Good day. I don't own Naruto. :(
Confessions On A Bathrooom Stall
TheDominoEffect
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"—id you see what she was wearing last night?"
"Oh, I know."
"She is such a wannabe."
"Oh, don't even worry about it, honey. It looked so much better on you."
"Totally. She looked like a cow with her thunder thighs. I don't know why anyone would let her out like that—I get that no one likes her, but seriously. Someone should have stopped her for their own sake! And how she was invited still doesn't make sense to me. I mean, someone like her couldn't possibly run in the same circles as us."
Sakura. Wanted. To. Scream.
It would have been a little better if she'd caught them talking behind her back as she eavesdropped. It would have been better if she didn't even know the girls and could care less about what they said about her. Sakura was the type of girl who liked to think she didn't care if someone said nasty things behind her back. She liked to believe she was tough and that nothing could pierce the shiny, tough armor she wore. Sakura liked to believe she was strong and unaffected. She wanted to believe she was a bit of a Hermione Granger—that she could roll her eyes and wave it off. And if the situation ever called for it—punch the adversary in the face and get it over with.
But in reality, she couldn't stand it. It drove her insane—to the point of imagining pulling the fake extensions out of the girls' hair.
One of the things that ticked her off was the fact that she knew these girls. Some of them were going to be on her soccer team, for Christ's sake. Some of them played Tokyo Youth soccer with her for years. Others had been in the same classes as her for the same amount of time.
Everything was supposed to be fine and dandy.
Until she was made captain of the girl's soccer team, now all of her old teammates and classmates wanted to bite her neck off and feed the bits back to her through her ears. Why was it they suddenly hated her? Because she had talent?
If anything, the thing that really pissed her off was the fact that her potential team members knew she was there and knew she could hear them and still, they spoke about her as if they could care less. They clearly meant for her to hear everything they were saying, yet they wouldn't even say it to her face. If she couldn't be respected by her teammates, how the hell would she be able to last the flippin' season with them clenching their fake nail tips at her throat?
"Oh, whatever. I bet she scammed an invite. How else would she get invited to the Deidara's—Deidara from the gang Akatsuki—party? His parties are exclusive. Totally invite-only and knowing her and how butch she is, she probably dangled some poor girl by her ankles and stole the invite. Did you see the hole she kicked through the soccer net?!"
"Oh my gosh, yeah! Pathetic much?"
"Totally."
Sakura's eyes flashed and with her lips set in resolution, she grabbed her necktie and black school shoes before grabbing the edge of her locker door and slamming it shut with a satisfying bang!
"What is her proble—"
Sakura whirled around, ready with a stream of words to put them in their place when a restraining hand rested on her forearm.
"Move it." The two girls' eyes widened as they slowly made way for the source of the voice—Yakushi Karin.
She pursed her naturally pink, glossy lips and tilted her head, slinging her uniform jersey over her shoulder.
"Have a bit of tact, will you? I know it might be a bit hard for your brains to process, but this is our team captain. The person who has the responsibility of helping coach pick who's going to be on the team and who won't, so you'd better watch your goddamned mouths if you know what's good for you." Karin's voice, which started off as nonchalant, turned low and dark, "And if Sakura won't take care of your asses, you can bet that I will."
There were answering scoffs and sniffs of disdain but Sakura didn't look at them. She couldn't take her eyes off of Karin, who easily tossed her practice clothes into her locker. "Oh, and by the way?" Karin continued with a sadistic grin on her face, "Your nose looks almost as false as your boobs."
Karin slammed the puke green locker shut and spun around on her heel. She gave Sakura a quick smirk and nod of acknowledgement. Sakura nearly burst out laughing. What she herself said might not have had any impact on the two dolts before her but surely to people such as them, Karin's words would have a strong impact.
Sakura held her clothes closer to her chest and slung her bag over her shoulder. In doing so, she caught sight of the two girls. Water ran its course down her tightened throat as she swallowed and inwardly cringed. If looks could kill, Sakura would have been cremated and spread over the fiery pits of Hell and back.
She made the smartest decision she could think of—retreat to the closest bathroom and change there.
The girl's bathroom was as crowded as it always was between classes; where girls sprinted in to touch up their make-up or used a bathroom for its general purpose. Sakura, however, wished everybody would just leave so that she could use her personal stall. The day had seemed long and horrible enough before the incident in the locker room. At this point, all she needed to do was sit down and cry.
She stood by the familiar forest green door with its broken bottom left hinge and listened for the silent flush. Sakura glanced up when the door creaked open, slamming her slightly on the side. Her eyes hardened and her arms fell limply to her side.
The last thing she needed to make her day any worse was this.
"Oh, if it isn't Thunder Thighs," Watanabe Ami sneered crudely. With a swift flick, she tossed her violet colored hair over her bare shoulder and crossed her arms. "Try to keep your rough soccer legs out of my way."
If it would not have gotten her suspended (though, there is the possibly it wouldn't have, with her connection to the principal), Sakura would have kicked her "rough soccer legs" straight into Ami's face. "Oh, well, Watanabe. I'll try my best to accommodate you, but huh. That's quite a large amount of mass I have to try and avoid."
Ami's eyes narrowed dangerously and inched forward. "Look, wannabe, you'd better watch it. Because you know the only thing keeping us from roasting your sorry little ass is that Uzumaki has your back. And try not to forget, that can change at any moment."
Sakura tried her hardest not to scoff. Like Ami would be able to come in between her and her ramen-obsessed best friend. "Is that a threat?"
Ami leaned back indifferently and flicked an imaginary piece of dirt from under her nail. "No," she looked up with a smirk, "It's a promise."
Ami pushed her heels off the side of the stall and the rest of her posse marched out after her. Flushed red with anger, Sakura roughly shoved open the stall door, the broken hinge screeching in protest. She promptly kicked the door closed and the decade old lock stuck shut.
What was everyone's problem? What exactly had she even done in the first place? Was she Hitler in her past life, for everyone to hate her so much?
Surely, someone liked her. Like Naruto.
She sighed.
Sakura's phone buzzed in her pocket and she whipped out the pink Blackberry. Running her finger over the unlock combo, she checked her newest text.
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New Message
Sender: Uzumaki Naruto
Hey! Wanna come chill with some people at my place today after school?
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Sakura's nose scrunched upwards as she thought of Naruto's definition of "people". First, there would be his awful girlfriend, Ami. If Ami was there, so would her bitch-posse, and the rest of the "popular" girls would probably be there. Then there was the Ice Cube Pricks—Hyuuga, Nara, Uchiha, Sai… Why did she even have to consider?
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Reply. Delete.
Sender: Haruno Sakura
No. Your girlfriend's a bitch.
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Maybe she was being harsh, but Naruto knew well enough that she did not approve of Ami. When they were younger, it always seemed Naruto would be the outcast and Sakura would be queen of the school. But then, in fourth grade, Sakura had accidentally knocked Ami into a mud-puddle and everything went downhill socially from there. It wasn't that Sakura was a socially-inept loser; she fared well enough socially. It was merely absurd that Naruto, her dorky best friend since Day 1, would become King of Popular.
It was even more ridiculous that he would go so far as to ignore her begging and date Watanabe Ami.
She supposed high school changed even the best of them.
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New Message
Sender: Uzumaki Naruto
): Don't be like that. You don't even know her that much! But fine then, I'll just see you in Chemistry.
Reply. Delete.
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Sakura hissed in frustration and hacked her phone into the tiled wall. The screen split with a sickening "crack" and the phone plopped lifelessly to the ground. And despite the fact Sakura had just ruined a three-month old phone, she didn't care. It didn't matter. The world hated her and even her best friend was bailing out on her.
Tears prickled in her eyes and everything went blurry. She sniffled and tilted her head up, refusing to cry. Faded scribbles on the stall walls meshed together. Immature scrawls and declarations of love alike blurred. Taken over by a sudden flush of remorse and impulse, Sakura whipped the pink Sharpie she kept with her from the back of her uniform skirt. Vehemently, she crammed the pen against the wall and crunched out the letters.
She could feel her emotions meshing just like the words on the stall had. Her content with Karin, her utter disdain for Ami, and her anger at Naruto—they were tugging at her from every angle possible. And she was going to split and crack.
She took a step backward and stared at what she had just written. Feeling somewhat elated, she stepped out of the stall and made her way to out.
And newly branded onto the wall in pink Sharpie was:
"I am sick of Konoha. No… that's not true. I just hate the whiny, petty little girls that hike their skirts and have every boy dropping to their knees with their tongues hanging out of their mouths. I hate the way people you've known for years change once you hit high school. I hate that your best friend will drop everything for some bitch that may like him enough but doesn't give a shit when another boy comes along. I hate that, no matter how much you try to stay outof the petty high school dramas, you're pulled down under anyway. I hate the jealousy and I hate the shallow. I hate the different cliques and I hate the prejudice. It's so disgusting. I hate this school. And I'm really starting to hate everybody in it."
"Oi, Teme!" Naruto flopped down next to him on the picnic table. "Why do you look like you've got a stick up your ass? It's Friday! Lighten up!"
From somewhere to his right, Sasuke heard Sai snort and mutter, "When does he not look like he has a stick up his ass?"
Funny, it came out of the automaton boy who had absolutely no emotion.
Sasuke merely rolled his eyes and watched Naruto's girlfriend—Ally? Amy? Algae?—settle herself in his lap and start tracing patterns into his chest. The idiot always acted like such a moron where this girl was concerned. Well… more of an idiot than usual and frankly, Sasuke had absolutely no clue as to what he could have found that was so enchanting about the Thing.
She giggled and whispered something in Naruto's ear and Sasuke had to turn away before he ruined their 'moment'. It had happened more times than he cared to count and Naruto hadn't been too pleased about it.
Though Sasuke could care less if Naruto was displeased with him, he really didn't want the kid to start talking his ear off.
"Troublesome," grated Shikamaru, sitting up from the top of the table. He itched at his head before gazing heavenward, pushing irritably at Naruto's head. "Do you have to bring her around here? Tch, women."
"You're just jealous, Nara!"
Hyuuga, who was on the other side of the picnic table, scoffed and stood up. With a mere, "I'm leaving," he left, sending Sasuke an irritated look that clearly stated why are you friends with him? Shikamaru quickly followed suit, declaring he had better things to do, leaving him to watch Naruto and the thing.
The girl purred saucily something that Sasuke really could have done without and with a roll of his eyes, Sasuke mentally groaned. "Dobe, take that somewhere else. I'm tempted to throw my lunch back up."
Naruto frowned at his friend before his lips curved back upwards slyly. "Well, I suggest you take yourself somewhere else before tomato ends up all over the ground. You know Orochimaru doesn't like to clean up throw-up."
Gaara, who had been quietly resting his head against the table looked up and snorted, resting a pale white cheek into his palm. "That creepy janitor? If the vomit came from Sasuke, he'd probably be eager to lick it clean."
Sasuke kicked the red head in the shin and glowered. "Shut it, Sabaku."
Naruto decided, at that moment, it would be a good time to play tonsil hockey, and Gaara and Sasuke took the chance to escape. Halfway past the soccer field, Gaara spoke up. "I don't get what's so great about her," he stated blandly, whipping a slick black Android out of his sweatshirt pocket.
Sasuke merely scoffed. "She's the only person the Dobe could possibly dream of catching?" Sasuke offered monotonously, stuffing his rough hands inside the pockets of his uniform pants.
Gaara looked up momentarily from his phone and the two of them stopped walking. Gaara sighed and looked at Sasuke with a dead-serious expression. "The moron has a Jesus complex and we all know that."
Sasuke's long raven bangs fell into his face when he gave his head a light shake. "Hate to say it."
There was an awkward pause between the two. Sasuke turned from the soccer field to Gaara once more, with a confused expression.
"Why is there a hole in the soccer net?"
Ino wanted to slap herself. But even more, she wanted to slap the girl next to her. Her freshly manicured nails dug into her palm as she resisted the urge to thwack Ami across the face. Her free hand tapped impatiently against the wooden counter of her history desk, where she had the misfortune to sit next to her fellow cheermate.
"And she had the nerve to call me a load? I mean with all her stupid muscle she definitely weighs more than me—"
An automatic smile etched itself on Ino's face as she tuned out the other girl. Fifty minutes. Just fifty minutes and she would be away from Ami, and she could be left alone. It was all she could ask for with the horrible day she was having. After she had caught her boyfriend macking on some other girl at Deidara's party last night, he had the nerve to walk around with yet another girl around his arms all day. They hadn't even officially broken up yet!
Honestly, she hadn't been in a room where she didn't hear talk about her boyfriend's actions. Ino wasn't modest, that was certain. She wasn't deaf either. She knew she was claimed to be one of the most beautiful girls in school. So who on Earth did that asshole think he was to be scorning her in front of all of her friends?!
"I don't even know why Naruto claims she's his best friend. I mean, hello? Social Loser's Society calling and we're looking for the soccer freak—"
Ino rubbed imperceptibly at her temples. She was about to silence Ami when a girl slipped into class late and Iruka gave the entire class a reprimanding glance. "Silence! Class has begun. Everyone better be in their seats in five seconds so I can start!"
She held in a sigh of relief when Ami shut her mouth and instead discreetly pulled out her phone to ramble to someone else. And for fifty minutes, she was allowed silence and to fall into her own world. A world with no distractio—
"Um, hello? Ino? You alive?" Ino's eyes narrowed at Ami, having been taken out of her thoughts. A quick glance at the iPhone she had left on top of her textbooks told her class was over. Where did the time go?
"What?" Ino replied snappily.
Ami crinkled her nose at Ino's tone and she snarled, placing a slender hand onto her jutted hip. "Are you being a bitch today because of the Jirobo thing? Because, seriously. You're being such a drama queen about that. It's not like you actually liked him anyway."
Crimson red flashed before Ino's eyes, and without even thinking she shot out of her seat with her lips pursed. Fists clenched, she hissed, "Don't you dare talk like you know anything, you cow."
Feeling a light sense of satisfaction from the look of horror on Ami's face, Ino stormed out of the room. Her mind clouded by fury, she paraded down the hall carelessly to the bathroom, nearly plowing over a group of people. She swung open the door and three girls inside stiffened. The freshmen watched with wonder as the Yamanaka Ino strutted indifferently past them in a stall.
"I heard that she does modeling for magazines in her spare time." One of them whispered.
"Apparently, Killer Bee asked her to be the leading lady in his music video, but then they turned her away because she was too pretty and she was overshadowing him."
Ino's cerulean blue eyes rolled upwards at the absurd rumors and the girls' fail of an attempt to gossip discreetly. With a light push, she slid open the door to the second last stall on the left, its broken hinge screeching in protest. She turned around to shut it when she caught fresh pink ink in the corner of her eye. Curious, she leaned in to read the neat and girlish writing.
Several statements made her lips curve into a pretty, but cruel smile.
"…hate the way people you've known for years change…"
"… will drop everything for some bitch that may like him enough but doesn't give a shit when another boy comes along…"
"… hate the jealousy and I hate the shallow…"
"… hate this school. And I'm really starting to hate everybody in it."
Yeah? Well, Ino couldn't help but agree completely. This girl, whoever she was, pretty much had everything spot-on, but pity she was missing out on a couple of crucial points. With a smirk, Ino uncapped her infamous lavender Sharpie and added her two cent flair onto the bathroom stall.
Taking a step back, she admired the work of her lavender penmanship, contrasting with the puke green wall and the bright pink ink. Satisfied, she stepped out of the stall and headed back to the real world, feeling a bit better.
At least someone in this place had some sense.
Let the pieces fall where they may,
TDE