The Transfer Student

Chapter 31: Bring the Heat

I narrowed my eyes at Hana as she apporached silently.

"Let me do that for you" she said as she went to work cleaning up the juice stains on my pants with the stain remover.

I wasn't entirely trusting of her but I let her continue. There was a long, tense quiet as she concentrated on removing the juice stains.

"Enlighten me" she said suddenly but quietly.

I creased my brow, "How?".

She stood up, finally done, "What's wrong with your friend? I understand that she felt threatened by how Hime and the other girls were trying to make a move on Gaara but-"

"Liz isn't threatened" I said sharply, "She doesn't have to worry about Gaara having a change of heart" I said, holding Hana's stare.

"Okay...then what's her problem with me?" she corrected her earlier question.

I shrugged, "Is that any of your business?" I didn't think this girl deserved an explanation.

Her eyes turned dangerously cold after I spoke. She turned to the mirror behind us and looked into it, fixing her makeup.

"This is a dangerous game you're playing..." she chuckled, "So no wonder you're letting your pawn take all the hits".

I turned around and looked into the mirror, finding her eyes trained on me as she redid her lip gloss.

"What are you trying to imply?" I asked quietly.

She blinked slowly, "You don't think I know? Please, I've been through this too many times to count".

I didn't answer and continued to stare at her, awaiting further explanation.

She laughed, "You must've lived under a rock all this time" she said as she returned to fixing her mascara.

"Could you be more to the point please?" I said exasperatedly.

Hana put her makeup away and faced me, "You're letting the redhead fight for you because you're too useless to fight for yourself" she said harshly.

"Excuse me?" my tone was much less than friendly.

Hana seemed happy about the reaction she had drawn from me, "Well, here's a piece of advice" she said, her eyes flashing, "If you want Sasuke, you better give up. There's no place for someone who can't appreciate Sasuke properly" she said venomously.

I raised my eyebrows at her, "You really think Sasuke likes you that much?".

I didn't know why I was fighting back. Hana coming along could just about fix all of my problems. Sasuke would leave me alone afterwards...but I felt that this was about much more than just Sasuke. My pride was on the line.

Hana shrugged, "That's only because he's stupidly hung up on you right now...but I'll make sure he wakes up soon. He doesn't deserve to be brought down by someone like you all the time. He's much too good for you" she said, taking a confronting step forwards.

"You think that I'm any less appealing than a plastic Barbie doll like you?" I challenged, also taking a step closer.

She narrowed her eyes, "At least I don't have a plastic heart like you" she retorted, "You're not worth my time".

I smirked, "We'll see who's worth what in the end, Barbie".

"Won't we, Wannabe?" she said, flipping her hair.

"Bring the heat then" I said, adrenaline rising, "I'm feeling much too cool right now".

Hana laughed, "It's on but let me warn you, there's no award for good effort" she winked and we exited the washroom together, bound by a shared goal.

We could see that Liz was sitting straight up in her seat as our table came into sight. Sasuke looked just as tense as Liz as well. I sat back down in my spot between Karin and Liz, my face calm, passive and rather cold.

"Hana?" one of the girls murmured quietly, shooting me a glance.

"Why don't we get some more juice? In case we get too hot later" Hana suggested, her gaze steadily holding mine.

"Good idea" I added, unblinking.

Even as Hana called for a waiter, her blue eyes never strayed from my turquoise ones. We were both waiting for the same thing. The first move.

When we were finally able to tear away from Hana's group, we returned to our rooms. While the others bade each other goodnight, I went directly to my room not even sparing the time for a single, muttered goodnight. Several times already, Liz had tried to ask me what happened in the bathroom but my answer was always the same. Nothing. I was not ready to tell her yet, especially since Hana had said that I was using Liz as my pawn. I was determined to prove her wrong, Liz was my best friend, not my tool. I laid down on my bed as today's events coursed through my head. Then I realized something much too suddenly.

I have no idea how to seduce someone, I thought with widened eyes, Properly anyways...

If what Hana said was true, Sasuke wouldn't want to be with someone like me for long. My constant barrier that I thrust up between us had to be taking a toll on him. Every hissed insult, every violent action, he must've been counting. But even then, he never seemed any less discouraged each time, if anything, he looked even more determined to drive me crazy with his antics.

How hard can it be? All I really need to do is bat my eyelashes and murmur a few compliments, I thought dismissively, It'll be a piece of cake...

Even though I thought that, I felt that I didn't really believe it...but how would I know? It's not as if I had ever tried before, maybe I flirt differently than most girls and maybe, coincidentally, Sasuke works that way too.

I smirked with my rush of confidence. We'd be going back tomorrow afternoon and school would start a few days after that. Seeing Sasuke six hours a day, five times a week was going to give me a huge advantage over Hana since she didn't attend Konoha High. My smirk turned into a shameless grin as this realization hit me. Hana was going down.