Chapter Text
as a general rule, sakura likes to keep to herself. her pastel colored hair is beacon to the eyes, marking her like a sore thumb amongst a crowd of people. for her, as long as she has her books, ino-chan, and her treats with her, she’ll survive high school just fine.
so far it was going smoothly—that is until as of late, where she finds herself entangled in a series of unfortunate events involving uchiha sasuke. sasuke-kun, captain of the soccer team and top student of the class. sasuke-kun, the object of her growing desire.
it’s very easy to like sasuke-kun. in fact, there is a dedicated fan club for him. while his academic and athletic prowess on top of his exceptional good looks makes him the number one sought after boy in school, the sasuke-kun that sakura has harbored feelings for is the one she saw feeding the stray cats behind the old science building. she have stumbled into the scene accidentally, after having to take care of the trash from that day’s cleaning duty. sakura hid behind a corner, silently watching the usually serious boy be so gentle with the cats. when he suddenly looked up, as if sensing her presence, sakura sprinted away, ashamed for her stalkerish behavior.
the sasuke-kun that sakura likes, is the boy who would help naruto , of all people, get through calculus problems. this is certainly not public knowledge, it is well known how those two would always bicker at each other like cats and dogs. it just happens that one day, sakura had left her precious pencil case at their classroom. when she came to retrieve it, she was surprised to see the boys left in the room with sasuke-kun’s “ get it together idiot or else you can’t join the next game! ” exasperated comment. naruto turned to her, “sakura-chan, save me!” and she had no choice but to stay with them the rest of the afternoon to help.
the sasuke-kun that she admires, walks down the hallways with purpose. broad shoulders squared, head never looking down, and a presence that makes people stay out of his way. she wonders how it would be like, to be able to have such confidence in one self, when all she can do is hunch her shoulders and try to avoid making eye contact and getting in the way.
she was content to watch from afar, to keep her feelings to herself. she plans to finish highschool as uneventful as she can. and for the most part, it was.
until last monday.
after classes were over, sakura passed by the soccer field, like most girls, to get a glimpse at sasuke-kun and the rest of the team in practice. she was suddenly stopped over by an upperclassman, lee-san. he’s been hovering over her since they met last school festival. he’s a bit too tenacious for sakura, and she can’t seem to find a way to shake him off. while he was in the middle of his enthusiastic tirade over the youthfulness of morning aerobics, a collective shout of “WATCH OUT!” resounded across the field, which was her only warning before belatedly noticing the soccer ball’s quick acceleration towards her. lee-san shoves her out of the way just in time, but sakura has lost balance and landed on the ground. “sakura-san, are you alright?” she heard lee-san ask, offering his hand to help her up. once she had gotten over the shock, she looked up and saw sasuke-kun, with a look of pure annoyance in his face. sakura assumes that his annoyance is due to her interrupting their practice, she apologizes and makes a quick exit.
the new stall in the school’s cafeteria has been a hit amongst students. it offers various fried snacks that the students cannot get enough of, all unhealthy but affordable. that wednesday, sakura finds herself caught in the throng of students trying to buy from the stall, almost everyone frantically waiving their lunch money and trying to get in front to place their order. it all happened too quickly, one moment she was just trying to get to the stall that sells drinks and the next thing she knew she was unceremoniously shoved by someone causing her to trip. a steady arm catches her just in time preventing her fall. sakura looks up to see her hero and finds herself staring into the dark eyes of sasuke. sakura gulps. a few heartbeats of staring at each other’s eyes—as if they’re the only one in the room instead of being surrounded by hungry students, passes by. as if the spell had broken, sakura realizes who she is and then she realizes who he is . she takes note of his knotted brows and his growing scowl. she quickly dislodges from his hold and bows deeply in apology before running off, lunch forgotten. she probably couldn’t eat anyway, with the way the place where he had held her still tingles all throughout the day.
the last incident happened the very next day. dazed from the brutal long quiz kakashi-sensei had given them, sakura went to the bathroom to splash some water onto her face. on her way back, her mind wanders to sasuke-kun’s nape, of all things. since he is much taller than her, she usually has to crane her neck to get a good look on his face up close. but, on kakashi-sensei’s advance trigonometry class where he is seated in front of her, she has an unobstructed view of the back of his head. when she is not paying attention in class or doing work, she finds herself in awe of how his hair remains up in different angles. does sasuke-kun use gel? hairspray? or wax? the thought of her crush taking the time on his morning styling his hair amuses her. sakura thinks about all the time their hands have brushed against each other when he passes her printouts and how she can sometimes smell his fresh scent when she leans in a little closer on the rare occasion he turns to her to ask a question.
she had been too busy daydreaming about him to notice the sudden opening of a door right in front of her. her face collides against the wood that brings her back to reality. she can already feel the throbbing in the middle of her forehead. “sa—haruno,” a familiar voice called out. of course , just her luck. sasuke looks at her with an expression she cannot read, so she assumes. she must have been in his way, again. a nuisance . sakura excuses herself from his presence and bolts. for the third time that week
that night in her room, as she presses an icepack to her head, sakura theorizes . somehow, sasuke-kun must have found out about her feelings for him. with all that happened this week, with the soccer ball, in the cafeteria, and with the door, it must have been his way of rejecting her. take a hint, leave me alone . that must be the message he is trying to convey.
with her mind made up, sakura knows what to do.