Gods, what has it been, months now? About three and still counting. Wow. I apologize for keeping you all waiting, really I am. Reviews will be answered in the next chapter, but for now, I just need to get this one done while I have the inspiration and the coffee to tackle this chapter. Thanks to everyone who wished me luck for the art school, but I didn't make it. In all truths, I really didn't even go to the audition to get in because I never got my entry pieces typed up because I was lazy. And maybe that's for the better, because I can't see myself as writing for a living; I do not have the commitment and I would have never got the work done for the writing classes. Don't get me wrong, I sure as hell would have made it in, and that is saying something, as I am indeed my toughest critic.

Another announcement is I may be taking 'Rejection is Real' off our archive, as I have no more passion to finish it(it would have been about 20 chapters at the least, anyways). I really didn't want to mess with this one either, but I think I might as well finish at least one story. Your thoughts appreciated.

This story has hit the 50 review mark (actually it is approximately 70..), which makes me so very proud. If I make it to 100, I will write a one-shot(on anything I know) for the 100th reviewer. If that turns out to be you, please leave me your email address so I can contact you, or you can contact me via email with the subject written so I don't think it's junk mail when I go through it.

Without further wait, I give you chapter four.

"Don't Pick Up"-Chapter4 (Lunchroom Trouble)

"So, did you decide yet?" Kakashi had sat next to him in lunch, stirring a mug of tea.

Iruka glanced over to him through the corner of his eye, not daring to look the gym teacher full in the face. "Yes, the answer is yes." He replied, congratulating himself mentally for stating this calmly and not blubbering like a fan girl. Kakashi smiled. At least, he thought so. Damn scarf.

"You seem a little bummed out today, did you get any sleep?" The white-haired young man went on, tugging at his scarf.

"A little, but I could always sleep during my free period if I needed it. No, that's not the problem. I'm concerned about Naruto."

"Again?"

"Well, yes. He's been ignoring me lately, and last night he was blasting his music much louder than usual. He wasn't there this morning when I came down for brekfast" Iruka replied with a sigh, eying Kakashi and his tea enviously.

"He was late for school today, too." Kakashi observed, pushing the mug over in front of Iruka. The English teacher graciously took a sip. It almost calmed him until his mind finally registered just what Kakashi was saying.

"What! How do you know?" He asked, nails now being dug into the table as a stress reliever.

"Because," Kakashi stated, "I passed him on my way here to school."

Iruka sweatdropped and traded an eye-roll for an irked look and a gulp of tea. "Wonder why..."

"Ask him."

"Nah, then I'd seem over-bearing."

"You mean it makes you look too much like one of those moms who refuse to believe their child vandalizes the school?"

"Watch it." Iruka growled softly, then shook his head to hide a smile. "What kind of errands are you running tomorrow?"

"Bookstore, groceries, and then whatever you need." He stood and walked off, returning soon after with a soda in hand. Most likely via the 'magic' trick.

"You read?" Iruka asked as he sat down, blinking.

"Of course." And just the devious look in his eye was enough to immediately remind Iruka of the conversation of Kakashi's 'book' the day before.

"Oh."

"Okay, move Kakashi, I'm here to save Iruka." Came the voice of Tsunade, who appeared only a moment later shoving Kakashi from his seat. The blonde settled right down, popping the plastic top off her salad. "And Iruka is going to save me from that perverted old man."

"He's /your/ age." Kakashi chimed in from the floor. He got kicked in the face.

"You know who I haven't seen in the teacher's lounge... ever?" Iruka asked, quickly changing the subject.

"Who?"

"That new guy. Orochimaru, right?" He mumbled, taking a nice good gulp of his tea now. "What does he teach?"

"Advanced Science." Tsunade replied, pouring what was most likely dressing on her salad. "He doesn't like people, so he probably eats in his room."

"You know him?" Iruka asked curiously.

"He was in my class... less than ten years ago. He's still just a kid."

"Compared to you he is. So are we." Kakashi stated, taking a seat on Iruka's opposite side.

"At least my hair isn't white."

"You will. And at least I won't have to worry about wrinkles for another twenty years."

"Stop!" Iruka said, slamming his hand down on the table. That stopped it.

"But anyways, he's rather creepy. In my old class, he and this boy-" She was cut off abruptly as the door to the teacher's lounge crashed open. In fell, in a heap of green, Gai. He was covered in something sickly yellow and when he looked up, Iruka noticed Gai's face was almost the color of his suit.

"Food fight...hit by yesterday's leftovers...need...back up!" And he passed out. The room held an awkward silence for some time, which was broken by Iruka.

"Wow," He murmured, walking over to take Gai's pulse.

"He wanted to be a drama teacher." Kakashi commented dryly, which most likely meant he'd been told this several times over by his fellow gym teacher. "This /would/ happen when he has lunch duty."

"Well, I'm going to go check on the lunchroom and put a stop to this food fight if it hasn't already died off." The English teacher announced and no one argued. Who would want to enter a food fight unarmed?

"Want me to go with you?" Tsunade offered. "My wrists ache to sign a referrals!"

"No." Iruka said with a sigh and a shake of his head. From his pants pocket he drew out his green pen slowly and clicked it open. "I don't think that will be necessary.

The lunchroom was all in a rage, the food fight was still going on. When he entered, Iruka observed the damage.

Leftovers from whatever slop -Iruka had admitted it was indeed slop- they had yesterday was plastered to the wall as well as various other unrecognizable items.

He spotted a group of girls huddled under a table protectively around one annoyed Uchiha Sasuke.

And right in the middle of the chaos, standing on a table, was Naruto. Iruka wasn't mad yet, no, he knew the blonde would have had a hand in this somehow. Hearing someone comer in, the blonde had snapped around and sent a piece of pizza whizzing through the air.

While this was happening, Iruka noticed one other near Naruto. Gaara. He'd know the red hair from anywhere and that over-use of eyeliner. And then his vision was obscured when he got smacked in the face by a piece of pizza.

A quiet fell over the cafeteria, everyone stared as the English teacher peeled a pepperoni from his face. Naruto's voice broke the silence.

"Oh shit."

Iruka was mad now. Furious, actually, but for a millisecond he held his composure.

"Uzamaki Naruto. Principal's office. NOW!" Naruto shrunk back with fear, then bolted out the door, Gaara not far behind. Well, at least they were friends, right?

He knew Naruto wouldn't go to the principal's office, he just /knew/. But he'd be waiting and if he saw Naruto in the halls during his free period -which was the blonde's favorite spot to roam while he was skipping- he was going to snatch him in by the ear!

In the bathroom he was scrubbing his face hard. After all, it was school pizza and who knows what it went through.

"Now I have the right to be mad at him too." He observed, talking to himself. And he decided then that maybe he wouldn't kill Naruto... maybe.

"What the heck did you think you were doing?" Iruka asked when Naruto slinked into the house at the end of the day. The brunette had almost knocked cars off the road to get to the house before Naruto, as was custom.

Whenever Naruto got in big trouble, he ran home. If he got there first, he could zip up to his room, lock the door, and not have to listen to Iruka's rants muffled by his door. In this way he was probably the fastest runner in the school, rivaled only by two others/

But on days like these, when Iruka got home first, he was forced to listen. These were the rules of the game neither of them liked to play.

"A /food fight?" Iruka continued, crossing his arms.

"I was trying to hit Sasuke but I missed..." The blonde muttered, shuffling his feet.

"And hit Gai."

"No, Gaara got Gai. Covered his whole head in that leftover spaghetti." His blue eyes twinkled with distant admiration.

'Is that what it was?' Iruka thought to himself, shuddered, and shook his head to regain that stern look.

"Doesn't matter. You shouldn't be throwing food in the first place, especially not at Sasuke! You two are partners on the group project and I don't want you two tearing up the house while I'm away on Friday." Iruka scolded.

"Wait a minute, you're not going to stay and make sure I don't beat Sasuke up?" Naruto asked incredulously.

Iruka gave him a flat stare. "I'm not worried about that, I'm worried about you beating up our house!"

"What's so important that you have to leave? Is it about the guy at Radio Shack?"

"No, I'm going to run errands with Kakashi-sensei."

"Kakashi? My gym-teacher? That Kakashi? Why are you going on errands with him? You don't even like the guy!"

Iruka stiffened considerably at this and an almost devious glint came to his soft brown eyes. "Oh/yes/ I /do/" Naruto looked at him in confusion. "I mean, we're friends." Good save.

"Whatever. You don't love me any more!" Naruto began to sob, batting his blue eyes. Iruka almost melted...almost.

"Go to your room, you little brat-child. I'm /still/ going tomorrow." And he ruffled Naruto's hair in both an affectionate and teasing gesture. "But before I leave, I'll see to it Sasuke is over here with you/peacefully/ working."

The blonde stuck out his lower lip and ran up the stairs quickly to his room.

'That wasn't so bad.' Iruka decided and sunk into a chair. The phone rang.

'Oh God, I do NOT need this." He grumbled, But what if it was somehow Kakashi? He sighed and picked up the cordless, pressing it to his ear. "Hello?"

"One day now. Are you excited?" Asked that husky voice on the receiver. Dammit.

"What are you talking about?"

"The big date with that studly scarecrow. You did tell his yes today, didn't you?"

"Kakashi?"

"That's the one. You're cheating on me, are you?"

"I don't think that's any of your concern. And just who /are/ you?" Iruka grumbled into the receiver, terribly irked this guy was suggesting they were in a relationship.

A small laugh came from the other side. "Don't worry, but I'll be watching." And there was a click, meaning the phone stalker had hung up.

"What a day." Iruka grumbled, turning the phone off and setting it nearby, "But nothing, NOTHING better try and stop me tomorrow! Not Naruto, not any natural disasters, and NOT creepy phone stalker dude. And now, it's time for sleep." This last sentence he concluded with a solemn note and got up to climb the stairs to his room.

It was sleep-time for him; he wanted to be ready to go in the morning. Setting the alarm, the brunette took out his hair and drifted to sleep, not bothered at all that the digital time flashed four o' clock.

That's the end of this chapter. Hope you liked it and be sure to review. If whoever is 100th reviewer doesn't include their email or doesn't write back to mine, I'll do whatever for the runner-up, so make sure once you get near to 90 reviews you should all put your emails afterwards until 105. Can't believe this story is getting towards that. Next chapter next Wednesday. I'm going to sleep now.