Mr. Brightside

A/N: DOUBLE UPDATE! :)

Chapter Three

It's Killing Me

Sasuke Uchiha was the type of guy that didn't care if the mayor's daughter would run up to him and drop her panties upon sight. That…was not his problem. He was actually peeved by his incessant numbers of those fan girls. It was the main thing that kept him from his lunch.

"I'm soooooo hungry, Teme," Naruto whined beside him, his huge (empty) head slamming against a locker in aggravation.

In all reality, the Uzumaki had eaten just a few hours ago at home, and he had eaten well. His mom was a boss cook, pumping out pancakes, sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs, grits, rice, omelets, boiled eggs, and, of course, breakfast ramen. He needed his ramen, plus all that other stuff, on a daily basis. Of course his Mom had help from all the, well, help. There was no way his dad would let his sweetie do all that on her own. No matter how many maids she injured.

Sasuke scoffed, rolling his eyes at his so-called best friend's antics to relieve his hunger, while looking over with ease the fan girls' heads, trying to see where the mob ended. He knew for a fact it began at the entrance to the cafeteria, that's for sure.

There was no point trying to go to another entry, for they moved with him. It was as if he had some type of gravitational pull. Naruto would go on about this theory, saying it had something to do with his ego, but that was absurd.

There's no way his ego is that big.

"Here you go," Sasuke muttered to the girl in front of him, handing her her signed History book and her Sharpie marker. The brunette burst into hysterics, jumping up and down with the textbook, tears sprouting from her eyes as she shrieked the good news.

Seconds later, she was tackled to the ground, hungry girls trying to steal it from her.

Naruto laughed to himself, watching the scene go from humorous to hilarious, extensions and fake nails of all colors flying in the air. "That's such a Freshman move, eh, Teme?"

The Uchiha nodded dryly, leading the way to the now cleared cafeteria entrance. "I suppose so, Dobe."

L O A D I N G . . . .

After gathering the necessary foods—of what he could eat, considering he couldn't eat much anything with his athletics—from the food line and plopping the green plastic tray onto the usual lunch table, Sasuke took his seat between Naruto and Shikamaru as he does every other day.

Except, the boys around him noticed, there was something different.

"Oi, Teme, why aren't you being super-nerd and doing your homework during lunch like always?" Naruto asked him through a mouthful of French fries. Sasuke mentally noted to tell their coach that Naruto was eating those so he could get extra laps during warm ups.

Instead of a sharp remark, he just glared at the Uzumaki. Stupidity on that level doesn't even deserve recognition.

Hoping his Death Glare™ would end the conversation, Sasuke went back to idly moving the grapes he'd grabbed from home around in the plain yogurt that he'd bought at school. He felt like some skinny girl on a diet, eating like this.

A couple minutes later, a raspy, rough and equally loud to Naruto's voice filled Sasuke's ears. "Yeah, Uchiha, you're acting weird and you shouldn't even be on your man-period yet. Somebody's early…"

Sasuke averted his eyes from the cheap plastic bowl and glared at Kiba. "Shut up, Inuzuka, before I tell your sister what you did with her best friend at my house last weekend."

"Tch. I didn't do anything with Ume last weekend."

"Interesting," He smirked, "I didn't say anything about Ume."

Lips around the table curled up into smiles as laughter erupted, and Neji himself couldn't keep his cool exterior up on that. He released a few chuckles before holding up a hand, somehow shushing everyone. He had as much power over the table as Sasuke did.

The Hyuuga cleared his throat, averting his attention to the aforementioned. "Anyway, I've also noticed that you're acting odd. You couldn't even answer Kurenai-sensei's question in P1. It was as if you were spacing out the entire class period. And you were late, which you never are."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and stabbed a helpless purple grape with a little more force than necessary. He didn't need a Hyuuga to mother him. He was perfectly fine from what he could say. It kills him how much his friends care, sometimes.

Before sticking the poor miniature fruit in his mouth to be chewed and used as an anger reliever, Sasuke muttered sharply, "Whatever. Just drop it—I'm fine."

Eventually, the lunch table went back to normality, Neji reading for his Literature AP class, Naruto and Kiba having random contests that always somehow related to food, Shikamaru sleeping like a log, only to wake up to eat one Lays original potato chip, and Sasuke staring into space.

Only today, he was staring at a certain rosette.

L O A D I N G . . . .

"You want to go to that thing on Saturday?" Naruto asked, mildly interested with the falling leaves from the trees, watching the red-colored bundles float to the sidewalk while he waited for his friend to answer.

Sasuke shrugged, kicking a particular pile of leaves out of boredom. Today was one of those days that he had to ask Naruto for a ride, since, apparently, Itachi needing his car to drive himself to work was much more crucial than him risking riding in the same vehicle as the blonde idiot. He could die, just because Naruto didn't want to run over a stupid squirrel.

They simultaneously stepped off the school sidewalk and onto the black pavement normally called a parking lot.

Naruto whined, "Do you even know what I'm talking about, Teme? Damn, your skin complains about not going anywhere and when I invite it to get some well-needed Vitamin D, it's owner is being a sulky bastard that's scared of all things sun. Psh, fine, maybe your trying to look like that vamp—"

A hand thunk-ed Naruto so hard on the head that his neck snapped and his balance was momentarily lost as he stumbled over his feet, using his hands to regain correct posture. He grumbled, "Sasuke! What was that all about?"

The Uchiha shrugged, stuffing his hands back into his pockets to keep them warm in the harsh winds.

"Shut up."

Just when he was about to say something about emotionally constipated bastards that are lucky to have him as a friend, Naruto stopped walking, finally taking in his surroundings. Pulling up the orange hood of his jacket, he laughed sheepishly. "Hey, Teme, I think my car in the North Lot."

Sasuke's face went from impassive to unnaturally pissed off in the remarkable span of three seconds. His bangs covered his burning-with-anger obsidian eyes. "What do you mean you think it's in the North Lot? We were just there, dumbass!"

"I didn't see it there, obviously, dumber ass!"

Sasuke stared at his friend, quarrying himself on the blonde's sanity before shaking his head in shame. Why did he have to be best friends with him?

He turned on his heel and groaned tiredly, "Fine, then, Naruto. Let's walk back now and maybe I might get home before my mom finishes dinner."

L O A D I N G . . . .

It seemed as if the whole school population was gone by time Naruto had found his Hummer, and the only reasoning for that was the fact that every other car—excluding a few straggling—had long left the premises except for his.

Once Naruto was safely on the road, Sasuke sunk into the light cream-colored leather that somehow remained clean despite how filthy Naruto was. Just when sleep started to take over him, Naruto abruptly stopped. The Uchiha was plummeted to the dashboard, thankful toward the seatbelt because otherwise he would've smacked the glass and probably cracked it.

His eyes widened in both shock and infuriation. "DOBE! What the fu—"

Naruto shushed him, intently observing something outside the window. It couldn't have been anything spectacular, Sasuke deducted, especially considering he had just turned into their subdivision, which they've lived in since…forever. All the houses were still the same, the bushes and plants surrounding the sign that said boldly 'Destiny Falls' remained generally unchanging, and the same cars were in driveways, the same kids that went to elementary school and had already finished their homework were playing in their front yards.

When the blonde rolled down his car door window, Sasuke's curiosity peaked and he leaned forward to see out of it. There was still nothing.

"Are you okay?" Naruto asked, dark blonde eyebrows knitting in concern.

Sasuke slapped a hand over his face. The dobe probably ran over a child.

Out of nowhere, a pink head popped up from into vision, and Sasuke blinked a few times to make sure he wasn't seeing things. She wasn't there a few minutes ago, was she? His mind told him that she wasn't but…then he saw the scratch on her forehead, a little patch of blood covering it, and the all around other dirt scratched onto her arms and uniform. He opened his own window and looked out to see an…unfortunate bike on the ground, near the girl, and a dismembered pedal thrown astray further from the bike. Panic started run through his veins.

Naruto's face fell five feet in upset. "I am so sorry! Your forehead is all bleeding and it's my fault."

The rosy haired girl smiled, shaking her head from left to right. "You didn't do anything. My old bike just decided to lose a pedal and I fell. You just so happened to be driving right behind me." She winked, "It was a good thing you stopped though—Hummer would've broken a couple of bones, that's for sure."

The blonde grinned back, a little blush on his face. "Hey, is that a Konoha Elite un—aren't you in my math class? Sakura-chan, right?"

Sasuke's ears perked up again, and he really looked at the girl. Almost immediately, he was regretting his actions. Opening the passenger side door, he cleared his throat, interrupting her conversation with Naruto.

She turned to look at him, a pink eyebrow cocked in accusation.

"Do you need a ride?" He asked, patting the orange paint of the Hummer. "Naruto won't mind, your bike is trashed, and I wouldn't want to walk on a knee like that."

Sakura looked at her knee just then, as if she didn't notice it before, the flesh exposed, fresh, and bloodied, and all argument she had had before that she was a-okay and could make it a couple of blocks to her house disappeared. She bit her lip before muttering, "Fine. Can I put my bike—?"

"Me and Naruto will put it in the back. Just sit in the car," Sasuke cut her off, "Try not to hurt yourself or get blood on the interior."

L O A D I N G . . . .

Naruto got out of the front seat, not before smiling widely at Sakura as she carefully situated herself in the backseat, and then slammed the door, grumbling at Sasuke.

"Dude, I don't want a bloody person in my backseat! Even if I almost ran her over!"

Sasuke tossed the blonde complainer the broken pedal without a word, of which Naruto barely kept from crashing onto his face. He scrambled with the rusted metal until it was in his hands comfortably. At that point, he walked over to Sasuke and kicked him in the shin.

Shaking the pedal in the air, he warned, "You do not throw crappy metal at people's faces!"

The second of the two best friends just scoffed, nodding his head toward the Hummer. "Just put that in the back so we can get the bike."

Naruto almost complied, the words making complete sense before he fully analyzed the situation. He stopped just centimeters from opening the back door. "Why are you helping her? I know she's, like, ultra-hot," Sasuke muttered something about idiocy, "and stuff but, come on! I have better things to do than lug around people I barely know that are dirty and bloody! Dad let me get cream leather and—"

Becoming adjusted to the incessant chatter coming out of Naruto's mouth, Sasuke was at surprised when it ended so suddenly, and looked up from the bike—he was trying to remove the wheels—at the blonde, only to see him grinning goofily.

His face remained impassive. "I thought I told you that you don't look like the Joker when you do that, Naruto."

"One," he lifted a finger from his free hand, still grinning, "you know you are lying to yourself and are just jealous because you look like lame-o Batman with a chicken-ass hair growth defect."

Sasuke shot him a glare, popping out the first of the tires with more ease than before.

Completely unfazed by this show of anger, Naruto continued, making a peace sign, signifying his second reason. "And two…you like her!"

The Uchiha narrowed his eyes, furrowing his brow. "Just because I help somebody out that happens to have ovaries, I have to like them? Tch, dumbass."

"Yeah, but, you're a bastard and you actually helping somebody is the same thing as you—"

In lack of anything else to throw, Sasuke grasped the black rubber of the old tire, and hurled it at Naruto. "Dumbass," He uttered at his unsuspecting victim.

L O A D C O M P L E T E

a/n: Man, lol, this chapter was way too fun to write! I love it! Each of every three chapters will have something special, like with this one it's in third person, and chapter five (see, I already know) will be like IM or Chat.

WINKS!

~Lillypop414

Review, loves!