Sakura woke up to Ino fussing around in their shared bedroom. The sun was peeking through their deep maroon curtains that were slightly apart so that Ino could see where she was going. She had some decency in her and didn't turn the lights on, at least trying to give her roommate a chance to sleep a little longer.
Emphasis on the word trying.
Ino was clearly looking for something, checking out every single drawer in their room, closet, bathroom, under their beds and even under their carpet. Sakura just couldn't go back to sleep even though she really tried to. Her mind was awake now so there was no reason to try to go back to sleep.
The sight of their room even in the low lighting had Sakura wondering if she'd woken up at all. She'd arrived yesterday to her new school - the Luna Nova academy, the school for witches - and met her four roommates who she'd share her a room with for the school year. Well, they weren't sharing a room exactly. Apparently the mystery relative of hers that was of magical blood was more interesting that she'd thought, because she was eligible to live in a suite that were only for the students that came from important families.
They had a massive living room and two bedrooms for the four of them, which wasn't an issue at all since the bedrooms were huge. Ino and Sakura both had huge beds complete with bedding that was made out of the softest silk with a dozen pillows that were placed at the opposite sides of the room. They both had two bedside tables on both sides of their beds and a trunk at the foot of the bed for extra pillows. At the side of the room was a small sitting area with a glass coffee table and two armchairs, which Sakura didn't really think they were going to use since they had a lavish living room where they could spend time, but even with those they had room to walk around. They could've probably thrown a party just in their bedroom and that would've been fine.
How had she been so lucky that all of this was now hers?
Ino let out a sigh of relief when she found something that looked like an ordinary jewelry box.
"You had to make so much noise to find that LITTLE box?" Sakura exclaimed, clearly upset for not being able to sleep as long as she could've.
She huffed and got out of bed, her toes curling against the soft carpet of their room, rushing to the bathroom to start her normal morning routine. Their bathroom floor was made of dark marble and the walls were white. They had two sinks, one for Ino and one for Sakura and a massive mirror with extra lights that they could turn on. The bathroom was completed with a shower and a bath tub, which made Sakura very excited. For some reason baths just felt so much better than showers.
Overall this life was something she'd have a hard time getting used to.
Ino yelled something from the bedroom and Sakura proceeded to quickly brush her teeth and wash her face, deciding against a shower. She wasn't a big fan of showers in the morning.
Ino was in front of the big mirror they had in their room when she stepped back into their bedroom, still drying her face with a white towel. Sakura watched Ino as she curled her lashes. She made funny faces when she did her makeup. Sakura couldn't help but laugh, but she also made those funny faces, especially when putting on mascara and eyeliner, so she couldn't really make fun of her. She started brushing her hair when Ino finished her makeup, dousing herself in setting spray. A smile spread to Sakura's lips when the scent of Ino's makeup setting spray reached her. Sakura took a deep breath of the lavender smelling air. The scent really suited Ino.
"Can I do your makeup, Sakura?" Ino asked her right when she was pulling out her makeup from her mostly unpacked bag. Sakura had never been artistic, but doing her makeup was artistic enough for her, even though on most days her makeup was very simple. Ino had already picked out clothes for Sakura before they went to bed and now she wanted to do Sakura's makeup - the girl really had an obsession with fashion and beauty. Or a problem with Sakura's looks, but that was a different thing.
Essentially Sakura was Ino's life-size doll she wanted to dress up.
"Sure!" Sakura answered and finished brushing her hair. She changed from her pajamas to the clothes Ino had given her and turned in front of a mirror. She had put on a black high-waisted ripped jeans and a white sleeveless crop top that hugged her upper body. Ino did good. Sakura hadn't taken off her necklace, she only took it off when showering or swimming or such, but never when she slept or throughout the day. Sakura felt like the necklace was a part of her. She rarely wore it on top of her clothes, since her normal clothes were a little more baggier but since her shirt was now hugging her body, Sakura settled with just having it out in the sun.
After finishing doing Sakura's makeup Ino could hear a gasp from behind her. A smirk grazed her lips when she put the last finishing touches on Sakura and turned around to face a speechless Hinata. Sakura opened her eyes finally after what had seemed like a forever, since Ino had told her to close her eyes and everytime she tried to open them Ino yelled her not to.
"Sakura, you look amazing!" Hinata softly spoke, urging her to look at herself in the mirror. Sakura had been sitting on her bed as Ino worked her magic and stood up, staring at herself in the mirror. She didn't know what to say, she looked so different – but she liked it. She brought her hands to her hair and brushed her fingers through the silky pink locks. Ino had skipped eyeshadow almost completely but still given her eye some definition and added winged liner so sharp it could kill a man with fake eyelashes that complimented her eye shape. Her complexion was radiant, Ino had done a little highlighting and contouring and added a rosy blush, mimicking her hair colour. She didn't have any lipstick on since her lips were naturally plump and a beautiful rose colour, Ino felt like she didn't need any – and she was right.
"Damn Sakura, you go girl," Tenten said walking into the room. She and Hinata were both ready to go to breakfast downstairs. Ino sprayed some perfume on herself and walked out of their bedroom, Sakura following closely behind. Sakura had snatched her favorite pair of shoes – her black platform high-heeled booties - from their infinite closet before leaving. She always felt confident walking in them since she was insecure about not being supermodel tall like Ino. Ino on the other hand was almost jealous of Sakura since she was talle so she didn't believe heels suited her as much.
"Sakura I'm so jealous how well heels fit you," Ino whined as they all walked out of their room in to the corridor. She herself was wearing high-waisted blue jeans and dark purple cropped boxy hoodie with ballerina flats. Sakura just turned to her in disbelief.
"Ino, you could wear ANYTHING and it would suit you. Your legs are long already, sure, but I can imagine you rocking some high heels in the near future," Sakura told Ino and winked at her. Hinata nodded in agreement, she also felt like Ino could look good in anything. It had always been that way, even as a small girl Ino had been very well dressed.
"Guys let's not talk about clothes pleasee," Tenten whined, interrupting their conversation. Ino looked slightly offended, but Hinata just patted her back.
Ino huffed and folded her arms over her chest. "Well what should we talk about then?"
"Well I don't know, food?" Tenten suggested, resting her arms behind her neck as they neared the school's dining hall.
"Oh yes I'm starving!" Sakura laughed and all three agreed with her. There was no dinner served the day before so this was their first meal in a while.
"I could eat a cow. And I will if I can!" Tenten announced proudly which made the other three girls laugh wholeheartedly. Sakura smiled as they entered the dining hall, she'd truly found her group of friends. They were all so nice and understanding of her background that she didn't feel like she didn't belong in their world at all. They made her feel like she was a part of it.
And was now in this amazing school, getting closer to her dream of becoming a powerful witch every day. She'd discovered that there was a secret witch or wizard in her family that she didn't know about. And yesterday she was worried about losing a map. It was amazing how different her life was now compared to what it had been the day before.
The dining hall was a huge rectangle shaped room with large windows on both sides of the hall at the ground floor of the castle. The ceiling was very high up and two gigantic chandeliers were hanging from it, creating little rainbows all over the light coloured walls when sunrays hit the thousands of little crystals that were dangling from them.
Sakura felt a whiff of air on her face as she focused her gaze on Ino, who'd just slammed her hands together right in front of her face and looked pretty pissed off.
"Earth to Sakura, you dozed off! Hinata and Tenten are already grabbing something to eat."
Sakura heard Ino but she was still pretty out of it. Her emerald eyes bounced all over the room, at the students' tables and one long one a bit farther away meant for teachers.
"You're impossible, forehead," Ino grunted and grabbed Sakura's hand, pulling her towards a long table with a white tablecloth filled with different kinds of food. It was pretty much like a huge buffet table where you could pick whatever you wanted. The huge selection surprised Sakura, but considering that Luna Nova got students from all around the world, it was probably the best to offer everyone at least something they felt comfortable eating.
The rest of the dining hall was filled with tables where a bunch of students were already eating. Unlike the teachers' table that could probably fit all 20 or so professors, the students' tables were small. One table was neatly set for four students, which was perfect for their little group.
Sakura felt a sharp pain on her forehead that finally brought her back to reality. Ino was in front of her, holding a spoon in her hand and had a really annoyed face.
"Did you just hit me with a spoon?!" Sakura asked and muttered an 'oww', rubbing the spot that Ino had just hit with her palm.
"Yup, you deserved it. But now you're awake and making people wait so could you please just grab a plate and move," Ino told her which caused Sakura to look behind her. She'd created a line of people behind her so she quickly followed Ino.
She grabbed a deep bowl from the wide selection of plates and a fork. Ino started building a salad for herself and Tenten was already heading for a table. Sakura had a moment of embarrassment when picking up strawberries and raspberries to her bowl. How could she just zone out completely in the middle of the dining hall? She decided to also grab some watermelon, mango and kiwis to complete her breakfast bowl before heading after her friends.
Tenten, Hinata and Ino had already sat down to a table next to one of the tall windows that brought natural light into the dining hall. Sakura couldn't see them at first but Tenten waved at her and caught her attention, they were almost at the other side of the dining hall. Sakura smiled and waved back so that they knew she'd seen them. When they'd left the room she hadn't felt like anything special but now walking in her new outfit she felt like a super model, looking more beautiful and feeling more confident than ever. She could hear some whispers around her when she walked past some students.
"Who is she?"
"Is she new?"
Sakura knew they were whispering about her but acted like she didn't notice, even though it did feel weird that people were talking about her. At her old school she was used to being pretty much invisible. She just kept walking over to her friends until she noticed a specific girl looking at her. It wasn't just a glance, she was staring. She had red hair and glasses and quickly turned her eyes away and swung her hair over her shoulder when Sakura noticed her, but even after she had passed the table she was sitting in Sakura could feel her glare on her back.
"Sakura, why did you totally zone out back there?" Tenten mumbled while stuffing more eggs and bacon into her mouth when Sakura had settled down in their table.
"Uhh, I don't know. I got this really funny feeling and all the background noise kind of disappeared and I was in my thoughts. Guess it's just a lot to take in being here," Sakura explained and picked up a strawberry with her fork. Ino was munching on her salad and Hinata was eating blueberry yogurt with granola and berries. Sakura was seriously jealous of Hinata's bowl of yogurt. It looked delicious.
"But are you alright now?" Hinata asked, clearly concerned but Sakura just smiled at her.
"Oh yeah. Don't worry, I'm fine," Sakura told Hinata so that she could continue eating her yogurt without having to worry about her. Sakura was also feeling better, the embarrassment from holding up the line had almost completely vanished from her mind. It wasn't that big of a deal.
Suddenly she could see the red haired girl leave with her friends, still glaring at her.
"Umm guys, who is that redhead over there?" Sakura leaned in closer and asked her friends trying to point out the girl when they were walking out of the dining hall without being too obvious. They all looked at her but Tenten made a gagging noise.
"Is that who I think it is?" Tenten spat out like a bad piece of fruit. Ino had that same disgusted look on her face as she nodded to Tenten, but now Sakura was as confused as ever.
"Hey guys! Who the hell is she?" Sakura repeated the question with more aggression this time but trying to keep her voice down. She really didn't like to be the one in the group that didn't know things. Hinata didn't seem too bothered so Sakura gave her a stern look that told her to spill the beans.
"U-uh that's Karin," Hinata answered quickly after noticing Sakura's stern gaze on her.
"You mean ugly Karin," Ino corrected her.
"Bitchy Karin," Tenten added.
Okay so now Sakura knew that her friends didn't like her, but who was she and why was she giving her all these nasty looks?
"But who is she and why was she glaring at me?" Sakura asked and stuffed a raspberry in her mouth. Ino clearly looked like she had some beef with Karin but the pinkette chose not to ask.
"Well, Karin has always thought of herself as the smartest, most popular and most beautiful girl everywhere she's gone. Her family is super rich so she doesn't have to even ask and she gets everything she wants. Honestly I just think she has something permanently stuck up her ass so that her face looks like that all the time." Ino gave Sakura half of the answer she wanted.
So she was a stuck up brat. But what did she want with Sakura? She didn't even know the damn girl.
"But why was she giving me all those nasty looks?" Sakura had stopped eating and just pushed the berries and fruits around in her bowl. "I don't know her and she most definitely doesn't know me."
"Well maybe it's because you're the new girl and obviously gorgeous so everyone's attention is focused on you and not her for a change," Tenten replied and wiped her mouth after finishing her entire plate.
"And let's keep it that way. Anything to make the bitch squirm." Ino clearly hated Karin. Sakura looked at Ino with a questioning face but didn't want to ask since she could've burst into full destruction mode like Sakura did when she got mad.
"Karin has annoyed Ino forever. Ino has always been prettier so Karin just made it her life mission to ruin Ino's life," Tenten explained. "Obviously she didn't succeed but now we have to look at her ugly face around here. But trust me, she's psycho and you're better off staying away from her. If I'm correct, which I usually am, her room should be in a tower completely on the other side of the academy so we most likely won't have to put up with her psychotic narcissism," she continued and wiggled on her seat, ready to leave. Sakura ate the last few berries and a piece of watermelon before placing her fork down.
"Alright then." Sakura honestly didn't know what to say. The girl clearly got under Ino's skin and Tenten and Hinata didn't seem to like her much either, but could she really be that bad?
"Well I'm done," Ino informed, neatly placing her fork and knife down on her empty plate. Hinata was also finished so they all got up together and made their way out of the dining hall.
"What's out first class?" Hinata asked when they started walking towards the classrooms. They hadn't gotten their books yet so there wasn't any reason for them to head back to their room.
"History of magic, I think?" It was a more of a question from Tenten than a definite answer, but they didn't know any better so they headed for their classroom.
Sakura had already forgotten about Karin and was overly excited about classes starting, but she tried her best to keep it cool. Her heart was racing and her smile getting bigger when they got closer to the classroom, their first class. Her first class in Luna Nova academy, in this magical castle like paradise for girls who wanted to study magic. And she did want to, more than anyone.
"What was that nonsense?" Sakura demanded when they walked out of their classroom. Their whole class had consisted of their clearly near-sighted teacher trying to read the fine text of their textbooks. She was buried in books the whole time and Sakura didn't hear anything she was explaining to them. Their subject didn't even have anything to do with magic or witches. The pinkette was overall very disappointed. Hinata had comforted her and told her that they wouldn't start studying anything important until the next lesson so that she would calm down but Sakura was still skeptical.
The only thing Sakura had understood, or heard to be exact, was that there was going to be a special announcement for which they would have to go to straight to the auditorium and that the second class of the day would either start later or be cancelled all together depending on how long the announcement would take. Hinata knew that their next class would be flying, which made the pink haired witch grunt out of disappointment. She was so excited for flying and not she was going to miss her first flying class?! Just her luck. Huffing and puffing with her arms crossed over her chest Sakura and her friends entered the auditorium.
Sakura let all her friends go sit before her so that she was sitting in the last seat of their row, next to the stairs. They weren't sitting that high up, somewhere in the middle of the auditorium. The pinkette, as impatient as ever, couldn't wait for something to happen and counted that they were maybe on the sixth or seventh row. She brushed her pink hair away from her face with her fingers when she watched the auditorium slowly start to fill up with students. She knew the longer the whole thing lasted, the more time it would be off of her first flying class. Even when the auditorium doors closed, nothing happened.
'What's taking so long?' Sakura anxiously thought to herself.
Her sour expression was instantly wiped away when she saw the headmistress walk in front of the students, who were now all sitting down quietly in their seats waiting to hear what was the special announcement that they were all called to the auditorium for.
"You're probably all wondering why I've told your teachers to send you here," The headmistress calmly said, her eyes wandering in the crowd of students. Her voice was as strong as it had been the day before but it was also so gentle that Sakura felt like she could've wrapped herself in it. But she truly was right, nobody knew why they were all asked to come here. A few students nodded their heads as the headmistress continued.
"I have two announcements for you. I have been a headmistress at Luna Nova for quite some time now, but only now for the first time in my life time I feel us moving into a new era of magic. I sense power that hasn't roamed the earth in a long time. I sense rare magic that has awakened, which brings me to my first announcement."
The pinkette was in absolute awe of the blonde headmistress. Everything about her; her poise, her looks, her voice, was captivating and drawing the attention of the young witch to her. She felt herself lean forwards from her seat just to get a little bit closer to the leader of her new school.
"For these new, exciting times I have chosen to pick one of you, who I will guide and mentor throughout their time in Luna Nova." Sakura didn't think there was anything weird going on until she heard gasps around the room. When she turned to her friends, even they seemed to be dazzled by the headmistress' words.
"Why is everyone so shocked?" Sakura whispered to Ino who was sitting next to her. It didn't seem odd for her to take someone under her wing, it showed a caring side to the blonde woman that she hadn't even seen before.
"The headmistress hasn't chosen a witch to mentor ever before in Luna Nova history. Only the professors take mentees when they feel like it's required, but the headmistress has never taken a mentee before," Ino explained, obviously baffled about the whole situation. Hinata was speechless and just staring at the headmistress in shock. Tenten was the quickest to recover from the news and gently pushed Hinata's open mouth closed by gently lifting her jaw with her hand.
"Yeah, lucky girl who gets her as a mentor. She's one of the most powerful sorcerers in the world," Tenten explained to Sakura, who was slowly understanding why everyone was so surprised and excited. "She specializes in healing magic, and I've heard that there hasn't ever been a better healer before her. So this is a big deal."
The bun-haired girl's words made Sakura's emerald eyes twinkle. She couldn't believe what she'd just heard. There was a healing magic expert in the same building, in the same room as her. Her heart fluttered as she sighed of joy, sinking down to her seat. Haling magic was the one thing she had been passionate about learning before coming to Luna Nova and she'd forgotten all about missing her next class.
Sakura's head popped up when heard the mass of students whisper even louder than before. A brunette professor was carrying a large, hollow glass ball over to the headmistress across the front of the auditorium. It was at least a meter in diameter and the professor seemed to have hard time holding it up. The pinkette could clearly see it slipping from her hands. The headmistress quickly whipped out her wand and mumbled something before pointing at the ball which easily floated out of the protective hands of the professor previously carrying it. Now Sakura could see the ball clearly. It was filled with small pieces of paper being blown around in the glass ball like there was a strong gust of wind mixing them around.
"Ugh, for all we know she's gonna pull out Karin's name and she'll again think that she's the greatest and whatever – blah!" Ino growled, arms crossed over her chest. Sakura didn't really pay attention to Ino, she was way too excited by what was going on in front of her.
"This sphere contains every single one of your names written on a paper slip," the headmistress explained, gently brushing her fingertips against the smooth glass. "The name I pull out will determine who I will mentor in the future. Some of you will think that this is based purely on luck and you might be correct. But I, on the other hand, believe in destiny and trust that the person that is destined for me is destined for greatness."
The headmistress then reached her hand to the glass sphere and pushed her hand through it's glass surface like it was air, right into the crazy papertornado. Her hand hovered inside for a few seconds. Sakura couldn't see her face but she guessed that she searched for the right one to pick. If it really was destiny, there was only one that she was going to pick. Suddenly she pulled out a name and opened up the small piece of paper that was thin and folded in half. Everyone was excited for what was coming. Everyone wanted it to be their name on that exact slip of paper that the headmistress was holding in her hand. The room was completely silent, filled up with anticipation. Sakura could see a few girls that were sitting in front of her, biting their fingernails because they were so anxious to hear the result.
Suddenly a paperball hit Ino in the head. All four turned their gaze up a few rows where a familiar looking redhead was sitting with her friends, a smug smirk was visible on her face. Ino glared at the snickering Karin. The blonde looked like she was about to fly out of her seat to rip Karin's head off and grind the rest of her body to small specks of dust.
"Don't even think about it Yamanaka, it's going to be me, I know it. There's no way any of you losers would be destined for greatness. There isn't anyone more worthy of the spot than me and I always get what I wa-" Karin was interrupted by the headmistress' announcement.
"Sakura Haruno!"
It took everyone a few seconds to process what had just happened, a few seconds longer for the pinkette. Sakura had heard her name and turned around to look at the headmistress who had just called out her name to the whole school. All of her friends turned to look at her, eyes wide and mouths open.
This wasn't happening. She must've heard wrong. There must have been a mistake. Sakura felt her heart rate speed up as she thought the whole scenario through. Why her? There was nothing special about her.
"Please Sakura, would you join me down here." The headmistress' voice was soft as she asked her to join her down at the front of the auditorium. Sakura wasn't sure if she wanted to move, she had never been good in front of crowds. She still hesitated whether or not there was a mistake and that she should just not move at all. All her muscles were tense and she was digging her nails into her chair. Everyone was looking for someone to stand up and silent whispers filled the auditorium.
"Who the hell is Sakura Haruno?" she heard Karin's loud, condescending voice call out from behind her and something twitched inside of the pinkette. She suddenly got up more determined than ever, confidence oozing from her as she turned her head to face Karin.
"Me," she spoke directly to the redhead, making sure to look her straight in the eye and turned around, walking down the steps that lined the auditorium. Everyone's eyes were now following the pinkette who walked down the marble steps and over to the headmistress. Sakura didn't care about any of them, all she cared about now was the inviting smile her headmistress was greeting her with.
"Hello Sakura," She spoke out to her, smiling. Sakura shyly smiled back, debating whether she was dreaming or not.
"Hello headmistress, thank you for this honor," she politely thanked her new mentor.
"Just call me Tsunade," the headmistress told her and winked. Sakura quickly nodded in response and Tsunade pulled her to stand next to her. She was holding her hand protectively on Sakura's shoulder as she turned away from Sakura, now facing the students. Sakura had never seen the auditorium this way. There were rows behind rows behind rows all filled with students who were now looking directly at her. She could feel the envy and the disappointment, but for some reason none of that bothered her. As if she was in her own protective bubble that shielded her from negative thoughts and emotions.
"I present to all of you my mentee, Sakura." Tsunade paused for a second as everyone observed Sakura from head to toe. Good thing Ino had picked her outfit and did her makeup, she looked and felt good. She heard silent whispers fill the auditorium in the short time Tsunade decided to pause her speech.
"Who is she?"
"She's so beautiful!"
"So lucky!"
"I wouldn't want to be Karin right now."
Her pause wasn't longer than a few seconds but to Sakura it felt longer than that. It was like an eternity for everyone to just stare, inspect and judge her.
"And that leads me to my second announcement. We will be having visitors from another school in our academy. An accident has occurred in a school with close relations to ours. They have to evacuate all of their students and I have offered our help. They will live and study here until further notice. Our visitors will arrive tomorrow and we will be hosting a welcoming ball in their honor. I trust my new mentee, Sakura, with the great honor of welcoming them and organizing a group of students to decorate our ballroom for the ball tomorrow night. I expect everyone to be on their best behavior and welcome our visitors with open arms. You are all now dismissed and all the rest of the classes are cancelled for today." Tsunade ended her speech, gesturing towards the auditorium doors which flew open. Sakura could hear the joy Tsunade's announcement caused as everyone would have the rest of the day off.
Sakura wasn't sure what to feel. She'd just been chosen as the first mentee of the headmistress of Luna Nova academy ever and introduced to every single student as the special girl who gets to be the headmistress' mentee. Also she'd just stood in front of all of the students without even remembering that she has stage fright and gotten a mentor who specializes in the area of magic she wanted to learn more than anything.
'This has to be a dream,' Sakura thought to herself as she couldn't bring herself to believing that any of the things going on around her were real.
Tsunade noticed Sakura's dazed state and placed her hands on the pinkette's shoulders. She let out a silent gasp when her eyes spotted the pendant dangling around her newly announced mentee's neck.
'Could it be..' Tsunade thought to herself before returning to the moment she was in. She'd have to have a talk with Sakura.
"You'll do great. Come visit me later so that we can talk more about tomorrow, your friends must to be waiting," Tsunade spoke softly, giving her a reassuring smile. She understood the emotions that the pinkette was going through.
Sakura nodded and smiled to her mentor in return. With an encouraging look from her Sakura finally turned to walk away and hurried back to her friends who were now standing not too far away from her. Sakura rubbed the back of her neck as she quickly walked across the auditorium, not really looking anyone in the eye and staring at the rounded tips of her shoes.
"Oh my god, Sakura!" Ino squealed as the pinkette finally reached them, tightly wrapping her in a hug. Hinata and Tenten joined in and turned the simple hug into a massive group hug that squeezed the life out of Sakura who was trapped in the middle.
"Ca-n't bre-at-he!" She breathed out with the last bit of air she had in her lungs. All three unraveled from around her and watched her as she took a few well-deserved breaths in.
"I can't believe you're headmistress' mentee!" Tenten exclaimed and patted Sakura on the back a few times. "This is amazing!"
"Yeah, that's amazing," Hinata happily agreed, nodding along. She'd been the one to hear about Sakura's dream of becoming a powerful witch yesterday and she was genuinely happy for her. "Congratulations Sakura."
"Oh my god you should've seen Karin's face! She was furious!" Ino rejoiced. She was clearly happy for Sakura but pissing off Karin deemed to make everything perfect.
"And did you hear everyone talk about you? You looked amazing down there with the headmistress!" Tenten continued to praise her.
"Ah, isn't this a great day," Ino sighed happily and started to dance a little. She got maybe a little too happy when Sakura shut Karin up totally.
"Um, Sakura. What was all that talk about the other school and the ball?" Hinata interrupted Ino's dance of joy that caught Sakura's attention too.
"Uhh, I don't know. She told me to visit her later but I'm not sure what will happen now." Sakura turned her gaze back to her shoes. It was a bad habit of her when she got nervous or out of her comfort zone – to stare at her shoes and not make eye contact.
A silence fell between the four girls.
"Well, do you want help?" Tenten carefully suggested, grabbing Hinata and Ino in her arms and holding their heads right next to hers and smiling widely. This caused Sakura to laugh and hug her friends.
"Thanks guys. I honestly don't know what would I do without you," she admitted when parting from them. "But what are we supposed to welcome them with? And what about the ball? We can't possibly decorate a whole ballroom by ourselves and welcome the students and everything!"
Sakura's three friends smirked and pulled out their wands, which were surprisingly identical to Hinata's that she'd seen before.
"We just need a little hint of magic," Ino said and winked at Sakura.
"We should probably get back to our room since there are no more classes today. Let's start planning there and after that Sakura can go visit the headmistress," Hinata spoke out.
"Race you to the tower!" Tenten suddenly yelled out and burst into a sprint out of the now empty auditorium.
"Hey cheater!" Ino screamed and all three ran after their friend who had now an unfair head start.
❧ Goddess of Glam