What was I thinking? Really, Sasuke?
She made it to the bus stop after departing ways with her friends at the school entrance.
"See ya later, Pinky," Ino shouted. "Don't let stupid boys get you down," she added after a moment.
"It's not worth it, Sweet pea," Temari patted Sakura's shoulder.
Sakura thought about her new friends while waiting at the bus stop. Ino was quite loud and could be a touch rude, but she was kind to those who were close to her.
There was a group of people crowded in the shade of the bus shelter, all chattering about this and that. The noise of the chatter was added to the noise of the dozens of cars the whipped by, leaving a trail of fumes, that made Sakura's nose scrunch up. She wasn't used to a lot of noise and cars. The country road in her old town was quite peaceful. Sakura could remember the soft wind blowing her hair to the side, while it filled her lungs with the fresh scent of wildflowers and honey. There was a rare car that went by, usually someone familiar. The only bus that came to pick her up was a yellow school bus, which had one route to pick all the rural students for their school. The yellow bus was replaced by a city bus, the familiar car of a neighbor was replaced by the many different cars of the faceless population and the country road was replaced by the gray asphalt, as far as the eye can see.
The bus arrived with a screeching halt. Everyone at the bus stop lined up to get in the bus. Sakura thought about her friends while she waited to get on the bus. They were each quite different from the other. Ino was head strong, and loud. Temari was more thoughtful and laid-back. Ten-Ten was a bit of a tomboy, and very kind. She wondered who else she would meet and then was reminded of the Sasuke boy. She hoped greatly that she wouldn't run into him again.
The bus ride home felt long, but only because Sakura was anxious about taking a bus route she had never taken before. She consciously counted the stops and read all the street signs. The last thing she needed to do was miss her stop and have to walk all the way up the street with her back-breaking bag of books. Her stop was next and she pulled the cord to signal to the bus driver to stop.
Once off the bus, she lugged her bag a block up the street, to her house. She lived in a little apartment with her mother. She didn't have any siblings, but she was fine with that. She let herself in to the building and called the elevator. When it finally arrived there were 2 other people waiting with her. All 3 of them piled into the elevator. She got off on the 14th floor.
When Sakura finally made it in the door, she dropped the bag on the floor with a big thud and sighed. Her mother poked her head around the corner. "Hey sweety," she said with a big grin. "How was the first day of school?"
"Not bad," Sakura said as she hung up her wind breaker of the coat rack. "I met some new friends, and the teachers seem to be decent, but I have a mountain of textbooks." By this time, Sakura had managed to drag her bag through the kitchen to the family room where her mother was standing.
Sakura's mother bent over to pick up Sakura's bag, "Oh hun, why didn't you phone me? I could have came to pick you up." Sakura's mother had a distinct tone of concern in her voice.
"Oh mum, it wasn't that bad."
"You're going to wreck your back doing that. Come over to the table so I can work the knots out of your back before it gets worse." Sakura's mother ran a message therapy clinic out of their house and had the office set up to receive clients.
"It's finneee, I swear."
"Ok, but remember, good health starts with having a strong, flexible back.
"Ya, ya," Sakura got this speech whenever she was caught slouching or carrying something improperly.
Sakura began unpacking her bag in the middle of the family room and her mother disappeared back in to the office. There was a knock at the door.
"Sweety? Could you get that, it's Missis Tuope, she's here for her weekly session."
"Ok mom," Sakura went to get the door. Missis Tuope was a regular client, she was in an accident several months ago and is in rehabilitation. Part of the rehab is message therapy.
"Hello Missis Toupe, how are you today?" Sakura asked politely, as she lead the middle aged women into the front hall.
"I'm doing well Sakura, thank you."
Just as they entered the hall, Sakura's mother come out and lead Missis Toupe to the message room.
While her mother let Missis Toupe get ready she turned to Sakura, who was about the return to the family room, "this is my last client for the day Sakura, could you do me a huge favor and get the chicken out of the freezer to defrost for supper?"
"Ok mom," Sakura went in to the kitchen to get the chicken, while her mother went to tend to Missis Toupe's back.
After pulling the chicken out of the freezer, Sakura decided to make a snake before tackling her homework. There wasn't too much to do, because it was the first day, but there was still enough to warrant a plate of cut up apple slices, cheese and a glass of ice tea. She settled down in front of her books at the coffee table and begin working her way down the pile. The worst part of the whole process was when she realized that she only needed to use 1 or 2 pages out of each of the textbooks. It made the trip with the 5 textbooks feel done in vain.
Sakura got to the last book, which was the extra biology book she borrowed, her mother came in to the family room and announced that it was almost time for supper. Sakura cleaned up her homework and went to set the table for supper. She pulled 2 plates, 2 cups and 2 sets of cutlery out of the cupboards and arranged them on the kitchen table. Her mother put the chicken and the assorted vegetables on plates and brought them to the kitchen table.
"Sooooo, you didn't go in to much detail about your day." Her mother was starting on her.
"Oh well, it went fairly well, nothing too exciting happened," Sakura started, but then instantly remembered the arrogant boy named Sauske. She couldn't help but get a little flustered by the memories of what happened between them and it must have been obvious to her mother.
"Oh really? Nothing happened then? Ok well tell me about your new friends then." She was on to Sakura's rouse and decided to take a roundabout way to get it out of her.
Sakura took a couple spoonfuls of vegetables and a chunk of chicken, placing them on her plate before answering her mother's barrage of questions. "I met 3 girls, Ino, Temari, and Tenten. They're nice, and they invited me to eat lunch with them."
"You have multiple classes with them?"
"No, I only have Biology with them."
"Ok, do any of them have boyfriends?"
"Uhmm… I think Temari has a boyfriend, or at least she's sweet on a boy. When we walked by him in the hall, she turned and started to follow him like a puppy." Sakura shoveled a couple pieces of chicken in her mouth.
"You met any boys?"
The memory of bumping into Sasuke came back and she choked on her chicken. "Uhm… err sorry what?"
"Is there any cute boys in your school?"
"Absolutely NOT" Sakura's mother had what she needed, know she could get it out.
"What did he do to you?" Her mother asked knowingly.
"Uhggg, ok so there's a boy named Sauske. He's pretty good looking, but he's a HUGH jerk." Sakura recounted the tale from forgetting her pencil case, what her friends told her about him, and what had happened on the way to 4th period.
"So I have to see him in 2 of my classes, every day for the rest of the semester." Sakura ended her story.
"Hum, well I would just forget him, if I were you. We don't need any more jerks in this family." Her mother laughed. "But if he gives you any trouble…"
"Ya, ya."