Ino whirled her car into her assigned parking spot and parked it, and while the roof was folding back over, Ren unbuckled herself and grabbed her backpack to carefully open the door and climb out of the tiny vehicle. Across the parking lot stood the impressive three-story, sprawling structure that was Konoha City high school, the top education center in the sprawling mass of people. Ren smiled as she flipped the door shut, excited to see the building after two months of vacation. Though many people dreaded school, Ren had never found it particularly unenjoyable; even more, it was senior year, the deciding year of the rest of their lives- and it was also the year that Ren was cheerleading captain, and held the responsibility of bringing her team to the national championship. As she stood there, her green eyes sparkling as she imagined the great year before her, a long, drawn out hoooooooonk startled her out of her fantasies. Tires screeched as a black car with booming bass came whirling into the parking spot on the side of Ino's car where she was standing, and she scrunched up her face as the tinted window of the driver's side slowly rolled down to reveal a sneering blonde with shades on.
"Hey, ladies. How you doin'?" the blonde boy purred.
"Naruto! You're such a dweeb! Do you think that's cool? Turn that down!" Sakura demanded with her fingers stuffed into her ears to drown out the obnoxious music blasting from the car's stereo system. Naruto scowled, but obediently flipped the knob on his radio to bring the music down to an acceptable level. He slipped his arm out of the window, tapping the side of his car in irritation as he whipped off his sunglasses with the other hand and pouted at Sakura with boyish blue eyes.
"Man, you guys are lame. I bet if Sasuke did it, you would think he looked cool," he muttered before tapping the door of his car and sliding his arm back into roll up the window. The purring of the engine was suddenly silenced as he cut off the power, and Ren stepped back as the long-legged boy climbed out of his car with his bookbag slung over one shoulder. Naruto was tall, and muscular, and as such he was the star of the high school's basketball team. Ren leaned to the side as she heard the other door open.
"Well, Naruto, Sasuke is hotter than you," teased the passenger as he stood up and leaned over the roof of the car with a sneer. He had angular eyes, a sharp jawline, and black hair pulled up into a ponytail; like Naruto and the girls, he was a senior, Shikamaru Nara. A bonafide genius, Shikamaru had an IQ over two hundred and was the tech whiz of the school's robotics team as well as chess champion, but he was chronically lazy, which was why he was graduating on time rather than at college somewhere working on his second or third degree. He yawned loudly, shutting the car door before putting his hands behind his head and striding up to the sidewalk. He hadn't even bothered to bring a pencil. "Come on, Naruto. The sooner we get to a classroom, the sooner I can catch a nap," he called in mild irritation.
"I'm comin', I'm comin'! Yeesh, you lazy bastard," Naruto snapped back before shooting a toothy grin at the ladies. "See you later!" With that, he scurried after his friend, and the girls watched them approach the school with the other groups of students slowly trickling in through the glass double doors.
"Remind me why you're friends with that dunce again?" Ino tutted as she fixed her lipstick using the reflection in her windshield. Sakura replied something about Naruto having a "good heart," and they engaged in fervent conversation about something else while they began walking towards the school. Ren followed alongside, only half-listening; her mind was still bent on the strange boy they had stumbled across that morning. He must train hard. "Helloooooo? Earth to Ren?" Ino barked suddenly and smacked her in the forehead with the back of her hand, making Ren blink furiously as she struggled to return to reality. She glanced at the beautiful blonde woman, who had her eyebrows raised. "Where's your first class, dummy? Were you just gonna wander the halls like a zombie?"
"Oh! Right!" she cried and hastily fished her schedule out of her backpack. "Let's see… Aha! Chemistry I, room 231. Are either of you in it?" she asked hopefully, lowering the paper. Unfortunately, they both shook their heads sadly.
"Sorry, I took it freshman year," Sakura explained with a small wave and began strolling off toward her class. "I'm off to Calculus. See you later!"
"See ya, smartypants!" Ino called after her pink-haired friend, then looked at Ren. "It's Drama for me, but it's on the same floor, at least. I'll walk with you!" she grinned, and so the pair of girls set off down the hall and up the stairs. Ren talked a little about her plans for practice that afternoon, growing excited as she explained all the work that they would accomplish in the year, and like the good friend she was Ino encouraged her happily. Ren was in a fantastic mood by the time she arrived at her classroom and bid her best friend farewell; she strolled into the room and sat down at a desk practically radiating positive energy. This year is going to be great! she thought as she pulled out a notebook and prepared to take notes as the morning bell rang and the teacher began calling the roll. They began to undertake the necessary task of reviewing the syllabus, and in the middle of the disinterested droning of the teacher the classroom door was suddenly thrown open with frightening force.
"I am so sorry I am late! Please forgive me! I'll do one thousand push-ups as punishment!" the late arrival screeched in apology, and all Ren saw was a green blur as he flew into the room. Her eyes went wide when she realized that it was none other than Rock Lee, but before she could think anything else the boy let out an alarmed cry as he tripped over one of the legs of a nearby desk. Arms flailing as he lost his balance, his momentum continued to carry him across the room, right where Ren was sitting. She screamed as he crashed into the desk, bowling it over with his force; Ren's vision whirled as she was taken down with it, and she cried out in pain as her head smacked against the tiled floor. As she landed, she slid out of the desk, but did not have time to recover; Lee cried out as he tumbled over the desk and landed right on top of her, and the two lay there groaning while half the class screeched with hysterical laughter and the other let out a sickened "oooooooh!" Her head pounding, Ren weakly looked up, then went beet red when she realized that Lee's face was crammed right in the middle of her sizable breasts.
"Get off!" she screamed, thoroughly embarrassed, and he gasped as he shot up into a sitting position.
"I am sorry! Are you okay?" he cried. Ren had grown an even darker shade of red, for the boy was essentially straddling her, and all she could do was release a series of shocked gasps and half-words as she basically short-circuited. No one was attempting to help her, either, but had their phones out filming and snapping pictures of the entire ordeal. "Did you hit your head?" Lee asked when he noticed her holding her hand to her auburn hair tenderly.
"Rock Lee! Get off that girl and tell me why you're late!" snapped the teacher, and Lee's spine went as stiff as a board.
"Yes, sir! Sorry, sir!" the dorky boy squeaked and jumped off of Ren, righting the desk before snapping to attention like a soldier. "I was doing my morning training, sir, and had to change out of my track suit into my uniform! However, I could not find my left sock, sir, and I tore apart the locker room looking for it! I had to find my sock to have a proper uniform, you see, and so that is why I was late! I will do one hundred jumping jacks as punishment!" he explained, and actually began to do the exercises. After he got to about the third one, the teacher shook his head and waved his hand to stop him.
"Just get in your seat," he sighed and turned to the projector screen to begin lecturing, and Lee flushed pink as the class snickered at him. Ren was still on the floor, only having just pulled herself to a sitting position, and she glanced up to see Lee holding a hand out to her with an extremely serious expression.
"I am very sorry. Are you hurt? Do I need to take you to the infirmary?" he asked. Though other girls may have been disgusted, Ren found herself charmed by his level of concern for her, and she shyly shook her head and took his hand. He pulled her to her feet almost effortlessly, making her swoon a little. Lee gave her a military solute before marching off to his seat, which happened to be just behind her. Dazed from a mixture of shock and confusion, Ren slowly slid into her desk, trying to ignore the irritating headache that had arisen from her rough contact with the floor. The teacher began drowning on about the basic chemistry of life, atoms and molecules, and Ren soon forgot the pain as she diligently and neatly wrote her notes. The teacher abruptly stopped lecturing, staring at a point behind her, and Ren turned around to see Lee had risen his hand. His expression was still that deadly serious one, with his forehead scrunched so tightly that it made his caterpillar-like eyebrows arc appreciably.
"Yes, Lee?"
"I do not understand, sir." The class burst into assorted giggles, but the teacher silenced them with a sharp glare before exhaling deeply.
"It's really quite simple, Lee. Atoms are the most basic unit of an element. Elements are the different components that make up life. Elements combine in different ways to make different things, meaning that different atoms are joined together in different ways," the teacher explained. Lee's mouth opened in a small "O" as he exhaled deeply and nodded in understanding. Ren raised an eyebrow as the teacher turned back and began lecturing, while Lee listened intently. This is pretty basic stuff. Does he really not get it?
Class continued on like that, with Lee interrupting every few minutes to have a concept explained in more basic terms. Even though the entire class continuously laughed at him, he raised his hand every time with that same, super-serious look on his face. Ren found it quite commendable; even the most stout of heart would begin to quail under the harsh laughter of their peers, but Lee seemed to almost be unaware of their condescension. As the bell rang to signal the change in classes, the students stood and began packing up their things, but the teacher interrupted them before they could depart.
"Ah, I almost forgot. Everyone, you have assigned lab partners for the lab section of this course, which we do on Wednesdays and Fridays. I'll announce them now; once I call your name and you have confirmed your partner, you may leave." The teacher began announcing names, and Ren shifted impatiently from one foot to another as her peers slowly trickled out. "Rock Lee and Ren Hayasegawa," the teacher abruptly announced, and Ren bristled as Rock Lee threw up his hands in the air and crowed loudly behind her. As her ears rang, the boy clapped his hand on her shoulder and leaned over to grin broadly at her.
"This is fantastic! I am excited to work with you!" he cried and grabbed her hand to shake it vigorously, jerking her arm up and down before releasing her and speeding off. She stood there for a moment, shell-shocked, before she robotically walked out of the classroom and headed to her next class. Her feet moved on their own, because her mind was too busy whirling.
Rock Lee as my chemistry partner? She wasn't sure what to feel about it; also she knew was that her senior year was starting off to be very interesting indeed…