Hahah, I'm evil. Enjoy Thanks to Rachel (xStrawberryCream) for her support in getting this up at last :p)
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Sadsadsad.
Chapter One: Orange Blues
I sighed. New times, new classes, new school…everything was new… And apparently when parents said they understood everything you said, and that you should talk to them about anything you need, they were lying.
Sure, they might have gone through what I was going through at one time in their lives, but those times were over for them…they didn't really care where they moved anymore, or if they even had any friends…things were different for adults…or are different, I should say.
I brushed waist-length, bubble-gum coloured hair out of my eyes an stood up straight—well straighter than I'd been standing before and marched into my new school…Madame Folle's Jailhouse for the Challenged Student! Ok, just kidding, it's actually called Orange Hill Academy, but everyone I've talked to so far haven't called it that. (Ok, so it was only three people…but still!) Apparently Madame Folle was some dude (oops, I mean dudette) who lived here a long time ago…or so I'd been told. I wasn't really sure why everyone would call the school (or academy) something after her, but I guess I'd find out sooner or later…
I'd moved into Orange Hill at the end of summer…One last summer to spend with my friends before I was sent to a freak show because of my mom's job. Jeez. She was never even home anyways! Why would I have to move for her sake? But dad said we had to, so I did. The only thing I knew about Orange Hill so far was that they didn't grow oranges. And from what I could figure out by myself, that was a pretty stupidly ironic thing.
(About the oranges, I guess it was too cold to grow them properly. I loved oranges, but not that it mattered. Despite the fact that my old town had grown them, the ones we bought in the store were shipped in from somewhere else. Sorta stupid if you think about it, but hey, I guess the grocery store needed to make money somehow…or something like that. Although if you think about it, technically the grocery stores would have been loosing money from having to ship things into town...oh well, I suppose they need to be let alone with their whacked up theories of money-making skills and such.)
The school was musty inside…a little weird, according to the fact that they'd re-done it on the inside over the summer. Maybe they were lying. The door to my right said head office, while the one to the left said dorms. Did I mention it's a boarding school? (Which would probably be the reason for the dorms) Well, if I didn't, now you know. I walked into the office, the door slamming accidentally behind me. The secretary's head snapped up.
Her glasses, which could be mistaken to be several inches thick, were held onto her bony face by means of one of those ugly beaded chains that old women tend to wear when they don't with to carry their glasses, simply hanging them around their necks like tacky necklaces whenever they weren't needed.
"Can I help you, deary?" Her voice sounded old…like a scratched record or something—muffled but crackly at the same time.
"Umm…I'm new here. My name's Haruno Saku—"
"Oh! So you're the new girl? Miss Haruno?" She smiled. Large, horse-like teeth sparkled as if newly polished or something. Wait…or rather, her dentures sparkled as if newly cleaned…which their pretty well probably were. "Come this way deary!" She stood up to her full height of almost a foot shorter than me and marched over.
Bony, cold hands grabbed my wrist, yanking me down to her height as she dragged me down the hall to…another doorway? "Here's the principal, dear. He'll be with you in a moment. Have a seat there until her rings you in." She waddled away down the hallway from which she came.
I sighed…again, and plopped myself down into a chair. The chair was comfy…but old…like something you'd find at a grandmother's house that seems like it's been around for a couple of centuries, but is still as comfortable as ever.
"H-hello," a small voice muttered.
I looked to my side. Large, white eyes stared back at me. A girl, probably about my age, but smaller and mouse-like smiled slightly. I could tell she was shy, and had probably surprised herself by speaking out to someone new.
"Hi! My name's Haruno Sakura. I'm new here." I grinned, awkwardly hoping she would respond.
"N-new? R-really? W-we don't get many n-new people around h-here…M-my name's H-hyuuga H-hinata, b-by the way."
"Nice to meet you!" I smiled truly this time. Perhaps she really wasn't that shy. "Oh yeah…why don't you get many new people?"
"N-no reason…we just don't. I g-guess people don't really l-like it around here. W-we only get one or two n-new people a year. Th-there probably won't be any other new people till next year."
"Wh—"
"Miss Haruno, the principal can see you now." A metallic voice buzzed at me from a speaker in the wall. I jumped to my feet at the sudden loud voice—Hinata's could barely be heard, but the speaker could only not be heard if you were partially deaf…Or something like that.
I gave Hinata a salute and grin before smoothing out the lavender coloured skirt of my uniform, creased from sitting and walking into the principal's office. It was dusty...unsurprisingly for all the world that there were about a billion old books and tinker-toys that were scattered about everywhere. (Think Dumbledore's office if you don't know what I mean :p) The desk at the end of the room was cast over by a shadow from the lack of windows at that end.
"Soooo…Haruro Sakura?"
"Ummm…it's Haruno, sir."
"Ah. Hanuro. Well, this is your first day at the Academy, is it not?"
"…Yes, it is…"
"Yup yup. Sooo…Can I help you with anything my dear?"
My god, what a dough-head. I rolled my eyes. Could the principal of the school be anymore stupid? Or the principal of anything for that matter? Honestly! "Umm…Sir—"
"Please! Call me Bob!" (Wtfff?)
My left eye twitched involuntarily. "Umm…Bob-sama. I'm here because this is my first day in Orange Hill."
He merely nodded. Perhaps he couldn't hear me properly.
"I'm new to the school…"
Another nod. I gritted my teeth. Or perhaps he just needed a little…encouragement.
"I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING AND NEED HELP GETTING AROUND THIS PLACE!"
"Oh…my apologies. Apparently you aren't as young as you look." He coughed and rubbed on of his ears. Hopefully that had given him the message that I didn't have too much patience at this time in the morning. I looked at the shadows he sat in, fed up, annoyed and… and…annoyed more.
"And what is that supposed to mean!"
"Sorry." He coughed again. "Ahem. Well, first off, welcome to Orange Hill Academy. I am Mr. Amaya Den, headmaster here. You'll be staying with a roommate in the dorms that you may have noticed on your way in here. There is no need to bring anything into the school, as everything you'll ever need is in the closets located at the back of every classroom, and in your room already."
Well jeez. No more call me Bob? Talk about a bad case of multiple personality disorder! "Ok…? Is that all?"
"Not really…"
"…"
"Actually, it is. I lied. Here's the key to your room. I trust your roommate will help you with anything you'll need. A schedule of your classes is tacked to the back of the door in your room, as you'll be sharing the same classes as your roommate. There should also be one with the rest of your clothes, if you need one to carry around. Good luck!"
I took that as a farewell and left…quickly. Mr. 'Bob' seemed a little bit freaky… I sighed for the third time in about an hour and looked at the key he'd given me. Room 3475!
I walked out of the office, past the chair the Hinata and me has sat in. She was gone now, probably off somewhere in the insane building, doing whatever Hinata normally did. Past the secretary, and into the hallway, I felt a sigh of relief go through me. At least I didn't have to listen to some mental dude lecture me about the way that the school worked for another hour or something.
Past the door labeled 'DORMS' and into yet another hallway. It reminded me of an airport at first glance, minus the fact that there were no large suitcases and groups of tired people with tickets in hand standing everywhere. The hall seemed to extend forever. I could barely see the other end of it. Doors on both sides started at number 3400 to my left, 3401 on the right and so on as far as I could see.
Walking down the hall, several of the doors were artistically graffitied on by the residents. Others weren't. Some of the had large, ugly wreaths of various things, like some kind of hospital or something. I'd been walking for about five minutes, looking at the numbers on the right.
"3411, 3413, 3415, yawn, 3417…" My mouth was starting to dry out…and I still had quite a few rooms to go before reaching mine. I felt like just sitting against the wall next to me and sleeping there for the night, despite the fact that it was only about 9:45 am, and I still had a whole day to go. I clenched my teeth together and willed myself to go on again, although I knew that sooner or later my temper was going to get the better of me
"EEAAAAAAAGGGHHHHRRRRRR!" How many freaking rooms in this school were there! I barely looked big enough to fit 20 from the outside! I'd been walking for about ten more minutes. "WHY ME!" I glared at the nearest wall, willing to smash my head into it. A girl, who I supposed had heard my outburst walked up beside me. Her sky blue eyes looked at me, a long blonde ponytail swishing behind the back of her head.
"Can I help you?" Her voice was quite a bit louder than Hinata's, but not in a bad way.
"I need to find this room," I half shouted, shoving the key under her nose. "My name's Sakura, by the way. Haruno Sakura."
She grinned at me, unfazed by my attitude. "I'm Yamanaka Ino!" Her grin turned into a smirk, "The room you need is right there. She pointed behind me and walked off with a giggly, "Ja ne!"
Nice going, Sakura. First day here, and you've already made a ruckus in the hall and told the principal off. Woohoo. I could tell I'd enjoy my time here. I opened the door to my new home with a twist of the key and walked inside.
"Oi! How'd you get inside here?" A girl with long, chestnut coloured hair and bright amber eyes stared at me, a lid in one hand and mascara wand in the other. A wet, black streak ran from one of her eyes to the other side of her face. "You scared the crap outta me! Who are you anyway?"
"Ummmmm…I'm new here…and I'm supposed to be your roommate…" I watched wet mascara slide down the girl's face, eye twitching again.
"Umm? That's a nice name! Is that your first name or last?" She grinned, paying no attention to the back stain that was running down her face still.
"umm…it's Haruno Sakura, not Umm.." I winced inwardly and shut the door behind me.
"Okay!"
"…You have mascara running down your face…"
"Oh well…That's like the second time it's happened today. The reason why I only buy non-waterproof should be quite obvious now. I'm Tenten by the way!" (Does she seriously have a last name! --')
She wiped the mascara off her face with a cloth and pulled her hair up into two plaits at each side of her head. Swinging them behind her shoulders, she stood up. "I'm glad I have a roommate this year! Last year it was so lonely…" She smiled, "Well, I'll come back in a few minutes! Gotta go out for a minute. I'll show you around when I get back!" With that, she simply ran out the door.
I stared at the door. Was that twitchy eye ever going to go away? And what was with this new school anyways? Why was everyone so weird? If someone had let mascara run down her face in my old town, they would have been spazzing out all over the floor, trying to get it off.
I smiled to myself. Thinking of the past was fun, even though I knew it would never be the present again. I had loved my old town. My house, my room…my friends… but I guess life just wasn't always fair, and you have to go with the flow if you're going to make it somewhere in this world.
Sooo… to sum the morning up, my hyper spazz-tik room mate's name was Tenten, I knew two other people besides her, and my principal was screwed in the head. Lucky, lucky me.
I sat down on the bed that opposed the one that I thought was Tenten's, judging my the messed up sheets and blanket, as well as the pajamas on the floor beside it. I guess having a room mate would be fun…even if Tenten sort of seemed like the type of person who stayed up all night watching tv and playing videogames really loudly. I opened the chest at the foot of my bed. More lavender uniforms with white blouses, as well as an extra tie. A pair of air-knit shorts and a light purple t-shirt with the school logo on the front of it were also there. For phys-ed I supposed. Pajamas were also there. A folded piece of paper lay on one of the shirts.
I opened it. "Dear Miss Haruno, We are glad that you have come to attend this school! Your room mate will help you with anything that you need, but should she be ill or unable to, enclosed in a schedule of your classes, the rooms that they're in and a list of all the other rooms that you might need."
I turned over the envelope and sure enough, out came another folded piece of paper.
8:00 am: Breakfast, room 1002
9:30 am: Science, room 1234
10:45 am: Mathematics, room 2235
11:00 am: Art, room 1198
12:10 pm: Lunch, cafeteria, East Wing
1:25 pm: Weaponry and Self Defense, West Wing
2:40 pm: Geography, room 3400
-insert cool rewind noise here-
"Huh!" What kind of whacked up place was this? Weapons? What was that supposed to mean? Self defense? Ok, sure self defense was normal, but weapons! My old school has considered mechanical pens dangerous! We weren't even allowed to carry them around with us! We had to use non-mechanical pencils instead, but that's beside the point.
I guess Tenten would have a lot of explaining to do to me… I almost felt sorry for her, as I already had quite a few different questions floating around in my head, but of what I knew, she didn't seem like the type of person that would really care about answering some noob girl's inquiries.
I looked back at the schedule.
3:55 pm: End of classes
6:00 pm: Dinner, cafeteria, East Wing
Seemed like a pretty tiring schedule to me. But I guess that's what came along with the fact that there were no parents, and you had your own room to stay up all night in. I lay back on the bed. The ceiling over Tenten's bed was decorated with pictures and posters, as were the walls. My side of the room seemed depressingly bare compared to hers. Hopefully the school would have some sort of store inside it or around it where I could buy wall-scrolls or posters or something to decorate.
For not, I simply pinned up a picture of me and my best friend from my old town. It was an old picture…well all of mine were. It was taken when I was about five…so almost ten years ago, I guess. Kirin, my friend was a little bit shorter than me, her auburn coloured hair blowing into her face in the wind. My hair was kept out of my face with a red ribbon. It was funny how looking at pictures was like bringing back a little piece of memory from the dusty place that all old memories seem to go in the back of your mind, just waiting to be remembered.
I walked over to the window. A pretty glass rose hung from the cream coloured curtains in front of it. I was glad that there were none of those ugly white blinds that my old school has used. No more of the plastic sheets that let just about as much light through as they blocked out when you were just getting to the good part of a movie, and no more of the threat the one of them might fall onto your head if you accidentally knocked into one when you were walking beside the window.
The outside was pretty, mush to my surprise, as the view of the front was very dismal and grey. Maple trees lined the outside of a courtyard, with a fountain in the center. Benches were all around the fountain, and off to the side was a fire pit. My heart skipped a beat. This had to be a dream. Come on! Things like this only happened in fairytales! I leaned towards the latch on the window and—
"Hey!"
I whipped around, eyes wide. No one had scared me like that in a long time. Usually I was the one who was doing the scaring! Tenten stood in the doorway, face flushed from probably running down the long hallway the led to our room.
"Found everything you need here? I should take you around to see everything." She grinned and beckoned to me.
Mwahaha. Than ending deserves a kick in the head. But I'm too tired to extend this chapter anymore, so it shall end now. Woohoo.
Hope you enjoyed, and if you though this chapter sucked, you should read the next one anyways, because…because I said so. And review. Or not. Whatever.
Insane cup of Lemonade,
Citree
