CHAPTER 2 - Girls Never Have Fun

After their classes were over, Temari and Ten Ten decided to meet up outside a nearby bench in front of the school. Considering it was the only place Temari was familiar with so far. Ten Ten told Temari of how she needed help organizing her dorm room and when Temari had nothing else to do, she agreed to help out. When they met up, Ten Ten looked at Temari sitting down on the bench. Temari saw Ten Ten and greeted her with a smile.

"You know, you really like to smile don't you?" Ten Ten commented, noticing that's all Temari ever does.

"I guess. Hey, thanks for sticking up for me back there. I owe you one, really." Temari told her.

Ten Ten whistled, "Those guys are really something."

"Psh," Temari closed her eyes and put a hand on her hip. "I've seen worse, considering the reason why I moved here in the first place."

The two girls began to walk to the dorms. Before they continued to walk, Ten Ten stopped at a vending machine to buy a bag of chips. She would crack the back open, offering Temari some, in which she politely declined.

"So," Ten Ten started off, munching. "How were the guys at your school?"

"What do you mean?" Temari questioned.

Ten Ten went pink. "Well, you know... are they pervy, kind, were they good looking?"

Temari laughed, "Perverted? Yes. Kind? Not really. Good looking? Psh, yeah right."

"Although I had a bad first experience here with boys, they're nothing compared to how they were in Suna. Guys went crazy over girls just wearing a simple pair of jeans."

Walking up some stairs, Ten Ten tossed her chips to one of the trash cans in the hallway. "I guess girls with fat asses are common there, I wish I could eat anything I want, but my parents really put some pressure on me how boys like girls that are slim and smart."

"Too much of a good thing is always bad for you." Temari commented. They have approached a hallway in where Ten Ten's dorm room would be located. The door they confronted was a dark, cherry oak.

'Seriously? Even a door gets my attention? I guess I really am dirt poor.' Temari thought to herself.

Ten Ten scavenged her bag for her keys, trying to keep up the conversation. "I don't think being too smart is bad for you." She says as she continues to search for her keys, "Where are those damn things?!"

Temari leaned against the wall next to the door as Ten Ten finally found her keys, attempting to unlock the door. "I guess not, but it can definitely cause someone to be arrogant."

Ten Ten shrugged, technically agreeing. She would twist the knob, take out her keys and enter the dorm. As they both walked in, Temari looked around and saw a completely mess of clothes all over the floor, magazines, and are those tampons?

"Sorry if it looks like a disaster in here, Temari." Ten Ten apologized.

Temari gave her another smile, figuring it was going to be a repetitive gesture. "Hey, isn't that what I'm here for?"

"Ten Ten?" A girl called out, entering the room. She would take a good look at Temari, eventually examining her.

"Oh! Temari, this is Sakura, one of my roommates, Sakura, Temari."

Sakura nodded, taking her hand out. "Nice to meet you Temari!"

Temari would shake Sakura's hand, "You too, Sakura."

"I'M GOING TO KILL THAT CHOJI!" Another girl came in, followed by another girl who seemed to be trying to calm down the girl who came in shouting.

"Ino, please calm down! I believe it was an acciden-"

"AN ACCIDENT? LOOK AT MY HAIR!" Ino cried out, turning to see Temari. "AHH!" She would hide behind a girl with long, navy hair. Ino desperately tried to hide her poofed up hair with white powdery stuff on it.

Ten Ten looked blank, while Sakura consoled Temari with reassuring hands on her arms. "T-This is a normal thing in here..."

"I see, well, hello?" Temari spoke first. "I'm Temari, I'm new here."

Hinata smiled at Temari, struggling to move as Ino refused to let Temari see her hair. "H-Hi, m-my name is Hinata and this is Ino, as you can see."

"Yeah, yeah, hi, pretty girl." Ino said. "Listen, I need that fatso and good-for-nothing lazyass to stop messing with my hair products and putting flour inside of my hair dryer! ESPECIALLY ON THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!" She would shout to the rest of her roommates.

A head would then pop into the dorm room, a guy with pineapple shaped hair. "School is actually over," he contradicted, entering the room and leaning against one of the sides of the doorway, crossing his arms in sarcasm. He smirked, "And did I just hear you call Choji a fatso? Should I go tell him?" He teased.

Ino's face went blank, crawling on the floor to beg the guy not to tattle. While this all went on, Temari's face went pink.

'W-Woah! W-Who's he?' Temari thought to herself.

"Okay, this is completely out of line." Ten Ten announced to her friends. "I invited Temari, our NEW foreign exchange student here, to help us clean up this dorm considering it hasn't been cleaned in months!"

"Oh?" The Shika guy called out, "You're the one that Choji said Nagato hit on?"

Temari blushed even more, however couldn't deny she was quite bothered by that comment. "Uhm, y-yeah, that's right."

'Damn it Temari! Why did you respond as if it's a good thing?'

"Sorry to hear that happen to ya'." He would scratch behind his neck, "I'm Shikamaru, if you need anything, I'm right across." He points to the direction of his room.

Temari nodded, then as the subject was about to change, Ten Ten grabbed Shikamaru by the arm and looked at Temari. "Hey, Temari, remember when you talked about how too much smarts can cause arrogance? Well, Shikamaru has an IQ over 200 and has never failed an exam in his whole life, does that count him as arrogant?"

'IQ over 200? And he's smart too?'

The blonde shook her head rapidly, half-assing a smile. "N-No! Not at all!"

Ten Ten raised an eyebrow, confused at her answer. "Really?"

"Y-Yeah, I mean, I barely even know him s-so.." Temari said shyly. "Besides, if he's here pulling pranks rather than studying, I doubt he is."

Ino stood up, shaking the powder out of her head. "This guy naps all day, and if he's not, he's smoking like crazy."

"Hey, leave my business out of this mess of a room." Shikamaru sassed.

Ino growled, punching her arms in the air towards him. "SHIKAMARU NARA! ONCE I GET MY HANDS ON YOU! YOU'LL REGRET YOU EVER CAME TO THIS SCHOOL!" Shikamaru laughed, running back to his dorm.

Ten Ten gently grabbed Temari by the hand. "Sorry, we've all been together since we were young so if we seem like clowns to you then-"

Temari places two hands on Ten Ten's shoulders, smiling. "Don't apologize, let's clean!"

After what felt like hours, Temari looked out the window and saw the sun go down. She would place the broom back into one of their closets, and wash her hands. "Ten Ten, it's getting late, I think I ought to get home."

"Okay," Ten Ten said, straightening a pile of magazines. "During this time Shikamaru goes to get us takeout, I'll ask if he can drive you home." She would then exit the room for a moment to notify Shikamaru.

"Oh, alright." Temari then thought, 'Wait, these are rich kids, what if he sees my apartment building and completely thinks low of me? Oh, forget it, Temari, he probably already has a girlfriend.'

Ten Ten came back in the room, grabbing Temari's bag and handed it to her. "Alright, Temari, thanks so much for coming over. We should definitely hang out some time, you know, without doing this."

"No problem, always love a day of cleaning," She told her. "Just send me the date, and I will."

"Awesome! Shikamaru said he'll wait for you in the lobby," Ten Ten told her, then gasping as she forgot. "Wait! Temari! Let's exchange phone numbers!"

Temari quietly closed the cherry oak door, seeing that the lights of the hallways were dimmed and it was now almost completely dark outside. She walked down two flights of large stairs before scanning the large lobby for any sign of Shikamaru. She had butterflies in her stomach as she grew nervous, more so than when she just arrived here. After seconds of scanning, she saw him sitting down at the bench outside where she waited for Ten Ten earlier today.

"Ready to go?" Shikamaru stood up, asking her.

Temari nodded, "Y-Yeah."

Shikamaru and Temari walked to the parking lots, seeing the same parked cars. As they walked to the farther end of the parking lot, they were met with a glossy, black, Jeep wrangler. Shikamaru pressed the button to unlock the car, as he walked to the opposite side and hopped in to the driver's seat. Temari entered the car, stepping onto the step before entering the passenger's side and closed the door. After Shikamaru put on his seatbelt, he opened his window and took out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. He popped one in his mouth, but then forget how Temari was in the car and wasn't sure if she was comfortable of him smoking around her.

"Uh, do you mind?" Shikamaru asked her.

She looked at him in surprise. Quite honestly, she had no problem with people who smoked around her, but she wasn't a fan of the smell when it became overwhelming. "Well, it is your car so don't worry about what I think."

Shikamaru blinked, putting the cigarette back in the box and the lighter in the cupholder. He didn't want to be rude, especially to a girl who was new to the area. "So, where you live?"

Temari told him her address, luckily he was familiar with it. He began to reverse the car and drive off to said address.

Not wanting to make this an awkward car ride, Temari finally gained the courageous and opened a conversation. "So, considering you been at Konoha longer than I have, do you like it?"

Shikamaru nodded, "I'd say so, my friends go here, not much competition for me, and I have a decent amount of extracurriculars I enjoy here."

"What do you do?"

"I'm Captain of the chess club, swim, and soccer. I do a lot more though, just don't really have an important role in them. Putting too much responsibility on me can be quite a drag."

Temari looked out the window, "Wow, I did volleyball in my last school, but unfortunately I had to quit."

"Oh?" Shikamaru noised. "We have a pretty good volleyball team here, why'd you have to quit at your last one... if you don't mind me asking?"

Temari stayed silent for awhile, almost making Shikamaru think he said something wrong. However, it wasn't his fault, he didn't know. "I..I enjoyed volleyball a lot, actually, but.. I kind of ruined it for all the girls on the team."

Shikamaru turned to her for a second before continuing to look forward on the road. "Really? How can one girl ruin a whole sport for everyone? That doesn't sound legit."

Temari sighed. "It was my second home game, we were going against Sound Academy and apparently a lot of guys from my school were friends with a lot of guys from their school." Temari turned to make sure Shikamaru paid any attention, in which he signaled he did by glancing over to her for a second before once again making sure he was focused on the road. "And.. I was pretty well known at my school for having a, well... 'figure' and they kept creating chaos at the games... so much to the point where it affected my teammates' ability to focus on the game. The coaches figured we kept losing ever since those guys kept making a ruckus, and they found out I was the reason for it all, and so I got kicked off the team and asked to never try out again."

Shikamaru's eyes widen, kind of regretting to ask the question. "I..." He didn't know what to say, but he felt guilty for bringing up what Choji told him to her earlier that day. "I'm sorry for mentioning what Choji told me, about how Nagato-"

"Shikamaru." She would place a hand on his, "It's alright." Temari would let go, and for some reason that left Shikamaru feeling empty.

They arrived to her apartment, "We're here."

Temari smiled to Shikamaru, "Thanks Shikamaru, I'll see you tomorrow." She would grab her bags and exit the car, closing the door.

Shikamaru watched her enter the lobby of the apartment, he would again scratch the back of his head. After finally meeting a decent girl who wasn't boy crazy, obsessed with weapons, or insanely shy, he goes and most likely said something that made her upset? He groaned, he should of at least offered to buy her food.

"What a drag."