Author's Note:
Gobble, gobble! Happy Thanksgiving! To those of you who don't celebrate Thanksgivng, well, happy 11/22/2007, then! I'm in New York right now. This morning we woke up extra early to run down Manhattan for the Macy's Day Parade. It was completely packed! I saw the JB, yes the Jonas Brothers, and I screamed, "I love you Nick!" And he looked right at me, smiled, and winked. And I melted, no, kidding. xD But, Ashley Tisdale was there, Lifehouse, Ne-Yo, Dolly Parton, Winnona Judd, Jordin Sparks, Corbin Bleu (also had a connection, bahaha) and a lot of floats. It was so packed, that we could barely leave the little corner that we had been standing on. So, my mom faked an asthma attack for my sister, and we got to go sit over by the CNN people. I dunno, watch the re-runs of the parade and see if you see some CNN dude interviewing all of these kids and then see some girl with dark hair sitting off to the side. We drove through the city a little bit, and I think I saw the JB again (then again, it was probably my over active imagination), but I did see this one contestant from ANTM, and dammit, I don't remember her name. Right now I'm at my cousin's house, writing this chapter, and watching "The Office" with my cousin, my parents, my grandpa and my uncle while the other family members play Scrabble. Anyway, this chapter was supposed to be so much longer, but I'm so tired. Gah. Anyway, sorry for the long Author's Note! Happy Holidays to all. I'm thankful for REVIEWS! xD
Dedication:
To the maid at the hotel that barely spoke English that I said "Happy Thanksgiving" to, I don't know how it could offend you, but dammit I've been thinking about it all day. xD
Disclaimer:
I do not own Naruto, unfortunately.
It seemed like at the end of the day, everyone managed to find Sakura before she had even left her locker. She had been dragged into way too many situations that she did not want to be apart of by just dawdling at her locker. It seems ridiculous that someone should be frightful to be afraid of standing at their own locker, but hey, it's Sakura. It had been a week since the err, interesting trip down to the bonfire. Seeing that Naruto had been the only one to talk to Sakura, it wasn't like it had been a weird trip for Rock Lee and the rest of her friends.
Sakura had chosen to over look the whole thing, but so far that wasn't going too well.
Anyway, getting back to the present. The bell chirped the end of the day, and Sakura quickly exited her classroom. She had tried extra hard to finish her homework during class instead of dazing out the window, daydreaming, and then doing her seven hours of homework at home. Sakura took her backpack from it's hook in the all-too-small locker, shoved in the few dreary books she did need, and hitched the locker over her back. She strode to the U section of the lockers—Sasuke.
Instead of chattering excitedly with the people near him, Sasuke was instead coolly taking a few books from his locker and taking his time, sliding them into his backpack. Which really was a messenger bag more than a back pack, really. Sasuke didn't really seem like the back pack type of guy, so it wasn't too surprising for Sakura. Sakura waited for a few minutes, reading over useless bulletins hung up, a variety of colors and activities.
"Hey Sakura." A cool voice greeted her.
It was strange how just the tone of his voice, the hairs on her arms stood up, intent as if they were just itching to hear more melodic words from Sasuke's mouth as much as her ears did. Sakura smiled, half-way, really. She didn't feel like she had to fake it and grin in front of Sasuke. She didn't grin anyway, so why did she have to grin for Sasuke, King of all Weirdness.
"Hey Sasuke," She replied, hitching the back pack's weight from one arm to the other. "Where are you headed to?"
"I was just planning on going home." He replied with the shrug of his shoulders. The halls were beginning to clear, which was understandable. The students of Konoha High managed to stampede for the majority around 30 seconds after the bell rang, and on Friday it seemed like the students flew out of the school. "What about you?"
Sakura rubbed her lips together. "I thought maybe we could hang out. Go to the mall or something." She was almost about to suggest the ranch since that seemed like such a typical hang out spot for the kids here. But, judging only on Naruto's err, interesting words about Sasuke and his family, Sakura had no intention of stirring up some unwanted trouble by bringing Sasuke to the ranch. The mall was just the next thing that flew out of her mind.
Sakura saw a small smile drape across his color-less lips. "That sounds like fun." He replied.
The two walked to Sasuke's car, a bright silver spotless and scratchless sports car with some foreign brand. Sakura left a short voicemail on Kouhei's phone to tell him that she wouldn't be able to be reached at home. Sakura opened the door to the car and slid in, somewhat amazed. Sakura owned a bike, and Sasuke owned this car.
Sakura's hand anxiously grasped at the silky seatbelt and she crossed it over her thin body, obvious goosebumps rising from her flesh. She swallowed, hearing the seatbelt click into it's position. Sasuke slid into the car, cool as usual, and turned the car on. Sakura expected music to begin to play from the speakers, as something that usually happened when kids turned on their cars.
Sakura would never learn that Sasuke wasn't like those other teens, would she?
Sasuke began driving to the mall, and Sakura's eyes caught a CD case on the ground. "Can I peek?" She asked, cocking her head towards the thick, black case that laid on the floor.
"Sure," he replied, shrugging his shoulders and turning out of the school parking lot.
Sakura flipped open the CD case, and felt like she was getting a direct view into something so personal like, Sasuke's diary or something. Though, as much as Sasuke tended to surprise her, he didn't seem like he'd keep a diary if his life depended on it. Belle & Sebastien, AC/DC, Tammi Terell, Motzart, Garth Brooks, Gwen Stefani, early Vanessa Carlton, every single artist that seemed to have been known, all lying beneath this book.
Sakura swallowed. "This is your CD case?"
He shrugged. "Just my favorites."
She should have expected at least that.
The drive to the mall was surprisingly…unawkward. Sakura had been expecting the ride over to be strange—what were they supposed to talk about; how green the trees were? How cold it was outside? Um, no thanks. They talked about music and the English project, and then Sasuke began to ask questions.
"Where are you originally from?" He asked.
" Florida," Sakura replied, shrugging and extending her legs. "The sunshine state." Usually, Floridians here added their tone of proudness into this part of any conversation, but there was nothing really to be proud of. She had lived here in this dreary place before, but it had seemed like light years before, and in a way, it almost was.
"Ah, that's nice," He replied, nodding. It was funny, he wasn't saying it like he was forced to reply in that way. It was almost as if he was being…truthful. As if he actually did mean it. Apparently Sasuke Uchiha didn't waste breath on anyone apparently, too. "And what about your family?"
"My dad's Kouhei, and my birth mother is named Hazuki, My parents divorced when I was just a baby, and Kouhei stayed here, and my mother moved to Florida. She met my step-dad, Hachi, here." Sakura replied with a shrug. Not even Temari or Hinata got this life story yet, so it was interesting that she was telling them this. "What about you?"
Sasuke grimly smiled. "I wasn't done with my questions yet. Patience is a virtue."
Sakura couldn't help but burst out in a single note of laughter, somewhat sarcastic. "I guess I've stumbled upon the Uchiha version of 20 questions, eh?" She replied, it may have sounded a little 'mean', but she didn't mean it like that. Battle of the wits is what Sasuke wanted, and that's what he'd get.
"Oh yes," Sasuke replied, not letting up his smirk. "And it's only been two questions. Now, may I continue?"
"No."
"Good. Thanks for the permission," Sasuke replied, changing the smirk to the other side of his mouth. "What about pets? Siblings?"
Sakura sighed, and began launching into the whole nine yards about her life, her family, the other hoop-la. She thought she had continued everything, but she hadn't. Sasuke had managed to ask enough questions to last the whole way to the mall, and his questions didn't let up in intensity as they found a parking spot.
"Alright, alright, hold the questions." Sakura replied, holding out her hand after she had unbuckled her seatbelt.
"Fine." He replied with a sarcastic sigh. "But I get to continue when we get back."
"Whatever you say."