Chapter 2
Neji
The drive back to school was silent. The guys knew that they had pushed Neji's buttons a little too far, but they couldn't say nothing.
Sasuke rode shotgun, he texted Sakura in the other car the entire time. Anything to avoid Neji's current attitude. His phone buzzed, a text from Naruto that read; I'm scared.
Sasuke almost laughed…almost, instead he turned back to look at his best friend. "I'm right here, stop texting me."
Naruto shook his head fast, then texted him again; No! Neji scares me!
"Naruto, knock it off!" Sasuke unbuckled himself and jumped into the backseat. He grabbed Naruto's hair in his fist, and Naruto did the same, all while flailing and screaming at Sasuke to get off of him.
"Do you guys wanna walk back to school?" Neji threatened.
"No sir!" they froze. Sasuke climbed back up to the front seat and buckled himself back in.
"Sorry about earlier, Neji…" Sasuke tested the waters.
Neji knew what he was apologizing for, but he didn't want to think about it again, so pretended as if Sasuke was apologizing for losing his nose ring…again. "Just don't let this one close up."
Sasuke nodded and returned to texting his girlfriend.
Both cars pulled into their regular spots just in time for the fifth hour bell to sound. "Better hurry," said Ino, "Asuma Sensei hates it when we're late!" She ran through the halls, joining Shikamaru, and Choji at the classroom. Sasuke and Sakura both turned down the science hallway and made out until a teacher told them to get to class.
Naruto kissed Hinata goodbye, then she followed Neji down the art hallway until he needed to drop her at the music room. "You're coming to dinner tonight, right?" she asked sweetly.
"Yeah."
"Father and mother probably want to talk to you about the company again."
"Yeah, I know. I'm not going to give them any different answer then what I've told them before."
She nodded, "I know that. They're very persistent."
"Your better suited than me anyways." He lightly punched her shoulder.
She grinned, "I don't know about that, but…"
"I'll bring it up to Uncle again. He probably won't listen."
"But it doesn't hurt to try."
"Yeah. Have fun in choir." He retreated down the hallway to the art room and entered quietly. He set his stuff down at his usual table, then went to the cabinet to grab is drawing board. He turned around to see the new girl have a conversation with the teacher. He froze momentarily when his teacher pointed her in the direction of his table. He always worked alone, everyone knew that.
"Hey," she said, "Neji right? We have homeroom together. I'm Tenten."
He nodded and set his board down.
"Wow, you're really good!" she smiled, taking notice to his half done sketch. "Hayley Williams?"
"Yeah. I've kinda had a thing for her forever."
"I would too, if I was a guy or liked girls. She's hot."
He nodded in agreement.
"So what's the assignment?"
He shrugged, "I don't know. I don't usually do what we're supposed to."
"Good, neither do I." She pulled out her sketch pad and opened to a blank page. She took her pencil to the white surface and scratched at it with her pencil. Neji took notice to how smooth and consistent her movements were. She knew what she was doing. "You must draw a lot," she mused.
"Not really…painting is my thing mostly."
"Yeah? I'm not really good at painting. Drawing and shading mostly, but I like photography too. I noticed your car this morning. I like all the stickers, well, the ones I could see at least. I like Pierce the Veil too."
Neji didn't know how to talk to this girl. She was so straightforward, no girl ever was with him. They were always super shy and nervous, unless they were Hinata, Sakura, Ino or Temari, but they were his friends. Tenten was a stranger.
"I saw a Green Day sticker too. What's your favorite band?"
"Pierce the Veil," he answered.
"Yeah they're really good. Fall Out Boy's probably my favorite. I like your piercings, I always wanted some but my old school, and my parents didn't allow it."
He nodded. "Where did you go to school?"
"Anbu Prep. It was kind of a drag. I hated it, but my dad's kind of important, so he and my mom insisted that I stay there."
"I know that feeling…my uncle's kinda important too. My cousin Hinata and I have to argue with him all the time about letting us stay in public school."
She nodded. "Yeah, it's annoying. The only reason they let me come here was because they didn't think I was social enough. They're hoping I make friends, but that probably won't happen. I'm not a big fan of people."
He grinned. Then his phone buzzed. He glanced at the message, it was only Sasuke so it must not have been that important. It was probably meant for Sakura anyways. Neji had lost track of how many times Sasuke had accidentally sexted him and not his girlfriend.
His phone buzzed again, and again.
"You might wanna get that," said Tenten, "it could be important."
He unlocked his phone and opened the messages Sasuke was sending him:
To Neji: Neji I need you!
To Neji: Goddammit Neji, text me back dammit!
To Neji: Sakura just told me something terrible! Help!
To Neji: Ugh! I'm freaking out man!
To Neji: I'm coming to get you!
"Dammit, Uchiha," he groaned, and then got up from his seat. He informed his teacher that he was going to the bathroom and left the classroom. He found both Sasuke and Naruto waiting for him at the end of the deserted hallway. "What's so important that you needed to pull us both out of class?"
"THIS!" he shoved his phone in Neji's face, causing him to back up. He took the device from Sasuke and he and Naruto began to read the texts between the couple.
To My Love: Hey Hinata, will you take me to the drugstore after school? My periods a few days late…I just wanna make sure.
To Sakura: WHAT!?
To My Love: Oopsies! That was supposed to go to Hinata…I guess you and I gotta talk…
Naruto burst out laughing, "You idiot, you knocked up Sakura!"
"Shut the fuck up! Do you want the whole school to hear!?"
Neji just watched them with annoyance. Once Naruto got the tears out of his eyes and the laughter out of his system, he said, "You don't need to worry about anything, man. She's on birth control and you've always got condoms with you. She's most likely not pregnant. Hinata's late all the time, it's nothing to worry about." Neji glared at Naruto, who gulped in response, "I-I mean…oh fuck it, Neji, Hinata and I bang, a lot! Get over it."
"I'm over it."
"But what if she is actually…" Sasuke couldn't finish the sentence.
"What are you idiots doing? Sakura told me she accidently sent you that text Sasuke. She's fine, she's not pregnant."
"How do you know?"
"She miscalculated. Her periods not late." Sasuke let out a sigh of relief. "Except, now she's freaking out because she thinks you hate her now."
"I'm done here," Neji rolled his eyes.
"Everything okay with your friends?" Tenten asked when Neji returned to his seat.
"Yeah." They continued to work in silence until the teacher announced that it was time to clean up. Neji slid his board back into its slot, and Tenten slid her sketch book back into her backpack.
"Do you know where Anko Sensei's calculus class is? I tried looking for it at lunch, but I couldn't find it."
"You're in calculus?" Neji asked in disbelief.
"Yeah. I know, it's kinda lame, being so far ahead, but I had tutors when I was really little, and I've always just been really good at math," she rambled.
"Yeah, I have it next too. I'll show you where it is, it's kind of hidden."
"Awesome, thanks Neji!"
The bell rang and immediately, the two of them left the art room, in hopes to beat the student rush. They almost made it to the classroom without any interruptions, but then a boy Tenten recognized from this morning as one of the one's that drove to school with Neji approached them.
"Hey Lee," greeted Neji, who then gave him a fist bump.
"Are we still on for tonight? Shikamaru said the stuff is ready."
"Already? That was fast."
"I know right. Apparently a bunch of people were waiting to buy, so he rushed everything, now he's got a bunch extra for the rest of us." Lee froze, taking notice to the stranger behind Neji. "Who's this?"
"Oh sorry," said Neji, "Lee this is Tenten, she's new."
"Hello Tenten! It's so nice to meet you, welcome to Konoha High!"
"Thanks Lee," she smiled.
"Anyways, I can't do anything tonight," Neji frowned, "Dinner with Hinata's family. So it's a no for her too."
"Thanks a shame…" Lee looked disappointed. "Oh well, there's always this weekend! I'll see you tomorrow, Neji!"
Lee took off in the opposite direction, then Neji turned to Tenten, "Sorry about that."
"What were you guys just talking about?" she asked cautiously.
"Nothing."
"Yeah, I figured you were talking about weed."
He glared at her.
"I'm not gonna tell anyone!" she defended.
"It's not a big deal. Everyone already knows."
"So Shikamaru's stuff is good then? The dealer at my old school got caught so…"
He stared at her, hoping to find any sign that she was just kidding. From what he could tell, she wasn't. "It's good," he final answered.
"Good to know," she grinned.
The arrived at their classroom and Tenten went to introduce herself to the teacher, while Neji took his seat in the back of the classroom. The girl that sat in front of him turned around and flashed a sweet smile. "Hey Neji."
"Hi Hotaru. How was the rest of your weekend?"
"I gotta be honest, I'm still a little hungover, but it was totally worth it." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a twenty. "Can you give this to Shikamaru for me? It's the rest of what I owe him from the party."
"Yeah." He took the girls money and stuffed it into his back pocket.
"My mom keeps bugging me about you," she laughed.
"Does she?"
"Yeah, all weekend she's been on my case. It's not like I can just tell her you were a one night stand, that'd be such a disappointment to her."
He grinned. "Don't get caught next time."
"There's gonna be a next time?" she challenged.
"We'll see."
"You act like it's your choice," she laughed. "You were fun Neji, but you and I both know you're not my type."
"That's for sure."
"It's a good thing my dad wasn't the one to catch us."
He grinned. "Your dad would have loved me."
"Oh definitely," she said sarcastically, "He just loves when I bring home guys with piercings and tattoos."
"I don't have tattoos, and what's wrong with piercings?"
She giggled, "nothing, but you know me, I gotta be with the star soccer player."
"I wonder how daddy would react if he found out everything you did this weekend?"
"He'd probably have an aneurism." Hotaru leaned closer, "the new girl looks promising. Definitely your type, Hyuga. I know you're always looking for new girls to corrupt."
"She talks a lot."
"Does she? Shame, because you and I both know how much you hate that." She turned around.
He leaned forward to whisper in her ear, "The star soccer player was at the party too. Shikamaru tells me he spent the whole night looking for you. Too bad you were with me already."
She turned back around, fast. "Are you serious?"
"Very. Apparently he was pretty jealous when he heard you and I had left together."
She smiled big. "Thanks Neji, that's exactly what I wanted."
He nodded.
