I Wonder What It's Like

Chapter 33

"I don't want to move away, but I don't really get a choice in the matter until I turn eighteen. We both have college to think about…" He sighed. He didn't want to break up with her, but how he worded it probably sounded like he was starting it that way. His thoughts confirmed when she looked up and he saw unshed tears shining behind her eyes. He groaned quietly. "I don't want to break up. I just want to talk about the fact that this isn't going to be the first thing pushing us apart, you know?"

Hinata nodded but still looked upset. "My father isn't helping anything. And," She paused and let out a soft sigh. "We can still talk on the weekends. We can figure something out… I think." She stated when another frown settled on her face. She was still grounded from leaving the house.

"We can still talk. We'll figure it all out, Hinata. Don't worry about it." He promised with a warm smile. "The bell's about to ring, and I need to go to the office to finish dealing with all of the paperwork." He stated with a roll of his sea foam green eyes. "I'll see you at lunch." He leaned in and kissed her cheek quickly, and then they had both walked their separate ways.

That had been a week ago, and he was finding himself already fed up with being back at Suna. His old coach, Baki, was trying to get him to rejoin the basketball team. He had to catch up on the couple of weeks of missed homework and class work that he had missed by being in another school, and one of the girls that was in a lot of his classes always seemed to be staring at him.

She had dark eyes and short brown hair that reminded him of Sakura's hair. Her name started with an 'M' if he wasn't mistaken. He shook his head as Baki walked back up to him. "Have you thought about it? We could really use your help! We're playing Konoha as the first game, and I feel like it would look good on your college application."

"Look, if you stop harassing me, I'll think about it." Gaara finally gave some sort of positive answer towards his old coach. Baki grinned and nodded. He walked away leaving Gaara alone for the time being. He walked into the lunch room and sighed at the full tables. "It's going to be a long year."

Lunch was turning out to be awkward. Everyone was having fun and the two of them were just sitting there silently, looking up at one another every once in awhile and then looking back down like something bad was happening. She'd barely touched her food, but she wasn't hungry. Throughout the first half of her day, she spent all her time wondering if they really stood a chance together. His earlier words had had a big effect, and the fact that her dad was giving her no time to herself, made her feel like she had no chance at maintaining a relationship with him.

Should they just break up and get it over with? She bit her lip as she glanced up at him again. He grabbed her hand lightly and made a quick excuse to the table about being right back. He led her out into the courtyard and looked at her. "You okay? I know this is all still a bit of a shock but, you're being way too quiet."

She pulled her hand away from his and played with her fingers a bit. She took a quick glance around and then looked back up at him. "What if we can't make this work?" She asked, she knew it was partially because she'd been brought up to feel negative about herself. Never feeling like she was good enough, and for the most part, it was that part of her speaking. But another part of her thought she was being realistic.

"Well, I guess it comes down to if we want to make it work." He paused, when he spoke again, his tone had a sense of seriousness that made a shiver run down her spine. "Do you want to make it work?"

Hinata sat there wondering if she had made the right decision. She shook her head and went back to trying and focus on the current class at hand, especially since she had just answered a question wrong and couldn't afford another wrong answer. The bell rang and she started to head out when Sakura stopped her. "I have a question for you, it might sound kind of weird since you've never really been into the sporty type stuff… But we're down a girl, and we need another cheerleader. Will you please just consider it?" Sakura pleaded, and Hinata was shocked that it sounded and looked like she was being extremely sincere in her request.

"Um, I guess so. Thanks for the chance, I'll give you my answer tomorrow." She promised. She headed out the door and to her locker as all the gears in her head were turning. It had been a week since she'd last seen Gaara, everything had started to turn around this year, from having close to no friends to having her best friends at her side again. And now to top it off, Sakura was asking her to be a cheerleader. She felt like she was going insane.

"You okay, Hinata?" Kiba asked from behind her. She turned to look at him and nodded, but she knew he didn't believe her. "You look confused."

"I am. But I'm okay." She promised. She traded a couple of books out in her locker and then headed out the front doors of the school. She walked towards her father's car and waved to Kiba and Shino before sliding into the passenger seat and putting her bag down on the floor. She turned to stare out the window and went on to ignore her father like she had been for the past few weeks.

He had made some poor attempts at getting her to talk, but had finally given up after insulting her for it. She jumped out of the car the second he put it in park and headed in to the house and walked up to her bedroom. She sat on her floor and pulled out her homework, she left her door wide open so that when he undoubtedly came to check on her, he would see that she was doing her homework. She felt like the caged bird that Neji used to tell stories about.

A couple of hours later, she had finished her homework and had gone on to working on dinner. She sat at the table and ate quietly as Neji, Hanabi and her father conversed. She would nod or shake her head whenever something was directed her way and then go back to eating. After they finished, she stood up and cleared the table. She cleaned up quickly and headed up the stairs to find Neji waiting for her by her door. "Hinata, we should talk."

"I don't want to talk, Neji. I just want to be alone. And if it's got anything to do with father, I don't care right now. He deserves what he's getting if not worse." Hinata stated as she stepped past him into her room and then closed the door. She changed into her pajamas and laid down in her bed staring at her nightstand waiting for a text or a call, but for the first time in the week that had passed, it never came.

A/n: I know it's been forever, and I'm sorry. I lost all motivation and have been trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I also know that the story has gotten kind of boring, so I'm trying to bring some kind of spark back before ending it. I need to find a decent way to end it that isn't just me cutting it off because I'm not sure what to do with it, ya know?

Hopefully this chapter was decent. Did I do okay for doing it from more than the usual perspective I usually do it from, or should I stick to what I've been doing? Your opinions do affect how I write, and I love to hear them. Thank you for reading and let me know what you think! And if you're still reading after a hiatus that long, a special thanks goes out to you!