The New Girl

Chapter one- First day

So this was it, Sakura stood in front of the large school building. She took deep breaths gathering the courage to make her way inside. It could not get any worse than it had been at her previous school could it? She pulled the collar of her turtleneck sweater a little higher, pulled the sleeves a little further down over her hands and pulled her backpack a little higher over her shoulder. The clothes she wore were baggy and the colors bland. Everything she did was a conscious decision to stand out less, her bright bubblegum pink hair stood out enough on it's own. 'Right… it's now or never' she thought as she started making her way across the parking lot towards the front entrance.

Sakura slowly made her way into the building, her face directed to the ground her school bag over one of her shoulders. She hadn't been inside for more than a minute, when she heard the first whispering sounds. She knew what they were saying, other students were pointing and whispering about her, she had been through it all before, she managed to pick up some sentences: "Look! That must be her!", "She looks kinda weird though" and "Would pink be her natural hair color?"

She couldn't help but to hear these voices, these comments were innocent enough, but Sakura couldn't help but wonder whether it would turn out the same as it did at her old school. Would she be called names and be bullied just like they had back there? Or would she be able to go unnoticed, being ignored at school would make her life so much easier. One less thing to worry about, but as she heard more and more whispering voices around her, felt the stares almost burning holes in her back her hope to be ignored faded quickly. With that damned pink hair would never be able to pass people unnoticed. She resumed walking, looking down counting the tiles as she passed them. Finally she reached her classroom, it was still completely empty as the first bell to signal the beginning of class hadn't even rung yet. She walked in and sat down somewhere at the back. She grabbed her sketchbook and started making some sketches. She was silent, trying not to draw any attention to herself even though no one was there yet. She didn't look up even as she heard the other students enter the classroom, she did hear some silent whispers, but tried her hardest to ignore them, and push everything she did hear from her mind. But then someone stopped next to her, from the corner of her eye she saw bright orange, but she still didn't turn her head to indicate she had noticed the guy standing right next to her.

"Dattebayo, You must be Sakura!" A loud voice exclaimed, she didn't look up to see who had talked to her, and still without looking up she answered his question in a soft voice which was barely louder than a whisper: "Yes, I am." She was hoping for the loudmouth to go away, as he was drawing even more attention to her, but he didn't: "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, great to meet you!" He said as he sat down on the chair next to her. Slowly she looked up, she was amazed to say the least. Was he actually being friendly to her? "N-Nice to meet you too, N-Naruto." She smiled a little at him, Sakura had always had a problem with trusting people, but the problem was that she trusted people too quickly. This guy had spoken two friendly sentences to her and she was already throwing most of her reservations aside. One could call it friendly, Sakura called it stupid. "What are you drawing Sakura-Chan?!" Before Sakura could even answer him, Naruto took a peek over her shoulder "Geez, you are very good at drawing! Your drawings look kinda sad though, dattebayo." He was right her pictures did look sad, she smiled a little at the picture she had been drawing before he had interrupted her, a field with a small cabin near the woods on a rainy day, the edges faded out into the white of the paper to add to the effect, the clouds above grey and threatening. "I'll try to make them a little happier, Naruto" The blonde laughed sheepishly "So it's your first day here, huh?" Sakura nodded slightly. "I'll show you around after class, Sakura-chan!" Sakura smiled slightly, but didn't look Naruto directly in the eye, since her dad had always taught her not to: "Thank you Naruto" She mumbled before looking up without tilting her head too much as her teacher entered the classroom:

"That's Kakashi-sensei, he'll be your tutor for the rest of the year, dattebayo, he's quite cool, though the only thing he does during the lesson is reading that weird book; icha icha paradise. You should go to him if you've got any problems with school or even personal things, home situations and stuff." She heard Naruto say and she realized he was talking to her. She doubted Kakashi-sensei would be able to help her with her home situation. She doubted anybody could. After taking a deep breath, she answered Naruto: "He looks quite nice, but why is half of his face covered?" Naruto looked at her grinning a bit: "Well none of us actually know probably just had an accident or something or the bottom half of his face is just really ugly."

"Okay class! Let's start off with introducing our new student; Haruno Sakura" Kakashi started "Sakura would you like to come up to the front and tell us something about yourself?" Sakura sank a little deeper in her chair she didn't want to come up to the front it would make her the center of all attention, when she realized there was no way around it she slowly got up, and made her way to the front of the classroom, she stood next to Kakashi as she softly spoke: "Well I'm Haruno Sakura, I'm seventeen years old, I love to draw and any kind of sport and that would be about it, but I especially love to dance" Kakashi smiled, well Sakura assumed he was smiling, since only one of his eyes was visible she couldn't really see if this was true. But his right eye had crinkled a bit so she thought it was safe to assume he was actually smiling. She quickly returned to her seat as she heard students starting to whisper.

Sakura's first lesson passed rather quickly Kakashi-Sensei had given them several assignments to do and Sakura had finished in less than a quarter of an hour since all the assignments were fairly easy, so she had resumed drawing, with an awestruck Naruto who had been starring at how she had done all the assignments in such a short period of time. When he had asked her about she had answered that she had never had too much trouble learning, which was only a part of the truth. Yes she was a fast learner but the complete truth was that she wanted to spend the least possible time in the same room as her father, so she spend most of her time in her room studying.

After another period, which had been mathematics Sakura had her lunch break. She sat at a table with Naruto when another girl came to sit with them. Sakura didn't look up but was very surprised to say the least, at her previous school she had been eating lunch in the bathroom to avoid the awkward situation of sitting at a large table eating her lunch by herself. Sakura carefully glanced at the girl who had joined them. She had seen her during her two classes but hadn't talked to her yet. "H-Hi I-I'm Hi-…Hinata" the girl said in a soft voice. Apparently she was very shy, she could hardly imagine them ever having long conversations together. With Hinata being as shy as she was and Sakura being, well… who she was she couldn't imagine them talking about much more than the weather. Sakura looked at the girl for a moment, she had sort of dark purple hair and her eyes were a light shade of lavender she was little taller than Sakura, but then again Sakura was very short. Sakura actually thought she was really pretty. "Hi I'm Sakura." She answered softly after a while giving Hinata a small smile. "S-So how do you like school so far?" Hinata asked Sakura to start a conversation. Okay, so maybe not just about the weather. Sakura was silent for a while not fully registering that the question had been intended for her, then she thought for a while before softly speaking "It's a lot better than my old school to be honest, I like the atmosphere here people seem very welcoming."

Suddenly Naruto interfered with the conversation "It might seem like that Sakura, but not everyone is that nice…" He said as he looked at a group of students sitting at another table, all the way on the other side of the room. Sakura followed his gaze and saw a girl with long blond hair which she had pulled up in a high ponytail, a guy with hair put up so his head looked a lot like a pineapple, judging by the way those two acted towards another Sakura concluded that they must have been dating, there was another girl she had two buns in her chocolate brown hair and a guy with long brown hair in a low ponytail sitting there.

The girl with the blond hair caught Sakura looking at her and made her way to the table. "What were you looking at?" Sakura immediately looked down at her plate, which was still filled with her lunch. She didn't dare respond, maybe if she kept ignoring the girl she would go away again. "I asked you something, Pinky!" Some other students gathered behind the blond girl. Sakura slowly looked up "I-I'm sorry, i-it won't happen again." The blond girl started laughing "Damn right it won't!" Then she stopped, her voice suddenly changed as she sat down next to Sakura and wrapped an arm around her, she said in a voice as sweet as honey: "I know you wish to belong to the popular bunch and be friends with us instead of with them, everybody does. But not everyone fits in, you'd have to be pretty, not have such a large forehead and have something that seems like a natural hair color" Everybody started laughing at her.

She heard different people shout at her: "Damn right you emo!" Sakura looked down again she didn't say anything. 'Seems like it's going to be more or less the same' she thought as she kept her face directed at the ground. Naruto stood up: "BUGGER OFF! Leave her alone" Everyone started to laugh louder, but finally they did walk away still laughing and calling her names. Sakura slowly looked up at Naruto and happily thought: 'No it will be better' She felt a comforting arm of Hinata wrap itself around her shoulders. 'I've got friends now'…

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It was dark when she finally dared to open her eyes again, where had they dragged her off to? She started feeling around to find some clues as to where she was. Her head hurt, her arms and legs as well and she was shivering since her clothes were soaked through. She had no idea how long she had been in here. She had shut everything out when she had been smashed against the lockers. She had just closed her eyes and had waited until it was over, while she had curled up into a little ball hoping they would leave her alone more quickly if she did.

To the right of her she felt a bucket, with a mop standing upright in it; the janitors closet. Of course, the one room that could easily be locked from the outside, she took a deep breath preparing herself to check whether the door was really locked, but she knew not to bare any hope of getting out of there soon, the janitor only started his work at four thirty after all the students had left. Unless somebody spilled something and he really needed his mop to clean up the mess. She sighed, sitting back down as her fear was confirmed the door had been locked from the outside.

She spent all day in there before the janitor found her sitting on the ground with her face buried between her knees. He had told her to go to the principal to tell him about what happened in his school, but as she pleaded him not to do that he left it alone. She made her way home as quickly as she could as she already knew what would happen when she got home.

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The rest of the day passed relatively quickly before she knew it she was at her last class of the day; the class she had dreaded the most, music class. This year they would mostly focus on singing, and today they would be assigned the song they would have to perform to receive one of their most important grades of this year. "Remember," their teacher said as she handed out the papers with different songs on them. "You're not allowed to trade. I know which song every one of you is supposed to do, and you'll have to prepare the song to perform it the lesson before the Christmas break." Sakura unfolded her note, it said she'd have to sing 'the sound of silence' by Simon and Garfunkel, she sighed, at least it was a song she knew but she already dreaded having to perform it with the entire class as her audience.

She noticed that Naruto was looking over her shoulder to see what song she had gotten, she turned it towards him a little so he could easily read it: "Awh, I wish I had a song like that, Come on I'm stuck with Katy Perry, your song at least fits you a little!" She laughed warmly at the thought of Naruto singing hot'n cold, doing the dance and everything. "Come on Naruto, you could pull off any Katy Perry song." She said still softly giggling. "Hey that isn't funny Sakura-chan" but Naruto was laughing as well especially since he was happy he had gotten Sakura to lighten up a little.

The rest of the time they spent on singing on key, counting beats and at the end they sang a song as a fun end to the day, or so their teacher had said. Sakura had just moved her lips along to the lyrics to get away without actually having to sing today.

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When Sakura walked out the school building after that last period of her first day she felt relieved. Having two friends already felt better than none, Sakura actually felt that she could take on anything now she had friends. 'It can only get better than my previous school years now.' She thought contently as she made her way home. When she got near her house though she realized it wouldn't be that much better, since her father was still the same, or as she'd usually put it: She hadn't changed, she still wasn't the person her father wanted her to be.

As she opened the front door she dreaded whatever would happen, some days she would get away easy as her father would lay passed out on the couch or he would be out, often not returning till late at night, those were the days he would actually leave her alone. But if he was home and conscious he would always find a reason to be mad at her, because she always let him down. "I'm home" She softly said as she always did when she entered the house, she would say it loud enough for him to hear if he was awake but not loud enough to wake him up had he been sleeping. When she heard a loud snore coming from the living room she knew she was in luck, without any further delay she made her way upstairs as quietly as possible and started doing her homework. She knew she couldn't go out to the gym today lest he'd wake up but there was a big chance he would be leaving her alone today which was all she could hope for.

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Most of the week passed rather uneventfully, a few snide remarks at school, but it really wasn't anything she couldn't handle with Naruto and Hinata by her side. The first Friday at her new school she sat in the canteen with her two new friends softly chatting away, she had started to warm up to the two of them, and had started to notice the way Hinata would sometimes glance at Naruto before her cheeks tinted a little darker shade of red than usual. Naruto was just telling him about his plans for the weekend when the bell signaled that their lunch break was over. She had completely forgotten to go passed her locker to switch her books, so she told Naruto and Hinata she would see them later in class. When she turned away to leave the cafeteria she hear Naruto say to Hinata: "I'm a little worried. She barely touches her food when we're having lunch, isn't that weird?" She also heard Hinata tell him to shush that it wasn't his business, Sakura made a mental note to be a little more subtle about her eating habits, they couldn't know about it, as it would only lead to more questions. She put her trey with the other dirty dishes before turning around to rush to her locker, as she did though she bumped into the boy Naruto had identified as Shikamaru, she was immediately shoved back by his blond girlfriend: "Watch where you're going, loser! And keep your filthy hands of my boyfriend." Shikamaru however grabbed his girlfriend's shoulder gently she was about to send him a grateful look when he spoke: "Ino, don't waste your breath, it's troublesome" Right, a reality check, don't waste your breath the pink haired loser is not worth it. Sakura tried to quickly get past them to prevent them from spending anymore time on her, but she was stopped by a hand grabbing her upper arm roughly, she turned around instantaneously cringing preparing for what would come next, she felt Ino's breath against her ear: "What's the make up for, forehead? What are you covering up?" then she let go and Sakura ran away to her locker as fast as she could. Ino had noticed she was wearing make up to cover her face, but she couldn't know what she was covering right? She must think it was just pimples, bags under her eyes or an ugly mole, right? The truth was it had been a long time since Sakura had been able to go to school without any make up to cover up, she had become an expert at covering bruises in her face. It rarely happened that her face would be completely free of bruises, whether they were fresh or fading it didn't matter, it would tell everyone too much of what happened to her. She switched out her books before making her way to class entering the classroom just in the knick of time.

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When Sakura got home she slowly opened the front door and stepped inside "I'm home" she said, just loud enough for her father to hear. "Sakura! I want to speak to you!" She slowly walked into the living room: "Yes, dad?" she said and she could smell the scent of alcohol coming from him. He had been drinking again; she knew this meant trouble. "Haven't they taught you any manners yet?!" He shouted and she immediately understood what she had done wrong, she immediately turned her head to the ground and bend forward slightly in a small bow. "You're too late! How many times do I have to tell you, you're not supposed to look people in the eye, they are better than you and don't want to be bothered by the likes of you!" He stood up his chair falling back in the process and grabbed her by the back of her collar, she tried to pull the front away from her neck, since she couldn't breath but her attempts were futile.

He threw her against the door and started walking towards her slowly, purposefully. She tried to crawl away, in an attempt to hide her self. He pulled both her arms away from her face with one of his large hands and slapped her across the face with the other saying: "I thought you would have learned after all the beatings I have had to give you. You're bringing this on yourself you know? I don't do this because I like this… I'm trying to teach you a lesson. Now get your fat ass to your room I don't want to see you for the rest of the day and you're not to have dinner tonight!" He literally kicked her out into the hallway and she ran up to her room crying.

She closed the door behind her and stood in front of her mirror crying, he had said it again… He had called her fat again, she looked at herself and she couldn't believe after all she had tried to make him happy, she had lost another pound this week and honestly she didn't know what else she could do to lose more weight. She had been visiting the gym secretly hoping to lose weight and she had but apparently he didn't think it was enough. She hardly ate anything these days, Naruto had even noticed during their lunch breaks. There she stood before the mirror; the ugly little girl who couldn't make her father happy. She stood there crying until the tears wouldn't come anymore. Then she decided she would visit the gym again, because knowing her father, she had about three hours before he would come up to her room. So she dried her face and covered the place where her father had hit her with some make up, she still had time before it would really start to show, she packed her bag and climbed out through her window, she quickly headed to the gym.

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When she arrived back home she was exhausted she had been moving at the gym for two and a half hours non-stop. She sat down behind her desk and started doing her homework. First she did her English homework, which she finished rather quickly. She then started on her maths homework. Halfway through the exercises she heard the door to her room open behind her and she stood up bowing to her father who had entered the room. "Hello, dad" She knew what would be next. She knew it all too well, so she started to undress leaving her only in her underwear, she stepped in front of the mirror, waiting for him to come and point out her flaws.

He did this everyday hoping she would listen and improve herself, which she always tried to do, but she would never be perfect in his eyes. Her father took his place right behind her: "It's getting better, but you're still nowhere near perfect!" He grabbed the skin of her belly and showed it to her. "You see that?" she only nodded "That's all fat. That needs to disappear I want a daughter I can be proud of… In stead I've got a daughter who is a shame to the family! Don't I at least deserve to have a pretty and smart daughter? After you already took my wife away from me?" She looked down ashamed "I'm sorry dad you're right you do deserve a pretty and smart daughter… You don't deserve having me as your daughter."

Before she knew it he hit her in the face again she fell to the ground because of the impact: "Then why aren't you trying harder to be perfect for me!?" After a long beating he started walking to the door and she softly mumbled: "I'll make you proud father…" Which made him stop in his track momentarily "I really doubt that…" he said before finally walking out and leaving her there lying on the ground crying. She felt a warm substance slowly starting to cover her face. She closed her eyes her mind slowly drifting off; this had all started when her mother died, they had been a happy family before that. She sighed remembering what her mother was like, reminiscing the way she always used to smell of flowers, she couldn't help but smile as she lay there bare and cold on the ground. Her father had been happy too, back when his wife was still alive. He had loved her and Sakura as well. He wouldn't have wanted to change a thing about his daughter back then.

But when his wife died his love for his daughter died with it, he blamed Sakura for her death, and he had made sure that Sakura regretted it every single day. And regret it she did; she had murdered her mother after all…

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Here the revised chapter one, let's see if I can restore this story make it better and finish it after all these years. I'm planning to add descriptions and make the story progress a lot slower this time. Thanks to for giving me the boost to give it another go!

Note 2: the 7th of April 2014: another revision as I was still not entirely content with the flow of the story. Expect more of these revisions as I keep coming back to these. If you have other suggestions of how I could improve it please let me hear them!