When I woke up, I was in my bedroom. Normally, the pale pink walls were comforting, but not this time. Hadn't I already packed everything away? I remembered distinctly going through everything that had collected in my room (old clothes that I never wore anymore, papers that I didn't need, old make-up...) and sorting it out into what I needed and didn't need for college.

Memories of what had happened - talking to the mysterious woman, Sasuke dying, graduation - suddenly flooded back to me. "Oh God." I said, and sat up too quickly. Had that all been a dream? But it had seemed so real.

So that must mean that graduating had been a dream too, then. I sighed, thinking that I must have some pretty awful senioritis if I was dreaming about graduating... oh, and my best friend dying, but I was trying really hard not to focus on that.

Groaning, I got out of bed. What day was it anyway? I had an inkling, but it couldn't be right, could it? It was just a very bad dream, I thought, It didn't happen, and you're going to see Sasuke today and everything's going to be okay. Something had changed, though. I felt eager to see Sasuke now, like I couldn't function unless I knew he was going to be okay.

I tried to maintain my composure as I got ready for school. I always tried to dress cute everyday, and today was no exception.

"Sakuraaa!" My mom called from downstairs. "If you don't leave now you're going to be late!"

"Coming!" I said, but took five minuted longer to finish touching up my make-up. It brought out my eyes nicely, I thought.

I drove to school in my mom's old car - not the one I wanted, but it was a car after all. I couldn't stop thinking about Sasuke on the way.

Even before I got to school, I knew something was wrong. Perhaps it was the fact that the weather didn't seem right for May (the month before graduation), and everyone looked different. I couldn't put my finger on it.

It wasn't until I realized that everyone inside was getting their schedules that I knew it had happened - it was the first day of my senior year again. At this realization, I felt nauseated. Suddenly, the world started to spin. I ended up on the floor with a few underclassmen around me, looking worried. "Are you okay?" one of them asked.

After an embarrassing trip to the nurse - not a good way to re-start the year, in my opinion, I finally received my schedule and began to look for Sasuke. I had to see him, and something within me couldn't believe that he could forget about me. Whatever was going on would all be fixed once I saw Sasuke.

As I searched for my best friend, I failed to notice the looks people were giving me. My old friends barely paid me any attention, but I was too busy searching for Sasuke to care.

Finally, I found him. He was in a group of our friends, laughing about something Naruto undoubtedly said. Naruto had been Sasuke's friend only a few years longer than I had, but we were equally as close. I felt relieved when I saw Sasuke whole and healthy. "Sasuke." I smiled. "Hey, how are you?"

Sasuke turned, and I realized how good he looked. I mean, I always knew he was attractive, but now I was noticing. For once in my life, I didn't see him as a just a friend. "I'm sorry," he said politely, "but do I know you?"

It felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest. "Is this a joke?" I said, even though I knew it wasn't. How could he forget?

"Hey," a pretty girl with red hair stepped forward, smirking, "that's the girl who fainted!" Karin. She must have noticed that I wasn't with Sasuke and pounced. But he didn't remember me, and from the looks I was getting from everyone else, it looked like no one else did either.

"Karin, don't be a bitch." Someone said, but I was too busy walking away.

I found myself in the bathroom crying - something that I had sworn only losers did. My philosophy was to keep a demeanor of happiness and poise when others could see you, and only show ugly emotions like fear or anger or anything that caused you to cry when you were at home.

That all changed when I realized that this wasn't a dream. What was I going to do?

It seemed like a lot of time had passed, but the bell to go to first period hadn't rung yet. I wondered if I missed it, but part of me didn't care. Reluctantly, I left the solace of the bathroom stall, and ran right into the mysterious woman that put me here in the first place.

"Aah!" I screamed, and then covered my mouth with my hand. What if someone heard? Would they think I was even more of a freak than I already was? I had never been in this position before in my life.

The woman smiled. Today she was wearing an odd black dress with an elegantly high collar. Her hair was still short and blue, and this time she had placed a flower in it. I wondered where she got her clothes. "Don't worry, Sakura. No one will hear you, nor will they come in."

"You didn't tell me that no one else would remember me." I accused, "How am I supposed to get Sasuke to love me if I'm not popular anymore?"

She was still smiling; it was a little creepy, "I didn't say that this would be easy, Sakura." She said. "In fact, for most it would be impossible."

I felt the familiar pinpricks behind my eyes that told me I was about to start crying again. "Why are you doing this?" I said finally. "What did I do-"

"What you did was save the life of your friend," she replied, not very warmly I might add, "but you have never been grateful of anything in your life. Everything you have was handed to you. This time, you will not have that advantage."

I shook my head, if she thought my life was easy-

"Oh, but it is." She said. "You've taken so many things for granted, and only focused on the bad things, Sakura."

"Did you just read my mind?" I demanded.

"In a way, yes." She answered. "I have come to remind you that your time is limited. Good luck."

"Wait," I said, "What can I call you? Do you have a name, even?"

"I have many names, but you may call me Konan." The woman said, and then she was gone.

The bell rang. I hurried to my first class unwillingly. Really, you'd think I could at least get a break. School hadn't even started officially yet and I had already fainted, lost all of my friends, and been told my some weird witch-lady that I was selfish. This really sucked.

I showed up to my first period (English, duh. It's not like I haven't already had a year of it) a minute late, but no one seemed to notice, not even the teacher as he wasn't even there yet. Kakashi, as he had us call him, always showed up late.

I began to walk to my usual seat, but then stopped, realizing that it wasn't anymore. Last year, I had sat by Ino everyday during English, and we had gossiped the whole time. Honestly, I'm surprised we even passed this class (okay, not really. I'm sort of a perfectionist and always found time to get my work done. I guess I'm really just surprised that Ino passed.) Now, I found Karin in my seat. God, was Karin taking over my life? (Okay, now I remember, Ino was totally copying my work.)

"Need anything?" Karin mocked, noticing me staring.

I blinked, not even replying. The only seat left was in the back beside this girl named Hinata. She was nice enough, I guess, but had always been a little weird. I suddenly missed Ino even more. Why couldn't Konan just make Sasuke forget about me? Why did it have to be everyone?

"Er," I said, looking at Hinata beside me. She always dressed sort of boyish - today she was wearing jeans and a dark sweatshirt. Not surprisingly, I looked down and saw her signature converse. "Hello."

Hinata's eyes met mine, she seemed a little shocked. "H-hello." she replied, and returned to the book she was reading. I looked closer, and saw that it was Pride and Prejudice. I loved Jane Austen, and sometimes wished that Ino would care about something more than clothes or who was dating to talk about books with me, but alas. It was sort of a secret that I was also into reading. Only Sasuke knew, and now he had forgotten.

I guess I could have tried striking up a conversation with Hinata about what she was reading, but I didn't bother. Obviously if I wanted to get closer to Sasuke I would have to get back into his (previously our) circle of friends. That didn't involve Hinata.

Also, I just didn't feel like talking to anyone. To my surprise, Kakashi hadn't entered the room yet. Was he always this late? I guess I never paid attention. I looked over at Ino to see that she was currently talking to Karin, Naruto, Kiba and Ami. Sasuke wasn't in this class, thankfully. I would have time to prepare to see him again.

I watched my old friends interact, and my confidence faded. Suddenly, everything seemed hopeless.

The rest of the day didn't go much better. I had four classes with Sasuke: AP Bio, AP Psychology, Calculus, and Government. I had Art IV too, but it was just a class I had been put into because of a scheduling conflict. Honestly, I was a little nervous. Last year I had been in French IV (probably the worst class ever, I suck at learning languages other than English for some reason, even if it's my fourth year). But now I was in art, and not just regular freshman art, but advanced art where all of the hardcore kids were.

So I was a little intimidated.

I did, however, manage to snag a spot by Sasuke in Calculus. It didn't mean he actually talked to me, but it was a start. I would work on that.

Lunch turned out to be a whole new challenge of its own. I never realized how it feels to have nowhere to sit - it was like the story in this book I read once where this culture used to punish people by exile. They just completely stopped talking to them or acknowledging. It wasn't long until the exiled person died.

Okay, so maybe I didn't have it as bad, but it was still mortifying to realize that my usual spot by Ino and Sasuke was taken and I would have to join Hinata at her table (thankfully, Hinata was nice enough to let me sit by her). I sat there the whole time awkwardly as Hinata discussed some sort of art technique with her friend Tenten. Others at the table included Shino Aburame and Rock Lee.

"Hello, you're Sakura Haruno." Rock Lee said, just about as soon as I had sat down.

"Uh, yeah." I replied, not sure how to answer. At the time I couldn't remember his name. "What was your name again?"

Throughout the period, I found my attention turning to Sasuke, who was now smiling at something Naruto was saying. How was he going on without me? It was like I didn't even exist. I had to remind myself that I didn't - at least to him.

Art was a surprise. After a brief introduction, Deidara just told us to get to an easel and start sketching. He laid out a few items that included (but were not limited to) pictures of the hallway, scissors, one of those wooden dolls artists use, and a cow skull. Ew, is all I have to say to that last one. "This is just to give you more practice on shading and dimension before we start on the first project of the year." he had said, and then just tuned us loose.

Tentatively, I chose a vase with a single flower in it. It was pink, my favorite color. Really, how hard could this be?

"Sakura Haruno." Deidara was suddenly behind me.

I twitched a little, how did he get there so fast?

"I know you're new to this class," he said coolly, looking me over, "and I was reluctant to put you in, although there weren't any other options." He sighed, as if me being put into his class was a huge hassle. "But you've proven to be a good student, so I allowed it. I know you're not as advanced as the students in this class, but I expect you to work just as hard as them to keep up."

"Er, okay." I said, a little shocked. I never knew people actually took art this seriously. To me it had always seemed like just a hobby.

Deidara seemed to accept this response, because he nodded. "I'll evaluate your art at the end of class to get a feel of what level you're currently at."

Good luck with that, was all I could think. I had never actually tried drawing that much, besides when it was required and in doodles in the margins of my papers. Shrugging, I got to work.

It was actually really relaxing, just concentrating on the lines of the flower, and then the details once I had gotten the shape... it wasn't long before I was focused completely on my art. In the background, Deidara had turned on some sort of classical music in the background, I guess to help us concentrate.

"Okay, we have five minutes until the bell rings." Deidara said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

Hinata looked over at my sketch of the flower - I hadn't even realized she had been beside me. "That looks good." She noted, to my surprise. "Is this your first time drawing?"

"Sort of." I replied, wondering if she really meant it. I had done some painting in my room as a hobby, but it was just out of boredom and because it relieved stress. I wondered, is that why I ended up in this class?

Deidara nodded, "Impressive, for someone with as much experience as you." He hesitated a little. "Obviously there's a lot of work to be done, but it's good enough for today."

To my surprise, after being praised by them, I immediately felt better.

I didn't talk to Sasuke much for the rest of the week. Well, I did sometimes, but all I got was a polite response before he returned to whatever else he was doing. This was strange for me - I was used to him being busy constantly, but whenever I needed something he would always put his work down and listen patiently.

I guess eight years of friendship would do that for you. Now that I had lost it, I was just like those other girls that were always trying to catch his attention.

God, I was just like Karin.

I realized, in the middle of peering at Sasuke sneakily throughout the day, that I would have to try harder. And in the meantime, I would have to start making friends.

A/N: Okay, so here's the second chapter of my newest fanfiction! Yippee! Anyways, I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed so far, I really appreciate it! You'll probably notice that Sakura is different in this one (as compared to my other fanfiction "The Promise")... haha.

As you can probably (maybe) tell, I don't know a lot about art, so if you find any wrong information, feel free to tell me! ;) I'm doing my best, but I might end up using wrong information/terminology at some point, so that would be appreciated. :)

Please tell me what you think!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.