She heard laughter. At another table, someone yelled, "Way to go, Naruto!"
She whipped her head around to see her friend Naruto Uzumaki standing behind her, a mischievous grin on his face. "Gotcha," he said, letting go of her shoulder.
Naruto pulled out the chair next to Sakura's and lowered himself over its back. His best friend, Sasuke Uchiha, slammed his bookbag onto the table and then sat down next to Ino.
Naruto and Sasuke looked so much alike, they could of been brothers. Both were tall and thin, one with straight blonde hair, the other with straight black hair, which they usually hid under their headbands. Both had dark blue eyes and goofy grins. Both wore faded Both wore faded jeans and dark-colored, long-sleeved T-shirts.
And both of them loved to scare Sakura. They loved to startle her, to make her jump and shriek.
They spent hours dreaming up new ways to frighten her.
She vowed every time that she would never - never - fall for one of their stupid tricks again.
But so far, they had own every time.
Sakura always threatened to pay them back. But in all the time they'd been friends, she hadn't been able to think of anything good enough.
Sasuke reached for the remaining chips in Ino's bag. She playfully slapped his hand away. "Get your own."
Naruto held a crinkled hunk of aluminum foil under Sakura's nose. "Want a sandwich? I don't want it.
Sakura sniffed it suspiciously. "What kind is it? I'm starving!"
"It's a turkey sandwich. Here," Naruto said, handing it to Sakura. "It's too dry. My mom forgot the mayo. You want it?"
"Yeah, sure, Thanks!" Sakura exclaimed. She took the sandwich from him and peeled back the aluminum foil. Then she took a big bite of the sandwich.
As she started to chew, she realized that both Naruto and Sasuke were staring at her with big grins on their faces.
Something tasted funny. Kind of sticky and sour.
Sakura stopped chewing.
Sasuke and Naruto were laughing now. Ino looked confused.
Sakura uttered a disgusted groan and spit the chewed-up sandwich hunk into a napkin. Then she pulled the the bread apart - and saw a big brown worm resting on top of the turkey.
"Ohh!" With a moan, she covered her face with her hands.
The room erupted with laughter. Cruel laughter.
"I ate a worm. I-I'm going to be sick!" Sakura groaned. She jumped to her feet and stared angrily at Naruto. "How could you!" she demanded. "It isn't funny. It's - It's - "
"It isn't a real worm," Sasuke said. Naruto was laughing too hard to talk.
"Huh?" Sakura gazed down at it and felt a wave of nausea rise up from her stomach.
"It isn't real. It's rubber. Pick it up," Sasuke said, grinning.
Sakura hesitated.
Kids all through the vast room were whispering and pointing at her. And laughing.
"Go ahead. It isn't real. Pick it up," Sasuke said, grinning.
Sakura reached down with two fingers and reluctantly picked the brown worm from the sandwich. It felt warm and sticky.
"Gotcha again!" Sasuke said with a laugh.
It was real! A real worm!
With a horrified cry, Sakura tossed the worm at Sasuke, who was laughing wildly. Then she leapt away from the table, knocking the chair over. As the chair clattered noisily against the hard floor, Sakura covered her mouth and ran gagging from the lunchroom.
I can still taste it! she thought.
I can still taste the worm in my mouth!
I'll pay them back for this, Sakura thought bitterly as she ran.
I'll pay them back. I really will.
As she pushed through the double doors and hurtled toward the girls' room, the cruel laughter followed her across the hall.