This is longer than most of my chapters I believe. I think you will enjoy this chapter, I really hope you do. I couldn't resist posting this because I really like this chapter. I was going to wait longer but since I have it I might as well. So here's chapter three!
Dance is Life: Mealtime Mayhem
Ino closed her locker and held her books for her next class.
"So how was your morning?" Sakura asked, in a fake bright and cheery voice.
"Fine," Ino replied letting a yawn escape.
"Cool, what's you first class?" the roseate asked
"Algebra, bleh," Ino said looking at her classes.
"I guess I'll see you at lunch then," Sakura said looking at Ino's list.
"Huh?" was the noise the blonde made in confusion.
"I don't have any of your classes at the same time," Sakura frowned.
"Oh, well how do you know?" Ino looked at her.
"I already memorized my classes," Sakura smiled.
"Showoff," Ino shoved her playfully. "Gotta go, bye!"
Ino walked into her math class to find Tenten. She found a desk beside her and sat down.
"Hey Tenten," Ino smiled.
"Good morning," Tenten yawned lightly and stretched.
"Are you good at math, Coffee?" the blue eyed girl asked calling her friend a nickname that came from her hair and eyes.
"I guess, Pinky's better," Tenten sighed.
"She's always better," Ino laughed.
"What's funny?" A cold voice inquired. The girls turned to see the girl they had met in the locker room.
"I don't know, tell me!" Tenten told her in pretend excitement.
"Ugh, you little sophomores," the turquoise eyed girl said.
"Yeah, us sophomores," Ino sighed. "Hey what's your name?"
"Temari, like it matters to you, oh wait, it should matter," she scoffed.
"Well, I'm just trying to get to know my upperclassmen!" Ino said in the same pretend excitement Tenten had shown.
"You are so annoying!" Temari told them. "Oh, and remember my warning." She threw a threatening glance at the blonde.
"How could I forget?" she asked not intending to get an answer. "Stick up her butt much!" Ino and Tenten giggled quietly.
Other than that math class went off with out a hitch. Time for gym.
Ino, Hinata, and Tenten got changed in the locker room. Temari, thankfully, wasn't there. But some member of her posse was, posse being a loosely assembled group of frightened freshmen.
"Temari told me to give you this," a brown haired girl whom the girls recognized as Matsuri said as she handed Ino a note. She looked kind of scared, like a lost puppy.
"Oh, thanks," Ino unfolded and read the note. "Oh, pa-lease!" she yelled.
"What does it say?" Hinata asked quietly.
The note read:
I know you have gym with him. Remember my warning.
"You have got to be kidding me," Ino laughed. "So I guess this 'warning' means 'stay away from the man that doesn't like me, but I'm obsessed with and who you don't like anyway so it doesn't really matter.'" Ino laughed again.
"She's only doing this because she feels threatened, you know," Tenten told her blonde friend.
"Threatened? By what?" Ino spat.
"That you're way prettier than she'll ever be and she thinks that Shikamaru's falling for you," Tenten announced triumphantly. "I'm completely serious; she wouldn't have such a cow if you were some ugly weirdo!"
"Hey I never said you were wrong. But she doesn't need to feel threatened, I like Sasuke anyway," Ino sighed crumpling the note and throwing it in her locker.
"Always back to Sasuke," Tenten sighed.
"Yeah, whatever Miss I-have-a-crush on—" Ino started but Hinata, of all people, covered Ino's mouth with her hand.
"Good friends keep secrets," Hinata told her.
"Right," Ino smiled nervously, "I'm sorry Tenten."
"It's okay, thanks Hina," Tenten said gratefully.
"No problem," Hinata told her.
"Youth is a-wasting!" their frightening coach called as he walked into their locker room with his hand over his closed eyes.
"Let's get outta here," Ino said, her friends nodded in agreement. They ran past the coach into the gym where the boys were lazing on the bleachers. Ino ran over and sat next to Shikamaru who was with his usual group of friends: Sasuke, Neji, Naruto, and Lee, Kiba wasn't there.
"Hey guys," Ino said as Tenten and Hinata sat down next to her. Tenten caught Neji's glance and quickly looked away, a pinkish tint rising in her cheeks. Ino looked back at her. "You spaz," she whispered.
"Ino, what is up?!" Naruto yelled imitating an already fake gangster voice.
"The ceiling and the basketball hoops," she said quickly, dismissing him.
"Ino go away," Shikamaru ordered.
"Oh, but you were so nice to me on the soccer field yesterday," she pretended to pout. It was fun to embarrass him and she caught a slight pink in his cheeks. "Oh, I'm sorry! Am I embarrassing you?"
"If I answer that question will you go away?" he bargained.
"If I answer that question, will you tell me why?" she pushed a little further.
"If I answer that question and tell you why, then will you go away?" he asked again.
"Um, sure, why not," she said.
"Alright, yes you're embarrassing me because what happened on the soccer field was embarrassing."
"Hey, dude, what happened on the soccer field?" a curious Naruto asked.
"Yeah, what did happen on the soccer field?" Tenten wanted to know. Now, Ino was embarrassed too as this suddenly involved her. So, she grabbed Tenten's hand and got off the bleachers, Hinata followed obediently daring a glance and Naruto.
"I see you girls are getting ready for our soccer match!" their Coach Gai observed.
"Umm, yeah, we're ready to go!" Ino said and continued past him Tenten and Hinata following suit.
Once the students had assembled on the grass outside, Gai assigned team captains.
"Ino aaaaand," he paused, "Naruto."
"Yeah! Beat that Sasuke!" Naruto yelled getting in Sasuke's face.
"Just go up there, loser," Sasuke shoved him.
Ino got first pick. "Tenten, she called out."
"Um, Hinata!" Naruto pointed, Hinata blushed and came up next to him. Hinata's not really good at soccer, Ino thought.
Tenten whispered in her friend's ear, obviously trying to influence Ino's choice, "Shikamaru," she smiled. He sighed and went up; he knew she was teasing him.
"Sasuke, mah main man!" he held his hand up for a high five, Sasuke ignored it and walked past.
"Neji," Ino pointed and then laughed at the look on Tenten's face.
"Lee," Naruto said.
"Yosh!" Lee exclaimed.
When the rest of the class had been picked and put on teams, the match began. Ino put Shikamaru in goal insisting that he wouldn't need to do much, maybe block a goal once or twice, but she could keep the ball on the other side of the field and Tenten could send it to the other side if it got close to the goal. Shikamaru had to admit that she was good when the game was over, and she kept her promise. Shikamaru had let in only one goal but he had tried to block it. The final score was 5 to 1 in Ino's favor.
"I saw you staring at her," Tenten whispered to Shikamaru.
"Huh?" he asked, trying to throw her off course.
"Don't play dumb, you watched Ino the whole game," Tenten smiled.
"And you watching Neji's ass was totally different," he smiled.
"Rude," Tenten said.
"Sorry," he said sincerely, "just thought I might get even a tad."
"Haha," she laughed, "fine, fine, it's all in good fun, consider us even for now." She smiled once more and went to sit on the bench beside the field. Ino took her hair band out freeing her platinum strands of hair. Shikamaru watched and thought how beautiful she looked; he then shook his head, like he thought that the thought would go away if he did. Both Hinata and Tenten caught this.
History was quite uneventful and boring. It was boring due to the uneventfulness. Ino sat next to Lee and he was her only well known person in the class. After history, it was finally lunch.
Sakura, Tenten, and Hinata found a seat at a lunch table. Ino told them she would be late because she had to talk to her teacher about their homework, nothing big. So they found a seat and sat. Hinata finished her lunch and left early because she decided she would talk to one of her teachers too. As Sakura and Tenten ate Naruto strode over, and as Naruto strode over Ino entered the lunch room. Shikamaru caught a glimpse of light coming through the door and illuminating her bright blonde hair and her creamy white skin. He quickly looked away, not wanting anyone in the lunch room to see him staring. Now back to Naruto.
"Hey Sakura! I was wondering if—" Naruto began.
"Not interested," Sakura cut him off.
"But I just—" Naruto tried.
"Nope," Sakura interrupted, again.
"Maybe if," Naruto squeaked out in a last-ditch effort.
"Uh-uh," Sakura said, "Why don't you try Hinata?"
"But she's not you!" Naruto whined.
"Just go! She's walking out right now!" Sakura directed.
Naruto ran through the cafeteria trying to catch Hinata, "I won't be able to remember the dance steps and Sakura won't help me!" he called after her. Most people were able to dodge him as he rampaged through the lunch room, Ino, however, was not so fortunate. He whizzed past her, knocking her off balance. Her lunch tray flew into the air. The person sitting at the table she was passing managed to avoid her dish of food, but was not able to evade Ino herself. She landed smack dab, right on top of him, for the second time that week.
"You really got to stop doing that," Shikamaru said as Ino picked her head up from its place on his shoulder. She was basically sitting in his lap, which she didn't mind too much. Wait, why didn't she mind?
"Sorry," she blushed and looked away but didn't get up.
"So… are you going to get up?" he asked after a little while, hoping to postpone her leaving. Whoa, hold up there Shikamaru, she's way too troublesome.
"I guess I should," she blushed again, this time he did too. "Good thing you dodged my lunch tray. That would have sucked."
"And if I hadn't dodged it you wouldn't have landed on top of me," he smiled, good thing I dodged it! He thought. Thank God he dodged it! Ino was thinking similarly.
"Oh, well, I guess it sucks either way," she glared, getting off him. "I wonder which one's worse: me or my lunch." She stalked off. Why am I so angry that he doesn't like me? Ugh, snap out of it Ino! You like SASUKE!
"That's… not what I meant," he muttered the last part knowing that it made no difference if he said it or not.
I hope you liked this chapter! The end of this chapter was what I started out with, weird. I worked pretty hard on this and really hope you liked it! I have most of the fourth chapter ready, but I don't know when I'll get around to posting it, I'm going to L.A. soon, for those of you who aren't from California, that's Los Angeles, if you didn't know. Any way, I do have a preview and I hope it doesn't give anything away, but I guess it's fine all the same. Oh, and Sakura and Naruto's conversation is taken from Naruto abridged episode 2 and adapted for the situation. If you haven't seen Naruto abridged, watch it!
Preview:
"You okay?" Sakura asked nervously.
"Shikamaru said so," she laughed.
"What? What did you allow him to say to you after lunch yesterday?" Sakura laughed. "You were so mad at him because he didn't want you." She made a fake sad face.