*"…There's a hole in your shirt." "…You like it?"*

Football has got to be the stupidest thing invented.

I mean, get real. Sure, tackling people is a great skill, and sure, throwing objects (in this case, a football) at moving targets is an even greater skill, but all in all, the sport has no strategy. I understand that for a guy, insulting football is like insulting his precious manhood, but honestly, I could care less about what a guy thinks.

Well, except for Uchiha Sasuke, of course. But face it; he's the guy every girl is after. Honors student, popular, tragically handsome, plays piano…it's like he's the perfect Prince Charming out of a fairytale book…only, emo. It's a wonder how he became best friends with Naruto, who's like, Jesus reincarnated.

Actually, Naruto, Sasuke, and I had been friends in elementary school—when the only thing that mattered was how many cookies we each got, and when we got to play in the sandbox together. But we eventually grew apart after I met Ino, and after our high school classes didn't coincide. I was pretty much in love with Sasuke until seventh grade, when I finally (supposedly) got over my crush over him.

But anyways, people always, always tell me that "oh, you're just a girl, that's why you don't like football" kind of crap, but no. It's not just because I'm a girl. It's not just because I'm girly. It's not because I hate sports. It's not because P.E. is my worst subject. And seriously, it is not because I am female.

It's because of the running.

Running, running, running. If you see a little dog bounding happily down the street, you'd think it was a pretty innocent concept, but no. Not in football. Because in football, there are guys who are as beefy as Chuck Norris and who have enough meat on them to end world starvation for the next five hundred years. They are brick walls, only, instead of nice, normal brick walls that stay where they are, you get these giant, moving brick walls that are willing to tackle you.

Fortunately, I have a plan when dealing with these Dilemmas.

It's called "stop, drop, and stay there". You can pretty much guess what it involves doing. Genius.

I usually don't bother with sports. I spend more of my time studying than on the field. That's why I'm not very good at them, not like my best friend Ino. Ino's a cheerleader, hot, confident, and loud. So she pretty much hogs all the attention at scenes while I pretty much just stand next to her.

Don't get me wrong, I love Ino. I just hate being her friend.

"Why does Anko want to kill us?" Ino wrinkled her nose, glaring at our gym teacher, Anko, standing on the other side of the locker room. "I mean, it's not like I have anything against guys who like football, but making us girls play it…how do you think the guys would feel if Anko had made the entire class do cheerleading, instead?"

I was tying my shoelaces, completely absorbed in the task, since tuning out Ino was the best way to tolerate her. Ino's bubbly, and brash, and a chatterbox. You actually have to purchase duct tape and threaten her with it to get her to stop talking.

"Hey, heard about Anko and Kakashi-sempai?" Ino's eyes were lighting up. That happens whenever she hears a certain bit of gossip. Ugh, she's so hard to handle. "I heard that they were both seen doing something very nasty on Kakashi's desk-"

I winced. Ew.

"Thanks Ino, now I can never go near it again." I stood up and stretched my legs a little. "You're turning in my homework for me from now on."

Ino rolled her eyes. "That's you, Sakura. I swear you've got no sense of humor at all. I swear you were born thirty."

"Girls!" Anko's voice drifted towards us. "Get over here already!"

We both reluctantly went along with the rest of the class. Maybe even Ino didn't anticipate football as much as I thought she would. Maybe no girl did.

Looking around, I saw that I was mostly correct. All the girls seemed to have less-than-excited looks on their faces, the kind of look you have when you're with the dentist. The only exception was Tenten, who was grinning like a maniac, but that's only because she's like, part of the mafia.

God, my life sucks.

"Look, people. I know this is hard for you to understand," Anko started to drone, and I prepared myself for a whole ten minutes of trying not to fall asleep, "but football is an ass-kicking game. You will get hurt. You will cry. The girls will squirm away from the ball while the guys will keep pushing forward-"

"That's what she said," Ino muttered.

"—and everything will be a huge disorganized mess." Anko glared at each and every one of us, like those generals do in war movies where the drill sergeants yell "you people are the scum of the earth!"

The only difference was that Anko was a woman. And scarier.

I still wonder how she caught Kakashi-sempai's eye…or how she even got hired as the school gym teacher. She probably threatened to blackmail our principle. Or something.

"Nevertheless, I will not tolerate rule-breaking or deliberate harm to other players." Anko huffed, then organized us into groups. I dreaded this. Every so often, the gym teacher will yell "split into groups or I'll do it for you!" and everyone, jostling and groaning and muttering, would have to organize themselves into some relatively fair boy-girl teams. It's even worse when you have Anko as your gym teacher, because she never gives you a choice, she just picks out your group for you.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a disgruntled Sasuke get paired with an ecstatic Naruto. Sighing, I waited for my turn to be selected.

"Haruno!" I winced.

"Yes?"

"Onto Uchiha's side." Anko sneered at me. "And make sure not to wimp out."

I scurried over to the other team, hearing groans and curses on the way. I bowed my head.

"How come we have to have her?" Inuzuka Kiba, that jerk, had no shame in pointing me out in the crowd. I proceeded to kill him with the football equipment (in my head, lucky for him).

"SILENCE, YOU FOOL!" Anko barked, and she continued to place other players into teams. I didn't have the heart to watch, or even to look up. My hair blocked my blush well enough, and I was determined to keep it hidden that way.

"Hey, Sakura!"

Naruto. Oh, no.

I lifted my head a fraction, squinting past Naruto's blinding grin. Ugh, remember when I said that Sasuke's Prince Charming from a fairytale book? Well, Naruto's Jesus from the Bible.

"Don't listen to Kiba. He's just an asshole who needs to get laid pretty badly." Okay so maybe not Jesus exactly, but he's still pretty close. "You'll have to get used to him. I'm sure you'll be fine though, don't worry. You can't be as bad as I am." He chuckled a little, and scratched his head. "I'm really clumsy, ya know? Teme thinks that it's an unfortunate disability, or whatever the crap he calls it, but I say that it's a phase."

"Dobe." Sasuke interrupted from his emo-corner, "Your clumsiness is probably genetic. One or both of your parents must also be clumsy. One or both must also have brain damage, too, apparently."

Geeze. And I thought having Ino as a best friend was bad. But Naruto just laughed and shook his head.

"Don't be such a pansy, Teme. You're just sad because Sakura-chan likes me better than you. And that I'm cooler than you are. I don't need a stupid fan club to show how much better I am than-"

"I never even wanted a fan club." Sasuke hissed through gritted teeth, leaning his head back against the wall.

"Tough stuff, man. I don't know what those girls are thinking, though, maybe they should get their eyes checked…"

As the conversation strayed away from the topic of me, I once again was left alone. Sighing, I sat down on the grass, dejected and depressed. Gym always seemed to last longer than it actually was (forty-five minutes), which really made it my least favorite subject.

Hey, don't get me wrong. I know that exercise is good for you and all that, and I do like to keep in shape, but with yoga (and other recreational sports), not football. I can't be like Ino, who jumps into a new routine or dance move and has it down in five seconds or something…

I was sitting in the grass, totally minding my own business, when suddenly, WHAM! –A football. Hit my face.

"Sorry!" It was Kiba. "I was just practicing, I swear, and my hand slipped!"

Ugh, OHMYGOD.

I briefly considered the consequences of homicide.

.x.

"Hey Kiba! Be careful where you throw the freakin—OHMYGOD, SAKURA."

"Ow…"

"Oh god, that's the second time today! I'm sorry man, my hand sli-"

"Everyone, move out of the way! Haruno, are you alright?"

"KIBA, YOU ARE SUCH AN IDIO-"

"Ino, quit being so loud, Sakura's hurt right no-"

"Oh yeah, YOU'RE really one to talk about being loud, Naruto-"

"EVERYONE SHUT UP. Haruno, are you okay? Can you hear me?"

"…ow."

.x.

Again, football is the lamest sport ever.

I opened my eyes a crack, groaning at the deep pulsing on my forehead. God, it hurt. That stupid Kiba. Ino was no doubt yelling her head off at him by now…

"Hey."

My eyes opened wide and I shot up from a hard surface—a cot?

Oh. Oh. I was in the nurse's office. And…

Sasuke was here with me.

Sasuke. Sitting on a stool, casually giving me a once-over, probably to see if I would faint again or something. I gulped.

"…hello, Sasuke."

"Hn. Are you okay?"

"Um…" I put a hand to my throbbing forehead. Wow, what a great way to attract even more attention to my already-bigger-than-average forehead. In front of Sasuke, of all people.

Ugh.

I hate my life.

"Did you take me here?" I inquired, leaning back down onto the cot, and wincing when my head continued to throb.

"Hn."

"Thank you."

"Ah."

There was quite an awkward silence. I wondered if he ever said anything past three syllables.

"So…" I glanced at the clock. "You don't have to wait for me to feel better, Sasuke. You can leave, if you want."

"…Ah." Sasuke got up and put the stool away, then walked towards the doorway. I couldn't help but sigh a little disappointedly. I mean, since when does a girl get Sasuke alone, all to herself? Okay, so I was half-conscious at the time, but really. That in itself could be called an achievement.

"The nurse will be here soon, Sakura."

I nodded, wincing again when my head throbbed a third time. Sasuke…was still not leaving, though. He was looking at me. Staring, actually.

"Sakura…"

.x.

My mom had to pick me up out of the nurse's office. She was a little freaked out that I could have gotten a concussion, and vowed to take me to the hospital, but I just told her I wanted to go home.

I was tired, anyway.

And really, really humiliated. Not just because of Kiba's football, but because of what had happened with Sasuke in the nurse's office.

Basically, he had said something, I had said something really stupid back, and he…well. Stared at me a little more and just left.

God, I was an idiot. I wonder if there's a place for me in the nearest mental hospital.

Of course, the stupid comment I had made could have been contributed to the fact that I had been addled in the head—I was disoriented and dizzy and not myself at the time. But honestly. Way to go for myself, for acting like a complete slut.

I texted Ino about it during the car ride home.

plz kill me.

Ino replied:

r u ok?

yeah.

ok wht happened w/ sasuke, then?

Good god. How was Ino supposed to know what went on with Sasuke?

come on, u were stuck w/ him, ALONE, in a private room, she kept texting. Something must hve happened.

What, besides the fact that I totally embarrassed myself? Psh, yeah, sure.

.x.

"…there's a hole in your shirt."

Oh. Wow.

I glanced down at myself, noting the grass stains and the smudges of mud on my P.E. uniform. The rip was down the shoulder of my shirt, revealing nothing inappropriate, but maybe enough to get certain guys excited.

"…you like it?" The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. Oh, my god. I wanted to smack myself, but I couldn't, because I already had a concussion and who-knows-what.

Sasuke just stood there for a moment. My face was permanently red. I used my nonexistent ESP powers on him, begging him to say something.

"…Hn." He left.

And I buried my humiliated and throbbing face into my pillow, and screamed.

Oh, my god.

Never. Again.

.x.

Of course, I had to go to school the next day.

Because I was Valedictorian.

And it was required.

And so. I went to school.

At first I was prepared to be jabbed at and teased and utterly squashed with embarrassment. Maybe Sasuke had told all his friends about what had transpired between us in the nurse's office. Maybe Kiba's football tale would become a legend. I didn't know what to expect.

But really, nothing serious happened. A few catcalls from some jerks—"watch out, Sakura! Heads up, there's a football flying towards your face!"—and Ino's loud jabbering and teasing, but overall, everything was fine.

I went up to Sasuke at lunchtime, determined to take back my pride and not ruin my reputation in the one and only guy I could ever see myself with one day. Sasuke looked up when I was walking towards him and smirked. Ugh. Not helping.

"So, uh. Sorry. About yesterday." I stated awkwardly, aware of Naruto's eyes on me. "I was not in my right mind and I didn't know what I was saying because of Kiba's stupid football, and I am sorry. Please do not ever help me to reach medical attention ever again." Wow, man. Way to be straightforward. And random.

Sasuke, for his part, just looked amused. "Yeah, sure." Was his comment.

Oh, well. At least I didn't get a "hn", or an "ah" this time.

I turned around a walked away. I let out a deep breath. Alright. I could do this. I could turn around and walk away and put this behind me and never ever have to—

"Hey, Sakura."

I froze and rigidly turned around. "…err. Yes. Sakura. That is my name."

Oh, my god. I swear if my mouth does not shut up I would zip it shut for eternity. Again, I wanted to smack myself. Naruto was laughing, big guffaws of amusement. But Sasuke just smiled.

"…yeah, I figured. Listen, are you free Saturday?"

I mentally checked my schedule. No, I was not busy. Yes, I was free on Saturday.

I could have said either one of those, but of course, my mouth had to come in.

"Saturday. Err…busy…not. Erm. Yeah."

Oh, my god, just SHUT UP ALREADY.

Sasuke did laugh, this time. It was nice and smooth and quiet, and I liked it. I liked it a lot.

"Good. Want to have lunch?"

WANT TO HAVE LUNCH? My Inner Self screamed. WOULD WE LIKE TO HAVE LUNCH! I THINK WE WOULD VERY MUCH LIKE TO HAVE LUNCH, YES PLEASE.

"Yeah. Sure." I smiled. For once, my mouth or Inner Self didn't have to interfere.

"Good. Meet me at Scripps, will you?"

Scripps was a totally hip, cool, and new restaurant that had just opened up in town. "Sure. Scripps. For lunch. Lunchtime. Twelve o' clock. Yeah. Um…"

Ugh.

"Thanks, Sakura."

I turned and walked away, aware of the huge blush on my face, aware of the throbbing pound of my heart, aware that the beating of my heart was ten times harder and faster than the beating of Kiba's football injury.

Maybe football wouldn't be too bad, from now on. Just so long as Sasuke's always there to help me when I fall—or in this case, faint and get knocked out.