Chapter 5

Chapter 5

RRRIIINNNGGG! RRRIIINNNGGG!!

I groaned. Why did I have an alarm clock in the first place?

I sat up, hoping to find myself in my room back in Konoha, only to be in…well, my room.

I glanced at the clock. Seven am. Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura were coming in a half hour. I yawned and stretched, heading for my drawers. I got dressed quickly, dressing in a plain black shirt and black jean capris. I brushed my hair, brushed my teeth, and put my new black Converse on.

I lied back down on my bed, and closed my eyes. I sighed.

Ready to go back to school? Katana asked.

No.

It won't be that bad, Katana comforted, I'll help you with your homework.

Hn. You won't be able to. I replied, the main reason being I wasn't planning on doing my homework.

Yes I will. I actually listen when it comes to your classes.

Do you mind? I asked, I'm trying to enjoy the last…two minutes of sleep I have before I have to go to school.

I heard a loud knock come from downstairs. Scratch that. Make it thirty seconds.

I got up from my bed, grabbed my backpack and headed downstairs.

"Hey guys," I said, "Let's go."

"Hn."

"Hey, Mia."

"COME ON! I DON'T WANNA BE LATE!"

I inwardly sighed; this was going to be a long year…

The walk to school was mostly silent – I was trying to remember the way there, Sakura was quietly ogling Sasuke, and Sasuke was being, well, Sasuke. Naruto was the only one talking, though frankly, I don't know about what.

I walked through the double doors, aware of the stares I was getting, though I wouldn't be surprised if the girls were just ogling Sasuke and the boys...frankly, I wouldn't know what would be going on in their heads.

We made our way to the principal's office, collecting our schedules, and receiving a thankfully small, though boring lecture about running away – my excuse for ditching this place and going to Konoha.

"Running away from things is not the answer to anything," Principal Vern stated, "If you have problems talk about it to friends."

"Yes, sir," I mumbled.

"You can leave now, class starts in fifteen minutes," He dismissed us, "Your books are in your lockers, and the combination is on your schedule."

We nodded and took our leave.

"Man," Naruto sighed, "That was boring."

He'll be even more bored once class starts. I thought to myself. Oh, God, don't let him be in any of my classes!

The thought of Naruto complaining for a whole class period scared me. Considering my low patience levels, if Naruto was in my class and started complaining, he wouldn't be able to walk out the door at the end of the period.

I silently compared my schedule with Sasuke's. We had three classes together – yes! Then I compared my schedule with Naruto – English. Crap.

"Mia? Is that you?!"

I recognized that voice.

"Tonya?" I turned around, surprise coloring my tone.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, "What happened to you? Where'd you go? You look –"

"I came back," I shrugged, "Um, you look…nice."

That was a total and complete lie, in my opinion. She had on a tight light pink tank top, not leaving much for the imagination, a jean mini skirt, and tennis shoes.

"Oh, and you brought James with you," Tonya finally noticed the other three, though mostly Sasuke, "Hi, James."

"Hn."

I can tell I'm going to have problems with Tonya, her probably being a fan girl…

I nudged Tonya slightly, who immediately understood.

"Oh, and hi, um, Marcus…and…Marie?"

"Maria," Sakura's eyes narrowed for a second, then put a fake smile. She must be pissed at not being remembered…

"Right," Tonya smiled sheepishly.

"Anyway," I interrupted, before Tonya could do anything else to piss Sakura off, "We've got to find the exchange students."

"You know them?" Tonya asked, "They got here a few minutes ago."

"Thanks. I'll see you later," I smiled, following Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura to our lockers. I was separated from them, not that I minded. I had a few seconds of alone time before they came for me.

Oddly, I didn't miss Tonya, or feel anything when I saw her. But I didn't look forward to the lie I'd have to tell her at the end of the year.

I looked at my schedule. I had PE and English first. Sasuke also had English second, and I was glad he was going to bear the pain of having Naruto around with me – even if he won't be much of a help.

"The others are in the school courtyard," Sasuke appeared behind me.

I jumped. "Do you have to scare me?" I panted lightly.

Sasuke smirked.

"Come on," Sakura said, "Let's go get them. I wanna compare schedules."

I nodded, closing my locker door and led them to the courtyard, lost in my own thoughts.

How am I supposed to find Ian Crane? I wondered. I barely knew him, after all, and from the little that I remembered, he was a popular jock that probably wouldn't go near me, at all.

Go find him. Katana said.

No help at all. I rolled my eyes, I wonder why can't we just kidnap the guy?

Because it's illegal.

That didn't stop Team Seven, now did it? I countered. Katana only sighed.

"Hey, guys!" Kiba called.

"Hi," I waved, walking over to them.

"So which one of these…people is Ian Crane?" Gaara asked.

"Uh," I stammered, looking around, "I don't see him."

"We'll find him later," Tenten chimed in, "Right now we need to find our classes."

"Need help?" I offered.

"Oh, you were already going to show us around," Lee replied.

"When did I agree to that?"

"When you accepted the mission," Sasuke cheekily replied and smirked.

I sighed.

"Fine, fine," I rolled my eyes, "Hand me your schedules."

Inside, I was nervous. Back at the school I hated, I wasn't sure if I could survive the year. Then I thought of the friends I had behind me, of the guy who held my love, and I smiled. I'll make it through the year.

Sasuke

I entered the Science class, Neji behind me. He was wearing the grey contacts Hinata had given him, grudgingly, of course, but he didn't complain, finding them similar to his pupil-less eyes. At least he wasn't as much trouble as Gaara.

"No," Gaara said, "I refuse to put it on."

"Aw, come on!" Tenten protested, "It's for the mission."

"I will not wear something as redundant and useless as makeup," He shook his head, arms crossed over his chest.

"Then how do you explain the eyeliner?" I heard Naruto mutter.

Gaara heard him. "It is not eyeliner you idiot," He narrowed his eyes.

Naruto tackled him.

"Now!" Naruto yelled, "I'll hold his arms, someone get his legs!"

"Whoever touches me dies," Gaara threatened dangerously, making Naruto visibly pale and gulp.

Trying to ignore Gaara's threat, Kankuro grabbed his thrashing legs. Temari hesitantly went forward, paling under Gaara's glare.

"Uh," Temari stammered, "H-here Hinata, you do it!"

"W-what?"

"Just do it," I muttered. Even though this was extremely amusing, we were going to be late.

"I-I can't!" She stammered, handing it back to Temari, "You're h-his s-sister!"

"Yeah, but he'll kill me!"

Hinata sweat dropped, probably fearing for her own life.

Gaara, meanwhile, had somehow gotten out of Kankuro's and Naruto's grips, and grabbed the makeup out of Temari's hands and threw it to the floor, crushing it with the heel of his foot.

"Problem solved," He replied hoarsely, "Let's go. We'll be late."

I inwardly smirked at the memory. I sat down next to Neji in one of those round stools.

"Hello, my name is Mr. Providence," The teacher said, "Welcome to the new school year! Today I'll just be going over safety rules and whatnot. Please note where you're sitting today, that's where you'll be sitting for the rest of the year, unless I say otherwise."

I ignored the girly groans.

"I wanted to sit next to the guy with black hair," One girl whined quietly.

"The black haired one? Are you kidding?" Another girl whispered, "The gray eyed one is so much cuter!"

Well, atleast I won't have that many fan girls…I hope.

"Now I want you to introduce yourselves to the class," Mr. Providence stated, "Starting with the two in the back. The black haired one and the grey eyed one.

Neji straightened up. "Neji Hyuuga. Foreign exchange student."

"Welcome!"

I slouched even more. "James Pride."

I heard the people in the class whisper, mostly about my disappearance, along with Mia, who supposedly ran away.

"Ah, glad to see you again, James," Mr. Providence smiled, "I hope you'll be staying for the school year."

Translation: Don't run away again. Whatever.

I tuned out for the rest of the class, just staring ahead and acting like I actually was listening. I listened enough to know if I was called on, but Mr. Providence didn't call for my attention more than twice.

I got up absentmindedly as the bell rang.

"What class do you have now?" Neji asked.

"English."

"Mathematics."

"Here," I stated, "They just call it Math."

Neji nodded, heading the other way, looking at the door numbers. I probably should have told him that his class was the other way…

I found Mia waiting outside the class, with Naruto.

"Can we go in now?" Naruto asked loudly when I walked up to them.

"You could have walked in whenever you wanted to, you know," Mia replied, "Besides, we're early."

"Whatever," Naruto shrugged, opening the door and running into a seat.

"Hey! Wait up!" Mia called, then stopping dead in her tracks.

I raised an eyebrow, walking silently behind her, when I suddenly knew why she stopped.

Right there, sitting at the desk, was a black haired man, his hair in a loose ponytail, with pale skin and ebony orbs.

Itachi.

Mia

"I'll kill –" I muffled Sasuke's outburst by covering his mouth, seeing as there were a few people already coming in.

Itachi smirked, obviously understanding the power he held over us.

Our mission just got a lot harder.

"Hello, class," Itachi stated as Sasuke and I chose our seats, "I am your teacher for the year, Mr. Jameson."

More students came in, including Hinata – alright! – who sat next to Naruto.

"I will be choosing your assigned seats," Itachi continued, looking at a sheet of paper.

"Oh, no," I muttered.

"Marcus Pride, please switch with Miss Parker," Itachi instructed, smirking slightly at Sasuke's expression of annoyance and mine of slight horror.

NO!!

Stupid Itachi, I thought grimly, moving over to Naruto's seat.

Itachi continued to randomly place everyone in their seats. Another student entered the room.

"Sorry I'm late," the boy said, "I had to talk with my Art teacher."

Itachi nodded, asking for his name.

"Ian Crane."

Hinata and I shared a glance. We found our target. Okay, well, not found, but whatever.

There were no other seats available besides the one behind Hinata and I. That just made our mission a bit more easier.

Ha! I inwardly cheered, There's karma for you, Itachi!

You're so childish at times. Katana muttered.

I decided to ignore the comment.

"To get started with the school year," Itachi began, "I want you to start writing about what you've done over the summer. No less than three pages, please, and I want it typed and on my desk by Wednesday. Begin."

I wonder how he knows about computers, Katana wondered.

Don't know, don't care, I replied. Right now I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to write.

Sure, I can write what I did over the summer, but who's going to believe that I got kidnapped by an evil organization of ninjas trying to take over the world?

I took out a notebook and got to work, aware of Itachi's eyes on the class, especially me. It was unnerving.

Then a sudden idea hit me.

I looked down onto my notebook, hiding my smirk. How come I never came up with this whenever I had essays to write?

The wonderful art of creative spacing. I am a genius. Now all I had to do was come up with enough lies to fill a page or two.

I quickly wrote a bunch of pathetic, preppy lies that came to me – all I really had to do was think like Katana.

This is easy, I inwardly smirked, Now what would Katana do on a hot, boring summer day?

I'm right here, you know, Katana seethed, insulted by the way I thought she would act, And another thing: I would never go clubbing, especially with a fake ID.

I inwardly snickered.

This was too easy.

-x-

We had skipped out on school for lunch. We were now all squished into two private corner booths at Wendy's.

"What's next? What other Akatsuki member is here?!" I whispered.

So far, our English, Art, and History classes were taught by Itachi – no surprise there – and wait for it, wait for it…Deidara and Pein. I'm serious! What's next? PE with Kisame? I shuddered at the thought, almost sure he wasn't over the fact I called him Nemo.

Another reason why this mission has become even harder, besides the fact that they're evil ninjas with a lot of strength, is that whenever Sasuke sees Itachi, one of us has to practically physically restrain him! I swear, if Sasuke doesn't keep his cool around Itachi, he's gonna find me in his nightmares…

"This just got a whole lot harder," Neji muttered.

"Obviously!" Naruto exclaimed, "The Emo bastard here can barely restrain himself from trying to kill Itachi!"

Sasuke growled. "It's James, loser," He muttered.

"Who – besides, me, Naruto, and Sasuke – has Ian Crane in their classes?" I asked. Hinata, Temari, Neji, and Gaara all raised their hands.

"Now all we have to do is get close to him," I stated, "Be his friends, tell him he's a ninja, hope he doesn't send us to an asylum, and pray to God the Akatsuki doesn't kidnap him while we're at it."

"That's not that hard," Naruto shrugged, "I mean, Mia believed us."

But I don't count. Didn't I tell him I was insane?

"The bell's gonna ring in ten minutes," I said, glancing at my watch, "We should go."

"L-lunch is s-so short," Hinata said.

"Yeah, it sucks."

We made it to school a few minutes before the bell rang, and I grabbed my PE clothes – which were, unfortunately, not black – and headed to the gym, Sasuke by my side.

"Alright," Mrs. Carson, a short, shriveled up prune, said, "For warm up, do three laps around the gym, and we'll start some soccer drills."

I almost groaned. I suck at soccer – not to mention many other sports! I would most likely end up getting someone stuck in the ER.

Sasuke and I had to keep pace with the others, them being slow and all.

"Weaklings," He muttered.

"Be nice," I whispered.

"Since when am I nice?"

I opened my mouth to protest, but closed it. He had a good point…

"Well, there was this one time when you helped me –"

"Besides you. You don't count," Sasuke interrupted.

"Alright," I sighed, "You're never nice. I can't believe you're proud of it."

Sasuke merely smirked.

I stopped running, already finishing my three laps, and started stretching.

"Hi," It appeared to be Ian greeting me.

"Hi," I said back.

"Alright," Mrs. Carson began, "I want someone who's good at soccer to partner up with someone who doesn't know how to play to teach them."

"Aren't you supposed to teach us," A brave kid asked.

"Yes," She sighed, "But I have a lot of work to do, so I'm just gonna supervise. Now do what I say, or it's detention for you."

"Wanna be my partner?" Ian asked.

"Yeah, sure," I replied uncertainly.

I turned to Sasuke, giving a small nod for him to get another partner. His eyebrow rose, and he grimaced a little, not liking the fact he'll probably get stuck with a rabid fan girl.

"So do you know how to dribble the ball?" Ian asked.

I frowned. "I thought you weren't supposed to use your hands in soccer," I said.

He laughed. "Here, I'll show you."

He kicked the ball lightly between his feet, gradually making it to half court.

"Now you try," He said, kicking the ball back to me.

I hesitantly stopped it with my foot, and began 'dribbling' – I still didn't get the whole dribbling concept – to half court, stopping every minute or so to keep control of the ball.

"Well, that took a while," Ian said, "But you did okay, I guess."

"What now?" I asked.

"Now," He replied, "We learn the basics of passing."

He jogged to the other side of the court, turning to face me. "When you pass it, use the inside of your foot to kick."

I nodded, studying him kick the ball over to me. Curving my foot outward, I tried kicking it. Notice the word 'try'. I kicked it to lightly, only moving a foot or two.

"Try again," Ian urged.

I nodded again. This time I kicked harder – to hard. And in the wrong direction. I had accidentally forgot to use the inside of my foot, actually using my toes.

"Watch it!" Sasuke yelled. I had accidentally kicked the ball to his head.

"Sorry," I called.

"Let's not try it again," Ian said.

"No complaints there," I shrugged.

"It really wasn't so bad, considering it was your first try."

Ha! He obviously wasn't in any of my PE classes!

"Um, sure…let's go with that." I said. He laughed.

"You're funny, got a nice sense of humor," He grinned.

I smiled, "Not so bad yourself," I said, though he hadn't made me laugh at all.

"We should get together sometime, I can help you with your soccer," He offered.

Yes! I mentally cheered. Alright! This just got so much easier!

"Alright," I said nonchalantly, "Though, would we really have to work on soccer? I don't want you to end up in the ER."

"We'll see about that. If I can teach my baby brother soccer, then I can teach you."

Sure, he can. But don't say I didn't warn him when he has a broken nose.

Sasuke

I was sick of watching Ian flirting with Mia. Didn't she notice he was flirting with her?!

If she doesn't notice she's being flirted with, then she's really dense, I thought.

The girl teaching me, Cathy, was trying really hard to get my attention.

"You're really good at this, James," She said, smiling widely, "I guess I'm a good teacher, huh?"

"Hn."

Cathy wasn't put down by my lack of response. "You should really try out for the team, you'd be a shoo-in!"

"Hn." Like I was really going to do that.

"Um, okay," She nervously scratched the back of her head, "Well, class is almost over, so I suggest you go change. Uh, bye."

Finally.

I changed quickly, as to get Mia away from the Ian kid.

"Hey."

"Sup," She greeted, looking up from her seat on the bleachers.

"Did you notice what Ian was doing with you?" I asked.

"What was he doing?" She asked.

I sighed. She really didn't notice, oh God.

"Don't flirt with Ian," I said, sitting next to her.

"What?" She asked, "We weren't flirting!"

I raised an eyebrow. She didn't notice? She's really as dense as I think she is…

"You didn't notice he was flirting with you?"

"No, 'cause he wasn't flirting with me," Mia replied.

"Sure…" I trailed off.

Mia groaned. "Gee, I never knew you were one to be jealous," She smirked.

My eyes narrowed. "I am not jealous."

"Sure…" She mimicked me, "Anyway, we've got class in…two minutes, I'll see you later."

"Fine."

"Bye." She said, walking out of the gymnasium.

I watched her walk to her next class, until she disappeared down the hallway. Did I mention she was walking with Ian?

Author's note: Sorry for the late update, I was busy with schoolwork, friends, life, the usual, and i was working on my new SasuHina story Konoha Leaf Prep. Please review!!