Chapter Text
Sakura is looking at her, excitedly, expectantly.
Hinata smiles as she hums in thought. “I think I can go. I can’t stay for all of Saturday, but I can do Friday night and Saturday morning.”
Her viridian eyes light up in joy. “Great! We can all go down together when school ends!”
“Okay,” she nods. “Thank you for inviting me,” she adds, considering that she and Sakura had only gotten close this school year. “Who else is going?”
“I’m inviting Ino, Kiba, and Choji…” Sakura counts off on her fingers.
Boys are coming! Hinata tries to not look as surprised as she feels. Sakura is more confident than she is, less shy and reserved. It really shouldn’t be a surprise. But to a sleepover at a beach house...
At least she’s close friends with Kiba. And Choji is really nice.
“And I’m inviting Karui and Fuu.”
Hinata nods. She met them for the first time during Winter Break at Sakura’s Christmas party. They’re close friends of Sakura, who plays soccer with them. “That will be nice. The last time I saw them was...when we all went shopping during Spring Break?”
Sakura nods, remembering the occasion.
“How are they doing?”
“They’re doing well… A couple of weeks ago, they invited me to watch their school’s boys’ soccer game after our own game was over. And they introduced me to a couple of their friends on the team.” Sakura has a light blush dusting her cheeks.
She has a feeling she knows where this is going. “...and?” she prompts, trying hard to not giggle at Sakura’s expression.
“I’m inviting them to the party...”
Hinata can feel herself catching that slightly silly, giddy feeling whenever they talk about boys. “Oh?” She smiles knowingly.
“One of them is really, really cute. His name is Sasuke, and he’s...he’s so cool. He scored so many goals, like when he took off down the field, no one could keep up with him. It was like the ball was magnetized to his foot,” she recounts with stars in her eyes.
“Hm,” Hinata affirms. “He sounds really good.” She’s not just saying that to say that. Hinata’s watched many a soccer game due to Hanabi’s involvement in sports, so she can kind of imagine what it takes to be the forward.
Sakura nods seriously.
“So...you like him?” Hinata asks in a hushed tone.
“Maybe? We all went out to eat lunch afterwards, and...yeah...we’ve been texting each other a little. He’s not very talkative, so I don’t know if I’m bothering him, but I’m trying not to come off as flirty or anything.”
She gives Sakura an understanding nod.
“I want to get to know him better, so I decided to invite him to my end-of-year party, but I didn’t know if that would be too weird since we just met, so I’m also inviting his friend.”
“What’s his friend’s name?”
“Naruto.”
“Oh.” Hinata pauses to think about it. She tilts her head in a question.
“Yeah, weird. I don’t know who would name their child the same as kamaboko.”
Hinata doesn’t like to badmouth anyone, so she just tightens her lips as a form of agreement. “...What’s Naruto like?”
“He’s good, too. He’s a forward like Sasuke. He seems nice, I don’t know. He’s kind of excitable, like Fuu...he seems to be the kind of guy who takes the butt of everyone’s jokes.”
“Oh.” Hinata gets the feeling that Sakura’s trying to describe him in a “nice” way. “Well, it’ll be nice to meet them. I want to see what kind of guy is good enough to catch your attention.”
“Oh, stop,” Sakura laughs, as if it’s not a big deal that she turned down three guys and one girl in the past school year.
“And it’ll definitely be nice to relax at the beach when our finals are over.” Hinata smiles dreamily at this thought.
“For sure. Gods, I can’t wait for summer break to start.”
*
It’s officially the end of finals. Hinata grabs whatever last notebooks she still had in her locker and shuts it. The clack of the metal is the most satisfying sound, and she definitely won’t miss it. She crosses the hallway to Sakura and Ino. “Ready to go?”
Sakura slings her tote bag over her shoulder with a nod.
Ino throws her hands up and around their shoulders. “Let’s gooo!!!!”
It’s that pure feeling, of a weight completely lifting off her shoulders and now, it’s just open, blue sky and sunshine awaiting her.