Trial and Error – Chapter Four
Standard disclaimer applies. And yes, I did change my pen name. Check out the profile.
xXx
From: Sasuke-kun
Something wrong?
True answer: Yes. What I would really like to say: Dear Sasuke-kun, I'm sick and tired of this. I'm tired of listening to depressing, break up songs during your silences. I'm desperate for you to show some sign of that you need in me your life as much as I need you in mine. I'm dying for some kind of romance in this relationship. I'm aching to ask what I mean to you.
But I'm too afraid of hurting him. It really sounds so fucking stupid, but just… I don't want to start a fight. Because I'm always the one crawling back to him, apologizing.
To: Sasuke-kun
Nah, I'm just a bit tired...
Someday, I'll stick up for myself. Just not today…
xXx
The idiot and Yamanaka have been plotting together. I can tell that much from the almost identical grins on their faces. I'm tempted to just turn around and ignore them, but as soon as they notice me, there's no possibility of escape. Chances of survival are dwindling to single digits.(1)
"Sasuke-teme!" He swings an arm around my shoulders to prevent me from walking away. "Ino and I just had a really, really good idea!"
"Loser, you're shouting." A few people glanced at our trio, and I could have strangled my "best friend." After the scene in the cafeteria, people are just itching for some more gossip, and attention is pretty much the last thing I want at this moment.
"Oh, suck it up, Uchiha. Aren't you curious as to what our brilliant idea is?" I must be nice. I must be nice. I must be nice. If Ino goes back to convincing Sakura to stay away from me, I have no chance in hell of getting her back.
"What?" Thankfully, the door to my pre-calculus classroom is coming up. At least they can't follow me into it.
"Well, haven't you seen all the signs up for the Halloween horror house?" Of course I have. The school gets turned into a haunted house every year around this time. Students pay to go in, and whoever lasts the longest inside without getting scared is crowned King or Queen of Halloween.
"Yeah."
"Well, that's the solution to your problem! You and Sakura will go together, and once you get inside, she'll be terrified. I mean, she's such a baby when it comes to scary shit. Anyway! Just like you should have done a million years ago, you'll be there for her in her time of need. And you'll pull her close and snuggle and she'll realize that you're not always a jerk with a stick up his ass. And you'll actually tell her what you're feeling. And you'll talk things out. And then things will be all perfect again and you can have cute little Uchiha babies with your hair and her eyes!"
"Yeah, just think about it, teme! Ino and I could be in charge of the scaring inside so we could make sure that no one else could come into the same area as you guys. And we could lock the doors so she couldn't escape before you made your confession! It'll be perfect!"
Evidently, they've been planning this quite thoroughly. "One problem."
"No way! This plan is perfect, Uchiha!"
"Yeah, teme! What could possibly be wrong?"
I try to keep the irritation out of my voice. But really, all their shouting isn't helpful. "There's no way in hell that she'd agree to go with me."
Both of their faces fall at this. I knew there was no way that the two of them would have come up with a flawless plan. I admit – I'm a little disappointed. I have no fucking clue how I'm supposed to behave around her. Having this little plan would have helped breaking the ice again.
"Well, we've got two weeks to sort out all the kinks. We'll get you two in a room together even if we have to drag her in kicking and screaming." The bell rings. "Well, see you, guys!" Naruto waves before turning his attention back to me.
"Hey, teme, you sure are lucky to have us around, huh?"
I snort before shoving his arm off of me. "Yeah, okay. See you, dobe."
xXx
Two weeks have passed and neither Naruto nor Ino has mentioned their so-called brilliant plan. It's the end of the day, with the fair tonight. So much for this working out. It would have been a good opportunity. But no. Now everything goes back to square one. And I'm completely fucking clueless as to what the hell I should do.
"Teme, wait for me!" Naruto sprints across the parking lot and, without even asking, slides into the passenger seat of my car. He tags along randomly on many occasions, so I shouldn't be so annoyed, but today just isn't my day and I'm tempted to tell him to just walk home.
"Idiot, why are you in my car?"
"Hello?" He's looking at me like I'm the moron. "The haunted house is tonight, and you'll need your favorite wing man!"
"Since when am I going?"
"What are you talking about? I told you about…" His sentence trails off as realization dawns on his face. "Oh, I guess I didn't tell you about the new plan, huh?" He laughs like it's actually something funny, rather than a matter that is of extreme importance.
"Dobe…"
He can tell I'm getting pretty pissed, so he keeps talking. "Just a simple change – nothing to get your panties in a bunch for!" He fiddles with the radio station. "Ino's going to be with Sakura-chan tonight, so she'll be able to get her to go out. And we'll already be there to meet them. Oh, yeah, and Sakura-chan sort of kind of maybe doesn't know that we're planning on running into them as well. But no worries! Everything will work out!"
Coming from him, I seriously doubt it.
xXx
Okay, I change my mind. I don't doubt that everything will work out. I know it won't. We tried following through with the "plan" to run into each other at the school, but as soon as Sakura noticed that I was with Naruto, she turned and walked away. Just. Like. That. And, okay, even while I probably deserve it, it kind of fucking hurt. A lot more than I expected it to.
That's the reason why I'm now walking around with my two favorite blondes, searching for any trace of a short, pink blob. When Sakura wants to disappear, she does – and she does it well. We've been at it for half an hour, and still not even a hint as to where she's gone.
Ino puffs out her cheeks. "Maybe this'll be easier if I just look for her myself. I mean, Mr. Uchiha here might just prevent us from ever finding her at all. And can you imagine what it'd be like to lose Sakura? I'd be best friend-less. For, like, ever!" Girls are so melodramatic…
"Ne, maybe you're right. So we'll meet you guys inside the haunted house!" Naruto grabs my arm and pulls me towards the aforementioned location.
"Dobe, I can walk by myself." I yet again shove him away.
Admittedly, it feels a little awkward to be walking only with Naruto – even if he's my best friend or whatever. I mean, two dudes, alone. Everyone automatically assumes something's going on between them. And especially because the haunted house is, well, full of couples. Every guy likes the chance to play the hero, and having an excuse to put your arm around a chick is a pretty huge ego-boost.
But the idiot knows all the "secret passages" and we travel through backrooms filled with spare masks and mannequins until we reach a certain spot.
"Alright, teme, this door leads to a pretty secluded room. Once we get the all-clear from Ino, you're getting your butt in there and fixing things with Sakura-chan!"
My phone in my pocket vibrates just as he says this.
From: Yamanaka
We're at the front of the house. Get your ass in that room.
"Alright! Go time!" Naruto – not so graciously – places a hand on my back and pushes me through the door. I hear a muffled, "Good luck, teme!" and the sound of a lock clicking into place. Now I have nothing to do but wait.
The room's cast in a red light. There are shadows all over the walls, and the furniture just looks like shapeless clumps. Honestly, I don't find it that scary. But I guess nothing has jumped out at me, so I can't really say for sure.
The sound of voices is approaching one of the doors opposite to me. They don't seem to be getting along too well, either. The door on the right opens, and a body comes crashing in. It's Sakura. She, apparently not noticing me, runs back to the door after it's been swiftly shut again. I take the time to check her out. White V-neck, black jeans, red belt, Vans. Classic Sakura. She looks good.
"Pig! What the hell was that for?" There's no reply, so she bangs her fists against the wall before turning to survey they room. And then she sees me. And turns around again. Encouraging.
"Sakura…" Okay, this is the moment. I am now going to fix everything and my life will get infinitely better (2). But I have nothing to say. My stupid throat's closed, and it's not like I would know what to say if it wasn't.
She bangs on the door. Again. Always such a stubborn girl. "Ino, you pig! Open the door. You know it's not funny!"
There's a creak from the floorboard, which is weird, seeing as neither of us had moved. She stops the pointless pounding and turns around slowly. I admit, I jump about a foot when I realize that there's something else in the room. What I took to be a lumpy chair was fucking moving. Towards us.
Sakura screams and jiggles the handle of the door, but it won't budge. Okay, right now, all the flaws of locking us in a haunted house come to light. Sakura fucking hates all things scary – which is why we always watched "romantic comedies" when we were together. Guess I should have known the idea was doomed from the start.
"Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you!" She's still screaming and trying to open the door, but her fingers and shaking, and she's about a second away from bursting into tears.
So I do the only logical thing and break down the door by kicking it. You know, like how the cops on TV always do it. She's frozen, with her eyes fixed on the thing that's still moving closer, so I grab her by the wrist and yank her out of the room.
She screams louder when more things pop up out of nowhere as we're running through the hall. I would be annoyed at this, but honestly, I'm concentrating more on the fact that I'm actually almost holding her hand. God, I forgot that it always felt like electricity at her touch.
So I'm not really that concerned about where we're running to, and I'm tempted to just stay in the house forever if it means I get to keep holding onto her. But today's just not my lucky day. We turn into a new room, and I trip over something on the ground. And we both fall. Into a fucking paddling pool. Seriously, what the fuck.
For a second, we just sit in there. Until something else starts moving in the water. My eardrums almost rupture from the pitch of Sakura's latest scream. I try to tug at her again, but she doesn't seem capable of moving. So I pick her up "bridal style" and run towards the bright red exit sign. As we escape from the building, the night air is especially cold, seeing as my clothes are soaking. Sakura's shaking, and I have no idea whether it's from the chill or from crying.
"Put me down, put me down!" She starts to hit me and I can't really do anything expect comply with her demands. Her lips have a slight blue tint to them and her arms are covered in goose bumps. Before my mind has registered that I should be holding her or something, she lets out a small "eep!" and runs to the bathroom.
"Teme!" Naruto and Ino choose now to appear at my side. "What happened? Where's Sakura-chan? Why are you all wet?"
Making sure Sakura's alright is the most important question, but judging by her reaction, I'm not the one that should go after her. "Yamanaka..."
Without responding – which is unusual for a girl that talks as much as her – she sprints in the same direction as Sakura did. Girl intuition, I guess.
Naruto and I sit on a bench, and he's dying to get the answers to his questions. "So, what happened? You were supposed to stay in the same room until you got things sorted out!"
"There was something in that room. She was freaking out, so we had to leave." I try to keep my temper level, but it's pretty hard to not blame the blondes for this. They were supposed to have had everything planned out.
"So… things didn't get fixed?" My annoyance deflates a little. One reason Naruto's such a good friend is because he actually cares. Most people don't bother with me since I don't like talking, but he's stubborn, and has always stuck by my side. Even when I didn't want him there.
"Nope."
"Well, teme, we'll just have to figure something else out." The thing about Naruto is that he'll forever be an optimist. And it's annoying. But sort of encouraging. "And you better believe that next time you'll get it right!"
xXx
From: Yamanaka
Okay, so, Sakura barricaded herself into a toilet stall and won't come out until I promise we can just go back to my place. So maybe this little stunt didn't go exactly as planned, and well, duh, but yeah. Think we should call it a night. Like, right about now. So, yeah, we'll be leaving!
I stand up and start walking towards the parking lot. This hasn't been my day, and I'm more than ready to leave as well. But not before seeing Sakura again. There's something I promised myself to do tonight, and fuck, I have to do it.
Ignoring Naruto's yells of "Teme, where are you going?" I scan the rows of cars until I see the telltale pink hair. I spot it not too far away, and walk towards the silver Civic.
She's getting into Ino's car. Basically, the whole night just turned out to be a chance to demonstrate how incapable of handling her I am. So this is my last chance to actually try to soothe over some of the mishaps. Even though it really wasn't my fault.
"Sakura," She turns to look at me and I fall into her eyes. They're gorgeous – not that I ever told her this. Not quite emerald, but not the color of the sea. They're too unique to be described – all the more reason I love them. "Y-You…" I did not just fucking stutter. "You look good."
It's only then that I realize that her white shirt is pretty much as transparent as it gets after falling into the paddling pool earlier. The contours of her stomach are visible. As is her white and blue, polka dot bra, which she had obviously been trying to hide. Dying in a hole right now could be the best decision I've ever made.
Without saying anything, she climbs into the car and they drive away. Way to go, Uchiha.
To: Sakura
Okay, that was really poorly timed.
I kind of don't expect her to respond. I mean really, she'll probably flip shit over this. Girls are usually super sensitive about any situation that could get them labeled as a slut, and well, this part of the night is my fault. But my phone vibrates a few minutes later, and seeing her name light up the screen makes my heart do a stupid little flip thing.
From: Sakura
Yeah, it was.
To: Sakura
But you did look good. You know, earlier.
From: Sakura
Stop texting me, Sasuke-kun.
And the day hasn't been completely ruined. Because even if she did just tell me to go away again, she called me Sasuke-kun.
Step three – compliment her: check, after a night of disaster.
xXx
Wahaha! Okay, so I fought with myself while writing this. The main focus was supposed to be around the idea of "COMPLIMENT HER" and the middle section just ended up being more of "PROTECT HER". I debated switching the two, but in the end, I decided I was too lazy to write a whole new chapter, so I just stuck with it. Sorry!
School will be starting in approximately two-ish weeks. I got a job, which I work at for 20+ hours a week, an AP class which I have homework for, and a relationship of my own which is under repair. Writing has, yet again, become something I do when procrastinating/ I'm really inspired.
This might be the last chapter for the summer, but then again, because I'm saying that, I could end up cranking another one out in a few days (unlikely)
I'm really hoping to get 50+ reviews for this story, so pleasepleaseplease help me reach the goal!
Reviewers can have a sticker from my collection. Reviewers that can name the movie where (1) and (2) came from get a sneak peak at the next chapter, maybe. ;)