Chapter 24

I knew I looked odd sitting in the classroom, staring at nothing with half-lidded, unfocused eyes, and -no doubt- drool on my open text book. But could you really blame me? This entire week was dedicated to reviewing on everything we had learned during the year, and I just couldn't stay attentive.

And I wasn't the only one either. Tobi, sitting beside me, was hitting his head on the desk. I knew it had to be extremely boring then because if Tobi was reduced to causing himself bodily harm, we were all doomed to following the same fate soon.

Already I could feel the urge of wanting to slam my head into my textbook growing. My fingers twitched in my lap and I blinked.

"Tobi! Stop doing that!" a voice hissed, and I looked over to see Deidara glaring angrily at his friend. Tobi dropped his head once more to the desk before turning it slowly to face the blonde haired boy.

"Deidara-sempai! Tobi is so bored!" he whined and situating his orange-swirled mask on his face. I tensed slightly, wondering if he was going to take it off so I could see what was under it. But he didn't and I sighed from the sudden loss of entertainment.

My eyes wondered away from the now bickering duo and landed on a certain raven haired male. I flinched noticeably and dropped my gaze. It was harder than I thought to get the images of Sasuke dancing out of my head, and I almost retched on my desk.

Kiba, hearing my gagging noise, jerked away from Sasuke's direction and looked the opposite way, a pained look on his face. He was having trouble to.

I mentally laughed and pointed at him. Poor Kiba. Poor me.

Once the bell rang, I was more than happy to get out of the class. It had been unbearably uneventful. If the following days were like that, I think I just might skip them and come back on graduation day. That way I could avoid the mind numbing boredom.

"Matsu- ...I mean, Mat! Hey, wait up!" I froze and glared at Kankurou as he rubbed the back of his head. "Whoops, slip of the tongue. Sorry. It won't happen again, I promise."

He stopped next to me after he fought his way out of the crowd of students, followed by Kiba.

"Oi, are we going to get lunch now or what? I'm starved." Kiba said and rubbed his stomach for emphasis.

"Yeah, I'm kind of hungry to." I agreed.

Kankurou snorted and glanced at me. "I bet you are. Hungry for a bit of attention from a red head." he teased.

I rolled my eyes and fought back the nervousness. It seemed Temari had talked to him. "I don't know what you're talking about, idiot."

He laughed and patted my shoulder. "No need to be so defensive. Of course you don't know what I'm talking about." he winked, sarcasm lacing his words.

I growled under my breath and sped up the pace to get to the lunchroom.

"There you guys are!" a voice called as someone came barreling towards us from down the hallway. "Sheesh, you don't like to wait on a person do ya?" Naruto rolled his blue eyes as he fell into step with us.

"Sorry, kinda hungry." Kiba answered as he kept his gaze focused on the lunchroom doors ahead. It always through me off kilter at how much the male body could consume. I mean, just look at these guys! They were all built, muscled, and fit and yet they could rival a pigs' appetite.

I shook my head in wonder, but followed them into the cafeteria crowded with other starving males wanting the mush that the ladies behind the counter served them. All in all, the food wasn't terrible, it's just...well, I just wish it wouldn't look at me like it was about to eat me instead of me eating it.

"Why can't they ever serve ramen in here?" Naruto mumbled as he grabbed one of the mush trays and headed toward an empty table. I shrugged but mentally begged for the noodles. It would be a big step up from the grey goop we had now.

I sat down opposite the blonde as Kiba took the seat next to him. Kankurou took my left seat while the right stayed empty. Gaara should be heading over soon, he had lunch with us this period.

I groaned and pushed my tray away from me. It was only third period. I still had three more periods of nothing to go through and I was already suffering from severe boredom. I didn't need to review, I knew everything already, and I wasn't worried about the exams coming up at all. They would be easy.

It's just suffering through the classes that would be tough.

"What's eatin' you? You look like you just found out you're dog died." Kankurou said as he took a gulp of his drink.

"Oi, no references to dog's dying. I have to suffer without mine until I graduate." Kiba muttered past his food. Kankurou rolled his eyes as I laughed.

Slumping into my seat, I sighed and glanced up at Kankurou. "Three more periods of this review bull, and my brain is going to be our lunch's long lost twin."

Kiba laughed and nodded in agreement. "I know what you mean. Listening to my Mom's lectures is more interesting than this shit."

"Mph." Naruto's muffled voice agreed past his half-chewed food as he nodded. I made a face and rolled my eyes at him. It wasn't so bad that they ate like pigs' but it seemed some of them -mainly Naruto- resembled a pig's table manners to.

"Why not just skip?"

I looked over at Kankurou with a surprised face. Skip? He was suggesting us to skip? How could he even think of that? That was insane! Skipping was horrible and we would deffinatly get caught!

"What?" he asked defensivly as he frowned down at me.

I quirked a brow at him and shrugged my shoulders. "Just wish I would have thought of it first."

Who am I kidding? Of course I want to skip, forget the 'good-guy' act. I want my room! I want my bed, and damn it, I want to get this aggrivating hat off my head. It is getting more and more annoying wearing. Especially since they all know now.

"So...? Is that a yes then?" Kankurou prodded.

I glanced around at the others. "Well, shouldn't we wait for Gaara? Maybe he wants to skip to."

"Always." a voice agreed, and I swung around in my seat to see Gaara himself standing behind us with his arms crossed and his brow lifted quizzically.

Naruto slammed his down hands onto the table, open-palmed, and stood quickly with a foxy grin plastered on his face. "Perfect! Now let's go! I just found a new game digging in my stuff last night and I want to try it out."

Kiba stood and shoved Naruto on the shoulder. "Yeah, you tore our whole room apart looking for something to keep you from getting bored."

"I vote we hang out in their room." Kankurou pointed at the blonde and brunette now glaring at him.

"Why our room? Let's use yours!" Naruto gestured at Kankurou.

"Your room has the game system. The only one in the school, so we're using yours." Kankurou said as he turned and made his way to the cafeteria door.

"Bastard." Naruto muttered, but followed.

I grinned and looked at Gaara. He smirked and nodded his head for me to follow them to Kiba's and Naruto's room.

Out in the hallway I tapped Kankurou on the shoulder. "What about Shikamaru? Think he might want to come to?"

"You don't have to worry about him." Kankurou chuckled. "No doubt the lazy genius is in his room already."

"Really?" I said.

He nodded. "Yeah, we are going to drag him out so he can actually pose a challenge for me to play against."

"Pfft. You? You suck at these types of games." Naruto called back as he turned down a hallway and made his way up a flight of stairs with us following.

"Didn't Tenten have to peel you off the wall when we played Silent Hill?" Gaara asked casually, but even I could hear the mocking tones underneath.

I coughed to cover up my chuckles as Kankurou's face screwed up in frustration and embarresment. He glared at Gaara, and a small laugh escaped me.

"Everyone was a little freaked out by that game!" he defended himself. "Even Shikamaru was a little jumpy the next day."

"Of course we would all be a little freaked, it was Gaara's turn to choose a game that night." Kiba said over his shoulder as he laughed and jabbed his thumb at the red-head.

Gaara rolled his cool, jade eyes. I grinned at him.

"Remind me never to let you have a say in entertainment from now on." I teased.

We stepped into a room that -I assumed- was Naruto's and Kiba's and Gaara swiftly removed the hat from my head and tossed it aside. I ran a hand through my hair and sighed happily.

"About time. I hate wearing that thing."

Kankurou threw his books on the floor in heap and walked back to the door. "I'm going to go get Shikamaru. You two, " he pointed at Naruto and Kiba. "...keep those two from getting X-rated in here." he said as he gestured at Gaara and me.

My face went red and I death glared at him as he threw his head back, laughing, and walked away to find the lazy male down the hall.

Naruto's face screwed up in disgust as he glanced at us. "You guys? Seriously? Yuck."

"I'll be sure to tell Sakura you switched teams, then." Gaara deadpanned as he crossed the room to look out the window. He glanced at me and jerked his head for me to follow.

"Oh, hell no! We are keeping it G-rated in this room! I have to sleep in here damn it." Kiba said as he steered my shoulders away from the window and Gaara.

I would have been a little ticked, had it not been for how comical they were acting. And hypocritical. Here they are saying I can't even stand next to Gaara when they all but swallow Sakura's and Hinata's face when they see them.

"Don't make us tape you guys' to chairs." Naruto threatned as he stood with his arms folded over his chest in front of Gaara.

Naruto staring down Gaara. Now that's something you don't see everyday. Usually Gaara will stare the other person down. Well, Naruto isn't actually making Gaara back down, but still, he had the guts to glare at him.

"I wanted to show her something from the window." Gaara said coolly.

"What? What were you going to show her." Naruto asked and leaned foreward slightly, as if trying to glimpse at whatever it was.

Gaara stepped in his way, earning him a frown, and replied in his calm voice, "That's for her to know."

Kiba sighed heavily and rolled his eyes while pushing me to Gaara. "It's not like he's going to jump her or anything."

"Hey! Why did you do that! What if they start slobbering all over the place now! You are so cleaning it up Kiba! I -OW!!"

Naruto rubbed the side of his head where my fist had connected and pouted at me. I looked up at him innocently and held up my fist.

"Sorry, it was being persistent. Couldn't stop it." I recieved a glare for my explanation.

Gaara wove his arms around my waist and pulled me back against him. A startled yelp erupted from me the moment I felt his chest press against my back, and my face went beet red. My heart sped up and I felt like I had swallowed a very fluttery butterfly.

"Whoa, whoa! What happened to 'I have something to show her'!" Naruto demanded and pointed an accusatory finger at Gaara.

I felt him shrug behind me. "I lied."

Kiba smacked his forehead with his hand. "Damn it."

"You're evil." Naruto frowned at Gaara.

Gaara's only response was to rest his head on my shoulder and glare at them. I relaxed -barely- and leaned back into him. Which earned me an appreciative grip tightning from Gaara.

"When Kankurou gets back in here, I am tying you to a chair." Naruto announced as he plopped onto his bed and glared at the red-head behind me. I couldn't help the goofy grin that broke across my face.

I really loved being with these guys, it was exactly what I had been missing out on my entire life up to a few months ago.

"You know, I was thinking of renting a limo for the prom Friday night. Hinata was talking about this waterfall not far from here." Kiba said offhandedly as he gazed at the wall across from him. "I thought we could go there and stay for a while then head back here for the dance."

Naruto glanced over at him. "That sounds like a good idea. Sakura likes those kinds of things too. Maybe we could pack a lunch and eat there to, huh?" Kiba nodded. "What do you think, Matsuri? You guys like to do that kind of stuff right?" Naruto asked as he sat up on his elbows and looked at me curiously.

I tilted my head and scratched my cheek absently. "Uh, sure?"

Kiba chuckled. "What kind of answer is that? You do want to go there, right?"

"I...I-I'm not going to the prom!" I answered quickly and shook my hands in front of me, as if warding of danger.

Gaara's arms gripped me harder, and I immediatly stopped moving. Kiba and Naruto were both looking at me now.

"What do you mean you're not going? Of course you are." Naruto said as he frowned at me.

Kiba nodded and moved to sit on his bed. "Gaara, that's kind of mean to not ask her, you know."

Now that I thought about it, why hadn't he asked me? Not that I was going to go anyway, I don't want to go to prom, but still. Did he not want to go with me?

I mentally punched myself. There was no need to think about stupid things like that. It's just a stupid dance. Nothing of importance at all.

"I didn't need to ask. She's going with me anyway." Gaara's deep voice answered as one of his hands started tracing unknown patterns on my stomach. I thought I was going to black out.

"Eh?" Naruto tilted his head to the side. "You're forcing her to go?"

I'm not going! I'm not going to a prom! You can't make me! Gaara Sabaku, you will not force me to go to a prom because I do not want to go and I refuse to -

"Yes."

.....Well then....I guess I'm going then aren't I? I slumped into his arms in defeat. I felt him chuckle and I wanted to hit him. He knew he had won so now he was having a grand time wasn't he? Damn it.

"Alright. Now no one can tell the girls what we are planning, okay? It will ruin it." Kiba warned and looked pointedly at me.

"What?!" I snapped.

"You're a girl and we know how much you female's like to have your gossiping times."

"You are so sexist Kiba."

"Am not."

"Are to."

"I am not!"

The door to the room opened, effectively ending our arguement, and Kankurou stepped in dragging a reluctant looking Shikamaru.

"Now we can start the games. I will win this time." he announced and promptly dropped Shikamaru onto the floor.

The male stared up at the ceiling with a frown. "You people are to troublesome."

I grinned and teased, "Ah, come on Shika. Don't make us tell Temari you find us troublesome. She might just find that offensive."

He groaned and rolled his eyes as he got to his feet. "Yeah, yeah. What are playing then."

Naruto jumped from the bed and scrambled for a game case on the ground. "It's called 'Condemned 2'. It's says on the back you have to search for a killer. So I thought it would be good for they thinking type, like Shikamaru. As for the rest of us, we can just get the shit scared out of us." he grinned.

Kiba snatched the game from Naruto and skimmed the back. He made a face and handed it to Shikamaru who popped it into the game system.

"We will deffinatly get the shit scared out of us. What the fuck are these guys on the back? They look like they got stuffed into a pool of acid."

Shikamaru shrugged as the game started. "Guess we'll find out soon."

All of us found seats close to the T.V. as someone shut off the lights and closed the curtains. The room was really dark and already I could hear odd noises and insane laughter echoing from the screen.

I scooted further into Gaara's side and sighed in relief when he draped one of his lean arms over my shoulders. That did nothing to stifle my cry of surprise and fear, though, when a very distorted man on the screen jumped out of nowhere and attacked Shikamaru's man.

In fact, all of us made some kind of noise. Kankurou going so far as to flip off the back of the bed, and Naruto scrambling behind Kiba. Even Gaara made a noise. Though I'm sure his was just a stifled laugh. When I looked up at him, he was looking at the screen with humour smoldering in his eyes. Jeez, he found humour in zombies......

Kiba kept a pillow near by for smothering Naruto if his yells got to loud, and Shikamaru sat stiffly in his seat. It was obivious he was preparing himself for the zombie 'pop-outs' that were sure to come up again.

Even though a scary game was being played, with noise that had me on edge, and characters that made me gag, I couldn't have been happier. I was a girl and yet I was part of the guys' gang. They accepted me, and it made me want to just laugh in someone's face for it.

I felt like I belonged, and the longer I sat there, the more that feeling grew and spread through me. I loved it, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I'm so sorry for the long wait, I have been so caught up in the holidays and my story 'Worth It'. But I made this a long chapter and I hope you found it funny. I know it had me laughing while writing it. But anyway, please review and let me know what you thought. See you next time!

Also, if you really want to -and you should- you could go read 'Worth It' right now. It's a really good story, at least, that's what my readers are saying. ^_^ So, please be nice and do that? Please please please please!