Chapter 1.
If it wasn't for the ever "graceful" Ino banging her fist on the door every morning, Sakura could have probably slept through the entire school day without waking up. Even her alarm clock, which had made several flying leaps at the wall with Sakura's help, could barely wake the pinkette up. But every morning, without fail, Ino seemed to be there at the girl's door, shouting various forms of abuse and ultimatums. It was something Sakura could be grateful for, a routine to accompany her hectic lifestyle. So really however much she complained, Sakura was contented by the fact that whatever happened the previous day she could expect something normal to turn up at exactly the right time.
It was only in previous months that her life had slipped out of her controlling grasp. Although her father had always worked, it was when her mother began working that Sakura noticed some differences in their lifestyle. She'd never had everything she'd wanted as a kid but it wasn't like she didn't have nice things. But as the economy was crashing, it meant cutting back on things she'd taken for granted; her spare time for example. From 5 till 9, 6 days a week Sakura had taken a job working as a waitress. It was 'only for a little while' until her mother got a better paying job, and they had a little cash saved away. But until that time Sakura had to keep the balance between her school life, and her job which she claimed was entirely to blame for her late nights and overall exhaustion.
Only now was she beginning to realise just how difficult it was to stumble out of bed every morning; to go down stairs and find something edible, then to throw herself into the shower, get out, and then begin to apply, what Ino saw, was a fitting amount of makeup, so that she wouldn't give Sakura some lecture about 'making the effort'. But Sakura didn't care, she may have in the past, but now the time she spent making herself looking presentable could have gone into something much more worthwhile; like sleeping.
20 minutes later and Sakura had stumbled out of her house only to be greeted by an almost red faced girl. If this was one of those old cartoons the pinkette used to watch on Sunday mornings, there would have been steam coming out of her ears and nostrils, like a rampaging bull or something. The thought of this amused her, she almost felt nostalgic for a simpler time. But she just had to grit her teeth and get on with things now. "You do realise we're going to be late?" Ino snarled at the girl. "You could have gone without me" She waved of the blonde, and proceeded to walk down the road. "Forehead, seriously you're over working yourself, I'm starting to get worried!" Although they'd both known each other for a long time, Ino had never really sounded this sincere. Which left Sakura a bit lost for words, but she really didn't want anyone else thinking she couldn't handle it. So she waved the blonde off again and tried to sound a genuine as possible "I'm fine, honestly."
She couldn't have anyone else believing that the whole working 24 hours a week thing and balancing her school work was getting to her. She could handle it. She was handling it and if it had been anyone else in her position they would have collapsed under the pressure by now. In a way, it was something to be proud of.
First period is Biology, with Shizune Sensei. It's double Biology this morning. On most occasions Sakura enjoyed biology, she'd always dreamed of becoming a doctor. However, not only could she not afford to go to medical school. She didn't have the endurance for spending 4 years training to become one, then being underpaid and overworked, if she actually managed to get a job that is. Anyway, Shizune Sensei was always so involved in the lesson that she didn't notice if her students were sleeping or playing video games. So she could probably get 15 minutes sleep in, if they weren't dissecting anything.
Walking to class was such a hassle in the mornings, dodging the crowds of students, trying not to trip up on broken staircases that really should be fixed but the school just 'hasn't got the money'. But if you got to class early enough, you can sometimes just enjoy the peace and quiet before the masses begin pouring through the doors. Sakura had no such luck this morning and by the time the pinkette and blond arrived everyone had settled in their seats. She took her normal place in-between to the boy who always smelt of dog and the one who was always sneaking snacks from under the table. Sigh. She's thought by this point in her life that she would've have had at least one boyfriend, but the only action she was getting was the nudge from the boy who always ate as he reached into his pockets deeper to get more food. At least Ino had something better to look at, the girl thought. Ino was happily flirting away with a boy named Sai, who'd she'd been pursuing for a few weeks now. But he seemed completely indifferent to it, despite the blonde's best efforts. Which made Sakura giggle slightly, even someone who may have never been around girls before could've told when Ino was flirting, but this guy didn't seem to notice or care at all. But in all honesty this spurred her on.
Although, recently there had been one person catching Sakura's eye. She knew it would be very difficult to even begin to pursue him. But every day, he seemed to interest her a little more. Sasuke Uchiha, she almost blushed at the thought of him. He was considered to be one of the 'delinquents' of the school. Sakura believed that to be utter nonsense, but she didn't really know much about him and in order to make a judgment like that she would have to actually talk to the guy. But she wasn't prepared to do that in any hurry. Just watching him was fine for now. Until she would actually realise how creepy she was being, and what would happen if she got caught. Now there's a situation she did not want to even think of happening.
As she spent a good hour of her lesson dreaming of different scenarios between herself and Sasuke, she'd been completely ignoring all of the blatant signals Ino was throwing her. When she'd finally returned from her own world. Ino was signalling that she had something to tell her after class. "This could be interesting" the pinkette mumbled.