? He didn't blow it did he?"
"It's not like I keep up on that moron's social life. I didn't even talk to him. He just said hi."
Before he can respond, Iruka walks into the class room. Where exactly do the teachers go that prevents them from getting to class on time?
"Sorry I'm late class. I had to make copies and it took longer than I thought," Iruka explains. Well that answers that. "Anyways, I know each of you was taking the extra time to study for the math quiz today," he says with a smile that is scary when paired with the leering look in his eyes.
Cries of dismay and despair erupt from the whole class.
"Iruka didn't mention anything about a quiz last night," Naruto softly hisses at me.
"Don't worry. He's probably just joking to scare people," I whisper back.
"And for those of you who think I'm joking - think again," Iruka says waving the stack of papers in his hand. So I was wrong. It does happen occasionally.
"Aw man, this sucks," Naruto groans.
"Since this is a pop quiz, I'll be fair and let you work on it with a partner if you want," Iruka says as he begins passing out the quizzes. "You can work with whoever you want so long as you both agree to it. I don't want anyone trying to force someone to help them with their test."
"Oh Saaasuke," Naruto drawls out my name. "You'll be my partner, right?" He looks at me pleadingly.
I raise my eyebrow at him. "I'm not even doing the same math as you. Independent study, remember?"
He grabs onto my arm. "But Sasuke!" he protests. "Iruka said we can work with whoever we want. And I want you. Pretty please?"
"You ruined my day, why shouldn't I return the favor?" I ask nonchalantly.
He slides closer to me and clutches my arm tighter. "Come on! You're supposed to be my best friend. If you don't help me out, I'll fail," he pouts.
Really, Naruto is hopeless without me. "All right I'll help you out now, but you owe me one."
His look of desperation melts away to one of joy. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou," he gushes while wrapping his arms around my middle with his head pressed against my chest.
"Uh hm," Iruka coughs in front of us. "Am I interrupting something or can I assume you two are taking the quiz together?"
Nudging Naruto off me, I take the offered examinations. I glare the snickering students around me into silence. Today refuses to be good.
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1. I have block scheduling at my high school and (in my opinion) it really is a lot better than having all my classes in one day.
2. Co-op is when you get to replace a class for working at a job. You're supposed to take a class that relates to the job you're working at. Dual enrollment is taking a college class instead of a regular one, usually when the high school doesn't offer it. Both allow you to leave school early.
So that's it. My new fic. I have mixed feelings about it, but I already have a plan for where I want to end it. Now I just need to figure out how to get there and I'll be good. Please review!