As a rule, I pretty much remembered everything. The things I should –the Pythagorean Theorem and Ino's birthday –and the things I shouldn't –the words I hear my mom say to my father when she thinks I'm fast asleep, or the way they look at each other when I do something 'out of the ordinary.' It's just something I can't explain. It like my brain is a black hole. Just trying to absorb everything it comes in contact with.

I think it's my mind's way of filling up all the open space. Of making it up to me that it just so carelessly misplaced the first fourteen years of memories I'd made.

"Your name is Sakura. You've had a bit of an accident…"

An accident is what you call spilling coffee on your white dress or hitting your thumb trying to hammer in a nail.

Completely forgetting who you are? Everything you've been through? That's a fucking catastrophe.

It was easy to dwell on it. The absolute earth shattering loss you feel when you don't recognize yourself in the mirror.

I have pink hair?

But dwelling would have to mean that I had something better to compare the situation to. And seeing as I remembered nothing from before I woke up, that simply wasn't the case.

I guess it suits me.

So I thought it would be a whole hell of a lot easier just to be happy with exactly what I had and take the punches of the past as they came.

Waking up in that hospital covered in bandages, surprisingly wasn't the scary part. That was two months later, trying to recognize any of the faces as I walked through my high school. Ino was with me of course. She spent every day with me when she heard about the accident. Slept in my hospital room, brought me flowers.

"Flowers are kind of my family's thing." she said to me one day.

She was the only person who didn't make me want to tear my hair out. The only one who didn't spend every day trying to get me to remember something from the past.

"Well if you're going to go forgetting things next time you bump your head, I say we gotta make memories that are gonna last! Those old boring ones obviously didn't make the cut!" I still remember the smile she used. Didn't reach her eyes, but she was trying.

I grew comfortable with her again quickly. She mentioned we had met the very first day of freshman year and that we were basically inseparable. That I thought a couple boys were cute but didn't plan to date any, and that our sleepovers had a mandatory button down and fuzzy slippers rule.

Ino was carefree, but sometimes you could tell when she tried to joke about something from the year before and then remembered. There would be a dimness in her eyes and a glance down before she brushed it off and looked back at me. And she would just say nevermind, and all that mattered is that we were both healthy and alive and the next memories would be way better than anything we did before.

"Who really wants to remember puberty anyway? I say you're lucky."

Ino was the only person who never told me the stories when I didn't look interested. She knew they wouldn't bring them back, just make me feel bad for losing something she got to keep.

But on that first day, when I tried to recall the names of all the people who waved hellos to me, I got stressed. I ran to the bathroom before class to stop the tears that gathered in my eyes. Ino hugged me and came up with an idea. Something to distract me from all the nonsense.

"We met because you said that when we played our ice breaker I seemed like the most interesting person in the room. You said you just had a feeling and you wanted to talk to me. And poof! We became as tight as tight can be! So do the same thing this year. Pick someone, the first person who really catches your attention and just make it your mission to get to know them. I'll help of course, so no matter what you're doing something new and interacting, but it won't be overwhelming! Just don't go trying to replace me Forehead."

And that's exactly what I did. We slipped into our sophomore year first period as the bell rang and took our seats in the circle of chairs in the middle of the room. I rattled off my favorite color and my best friend, earning a smirk from Ino. It was a little awkward telling the entire class about my amnesia, but I had vowed not to make mistakes in this do over. And there was no use in lying. It was after I told that story that I picked my person. The only one who didn't burn holes into my body with her stare when I said it.

She was timid and reserved. She didn't look you in the eye when you talked to her and she twiddled her fingers as if the action were truly fascinating. Her name was Hinata Hyuga.

Just like that, I fell right back into high school. When junior year came around my interest was piqued by a boy who just didn't care. He spent more time napping than participating and his long hair was edgy and funny all at once. The tradition continued with Shikamaru Nara.

Each person I was weirdly captivated by in that first game always turned out to be one of the closest friends I ever made. Each and every one of them understood me and loved me unconditionally. So by senior year I couldn't help but get giddy to see who would be the last of my little group. How would they change my life?

But as luck would have it, life didn't adhere to my expectations.

"The study hall?" Mr. Hatake said with an easy going glance around. "Alright, enjoy." That was all. Just left it at that and shifted his gaze down to his book. I felt my heart crack.

Slowly grabbing my things I shuffled to where Ino was looking at me with so much concern. First the blatant diss from Sasuke and now this?

Practically falling into the desk beside my best friend, she immediately started forming a new plan. Hinata pulled up on my other side and the two were hurriedly trying to toss out ideas, and trying to determine the next best thing.

"I've got it!" Ino whisper yelled to us. "So who needs the game? The principle is still the same. Who was the first person in this room you were pulled to or surprised by?"

I glanced around the room, my eyes landing on Sasuke Uchiha. I was definitely confused by our brief interaction this morning. I noticed no one was sitting in the seat next to him still. Seriously dude?

Ino, seeing where I was looking, just smiled. "Perfect! Target number three: Sasuke Uchiha. It'll be so interesting! He barely talks to any girl at this entire school but he's crazy hot so I bet there is all sort's of mystery there. And we have an automatic in! Shika-kun is friends with him."

"I don't know Ino he kinda freaked on me when I first came in." I could still feel the ice of his glare, the fire in his voice. As if even asking me to get lost was a waste of his time. "I don't think he wants anything to do with me."

"That's ridiculous. Sakura you're the coolest person I know. If anyone could deal with him it's you. Just be really nice, lay on the smile and a lighthearted joke and he'll fall to your feet like everyone else." She winked at me, and my protest died on my lips. I wanted to believe her.

"Speaking of which, where is Shikamaru?" I asked looking at Ino, expecting her to know the whereabouts of her beloved.

With a sharp jerk of her thumb she points to the back of the class where he is, of course, snoozing away. "I didn't want to disturb him when I walked in, we were on the phone until three this morning and the boy cannot function on anything less than thirteen hours of sleep." She rolled her eyes but her proud smirk was creeping in. Shikamaru didn't pass up sleep for anyone. Only Ino.

I glanced over toward Shikamaru, then down to where Sasuke sat a few rows in front of him. He was between reading and glaring at his phone. Maybe it wasn't anything against me. Maybe he's just having a bad day. I could do this.

The rest of the day was almost uneventful. Ino, Hinata, and I just hung out, did whatever work we were assigned and let Ino breakdown how the year was going to go for us. She was determined to have the perfect senior year.

On the way to our final class, history with Mitarashi, she was already on the subject of prom. "Limo or no limo? They're classic but overdone, plus that might not be as fun as it looks on TV. What do you think Hinata?" Hinata was the only one of us who had ridden in a limo or been to any sort of glamorous event. Her father was some sort of business man or exec or something else that paid insanely well and reaped in perks everywhere they went.

"I'm not sure, I've been in a few but I think they might be more fun with your friends." She offered up.

I thought about it, "I don't know Ino, I think we should just get a big car and drive ourselves, I don't want to rely on someone else to drive and open our doors. Besides I always feel weird asking Mebuki and Kizashi for money. The dress alone is gonna be expensive."

"Oh! I almost forgot! So for dress shopping I was thinking we could get a little funky. Hear me out, this way no one would have our dresses! I found these totally cute little shops when my mom and I were travelling last summer you guys will love them! So I thought we could go dress shopping early because if we take the train we could be at the best boutiques in like an hour-"

"Hinata! Hey we saved you guys seats!"

We stopped when Ino was interrupted and all glanced to where Naruto Uzumaki was gesturing wildly. Flagging us on to the row of seats in front of him.

Hinata's cheeks lit up quickly and she turned to us, a slight pleading in her eyes. Ino and I figured out her feelings for the blonde sometime during sophomore year so we weren't going to deny her opportunity to finally make something happen. We shrugged and I saw Ino's excitement when she noticed Shikamaru staring at her. He was always staring at her. Only when she didn't know it of course, but you could tell that there was something about Ino that really captivated the genius.

And Ino just had this way about her, It was like, despite them being together already, she still had a schoolgirl crush on him. Always smiling and giggly and bright-eyed. I heard her whisper a 'Hey hot stuff." and sit down in the seat directly in front of him.

Seeing Sasuke sitting next to Shika was like a sign. Maybe he is the right choice. I could feel my chest tighten with anticipation when I caught him looking at me and offered a small smile. Think of a lighthearted joke, Ino was right. But before I could say anything he pulled out his phone and pretended I wasn't there. No he probably just has an important message he forgot to respond to or something.

Mitarashi was brash but efficient. She had the project details and our books to us quickly. When we were picking partners Ino looked at me and tilted her head towards Sasuke. This was my chance.

She grabbed all her stuff hooking herself onto Shikamaru's arm and babbling away. On my other side I could hear Hinata's small stutter to Naruto.

I faced Sasuke, but he was already talking Hinata's cousin and there was a drop in my stomach.

But Neji turned him down! Still in the running! Just look over here. I cleared my throat but he didn't hear me, his eyes were frantically scanning the room. A handful of girls were looking at him hopefully but he ignored them all.

I felt like I was running out of time so I said the first thing I could think of, "You know I really don't bite."

He turned to me slowly, bored, "the teacher said we should work with people we can do well with."

There was a moment my lips parted and my eyes widened a bit, but it didn't last. He. Did. Not. So that was it? He thought I wasn't smart enough for him? I couldn't hold in the anger bubbling out of my words "Fine, I get it Uchiha you don't think I'm good enough, but last time I checked our class rankings say I'm just below you. I can pull off this stupid project. And it looks like we're both out of options so pick a topic and suck it up."

Thinking it was settled, my jaw almost dropped when he demanded Ino switch so he could have Shikamaru. She denied of course, but I know had I asked her too she probably would have worked with me instead. But I would never do that either. Ino's parents didn't really understand why such a vibrant girl latched herself to such an undetermined boy. The only time they expressed any sort of approval of Shikamaru and Ino's relationship was when he was tutoring her or helping with homework. Ino boasted his intelligence but her parents didn't believe it until the skyrocket in her grades.

I could feel the planes of my face clench in anger. "Get it through your thick skull. You're stuck with me for a semester. You can hate me all you want after we finish." My arms crossed over my chest and I dropped back to my seat not even remembering when I stood up.

History was not the best of all my subjects, so I was a bit worried about which topic Sasuke would pick, regretting telling him it was his choice, but I was too angry to talk to him again.

When class finally ended Ino and Hinata quickly scurried me out of the room still heated. I whipped my head toward them so quickly they shifted back. "Who the hell does he think he is?"

"I don't know Sakura that was ridiculous, maybe we were wrong about him. There's got to be someone else in that class we can get to know instead."

"Uh, well, if you want my opinion," Hinata slowly started to say. By now the two girls had walked me to my locker and were still standing beside me. "maybe it's an act? I talked to Naruto-kun a bit last year during math, and he always talked about all the things he and Sasuke would do together. Finally one day I said Sasuke didn't seem like the type, and Naruto told me that because his family he has a strict image he must keep to. I know with my family Neji and I are constantly pressured to act certain ways and talk to certain people, so maybe he's not allowed to hang out with girls or something? I've never seen him talk to one unless necessary."

Ino's head kind of tilted in a thoughtful understanding. "Well, I never thought about it that way, but still, if he's gonna be all guards up every time you're around maybe a new person would still be best."

"You used to get along with everyone Sakura." I was sitting at the kitchen table looking at the pictures from before the accident. Mebuki handed me another one and I set it with the rest in front of me. Just a grinning me from another life. "You had a great judge of character and everyone always told me how nice you were. Everyone came to your birthday parties and…"she trailed off seeing my confused eyes. "You really don't remember? None of it?"

"I'm sorry Mebuki-"

"Mom. Stop calling me that, I am your mother" and she walked away. The pictures were my only company.

"No," I said pulling myself back to reality. "no, I'll make Sasuke change his mind. He has to make an exception anyway, we're partners after all."

Hinata spoke up then, a small smile at my decision. Old Sakura may have been nice to everyone, but new Sakura was determined. "So we should go get ice cream or something. Celebrate the first day of our senior year?"

"Can we do froyo instead?" Ino piped up.

"What is with people and froyo?" I questioned.

"There's a difference, I think froyo is healthier and like creamier." Ino was trying to explain.

"Who cares, they taste the same." I added, and Hinata just shrugged. Ino beamed knowing that she was going to get her way. The two of them took the steps to their own lockers, packed up, and linked their arms through mine when they were ready to go. The gesture made me laugh and I thought that maybe Sasuke wasn't a mistake. Just a challenge. This would still be a good year.

The next morning Shikamaru pulled up to my door and I saw Ino reach over him and honk the horn, even though I was already waiting on the porch. I laughed throwing open the door.

"Is she giving you a hard time again?" I asked meeting Shikamaru's eyes in the mirror.

"What else is new?" At that Ino playfully slapped him on the shoulder and he pulled away from my house.

The drive to school was the same as always Ino and Shikamaru fought over the radio, I rolled my eyes, she said he was mean and slapped his arm. He grabbed her hand and didn't let go. Ino blushed and talked animatedly with me, Shikamaru only adding in commentary every once in awhile.

It really was the best way to start your day.

By the time the three of us made it to first period English with Hatake, I couldn't wipe the grin off my face. I sauntered right up to where I was rejected yesterday. Where Sasuke was sitting in the same seat. I didn't ask his permission, just pulled out the chair, sat down, and turned to him.

His body was tense and he looked away from me, "So I was thinking we could go to the library after school, the public one, I hate the one here, and check out some books maybe start working on an outline?"

He clenched his fists and turned to me then, completely annoyed. "How about I do the project and put your name on it. I'll just tell you what to say for the presentation."

I skipped shock and went right to annoyed. "Do you really think I'm gonna let that happen?"

He sighed, "Fine we'll divide the subtopics in two and you can pick which half you want to do."

"Uchiha, we're working together. On everything. Stop trying to get out of it, if you don't want to go to the library with me, we can go to your house?"

"Definitely not my house." he said harshly. "There's no need for us to collaborate the whole time. You do your part, I'll do mine, and no one gets upset." Before I had time to say anything our teacher started talking to the class. We had a warm up exercise and needed to buy a new book that we would be having literary discussion on or something. Sasuke continued to ignore me the rest of class, and I tried to shake off my frustration. A challenge is good. It was becoming my mantra.

When the bell rang and the students flooded the hallway I told Ino I had an idea, and that she was just going to have to go with it. Because right after that I found the seat next to Sasuke again in our math class. Ino stifled a laugh at his shocked expression and took the seat on his other side. When Neji and Shikamaru came in to see us in their normal seats they glanced at each other confused.

"Shika-kun you don't mind do you?" Ino batted her eyelashes and smiled cutely.

"Are you being troublesome again?"

"When have I ever?"

"Thats a yes." Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

Neji just smirked, seeing Sasuke's annoyed expression. "Come on Shikamaru, the gentlemanly thing to do is to give up our seats for two lovely ladies. Don't you agree Sasuke?"

Sasuke said nothing but the glare he gave Neji was full of fire. Shikamaru just rolled his eyes and the two sat a row behind us instead.

I leaned forward making sure I could see Ino, who in turn mimicked my position on the desk. "So Ino, tell me all about dress shopping again?"

The glint in her eye told me she knew exactly what I was doing. "Well, as I said before there are all these great stores and no one knows about them. So not only will our dresses be just ours, but they'll probably be cheaper than all those big name, stuffy shops. And well I was thinking about color choices right, and I just don't know what to do. I love purple but a blue would match my eyes, and I always wear purple. But at the same time purple is like my signature color and-"

"Couldn't you two take this somewhere else?" Sasuke grunted out.

I smirked at Ino before glancing back to him, "Well you see, since we are partners and you refuse to meet me after school, we'll just have to get to know each other in class. It's a good thing we have all of them together."

He glared at me hard but said nothing. I raised my eyebrows in a challenge. He didn't say anything else so I turned back to Ino, now whispering because the teacher was trying to figure out how to begin the lesson by now. "So which shade of purple were you thinking?"

Sasuke clenched his fists and put his head in his hands. I could hear the boys chuckling behind us.

Ino and I continued to bombard him in every single class. I was so glad I helped her move into our phase for chemistry this year or the plan might not have worked. We cut off Neji and Shikamaru in every class, and the guys were just going to town with the stoic boy's anger. In one class Shikamaru was already pulling out the chair next to Sasuke and Ino just sat herself down in it. His hand still holding it firmly. Neji then pulled out the other chair for me and said a kind "Ladies first of course." and smirked at the Uchiha. Hinata just giggled and followed Neji and Shikamaru to their seats behind us. When we got in trouble for talking we settled for other things. Bumping elbows, clicking pens, snapping our gum. We even flipped out hair and hit him in the face once.

Ino had a mischievous look to her all of a sudden. We weren't sure if girly prom stuff was working, so she amped it up, leaned her arms on the desk and oh so slowly smiled. "So Sakura….Did I get a chance to tell you about me and Shika's first time?"

His eyes literally bulged.

She continued, "Well you know that house on the lake my parents have, and there's the hot tub and the big comfy bed? Well we were still soaking wet from the hot tub, my hair a total mess right? And he laid me down on the bed and his hands were like magic, before I knew it they were-"

"Enough! What the hell do you want?" He snapped at me so hard I jerked away from him.

He wasn't going to intimidate me though. "Shh, Sasuke it's getting good." I looked past him to Ino and he put himself in my line of vision.

"I'll meet you at the library if you just leave me alone."

I glanced to him then, feigning confusion, "Oh well if you want to meet at the library that's a great idea. After school then?"

"Fine." He barely grunted and sighed in relief, his shoulders finally relaxing again.

"So Ino you were saying?" and we burst out laughing.

With only one period left Ino and I couldn't suppress our amusement walking to yesterday's history seats. Hinata was glad to have us back though, because she was nervous about talking to Naruto again. She was always nervous about that boy.

Which made absolutely zero sense. The boy was a sweetheart. A little bit of a knucklehead, too loud sometimes, and he didn't usually think before he acted, but I still really liked him in a weird way. Especially the way he brought out a more adventurous side in Hinata.

When the boy sauntered in, the only one of the small collection of people who hadn't been witness to Ino and my's tag team tear down, he was grinning broadly. "Hey guys! Have you missed me?"

Sasuke's dark look fully contrasted with our chuckles. I answered him through everyone's giggles, with a wicked grin still in place. "We've managed to keep ourselves entertained."

Sasuke avoided looking at me again. "Come on guys fill me in!"

But Mitarashi told us to turn to page 141 in our books and that was the end of that.

After school I didn't want to risk making Sasuke any angrier than I already had, so Ino and Shikamaru agreed to drop me off at the library so I didn't have to ask him for a ride.

Hinata met us after class saying that she had to meet up with Naruto and she was kind of worried about it. They had agreed upon her house but her father was extremely strict about both guests and boys.

"Why don't you just go to his house?" I offered closing my locker.

Ino leaned back against the locker next to mine, clutching her book to her chest and nodding with my question.

Hinata's face flushed and her stutter came back with a vengeance, "H-he, n-no,I-I. H-he uhm, his parents uh," she stopped taking a breath. "His parents passed away and he lives in a small apartment with his uncle. But his uncle travels a lot and work's late hours so he's usually not home. H-he basically raised himself." I can hear the affection coming through in her voice as she recalls the times they must have talked when she phased down to his math class. "Anyway, I don't want to just be alone in his apartment."

"Scared he might try to make a move?" I chuckled out giving Hinata a hard time.

"Please Hinata's probably scared she'd jump the boy" Ino added in. "Under all that shyness is a little sex fiend, I know it."

"I-I would never!" Her shock showing on her face.

We just laugh and start walking away from her frozen stance. I throw a quick "It's always the quiet ones isn't it?" Before she manages to move again.

Outside, we can see Naruto waving Hinata over to his car and she sends another worried glance our way.

"Hey keep your hands to yourself girl, don't want to get into an accident now do we?" Ino said giving her a wink.

We found Shikamaru close by and slid into our seats. When we pulled up to the library Ino shot me a worried glance, "Are you sure you can handle him alone? Shika and I could stay? If he gets outta line Shika will deck him."

Shikamaru glanced worriedly at Ino, "Ino despite popular belief I don't just go around hitting guys. Sasuke is an ass but were still friends."

"Sakura is a far better friend to you-"

"Guys, I'll be fine." I said pushing open the door and grabbing my bag.

"Don't get me wrong Sakura I would totally punch a guy for you, but maybe try to use your big kid words first ok? He's got a pretty sweet house and I'm not looking to mess that up." He smirked at me and I knew he was kidding about the house part. The punch thing well, Shikamaru and I did get very close last year, he's like a brother. Though I have trouble picturing him getting worked up enough to actually hit someone.

I rolled my eyes and walked up the path to the library. Letting out a long breath I opened the doors. I found Sasuke already sitting with two books, flipping through one determinedly and taking notes at a table in the far back.

Walking up to the table I asked him, "Hey what did you find?"

He glanced at me quickly, ignoring my question and pulled out the list of subtopics he mentioned earlier. "Anything you can find on these things would be helpful. I'm not the best with the Dewey decimal system."

I felt a small smile come on. It was the first non-rude or arrogant thing he's said to me in the last two days. I took the list gently, "alright, I'll see what I can find." And I did, coming back with about 10 different books. "We can only check out three at a time but I already checked and three of these have online versions and this one is small so we can make it work. I settled in my seat seat and traced the spines of the books to see where I put that one about Independence and famous war heros.

Sasuke and I worked in silence for awhile and he was almost normal the entire time. We asked each other questions and exchanged a few ideas on how we should lead into certain topics and what would we really define as the beginning and end of France's history because we were dating back to before France was even its own country.

Sasuke didn't seem angry or in pain or any of the other things I always brought on.

After what felt like hours I finally said "Alright I need a break." I rubbed my eyes for effect and Sasuke just looked over at me. "Tell me about yourself Sasuke. What are your hopes? Your dreams? Where are you going for college?"

"I'm not going to college."

That surprised me. "What do you mean you're not going to college?"

"Just that. I'm not attending any university at the conclusion of this year." He flipped some pages between his fingers absentmindedly.

"But you're a genius? You could get into any university you wanted. And that means a good job and great memories. Why wouldn't you go?"

He got stiff again as he turned to me, "I already have the best job all set up. My brother and I will take over the entire Uchiha Enterprise and I've had all the training I need. Out of high school unlike everyone else I'll already be making thousands and when my father retires I'll be making even more. The company will be in our hands soon enough, I don't need college to get my dream job. My father says it's in our blood."

"So you're not going because your old man said you shouldn't? That's stupid."

He glared at me then, "Listening to your father isn't stupid, he knows what's best for me."

"What does your company even do? Do you even like it?"

"Of course I like it! If I didn't do you think I would be going into the business?" he said in an annoyed huff.

"I do actually. I think you would do anything your father told you to do." I bit back

"You don't know anything about my family and what we do."

"I know you're wasting some God given talent and it's a damn shame that some of us are gonna be ranked lower than you but be so much more dedicated to actually bettering ourselves and being I don't know, independent."

"Do you think for a second you know anything? Maybe if you were smarter you wouldn't have to worry about your ranking so much?"

I glared at him. "Don't go trying to cheap shot me. I'm plenty smart and I work hard. I don't just get everything handed to me. No perfect job and perfect life. Maybe you'd get that if you had to try at anything in your life-"

"You two quiet down or you'll be asked to leave." One of the assistant librarians came to yell at us. I didn't realize how loud we had gotten.

"It's fine I'm going now anyway." I stood up and haphazardly threw my stuff into my bag. Taking three random books to the front and checking them out quickly I huffed opening the door outside.

Sasuke followed after me and came out of the door only a minute later. He looked at me frantically texting Ino and asking if they could pick me up early. No response yet….

"What are you doing?" Sasuke said glancing at me.

I glared at my phone. Come on Ino!

"Do you not have your car here?"

I glanced at him. "Ino and Shikamaru dropped me off, I'm sure they'll be here any minute."

Sasuke turned to go to his car but stopped. He sighed, "I'll give you a ride."

The look of shock on my face probably would have been amusing had he looked at me to see it. But Sasuke was avoiding my eyes, just glancing at the ground and pulling out his keys. I know he was being nice, he didn't want to leave me stranded and alone, but I couldn't help it, his change in attitude just fueled the fire. "No really I don't want to drive home in your daddy's car."

"Will you just get in already? I don't feel like picking you up and putting you in the car. Stop being stubborn."

"Oh is that how you tell girls to get in the car? I am not stubborn, just repulsed by breathing your same air for more than-"

"Stop it. Please." And I did. There was a sincerity there I don't think I had ever heard before. "The librarians are glaring at us again anyway, it's best if we go now. Please just get in the car. I'll drive you home."

I turned away and sure enough I could see the woman debating leaving her desk to come out and yell at us some more. I ducked my head and scurried to his car quickly. I hadn't even buckled my seatbelt when he revved the engine and shifted his car into reverse.

I gave him simple directions and he followed them to my house. Pulling his car up slowly I saw him shift from second into neutral as not to disturb the neighbors. "Thanks for the ride." I whispered out, staring straight ahead, still entranced by the silence we had between us. I was doing a really bad job at this friend thing.

He got out of the car and met me at my side, pulling the door the rest of the way open as I tried to balance my backpack and step out. He walked me to my door, not romantically or kindly. Without saying a word or even really looking at me. He stopped and the porch steps and I turned to look down at him, confusion clear on my face.

He pointed at the door and said softly, "I have to make sure you get in safely."

So I nodded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world even though it definitely wasn't expected, and I pulled out my keys. Hearing the lock give a satisfied 'click' I opened the door and put one foot in before turning around again and repeating just as softly, "Thanks for the ride."

When I shut the door I leaned against it for a moment. Just wishing I could decipher anything that had just happened. But I was pulled out of my reverie by my phone's fast buzzing. Answering without looking I hear Ino screaming at me.

"What did he do to make you so mad! Don't worry we can jump in the car right now, Shika I told you you were gonna have to hit him!" Then back to me, "are you still outside the library-"

"No Ino I'm home, safe and sound."

"Oh, well you sound much more calm, are you alright?"

"Yeah...I'm...I'm okay."