Three
Shortly after we finished dinner, the four of us went back to the dorms. We sat in a circle in the middle of the floor, talking about ourselves and learning new things about each other. It turned out that Lee was from Kansas, and had come to Colorado to visit his sensei, who was in a rehabilitation clinic from a nasty fight. His parents wanted him to do something useful with his summer, so he had auditioned for the Tsunade School of Music. Sakura was from Denver. She had played piano for almost all her life and wanted to try out to plump up her resume. Hinata, as I knew, had played violin since she was seven, for about nine years. She had decided that she'd had enough of her sister whining when she practiced so she auditioned for the School. Apparently, her older cousin also got in, as a pianist. As for myself, I had joined to get out of the house. To stretch my legs, and meet new people. Maybe have a small fling.
"I know you'll get that fling, Tenten!" Sakura gave me a sly look.
My breath caught in my throat as I glanced at Lee, hoping he stayed ignorant to my schoolgirl crush. Luckily, he was too preoccupied with digging through his chip bag to notice Sakura's tease. Stuffing the crunchy snack into his mouth by the handful, he turned to us with an innocent look on his crumb covered face. He tilted his head ever so slightly to the left and gazed at us questioningly. I smiled at him and shot Sakura a warning look. She nodded and gave me a smirk, silently telling me that she would be using this as blackmail.
"Tenten, do you believe in love at first sight?"
I glanced over at Lee who had a dreamy look on his face, eyes glazed over, looking up at the ceiling. I blushed a little and scooted a little closer to him.
"It depends on what you are looking at."
He turned to me, snapping out of his daze, and gave me a smile. I blushed harder, my cheeks resembling two very red apples.
"I agree." He said, and I would have sworn that he winked at me.
My breath shortened and I began hyperventilating, black spots blurring my vision. Luckily, before I could pass out and embarrass myself, a counselor came running through the hall, shouting for everyone to go to bed. The four of us stood up and both Hinata and Sakura gave me sly looks before waving and walking to their respective dorms. Lee and I stood in silence for a couple seconds, staring awkwardly anywhere but at each other. Finally, I looked up at him and smiled a bit.
"See you tomorrow?"
He nodded, lips curling into a grin. "I'll meet you guys here, alright?"
"Alright then. See you, Lee."
"Tomorrow then."
And we parted ways. I stopped in front of my door and stuck the key in. I twisted, but the door would not budge. I tried again, but the door refused to move an inch. I began to rattle the doorknob, irritation clouding my mind.
"Having trouble there?"
I turned around to find a very amused Temari, smirking at me. I laughed a little, blowing a stray hair out of my face.
"Yeah, the door won't budge."
She laughed at me and lightly pushed me out of the way. She twisted my key not but a quarter inch to the right and pushed the door open with ease. My eyes narrowed as I blew the stray hair away again. Temari laughed again and nudged my shoulder.
"I was having troubles earlier and a counselor told me to twist the key farther."
I nodded and stepped into the room, observing that it was in an even worse state than when I last saw it. Temari turned and looked sheepishly at me, hands tucked in her pockets. I laughed and jumped onto my bed.
"Don't you want to shower?"
I turned to Temari who already had her hand on the doorknob.
"Nah, I can wait until the morning. Go ahead." She nodded, and leaned into the door, which didn't move, much like what happened not five minutes before.
"What the~"
She began to tug on the knob, even going so far as to put her foot against the frame to try to get the door open. Suddenly, it flew open, knocking the blonde into a wall.
"Sorry, I was in the shower." Said a platinum blonde girl. She looked around our room, lip slightly curling at the sight of clothes tossed all over the place. Her gaze fell upon Temari on the floor, rubbing her head, and her eyes widened.
"Oh, my god!" She ran over to the girl and began to pull her up, "Are you alright? Did I push you into the wall?"
Temari laughed and gently shook the smaller girl off. "It's no problem. I hit my head all the time! It's part of why I'm so loopy!" She then stuck her hand out to the mousy girl. "I'm Temari, violinist."
The girl shook her hand and Temari gestured to me. "This is Tenten. She plays the piano." I offered her a small smile which she returned in a hurry.
"My name is Ino. I'm a cellist."
We stood in an awkward silence for a few seconds until Temari cleared her throat. "So, Ino, are you done with the shower? I smell like a baboon."
Ino laughed lightly and nodded her head, water springing from her wet locks. She led the older girl into the bathroom, and after a few seconds, I heard the click of the lock. I walked over to my suitcase and grabbed my pajamas. No use in staying in street clothes for any longer. A little while later, comfortable in my sleepwear, Temari emerged from the bathroom, sporting her own pajamas. I smiled as she collapsed into her bed, face first and promptly began snoring. I giggled lightly and turned off the light before lying down and trying to do the same.
Tossing and turning, I could not seem to sleep. If I faced right, my hip felt bruised; if I faced left, my arm felt crushed. Any position I tried had some sort of uncomfortable flaw to it. I flipped to my back and stared at the ceiling, observing the graffitied names across it. I began to wonder about life at the School-how I would hold up against the tough musical curriculum it boasted. There was a chamber practice the next day, as well as my first theory lesson, piano lesson, and choir practice. My eyes began to droop, and before I knew it, I had fallen asleep.
What felt like two seconds later, I woke to an obnoxious beeping. I rolled out of bed, groaning as I hit the ground. I stayed there for a while, face down and unmoving, until I decided to get up and take a shower. I dragged myself into the bathroom and was pleasantly surprised at the size of it. Though not as large as one may hope, the shower was a decent size for a college dorm. I locked both doors and started the water, sparing a single, awkward glance at the mirror as I waited for it to heat up. Stepping in, I noticed a small note next to the shampoo. Before it got too wet, I snatched it out of the steady stream of water and unfolded it.
"Smile! You're beautiful! Here's to the first day of band camp!
Love,
Dei"
I grinned at the slightly messy scrawl of the single suitemate that I had not yet met.
Today is going to be a good day, I thought to myself as I pumped the shampoo into my hand.
Half an hour later, I stepped out of the bathroom, smelling like lavender and feeling like the sun. I could see the top of Temari's ponytailed head as she snuggled further beneath the covers.
"Temari," I called to her, "We gotta go. Breakfast is in ten minutes."
The School really has a strict schedule I thought, as Temari leaped out of bed and tore through her trunk, I mean, breakfast at strictly 7:00 or no food until lunch. That's tough…
I waited until Temari had finished changing, and we walked down to the mess hall together.
"So," I said shyly, tucking a stray hair behind my ear, "You looking forward to the first chamber practice?"
She gave me a look and snorted. "Of course not," she laughed, "Who looks forward to work?"
I giggled and nodded. "I guess so. "
Just then, I heard my name being called. "Tenten!"
I looked over to see Lee sprinting over to me with his hands waving in the air.
"Lee! Hi!" I exclaimed, my face burning.
"Who's that?" Temari asked, completely oblivious to my blush.
Shaking my head to clear the blush, I answered quickly, "Rock Lee. He's a vocalist."
She smiled. "He's cute. Aside from his eyebrows..."
"I guess so." I said, feeling my face heat up again as he reached Temari and I.
"Tenten! Hey! How are you? Who is this?"
"Hi, Lee. I'm good, and this is Temari."
"Hi!" He stuck his hand out to the ponytailed girl, giving her a dazzling, white smile, prompting a smile from her.
"Well, I'm gonna go and meet up with my friends now. Have fun, kids."Temari nudged my shoulder again and waved at Lee as she ran off to her waiting friends.
I looked over a Liee who had his head tilted at the dining hall with a confused look on his face.
"We should probably go in now. Sakura and Hinata are probably waiting for us."
He looked over at me with his grin in place, as usual. "Probably." He said, and, grabbing my hand, he bolted into the cafeteria.
4