Disclaimer: I do not own the cartoons used within.
I'm not entirely sure what this is. But I'll give you the obvious. This is a oneshot. It stars Hinata, co-stars Double D. It's another "toon school" style fic. It's not the second installment of "Cycle" either.
If any of you read and enjoyed "Cycle", I'm sorry to say the second and final chapter of it will be delayed. The truth is, I kind of lost a feel for it, and I'm having trouble making the second chapter (for a lack of 'big people words' that come to mind to describe this) as good as the first. I'll probably be doing a few of these oneshots until I regain a feel for it. So yes, this takes place in the same world as "Cycle", and yes, I may be reusing characters. And no, this isn't supposed to be highly detailed, or very deep.
Monday, December 12th
7:58 A.M.
Bus Number 9
Hinata Hyuga tentatively stepped on the bus and looked down the aisle. It was time for the two-second panic attack she had every day. Where would she sit? Are there any empty seats? Please let there be empty seats. Please. Please. Please. If not, let Sakura, Ino, and Tenten sit in the front.
No such luck. Hinata's face grew red as she realized that on the half-full bus, Ino, Sakura, and Tenten, her only friends on the bus, had already taken up residence on the back of the bus and were laughing away with other fun-loving social animals.
Come sit in the back, they said.
No, she said.
Why not?, they asked.
Too loud, she replied.
Hinata sat next to the pale, skinny boy in the front with the black hat, red t-shirt, and gap in his teeth. Actually, she found herself sitting next to him a lot. He never said no.
Someone had said no to Hinata before.
Can I sit here?, she asked.
No, he said.
Why not?
It's not YOUR seat.
But no one else is sitting here. But that was just what Hinata thought, not said. No, Hinata had been, since early in life, meek and conflict-avoiding, quiet and shy. That day at the beginning of the year she sat in a different seat.
So she sat next to the boy. She peeked at him out of the corner of her spookily white eye.
He was looking at her.
She let out an audible squeak and looked down at her backpack. She unzipped it, reached inside, and pulled out her Fanfiction homework, pretending to look it over. But Hinata couldn't help but overhear when Double D turned to the seat behind him and talked to his two friends.
"It's report card day, Eddy."
"Don't freakin' remind me."
"I'm sure you'll do fine! Of course, I've been tutoring you, sooo…"
"Please, Sockhead, just… stuff it."
"Stuff!" The third friend declared. Hinata thought this was random, but didn't know much about the boys and figured that it was an inside joke.
She only knew their names. Hinata had a single class with each. Gym with Double D, Songfics with Eddy, and Home Ec with Ed.
Actually, no. That was wrong. Hinata knew a little bit about Double D. She knew in gym class that he had a lot of bad days. She noticed Double D's two friends weren't in there. Hinata was fit. Her parents kept her that way. She finished laps early. But Double D was always last. He was the opposite of fat; that wasn't the problem. He was just weak and slow. Yes, he had a lot of bad days.
You got me in trouble, that usual boy would say.
No, I didn't mean to, Double D would protest.
You made coach pissed at me, he would insist.
But you knocked me down first, he would stammer.
Or maybe you're just out of shape, skinnybones.
…
I'll beat the crap out of you.
It was at that point that Hinata would make sure to finish up early and get out of there. She couldn't bear to watch him like that. She couldn't bear to watch anybody like that.