chapter four

Sakura found herself standing idly to the side while Ino was chatting up with a few of her older acquaintances. She took this as an opportunity to glance around the room, look out for anybody who might be a potential buddy if Ino were to ever not show up in school. She spotted a few friendly faces, but they were only approachable at best. Sakura started to feel uncomfortable, most of the people in this class were out of her league—people she wouldn't really talk to. They emitted some sort of an odd aura, much like the colors red and purple. She felt uneasy.

"Sakura!" Ino's voice snapped Sakura out her daze. Her friend pointed to a table in the farthest left of the second row. "Let's sit over there!"

"Okay," replied Sakura as she obediently followed after Ino.

Ino turned to her, "This is gonna be so fun!"

Fun was the last thing on Sakura's mind. After seeing how she would never fit in with her classmates, how on earth could she have fun?

The teacher passed by their table, dropping two small spiral notebooks on the desk, "Okay, kids, these will be your planners for the year. I expect them to be filled out every day for every period, as I will be doing planner checks every Friday. Now, if everyone would please open up to the title page and write in your names."

Sakura did as told, scribing in her name as delicately and neatly as she could afford. She looked over to Ino and saw her friend writing her name in big bubbly letters.

"You two!" The teacher slapped his palm on the desk of two loud boys. He flipped open up the planner for both of them, "Stop slacking and write down your names. You guys do not know how much I have to stress about this—"

The teacher returned to his desk and put on a smile for the class, "Ahem, with those matters aside, I'd like to welcome all of you to biology class. I'm Mr. Himura. I hope we all have fun this year."

Biology wasn't too bad of a class now that she thought about it. At least Mr. Himura was a laid-back, cheery type of guy. She was constantly reminded of a pale pink color whenever she thought about that class. Sakura stuffed her binder and planner into her bookbag and took a look at the whereabouts of her next class. Trigonometry with Ms. Kurenai, room 230… that's two buildings from here…

"Hey, Sakura!" Sakura looked up to see Ino waving from the doorway, "I'll see you in History later!"

"Yeah," answered Sakura weakly, "see you then."

Ino beamed a smile at her before skipping off. Sakura ventured out into the hallway, suddenly finding herself in a sea of 1200 students. She quietly slipped her way into the 200 building, murmuring quick "pardon me's" and "excuse me's" here and there. It took her awhile to find the right classroom, and by the time she was past the door she had only a second to spare.

The teacher turned to look at her and smiled, "I was just taking a quick roll call. You must be Miss Haruno, then? I've heard a lot about you from your former teachers. Why don't you take a seat somewhere?"

Sakura could only nod shyly. The teacher was so incredibly beautiful, it intimidated her. She decided to take a seat by the window, and oddly enough, the whole table there was empty. She realized that this was the smallest class she had ever been in. A great sum of 12 people opposed to the 35 she was used to seeing in previous years.

While the teacher was taking attendance (again), Sakura scanned the room. No familiar faces at all. Most of the students seemed pretty snobby and arrogant, and none of them were too good-looking either. Well, with one exception. She saw him surrounded by female classmates—all of whom were desperately trying to get his attention. And Sakura could see why. This kid was gorgeous! He had ebony eyes and a chiseled nose; thin lips and sharp eyebrows. His hair was sleek and jet-black, contrasting greatly with his milky complexion. He was godly and absolutely beautiful.

Sakura caught herself staring for too long and almost missed her name.

"Haruno Sakura? Haruno Sakura?"

"Oh! Um, yes, present."

She looked down at her desk, not really sure where else to look. She heard the teacher call out a few more names before finishing, "And last but not least… Uchiha Sasuke?"

Uchiha Sasu—?

"Present."

His answer was dispassionate and dull. Although it was normal for everyone to answer so bluntly during roll call, there was something about him that seemed exceptionally cold. As handsome as he looked, Sakura felt a dark purple aura emitting from him.

It was certainly nerve-wrecking.