Parallel {My Second Life As Sakura Haruno}

My Mundane Life(2)

I opened my eyes, and I was back. Back to the place, I knew no one would accept or care about me.

I rolled off my bed. A 'Thump' echoed as my face landed on the carpeted floor. My body felt like I had run a marathon.

I still had the cut on my hand from before. Although, my ears had moved down from a ringing to more of a tingle. The effects of my previous endeavors have become much more...numbed.

I got up, of course, and got dressed for school. Today, I had a strange urge to wear the one red piece in my closet. Maybe it was an effect of dreaming about being Sakura. I decided not to eat breakfast and left for the bus stop. 6 minutes, as usual. I hopped on and sat near the front. 

On the way to school, I noticed a tan girl who sat on the seat across from me. She had dark hair slicked back into a bun on the top of her head and wore a green, black, and silver sweatshirt. The same as our school colors. The thing I noticed the most, however, was her muscles. It's still so strange to me how people can commit to things like that. Day by day, she must've trained to the fullest to achieve her form. It was a bit beautiful, but it's not something I could ever do.

I would've continued to stare at her, but the bus had arrived at its destination. 

Going through the phases, the first half of the school day was the same. I had been ignored, and no one had bothered to talk to me, except for a few teachers asking about previous assignments.

Then came lunch. I sat by myself, as always. 'I wish I had a group of friends who actually understood and cared about me. People to hang out with and make jokes with. People who had the same interests and hobbies. But people like those? They don't exist in this world.'

In the distance, someone was coming towards me. I recognized them as 'Iris', someone who claimed they were my 'friend'. 'Honestly, she's just annoying! She's been bothering me since elementary. Couldn't she just take the hint?' Her long platinum blonde hair was tied up into a ponytail at the top of her head. Some lose strands framing only one side of her face. She had evil, calculating, blue-green eyes. Iris wore a purple pencil skirt and a baggy black cardigan. Her neck and fingers were adorned with silver jewelry, probably fake silver, that is.

"Hey, Stella! I see you're alone again." 'Did she have to point that out?' I responded to her, clearly not interested in what she was saying. "Gee, come to rub it in?" She seemed a little hurt, but it was obvious she was faking. 

"No! I just wanted to say, there's an empty seat near me and some of my friends, one of them would really like to meet you." 'Great, making things up to make me let my guard down so she can embarrass me. Typical popular kid. I doubt anyone could like me.' "Piss off, I don't care about you and your 'friends'." 

Thanks to me, she backed down. "Okay... I'll see you in Math I guess, if you ever change your mind, there's always an open seat." 'Hah! Stupid, why would I want to sit next to you? You're boring, and you probably want to bully me anyway. I won't fall for it!' 

I maliciously watched her walk away. 'She's so fake. I don't understand why she keeps bothering me.' My frown deepened. 'We aren't kids anymore. We can't just go around talking trash about anyone we want to everyone we can. If we could, that little Barbie would already be destroyed. Maybe then she would understand how it feels to be alone.'

The rest of the day went as expected, no one wanted to talk to me. Iris just had 'fun' with her 'friends' like she always did. 'She doesn't understand. No one understands. They never will.'

And like that, the past came back. A hot afternoon in elementary. We stood under the trees to protect ourselves from the blazing sun. I was face-to-face with my dearest friend. She shrugged at me, "Stella, just go talk to the guidance counselor. I did it too, just go talk to someone. It helps, you know. It's not that big of a deal." 'But I didn't want to talk to just anyone. I wanted to talk to you, that's why I went to you in the first place. I trusted you to help me work it out. But you brushed it off like you always do. You brushed me off. Like I was nothing. How could I ever forgive you for that?' She didn't see it, but I went home that day and cried. I cried like there was no tomorrow. And there almost really wasn't.

When I got home, I tossed my backpack, letting the contents fly out onto the floor. I just want to go back to the Naruto world. Everything's better there. It's where I should be. It's where I want to be. No more school or work, just relaxing and having fun with my friends. I wasn't nothing when I was there.