Chapter 4: First Day of School Survival

My encounter with Sasuke at the breakfast bar stuck in my mind as I approached the school facility across the street from the dorms. They were huge buildings with towers and narrow hallways. For the first part of my day, Kirara agreed to be my guide through the school. Her company never left as we strategically maneuvered through the crowds of endless students, but mostly freshmen and sophomores.

"Don't we have calculus first?" Kirara glanced at me and I nodded my head as I pushed a kid away from bumping into me. I received a dirty look for that, but ignored it nonetheless. I followed Kirara up the stairs to the third floor, where she almost instinctively headed straight for the twenty ninth classroom. "Oh, and don't forget to see the nurse before you leave today!" Kirara reminded me with a chirp. Okay mom.

The room was already crowded with other students by the time Kirara and I arrived, but I didn't recognize anyone. At the front of the room was a man who looked bald with the way he wore his bandanna. It was tied around his forehead and covered his entire head of hair. The black circle glasses he wore led me to think he was blind and that pranking class would've been a better name for the course instead of calculus. He seemed calm and collected as everyone took seats across the classroom.

Kirara guided me to two open seats in the second row of semi circular tables. She rolled her book bag off of her shoulders and sat down, opening her class notebook, which had (not surprisingly) already been drawn in. "Is that your visual arts notebook?" I felt really stupid when I asked that, and she made sure I did too. "Yeah, I just wrote 'Calculus 2.1' in it for shits and giggles," she sarcastically remarked, but she wasn't able to hold a straight face.

"EXCUSE ME CLASS. THE BELL HAS RUNG," the man suddenly yelled over the sea of floating voices. His tone made me jump a little in my seat and I watched as he moved to close the door. "Welcome to Calculus 2.1. My name is Ebisu-sensei and you are all my prisoners for an hour and a half each day until January."

That's a relief.

"Unless you fail."

I take that back.

"So, instead of me calling everyone's names, everyone will say their name out loud. Loud enough for the entire class to hear. That way, I can take attendance more easily and learn everyone's' names faster." He pointed to the kid on the other side of the room who sat in the front row. "Start us off."

"Hozuki Suigetsu." If any girl considered this boy attractive, then I swear, Kisame must be a fucking model. This kid had shark like teeth and an explosive personality, kind of like Hidan's. Except, I could probably stand this kid more than Hidan.

"Uzumaki," Naruto was the first person I thought of when I heard the next person speak, and I immediately whipped my head over to see the boy who spoke. "Nagato." Never fucking mind, he's ugly too. He was whiter than the paper in my notebook and his hair looked too artificially red. It was so long that I could barely see his eyes. "That's Konan's ex," Kirara whispered into my ear. Was Konan drunk beyond reason when she dated him? "They dated for like six months before they broke up." Damn, Konan must've been hammered every day for six months to date someone like him.

I eventually realized how judgmentally harsh I was being toward these kids in my class and knew everyone else's first thoughts when I would say my name.

"Uchiha Kirara," the monotone she used somewhat surprised me, but I went along with her ego to 'play it cool' while in the classroom.

"Hyuuga Amu." I kept my own voice casual to avoid making a scene. However, I could still hear the whispers of other kids around me. "Is she a freshman?!"

"No! Maybe she's a sophomore, like Kirara."

"She's so fucking short, like she could be my foot rest."

"Is she legally considered a midget?"

"How the hell is her hair so long?!"

"I wonder which is longer: her body or her hair."

"Did she break her leg or did the fashion trend go downhill?"

As much as I wanted to stand up and slug my heavy-as-shit calculus textbook at everyone who spoke the words "short", "long", and "midget", I knew that I had to somewhat behave myself. I drowned out the sound of Ebisu-sensei's five theorems of calculus and the hierarchy of dimensions. It made me wonder how the hell I even made it as far as calculus.

When the bell finally rang, Kirara and I waited for the crowd going out of the door to settle before we made our way into the hallways and down the stairway. Kirara told me that our visual arts class should be the most fun of our schedules, or at least mine. "I have a free block after lunch," she boasted as we turned the hallway and looked for the classroom. "A free third block? That's some straight bullshit," I complained, looking at the Human A&P class I was scheduled during third block. Although the AP Lit was much worse.

The visual arts classroom was a complete 180 from the calculus classroom upstairs. Paintings, prints, and framed sketches lined the spotless white walls. In the back of the classroom was a space where desks were aligned in front of a single podium and a white stand and projector. The rest of the classroom had empty canvases, computer tables, long tables, and paint stands.

Silently, I made my way to the back of the arrangement of desks where I recognized a redhead already seated in front of the row. It was the senior, Sasori, from the dinner last night. I set my book bag in a desk diagonal from him and Kirara took a seat next to mine. "Ohayo, Amu-san," Sasori turned to greet me with a tired look. "Ohayo, Sasori-san," I smiled back.

"Ah Amu," I could see Konan walking toward us, "I forgot I had a class with you." Konan sat on my other side and I could see a wave of students walk in, most of which I knew. Duck ass came through with an irritated look, followed by Sasori's friend, Deidara, Konan's boy toy, Pain, the kid from calculus, Nagato, and some others. I watched as Neji and Hinata walked through and both gave me a small smile.

"Kira-chan!" another familiar voice broke the spell of silence around my group. Shusui's energetic person rushed up to Kirara's desk and threw his stuff to sit in front of her. In addition, he threw his lunchbox into the empty desk in front of me. "Oi, Amu-san, do you mind if I save this seat for Itachi-san when he comes?"

Yes.

"Nah, go ahead," I regretted the words the moment they came out of my mouth. He gave me a huge smile and continued talking. "Itachi-san's cheek is all better now. You can't even see the bruise anymore!" He kept talking as if I cared about Itachi's face. Really? Tell Itachi-san that my leg isn't getting any better. I sat in my seat and took my phone out to check my messages before class started. I had three unread from Naruto and one from Konan. I scanned them quickly, not bothering to pay too much attention to what they had said.

"Oi, you can't have phones out during school hours," I looked up to the boy who had spoken to me with an irritated glance. All I wanted to do was check my goddamn messages in peace. Sorry if I intruded upon your constitutional rights by minding my own business. I had almost said that too, because I noticed that it was Itachi who had spoken. He had a smirk on his face as he took his seat and continued to turn around to bother me. I hope I get a heavy ass textbook to smack him with too.

"Leave me alone," I mumbled, clicking on Instagram. He scoffed and took the phone from my hands. "Oi!" I hissed, reaching over his shoulder to try to retrieve it. He inspected the lock screen that was a picture of Kirara, Konan, and myself at the dinner before school. He broke into my phone and started messing with it before giving it back to me as the bell rang again.

"Ohayo, minna." The teacher was a fragile woman with crazy black hair and fake red eyes. She seemed nice for a vampire. "My name is Kurenai-sensei and welcome to the Basics of Visual Arts and History..." I completely zoned her out the moment she began talking about the color wheel. In the dead of silence in the classroom, I could audibly hear my phone buzz in my book bag and I froze.

I looked around in the utmost caution before reaching in and retrieving it. I clicked the silent switch on the side just in time for another message to come through from the same anonymous number.

"Your phone vibrates like a fucking earthquake. Better turn it off before the teacher hears it."

THANK YOU CAPTAIN OBVIOUS.

I felt like sassing the shit out of this number and decided to text back the most repulsive message I could just for shits.

"I had no fucking idea. I'll be sure to keep the quakes under control next time, thanks."

As soon as I clicked the button for my phone to go black again, I noticed Itachi giggle to himself and wiggle his shoulders slightly before he looked back up to the stand where the teacher hung a still life painting of George Washington on the Delaware River. So he's the smartass smartassing me.

"That'd be genuinely appreciated. Tomorrow, do you think you'll let me sit behind you? I'd like to rest my feet every once in a while."

That ass.

"Do you think that you'll let me hit your pretty face again?"

"Oh, so you have a crush on me now? A-mu-chan?"

"In your fucking dreams. And stop saying my name like that. It's creepy as hell."

"Hyuuga Amu," another female voice called this time. I looked up from my "textbook" to see the teacher pointing at the water in the canvas. "Can you tell me where on the color wheel we can see a combination of these colors?" That's an easy ass question for someone who's texting. "Blue and violet," I answered automatically.

"Correct."

"You're smart for someone who doesn't pay attention."

I hope she calls on him next and asks an insanely difficult art question which probably doesn't exist and gets it wrong so that I could freely exercise the satisfaction of laughing at him.

"I didn't think she knew the color wheel herself. Like who the fuck wears red contacts?"

"I see. By the way, what two classes do you have after lunch?"

"Human A&P and AP Lit. Why do you want to know?"

"Usually people say, 'what about you?'"

"Why do you want to know?"

I could see Itachi laugh in his seat and he handed me a piece of paper. I shut off my phone and unraveled the small thing curiously. It was his schedule, and it showed that not only did we have the next two classes together, but also lunch too. I noticed that he had written something off to the side, which said, "I can show you to your last classes if you'd like, since your friends aren't in those classes."

Almost too quickly, the bell rang again for the start of freshman and junior lunch. I put all of my things in my book bag and heard Itachi walk up closer to me. "You have Kakashi-sensei for homeroom with me. Would you like me to take you there, A mu chan?" his soft smile could have melted away my heart. Actually no, I take that back. It made me hate him even more. "Sure."

As I walked with Itachi, I noticed an immediate and significant difference in walking with him and walking with Kirara. He remained silent for the most part and there was no need to push our way through crowds as I followed him close behind. The crowds parted for him and I felt like a tiny little Hebrew following fucking Moses across the Red Sea. Girls turned in every direction to say good morning or to compliment him. It kind of pissed me off to hear the constant "Ita this, Ita that, Itachi ohhh you're so perfect".

Like hell that asshole was perfect. If I could swing at his face again, I could make it perfect. Nonetheless, I stayed quiet and followed Itachi back into the math hallway by Ebisu-sensei's classroom. The label on the door said Hatake Kakashi, 12. "This is the algebra 2 and other basic maths classroom. Kakashi-sensei usually teaches freshmen and sophomores and sponsors the senior classes."

"What do you do in homeroom?"

"Nothing, really. Unless you're interested in sneaking away to the back hallway with me." I could see the wink in his words and I felt a chill go up my spine. "I'll have to turn you down, Mr. Uchiha." He playfully smacked his cheek and I laughed at the gesture. He smiled and laughed lightly with me.

"Oi, Ita-kun," that same girl came walking up to us, but stopped abruptly when she noticed me at Itachi's side. It was the fire hydrant bitch from the breakfast hall, and it didn't surprise me to see that she stuck to her no-bra ritual. "What's that?" she asked Itachi, pointing down to me. He looked irritated by her existence and he automatically scored cool points with me.

"Did you just say 'what'?" I asked in a monotone. She raised an eyebrow before rocking back on her heels and saying, "Umm, yeah?"

"I'll have you know that I'm a human being, not a fucking thing," I remarked, brushing a strand of hair behind my back. Ohh did that piss the boobs girl off. "Her name is Hyuuga Amu-san. She's a friend of mine," Itachi finally spoke. I was a bit caught off guard by the mention of 'friend' in the statement. "Ohh," she cooed, "but the freshmen have lunch now, and besides, this is the seniors' homeroom anyway-"

"She is a senior and it is also the juniors' lunch right now too." There was so much malice behind Itachi's statement that I almost flinched back at his sudden change of attitude. The girl shot a glare at him and I allowed myself the liberty to laugh. "Who're you laughing at, munchkin?"

"Call me a munchkin again and I'll be happy to rearrange your face too." I felt like I was doing her a favor by saying at. After all, her face needed a lot of work, and my work is free. Itachi's mouth twitched into a small smile, but faded quickly when he looked back at her. "I'm going to introduce her to Kakashi-sensei now. I'll see you after school, Karin."

With that, Itachi put his hand to the small of my back and led me into the classroom of bustling teenagers doing box pushups in the middle of the classroom. Congratulations Amu, in the first half of your first day, you've made a creepy ass friend and a bitch ass enemy.