Just trying to survive high school
Chapter 7- "Well I guess it's time to do my shift at the shop," Ino thought as she walked into the shop. To her surprise she saw her dad organizing phone orders. He looked up at her with a smile.
"Hello my precious little flower how was school?" she didn't mind when her father called her that. Most teenage daughters would hate it when their fathers call them childish nicknames. But she wasn't that kind of girl.
"It was ok. The same as usual," Ino said to her father as she walked into the back room and put her apron on. She then came back and placed her purse underneath the counter.
"Wait I thought mom was working tonight?" she then asked.
"She was until she came home and told me to finish the rest of the phone orders. She didn't tell me there was going to be piles of them. But I guess that's why she also told me that when you come and work your shift, you will finish the rest." He told her as he kept organizing phone orders.
"Well I guess can take over then." She told her father.
"Alright I have to go run a few errands so I leave the rest to you honey. All you have to do is arrange them from last names in alphabetical order. Make sure to lock up when you're done," he told her as he got up and went to the back room and put away his apron. So Ino took his place at the counter.
"Gosh there are so many orders I feel overwhelmed just looking at them," Ino thought as she sat down and started to arrange them.
"Bye honey," her father said as he walked past her and walked out the door.
"Bye daddy," she said in response.
After about an hour of organizing she was starting to get bored. So she walked over to the radio and turned on some music. Since she was alone she always had time to think about things. But for some reason her mind kept drifting to what Sai said to her the other day. Why is it she could never find the right guy? While she was being depressed about the whole issue, the perfect song called No reins by Rascal Flatts came on radio. *= song lyrics.
*she left that loser in a dust cloud. Heart in his hands, chin on the ground. Cried her last tear for that clown, she can see a little clearer now. She said 'oh, oh I got to go and find me.' Oh, oh she found the strength to break free.*
"I'm starting to like this song." She said as she walked back over to the radio and turned it up, and then went back to the counter.
*Like a painted wild mustang, flying across the open range. Finally gets to live her life that way. No fear, No fences, nobody no reins*
The song started to cheer her up right away. She noticed when she is happy she gets things done faster. She noticed she was almost done with the rest of the phone orders.
*All she ever felt is held back. She said 'it's kind of nice to hear myself laugh.' She's going to do a lot more of that, She making plans and making tracks.*
"Yes I agree with that," she said to herself agreeing to the lyrics. She noticed that now that she is single, she is free as can be just like the song talks about. When the chorus came on she started to dance and sing to it while she organized.
Since his mother was bugging him to get off his butt to go buy a bag of soil, Shikamaru was sent off to the Yamanaka flower shop to go get it. As Shikamaru walked into the flower shop, he saw Ino singing to a country song while just being silly. By the looks of it, Ino didn't notice he walked in. He smirked as he watched her dance. She looked so free. He loved seeing her that way.
"For a troublesome woman you sure no how to dance," Ino heard a male voice said to her. She stopped dancing immediately and her face went deep red. By the way they said troublesome woman, she knew exactly who walked in. She turned around and saw Shikamaru standing there.
"How long has he been standing there? This is so embarrassing!" she thought embarrassed. She then calmly and collectively sat back down on the stool that she was sitting on behind the counter.
"Oh don't stop now I can totally use this for blackmail," Shikamaru said to her with a smirk as he walked up to the counter.
"What do you need Shikamaru?" Ino asked ignoring what he said. She was in too much of a good mood to let Shikamaru ruin it.
"A bag of potting soil for my mother to get her to stop nagging," He said to her. Ino then got up and went to the other back room where they store the fertilizers and other soils. She then grabbed one of the bags of potting soils and went back.
"Maybe if you got off your lazy ass maybe she wouldn't be nagging you," Ino said to him with a smirk as she handed him the bag of potting soil.
"Keep that up and I will definitely get my new shogi board." He smirked back as he leaned over the counter towards her. He then placed the money on the counter.
"Good luck with that cause all of next week I won't be insulting anyone," she said as she handed him his change.
"Don't be thinking about insulting people when I'm not around. Because I'm going to employ spies," he said as he walked toward the door.
"Fine, employ away." That's all Shikamaru heard as he walked out the door.
"Ugh I can't believe him. I'm definitely going to win that bet. At this moment I don't even care that I go to prom with Shikamaru. There is no way I'm going to let him get what he wants." She thought as she finished the rest of the phone orders. When she was heading to her car, she got a text. So she stopped and dig through her purse for her phone. It was a text message from Hinata. It said:
"Sorry Ino-chan, but I can't come over after school tomorrow. My father decided to make Neji-san and I busy tomorrow for some odd reason. He said I can come over on Saturday if that is alright with you. I can even drive there since Neji-san fixed my car. "
"It's ok. I'm going to be busy after dance practice anyways. Saturday is fine by me. We can even invite Sakura and Tenten. That is great that your car is now fixed. " Ino then replied back as she got into her car. She then drove home. Once she got home, she went upstairs and placed her shopping bags on the floor, Along with her purse and her books.
"Ugh I forgot I had homework. I better do it now." She thought as she got out her books. When she was doing that she got a text from Hinata. It said:
"Ok that would be great. Yea I am glad my car is fixed because I feel like a burden to Neji-san for making him give me a ride to school every day."
"You girls can even spend the night on Sunday too! " Ino replied back. So she spent the rest of her night texting Hinata and doing homework, basically decided to pull an all-nighter.
The next day-
Ino woke up Thursday morning at 5 AM to the sound of annoying beeping coming from her alarm clock right next to her.
"Ugh I am way too sleepy to get up," she thought lazily as she reached to shut the alarm off.
"I will just sleep in for an hour and wake up," she thought as she buried her head underneath her blanket. She then looked at her alarm clock.
"Yea that sounds like a good idea," she then thought as she fell back to sleep. Well unfortunately for her, sleeping in for an hour was a bad idea, because one hour got turned into five hours. Before she knew it, her sleep was interrupted by her mother coming into her room and freaking out about how she wasn't up and ready for school and that she should have been up by five hours ago and that she needs to hurry up and get ready, because she was late for school.
"Okaasan it's only five am. How could I have slept in for five hours? It doesn't make any sense." she mumbled but apparently her mother didn't hear her because that was when she went out of her room.
"Yea I was right it's…" she looked at her clock to see if she was right. But unfortunately for her she was not right.
"NINE AM?" she thought shockingly. She tried to blink twice to see if she was just dreaming it but she wasn't.
"I am late! School started at eight!" she thought frantically as she rushed out of bed and start to dig through her closet for something to wear.
"I can't believe I slept in for five hours! I never been late for school before!" she finally found a pair of jeans to wear and a t-shirt. She then hurriedly put them on. She then grabbed her purple converses and her purple sweatshirt that had the Konoha symbol on it in white and put them on. Then she grabbed all her stuff and frantically run downstairs and went out the door.
"Keys, where did I put them?" she thought as she frantically digs through her purse. Today was going to be a bad day she just knew it.
"Here they are," she thought as her eyes landed on her keys. She grabbed her keys and got into the car. But to her surprise her car just wouldn't start.
"Why isn't it starting?" she thought as she kept turning the key, but gave up after her car still wouldn't start.
"Great, stupid car. Wait I can just magically appear there," she thought. (A/n: sorry I don't remember what the jutsu is called to do that -_-) as she tried to muster up all the chakra she had. But she ended up being low on chakra all due to her lack of sleep.
"This sucks oh well I will just have to run to school," she said as she put her keys back in her bag and started to run to school.
At Konoha high-
"Hey have you seen Ino this morning?" Sakura asked Tenten as they were sitting in their science class.
"I didn't see her in history class." Tenten then said. Her eyes wandered over by the door where Neji walked in.
"Maybe she is sick," Hinata said. Sakura then looked at her.
"Ino never misses school." Sakura said to her.
"Well maybe Ino-chan is late," Hinata then said.
"Ino, late? You got to be kidding me Hinata, Ino is never late, right Tenten?" Sakura said. But Tenten was off to Neji land. Sakura then nudged her with her hand.
"Tenten are you even listening?" she asked, but no response from Tenten.
"Great we lost her to Neji land," Sakura thought.
Meanwhile with Ino-
Ino was almost to the high school. She just had one more block to go. She hated the fact that she lived on the other side of town. This is when she wishes that Konoha was back to the way it was before. Just a small village and not one big city like it is now. Forget calling Konoha village hidden in the leaves. It was now like a city hidden in the leaves.
"Finally I'm here." Ino thought as she raced up the steps of her school. She then went into the school and headed to the office. Coming out of the office was there principle Tsunade. She looked up at her and crossed her arms.
"Ino wa, anata ga chodo ima okurete kita nodesu ka?" Tsunade asked her in Japanese. Which translated into 'Ino, did you just came late just now?' after all they do live in Japan. (a/n: I am practicing my Japanese since I am learning it.)
"Why is she speaking to me in Japanese?" she thought being very tired.
"Oh yea that's right duh we live in Japan. Gosh I am way too tired to focus." Ino thought, as Tsunade looked at her waiting for her answer.
"Hai, watashideshita."( yes, I did.) Ino said as she looked down at the floor.
"Watashi wa tokuni kaikin kiroku o motte iru hito kara, anata kara no kono tane no dosa o kitai shite inakatta to omoimasu." (I'd never expected this kind of behavior from you, especially from someone who has a perfect attendance record.) Tsunade said to her. Well her perfect attendance record just went down the drain.
"Watashi wa tsujo, Naruto de wa nai koto kara, kono dosa o kitai shitai."(I'd usually expect this kind of behavior from Naruto not you) she then continued.
"Great, she is comparing me to Naruto." Ino thought. She bowed apologetically and said,
"Watashi wa Tsunade-sama ga totemo zan'nendesu. Watashi wa kohan ni futabi naru shukan o yakusoku shimasu." Ino said which translated into 'I am so sorry that I am late Tsunade-sama. I promise I won't be late again.'
"Yoi. Anata wa yori yoi, sono yakusoku ni ikiru. Kon ofisu ni ikuto Shizune-sama kara no pasu o shukotoku suru."(Good. You better live up to that promise. Now go to the office and get a pass from Shizune-sama) Tsunade said as she walked down the hallway. That is what she did she went to the office and to get a pass. Plus she is going to live up to that promise of not coming to school late.
"A ohayo Ino-chan, anata dake no kohan ni ima no gakko ni kita nodesu ka?," (oh good morning Ino-chan, did you just come to school late just now?) Shizune asked as she looked up at her.
"Hai." Ino said. I bet everyone is going to ask why she is late.
"Well that's a shame. You had a perfect good attendance record." Shizune said to her as she wrote down a pass for her. (a/n: I'm making it like they speak english once in a while cause I don't know a whole lot of Japanese.)
"Well that's down the drain. My day didn't start good." Ino said to her as Shizune handed her the pass.
"Well I hope that it doesn't get worst," Shizune said.
"Yea me too," Ino said as she walked out the door and to her second period class. As she walked into her second period class which was science as she slide the door open and walked in everybody stared at her like she just killed someone. That was when her teacher Anko-sensei turned and looked at her.
"Yamanaka wa osoku narimasu." (Yamanaka you are late) Anko-sensei said to her. (a/n: since Konoha is now a modern Japan the teachers speak in Japanese in this story. But everyone else talk to each other in English like the main characters. Oh also in this story they don't wear uniforms so that is the only difference. Plus the dance coach speaks in English.)
"Hai, watashi wa shitte iru." Ino said. (yes, I know.)
"This is so embarrassing," she thought as she could feel everybody eyes on her.
"Watashi wa chikoku o yonin suru yo ni oboete inai. Ima sugu anata no seki ni itte kudasai."( I don't tolerate lateness so remember that, now please go to your seat.) Anko-sensei said to her as she turned back to the board Ino then went to her seat. As she walked by Temari and Karin they were snickering at her.
"Gosh what is there problem?" she thought as she sat down at her seat. Hinata sat next to her on her left and Shikamaru was on her right while Tenten was in front of her and Sakura was in front of Hinata.
"Why are you late? You are never late." Sakura whispered to her as she turned and looked at her.
"I pulled an all-nighter on a school night. Worst idea ever." Ino said to her as she put her head down on the table but looked up when Shikamaru looked at her and said something about her hair and laughed.
"Sakura give me your mirror," Ino said to her. Sakura then dig through her bag for her mirror and handed it to her. As she looked at the mirror she could see why Karin and Temari were laughing at her. She forgot to do her hair this morning so it was a total mess. Plus she forgot to do her makeup.
"This is so embarrassing!" she thought she then turned to look at her friends.
"Why didn't you guys say anything about the fact that I looked like a mess?" she then asked them.
"Because we just barely notice like right now," Tenten said to her.
"Yea here I will give you my brush so you can brush your hair." Sakura said as Ino handed back her mirror. She then got out her brush then handed it to her.
"Thanks." Ino said as she started to brush her hair. After she brushed it she put it back up into a pony tail.
" Kore wa, utsukushi-sa no kurasu de wa arimasen. So hanarete Ino ke no mono o oku." (This is no beauty class, so put the hair stuff away Ino.) Anko-sensei said not turning away from the board.
"Geez does she have eyes in the back of her head or something?" Ino thought as she gave back the brush to Sakura.
After science class her day just got worst. During her third period class which was PE she got in trouble for not changing into her gym clothes on time plus she fell on her face when they were running around the track. She ended up tripping on her shoelaces. Then during lunch she got a grease stain on her favorite shirt. During math she fell asleep during the test and now she had to take it after school. Let's just say the rest of her classes didn't go too well either.
After school-
"Jikai wa, watashi no kurasu no naka ni nyu nemari suru koto wa arimasen. Tokuni tesuto-chu." (Next time don't be falling asleep during my class. Especially during a test.) Iruka-sensei said to her as Ino handed him her test.
"Hai watashi wa rikai. Watashi wa sono jikai Iruka-sensei o oboete irudarou. Watashi wa shaken o sai juken sa seru itadaki, arigato gozaimasu." (Yes I understand. I will remember that next time Iruka-sensei. Thank you for letting me retake the test.) Ino said to him.
"Anata no kangei. A! mo shukudai wa chodo anata ga watashi ga iru koto o setsumei shita toki ni nemutte itanode anata ga shitte iru yo ni kon'ya wa arimasen."(Your welcome, Oh there is no homework tonight just to let you know since you were asleep when I was explaining that) Iruka-sensei then said.
"Ok o watashi ni itte kurete arigato gozaimasu. Sayonara Iruka-sensei." (Ok thank you for telling me. Goodbye Iruka-sensei.) Ino said as she walked out of the class room.
"Finally I get to go home." Ino thought as she walked down the hallway and out of the school building.
"Oh yea that's right I have to walk home." she thought as she didn't see her car in the parking lot. As she was about to start walking home a green eagle talon drove to the front of the steps. To her surprise she knew who it was.
By the way Ino's car wasn't in the parking lot Shikamaru knew she might be needing a ride plus she overheard her talking to Sakura about retaking a math test after school so he decided to wait till she was done so he could give her a ride. Besides it was the least he can do for her since she had a bad day.
"Get in I will take you home," Shikamaru said to her with a warm smile.
"Did he wait the whole time after school just to give me a ride?" she thought. If she wanted to she would have told him no but by how tired she was there was no way she was going to say no to him. So she climbed into the passenger seat of his car.
"How did you know I was staying after school?" she asked him as she shut the door and buckle the bottom belt. To her surprised the shoulder strap came sliding down as she shut the door. This is how you can tell that she never been his car before.
"I overheard you telling Sakura that you had to stay after school. Plus since I didn't see your car in the parking lot I thought I could offer you a ride." Shikamaru said to her as he drove out of the parking lot.
"Thanks I appreciate it." Ino smiled. After having a bad day she was happy that Shikamaru would care enough to give her a ride home.
"You're welcome. So why didn't you drove to school this morning?" Shikamaru asked not taking his eyes off the road.
"My car wouldn't start." Ino told him as she laid her head back on the head rest and looked out the window.
"That is always such a drag. Once we get to your house I can take a look at your car and see what is wrong if you want." He offered.
"Sure I don't care," she said. About ten minutes passed and they were at her house.
"Oh I almost forgot about the fact I got dance practice." She thought out loud.
"Well you go and get ready. While I will go see if I can get your car to start," Shikamaru told her while he pulled into her drive way and put his car in park. Ino then got out of the car.
"Oh you will be needing these," Ino said as she tossed her keys to Shikamaru. She then went into her house and went to her room to change her clothes. Ino then came back outside wearing black short sweat shorts, a purple tank top and white tennis shoes. She then went to the garage to see Shikamaru bent over the front of her car with the hood up.
"So do you know how to get it to start?" Ino asked startling him. He ended up bumping his head on the hood.
"No and don't startle me like that you troublesome woman," he said to her as he rubbed his head and he then took a look at her.
"Why are you wearing short shorts and a tank top when it's cold outside?" He asked her. He had to admit she did look hot.
"Cause when you're dancing you get hot and sweaty." She said in response.
"Well I can't figure out why your car isn't starting. You might need to get a new starter but I am not really sure. You should get Neji to come out and fix it." He said changing the subject.
"Great. How am I supposed to get to dance practice?" she asked.
"I could take you," he offered as he wipes his hands on his jeans. He didn't care if they got dirty.
"You sure?" she asked. He already gave her ride a home.
"Yea I don't care. I will even come pick you up." He said.
"You don't have to pick me up I can walk," she told him.
"Sorry not going to let you do that especially what happened last time when you decided to walk home," he said with a serious look on his face. A flash back of what happened that night flashed through her mind.
"Ok you can pick me up," she said in defeat.
"Ok then I will pick you up." He said as he tossed Ino's keys back to her.
"What time do you need to be at dance practice?" he asked her.
"I need to be there by six," she told him. He then looked at his watch.
"Well it's five thirty so we should get going," he said as he looked back up at her.
"Ok," she said. They then got back into his car and drove back to the high school.
"I get done at 7:30. So that's when you need to come pick me up." Ino said as they got to the high school.
"Alright I will don't worry," he told her as he watched Ino got out of his car. He was debating whether or not he should go home but he thought it was too troublesome to go home when he had to come right back. So he decided to park his car and just took a nap until she was done.
Meanwhile Ino made her way to the school gym. As she was walking in, she saw Sakura and Tenten stretching while talking to each other so she walked over to them and put her dance bag on the bottom bleacher seat where everyone else put their stuff.
"Hi Ino-chan. How did your math test go?" Hinata asked as she walked up to Ino and place her dance bag down on the seat too. Ino turned and looked at her.
"It went well. It was pretty easy. I just hated the fact that I had to stay after school to retake it. I never had to retake a test before," Ino said to her as they walked over to Sakura and Tenten. As they were stretching, Karin and Temari walked by them.
"Oh Ino I'm glad you came to dance practice on time. By the way I just loved your hair this morning. I thought it was good grunge look for you," Karin said to her and then laughed as her and Temari walked away.
"Grrrr.." Ino said as she tried to ignore her rude comment.
"Just ignore them Ino. If you show her that it affects you it's only going to make her feel good." Tenten said.
"I know but still she just finds a little mistake to bug me about," Ino said to her.
"That's just what she does. She walks all over people." Sakura said.
As Kurenai- sensei walked in it was time to start practice. The rest of practice actually went alright for her. By the time they were done it was 7:30 and it was time to go home. So she headed outside of the school and like he promise there was Shikamaru ready to pick her up.
"Since when is Shikamaru picking you up? Don't tell me are you guys dating?" Sakura said to Ino with a smirk on her face.
"No are you crazy we are not dating!" Ino said.
"My car is having starting problems so he offered to give me a ride," she then said.
"uh huh suure don't deny it." Sakura said.
"Besides someone else likes him," Ino said as she saw Temari flirting with Shikamaru. Somehow it made her feel jealous and she didn't know why. She knew that Temari was dating Sai so why is she flirting with Shikamaru. Ino then said her goodbyes to Sakura and made her away across the parking lot to Shikamaru.
"Hi Shika-kun, How are you? Gosh it's such a shame that I broke up with you when you are just too damn sexy." Temari said to Shikamaru as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
"We never dated all I did was escort you home." He said as he saw Ino walking over to them. He then pried Temari's arms off him and pushed her to the side. Temari then saw Ino made an 'hmmp' sound and stormed off.
"And I thought you were troublesome that woman is even more troublesome." Shikamaru said to Ino as he opened the passenger door for her.
"She is also a huge flirt just like Karin." Ino said as she got in. Shikamaru shut the door and walked over to the driver side and opened the door and got in.
"Ain't she dating your ex?" he asked.
"Yea but it doesn't bother me anymore. She can have him." She said. Shikamaru felt relieved that she was over Sai. Maybe he could get a chance with her.
"So what is up with you and Temari dating?" she asked him with a smirk. Apparently she didn't hear the part when he said that he only escorted her home a couple times.
"We never dated. I don't know why she thinks we did. All I ever did was escort her home back to her village because I had too." He said as he pulled out of the school parking lot.
"Crap I forgot that I promise your mom I will help her with gardening." Ino said.
"Don't worry I called her and told her you had a bad day that you will come over tomorrow." He said.
"Ok Friday is fine by me. I might be a little busy but I will try to make it to your house." she said. About 30 minutes later they were at her house. Shikamaru pulled into her drive way and Ino got out of the car.
"See ya." Shikamaru said.
"Bye thanks for the ride." Ino said to him as she watched him drive away. Ino walked into her house to see her father in the living room reading the newspaper and drinking a cup of tea along with her mother.
"Did Shikamaru gave you a ride home?" her father asked barely looking up at her. Ino took off her shoes.
"Yea," she then said as she headed to the kitchen to find something to eat. She then came back eating an apple.
"Well that was nice of him to give you one. Wait how come you didn't took your car?" her father asked.
"Because it had starting problems." She then said as she took another bite of her apple.
"Maybe I could look at it this weekend and see what is wrong." Her father then said.
"Ok," she said to him as she headed upstairs to her room.
The next day- Ino made sure that last night she didn't pulled an all-nighter by doing her homework early and went to bed early too. Her day started out good; she got up on time, did her hair and make-up and made sure she looked good. The only bad thing was that her car still wouldn't start. So she texted Shikamaru and he gladly came to pick her up. The rest of her day went well. She aced her History test which made her feel proud plus she didn't even fall asleep during math. Towards the end of her last class Tsunade made an announcement over the intercom.
"KHS no gakusei konnichiwa. Shikko hyogi-kai no tame ni jikko ni kyomi no aru hito no tame ni getsuyobi no asa ni jimusho ni kite, seigan-sho o pikkuappu suru hitsuyo ga arimasu. Subete no koho-sha wa, ta no gakusei kara goju no shomei ga hitsuyodesu. Subarashii ichi-nichi to yoi shumatsu o motte iru." (Hello KHS students. For those interested in running for executive council need to come to the office on Monday morning and pick up a petition sheet. Every candidate needs fifty signatures from fellow students. Have a great day and a good weekend.) Tsunade announced.
"I need to remember that," Ino thought as she wrote on the corner of her last class notebook the info so that she will remember it. Soon after the announcement the bell rang so it was time to go home.
