𝐀 𝐓𝐎𝐔𝐂𝐇 𝐓𝐎 𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐄 ━━ S. UCHIHA

XLIV

"You're not going."

"What?!" I stammer in disbelief at what came out of his mouth. "You can't tell me that!"

"Yes, I can. And you're not going," he repeats once again.

I sit on the edge of the couch letting out an exasperated sigh, allowing my head to fall into my hands. "This is so stupid."

After Ryuken asked me to his party personally, I had told my dad about it and he said it was fine. Actually, he was a little more excited about it than I was. He even called my mom about it to celebrate the news. For the first time, he became the teenage girl of the family, flattering me and searching through dresses and jewelry and even hairstyles! It took me all of Monday night to remind him this was more of a large hangout than some homecoming or prom. He let off on all the expensive stuff, but he still told me I should still dress up for an event like this.

When I told my friends about the news, Sakura was all googly-eyed and jealous he had asked me personally, despite not being the only person asked that way. She even said that maybe he had his eyes out for me and took an interest in some potato of a person (me). I denied it saying it was just a coincidence since everyone was all over him and that I was trying to be nice. She pretended she didn't hear that.

Now, the five of us sit in my living room to hang out after the game. After much time of hanging out and snacking, the topic eventually shifted to Ryuken's party, something neither Naruto nor Sasuke were too enthusiastic about.

While Naruto furiously shovels his mouth full of food, Sasuke scolds me and forbids I go to the party as if his say made a difference.

"Sucks for you because I am going!" I argue, picking up a cracker.

"No, you're not," Sasuke replies, taking the cracker out of my hand.

"Why not?"

"I... I don't trust him."

I fold my arms, narrowing my eyes at his stupid excuse. They slide over to Naruto. "That's a stupid excuse."

"(Y/n), we're not trying to mess with you," Naruto speaks up through a mouthful.

"You guys don't even know him!"

"And you do?" Sasuke replies.

"I have at least talked with him! You guys are just making up assumptions just by—by looking at him!" I snap, stealing my cracker back from Sasuke and throwing the whole thing in my mouth.

Sakura pats my back. "She's right, you know. You guys are being a little... irrational."

"I am not being—" Sasuke starts but pauses, leaning back in his seat, looking away. "I'm not being irrational."

Naruto clears his mouth. "Look, there's just something about him I don't like, okay?"

"Your popularity?" I ask.

He narrows his eyes at me. "What? No. No, not that. I could care less if he was the most popular guy in the world."

"Then what? What is it that you don't like about him?"

The two boys share a glance, but neither one of them responds. They lean back in their seats with stern looks. Sasuke avoids eye contact. Naruto shoves three grapes into his cheeks. Neither of them have a valid excuse.

"See?" I continue after swallowing. "You can't even make up something."

"All we know is that he's bad news," Sasuke reasons.

"Well, maybe you should come to the party and get to know him better, then maybe you two would realize he's a perfectly fine human being!"

Sakura mumbles, "He's more than fine, I'd say."