Praying that it wouldn't fall off this time, I opened the door to my mothers piece of crap mini van and stepped out of the car, pausing to see if my mother would say anything.

"I'll be here to pick you up at noon."

Responding with only a nod, I closed the door and made my way into the school. Boy was I excited, these were going to be the most amazing four hours of my life. Ha. Yeah right, more like the most excruciatingly boring four hours of my life. I hoped there wouldn't be many kids serving Saturday school today, the last thing I needed was for the entire student body to find out I had been caught ditching in a bathroom stall by our janitor. I could only imagine what Karin would say, "Oh she wasn't ditching, she was just afraid she would pee her pants again if she left the bathroom." I would never hear the end of it.

I walked as slowly as I possibly could, trying to prolong my journey to the dreaded four hours that awaited me, the sound of my dragging feet being the only sound in the hallway. It was quite strange being in school when it was practically empty, it was like a completely different place, but it was also refreshing. There were no feet sticking out to trip me, there was nothing being thrown in my direction, and there were no packs of giggling girls. If only school could be like this everyday.

When I reached the library, I paused at the doorway, peeking in to see how many kids were there.

That was strange, there was no one in there. Was I early? I pulled my cell phone out of my bag, checking the time. 7:54. Nope, I was definitely on time. So where was everyone? Surely I wasn't the only person who had gotten Saturday school this week, I was never that lucky. I poked my head in again, and that's when I noticed the figure with the mop of red hair sitting at the very back table of the library, glaring me down.

Oh God. How could I have forgotten? No wonder there was no one here. Gaara was serving Saturday school. Anyone with a functioning brain would take the consequences of skipping Saturday school over sitting in a room with Gaara for four consecutive hours. It just wasn't safe.

And now he was glaring at me. At me.

What had I done to deserve this?

Acting like I wasn't scared out of my mind, I stepped into the library, ignoring the fact that Gaara was still glaring at me.

"Ah, Ms. Watanabe, glad to see you're on time", came the voice of my principal, who I hadn't noticed was also in the library.

"Errr... yeah."

"Please take a seat so we can get started."

Every table was open, except for the one which Gaara occupied.

I wasn't sure where to sit. If I sat too close to Gaara he might harass me, but if I sat too far he might get offended. I weighed the options in my head. Get harassed, or get beaten to a pulp for offending him?

"Sometime today Ms. Watanabe," my principal said while giving me a stern stare.

"S-sorry sir."

I opted for the possibility of getting harassed over getting beaten to a pulp, and sat at the table next to the one where Gaara was sitting, and still glaring at me.

"Now, as you both know, you will be here for four hours, until noon. All school rules apply while you're here, and I don't want the two of you conversing, this isn't social hour. I'll be in my office right across the hall, so if there's any funny business going on, I'll know. I'll be back to check on the two of you in half an hour, I suggest you use your time wisely."

And with that, our principal took his leave, and the scariest four hours of my life began.


It had only been ten minutes since our principal had left, and all I'd done was have a staring contest with my desk, and lost miserably.

Under Gaara's glare I was too afraid to do anything, I was too afraid he would notice the slight shaking of my hands, or the layer of perspiration that coated my forehead. I decided to sit on my hands, in a futile attempt to get them to stop shaking, and laid my head on the table. This was hopeless; Gaara was like a predator, I was sure he could smell my fear.

There was no way I could spend the next three hours and fifty minutes of my life sitting on my hands, sweating like a pig, and jumping at every noise. If I did, I would surely have a heart attack. I had to get him to stop glaring at me. So I did the only thing I could think of.

I removed my hands from under my thighs, lifted my head, and looked him in the eyes.

"What is it like to be a badass?"

Oh god. Oh no. What the hell was I thinking?!

For a moment he looked surprised. Surprised that someone as socially retarded as myself had, had the audacity to ask him such a ridiculous question. I couldn't blame him. I was just as surprised.

He grunted in a sarcastic manner, mumbled an almost inaudible "Idiot", and turned away from me.

I couldn't believe it. I had succeeded in getting him to stop glaring at me (for now). And I, Tomomi Watanabe, had spoken to Gaara. And without needing a trip to the hospital. This day was getting weirder and weirder.

Feeling much better with Gaara's gaze in another direction, I grabbed a pencil and a few sheets of paper out of my bag to start working on my essay. I thought for a few minutes of all the possible things I could write about. I had three options.

My first option was to write about what I really thought, which was how stupid this essay was, and that there was no way I could guarantee I would never ditch again. Or about how ditching was a good thing for a student every once in awhile. It's not like I had been ditching to go get high or have sex, or anything stupid like that, I had just needed a break. Everyone needed a break sometimes. I was sure our principal had ditched in his days and probably for less innocent reasons. I couldn't write about any of those things though, I would just get into more trouble, and I was far too much of a coward to risk that.

My second option was to write about why I had really ditched, but I knew that would open up a whole new can of worms, one that I wasn't sure I was quite ready to open up yet: why I was such a coward.

My third and final option was to make up some bullcrap excuse about how I hadn't finished my paper on time and had not been ready to give a presentation.

I chose the the third option. Go figure.


I was about halfway done with my essay when it happened, when Gaara asked me a question.


A/N: Ooooh, I wonder what he's going to ask her :P

Anyways, if you like this or have any constructive criticism, please review or message me. Thank you to the people who reviewed the last chapter.^^