Chapter 5
…
It was Monday, another reason to be afraid. I finally did it, I had written in the school magazine about Sasuke's dislike for sweets. I knew that was too small for me to worry about, but I worried anyway.
I couldn't say I was in love with him after the date we had on Saturday, but I couldn't say that I didn't feel anything for him, either.
So I decided to hide from him. Again. When he walked through the halls, I hid in the girl's bathroom. While he ate in the lunch room, I ate in the school yard. And when we had classes together, I pretended to be both blind and mute.
.
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Meanwhile, in the popular girls' most secret place—like they didn't already know it wasn't that secret anymore—they sat together in a circle, talking about the new discovery: the fact that Sasuke didn't like sweet things.
"So, it's settled then. We are now officially Sasuke's fan girls," Ino said to the rest of the group. They all agreed.
"I still can't accept that those dorky journalists got information about Sasuke before we did!" Sakura fumed.
"Yeah. Me, too," Jin agreed with her.
"If there was anything about him to be found out, I would be the first to find it," Sakura insisted. "That's why I think all this is fake."
"Guys," Karin looked around at the others, a little bulb clicking on in her head, "we could use this to our advantage."
"How?" Ino asked.
"If the gossip section nerd is telling the truth, we could gain Sasuke's affection be using this valued information."
When did a person's taste buds suddenly become valued information? I thought.
"You mean Icould gain Sasuke's affection," Sakura remarked confidently.
"Oh yeah? I'm going to make Sasuke ask me out to the dance next week," Ino asserted, and both she and Sakura pouted, taking opposite directions and stomping out.
"Guys!" Karin ran after them.
.
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I sighed in relief. I had managed to dodge Sasuke for a whole day. I shoved my books into my locker.
"Hey."
I froze.
"I didn't do it!" I blurted out.
Sasuke raised a brow. "What?" he asked.
"N-nothing," I looked at my shoes. "H-how are you?"
"Hn," Sasuke grunted, shrugging his shoulders. "Hinata, will you-"
"Hey, new kid!" Kiba strutted over to us. He looked like he was about to strangle Sasuke. "You don't mind if I steal Hinata for a moment, do you?"
"Hn," was all Sasuke said in response.
What does that mean? I wondered.
"Talk to you later," he told me.
As soon as Sasuke left, Kiba demanded, "What was he saying to you?"
"I d-don't know," I said truthfully.
.
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I changed into my sportswear for P.E period.
"Now listen up, youthful people!" Guy-sensei called to us with a wide grin on his face. "The team captains are Tenten and Sakura! Pick your teams!"
Progressively, Tenten and Sakura picked their teams, until only me and Karou were left, praying we don't get picked last. And I totally understood why no one wanted to pick me. I sucked at sports, I was too slow and I had wobbly legs. Karou simply couldn't throw. She had knocked down one of her teammates during a game, and the girl had to be rushed to the hospital.
"I pick…um…Hinata," Tenten finally said.
.
.
We were down two points and Tenten was getting frustrated.
"PASS THE BALL, CLARA!" Tenten shouted for the umpteenth time. I had never seen her this angry before, and I had to admit that right then, I was a bit scared of her. After bouncing the ball for what seemed like an hour, Clara finally passed to Tenten.
I just stood there. It was not like anyone noticed, anyway. It was not like they were going to pass to me, anyway.
Tenten played, almost scored. Sakura got the ball instead, and Tenten mistakenly threw the ball to me.
What the…
I had to score. I almost did it.
"Hey, baggy!" Sakura called. I had a feeling she was talking to me, so I looked back. Big mistake. "You actually think you're going to score? Even if you do, it's not going to change anything!"
Those words hurt me more that I could even imagine. Never mind the fact that she was actually talking about me scoring, all I kept thinking of was the magazine. I wanted that to change everything, but she was right. Nothing changed.
Everyone went silent, to see if I would actually score. I knew Tenten said something, but I did not care to listen. I backed away from the net, facing Sakura. She was right: scoring a goal would not change anything.
I threw the ball at Sakura, I hit her head, and she went flying backwards to the ground. All her teammates ran to help up a very angry Sakura, and it was obvious she had a broken nose.
"You will pay for that!" Sakura yelled, picking up the ball that hit her and standing up. She readied her stance.
Oh no, I panicked.
Smash.
.
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I woke up in the nurse's office. My head was throbbing. I turned to get up, and I noticed Sasuke sitting in the chair next to me.
"W-what happened?" I asked, trying to get up, but I failed miserably at it. I lied back down with a grunt.
"You got knocked out by Sakura," he said simply.
Wait, what is he doing here?
"Oh…," and that's when I realized how short my sportswear was.
"Good, you're awake!" the nurse said, as she walked into the room. Looking between Sasuke and me, she smiled, "Oh, isn't this cute!"
"N-no, it's not… w-we're not…," it felt like déjà vu.
"Guess I don't have to wait anymore," Sasuke got up and walked out the door, his expression unreadable.
Somehow, I didn't want him to leave.
"Bye!" the nurse said cheerfully. Turning to me, she asked, "So, are you ready to go home?"
"Y-yes," I got up. "When did classes end?"
"About an hour ago."
So Sasuke waited here for an hour?
"T-thanks."
"Bye!" she waved. "And don't come back again!"
.
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I got inside biology class the next day when I heard my phone beep. It was a text from Tenten.
"How are you feeling?"her text read.
"Good, how was the game?"I texted her back.
"Not the same without you. Listen, I heard Sakura and her girls are planning to get back at you somehow…"
Oh.
"…So watch your back."
"Okay I will."I put the phone away.
.
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Meanwhile, I noticed that Sasuke wasn't in school the whole day.
And I also noticed the dresses both Ino and Sakura wore were extra short today, and a disappointed look was on their faces when Sasuke didn't show up.
"How did you do it?" Kiba asked suddenly, joining me from nowhere.
"Do what?" I asked, pretending not to know what he was talking about. Kiba was the only one I felt I could talk with, and I rarely stammered around him.
"I mean, how did you get that information out of the new kid?" he clarified. New kid, like Sasuke was some kind of disease.
"Shhh, don't talk so loud," I shushed him. "I don't want people to know I'm the editor for the gossip section." Even though I didn't like the fact that I couldn't say what I did out loud, or the fact that I was using people's secrets to make something out of my section, I still loved the sound of editor on my tongue.
"What's so bad if people actually find out who writes the gossip section they love so much?" Kiba demanded, but in a low tone. "Think of all the perks you'll get once they find out," he encouraged me.
The truth was, I didn't want perks.I just wanted to write. And besides, if everyone found out, I was going to get more hates than I likes. Not just from Sasuke's fan girls, but also from Sasuke, and some other people who adored their privacy. And the last person I wanted to hate me was Sasuke.
"I didn't know your cousin and Tenten were dating," Kiba snapped me away from my thoughts.
Neji and Tenten?
"Hinata!" Tenten ran over to us.
"Tenten," I said in surprise.
"Nice, Tenten. Once, you were at the losers' table, and now you're hanging out with the jerk itself," Kiba said jokingly, but inside I knew he wasn't. Kiba had been on the sports' team before, but once Neji had been appointed captain, he had kicked Kiba out for some reason. Apart from that, we didn't hang out together just because we hated the popular people. But that was before.
"I'm right here, you know?" Neji stepped beside Tenten, and he immediately jumped to the defensive, "And we aren't dating. We're just friends."
"Right," Kiba droned sarcastically.
"Okay, got to go to class! See you later, Hinata," Tenten rushed off, sensing the stale air.
"Y-yeah. Me, too," I said my goodbyes. I didn't want to be there when they fought either.
.
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I walked to my locker and I found someone in front of it, like he was waiting for me.
"S-Sasuke?" I realized it was him as I got closer. That was when I noticed he didn't look happy at all. I later found out the reason why.
Sasuke was reading what looked like the school magazine. That's when he acknowledged my existence by looking up at me, and at that moment, my heart stopped. He looked hurt.
Oh god.
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I wanted to give a special thanks to Slytherstein for editing the story for me.