Nerdy

Three

"So you're that rumored (Name), eh ?"

(Name) raised a brow. She had just opened the door of her house to leave for school and hardly stepped outside, when a tall, blonde guy with blue eyes and whisker-like marks on his cheeks jumped out of nowhere. She staredly at him blankly. He looked at her with a look hoping for an answer.

"Uhh.. I guess ?"

(Name) was not sure herself whether that was a question or not.

"I knew it ! You seem just the type who can stand up to Sasuke. Great going there !"

The guy grinned and showed (Name) a thumbs-up. She continued staring at him. Neither his expression nor his stance did falter. She gave up and walked past him.

"Hey, wait ! Where are you going ?"

He jogged up to her and walked with her.

"To where most kids our age go at this time of the morning."

"Huh ?"

He looked at (Name) in confusion. (Name) adjusted her glasses and glared at him.

"To school ! Are you dumb ?"

"Ouch."

He frowned at her for calling him 'dumb.' He watched her as she walked giving off a 'stay-away-from-me' aura. She didn't skip like most girls would, neither did she stoop.

"Well ?"

(Name) caught him staring and looked at him.

"Huh ?"

"How long do you intend to stare at me, you nameless creature ? Stop following me."

"Nameless ?! A creature ?!"

The guy stopped in his tracks and jumped in front of (Name). (Name) stopped and crossed her hands and raised a brow at him. He inhaled. With his chest out, he pointed a thumb at himself and announced:

"I'm not a creature ! I'm Naruto ! Uzumaki Naruto ! A human ! And I ain't following you around ! We got to the same school !"

"Oh, yeah, right."

(Name) muttered and walked past him again and went ahead. Naruto looked at her with annoyance and disappointment. Then he realized. They were in the middle of a busy street when he had introduced himself. People around were whispering, giggling and giving him weird looks. He blushed and pulled up his hood to hide his face.

"(N-name) ! Wait for me !"

He ran up to (Name), who had walked quite a distance away.

"What ? You're still following me ?"

"Like I said, I'm NOT following you ! We go to the SAME school !"

(Name) grunted. "Yeah, yeah. I got that. Just stop yelling, for God's sake. Everyone's staring."

Naruto looked around and saw people whispering, giggling and giving him weird looks again. There were also some kids from his school. He blushed again and ducked a little to hide behind (Name).

"You don't intend to stay like that all the way to school, do you ?"

"Um... Maybe."

(Name) turned around and glared at him. If looks could kill, he'd probably be dead. Naruto shivered and backed off, hands up in a defensive position.

"Okay, okay, I back off. Just don't glare at me that way."

(Name) peered at him, and then looked ahead. Naruto continued walking beside her. He walked while humming some tune, while (Name) had her nose buried in some book, which she had taken out of her bag. She didn't fear crashing into things because of reading while walking for two reasons. Firstly, the rest of the way to school was pretty much a straight road, without and turns or crossings. Secondly, Naruto was also there with here. All she had to do was to make sure she walks beside him.