Sorry for the late update guys, I had food poisoning :( Never go to a fair and eat something over there, you'll suffer like I did these past few days.

Thanks to: Colin Creevey for helping me out! For checking all those silly mistakes I made. You're very patient!

Also, a big thank you to people who read and take time out to review the story, you guys are great!

I hope you enjoy reading it…

High-school Drama.

Naruto sat up in bed, yawning and rubbing his eyes. He had had a very peaceful sleep last night, despite today being the day the list would be put up. A slight breeze made its way inside, ruffling the papers about and the light sheet draped around his body. Pushing the sheet back, Naruto got up to close the window. He had opened it last night because he had felt it to be stuffy.

It had scarcely taken him two minutes to gather his homework that had been strewn all across the floor when his eyes flickered unknowingly towards his watch. He had overslept. all his stuff; the notes, hisfolder, andhis homework into his bag, he grabbed a shirt and a pair of jeans from the cupboard and rushed into the bathroom.

He knew he was getting late and if he didn't hurry, he would be late. Running down the stairs, Naruto gulped down the glass of milk and ran out.

"Naruto!" Someone called out from the house. The door opened again and an annoyed looking, white haired male came out, "Naruto!"

Naruto had already mounted his bicycle and was quickly paddling away before he glanced back and shouted, "Getting late. Bye!" waved Naruto as he rode off.

Jiraiya smiled as his eyes stayed glued to Naruto until he turned the corner, 'Baka! You forgot your lunch, again.' He shrugged, he could probably drive by his school and drop his lunch off but he wasn't going to. The kid should remember to take his own lunch.

(School)

"Hey you promised, and you're coming even if I have to drag you there with me."

Sakura smiled sheepishly. She had completely forgotten about her promise. "Ino you know me. I always keep my promises." She sighed date with Sasuke would have to be cancelled.

"Hey, there's Naruto." Sakura waved her hand and shouted his name. However loud she called him though,the oblivious dummy had parked his bicycle, had ignored her completely and ran inside.

"Don't worry Sakura, he's probably rushing towards the notice board, since the list was suppose to be put up there today," reminded Ino as she stared at her friend, concerned at her knew that look and that frown that had formed.

The frown eased and a light guilty smile appeared, "oh! Right I completely forgot about it. I hope they both make it on the team."

"They probably will," Ino smiled confidently. "You're worried about Naruto, aren't you?"

Sakura smiled, "You always know what's on my mind. I amworried. I am worried that he's hurting inside because of me."

"Don't worry, he'll be alright. After all our Naruto is a late bloomer,"Ino stated to Sakura's shock. Catching the look on Sakura's face, she attempted a recovery. "Don't look at me like that, I meant a little dense."

Now she was suspicious, "That's not what you meant Ino. What are you up to?"

Ino looked flustered and unwilling to come clean; however, and she looked at her watch. "Oh look at the time! I have to go. Bye."

Sakura saw Ino walk away, shaking her head at her own failure. Noticing how much time had lapsed, she got up to go inside. That Ino was planning something and it had something to do with Naruto. Poking her nose into everyone else's business would someday get her into trouble. Sakura shook her head. She had to stop her before she did something that would hurt everybody.

…..

Pushing and shoving past the throng of people, Naruto literally ran all the way to the notice board, while chanting a prayer in his head, 'please let me be on the team!' 'Please let me be on the team"

He was desperate to be on the team. As his eyes searched for the list, someone put an arm on his shoulder, "Calm down Naruto. The list will be put up right before lunch."

Naruto turned and flashed Sasuke a nervous smile, "And how do you know that?"

Sasuke crossed his arms, smirking, "Got the information from Nara."

"Oh!" why didn't he think of asking Shikamaru? He lightly smacked his forehead with his palm. Stupid.

The two of them started walking away. Naruto noticed several people pointing and laughing at him, but he ignored them. It must be some rumor going around that would die out soon enough. He needn't bother.

"Sasuke!" Emerald eyes were locked on them as Sakura pushed past a group of boys. Naruto stiffened and opened his locker as Sakura flung herself at the Uchiha, hugging him tightly.

Naruto kept his head inside the locker, seemingly self absorbed with re-arranging his stuff as the two love birds beside him had a go at each other again. He rolled his eyes; they were forever in each other's faces.

Releasing herself from Sasuke's grip, Sakura turned towards the other male, "Naruto!"

He had scarcely turned when he was hugged by his pink haired friend, "Don't I even get a hello anymore? How are you Naruto?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow. Wasn't she in a perky mood today? He looked plus frolicsome did not mesh well together, "I am ok-ay," he said slowly and tentatively. He exchanged a silent questioning look with Sasuke but he only got a shrug in return. What was going on? First the people were laughing at him in the hall, and now his best friends? "Now what is so funny?"

Sakura held her hand to her mouth and gestured towards his shirt. Now Sasuke was also laughing. Naruto closed his locker and tried to ignore them, "What is this, a laughing marathon or something. Seriously guys stop it!"

"What do you think should we tell him?"

"I think we should make…."

"Don't talk as if I am not standing right here," Naruto said impatiently. "Sheesh!" Hands resting in his pockets, he was about to walk away from them when he was stopped by Sakura, "Silly!" She pointed again towards his shirt, "you are wearing your shirt backwards. You idiot."

Naruto looked down and saw that she was right. Blushing a light shade of pink, Naruto ran towards the nearest rest room. Well this should teach him to not leave for school in haste next time.

(second period: English)

Sasuke sent Naruto another glarebutNaruto was oblivious to his surroundings. He kept on tapping that stupid pencil. He had been doing so for the past ten minutesduring class.

'Tap' 'Tap' 'Tap' 'Tap'

On and on it went, it was so damn frustrating. He couldn't understand a word the teacher had said and they were going to be tested on this, he was sure of it.

'Tap' 'Tap' 'Tap'

That's it, he was going to take care of it once and for all.

"Naruto." Naruto ignored him, continuing to tap his pencil, completely ignorant of everyone and everything around him. Sasuke rolled his eyes and opted to try again, "Psst Naruto." At first, he had only whispered his name but Sasuke, not really known for his patience, was growing irritated by the minute, "Naruto!"

The pencil stopped in mid air as Naruto turned to look at his classmate. It was as if he had just been roused from ! Oh!He noticed Sasuke's angry look. Naruto's eyes grew wide. Sasuke looked ready to bite his head off. Seriously what had he done to get the Uchiha so riled up?

He wasn't the only one who was staring at him either. The whole class had stopped what they were doing and had their heads turned back. Everyone had this uneasy look about them.

"Ahmm!"

Naruto and Sasuke both looked up. They knew the teacher was standing right in front of them and sure enough she had a mad look on her face, "principal's office now!" she ordered, pointing towards the door.

Sasuke ignored the blond sitting beside him. He didn't care if his knees burned while groveling to him, but he wasn't going to forgive him. He had never been to the principal's office before, ever! He had a clean record and he was proud of it thank you very much.

"Come on teme don't be so hard on me. I said sorry didn't I?" He crossed his arms, why was Sasuke being so difficult today.

"Hmph."

Naruto was about to apologize again when he stopped himself. Why was he apologizing to him when it wasn't his fault? In fact it should be the other way round. Just because he had said my name the teacher had sent him to. 'So typical of teachers, blame me the one time when I am innocent'. Now they both sat facing away from each other, hands crossed over their chest, brooding away.

An aged looking woman adjusted her glasses, trying to hide her disgust as she took in their appearance. She hated trouble makers especially when they got sent to the principal's office, as if the principal didn't have enough to deal with already, "Excuse me young lads, but the principal would like to see you now."

Both Sasuke and Naruto raised an eyebrow, 'lads' was she from this century? Both got up, shoving each other to get in first. The door opened with a creak as they both entered her office and sat down. The principal, a rather prim and proper, middle aged womanwith long, blonde hairsat with her back to past visits, Naruto knew her to be called Tsunade. She seemed to be busy, as she nodded and wrote something on the notepad.

The phone was put down and she swungher chair to face them. Energetic, amber eyes first landed on Naruto and then turned towards the then turned her attention towards the former student again, deciding that the other kid just got sent, mistakenly. "What did you do this time?"

Naruto folded his arms in annoyance, "Why do you suppose it was me this time. Huh?"

"Well considering how many times you have been sent to my office on numerous occasions, why do you think?"

"Well for your information, it was the teme over there that disrupted the class not me," gestured Naruto with his thumb. "For some reason he suddenly shouted my name, in the middle of the lecture. Shouted?" Naruto said again as if trying to come in grips as to what Sasuke had done. He knew Sasuke had a short temper but he could always control it in school and in front of teachers. He had never done something like this before.

He turned towards Sasuke as did the principal. Was something bothering him? Maybe something at home had happened that he didn't know about. Tsunade turned towards the other kid to confirm what Naruto had said, astonished and somewhat pleased that for once he wasn't the cause of something.

Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose, it was the dobe's fault that he had lost his temper in the first place. Trying his best to control his impatience, he nodded, validating that what Naruto had said was true. He was already in the principal's officeand he didn't want to make matters any worse. Just silently agree to be the perpetrator and if the worse came to worse, he would have to plead his case. So, he was surprised of what he heard next.

"You are free to go. Just don't do anything in the near future, and then I will have no choice but to give you detention."

What? That was it! No punishment? He couldn't believe what he had just heard. If she was letting Sasuke go that meant he was off the hook to. Naruto smiled to himself. No punishment!

Phew! That was close. Sasuke thanked the principal, and took his leave. She wasn't as bad as Naruto complained about her. As Naruto made to imitate Sasuke and walk out, he was called back inside.

"No fair. You let him off easy. Why punish me only?"

"Sit down," her tone was serious and curt.

Naruto sat down, mumbling incoherent words like 'old' and 'hag.'

Tsunade stopped writing and squinted her eyes at him, "You know I can hear you."

This time he immediately shut up, if he had any chance of walking away without any detention, he had lost it now, completely!

"Okay to answer your first question. Sasuke is an honor student, hasn't gotten a single 'B' since he entered high school. He's under the radar of quite a few prestigious colleges and some have even started approaching him with scholarships. Now why would I want to taint his record now?"

"But still…"

"I let him off with a warning didn't I? Next time he does it I won't hesitate to give him a detention. Understood!" Naruto nodded, this was the angry Tsunade mode now. Inother words, he didn't want to risk getting her riled up or else he wouldn't be so lucky. "So I am assigning you to some extra credit work for two weeks."

But it didn't stop him from complaining… "Aww man…"

This time he earned a glare from her, "You should thank me. I am doing you a favor. With your record, you need all the extra credits you can get." Narutonodded and sank down deeper in his was Jiraiya's friend and since they were so chummy together, she was always extra strict with him. Shehanded him a piece of paper. "Now leave before I revoke your punishment and give you a harsher one."

She had scarcely said that and Naruto was on his feet ready to go.

"Wait!"He stopped at the door, 'what was it this time?' "Here," she handed him a few bucks, "Jiraiya called, said to slip you some money since you had forgotten your lunch, again. You know you should stop doing that. What if I wasn't the principal? What would you do then?"

"But that's not the case." He flashed her a grin, "thanks granny!" Letting the door bang on its own, Naruto ran to his next class for which he was already late by five minutes.

He had not just called her that! Tsunade tried to calm down. That kid! He always seemed to amaze her. He had the audacity to call the principal old! Teachers sweat when they were in her presence, kids stopped talking when she walked by and this kid… This kid acted like she would never do anything to him, which was probably true since she had a special soft corner for him. Ever since she found out that he was an orphan!

(Fourth Period)

The bell rang signaling the end of the class. The teacher sighed, once the students heard the bell, they seldom listened to a word she had to say but she still managed to shout out their assignment and if anyone didn't do it on the account that they hadn't heard her, well let's just say she enjoyed giving them extra work.

Naruto ran towards the notice board once again that day. Fourth period had just ended and there was already a large group of boys huddled around it. Some were high-fiving each other, while others looked dejected.

His heartbeat quickened to triple that of a normal one and his pace slowed down as he came near the edge of the crowd.

This was it! He just had to get past this crowd. Shouldn't be so hard. Right?

Sasuke smiled in silent triumph as he looked at his name on the paper, it was right at the top too. Ha! Take that Itachi! He was going to enjoy mentioning this little piece of information to his brother. Turning, he was about to move away to give room to other boys, wanting to see whether they had made it on the team or not, when he saw Naruto pushing his way forward. Naruto was trying to lock gazes with Sasuke, but the teme kept averting his face. Fine, if he wasn't going to tell him, he would just have to see for himself.

He tried squirming his way to the front, but his way was blocked by a rather broad-shouldered guy who wasn't letting anyone get past him. A push, he needed a push and as if someone had heard his silent plea, Naruto was shoved forward.

Naruto smiled, straightened and became very serious all of a sudden. This was the moment he had been waiting for. This was his day, he could feel it. Pumping air into his lungs he put his index finger over the list, searching for his name.

'Uzumaki'

'Naruto Uzumaki.'

His eyes roved over the list, desperately searching for his name. It was impossible right, that for some odd reason his name wouldn't be on it. A look of worry shot through him. He took a deep breath, 'calm down Naruto, look again, in your anxiety you must have overlooked it.'

Sasuke looked at his friend with a sad expression. He knew how much Naruto had wanted to be a part of the team. He saw the anguish in his eyes and the way his hands curled as he searched for his name a third time.

'Damn it where is it, my name isn't that hard to find.' Alarm bells went off inside his head. It wasn't there. It couldn't be? Could it?

Then someone tapped on his shoulder pointing out his name on another list. There it was! Naruto's name was right on top of that list. But that wasn't! It shouldn't!

Panting heavily, Naruto pushed past other boys to get out of that crowd. He couldn't breathe. He was sure he was going to collapse any minute now. Upset! Shaken! Shocked! Words couldn't describe what he was going through.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" Sasuke ignored the kid. He had to get to his best friend. He just had to. He had seen that look… that look on his face. Disappointment! And a whole lot of other emotions that he couldn't explain.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw Sakura approach, "did you make the team?" He didn't answer. His eyes darted here and there but he couldn't find him anywhere.

"Where is Nar…" Sasuke caught her wrist, effectively pulling her away from the crowd, "help me look for Naruto."

Opening the door to the roof, Naruto stumbled outside into the cool air. The tears that he had held back now freely ran down his cheeks. Putting a hand up to shield his eyes from the sun, Naruto made his way towards the railing. Why? Why hadn't the coach picked him to be on the team? Why had his name been placed under 'second bench'? Replacements, that's what the second bench was. Another word for 'not good enough.'

Naruto scoffed, he was just as good as teme. Then why had he been picked and not him. Why? Why was fate so cruel to him?

Ino tugged at Shikamaru's arm, "Shikamaru! Shikamaru!"

"What? Ino stop tugging."

"Look up, isn't that Naruto?"

Shikamaru squinted his eyes, yup he could see someone up there alright, and something blond, and short. Looked like Naruto. Shikamaru flipped his cell open, a bit alarmed; he hoped Naruto wasn't doing what it looked like he was doing.

"Where are you?"

"What do you want Shikamaru? I am in a hurry."

"Are you looking for Naruto?"

"Yes, how did you know?"

"He's up on the roof. I suggest you get up there pronto," shouted Shikamaru. He was concerned for his safety. What was he thinking? As if that would solve any problems. It would only become worse. He was a complete idiot.

Sasuke flipped his cell close, something was wrong. Shikamaru never shouted, unless…"come on Sakura. Naruto's up on the roof."

"Sasuke slow down." Ignoring her, he kept on climbing the stairs that dobe better not do anything dangerous or he'll never forgive him for the rest of his life. Sasuke's teeth clenched together and his hands tightened into fists.

When he didn't slow down, Sakura increased her pace to match his, she was concerned too. "Naruto!" shouted Sasuke and Sakura at the same time as the door banged open and both ran tumbling out.

I know the ending is a little too over-dramatic but well lets see what the readers think, so don't forget to review! :D