The best period of the day had finally arrived; lunch. All the students were either enjoying their meals or were about ready to. Naruto walked from the a la carte line with two pieces of pizza, one hamburger, a bag of tater tots, and a Coke. He quickly spotted Kiba, Shino, Hinata, Lee, and Choji on the grass and decided to sit with them. Kiba, Shino, and Choji's lunches were piled with food like Naruto's, but Hinata and Lee's were smaller and more healthy
"Naruto, I thought you brought a lunch to school?" Choji asked while taking a bite out of his hamburger.
"I did, but I ate that for snack. How come Sasuke's not with us? He always sat with us last year. And Shikamaru, where'd he go?" Naruto asked.
"I saw Shikamaru walking with Temari. He muttered something about eating with her and her brothers." Choji piped up.
"I feel bad for him." Kiba tore a bite out of his burrito.
"Do you think Sasuke moved up to the "A" List already?" Shino asked Kiba.
"You're right, I think. I saw him walking with Neji after P.E. so he must have made it to the "A" List." Kiba glared in the direction of the Upper Quad. "Bastard, we'll never hear from him again."
"What's the "A" List?" Asked Choji and Naruto.
"Well, let me put it to you simply, the "A" stands for Ass-"
"Kiba watch your language. The "A" List means that you are above average and are too popular, cool, and elite for losers and unpopular people. If you get on the "A" List then you automatically to everyone's parties and if you go and make a good review of it to everyone else, then the party was great; if you get a bad review, then don't expect to have any one over at your next party. Plus, as an added bonus, you get the nicest tables in the Upper Quad and are surrounded by jocks, cheerleaders, ect." Shino answered.
"Yeah, the second week of school, my youthful friend Neji was added to the "A" List. He always ignored my youthful young self and threw me out of his parties." Lee said.
"How did you figure this out?" Naruto asked.
"I have an older sister. It doesn't surprise me that Sasuke already made it on the list, his brother made it on the list on his first day of high school too."
"So why can't we just go up and talk with him?"
"No use," Shino shook his head, "unless you're on the list or are one of their devotees, then it's impossible to even get ten feet close to him."
"Unless you have a friend on the "A" List." Kiba and the rest of the group looked at Hinata who turned beet red from all of the attention.
"You're on the "A" List?"
"W-well…um…not e-exactly…I'm only on the l-list of Neji and TenTen." Hinata spoke in a timid voice.
"That doesn't mean you're not a possible way for us to get onto the list." Choji smiled at the thought of Ino paying him attention. Naruto put his arm around Hinata's shoulders. "We're not forcing you Hinata, you don't have to help us onto the list. There are plenty of other ways."
"No, I fine with it."
"Yes! Cheerleaders her I come!" Kiba jumped up excitedly.
"Good, now I will be able to tell Neji about how unyouthful he is!"
"Guys, calm down, first we have to make a plan." Shino tried to calmly settle down the roughty group of friends. Things weren't so roughty down by a tree in the Lower Quad, however. It was very calm and relaxing for Temari, but Shikamaru was as tense as ever; eating lunch with his girlfriend and her brothers was not his best idea. He thought that talking to them when Temari went to the bathroom would be a good, safe, plan, yeah, get to know one another, bond, joke around; wrong! It had been a disaster from the very beginning; as soon as Temari had left, Kankuro began to pound Shikamaru about how touchy he had been touchy lately and then followed by Gaara; who went over all of the rules for dating Temari for the thirty-seventh time. They also told him that if he broke Temari's heart, they would break his neck. Temari came back shortly after and Kankuro and Gaara immediately dropped their conversation.
They had long finished their lunch and the couple was now laying on the grass watching clouds go by. Temari sighed and cuddled closer to her nervous boyfriend who was being watched by her brothers who sat under the tree. Shikamaru was gently stroking Temari's hair but when Kankuro gave him a look, he stopped.
"Keep stroking my hair." Temari demanded sweetly.
"Your brothers are-"
"I'll deal with them later, just calm down." Shikamaru let out a sigh of relief and murmured something about loving his troublesome woman.
Up in the Upper Quad, gossip was rapidly spreading about Sasuke's newest accomplishment. Football players were hitting him on the back and handing him invites to their weekend parties. Sasuke looked through the faces of his admirers and snickered as more popularities pushed their way to see and honor him. But why shouldn't they? Sasuke was a debonair, he wasn't and would never become part of the lower class; he was elite and enjoyed it's rewards. Neji on the other hand, was nonchalant; he was an Adonis and was adored with gifts, but all this did for him was want more. TenTen was never thrilled to be with the "in" crowd or on the "A" List. She was an independent woman and hated the way some of her friends were treated by the popularities, but she also enjoyed her time spent with Neji very much. She sighed heavily as a group of cheerleaders walked up. "Oh boy," she thought while smiling politely, "here comes the real fun."
It's a long chapter since I haven't updated in forever; sorry about that. It also didn't help that school was getting busy and I had finals so hope you enjoyed it!