Beginning Song: "You and Me" by Lighthouse

Ending Song: "Never Be The Same" by Red

Chapter Two

The Pop Quiz

His old man was already there, sitting at the kitchen table and pawing through some playboy magazine when he arrived at their apartment. Two dinner plates with sandwiches each sat in front of him. Naruto wasn't surprised to see this scenery.

"Fetch me some beer at the fridge."

Naruto sighed but did as told. Old man Jiraiya was his foster parent. The geezer had adopted him and raised him ever since he was a baby, although after Naruto reached his teenage years, he started earning money for himself.

"What's with the sigh, Naruto? Your not the one here without a job anymore." Jiraiya lifted his eyes from the magazine as Naruto placed a bottle of wine in front of him.

"What?"

"I lost my job."

"AGAIN?! Why am I not surprised." Naruto sarcastically retorted.

It's been the fourth time for the year that Jiraiya had lost his job. And it all involved one thing in common: Women. Either the old hag had got caught flirting with his boss' secretary or he was making out with some random co-worker while at work.

"How's your day?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto considered reviewing what had happened a while ago. Meeting Hinata. Rescuing her from rapists. Dropping her off at her place.

Complicated. "Long story. Is that our dinner?"

Jiraiya grabbed the sandwich on his plate and started munching it. "I lost my job. So, hell yeah."

"Jesus. How long did you last there again? Oh yes, that's right. Four months. Just four."

Jiraiya flicked through the next page of the playboy magazine, ignoring his foster son's ranting. It's always been like this. Naruto would rant and start scolding him everytime he'd lost his job ever since the boy reached his "mature" teenage years.

Naruto continued. "Why can't you control yourself? You bring one of your whores here once every week. Who is it this time? You fucked your boss' daughter?"

With a calm composure, Jiraiya closed the magazine.

"My boss." he replied.

"Oh." the blonde said. "So you've raised your standards I see. No more flirting with the co-workers or secretaries. You just go for the real boss herself."

"You don't know what your talking about."

"Why'd she fire you? You touched her?"

Naruto sat opposite to his old man at the dinner table, not letting his eyes stray off of him like a parent scolding his child.

"I didn't touch her, moron. She couldn't handle the charm coming out of my ass."

"No shit." the blonde grabbed the last piece of sandwich in front of him and started eating.

The telephone rang. Naruto pretended to be busy eating his sandwich so that his old man would answer the phone call.

"Jiraiya, speaking." he answered the phone.

It's me… Tsunade.

"Ah, what a surprise to get a phone call from a beautiful lady such as yourself. How can I help?"

Don't flatter me, Jiraiya. I called to let you know —

They talked on the phone for ages, the old man throwing in compliments and flattering whoever was on the other side of the phone at every chance that he'd get. Naruto was sure that it's one of Jiraiya's whores giving him a phone call for owing them money. Probably.

"Alright. Bye, sweetie." Jiraiya dismissed the call.

Naruto eyed him curiously afterwards, munching the sandwich as he did so. It was the kind of look that says 'Who was it?' And the old man knew.

"Good news."

"What? You gonna get laid tomorrow?" Naruto swallowed the food before answering.

"My boss Tsunade is re-hiring me."

Tomorrow came. And the Naruto had to go to school.

First session.

Trigonometry.

Naruto hates Maths, with a burning passion.

He felt his shoulders tightened as he walked through the doorway inside his classroom. His teacher, Iruka-sensei wasn't in class yet and so he made his way to the farthest seat at the back row. Naruto sat on his seat and looked around, looking for someone to strike a conversation with. But he doubt that someone would want to talk to him. Considering that he had a bad reputation in school.

Rumours about the prostitutes who often visit his apartment for Jiraiya's needs spread like wildfire around the campus. And the message got passed on like Chinese Whispers. Most students in school thought that Naruto was the one using the prostitutes for his own pleasure.

It got him a bad name.

"Hey, Sakura-chan." Naruto said.

Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino sat on the desk in front of him, their feet on the chair. Their skirts were so short, shorter than what the school would've allowed. And Naruto was at eye level with just about everything.

Pink and purple panties. The blonde took note as he took a quick glance of their underwear.

"What do you want, Naruto?" Sakura turned to him.

"Nothing. Just wondering if you'd consider taking up my offer the last time."

Sakura got down from the desk and leaned forward, resting her hands on her knees as she looked at him.

Pink bra. Naruto got a clear view down her school uniform too. He felt luck coming down his way. Ever since he started high school, Naruto always had a crush on the pinkette but Sakura never reciprocated his affections for her.

"What offer?" she looked at him from under her lashes.

"Ya' know, going on a date with me tonight?"

"Oh. That." She frowned, then flipped her hair. "Aren't you playing against Sunagakure High tonight?"

"I can fit you in my schedule. Basketball can wait."

Sports have been Naruto's forte and saving grace. Basketball is the only reason why he'd bother passing every single subject in school. Without his sports career, he'd lost his scholarship. With Jiraiya always losing his job, he won't be able to get to college if he'd lose his scholarship now.

Sakura licked her lips. "My parent's will be out of the city this weekend. Ino and I were just thinking of hosting a party at my house."

"Count me in, Sakura-chan."

"I didn't even invite you yet."

"Wouldn't you?" Naruto shot her a cute wink.

"Fine. You can come to the party. But don't get your hopes up. We're never going on a date. Ever." Sakura said. "You and I will never happen, Naruto."

Her rejection always felt like a knife stabbing his chest multiple times, but Naruto had gotten used to it already. He always tried asking her out on a date at every chance he'd get ever since he had the courage to man up after he harboured feelings for her when they first met. But as usual, she'd never see him as more than a friend. Sakura will never be his.

Footsteps could be heard as someone walked into the classroom and everyone scampered back to their seats, knowing who those footsteps are from. A man, whose brown hair was tied-up in a ponytail with a horizontal scar on his nose walked towards the front of the class.

It was their Iruka-sensei.

"Sorry I'm late everyone. I want you all to keep your mouths shut now." he said. "We've got someone new joining our class today and I had to show her the way towards our classroom."

A new student? Could it be —. Naruto suddenly remembered his encounter with a girl named Hinata yesterday. And he wasn't wrong.

"Come in, Hinata." Iruka gestured someone from outside the door to enter.

A girl with dark-blue hair and stunning white eyes entered the classroom and all eyes fell on her. Hinata wore no make-up, her face was all natural and simple. She wore a shy look on her face whilst she walked in front of the class towards Iruka.

"This is Hyuga Hinata and she will be with us until the end of school year. So I expect you all to welcome her and be nice, got it?" Iruka announced.

"Got it, sensei." the class answered.

"Now, Hinata. You are now free to choose wherever you want to sit."

Naruto stared at her intently, scanning her eyes for any signs that she might've recognised him from yesterday. He made that coughing sound at the back of his throat to get her attention. There was this vacant seat beside him at the back row. To his luck, Hinata's gaze met his own and her eyes sparkled at the familiarity of his face. The Hyuga made his way towards the seat beside him.

"Look at her. What a lesbian." Ino whispered towards Sakura as they watched Hinata make her way towards the back row.

"She's not even wearing any make-up." Sakura whispered back.

Unlike the other girls in class, Hyuga Hinata was plain and simple. Her simplicity would often create misconceptions about her sexuality, leading others to think of her as a lesbo. Her face was make-up free, and definitely not some artwork by an artist named "Leonardo Da Bitchy".

She sat on the seat beside Naruto and placed her bag beside her desk. He observed the way she moved. So fragile and innocent, yet graceful.

"Okay, class. We'll start the day with a pop quiz."

Fuck. Naruto froze. A quiz? He hadn't studied for anything at all.

"But sensei, today is the second day of Semester Two. We barely even talked about anything in maths for this term." Shikamaru Nara shouted from the front row.

"Don't worry, Shikamaru. This quiz won't be recorded. I just want to know if you all remember the stuff that we talked about in Semester One."

"Troublesome." the Nara added.

Naruto could feel his palms sweat now. Even though it won't be recorded, he'd be guilty as charged for the good results that he got last semester.

He cheated. On the last term's final exams.

And for sure, his sensei would be suspicious if ever he'd fail this pop quiz as it will be opposed to his results last term. A number of negative thoughts flooded his head. If that's the case, his teacher would possibly interrogate him about it if ever he'd fail today's quiz.

Naruto wiped his palms on his pants.

He probably should go to the bathroom and never come back.

Yeah right. That's really subtle.

Iruka started handing out the test papers on each row. The sound of test papers getting passed on to each person down the row sounded like Naruto's ticking time bomb.

"Once you receive your test paper, you may begin." he declared.

Naruto took in a deep breath. I can do this. He dug his hands inside his pockets to search for something to write with. Car keys. Candy. Ramen Coupons. No pen or pencils.

Shit.

The blonde glanced quickly at the new girl beside him. Hinata's dark-blue hair trailed down her back. He observed her make-up free face, creamy white and with soft features. Then his eyes fell on her breasts.

Boobs won't help me right now. He thought.

But deep inside, there was just something wrong about looking at her in a sexual way. Hinata seemed so innocent. Purely innocent and untainted that it felt really wrong to think of dirty thoughts on her. Besides, she almost got raped yesterday and luckily he was there to save her life.

So he turned to the pinkette in front of him instead.

"Sakura-chan." he whispered.

But she ignored him.

"Do you have a spare pencil?"

No reply. Sakura is the smartest girl in class and he doubt that she'd want distractions during a pop quiz. But still, his irritation flared.

"Hey, Sakura-chan. Hook me up with a pencil, will ya?"

"Shut up, idiot!" Sakura gritted her teeth, but flicked her pencil towards the blonde at the back before getting another one from her pencil case.

"OW!" the pencil hit his forehead.

Naruto rolled his eyes before looking at the paper.

QUESTION 1. If the function f satisfies the equation f(x + y) = f(x) + f(y) for every pair of real numbers x and y, what are the possible values of f(0) ?

WTF? The blonde Uzumaki stared at the question like he was disabling a time-bomb. He might have to skip this one for now. They talked about this in Term One but he hadn't been listening.

QUESTION 2. Convert π / 8 radians to degrees.

Son of a bitch.

Maths had been Naruto's greatest enemy in school. Ever since he entered high school, the subject had become a foreign language to him. Numbers had been mixed up with letters and shit's gotten worse from there. To him, maths is like reading Chinese. And he doesn't read or speak Chinese.

C'mon Naruto, don't be a pussy.

He reached the third question and started attempting the rest although he didn't know whether his answers were right or wrong. Handing out a blank test paper would be a bad idea.

Amidst the silence in class, Naruto heard something snap.

Snap!

His pencil. The lid broke in half.

Some students in class looked at him. Naruto whipped his head to the right. Hinata was staring at him in agape but turned away after he looked at her.

Whatever. He took in a deep breath.

He continued answering the test questions.

Tick-tock-tick-tock. It had been the longest forty-minutes of Naruto's life. The blonde Uzumaki found it even more exhausting than his basketball practices. Mental exhaustion proved to be an equivalent of running a ten-mile marathon.

"Pencils up. That's enough time now." Iruka announced.

Thank god. Naruto sighed.

"Exchange papers with the person next to you. I will write the answers on the board for you to check if your seat mate had the right answers for marking."

Naruto shifted his gaze to his right. Hinata was already holding her paper out to him. He wanted to look at her straight in the eye and ask if she remembered him from yesterday, but the Hyuga seemed so shy to glance at him.

Is she … blushing? He thought. Hinata's cheeks seemed flushed after he exchanged papers with her.

They exchanged test papers.

One paper completely neat, the other a fucking mess. You know which one belongs to whom.

He chewed the end of his pencil nub as he waited for Iruka to finish writing the answers on the board. At the same time, Naruto was unconsciously tapping his foot on the floor, nervous of what the outcome of the pop quiz will be. I'm definitely going to fail.

"H-Hey."

Naruto whipped his head to the right. Hinata was staring at him, eyes widened like she'd seen a ghost.

"You remember me?" he whispered with a smile.

"Y-Yes, Naruto-kun." her cheeks turned redder.

"What's up, Hinata?"

"Y-Your … Your answers are all w-wrong."

His smile faded.

Like she needed to say it to his face. A whip of embarrassment hit Naruto. What would new girl think of her now? Way to make a first impression. He glanced back at her test paper and looked at the board to check her answers. Hinata's name was written in perfect script at the top left-hand corner of the test paper. Hyuga Hinata.

And of course.

She got every single question right.

"Whatever. Don't care." he ignored Hinata.

At the corner of his eye, he saw her flinch a little at his response. Was he being rude? Or did he sound like a dick to her?

But then he saw her getting out an eraser and Hinata started erasing something on his test paper. He glanced back at her to see what she was doing. She was writing at his paper subtly, as if she didn't want anyone to notice what she was doing.

What's she doing to my paper? He didn't know.

Afterwards, Iruka-sensei called for all test papers to be passed forward before he dismissed the whole class.

Before Naruto got to confront Hinata about what she was doing a while ago, she already bolted out of the classroom and was nowhere to be found.

"Naruto. Come here." Iruka called him.

Oh shit.

"What, sensei?" the blonde went up to him as he slung his backpack over his shoulder.

"You passed the test. I'm impressed, Naruto."

WHAT? Naruto's eyes widened at the declaration.

He cleared his throat. "How? I mean— What did I get?"

"Seventy-five percent. Not bad." Iruka said as he placed the test papers inside his suitcase. "I'd expect you to keep up the good work. I don't know what you've eaten today but your doing great."

A sudden realisation dawned on Naruto. He recalled what Hinata was doing a while ago. The way she was subtly writing something on his paper after erasing a bunch of stuff.

She changed his answers.

But why?