Chapter 2
She sighed heavily as she stepped onto her first actual school campus in years. 'Welcome to Konoha Springs. Home of The Fighting Foxes' the sign read while people milled about the parking lot and front entrance. It was just like stepping into one of those teenaged movies. Students were everywhere hugging, talking, and catching up on all the latest gossip from the summer. The feeling of dread suddenly hit her stomach like a bomb. A wave of nausea overtook her as she looked at all the people outside.
The bell rang signaling that school was just about to begin. Hinata walked into the school like the rest of the kids and went to the cafeteria to get her schedule. She was glad that she managed to be one of the first and had avoided the huge crowds. 'Physics room 101 with Mr. Kakashi.' Hinata did a quick survey of her surroundings. She noticed that barely anybody was making their way to class, so she thought that this was a good time to find hers. The less people around the better.
She wandered around the school like a lost puppy until she finally found said room. As soon as she opened the door, her breath caught in her throat. There already were at least 10 kids in the classroom. Hinata had hoped that nobody would be there, so she could slip into the back without being noticed. All of them were laughing and smiling together like in those American Eagle ads, but once they saw her everything stopped. Every pair of eyes were focused solely on her.
"Who the hell is that?" A pink-haired girl with a billboard-like forehead whispered to her little blonde friend. Blondie just shrugged and went back to talking about her amazing summer with this guy from America named Chad. The pink-haired girl narrowed her eyes at Hinata before dismissing her altogether. Everyone else followed her example and turned away as if she didn't exist.
'I'm so glad nobody really cared about me being here.' Hinata thought to herself as she slowly went to her seat. She sat down and pulled out a pen waiting patiently for the teacher to show up. The tardy bell soon rang, but the teacher still didn't show up. Instead, a blonde boy burst through the door gasping for air. He looked around and noticed that everyone was staring at him.
"Sorry, I had to get away from the principal." The boy said as he walked to the back of the classroom. He took a seat right next to Hinata and propped his feet up on the desk. Hinata looked over and took in the boy's appearance. He wore a red plaid button up shirt with, a pair of dark blue jeans, and some white tennis shoes. His hair was damp presumably from a morning shower and fell into his eyes a little bit with every breath.
She didn't realize that she was staring until he started snapping in her face. "Hello. Anybody in there?" He asked. Hinata mouthed something like a sorry and stared down at her desk. She felt someone tap on her shoulder, already knowing that it had to be the boy next to her. Hinata gave him a questionable look until he held out his hand. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki and you are?" Hinata didn't want to be rude, but she didn't want to answer either. Naruto noticed her reluctance to speak and stole a glance at a piece of paper hanging out of her backpack. "Hinata Hyuga, huh? That's a pretty cool name." She gave him a how-do-you-know-that look. "I saw that piece of paper in your backpack. So, where did you come from?"
"Naruto!" A shrill voice yelled. Naruto ceased his various questions and searched for the owner of that voice. He smiled a little when he saw the pink haired girl.
"Hello Sakura."
"Hey...um...why didn't you answer my text last night?"
"Hold on. I'm talking to the new chick right now." Naruto turned away from her and failed to notice Sakura's angry expression. "Anyway, what were we talking about?" Hinata didn't answer only this time shoving the paper deeper into her backpack.
"Alright everybody, let's get class started." A man with silver-like hair, an eye patch, and a business suit on announced. "I'm Mr. Kakashi and I will be your physics teacher for the rest of your junior year." Mr. Kakashi seemed really apathetic at the moment. "I want us to have a good year...blah blah blah, I could really care less. Let's just start already." Nobody uttered a word as they waited for him to get teaching.
000
As soon as the bell rang, Hinata grabbed her backpack and sped out of the classroom. Her anxiety from all the students in the hallway caused her to stop right in her tracks. The overwhelming feeling of fear flooded through her body. 'There's too many people.' Hinata thought to herself. As she tried to gather the courage to go to her next class, a hand landed on her small shoulder. Hinata whipped her head around and saw that it was Naruto.
"Did I scare you?" He asked with a sympathetic smile. Hinata just shook her head no. "Well that's good. Can I see your schedule? I just want to see if we have any of the same classes is all." Naruto gave her a huge you-can-trust-me smile as she silently turned the idea over in her mind.
'Well he doesn't look like a stalker. I guess I can let him see it.' She reached in her backpack and gave him her schedule to compare with his.
Hinata's schedule:
8:00-8:45 Physics- Kakashi Hatake- room 101
8:50-9:35 Social Studies- Orochimaru- room 216
9:40-10:25 Pre-Calculus- Asuma Sarutobi- room 112
10:30-11:15 English 3- Jiraiya- room 210
11:20-11:50 Lunch
11:55-12:40 Child Development- Kurenai Yuhi- room 204
12:45-1:30 P.E- Might Guy- Gym
1:35-2:20 French 2- Itachi Uchiha- room 116
2:25-3:15 Food Science- Kurenai Yuhi- room 204
Naruto's Schedule:
8:00-8:45 Physics- Kakashi Hatake- room 101
8:50-9:35 French 2- Itachi Uchiha- room 116
9:40-10:25 Engish 3- Jiraiya- room 210
10:30-11:15 P.E- Might Guy- Gym
11:20-11:50 Lunch
11:55-12:40 Child Development- Kurenai Yuhi- room 204
12:45-1:30 Pre-Calculus- Asuma Sarutobi- room 112
1:35-2:20- Social Studies- Orochimaru- room 216
2:25-3:15 Food Science- Kurenai Yuhi- room 204
"Well at least we have 3 classes together." Naruto commented as he gave her back her schedule. "You want me to walk you." Hinata shook her head vigorously. Naruto shrugged it off. "It's fine. You don't know me after all. Your next class is upstairs." He looked at his watch. "You better hurry we only have 2 minutes left. Bye." Naruto said before he disappeared into the crowd.
000
Hinata stepped into the classroom just before the tardy bell rang. Surprisingly, the room was dark, cold, and no one uttered a word. She made the familiar walk to the back of the classroom to take a seat near the window. Luckily, she had the whole back row to herself. 'At least I don't have to feel pressured to talk to someone.'
"Hello." A girl's voice said to the side of her.
'I thought too soon.' Hinata looked over at the girl and took in the sight of a tall brunette with 2 buns in her hair. The girl wore a striped green shirt and a pair of white capris. Hinata instantly felt a little jealous of her natural beauty.
"My name is Tenten, and you must be Hinata." Tenten extended a hand towards Hinata. Tenten had hung there for a few seconds until hinata felt obligated to shake it. Tenten must have seen the look on her face because she answered just what she was thinking. "Naruto just contacted me and told me that you don't really know much about the school." Hinata nodded in agreement. "He also told me that you don't talk, but I'm not going to pressure you and neither are they."
'They?' Hinata raised her eyebrow curiously and looked behind Tenten. A small group of people stood behind her causing Hinata go into a slight panic. There was a mean looking redhead with a tattoo on his head and no eyebrows, a brown-haired boy that stared at her open mouthed like a dog, a boy with purple paint splattered on his shirt and little bit on his face, a pretty blonde girl with four pigtails, and a raven-haired boy with two piercings in his lip and some in his ears.
"I'll introduce you. Don't worry they won't bite." Tenten said with a smile. "Hinata this is Gaara, Kiba, Kankuro, Temari, and Sasuke. Kankuro and Temari are seniors so you won't see them a lot, but everyone else including me are juniors." As soon as she finished, they all took a seat around Hinata not bothering to ask her any question. Hinata praised whatever God was listening because she didn't like people who delved in her personal life.
When everyone was quiet, a really old looking man with the pale white skin entered the dark room and put his coffee down. He lowered his head until his hair was in his face and snapped it back up again. The movement caused everyone to jump except Gaara and Sasuke. "My name is Orochimaru, however you can call me Mr. O." His speech just seemed to ooze from his mouth like a snake. A heavy lisp was also evident as he spoke. He kind of reminded her of some creepy pedophile. Luckily, he skipped the small talk and dove right into what they would be studying ins his class. Hinata was more than happy to stay quiet and take notes.
000
Hinata strolled out of her English 3 class and went straight to lunch. Everything was pretty much the same in all of her classes so far. Introductions and going over the class syllabus. Now, all she had to do was find the lunch table she was supposed to sit at. Temari invited her to sit with them during lunch. She was apprehensive, but took her up on her offer anyway. She just hoped they wouldn't talk to her.
To her surprise, it wasn't that hard at all. In fact, it was right in the middle of the lunchroom and Gaara was already sitting there. She didn't really feel like eating, so she just sat down with him. The two of them sat in silence waiting for the others to come. About five minutes later, a tray was dropped onto the table. The pair looked up and saw a really sweaty Naruto putting his tray down.
"Sorry about that." Naruto said sheepishly to the both of them. He took his seat next to Hinata and stared at his food. He scrunched up his face once he examined the grilled cheese and soup, so he pushed it aside. "So...how was your day Hinata?" She shrugged as if to say 'so-so'. He nodded in response. "I hope that my day picks up because so far...it sucked...BAD." He saw the look she gave him and opened his mouth as if to explain, but everyone else came over to the table. The conversations began, and Hinata, Sasuke, and Gaara were the only ones not talking. Hinata took out her sandwich and juice to begin eating her own lunch.
000
Hinata started to look around for her mom's car until she remembered the conversation that morning. She wasn't going to pick her up today because she had a meeting with Hanabi's school. 'Great.' She cut through the student parking lot making sure to stay out of the way of moving cars. Hinata looked down the path of the sidewalk and sighed. 'My journey begins.'
She hadn't even really turned the corner to get off school grounds yet when she heard the sudden clikkety-clack of high heels right behind her. She turned around and instantly regretted it. An angry pink-haired girl was charging towards her with her blonde friend in tow. Hinata turned back around and sped up the pace of her walk. Hopefully, the girl was coming after her.
"Hey!" Hinata stopped cold at the demanding tone of the other girl. Hinata could feel the other two right behind her. "Turn. Around." The girl ground out. Her tone left no room for an argument. Hinata slowly turned around and stared at the ground. "In my eyes!" Hinata chose to stare at the spot between her eyes instead.
"Get her, Sakura." The blonde was clearly amused by the situation. She was practically laughing at the whole thing.
"I don't know who you think you are, but you're already overstepping your boundaries. Naruto is NOT available! Stay away you stupid bitch!" Sakura snarled at her. Hinata steeled herself to keep her tears at bay. "If I catch you trying to get with him, I will RUIN you!" Sakura straightened herself up and looked Hinata up and down. "Freak." The two of them went on their way back to the school, but not before her blonde friend smirked at her.
Hinata didn't know if it was the verbal lashing she just received or what, but something inside of her was breaking. Hinata had no idea what to do at the moment. So she did the only thing she knew how.
She ran.