Just trying to survive highschool

Chapter 1-

Beep. Beep. Beep. Be-SLAP! The seventeen year old blonde kunoichi turned off her alarm clock as she lazily got out of bed.

"Ugh. Why did Tsunade- Sama insist on us going back to school? Why?" Ino complained as she lazily searched through her closet for something to wear. She just wanted to go back to bed. She had been up all night studying. Let's just say she been going through a lot of stress. Finally her eyes landed on the perfect outfit. She then grabbed the outfit and laid it on her bed. Her outfit consisted of a purple and green striped, off the shoulder, midriff top with a pink tank top underneath. She then grabbed a pair of tan cargo capris and then searched through her closet for her purple flats to complete her outfit. After she found her flats she decided to take a quick shower. After she was done with her shower, she then blow dried her hair and got dress. It takes her forever to get ready that is why she sets her alarm clock to wake her up at 5.

"I need something to wake me up. Hmm I think music would do the trick." Ino yawned as she walked over to her night stand where her i-phone was and turned on some music. She then walked over to her vanity, picked up her brush and started to style her hair. She always wore her hair up into a ponytail today she wanted to do something different. So she decided to wear her hair half up and half down with a poof on top. She then dig through her drawer and grabbed a purple headband to finished the look.

"Hmm I need some accessories." She thought as she digs through her jewelry drawer and pulled out a pink beaded bracelet, pink beaded earrings and a pink beaded necklace. After that she did her makeup which consists of eye liner, mascara and lip gloss. After she was done she went down stairs and ate breakfast.

"Good morning Ino." Her dad said as he looked up from his daily newspaper.

"Good morning dad." She then replied as she went to the cupboard and grabbed the bagels. She then put the bagel in the toaster and waited for it to be done.

"Did you sleep well honey?" her father asked as he took a sip of his tea. Her dad was an early bird. He was always up before her. He was always doing the same thing too when she got up, which is read the newspaper and drinking tea.

"Not really, I was up all night studying." She replied as she put her bagel on a plate and sat down in front of her father.

"At least you weren't up late talking to a boy," her father looked up at her from his newspaper with a "I know everything look on his face"

"True," she yawned. About 3 minutes passed and she finished her bagel. She then got up and put her plate in the sink. She then headed back upstairs to grab her stuff. She then came back down, gave her dad a kiss on the cheek and headed out the door.

At Konoha High- After surviving 3 classes it was time for lunch. After Ino ate lunch she decided to go to the library since she found out that she is failing almost all her classes. She was really disappointed.

"I can't believe I'm failing almost all my classes," she thought as she opened the door to the library. She then sat down at a nearby table.

"I'm a senior. I can't be failing my classes," she got out her math book and started to work on math. All of a sudden she felt someone presence and looked up to see Shikamaru Nara standing in front of her table with a bored expression on his face. He wore a white tank top with a dark green over shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He had on black jeans with dark green converse. She had to admit her teammate did look good.

"Hey." He said to her with a bored expression on his face.

"Hi," She said back annoyed.

"So," he said slowly. "How are you today?" he asked as he sat down in front of her.

"Fine. What do you want?" She said barely looking at him.

"I'm just making a polite conversation. Don't you do that anymore?" he said while putting his hand to his chest pretending to be hurt.

"Shikamaru I'm not in a good mood to talk." Ino said annoyed.

"Yea I can see that. And beside I was just wanted to know if you're going to be busy Saturday night," he said.

"Yea I am. I am going on a date." She replied.

"Oh a date, who's the lucky guy?" he asked. He said the word "lucky" sarcastically so she glared at him.

"Sai" she then replied.

"Sai, huh? I never liked that guy. Well I guess if you like guys who are emotionless empty headed jerk. Then I guess he's a perfect match for you," he said with a smirk. That caught her attention big time.

" yeah well I will tell you who your perfect match is but I don't know anyone who is a confident asshole who thinks he knows everything with an IQ over 200." She slammed her pencil down and glared at him annoyed. He sense that she was annoyed but he didn't care. She looked cute when she is mad.

"So are you and Sai serious?" he asked as he leaned in towards her with a smirk. He just loves bugging her.

"We've been going out for about a month."

"So you're about through with him then?

"No, but I'm through with you. Now go away." She said that as she forced a smile on her face.

"Hey I didn't mean to be rude." He said with a perfectly straight face.

"Besides I was just asking because I know someone who wants to go out with you," he then added. That also caught her attention because she looked up from her math assignment and looked at him curiously.

"Oh? Who?"

Shikamaru hesitated for a moment, as though he wasn't sure if he wanted to come right out and tell her.

"Naruto Uzumaki," he admitted. Ino shuddered when he said that.

Naruto Uzumaki was Konoha high's class clown. If something stupid happened at Konoha High chances were Naruto was involved.

"Why does he want to go out with me?" she asked.

"Well ever since Sasuke Uchiha came back. He found out that he can't have Sakura Haruno because she is dating him and so he decided he wants to go out with you," he then replied with a shrug.

"Well tell Naruto I'd rather just be friends and that he should open his eyes and realize that Hinata Hyuuga likes him. Also tell him I have a boyfriend."

"Fine I will tell him, but I still think you should give him a chance," Shikamaru said looking disappointed.

"Why should I give him a chance?" she asked looking up at him. She should have known that she isn't going to get any work done with him around.

"He is one of my best friends and he likes you for some odd reason. I just want you both to be happy." He shrugged.

"No. What's the real reason?" she asked still not believing him. He was silent for a moment, as though debating what to tell her.

"Fine I will tell you. Naruto promised me he will buy me a new Shogi board if I set him up with you." He finally admitted it to her.

"Why don't you buy a new one yourself?" she asked.

"Because I got no money," he then said.

"Why don't you get off your lazy ass and get yourself a job then?"

"I don't want to." He then said.

"Well sucks for you. I'm not going out with him."

"Please Ino. I need a new Shogi board. The one I have is really old and falling apart. Besides you go out with everybody what difference would it make if you went out with Naruto? Just one date with him, that's all I'm asking." He pleaded. Ino couldn't believe it. Shikamaru never asked her for a favor before.

"No."

"Ok Ino. You tell me what it takes. What do you want from me?" he asked. It was ironic he should offer her help now, when she needed help so badly. She thought about it for a while. Maybe he could help her get her grades up or help her study the rest of the year. But she knew he wouldn't agree to that. Or will he?

"Sorry, what I want you can't give me." She sighed dejectedly. Shikamaru blinked at her, his eye brows were raised in a question.

"And what would that be?" he said to her in a mildly shocked voice. He probably thought she was talking about some sort of criminal activity.

"Better grades."

"Oh. That makes sense." He then said.

"What does?" she asked confused.

"The reason that you are in here." He said as he stretched.

"What do you mean? I always go to the library." Ino said confused.

"No you don't. You're only in here when you have to study for a test that is next period or if you are failing a class and trying to bring up your grades by catching up on assignments. Trust me Ino. I know you all too well." He said with a smirk. Boy was that true. He did know her all too well.

"Besides since when did you start caring about your grades?" he added.

"Ever since I started to think about graduating and going to college."

"I bet that dance scholarship didn't come through. Did it?" he asked. He knew she was the captain of the dance team and he remembered her telling him about the scholarship she applied for.

"No, and I suppose you're waiting for Tsunade to tell you that you don't have to go to school anymore because you're a smart ass and knows everything." She said still annoyed.

"No. I don't know everything. Even though I hate school, I still come and learn. I want to learn new things and besides I want to graduate and go to Konoha University."

Konoha University, one of the best ninja colleges in Konoha. You learn very experienced jutsus there. That's why every shinobi wants to go there. That's the college she really wants to go to. You'd think that knowing Shikamaru was going there would have made KU seem less desirable, but it had the opposite effect on her. She couldn't be rejected by a place that Shikamaru could be so casual about getting into.

"I know you're a chunin and all, but are you sure you have the grades to get in?" she asked.

"I'm not sure. I'm too lazy to pick up a pencil. Besides they take other things into consideration when they read your application. I've been leading teams on missions for a long time. I also helped with the chunin exams. I have leadership qualities." He smiled over at her nonchalantly.

"You have so many other qualities too. Many of which I have to deal with on a daily basis."

"Troublesome woman" he muttered. He ignored her and said,

"If you go out with Naruto, I promise not to bug you. Or if you want I promise I will help you out with your assignments." He then said.

"I will think about it," she then told him. The bell rang and so they walked to class together.

During class- Ino was sitting in her next period class which was an advanced shinobi math class. She never understood the math. Also the class was so boring it was hard for her to pay attention. So during the period she thought about what she and Shikamaru talked about. She knew he hadn't given up on the whole Naruto thing. He probably be bugging her for days, until she was so frustrated with it all that she has to go buy him a new Shogi board herself. She hasn't realized it before until now, but Shikamaru had given her an idea. He talked about leadership qualities maybe there was something she could do show her leadership qualities. She did have them after all. She was captain of the dance team she lead practices all the time. She knew that she could do it; all she needed to do was show it, but how?