My eyes widened at the sight at Neji before I relaxed slightly. Oh thank god, it was just Neji. I opened my mouth to say hi but I had second thoughts when I realized that neither of them was talking and that there seemed to be a rather tense atmosphere around the three of us.

"They're going to be back down in a few," Neji broke the silence, his voice smooth and controlled. I shifted awkwardly.

"You don't have to tell me twice," Sasuke replied shortly before brushing past the Hyuuga and walking out the door. I flashed Neji an uneasy smile and hurried after Sasuke.

I tried to keep up with Sasuke but I have a minor fear of steps. I must be the only one, but when I'm walking down steps, I feel like my legs might forget the momentum and eventually send me tumbling to my death. My hand slid over the railings as I tried to walk faster.

"Don't fall. I'm in no mood to carry you anywhere." Sasuke said suddenly. Taken aback at his sudden statement, I tripped over and grasped the railing with all my life. I stopped and let out a sigh of relief. Sasuke looked up at me bent over the railing for a moment before continuing down the steps. I heard him exit from the door and soon, he was way out of my sight. I ran a hand through my hair and shivered slightly. I could barely comprehend the past fifteen minutes and decided against even trying.

The day after the festival, I heard whispers that I was in fact the human sauce lumbering around the hallways. It was not nearly as embarrassing the day after, but it was still bad enough. I pressed my right cheek on my desk and stared out the window at other students having their physical exercise classes outside. They were running on the tracks in groups of six and they looked just like ants from where I was seated. The abrupt screaming from the left side of the field caught my attention and I realized that students practicing their high jumps. A rather intriguing sport I've always wanted to try, I just wasn't suited for running. Focusing my attention at the guy who was up next for the jump, I squinted. I jerked back suddenly when I realized that it was Uchiha Sasuke. I felt my cheeks grow hot when I thought about the incident the day before. Shaking my head vigorously, I continued to peer curiously. He started off in a little run and just before he reached the pole, he leaped up and his back curved beautifully over the metal, missing it by an alarming amount. The pole was clearly way too low for him. Sasuke walked off the cushion nonchalantly while the girls in his class started to scream.

He really was quite amazing.

I turned my head to face away from the window and found myself staring at Ino. She was filing her nails. She glanced at me for a moment, before cocking her eyebrows.

"What?" I asked defensively.

"Nothing," she shrugged, "just wondering whom you were staring at." She laughed.

I crinkled my nose.

"Hey Ino, do you know where I was yesterday?" I found myself asking.

"What?" She mouthed.

"You heard me," I said, my voice deadpan.

"No. Why?" She asked curiously.

"Nothing." I closed my eyes.

Yes, why was I asking that? It's not going to make me feel any better knowing that no one else knows about that incident. It didn't matter at all because every time I thought of Sasuke, his dark brooding eyes pierced me in my head and I felt sick inside. But it wasn't the bad kind of sick, yet it wasn't the good kind. In fact, I think I'm not making any sense at all.

Classes on Tuesdays were draggy and long. You could almost hear everyone snoring mentally through Shizune-sensei's lectures and then there were the tortured groans from the class as Gai-sensei displayed an unmatched sense of enthusiasm for Physics. After going through nine days of school, I quickly realized that I only saw Sasuke in Biology. Not that it matters to me; it was merely a casual observation. I had about three hours to kill before my next class started. I unloaded all my books into my locker, grabbed my file and my essay and made my way to the library.

The library fascinated me. It was rows and rows of endless information categorized for anyone who paid any attention to it. I settled myself at an empty desk and looked around. There were people sleeping on their books, others were studying and most were, of course, reading. I began to immerse myself in my history essay and was doing great until I felt someone standing next to me. Looking up slowly, my eyes fixed on Neji's pale ones.

"Can I join you?" He asked, "All the tables are filled."

"Y-yes, of course!" I said quickly, clearing my mess of papers into a neat stack. Neji sat himself opposite me and opened his book. He was then silent, his eyes scanning the pages of the book, engrossed. I looked back at my essay and picked up my pen but for the life of me I couldn't remember exactly what I was writing about. I was completely stuck. My mind kept wandering back to the incident with Sasuke and how it must have looked to Neji and the fact that Neji was sitting right opposite me being all silent was not helping at all. I don't even know why I'm so affected by it.

"You haven't written a single thing since I've sat down. Am I distracting you?" Neji's voice broke into the relentless ramblings of my mind and my head snapped up at attention.

"No! No not at all…" My voice trailed off as I stared at my essay. I could see the words but they didn't make any sense to me.

"Um…" I started, "about yesterday,"

I paused to look at him but his eyes never left the pages of his book.

"I hope you don't get the wrong idea, we were not doing anything weird." I explained.

"It doesn't concern me," Neji replied, "Why are you explaining yourself to me?"

"I don't know." I blinked and laughed nervously.

We sat in silence for the next hour or so before he excused himself and left. I never finished that essay.

I lay in bed that night, cuddling a big rabbit plush toy. I had finished all the pudding in the fridge, much to mothers' dismay, lost my appetite for dinner and decided to turn in early. I closed my eyes and prepared for sleep when my phone buzzed a message tone. Reaching under my pillow, I opened the message in the dark. It was Ino.

(The school is organizing a field trip for everyone in the level. I think we're going to some gross nature exploration thing. I'm only going if you go.)

Haha I'm definitely going, just to see you suffer.

(I knew you'd say that. Shika is going too, so I guess that makes the three of us. It's a about two weeks from now. We're travelling by train if I remember correctly; remind me to get the form for us tomorrow.)

Oh is he now?~ Yes, I will.

(What's that supposed to mean!)

Nothing. Ino, if you had an awkward situation with me, would you talk things out?

(Of course. Why are you asking?)

Nothing. Thank you! Goodnight, see you tomorrow.

(…OK, goodnight)

All right, that's settled. I am going to talk to Sasuke about… What do I talk to him about?