Hi there, everyone!
It's been quite a few months, I know that... It's been necessary for me to have a break from Make Believe, though. And it has worked, too! Because when I started writing this chapter, I realised how easy it was all of a sudden-way easier than a few months ago. I guess I needed some time to solve my own problems before I made my characters solve theirs. (:

I hope you like this chapter!

And LOADS of thanks to Twinkletoast, too, for beta-ing like always, and also for telling me that a reader had actually asked her about Make Believe on her FACEBOOK PAGE, and that the story must mean a lot to you guys. So dear readers, thanks a LOT for all of the support, the favourites and the sweet reviews... I know I may not reply at times, but please know that I notice every single favourite, alert and review, and that they make me so happy!

Love,

Springflake

Wednesday.

Naruto hated Wednesdays. Especially the grey, wet ones just after summer vacation. He stared at the rain drops sliding down his window, trying to make them evaporate with his heated glare. He hated rain, too. Not that it didn't suit his particularly bad mood or anything. Because they went together pretty well, he figured. It was just that it reminded him of somebody he'd once almost kissed on the football field.

He groaned, lifting his hand up only to slap it against his face, using quite a lot of force, actually.

Why was he such an idiot? He fucked everything up! Why'd he even agree with Ino's plan, anyway? Pretending to befriend someone and then laughing at them behind their back? Yeah, that'd have been a laugh!

Ha-ha.

Yeah, how old was he now? Seven?

Or three, more like it.

Freakin' Ino with her freakin' plans.

He couldn't even remember why he had befriended Ino in the first place, to be honest. When he thought about it, there was nothing particularly appealing about her. Yeah, he supposed she was attractive. So what? She was a proper bitch to just about everyone except her friends, she had the intelligence of a sack of potatoes, she had the worst laugh ever... And Naruto wasn't even joking. Imagine a sea lion/donket hybrid. Now imagine the sound it makes.

Yeah, painful.

Even after the disaster with Sakura, the summer vacation had been complete torture. He hadn't wanted to go to France with Ino and Sasuke-he was still pissed off as shit with them-but they'd forced him to come anyway. (''Because you're the only reason Hinata's coming. And if she doesn't come, Kiba and Shino won't come. And if they don't come, Shikamaru'll probably bail out too-besides, I want you to come, Naru!'') He'd mostly spent his time moping around the place, really, and his friends all had stayed out of his way.

After he'd gotten back, things hadn't been much better. He frequented... well, nowhere, honestly, save for the comfort of his living room couch, on which he lay sprawled with a blanket over his head. Any time he'd felt good enough to go outside he'd taken short trips to the supermarket across the street to get sodas. Or he'd just lie on his roof, although that wasn't his favourite place anymore... The sun had beat far too harshly on the brick tiles, heating them up so much that his back had begun to burn. His skin was not the only thing that burned when he lay on the shingled roof–when he lay there, along with his thoughts, he would remember the time when she and he had… His face burned with shame upon remembering her face, her voice, the way he had enjoyed her being there, and then the way the tears rolled down her face when she found out the truth. Reminiscing… it made him feel lonelier than ever.

He huffed once more and tilted his head to rest against the window, closing his eyes against the depressingly dull city view.

How'd things ever get this messed up, anyway? One moment he was on top of the world: popular, rich, a pretty good football player-and the next thing he knew, all his friends annoyed him to death and the school outcast was the person who he, for some reason, couldn't stop thinking about.

Sakura.

He'd hoped six weeks of summer vacation would be enough for him to get his act together and stop seeing her desperate, miserable expression every time he closed his eyes, and stop remembering every single conversation they'd ever had and every crazy face that girl could make.

To stop himself when, again, he tried to draw her smile from his memory or laughed at some thing he remembered she'd said. He couldn't fight these sudden waves of nostalgia. He could only sit quietly and wait for them to pass.

Because they'd have to at some point, right?

He didn't mind being alone in his apartment, really. He wanted to sulk in peace, but that wasn't much of a possibility with his friends buzzing about around him. Being left to his own devices- that was all that he desired. And being around people who were so happy all the time only drove that desire deep within him.

The one thing worse than feeling miserable was feeling miserable when everyone around you is fucking ecstatic. And everyone was- or at least it felt so to Naruto. Everywhere he looked were people with goofy smiles listening to crappy summer-themed music and licking ice cream cones, dancing and hopping around as if there was nothing better to do, as if oblivious to his comparative suffering and self-antagonism.

School wasn't a problem for Naruto's need to be alone. Even though his senior year had started two days ago, he'd decided not to go. He figured that until the dean started suspecting that his 'acute pneumonia' wasn't as acute as Naruto-ahem, Naruto's guardian, whose voice sounded a bit high pitched due to a cold-had claimed.

A loud buzz echoed throughout the empty apartment, jarring Naruto from his thoughts and resulting in his head colliding against the window.

''Fuck!'' he hissed, clamping his hand around the sore spot on his forehead as he made his way to the phone. Peering at the small monitor above it, he could see somebody very familiar standing at the door.

Sasuke.

As much as he felt like just pretending he wasn't home, he felt obliged to answer (albeit not very warmly). ''Hey.''

''Naruto, can I come up? It's pouring!''

''I'd like to let you, man, but it seems like the door's stuck or something,'' he lied.

He could see the tiny figure on the screen pulling his hood farther down his face. There were a few seconds of silence before Sasuke said, ''I talked to Sakura.''

Naruto almost dropped the telephone. ''Okay.'' He managed to splutter, hoping that Sasuke hadn't heard the strange crack in his voice.

A pause.

''Don't you wanna know about it?'' Sasuke inquired, his voice barely rising in inflection.

He was probably sick of standing in the rain.

Feigning indifference, Naruto said, ''Fine. What about?''

''I said she should talk to you again.''

Naruto rolled his eyes. ''I tried that. Did she hit you?''

Sasuke cleared his throat. ''I think I fled just in time.''

''Lucky bastard. She's got a mean punch.''

Sasuke shuffled a bit in his spot and tucked his hands in his pockets. ''Hey, I think I'm gonna go. I'm all wet.''

Naruto watched him turn around, feeling slightly conflicted. Sasuke had pretty much encouraged him to go along with Ino's stupid plan. At the other hand, it had mostly been his own fault to begin with. And he had just told him he'd tried to get Sakura to stop ignoring him. Although even trying had been a bit, well, dumb, to say the least.

Sighing, Naruto pushed the button that opened up the door to the building. On the screen, he could see Sasuke's head snap around.

''Guess the door isn't stuck anymore,'' he said, a hint of amusement in his voice.

''Guess so.'' Naruto replied.

Minutes later, both were sitting in Naruto's living room, Sasuke cautious to touch any of the wrappings and spilt food littered on the couch and floor (who knew how long they'd been there?), and Naruto really not giving a crap.

''Planning on coming to school anytime soon?'' Sasuke asked the blond, standing up to open up a window. He didn't care if it was raining; anything was better than the musty air inside.

''Not sure, mum. Why, anyone miss me?''

''You mean that miserable, sulking ass lying around in his own filth all day? Nope, nobody misses him.'' Sasuke smirked, earning a groan from Naruto.

''Shut up.''

Sasuke said, ''Why? It's been two months! You can't just stay inside moping forever. Look at this place, it's filthy!'' Naruto looked around his apartment and took notice-for the first time, strangely-how horrible it looked. It hadn't been vacuumed in ages, and the carpet was covered in empty beer and coke cans, pizza boxes and other empty packages that had formerly held food. And now that he took a closer look-was that ketchup on the ceiling? ''You can't honestly feel happy being like this. Ino's worried about you-''

''Right, she's probably just worried people will see me like this and think she's got something to do with it.''

''That's not fair, man. You can't blame her.''

''Of course I can! She talked me into tricking Sakura!'' Naruto's voice rose, ''She dragged me into this mess!''

There was a moment of silence. ''Love sucks, right?'' Sasuke asked him, innocently.

''Right.''

More silence.

''Wait, WHAT?'' Naruto burst out as finally his friend's words sunk in. ''I am not in love with Sakura.''

''Dude.'' Sasuke said simply, arching an eyebrow at him. Naruto snorted and stood up.

''I'll get us some soda from the shop across the street. What do you want?''

''Right, just walk away from everything. That worked the first time.'' Sasuke said, but as Naruto opened the front door he yelled, ''Bring me Sprite!''

Naruto cursed as he closed the door of the building behind him. He'd forgotten to bring a jacket with him.

Upon deciding that going up once more to retrieve one wasn't worth hearing another once of Sasuke's preachings, he decided to cross the street in a rush and get to the store. Visible through the dark rainy clouds was a streak of orange, indicating that the sun had already begun to set. How late was it, anyway? Moping around sure did take the time out of the day.

The store was actually pretty big for a supermarket in the middle of town and for being arbitrarily situated in a street full of high-end, expensive shops. Shops like Gucci and whatever. Vaguely, he wondered why chicks insisted on spending hundreds of bucks on something that could cost only five. But then again, he didn't really care.

He burst through the doors of the supermarket and immediately raked a hand through his hair, sending droplets of rain splashing in the faces of other customers. He hardly took notice of this, though, and slowly-there was no harm in stalling a bit-made his way over to the sodas in the last aisle of the store. Had he looked over at the cash desks, he would have noticed a pink-haired girl sitting behind a cash register flinch at the sight of him and duck frantically, observing him through widened green eyes.

Oblivious to his surroundings, Naruto grabbed a 1,5 litre bottle of Coca-Cola for himself (so he might have a tiny Coca-Cola addiction, sue him,) and a can of Sprite for Sasuke (he might have taken a bottle, if Sasuke hadn't been such a know-it-all ass,) and went to pay for it all.

When he had been standing in the line for a few minutes, though, he changed his mind and walked into the snack aisle to grab a bag of chips. Then, as he examined the different labels on each package and tried to decide between barbeque and cheese onion, he heard a voice that made him freeze up immediately.

''I'm serious! Is he gone?''

Naruto ducked underneath the nearest shelve and tried peering into the aisle next to his. All he could make out was a tall blonde woman, but he was certain she wasn't the one that had spoken. He would recognise that voice anywhere.

''Alright, alright. How'd you say he looks?''

''Tall guy, my age, blond hair.''

A few seconds of silence, then, ''Nope, I think he's gone. Why, who is he?''

''Just... Someone I can't stand. Janine, are you sure he isn't there?''

''I think I saw him standing at the cash desks earlier. He's probably gone. Geez, freak out much?''

''Sorry, it's just... I'm done working, and I really don't want to run into him.''

Naruto had a malicious smirk on his face as Sakura uttered this last sentence. This must be a sign. He'd never get a chance like this again!

Suddenly frantic, he dumped the bottles he'd wanted to buy on one of the chips shelves and speedwalked out of the store to wait for Sakura. It only had one exit, and if she wanted to ever go home, she'd have to walk by him.

Naruto was so hyped up that he didn't even notice that the main point of the conversation between Sakura and the girl she'd been talking with was that she didn't want to see him. Or, you know, he didn't care enough.

Because even though he was fairly certain she would rejecting him again, he had to make things right. He'd rather poke one of his eyes out with a fork than just let her forget him.

Hypothetically speaking, of course.

''Sakura!'' he yelled when finally, after what felt like ages, he saw her exiting the store, carrying a polka-dotted umbrella. She visibly froze on the spot. It didn't occur to him that it might have been smarter to approach her a bit less frantically. Sakura turned around slowly, eyes huge and-well, dark. Really dark. And not just her eyes, but all of the make-up she wore, her clothes, her expression. Everything about her and on her was dark. His jaw dropped.

He quickly overcame his shock when he saw her stepping back, her mouth opening and closing again. ''Wh-''

''No, wait!'' he uttered dumbly, making the mistake to grab her by the shoulder. Her eyes snapped down to his tanned hand and back to him. They quickly filled up with tears. Or at least, that's what Naruto thought had happened. Something akin to sadness had flickered in her eyes, if only for a moment. And now she was angry.

''Don't touch me,'' she spat. The umbrella she carried blocked the already small amount of light there was, making it even harder for Naruto to read her expression. Shocked because of her fierce reaction, he did remove his hand.

He looked up just in time to see her run away, water splashing up her legs with every step.

When Naruto closed the door to his apartment behind him and trudged into his living room, he felt gloomier than ever. He eyed Sasuke tiredly as he sat down on the couch. Sasuke turned the volu

me of the tv show he was watching down and looked at the wet trail Naruto's sneakers had left on the carpet.
''Do I want to know?'' he asked, his gaze shifting over to his blond friend, who had leaned back and let his forearm dangle over his eyes.

''Nope.'' Silence followed his reply and briefly, Naruto wondered if he was being let off the hook.

''How about the drinks?''

Naruto gave an annoyed grunt. Obviously, he wasn't. ''I don't want to talk about it.''

''Honestly, I'm just thirsty,'' he defended innocently. ''But if you want to tell me, be my guest.''

Naruto groaned once more and dragged himself up from the couch to put on some dry clothing.

''Let me guess,'' Sasuke said now, his tone different from the one he'd used earlier. Not mocking, but stern. ''You ran into Sakura, basically ambushed her, freaked her out, caused her to run off, and now you're just whining.''

Naruto stood still for a moment, his jaw dropping. Then he snapped, ''Fuck off,'' and stomped over to his bedroom.
When he emerged again it was dark out and it had stopped raining. The windows were open, causing the room to be filled with that fresh scent that always comes with heavy rainfall. When Naruto's eyes darted to the couch, he found Sasuke sprawled out on it, stuffing his mouth with fistfuls of microwave popcorn he'd probably found in the kitchen. He didn't bother to look up at his friend, keeping his eyes glued onto the television screen.

''What's on?'' Naruto tried.

''It's a show about an idiot losing the girl he's in love with because he's too busy feeling sorry for himself,'' Sasuke explained innocently.

Naruto looked at the television, only to see that Sasuke was actually watching a cooking show. ''Dick,'' he muttered, plopping down on a chair.

''You know I'm right.''

Naruto pretended he was very interested in the mustard and honey soup the cook on the screen was making.
Sasuke didn't speak again, which, for some reason, annoyed Naruto. Was he so sick of feeling sorry for himself that he liked getting all of his own faults thrown in his face?

He wasn't saying Sasuke was right. Because he wasn't.

Or maybe he was.

Shit.

''So what am I supposed to do?'' Naruto sighed in defeat, ruffling a hand through his loose hair-it hadn't been spiked in it's usual fashion for some time.

''No more excuses, man. You want her, she wants you. Go do something about it.''

Naruto was about to deny 'wanting' Sakura, but he stopped himself. Because for the first time, he realised what utter bullshit that was.

He did want her. He liked-no, he loved her. Everything about her. He loved her crazy faces, her sarcastic sense of humour, her insane mood swings, her obsession with sunsets, her courage, her friendliness, the way she stopped blinking almost entirely when she was reading a book she really liked, the way everything she wore seemed to be just one size too small on her, her love of coffee, her beautiful green eyes, the way she would stand on her tip toes when she was angry, her horrible singing, the scar on her forehead she'd once gotten during a school trip, how she was genuinely interested in his art, the way her smile would light up the room. Everything.

Just everything.

And He was willing to fight for her.

The truth settled into his stomach suddenly, and then he knew. Her anger didn't mean she never wanted to see him again. It just meant that he had hurt her. That she was still hurt.

And if she was still hurt, that meant that she wasn't over him.

It wasn't too late.

''If you leave, lock the door, will you?'' Naruto said, standing up abruptly.

''Sure,'' Sasuke said, grinning.

''Oh, and thanks!'' came the scream from the hallway after Naruto sprinted out of the room.

''Shut up and run!'' Sasuke yelled back.

The front door slammed shut.