I guess you can say that sixth grade was a hell of a new beginning.
Summer had been a huge bummer. The AC went out numerous times, and my dad, being the "I'm-so-good-at-everything-I-do-and-I-really-am-so-you-can't-complain" great guy that he is, fixed it each time. He was always going around and fixing everything perfectly, and I was always jealous. I wasn't good at fixing things that broke and usually left it to him.
So when sixth grade started, I was ecstatic for a new beginning, or whatever you want to call it. It wasn't exactly a new start, but I guess when it was a new school, meaning a new principal and a new staff, yeah, thinks worked out pretty good for a prankster like me.
When I got my first numeral-class schedule, my mind was boggling. I had no idea where the "C" hallway was, or the "700" hallway, or how to differentiate between Cafeteria "A" and Cafeteria "B." Why was the school so huge when it was only a secondary school! I stared at the map in my hands, an obvious sign that I was new to the school, and tried desperately to navigate my way through the labyrinth that they called a public education. I started to wander aimlessly, eventually, hoping that I would randomly and magically come upon my Earth Science class soon, but no such things happened. In the end, I asked a random passerby student to point me out to the "A" hallway. They looked me up and down, as if not believing that I was in an "A" class, but still pointed me in the general direction. I thanked them and was on my way.
I rushed over to the room but it was useless—I was still late by at least fifteen minutes. The sound of the door opening in the empty hallway was like a thunderstorm compared to the dead silence of the room I entered. All heads snapped quickly in my direction and eyes narrowed at my sight—hair messy and papers threatening to jump out of my binder. I didn't really blame them that much, just tried not to glare at them.
The teacher seemed to know who I was right away, called my name, and pointed disinterestedly toward a lab table with one empty chair. The person sitting there already turned their head away from me, letting their black hair create a barrier between us. I set my things down on the table and did my best to straighten them up and turned to the person next to me. They turned their head slowly and eyed me through their bangs, lilac colored eyes shifting. Hinata gave me a small smile, and when I smiled back, hers grew even wider.
The reunion was short-lived, though, because the teacher told us not to get comfortable and gave us our assigned seats. And wouldn't you have it? With my nonexistent luck, I ended up right next to Uchiha Sasuke, who would be my lab partner for the rest of the year.
We were given a partner project right from the get-go that was due the next Monday.
I was about ready to choke and die when he told me that we were going to the library after school that day to start on it.
I met him there on time, though, and separated from him right away to "look for books pertaining to the topic," as he'd put it. I drifted into the music section and started to listen to CDs through the headphones they had there until one was pulled back and snapped against my head. Sasuke reprimanded me for not doing my work, told me he wouldn't take a bad grade for me, and practically dragged me over to the educational section. My eyes probably started to bleed when I saw all of the books they had on science.
Still, I scanned over the titles, looking for anything remotely related to rocks and plates and such, when I came upon a book I thought would be perfect. I reached to grab it, and in the most cliché moment of all cliché moments, Sasuke's hand landed right atop mine as we meant to pick out the same book. I looked over to him, unsure of whether I should relinquish the book and let him get credit for finding it, or keep my hand there and wait for him to move. I chose the latter, but it seemed he didn't want to let go, either.
It seemed we were only closing the space between us with each passing second that the two of us refused to give up the prize. It seemed silly to me that the prize was a book, but still, I wanted to win this. I was determined not to let go… But his face… was so close to mine… Those eyes that were downcast now, locked on something… my lips? I looked down at his, too, and we moved closer…
My hand fell from the book, and he snapped it out of its place. He put the book between our faces, gave me a smirk, and walked away with it.
At least we got an A on that project.