Spelt Out
Haruno Sakura sighed as she faced the door of her final class of the day – English. She grasped the doorknob, hearing the noise emanating from the other side of the door. She knew that her teacher, Iruka-sensei, was already there, early as usual (unlike one of his colleagues who is always late) and was waiting for the bell to ring so he could officially start his class.
He would always allow them to do whatever they wanted to, as long as it wasn't time for class yet, and on a normal day, Sakura would've been inside her classroom, chatting away with her blonde best friend and occasionally glancing at a certain raven haired boy that Sakura fancied. A boy named Uchiha Sasuke.
Sakura grit her teeth. Sasuke. He was the reason why, now, she was dreading to go to class, when normally she would skip happily, cherishing the thought that at least she had one class with him. He was the reason why she deliberately took time so she wouldn't arrive so early, like she normally would. He was the reason why she was grasping the doorknob right now, uncertain if she should go in or pretend to suddenly get sick and go home. All of this was all because of him and the stupid fight they had last Friday…
It was English, last class of the day. The only class standing in the way of two days of freedom from school. Sakura sat in her seat, talking to her best friend, Ino, about random things until, finally, the bell rang, signalling the start of class.
"Konnichiwa, minna" Iruka-sensei said as he stood up from his desk. He was greeted with a chorus of Konnichiwa's and a few polite grunts from those of the class who aren't that vocal.
"We are going to have a spelling test today." He said. Some of the students groaned while others, like Sakura, sat up in anticipation. "Our school is joining an interschool competition Friday next week and there will be a spelling contest. Whoever scores the highest in the test will be our school's representative."
Sakura squealed in excitement, she loved spelling! She really wanted to be the representative, especially since those who participate in activities like that usually get extra credit and that would be awesome for Sakura.
"Yosh!" she heard Naruto say loudly. "Sakura-chan is perfect for that! She's a great speller! Don't you think so. Sasuke-teme?"
Sakura blushed and looked at Sasuke expectantly. She silently thanked Naruto for giving her the opportunity to exchange a few words. Now was her chance to look good in front of Sasuke. Especially since they don't see each other as much as they did when they were younger, they always got different classes and stuff.
Sasuke looked at Sakura and shrugged, "No."
Sakura looked at him, shocked. "Excuse me?" She asked, trying to keep calm. Which was pretty hard since the guy she liked just said that she wasn't that great a speller. The fact that Sakura absolutely enjoys spelling makes that suck even more. "What do you mean 'No'?"
"Hn." Sasuke said simply.
That made Sakura snap. "So, you think you can do better than me?" She said through grit teeth. How dare Sasuke imply that she wasn't fit to be the school's representative at the spelling contest! She glared at him. And though the glare was enough to rival that of the Uchiha's, Sasuke was unfazed.
"Aa." He smirked at Sakura. "After all, I'm not the one who insisted that honey's spelt as H-U-N-N-Y."
"I was a kid! I thought Winnie the Pooh's spelling was right!" Sakura practically screamed at him, once again blushing, both from anger and embarrassment. How could he bring that up!
"Even when you saw Rabbit's correct spelling?" He raised an eyebrow.
"I didn't like Rabbit." She muttered silently. "He was mean." Sakura added defiantly.
Sasuke's amusement was evident in his eyes. Eyes that Sakura would normally want to get lost in, but now she just wanted to gouge out of Sasuke's face.
"But that's beside the point!" She continued. "Are you saying that I'm not competent enough to represent our school just because I thought that honey's spelt as H-U-N-N-Y?" She fumed.
"Hn. I knew how to spell honey." He said cockily.
Sakura was about to retort, but Iruka-sensei cut her off. "Well, let's get to the spelling test." He said, trying to calm the tension between Sasuke and Sakura. In other words, Sakura's sudden and very queer loathing for Sasuke. Everyone in her class noticed her irritation, so most of them edged farther away from her, trying their best to minimize the possibility doing anything that may get them screamed or even punched by an enraged Sakura.
"Take out your pens and papers." He started.
Sakura brought hers out, still fuming because of what Sasuke had said. What did he know? She was obviously the best speller in class. Did he think that he was better than her? She was so going to show him! She was going to get the highest score, represent the school in the interschool competition and win. He'll see.
After that fight, Sakura managed to ignore Sasuke for two whole days. Ignoring him was her way of letting him know that she was mad at him. Two whole days was a great achievement for Sakura. Well, the fact that it was a weekend did help. But still.
As Sakura remembered what had happened last Friday, her hesitance turned into determination. Iruka-sensei was going to announce who got the highest scores and she was sure that her name was going to be called, and even if her name isn't called (which is impossible) at least she's sure that she got a higher score than Sasuke.
She grasped the doorknob more firmly and turned it. When she entered, the whole class went quiet and looked at her. Even Naruto shut his mouth. If Sakura was still mad about what Sasuke had said, no one wanted to get in the way of her rage. Especially not Naruto, he's been in that position too much already. He had various bumps to prove it.
Sakura paid no mind to the change in the atmosphere and sat on her usual seat next to Ino. She started talking to her as if nothing happened last Friday. Ino immediately jumped into the conversation, glad that her best friend was alright with her crush telling her that she wasn't good at spelling.
One by one, her classmates returned to whatever it was they were doing. The class had its usual noisiness back, and not once did Sakura glance at Sasuke. Score one for Sakura! That would show him that she was still mad at him for what he had said. Especially since he never actually tried to apologize, it was like he didn't care. But that's okay, Sakura didn't care either.
The bell rang and Iruka-sensei stood from his seat. "Konnichiwa!" he said happily. "I have the scores from the previous spelling test," He raised his hand to show them a piece of paper that he was holding.
Sakura smiled, waiting.
"We have a tie, actually." Iruka-sensei started. Sakura's smile wavered a bit, but she was sure that she was one person in that tie. "And since there is only supposed to be one representative, the two people whose names I will be calling are going to compete against each other in an oral spelling test. Whoever wins will be the school representative."
"The two who are going head-to-head against each other," Iruka-sensei said, as if an oral spelling 'competition' is one of the most exciting things in the world, "are Haruno Sakura," Sakura smiled more broadly, take that Sasuke! "And Uchiha Sasuke."
Sakura's face fell. She let herself glance at Sasuke and immediately regretted it. Sasuke was smirking at her.
"Will you two please come here, and stand at the opposite sides of my table." Their sensei instructed. Both did as they were told, Sakura stood on the right side, Sasuke on the left. They faced their classmates.
"I will be saying a different word for each of you, if you manage to spell it correctly, you get a point. If you don't, the word will be given to your opponent and if they get the spelling, they will get the point. First one to get ten points will go to the interschool competition."
Sakura breathed in deeply, readying herself. She was pretty okay at oral spelling, but not as good at when writing the words. She was determined to win, though. She really didn't want to give Sasuke the pleasure of winning against her. Especially at spelling. Spelling was her thing. She loved spelling.
"Hn," Sasuke said, it was the first time he ever said anything since she entered class. Not that she noticed, that is. "Who goes first?"
"How about a coin toss?" Iruka-sensei asked. Both nodded. He brought out a coin and looked at Sakura. "It's your call."
Sakura thought for a moment. She had to get it right, that would give her an advantage. Well, not like she needed one, she could surely beat Sasuke's butt. But still, advantages are good. "Heads." She picked.
Iruka-sensei tossed the coin and caught it. "Heads it is. First word goes to you, Sakura. Spell 'sacrilegious'."
Sakura smiled confidently, "Sacrilegious. S-A-C-R-I-L-E-G-I-O-U-S.."
Iruka-sensei nodded, "Point for Sakura." He smiled at her and turned to Sasuke. "Your word is 'bellwether'."
The test went on until Sakura and Sasuke were tied with nine points. Both spelt words given to them correctly, except for one, points of which went to the other. It was Sasuke's turn and Sakura was kind of nervous that he might get it right and be assigned as the school representative. If they didn't have the fight, she would've been alright with him being the representative. Heck, she would've even skipped school the day of the competition to cheer Sasuke on, banners, big foam fingers with "Go, Sasuke!" on it, and all.
But, alas, they did have the fight. Sakura's pride was on the line. She couldn't let that happen. She prayed to Kami to let Sasuke choke. She knew it was wrong and mean, but Sasuke had been mean to her too. That's what she kept telling herself to get rid of some teeny bits of guilt.
"Sasuke, spell the slang word 'imshy'." Sakura gulped. That word was really easy. She looked at Sasuke for the first time since they started the test. She was surprised to see that he was looking back at her, with an unreadable expression.
"Imshy." He said, still looking at Sakura. Sakura wanted to look away, for she was sure that he was going to smirk at her when he finally spells the word correctly and, technically, prove that he was right about what he said – that he was better than her.
"I-" He started. Sakura looked at him expectantly, waiting for the smirk to appear. "M-" Sakura was mentally beating herself up for accidentally spelling the word 'liaison' with only one i. That was what gave Sasuke another point. But she couldn't do anything about it anymore. Sasuke was going to win. What's worse is that they still hadn't made up. Stupid fight.
"S-" Sakura and Sasuke continued to stare at each other. "O-"
O? Sakura thought in surprise. Imshy was obviously spelt as I-M-S-H-Y, there was no O in it.
"R-R-Y." Sasuke finished, still looking at Sakura. He was obviously fighting back a blush. She blinked a few times before her mind clicked. He spelt, 'I'm Sorry'. Sakura blushed lightly and kept Sasuke's gaze. He had apologized to her, in front of the whole class. He took a blow to his ego just to apologize. To her. For their fight. She smiled at Sasuke brightly. Sasuke, taking that smile as an apology accepted, smirked back.
Sakura ignored the awwww's coming from the females of her class, and the you-go-man comments from the guys. She even ignored the confused look on Naruto's face when the girls started saying awwww. She giggled a bit, though, when he asked, "What? What happened? Why are you awwww-ing? What the heck did Sasuke-teme do?" in such a clueless manner.
When the noise died down, Iruka-sensei started talking. "I'm sorry, Sasuke. That is incorrect." He smiled at Sasuke, and looked at Sakura, "Sakura, same word."
Sakura took a breath, "Imshy. I-M-S-H-Y."
"Point for Sakura. She wins." Iruka-sensei started. "Sakura will represent our school. Congratulations, Sakura." He grinned at her. "And to you too, Sasuke." He looked at him with a weird glint in his eyes.
The class applauded at Sakura's win. And also at Sasuke's apology. I mean, it's not every day Uchiha Sasuke apologizes, and in public!
The bell rang, meaning it was time to go home. Sasuke approached Sakura. "I'm sorry." He said earnestly. "I didn't mean to make you mad."
"It's okay, Sasuke-kun." She said with bright smile.
Sakura grinned even wider when Sasuke made a gesture to walk with her. And he did, all the way to her house. Thank you, spelling!
* the competition (haha, i just wanted to add this part) *
Haruno Sakura stood on stage, next to all the other spelling contestants. The contest was about to start, but she was too busy opening an envelope Sasuke had given him the day before, telling her specifically not to open it until she was on stage. She didn't bother question Sasuke's peculiar behaviour then, but now she was really curious as to what was inside it.
She opened it, brought out a piece of paper and read two words: Look Up. She did and what she saw left her speechless. Sasuke was standing near the far end of the gym (that's where the competition was held :D), and right above him there was a large sign with 'Go, Haruno Sakura!' on it. He brought up his hand and Sakura almost laughed out loud. He had a big foam finger on, and it said 'Sakura's #1!'.
Sakura smiled brightly. She felt so... loved? Supported? However she felt, the fact that Sasuke was involved made the feeling more awesome. She made a mental note to ask Sasuke how he managed to get out of school. Tsunade-sama was not far from him and she didn't seem to surprised that he was there. Sasuke was good, she had to give him that. Sweet, too. Who knew?
Sakura felt really grateful for the little fight she had with Sasuke. After all, if they didn't fight, Sasuke wouldn't have skipped school just to watch her spell, right? But Sakura had to store those thoughts at the back of her head, the spelling part of the competition was starting.
She grinned, happy and confident. She was determined to win. After all, she loved spelling! Especially now. It's what brought her and Sasuke together.
Dedicated to my best friends. You guys know who you are. Especially you! haha.
Anyways, I hope you liked it. Please review. :D
Take care. :)