25Alright I'm sorry for the delay I just wanted to make sure this one was long and it didn't help that I kept getting new ideas for it. I've been quite busy :) Enjoy!
Chapter 2: Unheeded Warning
KNOCK. KNOCK. KNOCK.
"Sakura? Honey, open the door please."
There was a throbbing sort of pounding going on through the pinkette's head as her eyes fluttered open to the annoying wake-up call. She put a hand to her head and raised herself up from the floor that she must've fallen asleep on.
KNOCK. KNOCK.
"Sakura? You're going to be late for school. C'mon honey."
'Ugh... did I really sleep in the bathroom?'
The light, which was still on, began to hurt her head even more until she realized it was a migraine.
She slowly stood up, using the counter as a crutch and looked in the mirror to see a tear-stained worn face, and remembered what happened last night.
Fresh tears threatened to spill from her tired eyes but were held back when her mother spoke through the door again.
"Sakura, are you awake?"
"Yes." She answered curtly. Her mother sighed in relief and leaned in closer.
"Sweetheart, you need to get ready for school. You're going to be late it's already 7:55."
'School? She seriously expects me to go with all that has happened?'
"I-I'm not feeling well, i'm not going."
"You have to go, remember the field trip is today and we've already paid for it." Her mother knew Sakura was in no shape to play student today, but she'd rather have her out of the house and around people than moping in her bedroom all day.
Sakura groaned and balled her hands into fists. She completely forgot about the stupid field trip! Her class was taking an all-day trip to the nearby Mount Abunai to do some studies on the ecosystem. Stupid stuff.
She splashed some cool water on her face and rubbed away the grime from yesterday, not caring to put on any sort of make up today. It didn't matter. There was no one to look pretty for now.
After leaving the bathroom she threw on a school issued uniform comprising of a pleated skirt and button up t-shirt with tie, complete with flats. Her reflection in the mirror stared back dimly, not caring if the shirt was a little wrinkled or that her hair was a little messy, because once again, nothing mattered now. Why should she care about looking good when everything in her life was turning bad?
She stooped to pick up her heavy backpack and slowly tromped downstairs to her mother who was standing by the door with a worried expression and a piece of paper in hand.
"Sakura... I know yesterday was a bad day for you-"
"Don't mom." Sakura interjected. "Just don't..."
The woman seemed taken aback but nodded in understanding and delicately handed the permission slip to her daughter, who took it without looking and continued walking out the door.
Sakura didn't need her sympathy or her words of understanding, because she knew nothing about her feelings and what she had to endure. 'I hate them. I hate all of them! And for making me pretend to go through today as if things were normal?'
The same street corner where she previous fell from came into view but Sakura barely noticed as she fell into step with the crowd and crossed without incident. 'Sure... the one day I actually wish for a car to hit me...' She thought sarcastically.
Several minutes later the dreaded highschool came into view. Loads of students were gathered in random spots in their own groups and whatnot, which only made entering its doors that much more intimidating. And of course, most of them turned to point or laugh, or both at the small teen who only glared at the ground and made her way to first period class; Biology.
"Hey there's pinky! We all had a bet that you wouldn't show up today after what happened!"
Sakura looked up to see a red-haired girl with her uniform shirt a little too small, half sitting in her seat and pointing straight to her. The rest of the class erupted into giggles or hard laughter, which was her cue to crawl under a desk and die. However, the girl took a deep breath to steady herself and snaked her way to an empty seat in the back of the room, since she no longer sat next to the the most popular boy.
A moment later an old balding teacher made his way into the room, dressed in hiking attire and carrying a tattered backpack.
"Goodmorning ladies and gentlemen. We've got no time to lose so hand in your permission slips and let's start loading our stuff on to the buses."
Sakura inwardly groaned and fished for hers. As she handed hers forward someone nearby caught her eye causing her heart to stop. His crystal blue eyes pierced into hers as if looking for a something, maybe a reaction?
'Why is he staring at me?' But then she remembered the text message. 'I bet he just wanted to further humiliate me.' She thought bitterly and quickly looked away, pretending to be interested in the periodic table on the opposite wall, but continued to feel the heat of his eyes on her for several more minutes.
"Alright." The teacher spoke up. "It seems all is in order. Now let's head out to the buses but line up single file because I have assigned which bus you will be riding in." He finished to groans and complaints but held his ground and led the large class to the parking lot where three large yellow buses waited.
After about twenty minutes of packing everything away and arranging the students into their proper places, which Sakura was pleased to discover her bus held next to none of the 'cool' students that were directly part of the scheme, they were finally underway for an hour of annoying chatter and lousy entertainment.
Despite the calming scenery of the lush countryside rolling softly past the numerous windows, Sakura only stared with disinterest. Inside, her emotions were anything but serene.
"Hey, hey Sakura." Said girl turned her head towards the voice. A male student pegged as one of the school nerds was holding up a pen close to her face and had another hand over his ear.
"We have come to believe that yesterday was quite a day for you. Possibly the worst day of your young life." The boy lowered the tone of his voice in a very obvious attempt as a newscaster. A few other students were watching his display and chuckled amongst themselves. Sakura glared at him.
"The rest of the world would like to know your thoughts on those previous events. Was it devastating? Did you see it coming? Do you still love Yukio Maro? Do you think you'll ever be able to get over this?" He began to laugh as did the others which only ticked off the heartbroken teen even more.
She twisted her body away from them while retorting, "Don't you have anything better to do?"
Okay, so it wasn't the comeback of the century but stooping to those guys' level wasn't an option. Besides, ignoring them can be the best comeback as long as one doesn't allow them to witness distress from their hurtful comments. Seriously though, did they not have anything better to do than continue to make her life as miserable as possible?
'I hope this bus goes over a bridge and we all die and they never find our bodies.' Sakura slightly gasped at that thought. In one day a pleasant innocent line of thinking crossed to the dark side of morbid thoughts and despairing daydreams. It was honestly a little pathetic and was actually beginning to scare her.
What she truly needed was a friend, someone to sit and listen, to comfort and heal, to tell her that she didn't need those snobby two-faced spoiled rich kids, and how they were just jealous of her from the start. You know, normal things best friends would say to each other in comfort. Just one kind word or gesture could possibly turn this whole day around perhaps give her that little ounce of strength to continue living on through the day. Just one.
Well, it wasn't long before the buses squeaked to a heavy stop in a paved parking lot about one-third up the southern side of the mountain. A good thing it didn't take any longer as the snake-like road gave the teen car sickness, or in this case, bus sickness. Throwing up on an empty stomach didn't sound too pleasant to endure when surrounded by students who'd likely pull out their video phones than help her.
Sakura swallowed, prayed one more time, and then joined the others on the asphalt with her things in hand.
"Alright, boys and girls, welcome to Mount Abunai!" The students ceased their chattering and huddled closer to the old teacher to hear him better.
"This is one of the most beautiful and most mysterious mountain in the world. This national park receives about a million visitors per year and from its high crystal springs it is said to contain the purest water in the country and houses the rare Golden Blossom tree that blooms for just a few hours for one day annually. Also- I hope you are all writing this down, you will be quizzed at the end of the tour, and counts as ten percent of your grade." He eyed them all pointedly.
His words, however, fell on deaf ears near the back of the mass of students. Sakura looked down at her watch again to glare at how only two minutes have past since she last checked. She was just anxious to get this entire day over with so she could return home and plot to keep her parents together throughout the weekend.
"Now we're going to split into two groups. The first group will go with Ms. Hima to explore the various caves, and the second will be with me as we explore the Hidden Valley. We will hike to our designated spots and stop to eat lunch and then proceed on. Any questions?" He finished while looking around. No one raised their hand, mostly because hardly anyone was listening, which seemed to not faze the teacher.
After he read out the list of the two groups, Sakura began devising ways to commit suicide and how to make it look like an accident. Of course, it was all thought and no walk but this day couldn't get any worse seeing her group 'buddies' were none other than the posse from hell, and him. Several hours stuck with those dogs on the side of a densely forrested mountain with little to no protection? Disaster was just waiting to happen. So Sakura stayed towards the back of the line, tuning out the world and only focusing on taking the next step.
'Maybe I won't notice that I fell behind, and maybe they won't notice me gone until they've already reached the valley. By then i'd surely be lost... but I'm not sure I can go through with it. No matter how much I want to just disappear, I start to feel guilty for harboring such selfish thoughts.'
She gripped her small travel bag even tighter. 'But nothing will ever be the same...'
She despaired like this for the better portion of the hike until it came to an end at the top of a large hill that overlooked a small diamond-shaped valley surrounded on three sides by high vertical cliffs scary enough for the most adventurous of men. The fourth side, which they were facing, stood open but hindered by a very large and dark forrest that stretched from one side of their hill to the tip of the valley. However, even its hundred foot trees could not shield the crystal clear blue lake placed so gently in the center of the valley, which was to be one of their studies.
There is a sign to also note to be included in this dazzling scenery. None of the students missed it and a sort of eerie silence befell them once its words sunk in for they knew the purpose of its existence. Sakura ignored it altogether.
'Do Not Enter. Forrest And Valley Closed To All Civilians.'
The teacher halted the students and declared their arrival, to which he received sighs of relief. They were then instructed to rest and eat for the next half hour until the second part of the hike continued.
For the first time in a long time, Sakura sat alone, eating- or lack of eating. Her stomach still churned from yesterday and gave out a few punches whenever she heard her name on the breath of a whisper or the heat of other students' eyes. Being the laughing stock of the entire high school was definitely not on the list of 'things to accomplish' and she didn't want to hold that title for long.
Suddenly, there was a presence next to her. She whipped her head around and gasped. "Y-yukio?"
The blonde haired senior lowered himself gracefully to the ground and slightly turned his head towards her, staring almost indifferently into her eyes. Sakura's breath caught in her chest and she waited anxiously for an explanation.
"Sakura," he said slowly. "I know yesterday must've been horrible for you. I acted like a complete jerk and did nothing while they," he gestured toward his group of friends who were all staring back in confusion, "taunted you and hurt you."
Sakura listened cautiously, weary of another humiliation plot, and then found her voice. "They didn't hurt me, Yukio, you did."
Yukio's eyes saddened and he ran a hand through his golden hair. "The truth is, I was afraid you wouldn't listen to me once I told you what was going on, and I was going to tell you yesterday, but they beat me to it. They found out how I truly felt about you."
"What... do you mean?" She nervously asked. Something just didn't feel right about this whole thing.
The boy sighed. "I mean that I have real feelings for you. I may actually love you."
Sakura gasped, putting a hand over her mouth and stared at him as if he were crazy. 'Did... did he just say... love?'
It was too good to be true, it just had to be. No one in their right mind would go through all this trouble to make a fool out of a person they truly loved and then turn around to deny it publicly without an ounce of remorse. What does he expect of her now?
Subconsciously, she looked towards the red-haired girl with the small uniform who turned out to be Yukio's girlfriend all along, and wondered if what Yukio said was true, would he leave her and basically renounce his popularity and all that entails?
"What about Rina?"
Boy, at this moment did she look pretty infuriated.
Yukio stole a glance in her direction and replied, "She doesn't have to know. It'll be easier if we keep how we feel for each other a secret."
"A secret?" Basically he wants to keep his relationship with his real girlfriend but go behind her back to have a 'secret' girlfriend? Is this guy serious? Playing two girls at once?
"I just think..." he continued, "that we should lay low for a while with all that's happened, you know?" He slithered his hand to rest on top of hers but he didn't expect his gesture to be rudely rejected. Sakura tore her hand away as if his were on fire and quickly stood up in anger.
"You're just like them, Yukio. You prey on the weak and don't know when to quit, and you've definitely crossed the line with me!" She practically yelled into the surprised boy's face. A few students nearby turned their heads to the sudden sounds.
"For eight months I believed I was happy. For eight months you let me live in this sick fantasy, letting me hope and dream of a possible future with you. I kept thinking to myself that it was too good to be true, how you'd never go out with a girl like me, but because you did I felt like the luckiest girl in the world. For eight months you had me fooled and i'm tired of it!"
Now the rest of the students were engaged. Yukio stood up and reached out. "Sakura, ple-"
"No! I don't care anymore! I don't want anything to do with you, not now and not ever!" Sakura shrieked not noticing that she had started to cry. Yukio just stared in disbelief as the students mumbled amongst themselves, a few throwing her dirty looks, but she had had enough.
"I just..." She put her hands over her chest and squeezed her eyes shut. The pain of it all weighing heavily upon her shoulders. "I just don't care anymore..." her whisper was barely audible for Yukio but he heard. However, before he or anyone else could say a word, the small teen spun on her heels and raced down the hill towards the tree line of the valley's dense forrest.
Yukio stared wide-eyed after her unable to move his feet and unwilling to acknowledge the group of students who had now encompassed him.
"Well," the red-haird girl started with her arms crossed. "Nice job. Whatever you said sent that pathetic loser into the forbidden forrest."
He finally looked at her with questioning eyes.
"Looks like we won't be seeing her around anymore." She finished sounding almost sympathetic.
But Yukio still stood confused until someone to the left of him said, "No one goes into that forrest and survives, nor are they even found because no one dares to go in there."
A few gasps and mutterings of 'what ifs' hummed through the group in slightly suppressed excitement at the new turn of events. It seemed like this entire charade suddenly turned dangerous.
Another boy nodded his head in agreement to one of his friends and said in a matter-of-fact tone, "yeah, she'll probably never come back."
Hope you liked this! Next chapter we'll see what happens when Sakura ventures into the forbidden forrest (not actual name, it was just pegged by the locals fyi) and how it literally flips her entire world upside down and inside out.
Review, because... well it just makes you feel better!