It wasn't that he hated school, he just hated everyone he had to interact with.
Academically, Senju High School was pretty prestigious, but that didn't seem to diminish the amount of morons Sasuke came in contact with on a daily basis.
As soon as he stepped through the doors, his quiet world of logic and reason was suddenly challenged by the idiots he had grown up with. He would see the huddles of girls either gossiping about nonsense, giggling obnoxiously or just outright staring at him as he walked past. Nobody in the school seemed to grasp the concept of priorities. The guys would run through the halls yelling, shoving people, or knocking books out of hands; it was all so inconsequential.
Aside from the abundance of irritants, Sasuke liked learning. Well, at least in its basic form. But at Senju, classes dragged on and teachers treated him like a child. He was hoping that since his classes primarily consisted of seniors, the teachers wouldn't talk down to him or hover so much. There was so much fluff in the curriculum that Sasuke would probably be better off just teaching himself what he needed to know. Straight A's were easy to maintain and monotonous to execute, but still, it was learning.
So, as the first day of senior year began, Sasuke took a breath and walked into Room 307.
It's not as if he had expected anything other than what sat before him. The same students, the same inane chatter, the same seat in the back corner he liked so much. At this point, most of his classmates knew not to approach him. Many of them were familiar with Sasuke's trademark death glares and unimpressed demeanor. He preferred to seclude himself, only speaking when necessary and keeping everyone on a need-to-know basis. Small talk and senseless chatter had never made much sense to Sasuke and only succeeded in irritating him. He assumed most other students saw him as arrogant and standoffish which ultimately worked to keep everyone at bay.
Shortly after taking a seat and placing his bag aside his chair, Sasuke's attention was called to the front of the room when an obnoxious blonde haired boy walked through the door. He was speaking loudly to two other boys in their grade about some video game they had recently bought. The fact that he was speaking at a high enough volume for Sasuke to hear every word was enough to piss him off.
Naruto, I think.
Sasuke didn't know much about him. He didn't really make an attempt to know much about anyone at school. He only knew Naruto's name because, at one time, they were both outsiders. Naruto had grown up an orphan just as Sasuke had. He was socially awkward and openly disliked throughout their elementary school years, leaving him isolated. Sasuke had always chosen to remove himself as much as he could from social situations out of preference, but Naruto was forced out. But looking at him now, Sasuke could see he really had made a significant change. They had made it to senior year, and Naruto now entered classrooms flanked by two boys engaged in conversations about popular social topics, just like any other 17 year old.
The wild-haired boy on Naruto's right responded to him as they took seats near the front of the class, lowering the volume of the conversation enough to effectively put Sasuke's out of earshot. As he turned his attention to getting out his notebook and pencil, the bell rang, followed by the teacher walking in the room and closing the door.
Sasuke had never had Professor Umino before, but he had heard relatively neutral things said about him. He looked like a standard teacher. Nothing specifically unique about him, excluding the scar across his nose. History was never Sasuke's interest, he preferred math and sciences, but Iruka Umino seemed like a competent enough teacher, hopefully indicating that the class wouldn't be too irritating. As long as he didn't have to interact with other students or work in groups everything would be fine.
It was at that moment that a girl quickly opened the door and walked into class, obviously late and obviously flustered. Another girl followed her in, flicking her long blonde ponytail off of her shoulder and looking equally flushed. Once they saw everyone staring at them, they exchanged a hostile glance, clearly blaming the other for their tardiness.
"Please take a seat, girls," Umino said before picking up the roster.
The girls scanned the room and simultaneously came to the same conclusion: there was one seat next to Sasuke, and there was one that wasn't.
Sasuke had never spoken to either of these girls. He vaguely recognized one of them, the first one to walk in, as a classmate from biology last year. She repeatedly attempted to become his lab partner, even though it was clear that Sasuke wasn't interested, not to mention the fact that the rules stated that lab partners were assigned by the teacher. He couldn't understand why she was so persistent, or why she had such a hard time grasping the concept of professor-designated partners.
Both girls seemed to have a split second of panic before deciding to subtly race to the seat next to Sasuke. The first girl beat her friend to his side, sitting down, throwing her friend a victory glare, and tossing her short pink hair in triumph. The other girl attempted to cover up her defeat and rerouted to a seat across the room next to an unhappy looking boy in sunglasses.
Professor Umino began calling off names for attendance, checking them off one by one. Sasuke didn't know most of the names but recognized a few.
"Shino Aburame."
"Present," said the boy in sunglasses.
"Sakura Haruno."
"Here," the girl next to Sasuke called.
Sakura. I'll make sure to avoid her.
"Kiba Inuzuka."
"Here," barked the wild-haired boy that had sat next to Naruto.
As names were called, Sasuke was reminded of how much he disliked his classmates. He could tell by looking around the room at the vacant expressions that none of his peers were worth his time. Quietly shaking his leg in impatience, Sasuke folded his hands in front of his face and glared over his fingers.
"Sasuke Uchiha,"Umino called.
"Here."
"Naruto Uzumaki."
"Here."
"Ino Yamanaka."
"Here!" called Sakura's friend.
"Alright. Will you all please get out your summer essays? They should all be in MLA format or I will not take them. 2 months is not long enough to forget proper essay format," Umino said, walking to the front row of desks and holding out his hands for the papers.
The class noisily dug into their bags to find their papers. Sasuke already had his out, as it was expected that Umino would collect them shortly after attendance. Sasuke couldn't help but notice Naruto looking at the boy named Kiba with a panicked expression. His friend shrugged and Naruto responded by mouthing the word 'fuck'.
Moron.
"Hey, how long is yours?" Sakura asked, turning to face Sasuke with an annoyingly wide smile on her face.
Sasuke silently slid his essay a few inches closer to Sakura, allowing her to look. As she leafed through the papers her eyes widened.
"Yours is only 3 pages? Mine is like 7."
"Why write a lot when you can effectively make your point in a few pages?" Sasuke responded without looking at her, entirely intending the question to be rhetorical.
"Well, I guess I-"
"Sakura, your paper please," Umino said, reaching their desks and holding out his hand.
Sasuke handed his paper to the professor as well, grateful for the end of the conversation.
After collecting the papers, Umino returned to the desk and began his first day of school speech. It was completely recycled. He said nothing they hadn't all heard before. Turn in all of your homework, don't be late to class, you have three days to make up a test after being absent etc. etc. Luckily, Sakura did not attempt to start any more conversations, which Sasuke preferred. He noticed that Naruto had spent most of the class nodding off and then shaking his head in a blatant attempt not to fall asleep.
As the bell rang, Sasuke packed his notebook and pencil back in his bag and made his way toward the door.
"Sasuke!" he heard Sakura call from behind him.
Ignoring her, he continued walking until he reached the hallway and blended into the crowd. Senior year had started, and the inevitable headache that was public school was as troublesome as ever.