Butterflies fluttered around her empty stomach as Sakura prepared for her first day of school. Her school uniform—a navy blue button up shirt, red neck tie, navy blue skirt with a white stripe at the bottom, knee-high white socks, and black shoes—fit perfectly on her, and even hugged curves her other clothes concealed; her pink hair, which she had gotten cut a week ago, hovered perfectly over her shoulders; her backpack was a simple black one capable of carrying her notebooks, binder, and other school necessities. After one quick look-over in her full body mirror, she headed into her kitchen where her mother was preparing breakfast. A plate of steamed rice, tamagoyaki, and umeboshi was just sitting on the table, waiting to fill her unoccupied stomach. She happily devoured the plate of steaming food and thanked her mother for the delicious meal.

"Are you nervous, Sakura?" her mother asked gently. Her mother, unlike Sakura, had brown hair and blue eyes, meaning she got her pink locks and green from her father (poor man!). Though she was well into her thirties, Mother Haruno didn't look a day past twenty-something. One could only pray they will age as gracefully as she did.

"A little," Sakura answered, and smiled sheepishly.

"You'll make a bunch of new friends," she said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I'm sure of it."

Sakura rolled her eyes playfully. "You're only saying that because your my mother and you have to!"

"Darling, please," her mother replied. "I could treat you like total trash if I wanted to, but we both know I just don't have the heart to do that." They both stood up to clean up the table and Sakura grabbed her backpack to prepare to leave.

"Touché," she said and began to head for the door. Her fingers brushed on the brass knob for a moment's hesitation, and, with a sudden burst of courage, opened the door and began to head to school. Before she even left her street she made sure she had everything she needed to survive her first day of high school—cell phone, supplies, gym clothes, etc. Satisfied, she walked along the sidewalk that would eventually lead to Senju High School. After a few blocks the huge building came into view.

Damn these butterflies, Sakura thought nervously as she walked into the office. She was greeted by a young looking woman with short black hair, big black eyes, and a warm smile sitting behind huge a granite desk that almost reached the other side of the room. "Hello," the woman greeted politely, "How are to today?"

"Fine, thank you," she answered, remembering the manners her mother taught her. "How about you?"

"Can't complain," the woman replied, and Sakura took an immediate liking to her. "Do you need any help?"

She shuffled through her backpack in search of the papers she was supposed to hand the secretary. "I'm a new student and need to give you these enrollment forms." When she finally found the papers she was looking for, she slipped them onto the sleek desk and watched as the staff member's dark eyes read over them.

"Haruno Sakura," she muttered, and her fingers began to strike the keyboard at a rapid pace the new student couldn't possibly follow. "Ah," she said. "You're the new student, correct?"

"Yes."

"Here is your schedule." She handed the girl a piece of paper with a smile. "The principal is in her office waiting for you."

She thanked the woman for her help and headed down the hall with several doors. She saw a dark brown door with Principal written on the foggy glass and knocked.

"Come in," a voice that sounded like it belonged to a woman called. Sakura obeyed and walked into the office and gently shut the door behind her. A woman with blond pigtails, long red fingernails, and huge breasts sat behind the desk scribbling on some papers, a determined look on her young face. She suddenly slammed the pencil on the desk in an angry manner and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Damn it..."

Sakura stood there awkwardly and silently watched the woman.

Just as quick as her flash of anger, the woman was calm again and looked at Sakura with cool hazel eyes. "What do you need help with?" she asked.

"I'm Haruno Sakura," Sakura replied, handing her the piece of paper in her hand, "the new student."

The principal looked at her schedule thoroughly. "I see...," she said, then smiled and handed the girl her schedule. "Welcome to Senju High School, Haruno Sakura. I'm your principal, Tsunade." She folded her hands in front of her and lost her pleasant smile. "I understand you were home schooled until now." Though it wasn't a question, Sakura nodded. "We take things very seriously here at Senju. If I find out you are falling behind in any of your classes, you are not behaving, or not following the school's guidelines, I will not hesitate in taking immediate action. The first time I hear you are doing any of those will be a warning. The second time will result in a step and a phone call home. A step is basically kind of like a contract—you sigh your name on the paper, and in doing so you are stating that you understand what you did was wrong and you are accepting the consequences that will follow. The third time will be a second step, a referral, and another call home. If you are caught disobeying authority a fourth time you will be dropped out of the class with a failing grade for the rest of the semester, receive your final step, and be sent to motivation—a room where you do nothing but read text books all day long. Do I make myself clear, Miss Haruno?"

Sakura gulped. "Yes, Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade nodded approvingly and, with a wave of her hand, dismissed the student. Just as Sakura closed the door she ran into someone with a hard, well-built body, whom caught her before her butt connected with the ground. The boy that she had ran into was very handsome with spiky brown hair, black slits for eyes that reminded her of a wolf, and two strange triangles on his cheeks. He was dressed in a black coat with a red tie, black dress pants, and black dress shoes. Sakura felt herself melt into a puddle of goo.

"Hey, watch—" he began to shout, but stopped short once he got a good look at Sakura. His frown faded into a flirtatious smile. "I haven't seen you around."

Sakura sheepishly smiled back. "I'm new here. My name's Haruno Sakura."

"Nice to meet you, Sakura," he said. "I'm Inuzuka Kiba. Where were you headed?"

"Um..."—she peaked at her schedule—"Geometry with Hatake Kakashi. What about you?"

Kiba visibly deflated. "Gym with Shiranui Genma. What do you have after that?"

"Chemistry with Maito Gai."

"Japanese with Sarutobi Asuma."

"After that?" she asked hopefully.

"English with Umino Iruka."

"Same!"

Kiba lit up like a light bulb, and his grin returned to his face. "I'll see you then?"

Sakura nodded. "See you."

With that, Kiba left the office, Sakura not far behind him searching for her Geometry classroom. Her schedule said it was in room U-8 but she couldn't find the U classrooms. She had already passed the L classrooms twice and was well beyond the R rooms, but she still couldn't see the U classrooms in sight. Fearing the worst, she kept retracing her steps and trying new paths. After a few more minutes of that, she finally saw U-2 and walked down the hall to room U-8. The class wasn't particularity big—roughly twenty-five students occupied the desks—but it was big enough for cliques to separate themselves from each other. She sat in the desk in the upper right corner next to a girl with her brown hair tied into to identical buns towards the top of her head.

The girl smiled a friendly smile. "Hey there," she said. "Are you the new student?"

"Yeah, I am," Sakura replied, mirroring the girl's smile. "Haruno Sakura."

"Tenten. Did you already talk to Tsunade-sama?"

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, she was pretty intimidating."

"I really admire her," Tenten explained. "She doesn't let anything to get to her. She's so strong and independent and doesn't need a ring on her finger to be a woman."

Before the pinkette could utter a word, a man with spiky silver hair and a briefcase walked into the room, and all of the students stood. Sakura, confused as to what was going on, slowly stood up and looked around the room awkwardly. She mimicked her fellow classmates when they bowed at the teacher and sat back down. The teacher's blank eyes fell on Sakura.

"I'm assuming you're the new student?" he said, and Sakura nodded. "May I see your schedule?" All eyes were on Sakura as she walked to the teacher's desk. He quickly glanced at the piece of paper and nodded. "Welcome to Geometry, Sakura. I will be your teacher for the year, Hatake Kakashi, but please call me Kakashi-sensei. You may go sit back down next to Tenten and we'll get on with our lesson."

Kakashi-sensei was a very strict teacher with legendary patience, a knack for making the students work together, and didn't really tolerate someone who undermined his authority. Sakura knew right away this man meant business. His face was covered with his scarf all class period even though it was the middle of spring, but didn't seem bothered by the extra warmth. Through out class Sakura had made two new friends—Tenten and Neji, though Neji wasn't too thrilled about her. She sensed something going on in between the pair but left it alone. It was their business, after all. Tenten and Sakura both had chemistry next, and bid Neji their farewells. Chemistry was a very odd class. Gai-sensei was a very hyperactive, loud, strange man with a bad bowl cut and very bushy eyebrows whom insisted on shouting almost every word he said. The teacher next door had to ask him to shut up at least four times! But he was a lot more affectionate than Kakashi-sensei and often encouraged a struggling student to try their best and told them as long as they were trying they couldn't fail. Despite his goofy nature, he was very caring and believed in his students. Next class was English and, unfortunately, Tenten didn't have that class next, so Sakura walked through the halls alone. When she walked into the class room she spotted a man with tanned skin, brown hair pulled pack into an unkempt pony tail, brown eyes, a scar running along his nose. He looked a little young to be a teacher (very handsome too) with his charming smile and a youthful gleam in his eyes. Sakura took an immediate liking to him.

"Hey, Sakura," she heard Kiba call. "Over here!" Kiba was sitting towards the back of the classroom along with a boy with shaggy blonde hair, a boy with a ponytail shaped like a pineapple towards the top of his head whom was wrapping in the arms of a girl with platinum blonde hair, a boy with blue-black hair, and a girl with long dark indigo hair. Sakura walked over to the group of teens and received their attention. "Guys, this is Sakura. She's kinda new here and I thought she could hang with us. Sound cool?"

"Fine with me," the blonde girl said. "What about you guys?" Everyone either said yeah or just nodded. "I'm Ino, by the way, and this is my boyfriend Shikamaru," she continued, emphasizing the word boyfriend. Shikamaru just glanced at Sakura and nodded his head again.

"I'm Naruto," the other blonde friendly said.

"Sasuke," the last boy stated.

"H-Hinata," the final girl said.

"What school did you come from, Sakura?" Ino asked with genuine curiosity.

Sakura happily took the empty desk next to Hinata and allowed her backpack to slide off of her sore shoulders. "I was home-schooled until now."

"So it's not only your first day at this school, but your first day of school ever?" Naruto questioned, an undeniable tone of interest in his voice.

Sakura, liking the attention the group was giving her, nodded. "Pretty much. My mom insisted on continuing to home-school me but I kept telling her I was sick of being inside the house all day stuck with my studies when I should be out in the world making friends." It wasn't that she didn't have any friends (her mom's friends had plenty of kids her age), it was just the fact that she wanted to make real friends whom she could trust and share laughs with on her own time instead of when her mother would invite friends over for tea and sewing.

"Alright, students," Iruka-sensei announced. "Chat time is over. Time to crack the books."

After English was over with (which was Sakura's favorite class so far), Naruto had invited Sakura to hang out with them at brunch. Obviously, she accepted his invitation and found herself outside with the group, crowded around a table and sharing laughs and crazy stories with one another. Even though he seemed interested in her that morning, Kiba acted like Sakura was just a new friend of his. Sure, she was a new friend but didn't he treat her like he wanted to date her or something?

Here I go again, she inwardly sighed. Over analyzing things as usual. Besides, he probably just thought I was cute or something. Unlike most girls her age, Sakura wasn't a stranger to self-confidence. She knew what she and wasn't ashamed to used it when she needed to. Her mother often said that even though she was merely sixteen, she might as well be twenty-six with how mature she was and how professionally she presented herself. In fact, Sakura was the one that was going through her list of supplies needed for school over and over, doubling checking it just to be sure she had everything. She was the one that insisted to buy extra notebooks, pens, paper, etc. But she also knew to have fun. While she was responsible, she was a teenager after all. She needed to act like an idiot and laugh at herself, and in the fifteen minutes she spent with the group, that was what she did. Everyone was so friendly and open, with the exception of Sasuke, whom had his guard up high. It kind of irked Sakura but she saw it coming. He didn't seem like the person to just hand out their trust to any person who said hi to them.

When the bell had rang for fourth period, Sakura discovered that she had her next class with Ino and the two walked with each other to the locker rooms.

"Anko-sensei can be a real bitch," Ino warned Sakura while they were changing into their gym clothes. "Don't back-talk to her, but don't kiss her ass either. She hates kiss-ups more than back-talkers."

Boy, had Ino been right. Apparently, every Monday Anko-sensei made the girls run the track and if they walked at least half a lap, she'd give them an F for the day. Thankfully, Sakura didn't have to worry about any of that. Sakura took an interest in volley ball at a young age of ten and, because of her interest, trained her body relentlessly so she could be in tip-top shape and be able to participate in the commanding sport. Running the track was a task she could do in her sleep! Unfortunately, like most teenagers, Sakura grew lazy with age, and was panting hard after her first two laps. Ino had encourage the sweaty cherry blossom with positive words and offered to walk a little with her even though it was obvious the run was a breeze for her. The two girls chatted while they power-walked the track.

"So what do you think about everyone?" Ino asked.

Sakura shrugged. "Sasuke doesn't seem like much fun, though he is pretty cute. Kiba comes off as a flirt. And, no offense, but your boyfriend is lazy. Hinata's a little too shy for my tastes. Naruto..." She smiled slyly. "Naruto I'd like to get to know better."

Ino cocked a fine blonde eyebrow. "Naruto? I'd imagine you going after a handsome boy like Sasuke. I had a crush on him from the time I was in Kindergarten to Junior High!"

"Is that when you met Shikamaru?"

"Yeah," Ino answered with a far-away look in her blue eyes. "But that's not the point. The point is what you want to know about Naruto."

"Why do you want to know what I want to know?" Sakura asked suspiciously.

Ino rolled her eyes. "Naruto and I—"

The sound of Anko-sensei blowing her whistle and her masculine voice shouting: "Alright, girls! Hit the showers!" cut the girl off short, and when the two girls where exchanging their gym clothes for their uniforms, she refused to continue.

I know, I know. It's a short chapter. In my defense, I've been wanting to upload this for a little over two weeks but never got around to it (plus, I didn't want to get too deep into the story just yet), so I just added the ending and uploaded it. I must say, this has to be the crappiest chapter one I've ever written. T.T Leave a review and I'll write a better and longer chapter two! :D

"We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love." - Dr. Seuss