Peace Over Popularity
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O
o
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"We're going to be best friends forever, Hana."
"Definitely, Ami."
How nice…being loved by someone so much. I wonder how that feels.
"Oi, Mei, stop staring at other girls, it's creepy!"
"Haha, my parents told me Mei's mom will sleep with anyone for a few dollars."
"The apple must not fall far from the tree."
I really wouldn't know anything about that. Love, promises, friendship—they must only be for really special people. Even so, I wonder what makes me so different from those special people. Is there something I'm not doing right?
"Hey, don't ignore us, ugly, we're talking to you!"
"Typical Mei, always thinking she's better than everyone else. Why don't you do us all a favor and jump your 'perfect' little ass off a cliff."
"She's always acting snobby just 'cause her family owns that huge Terumi company. I hate people like her!"
Lies, lies, lies. I don't think I'm better than anyone—really. Please stop talking that way…
"She just sits there emotionlessly—what a bitch."
"So rude, ignoring us like this. She'll never have any friends, not like she cares anyway."
"Mei is really worthless."
"—ei? Mei?"
The red-tint haired brunette's head snapped up, her expression similar to a dazed infant just waking. After a moment she seemed to regain her awareness and focused her eyes on the person who had called her.
"Are you feeling okay, you zoned out for a minute." Karin asked with genuine concern for her best friend.
Mei gave a nonchalant nod and with only the slightest hesitation Karin continued telling Mei what she'd been saying while Mei was dazed.
"I think Sakura made a few new friends recently, she's always around those two new students."
This fully caught Mei's attention and she perked up slightly.
"Who are they—when did they meet?"
Karin gazed pass Mei to the chalkboard in thought as she answered.
"It's that Narutail guy or whatever and his geeky best friend that always wears a dark hoodie. I'm not positive when they all met but I think it was that day a few months ago when Ryuu and Jong came over to your house."
Mei frowned as she did a few mental calculations in her head. That meant Sakura had been associating with the losers for about four months now. Mei did not liked this. At all.
Karin leaned closer to Mei and he voice dropped to a whisper volume.
"What are we going to do?"
Mei's expression became thoughtful for a split second before a small mischievous smirk took over her features.
"Next month is her birthday, isn't it. We'll have something planned by then."
Karin nodded, slowly memorizing the new information.
"In the mean time," Mei continued, "keep up with the fake rumors by Yamanaka, got it?"
Karin leaned back and nodded, a similar smirk upon her own face.
"Got it."
The girls returned to a more typical conversation among teenagers, never once noticing dark eyes on them from across the room.
"I haven't seen Ino at all since third period," Tenten complained, stretching her cramped legs from sitting at a school desk far too long. Hinata nodded conversationally, though her mind was obviously on other things as the pair walked down the crowded halls.
Tenten felt mutually awkward with the lavender-haired girl, not used to Ino's loud voice not popping out new topics and jokes every five. Ino, Tenten supposed, kept the group together. Hinata was too soft-spoken and shy to speak without anyone else initiating it and Tenten only had a loudmouth when someone equally, if not more, loud was there as well.
Not to say Tenten doesn't love the shy girl, she truly does, she just couldn't find a good conversation with just the two of them to relate to like Ino always does.
Just as that thought left her brain a memory popped up.
"Oh! It's Sakura's birthday soon, huh? What do you think we should do?"
Hinata left her own world for a moment to consider the question.
"Ino probably has something big planned again."
Tenten pursed her lips absentmindedly and nodded, remembering Sakura's last birthday Ino had went all out for. The girls had all nearly gained ten pounds from the amount of junk food and chocolate Ino had bought.
"What about Karin and Mei though," Hinata asked.
The girl's voice was so low when she uttered the words that Tenten had to strain her ears to hear it and repeat it in her head to understand.
Tenten grinned boyishly after a moment and wrapped a friendly arm around Hinata's shoulders, frightening the poor girl from the sudden movements.
"Don't you worry—we'll definitely win against the redheads and their evil witch powers!"
Question of the Chapter
Which character's personality do you like best?
~Please share your answer in a review, I'm dying to know~