Chapter 2: Classes, Catch up's and lock in's

The torturous sounds of the alarm clock going off at six o clock in the morning drilled into the girls' ears, annoying them enough to wake them up because frankly ignoring it only made things worse. Ino shut off the alarm before stretching and getting out of bed. She then threw her pillow at Sakura to wake her up.

"Wake up Sakura we need to get ready for school." she yawned

"I'm not the only one in the room you know, why'd you throw your pillow at me?" she spoke tiredly

"Because you were the closest, now get Hinata and Tenten out of bed or we'll be late." She said on her way to the shower. Hinata was awake before Sakura even got to her however Tenten was still fast asleep.

She was lying next to Neji in bed when she slowly sat up and looked over to him. He sat up and looked into her chocolate brown eyes for a while before he put his hand under her chin. She immediately blushed when he touched her and because he was shirtless. He leaned in closer and closer until their lips met in a passionate kiss.

Tenten had never felt anything so wonderful, his lips were soft and he was a great kisser. She wrapped her arms around his neck and tangled her fingers in his long hair and he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her onto his lap before deepening the kiss…

"TENTEN!" Sakura yelled right next to her ear which woke Tenten immediately and almost made her fall out of bed. She looked up to see Sakura standing next to her with her arms folded.

"It's your turn in the shower; now hurry up before you get late." She walked away to continue dressing. "What were you dreaming about anyway?"

"Oh um, nothing in particular." She got out of bed and headed towards the shower. There was no way on earth she could ever tell them what she really dreamt about otherwise she wouldn't hear the end of it.

An hour later the girls were all dressed and ready for school so the y went to the cafeteria to get some breakfast. They had an hour until classes began since it was seven 'o' clock. They found an empty table and began eating when the guys walked in. Ino waved the guys over to their table and they took their seats.

Tenten felt uncomfortable when Neji sat next to her since she still hadn't recovered from her not so innocent dream about him. But she managed to put on a normal face and hoped her timetable for the day wouldn't involve too much of him in it. She took out her timetable which she had received when she'd arrived back at school and opened the envelope to see where she went for the first four periods. Her heart sank when she read it

Gym class with Guy sensei: periods one and two

English with Kurenai sensei: periods three and four

Break: 35 min

Biology with Kakashi sensei: periods five and six

Mathematics with Asuma sensei: periods seven and eight

Break: 25 min

History with Anko sensei: periods nine and ten

Geography with Yamato sensei: period eleven

Three out of her six subjects involved Neji, namely Gym, History and Geography.

"Well as long as I don't think about the dream I should be fine and as long as I don't daydream about him I'll survive-I hope." She spoke in her head

Eight 'o' clock arrived and the gang went their separate ways to their first class of the day. Neji and Tenten went to the gym to get dressed in their gym clothes. The gym clothes for guys and girls in winter consisted of long cobalt blue pants and a black thick strapped shirts for the girls and muscle shirts for the guys, both outlined in cobalt blue.

"Alright class today in gym we're going to be having a relay race. Now I'll divide you into teams of four." Guy sensei enthusiastically spoke

Guy sensei divided the class into four separate teams. Tenten's team was going against Naoya's team and Naoya looked determined to win.

"You're going down Tenten, you're just lucky that you have Neji on your team." She folded her arms. The two teams got ready, Tenten and Naoya were the finishers, and Neji and Yuki— another one of Neji's fangirls and Naoya's best friend and a talented athlete was running against Neji—were the pair that would hand the batons to Tenten and Naoya.

"Ready…set…GO!" Guy sensei shot the starting pistol and the race began. Naoya's team was in the lead and then the second team took off and ran towards Neji and Yuki they both started jogging and held out their hands ready to receive the batons. Neji got his before Yuki got hers so he sprinted towards Tenten as fast as he could. But Yuki caught up to Neji in a matter of seconds, they both handed over their batons to the finishers but Tenten got hers literally a split second before Naoya and bolted towards the finish line. Naoya tried to trip Tenten with her baton but Tenten managed to jump out of the way and got a reasonable distance ahead of her, but it was short lived as she quickly caught up again. The finish line was in sight. Only a few more seconds to go. Tenten wouldn't let Naoya win…3…2…1…Victory!

Tenten made it across the finish line before Naoya. She was panting but managed to crack a smile to Naoya who looked furious.

"Looks like I beat your sorry butt." she bragged. Naoya just walked away and to sit with Yuki. Tenten ran over to Neji and in all the excitement she ran into his arms.

"We won Neji, we were great." She hugged him and looked up into his eyes for a while which reminded her of her of her dream. She quickly broke away from the hug.

Xxx

It was break time; all the students made their way their way to the cafeteria for lunch. The gang met up for lunch.

"Hey Neji, Tenten I heard about your race in gym class today. Great job on beating Naoya, she still looks totally ticked off." Ino commented

"Thanks, you should have seen her as soon as the race was over. She looked about ready to blow especially when I—" Tenten suddenly remembered when she ran into Neji's arms "Um never mind." She ended her story there but she knew she wasn't out of the woods yet, having friends like Ino and Sakura meant that they would get the truth out of her by any means necessary.

Xxx

It was five past one in the afternoon; Sakura had a free period so she decided to go to the library. She was a library monitor on some days and today was one of those days. She was in charge of keeping the silence in the library and helping students check out books when the school librarian wasn't available.

"Hey Sakura" someone from behind greeted her

"Oh hey Nakamishi" she greeted back. Nakamishi Moe was a guy in a few of Sakura's classes. They'd even worked on a few assignments together so they'd become close friends. She walked over to the scanning table and scanned his book to be checked out.

"Last time I saw you; we were saying goodbye for the holidays. We definitely need to catch up." She said as she handed back his book.

"I agree, how about we catch up over lunch on Friday?" he asked

"Sounds great see you on Friday." She watched him leave the library then suddenly a lot of talking was coming from outside. Sakura went to investigate. It turns out that it was nothing more than Sasuke's fangirls crowding around him on the balcony of the library. It was her job to make sure things remained quiet in the library not to mention that fangirls really annoyed her so she did her job with a smile.

"Alright ladies break it up this is a library not a celebrity show. If you're not here to get a book or read then get out of here." She managed to yell over their girly squeals around an indifferent Sasuke who was reading or at least trying to until those annoying fangirls of his showed up. Annoyed at her presence; the group of fangirls dispersed leaving behind the comfortable silence that all libraries should have.

"That's much better." She exhaled as she leaned against the railing of the balcony

"Thanks" Sasuke looked up from his book

"Anytime"

"Who was that guy you were with a few minutes ago." He asked

"Oh that was Nakamishi; he's a really good friend of mine." She sat down in the chair opposite his

"I see" he raised a brow and smirked at her. Sakura knew all too well what Sasuke meant by that statement.

"No not like that Sasuke were just friends. Sheesh why do have to do that?"

"I never said anything; you just assumed that I didn't understand what you meant."

"Yeah right, I've known you long enough to figure out what you mean whenever you smirk and raise your eyebrow like that." She playfully poked him in the arm. It hadn't been this relaxed between them in a long time. Sakura really enjoyed spending time with Sasuke.

Xxx

Ino was bored out her mind in Biology class and Shikamaru—who was two seats in front of her— didn't looked too enthusiastic either. She decided to whip out her cellphone and talk to Shikamaru. Luckily for her she knew he wasn't stupid enough to leave his phone on sound or stupid enough to get caught texting and as for Ino—she was a texting expert.

"Hey Shikamaru"

"You choose now of all times to text me."

"Well I'm bored out of my mind."

"So you decided to use me as your relief from boredom."

"Pretty much, what else do you want me to do?"

"Try paying attention in class."

"Yeah right; like you're paying attention either. You're just as bored as I am."

"Sure I am but were being tested on this stuff on Monday, you do know that right?"

"Are you serious!?"

"Dead serious, and it looks like we both missed the lesson, class ends in less than a minute."

"Help me study this weekend?"

"You're such a drag"

"Shikamaru!"

"Fine"

"Love ya" she shut her cellphone and packed her back pack; then the bell rang and the class was dismissed. She caught up to Shikamaru in the hallway when he made his way to his locker. She stood by his locker and spoke to him while he swapped his books. She was suddenly grabbed by the wrist.

"What do you think you're doing with Shikamaru?" Naoya spat

"Talking to him, what does it look like?" she replied then folded her arms

"Well you can't, he only goes for intelligent people like me." Naoya raised her head high

"Weren't you listening, I'm not going for him, I'm talking to him. And what the heck is your problem anyways, first you've declared Neji as you property, then you have your little satellite dish friends revolve around Sasuke all day and now you're targeting Shikamaru."

"I'm just protecting what's mine. I'm keeping the hottest guys in school away from losers and wannabe's like you and you're little friends."

"Oh please if it ever came to Shikamaru choosing between you and me there's no competition; he'd choose me. We've been friends for years and you, well frankly he doesn't even know you exist and if he does he only sees you for what you really are— an annoying and insignificant little spec." Ino had had quite enough of the fangirls at their school.

"Hey Ino let's go." Shikamaru called out

"Coming Shikamaru" she replied then turned back to Naoya with an arrogant smile on her face

"What did I tell you?" she turned around and flipped her long blonde hair in Naoya's face before catching up to Shikamaru.

"What was that about?" he asked as they walked upstairs together

"Nothing you need to worry about." She simply replied

Xxx

It was the last ten minutes of the day; Naruto couldn't stop fidgeting, hoping the period would end. He really disliked school. Anko sensei had instructed the class to read their textbooks in silence for the last few minutes of the lesson so the class was completely silent. Hinata—who sat next to him— watched Naruto for a while as he could barely keep his eyes open. Then finally when was about to lose his mind the bell finally rang ending school for the day. Hinata was in the process of packing away her books when Naruto's hand stopped on top of hers making her blush.

"Hey Hinata you want to get something to eat with me?" he sweetly asked

"Sure Naruto I'd love to"

Xxx

"Hey where's Hinata?" Tenten asked as she changed out of her school uniform

"She's on a lunch date or something with Naruto" Sakura replied

"Hey I just remembered; Tenten you never did finish your story about what happened in gym class with Neji." Ino walked over to Tenten's bed and sat down

I'm not telling you anything because if I do you'll never let me live it down."

"Oh so it was something juicy, now you have to tell me."

"It wasn't anything spectacular."

"If it wasn't spectacular—

—Guys, guys, guys Naruto and I kissed!" Hinata burst in through the door with an ecstatic smile on her face

"WHAT!" her friends chorused

"We kissed after our lunch right now."

"How'd it happen?" Ino was the first to ask

"Well after lunch we went for a walk around the school grounds and we stopped under a tree; and just started talking, then next thing you know we just leaned in until our lips met." She blushed as she retold the story.

"That's so cute, you make getting a kiss from a guy look so easy." Ino spoke

Friday afternoon arrived; Sakura got ready for her lunch 'date' with Nakamishi. It was still snowing so the sky was grey and dark, decorating the earth with its snowflakes. She headed downstairs to meet Nakamishi when she bumped into Sasuke.

"Hey Sasuke"

"Where are you going?" he asked

"I'm going to lunch with Nakamishi in town. Oh there he is I'll see you later Sasuke. She headed out the door to catch up to him. She caught sight of a look he'd never given her before, she couldn't figure out what he was thinking.

They climbed into his navy Mazda and drove into town. Nakamishi pulled up in front of the restaurant and opened the door for Sakura and allowed her to walk in first. They quickly went inside and ordered hot chocolate for themselves and something to eat. They were at the restaurant for an hour, eating desert and laughing until the news playing in the restaurant got their attention.

"…The snow fall has started to pick up covering the roads in a blanket of snow. The public is advised to remain indoors until the snow is cleared away by the officials…"

"Well it looks like were staying longer than we expected."

"I don't mind I'm having a great time." Sakura replied

"So how are things going between you and Sasuke?"

"Things are definitely getting better as opposed to last year."

"That's great, so when are you going to tell him?"

"Tell him what?" she asked confused. He answered her by raising an eyebrow at her and folding his arms. She immediately knew what he was talking about, her eyes widened slightly.

"How long have you..."

"Long enough Sakura. I can see it clear as day when you're with him, and I've got to say that it's a two way street."

"No way Sasuke doesn't…" she suddenly remembered his reaction to the whole Shintaro incident, when he grabbed her wrist in the hallway the other night and the unreadable look he gave her when she told him about going to lunch with Nakamishi. About an hour and a half later the roads were cleared and okay for use. Sakura and Nakamishi headed back to the car and drove back to school. They got inside and hugged goodbye. Sakura went upstairs to her room.

"Hey Sakura, how was lunch with Nakamishi?" Hinata asked

"It was great even though we got stuck there because the roads got snowed over."

"Where're Ino and Tenten?" she looked around the empty room apart from Hinata

"Ino studying with Shikamaru in the library for their test on Monday and Tenten's doing an assignment with Neji."

"Wow its only day one and things have already gotten serious. So how are things going between you and Naruto?" sakura asked

"It's going really well between us, we're going out for dinner tomorrow."

"That's great, who would have thought that you would the first of us to get a boyfriend"

"I'd actually be the second if you and Sasuke would just talk to each other about how you feel about each other."

"Hinata you too"

"Sakura I'm pretty sure Ino and Tenten know about your feelings for him too."

"I just don't know what to do, I like how things are between us now but I would like to be than friends with him." She sat down on her bed

Xxx

It was six 'o' clock; Ino and Shikamaru met in the school library to study for their Biology test on Monday.

"Agh this is so boring, who cares how a cell splits anyways. Could mitosis be any more boring?" she complained

"It's a total drag but we have to study if we want to pass."

"I guess you're right, let's get started."

The both of them stopped their complaining—for a while— and started studying for longer than expected. It was already quarter to nine when they decided to get something to eat. All of the students were gone; the two of them had the entire library to themselves.

"It's getting pretty late we should get out of here before they lock up this place." Shikamaru said as he threw away his plastic food container.

"Yeah let's go." Ino gathered her books and started walking to the door

"Um we've got a problem"

"What's the matter?" she asked

"We've been locked in."

"Are you serious; the library opens at six a.m. that means were stuck here until then." She said disappointedly

The pair had been in the library completely bored for what felt like hours. When Ino checked the time again it was already 22:35.

"Well there's no point in staying up all night, it won't bring tomorrow any faster, we might as well get some rest." Shikamaru said as he stood up "I'll get the lights."

Ino rested her head on her arms and almost immediately fell asleep.

Saturday six a.m. arrived. A key turning in a door lock woke Ino up. She tiredly lifted her head to see Shikamaru asleep opposite her and their hands were intertwined. She didn't even realise their hands touched after they fell asleep.

"Shikamaru wake up." She gently shook him awake. He tiredly rubbed his eyes and looked up at her.

"I heard a key unlock the door. I think someone's coming in."

"It's about time."

They both stood up to see Sakura walk in dressed in her pyjamas and a gown. It was dark inside the library due to the overcast sky outside so Sakura turned on the lights and finally saw Ino and Shikamaru.

"What the—how'd you two get in here?" Sakura asked

"We've been in here since five p.m. yesterday, we got locked in. And where did you get the keys to the library?" Ino asked

"I work in the library remember so I have a spare key to this place."

"I didn't know you had a spare key, why didn't you tell me!"

"Because you never asked."

"No point in getting worked up over it now. Now if you will excuse me I'm going to bed." Shikamaru gathered his things and left the library.