Inspiration: My outrageous, and completely irresponsible, HP Chemistry class
Music: I opted for silence.
Main Pairing: Sasuke and Sakura
Summary: Signing up for HP Chemistry, I expected uncontrollable stress and cruel amounts of homework. However, what I didn't expect was gaining three best friends, one-on-one time with my long-time crush, Sasuke, and the misplaced but frequent outbursts of random stupidity and idiocy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Chemistry 101
Chapter 1
Entering my chemistry classroom, I grabbed my lunch box containing the last remnants of my meal. I moved towards my seat and retrieved the necessities for class. The board, which had been blank yesterday, read one simple sentence that sent me into inner turmoil.
Warm up: Grab lab paper in the front of the classroom, read, and be prepared to conduct the lab.
I am not good at labs. Mind you, I am a frickin' genius, if I do say so myself, but I never had the steadiest hands. The only way I was ever able to function was through tremendous amounts of caffeine in my coffee drinks. Without them, waking up in the morning would be completely impossible. Even though people think that steady hands may be unimportant, it is a must for those who opt for biology and chemistry majors.
Sliding out of my desk, I grabbed the paper before proceeding to sit back down. One quick skim was all I needed for me to break down the lab and its questions. The lab was simple, really, just using droppers to mix chemicals and see which ones formed precipitates. Afterwards, we would have to discover which atoms or ionic compounds in the chemicals would cause this reaction, which meant a lot of logic.
Nothing too hazardous. At least I know I won't cause the school to be engulfed in flames.
With the sound of the bell, the class quieted down and turned their attention to Mr. Hatake. He bounced from one foot to the other before picking up the lab paper.
"Right, okay." He walked to the front of the room and pointed to a few bins containing goggles, test tubes, droppers, and trays.
"You get your stuff here." Now he stood on top of his desk and gestured behind us, where the lab section of the class was located.
"You work back there." After getting down and looking at our confused faces, his left eye crinkled in a smile. It seemed as if he enjoyed our feelings of loss and helplessness.
"And you give it back to me." Turning, he sat on (not in, actually on it) his desk lazily as people began to shuffle to the bins of things. He motioned to them as if he forgot to mention something, which made the class stop their actions and listen once more.
"I didn't tell you people to go yet, did I? Now sit back down as I give you your partners."
Partners?! I am not working with anybody! I am perfectly capable and probably even better off on my own.
Then I was crushed with the realization he was forcing us to socialize, a dangerous thing to do considering the highly stratified and extremely clique-y nature of our school. My position was in jeopardy, and I would most definitely see the looks of disappointment once people found out I was partnered with them.
"So I want Ino, Tenten, and Hinata along with Sakura on one team." I snapped out of my dark trance and nearly had a heart attack hearing who was working with me. They all had high social standings, though some were just out of respect rather than actually earning their position.
Let me explain.
When I say, "out of respect", I mean that they have strong connections to the higher-ups. Hinata, for example, really would not even be considered popular if it wasn't for her extremely hot cousin. Our school had a few peculiarities, and Hinata was one of them. The girl was beautiful, nice, and had that look of innocence that men seemed to die for, but nobody can have a decent conversation with her. Why, you may ask?
Because of the fact that she is a deeply devoted and over-the-top religious freak.
No joke.
Her stuttering does get in the way, but her constant prayers or speeches about the "Lord our Christ" (or whatever) is the explicit reason why people cannot relate to her. Which, I mean, isn't a bad thing…People have nothing against the crucifixes, the prayers, the conservative clothing or the purity ring, it's just…awkward. At least, her, I could relate too. Being slightly isolated and slightly misjudged was one thing we had in common.
However, Tenten and Ino were completely different cases. These girls were definitely unquestionable and untouchable when it came to the status quo.
Tenten is a tomboy with a strange sense of humor, largely due to her bizarre infatuation towards weaponry. She exceeds the "tough and bad" reputation. Being the number one athlete, people know not to get in the way. Many people admire her for the fact that she knows exactly who she is and doesn't care what other people have to say about it.
Ino is the popular girl. Unlike the popular girls seen in movies that tend to be fake and evil, like Barbie dolls, our school's most-wannabe-d are complete opposites. They are, no doubt, beautiful, but they are usually nice. Why would you be popular if you were a total ass?
Rhetorical question. Don't answer because I know that logic tends to be a fallacy ("Hasty Generalization").
I walked over to the counter top, grabbed the goggles and secured them to my head, fearing to face the punishment if I did not. Spotting the lab desk Hinata was sitting at, I plopped down next to her. The other two members of our group were still fumbling over glasses.
"...Hi."
"...Hi..." Well, that was awkward.
Thankfully we were saved from the deafening silence that surrounded us by the arrival of Tenten and Ino.
"I know, right?! Gosh, Coach just needs to give us a break!"
"Aren't you Captain of the volleyball team? Why don't you talk to him?"
"Yeah, but you're the best player and-" Ino stopped mid-sentence when she saw Hinata and I just sitting and staring at our papers dully. Squinting my eyes shut, I dared not see the expression on her face when she saw who exactly her lab partners were.
Surprisingly, the blonde quickly recovered and restarted her favorite past-time: talking.
"Hey, Hinata!" Both of them recited the sentence as if it were pre-programmed into their pretty little heads. After shifting the stools around, Ino glanced at me for brief second before possessing a look of utter confusion.
"Hey, have we met before? You look really familiar." Yes, yes you have. We went to junior high AND elementary school together. In fact, we had near identical schedules last year with the same teacher in every subject.
"Um...no. I think we went to the same school once, though." She continued to scrutinize me before snapping her fingers and bolting upright.
"Sakura." What? She knew my name?
"How did you..."
"How could I forget somebody with such a gorgeous hair color?" She winked before flipping her platinum streaks out of her face and secured it with elastic. I was stunned and flattered into silence. Suddenly, she whipped the sheet with the lab instructions out before beginning to write her name in the right-hand corner.
"Does anyone know what the hell we're supposed to do?" Of course. I released a heavy exhale and blew the extremely long bangs that just covered my equally extreme forehead. Adjusting my glasses, I grabbed the paper before making my generous offer.
"Do you guys just want me to do it? I don't mind." Really, I don't. Please, for the sake of our grade, just LET ME DO IT.
Tenten looked deeply offended, like I had just personally taken the Swiss-army knife poking out of her left pocket and smashed it to the ground.
"That's so pathetically stupid. No way." Ino then promptly elbowed her most likely toned stomach before mumbling.
"You have to learn to be diplomatic about these things." Quickly, in less than a jiffy (which is an actually unit of time, you know) she seemed to have thought of a plan. "How about this? Hinata, sweetheart, you know these chemical names really well right?"
Hinata finally looked up the diamond cross around her neck.
"Y-yes. I do."
"Why don't you go pick them in order, then?" The violet nodded her head before leaving to fetch the necessary items and decode the nomenclature. Shifting over to Tenten, she jabbed the girl in shoulder. I couldn't help but notice that Ino is a slightly abusive person.
"You have a steady hand. You could drop the chemicals in accordingly. I'll tell you where to put them." Finally, the blue eyes came to meet my annoyingly pastel green ones.
"I'm guessing you're really smart, considering you suggested that you do the whole thing." She let out a light-hearted laugh. "You probably get the logic part, right? Why don't you work on that, but make sure you explain it to us in the end. We all need to know how to do it."
I nodded happily, this was an agreement I could work with. With my step being last, I could check to see if they had done everything correctly. I'm also glad to see that they were actually trying to do something, unlike past partners.
That was when I decided they were different, that they, well, at least Ino, were sincere and unfeigned in their actions.
"Naruto! What did I tell you about smelling chemicals?!" Looking out of the corner of my eyes, I saw the idiot rolling on the ground clutching his nose.
"It burns! It BURNS!" Kakashi sighed before running his hand down his face.
"I said you take the chemical, and let it WAFT, I repeat, WAFT to your nose. Not stick your nose in the bottle and try to fill your entire lung capacity." Naruto still had his hands balled tightly around his face.
"Stop the burn, Kakashi! PLEASE STOP IT!!" My one-eyed teacher glanced at the boy before grabbing the book in his back pocket.
"Eh, it'll wear off." Stifling my laugh, I turned away from the sight of Naruto's tortured form.
Our group organized themselves and set to work.
We were perfect.
We made a great team, even the super team in the table next to us, Sasuke, Neji, Shikamaru, and Naruto (not really him) could compare. Soon enough, we were almost done with the worksheet, with nothing more than the questions and logic to go. This was hard even for me, and it took me a while to figure out the answers.
"This is going to take forevvvvvveeeerrrrr, emphasis on the 'ever'". Ino whined and smacked her head on the golden finished wood of the desk.
"H-h-have faith, Ino." Hinata smiled gently while Ino supplied a groan in return. Rolling her eyes, Tenten stared at Hinata.
"I swear, Hinata, how do you-" Her line was left unfinished as Ino, with her head still down, smacked her across the arm.
"Diplomacy." Before any remarks could be made, I turned to the clock to make conversation.
"These are hard. I don't think we'll finish today." Three heads copied my movement and gazed angrily at the clock.
"W-w-well, Mr. Hatake said we have tomorrow to work on the lab, too. God bless his soul." Hinata, always the pacifier. Ino stomped on the ground before whipping her head up, which strongly resembled a strike of lightening.
"No. I wanna finish it today." The corners of her eyes crinkled and her mouth twitched, signifying that she had an idea underway in her head.
"Why don't we all go to my house right after school?! It'll be like a study group, and we can all study our other subjects too if you want."
"Sounds good."
"T-t-thank you for the kindness, Ino."
These people! Such warm hospitality is so openly offered? The comfort of one's home, one's secret haven, so willingly given away to strangers met only recently? Even within the last hour?
Are people really that nice?
Ino noticed something akin to shock and discomfort on my face and decided I might need persuasion.
"You have to come, Sakura! It would be pointless to go if you couldn't!"
"Yea, really. It would be hard figuring this stuff out alone."
"P-please come." Ino gave a nod of her head as if to indicate that these statements were true, and that they really did want me there. Thoughts raced in my head, I twisted my bangs around my finger.
"Well..." Don't do it, you only met these people in the last thirty minutes!
But will the chance to ever gain some friends come again...
"Sure." Their faces lit up before they established the address and time. For a rare moment, I will try to trust some people.
The bell rang and my classmates scrambled out of their desks and rushed through the door way. Collecting my things, I began to leave the classroom intact. However, before brushing through, I slipped my head too the side and searched for the ebony locks I knew so well. Seeing his back view, I was satisfied enough to squeeze by the door of the cramped classroom.
Some days, I would get the hopeful imagination that his emotionless charcoal eyes followed my figure out the door.
What do you think? Like Hinata's character? I laughed out loud when I though of it!
Hope you guys enjoyed, please Read and Review.
READ AND REVIEW!!!!!