Sakura opened her locker to switch books for her next class. She caught a glimpse of her reflection in her mirror; when she saw her pendant, she couldn't help but smile. She'd been so happy ever since Sasuke gave it to her!

When she told Ino and Hinata about it, they noticed she couldn't stop playing with it. Ino had squealed with delight, "See?! I told you he has a thing for you!"

Sakura pondered this as she closed her locker. She gently touched the pendant. Does this mean that he…could actually…

"Alone again, Haruno?"

She calmly turned around. "Oh. It's you, Karin."

Karin narrowed her eyes. She expected fear or misery, not this! "What the hell are you so happy about?" That's when she noticed the necklace. She snarled and pointed accusingly. "Where did you get that?!"

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Why does it matter?"

Karin huffed. "Obviously, that's way too expensive for someone like you, so someone must have given it to you! Now tell me who!"

Sakura wasn't sure what to do. Her intelligence told her to keep her mouth shut; she shouldn't piss her off any more. But then, Inner spoke up.

COME ON, GIRL! LET HER HAVE IT! TELL HER RIGHT NOW! I WANT TO SEE HER FACE WHEN SHE FINDS OUT HER PRECIOUS SASUKE-

Shut up! We don't want to cause trouble!

"It's none of your business." Sakura walked past Karin.

"It was Sasuke, wasn't it?" Karin muttered.

Sakura stopped in her tracks. "So what if it was? He told me not to get the wrong idea. He's a friend."

Sakura was shocked when Karin started to giggle. "Oh, poor, naïve Sakura. You just don't get it, do you? That thing is your payment."

Now Sakura turned around. "My…what?"

Karin turned to her. "You heard me. That's his way of keeping you around. If he has a girl by his side, his fan girls will leave him alone."

Sakura couldn't believe her ears. She stood frozen as Karin continued. "It's sad really, He had to go and get your hopes up. I mean, come on, why would he bother with a waste of space like you? Come to think of it, showing compassion to the unfortunate is good for the image…"

"Will you just shut up?"

Karin gasped. Why that- She cut off her thoughts as she sensed a deadly aura coming from the girl in front of her.

"You honestly expect me to believe that? You know nothing about Sasuke! He doesn't care about popularity or reputations! He cares about his friends! He's one of the most loyal guys I know! There's no way he'd do something like that!"

Karin composed herself and giggled some more. "My, how far you've fallen. You actually have feelings for him. Too bad. Well, don't come crying to me when he's through with you." She shrugged and walked away, leaving a very angry Sakura.

Sasuke would never do a thing like that! He's not cold like everyone says; he's a good person!


Classes were dismissed for the day. Sasuke walked down the hall, avoiding people as much as possible, until he was stopped when someone called out to him. "Uchiha. I need to have a word with you."

That definitely wasn't a fan girl; they don't call him by his last name. Sasuke turned to Neji. Inwardly, he was a little surprised. Hyuuga kept to himself almost as much as he did; he wasn't one to randomly want a conversation. Sasuke sighed. He knew it was probably important, but he was in a hurry; he was supposed to meet up with Sakura to rehearse.


Sakura hurried over to the music room. The teacher had sent her on an errand before the bell rang, so she knew she was running late. She could see Sasuke's mocking smirk. A vein popped on her head at the thought. His arrogance was one of the things that always seemed to get on her nerves! Her mind kept replaying what Karin tried to tell her. Sasuke's not like that. He may be arrogant at times, but he would never hurt his friends!

When she got there, she burst through the door…but no one was there. She looked around. That's strange. Where's Sasuke? Did he forget?


"What the hell do you want, Hyuuga?"

Both boys had gone into an empty classroom Apparently, Hyuuga wanted to talk privately. Sasuke glimpsed at the clock. He better make this quick.

Neji closed his eyes for a moment. He had already planned what he was going to say, but that didn't make it any less difficult. Once he was ready, he looked Sasuke in the eye. "You've been spending a lot of time with that Haruno girl."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "So?"

He didn't deny it. "So I'm aware of your motives."

"Did you hit your head or something?"

A vein popped; this was a serious matter! And he was accusing him of having a brain injury?!

"I happen to know that you just learned her name. Before this year, you never knew she existed. Why the sudden attention? You know it's not wise to mess with a girl's emotions."

Sasuke sighed. "You're not making sense."

"You're using her, aren't you?"

Sasuke stiffened. What?

"It could be that you're trying to keep your fans away, especially that Karin girl. Or it could be that you enjoy messing with outcasts. Whatever the case, I won't allow you to mess with her for your own amusement."


Sakura wandered the halls, retracing her steps. It's not like him to be late. I wonder what happened.

She kept looking around, trying to spot that dark, spiked hair. She didn't hear any squealing either. So, he's probably not in the hall… Maybe he's back at the classroom?


Sasuke's eyes were hidden by his bangs. He remained silent for a moment. His hands fisted, and his knuckles turned white. Neji simply stood there with his arms crossed, waiting for an answer.

"Judging by your lack of response, I'd say my theory is dead on."

"… … Is that what you think?" he growled.

Neji couldn't deny he was a bit startled. Sasuke's voice was so much darker and menacing, like he really pissed him off now.

Hearing that accusation, something snapped within Sasuke. He brought his eyes up and glared at Neji.

"Well, I guess you caught me! I just thought it would help my image to take pity on the pathetic nerd! The fan girls' backing off is a just nice bonus! And once I'm bored with her, I'll just toss her aside and let her return to her little corner! Is that what you want to hear?!"

Neji remained silent. However, Sasuke noticed his eyes weren't looking at him... they were looking through him. What the hell? Wasn't he just interrogating me?

"…So it's true."

Sasuke's eyes widened as his body froze. He knew that voice. He turned to see Sakura. Her head was lowered, her fists were clenched, and her body was trembling. He wanted to apologize, explain what was going on…anything! But nothing came out of his mouth. He just stood there, frozen. Next thing he knew, Sakura had turned around and was running.

"Sakura, WAIT!"

He took off after her, forgetting the damn Hyuuga. He was finally able to catch her arm when she whirled around and slapped him right in the face!

Sasuke stepped back, stunned. He hadn't seen it coming! He couldn't even dodge! What the…

He didn't have time to react as Sakura grabbed him by the collar. He could see the pure betrayal and fury in her eyes.

"You're just like everyone else! You don't care about me! You don't care about anyone! Well if I'm so pathetic, then I'll do you a favor and make sure you don't have to look at me! Ever!"

Sakura let go, quickly turned around, and ran. As she ran away, Sasuke could see the subtle stream of tears fly off her face. He wanted to chase her, but somehow he knew he couldn't. She wouldn't listen to anything he had to say.

He punched a locker as he growled "Dammit!"

Meanwhile, a certain redhead stood off to the side, smirking as she witnessed a nerd's heartbreak. "That's what you get, Reject."


Sakura ran as fast as her legs could take her. She didn't care where she ended up; she didn't even care that she had no clue where she was going. She just had to get as far away from that stupid Uchiha as possible!

Why? Why did I ever think… that someone like him could care about me? He was using me the entire time! I'm his fangirl-repellant! That's all I am to him! I hate him!

Suddenly she stopped. That was it. The pain was just too much. Her legs folded beneath her, and she slumped to the ground. She took off her necklace and stared at it in her palm. Her hand closed around it. It was all a lie. He never cared. Never!

"Am I… really just a waste of space?"

"Don't tell me you're actually believing She-Devil."

Sakura looked up to see Ino. She was smiling, but it wasn't a happy one. "I saw what happened."

"Ino…"

"Come on, let's get somewhere more comfy." She turned back and smirked. "Unless you prefer sitting on the sidewalk." She held out her hand.

Sakura couldn't help but give a weak smile. Ino's always been there for her, no matter what, even if she did just make a complete fool of herself. She gave Ino her hand.

"So, want to talk about it?"

Sakura remained silent. She was still processing what happened. The person whom she thought had cared about her thought of her as a tool. He didn't care; he never did.

She looked down with a grave look on her face. "Not really."

Ino walked Sakura home in silence. There really wasn't any point in going back; school was over and Sakura was in no condition to socialize or anything.

Mrs. Haruno was certainly shocked when Ino and Sakura walked in. She turned to greet them, but she noticed the sadness in their eyes. Something had happened.

She sighed. "Come to the kitchen. I'll make some tea."


"I don't know, Ino…"

"Come on. It's the one thing I know will make you feel better."

The two girls were now in Sakura's room. Ino had explained to her mother what she saw, but Sakura wasn't ready to talk. Mrs. Haruno knew she had to get this off her chest; she exchanged a glance with Ino, then nodded. That's when Ino suggested going upstairs, leaving Mrs. Haruno to continue cleaning. I'll let Ino have first crack. My turn will be tomorrow.

Ino walked over and grabbed Sakura's guitar off the stand. Sakura stiffened a little. Just looking at it filled her heart with pain; that was a reminder of Sasuke's act.

Ino read her look. "Oh… was it…"

"It was from… him."

Ino slumped. "I'm sorry. I didn't…"

Sakura looked up at her with a tiny smile. "It's okay. I didn't tell anyone."

Sakura turned her attention back to the guitar in Ino's hands. Part of her wanted to crush it like he crushed her heart.

CHA! HE DESERVES IT!

However, she knew she didn't want it to be true; she wanted to believe that Sasuke did care, at least a little. This guitar was her link to the good times; even though she hated what he did to her, she'd treasure those memories.

She reached for the guitar. Ino was about to leave, but Sakura stopped her.

"You can stay. I'd like you to hear this. I need to stop hiding all the time."

Ino blinked. Where'd this come from? She was proud of her, but this wasn't the time to tell her that, She sat on the bed as Sakura sat on a stool. Secretly, she pulled out her phone and hit the record button on the camera app. She had a feeling she'd need this later. She focused on Sakura's pained expression.

Let's talk this over; it's not like we're dead.

Was it something I did? Was it something you said?

Don't leave me hanging in a city so dead,

Held up so high on such a breakable thread.

You were all the things I thought I knew,

And I thought we could be…

You were everything, everything that I wanted.

We were meant to be, supposed to be, but we lost it.

And all of the memories so close to me just fade away.

All this time you were pretending; so much for my happy ending.

It's nice to know that you were there

Thanks for acting like you care

And making me feel like I was the only one.

It's nice to know we had it all

Thanks for watching as I fall

Letting me know we were done

He was everything, everything that I wanted.

We were meant to be, supposed to be, but we lost it.

And all of the memories so close to me just fade away.

All this time you were pretending; so much for my happy ending.


Music: My Happy Ending by Avril Lavigne