It started with a Hate Letter

Rain

Morning came and I was sluggish. It was already 4 am when I was able to sleep. When I woke at my alarm's ringing at 6 am, I had to literally drag myself to the bathroom. I would have skipped class that day had I not remembered that I had received a verbal warning regarding my attendance. Oh, boy, this will be the longest day ever...

— and the strangest.

It started during the morning assembly. We lined up in the auditorium and listened to the principal talking about the coming periodical test. Because I was very sleepy, I could not help but doze. I was just unconscious for a minute or two when I snapped back to reality. When I looked around to check if anyone found out that I have dozed off, I saw half of the population staring at me. I felt like shrinking on the spot.

It was a difficult task to stay awake in the first period. Kakashi was a boring teacher and he was teaching a very boring Biology class. Each minute, my head threatened to hang. Each minute, I jolted up in my seat. Each second, I yawned. Each second, I opened my eyes.

"Ino, are you alright?" Minako, the girl sitting on my right side, asked. She might have been peeved by my constant jolting and yawning.

"Y-Yeah," I rubbed my eyes, "I probably look worn out but I'm fine"

"You look worn out" Minako looked hesitant to continue "But still you're a beauty"

I stared at her and would have laughed. She sounded so genuine.

Yeah, right. I did not have a good night's sleep. I most probably did not hear her right.

"Anyway if you need something, you can always ask me" Minako smiled. She looked so happy to be of service to me in the future. I wonder what Tenten will say to this. I looked at her seat. She was reading a book. Not once did she look my way although I knew she felt the weight of my stare.

I sat straight on my chair. It was like some devil-possessed that Minako girl. When did we become friends? I could not recall an instance when we have been that friendly with each other. Softly, I dropped my head on the desk and tried not to be distracted by it. I was about to doze off when I heard two girls whispering.

"Did you see that?"

"What a hypocrite. Wasn't it just yesterday when Minako was talking trash about her?"

"Now she acts like they're best friends"

"Knowing her, her real intention is to get close to Sasuke, not to get close to her"

'Her' was definitely me, that I knew for certain. I looked back and saw the two whispering girls. They beamed at me, their lips stretching so forcefully that however genuine they wanted it to appear, it appeared 100-percent synthetic. I smiled back at them.

Before my head hit the desk again, I saw two or three guys looking at me. Had I not been that sleepy, I would have realized that they were eyeing not simply looking. Had I not been already dozing, I would have heard one of their comments about how hot I was and how the other two guys agreed.

The change in school had not yet dawned on me until later when I bumped into someone on my way to my third class.

"S-Sorry!"

I did not know her name but I recognized her as a classmate of my brother who was a senior student. She kept apologizing while picking up the books that I dropped. I told her that everything was fine. She handed me my books and said, "Ino, please don't tell me to Sasuke or Gaara" She walked away so fast I hardly had the time to ask what she meant.