I know it's been about 4 years since I've updated this story but I thought I'll give this one a second chance. Better late than ever, right? To backtrack on the first chapter, Ino was a dweeby little fifteen year old girl who was all about her books and school work but of course, seeing the popular more out-there with herself girl such as Sakura, she wanted to be approved by her. So what happens next? Let's find out!

Mannequin

Lunch time couldn't come any quicker for Ino, she was anticipating hearing the bell release them from class and on to the patios outside the backside of the school. Her new outfit that her mother had bought for her the day before, consisted of a tight white t-shirt with the sleeves designed in twists and tight black jeans with matching red sneakers. Her bangles around her wrists shook as the seconds ticked away to twelve in the afternoon.

Finally hearing the bell, Ino stood up from her seat and made her way out of the classroom quickly almost tripping over the garbage can next to the door. As she made her way to her locker down the hall, Hinata waved her down but Ino just sent her away with a warm rushed smile. Ino had one task in mind and that was for Sakura to get a look at the new her.

Of course, Ino had managed to get a couple of eyes and hello's from some of the guys around the hallways throughout her classes, never even realizing this was the same blond girl they had never given the time of day just twenty-four hours ago. Ino's hair was curled down her back with light makeup on her face to bring out her blue eyes, so she knew that was something that attracted them.

Ino opened up her locker combination and placed all her books in it and replaced them with a brown lunch bag in hand. She considered leaving the lunch bag with her books as it gave away a little girl image and she knew that was the complete opposite of what Sakura gave off.

"Ino! Wait up!" Hinata's voice yelled from behind Ino as she was making her way outside in the eating area. "I was looking for you so we can sit out our favorite table" she smiled at Ino who eyed down the entire surrounding of students preparing themselves to sit down at their own specific tables.

"Sure, let's go" Ino agreed, seeing that she was going to need some time to eye out Sakura. The blond took a seat across Hinata who was pulling out her peanut butter and jelly sandwich out of her backpack and placed her hair behind her ears.

"So, have you started the assignment for English class yet, Ino?" Hinata broke the silence between them, seeing Ino looking eagerly around the entire table for her target. "Ino?" Hinata asked again after receiving more silence from her blond friend.

"Hold on-" Ino's eyes landed right on the pink haired female who walked out of the schools back doors with purse in hand and sunglasses covering her eyes. "I need to use the bathroom, I'll be right back!" Ino got up quickly and paced herself towards Sakura's direction who was actually heading towards the exit of the school as if class wasn't in session after lunch.

Sakura was rushing her way out of patio when she felt a presence behind her and turned around to come face to face with Ino who stopped right in her tracks. Sakura began grinning towards the blond when she remembered her face clearly and how she had laughed at her the day before.

The pink haired removed her sunglasses from her face and eyed Ino's appearance from head to toe, nodding her head at the choice of clothing she had decided to wear today. "I love your shirt, so cute"

"Thanks, I like your boots" Ino noticed her fresh out the box boots with a small wedged heel that looked brand new. Ino remained serious, trying to give off a mature look towards Sakura who was now digging into her purse.

"You know what, I know we got off on a rocky start, but-" Sakura continued digging into her purse and grabbed out a pen with paper, writing some type of information on it, "Call me, we can go shopping downtown whenever" Sakura smiled sincerely and handed Ino the piece of paper and waved her goodbye as she turned back around and continued making her way out the exit of the school, leaving the excited blond staring down at the phone number.

"What was that all about?" Hinata asked, witnessing the entire scene play out and feeling unsure of what went down. She also knew how Sakura could be and how her mean girl behavior had made plenty of girls break down in tears in some of the most embarrassing situations.

"Oh, nothing, she just asked if our math homework was due today." Ino lied, never wanting to admit to her best friend how she was so excited that Sakura had even given her the time of day to write down her phone number.

Hinata brushed off the thought and believed her, taking another bite out of her sandwich. Both friends continued their lunch date and catching up on the latest science fairs and projects due sometime this month but all Ino could continue thinking of throughout the day was how she couldn't wait to dial those special digits.

As soon as school was over, Ino rushed her walk home, again waving off Hinata goodbye at her locker. Ino managed to get home as the sun shined bright highly in the sky and was happy to see that her mother wasn't home yet.

Ino grabbed the house-phone and dug into her pants pocket to retrieve the piece of paper Sakura handed to her. Re-reading the numbers into the phone, she pressed the call button and awaited to hear the familiar voice on the other end.

"The number you have dialed, is currently disconnected. Please contact the-" Ino hung up the phone when she heard the machine answer for her, she re-dialed the number into the phone and read each number out-loud separately, assure that she had just dialed it incorrectly.

"The number you have dialed, is currently-" Ino hung up again and slammed the phone down onto the counter of the kitchen, ripping up the piece of paper and running her hands trough her blond locks, feeling foolish for believing that Sakura would befriend a girl like her.

"Maybe she wrote down the number incorrectly on accident" She thought to herself, and with that in mind, she rushed out the house and made her way downtown that was a couple blocks down from her house.

Ino had never been downtown, alone that is. She had always accompanied her mother on grocery trips or small shopping sprees for things around their home but this time she was alone in a crowd full of shoppers and skaters.

The sun beamed down on the open streets of stores and restaurants, with the giant water fountain placed in the middle of it all. Ino's eyed roamed around trough all the people and managed to land them on the pink locks that of course, only Sakura had.

Ino walked towards Sakura who was sitting alongside Temari, twirling her light-brown hair in the two top buns laughing together at something that seemed incredibly hilarious to them. Walking up to both girls, Ino was out of breath from the walk she had rushed to get here.

"Hey guys. Sakura, you wrote the number wrong I think, I tried calling." Ino gave a weak smile towards Sakura who was grinning back at her and trying to keep from laughing at her face. Ino could feel the blush of red start arising on her cheeks.

"Guess I did, oops!" Sakura squealed out, chuckling with Temari who had burst into laughter again. "Let's go" she added and stood up from the fountain with Temari, Ino followed both females into a store named Candy Clothing.

Sakura and Temari walked trough the entire clothing store that was filled with accessories and reveling clothing. Ino walked behind them, raised eyebrows at the type of clothing that Sakura asked for opinions. Disgust began to fill her mind when she continued seeing the clothing just starting to shorten with less and less material. Ino would never be caught wearing any of these clothes, let alone even give them a look at the age of fifteen.

"What are you guys doing?" Ino questioned seriously, whispering towards Sakura who was placing bracelets, earnings and necklaces into her purse while walking around the store while Temari stood by the cashier, flirting with him and keeping his attention only on her.

"Relax, you never heard of the five-finger discount?" Sakura giggled, picking up a small pink lighter and flicking it on and off before placing it into her purse of goodies. Ino's eyes widened, letting Sakura lose sight of her as she slipped out the exit of the store.

Ino dragged her steps around the stores of downtown Konoha, feeling guilty that Sakura and Temari were stealing from that clothing store. She had heard of what they do to robbers and thefts, shook of what her mother would even think of her if she was caught in this scene with Sakura.

Finding a seat at a bench of a food court, Ino sat down to rest and enjoy the breeze on this lovely day. An older woman who was on the phone having an intense conversation with a handful of shopping bags also took a seat next to Ino and placed the bags on the bench as well before Ino gave her a smile of approval.

"Well, at least I'm hanging out with her" Ino tried to be optimistic about the stealing situation, after all, she believed that this was the worst of Sakura's behavior. Oh though she had yet to witness how her behavior was on a much high level of extreme.

Ino glanced over at the woman who was continuing yelling at what seemed to be her husband trough the cellphone. Her eyed wonder down at her purse that was wide open placed right next to her. Ino looked back over at the two couples eating ice cream by the shoe store and then the thought came back to mind as she placed her eyes back down at the purse next to her.

The blond saw the older woman dig into one of her shopping bags on her right side and quickly took action. Ino slowly began making her way off the bench right before she slipped her arms around the purse and speed-walked away from the bench until she could no longer see it in distance.

Her hear-beat raced with every step she took further from the bench until she saw Sakura and Temari looking into their purses at a nearby store. Ino ran over to them who never even bothered looking up and acknowledging her.

"You guys, look what I got!" Ino explained in excitement, reveling the purse to both of them and having Sakura's attention when she opened it up. Sakura's hands dug into the purse as Ino held it and found a wad of hundred-dollar bills. Bingo. Ino had obviously realized this old woman had tons of money to be shopping and carrying around tons of bags.

"Oh, my goodness!" Temari yelled, startling Ino who almost dropped the purse out of her grip. "You know what this means?" She asked both girls who started growing devious smiles to their faces.

"Shopping spree!" The three yelled in union and rushed into the closest clothing store. For the next hour and a half, the threeo spent all the money in the purse in all the hottest spots of downtown Konoha. Sakura spent most of it on her outfits while Ino bought all types of pants and shirts that weren't quite her style, but Sakura approved of. Temari spent her potion on jewelry and skirts.

As the sun was coming down, Ino realized it was beginning to become late afternoon and looked at the clock placed near the water fountain they had went back to and sit at. The two girls were rummaging trough their shopping bags, comparing outfits and matching tank-tops while Ino stood over them with her two bags.

"Hey, Sakura-" Ino began, seeing both Sakura and Temari glare up at her in annoyance, "I have to get going, my mom doesn't know I'm out here" Ino explained with a defeated attitude, ashamed she had even admitted the truth to them, "It's getting late, so I have to get ho-"

"Are you serious? You have a curfew? How lame" Sakura stated and burst into laughter with Temari following up with doing the same. "Live a little" Sakura could see her words weren't budging Ino and just rolled her eyes towards her, "Fine, you can get going" she demanded, having had her purpose already for the day.

"Perhaps we could go shopping again? Or go-"

"Yup, sure, definitely" Sakura cut off Ino's question, irritation starting to creeps up on her when she saw she wasn't leaving yet. Ino grabbed her bags off the seat near the fountain and gave them one last look before she walked away from them.

"Can't wait to wear these" Ino faked a smile for them, seeing Temari starting to glare at her. Ino knew damn well she had no intentions on ever wearing the clothes she had bought at all the different stores. "Bye guys" Ino waved at them and started her walk home with the shopping bags in hand. Sakura was the only one who waved back to her while Temari sat in jealousy that she was even starting to give Ino the time of day.

On her walk home, Ino couldn't figure out what to feel. On one side, she felt ecstatic that she had hung out with the most popular girl in school but the other side had her feeling guilty that her mother was probably an uncontrollable mess to her whereabouts, and of course, the purse she had taken from the old woman earlier. The purse they had used for their shopping spree had tons and tons of money, but did it have enough to buy Ino's life back from what it was about to become?

Thank you for reading chapter 2! It'll be nice to hear feedback on it so far and let me know what you think so far. Where do you guys see Ino's life going? Will her and Sakura's friendship strengthen? Find out as the story unfolds! Xoxo.