Iruka-sensei sighed. "Sasuke…what have you done this time?"

"Um…I pushed Ino & Naruto helped me! And uh, domino effect, see?" Sasuke waved a hand at the pile of unconscious fangirls near him.

"Wha –" spluttered innocent Naruto, but was silenced with shock when Sasuke grabbed his wrist tightly and pulled him out of the classroom.

"We'll punish ourselves by standing outside!" yelled an eerily cheery Sasuke over his shoulder to Iruka-sensei, who just shook his head in response. Kids nowadays.

"Okay, I'm sorry for doing that." Sasuke said, letting go of Naruto's now-red wrist.

Naruto rubbed his wrist and pouted. "Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Resorting to lying, & dragging your dear friend out for no apparent reason & then apologizing. May I know just what the hell we're doing outside of class instead of in it?" He grumbled.

"I have something to tell you…just…don't freak out."

Naruto snorted. "And you couldn't just tell me in class? Or pass a note or whatever?"

"I like someone." Sasuke blurted out, and instantly his face was flushed.

"No surprise there. I always knew you couldn't possibly be immune to crushes. Who is it?" Naruto asked, seemingly nonchalant. "Ino? Sakura?"

"Er…no."

"Oh." There was a moment of awkward silence, as Sasuke thought of ways to confess & Naruto tried to name the weird feeling that was in his stomach.

He knew.

Yes, Naruto could sense it. Sasuke's eyes gave it all away. They pleaded, 'please don't hate me for this'. And all those smirks, inside jokes, insults, glares & stares… meant something.

"It's me, isn't it?" he whispered, out of disbelief and confusion.

Sasuke's eyes widened.

And he laughed.

"Oh my sh… Naruto! I'm straight, damn it! Oh man…you thought I was gay? And that I liked you? What the…oh my hell, Naruto, you're one heck of a joker."

And he laughed and laughed till the tears formed in his eyes.

But the laughter was fake; empty, just an echo.

And the tears weren't tears of laughter, but sadness as he watched Naruto's expression flicker from serious to hurt to deceptively happy.

Naruto was smiling. "Yeah, I knew that. Sorry, man."

Sasuke sighed. "It's okay."

"So…who is it that you like?" Naruto questioned, just as the bell rang and they were about to go back into class for the next period.

"…Sakura."

Dear Kelly,

I hate myself.

I screwed up so badly. What was supposed to be a confession ended up hurting him.

My best friend…and my crush.

Worse, I told a lie. I told him I had a crush on Sakura, a girl that he's liked since…forever.

And once word gets out, I'm probably going to have to date her so things don't get suspicious.

I am NOT looking forward to that.

HELP!!!

Ugh….I hate it when I have to throw in angst. It'll probably come in the next chapter or so.

But I will NOT make Sasuke kiss Sakura! Absolutely not.

Don't really like this chapter…ah well.

Thanks for reading…(: