A/N: I have no excuse for myself. I'm sorry. :( I was initially gonna give up on this story, because it seemed like a hopeless plotline, but I've fixed it up. And I'm continuing because one of my close friends seems to really like it. SO, fine, I guess I'll continue it.

Enjoy and review!

I tapped my ruined fingernails against the desk impatiently, crossing my legs while the students around me chattered cheerfully. I was surprised no one seemed to even remember they were in school. Ino, who was sitting next to me, doodled idly in her notebook, the image strangely reminiscent of Shikamaru.

"Oi." I tapped her shoulder lightly, prompting her to raise an eyebrow without looking away from her artwork. "Where's the teacher?"

"Hmm?" She capped her pen and turned to me, arm draped over the back of her chair lazily. "Oh, Kakashi? Yeah, he's late every day. He's like, the best teacher in the school. He lets you do whatever and you can basically skip whenever, long as you come in for the exams." She examined her nails carefully before looking up cheerfully. "Pretty sweet, if you ask me."

"Hmm." I surveyed the room, looking at all the filled desks and chairs.

"Then how come everyone isn't skipping?" I questioned.

She scoffed, smiling and continued. "What's the point in skipping? Either you're gonna get caught by Tsunade or have nothing to do. Honestly, there really is nowhere to go outside of school."

I looked at Ino disbelievingly. Since when did people not want to skip?

She read my mind and answered my thoughts. "Haven't you noticed this school is extremely secluded? Forests border around the front, cliffs and the ocean to the back. Unless you plan on cliff diving or getting lost in a forest, there's no point in leaving."

An icy chill shot through my spine. My voice came out as unusually timid.

"S-so…." I whispered, causing Ino to look at me concern with the tone of voice. "we-we're basically trapped here?" I asked pathetically.

She laughed. "I would say 'trapped', but secluded in a sense, yes."

I swallowed visibly, a drop of sweat forming on my brow. I'd never been good with closed spaces. I couldn't stand the feeling of humid air around me, or the difficulty of breathing, or that I couldn't stretch my arms out. It was…nauseating.

Ino smiled at me nervously. "What's up with you all of a sudden? You look like you're gonna pass out."

I shook my head, fanning cool air towards my neck. "No, no, just…bad experiences with being in closed spaces in all. Like, really bad."

Ino nodded at me, before a soft-spoken, dark haired girl stole her attention away. I turned back to face forward, staring at my hands and remembering that Hyuga guy. There was something about him that was strangely…

What was it?..

Attractive?

I contemplated this, before shaking my head to reassure myself no. I just didn't feel that way about guys. Not that I was lesbian or anything, just I was a loner most of the time.

I loosely fingered my ceramic bangle, thinking about my dad. I wondered where he was, how he was doing. I closed my eyes briefly, praying that they were treating him right, wherever he was.

Was he thinking about me? Wondering maybe, where I was?

The loud slamming of a door made me snap my eyes open. A fairly young teacher stepped in with unruly grey hair, a bandana covering one of his eyes. He slouched back lazily, one hand in his pocket and the other hand holding up one of those positively revolting Icha Icha porn novels.

Kakashi waved his hand dismissively at the class, sinking deeply into his chair and propping his feet up on the desk. He sighed lazily and closed his book, bookmarking it with his finger.

"Review your notes quietly class. No talking until the end of the period." He said monotonously, before eagerly opening his orange book again.

Of course, the minute his eyes were off the class, everyone burst into excited chatter again. Kakashi hardly acknowledged the volume, and stayed absolutely enraptured in the perverted pages of his novel.

Ino was giggling and gossiping with some other girls, while I sat there awkwardly, all by lonesome. Everyone was happily chatting in their cliques, and it was useless to say I didn't feel extremely out of place. I considered sneaking out and taking a walk in the halls, before Ino's voice alerted me.

She was smiling at me, the other girls in her group smiling at me welcomingly as well.

"Tenten, why don't you join us?" she invited. "We want to hear all about your old school."

I sweatdropped. I was afraid to talk about my past, but stood and sat on top of one of the empty desks in the group anyway.

Another blonde, with slightly darker hair, smirked at me as I sat down. "So you're Tenten. Temari." She flashed me a smile. "I'm the hot one round here."

Ino's eyebrow twitched as she coughed audibly. "Horny." Her gaze briefly flickered to Shikamaru before she turned back around and noticed the disbelieving, accusing look on Temari's face. She quickly broke out into an angelic smile.

Temari's stare turned icy momentarily, as she muttered under her breath. "You're one to talk."

The circle of introductions passed to the dark haired girl from earlier. Her eyes were blank and she had a soft, contemplative smile on her face. "My name is Hyuga Hinata. It's a pleasure to meet you, Tenten." She stuck her hand out politely, and I awkwardly took it, feeling incredibly self conscious as I noticed the difference between her soft, pale skin and my calloused, sweaty hands.

A pink haired girl with pretty green eyes, perched on a desk top, flashed me a smile and held up a peace sign. "Sakura's the name." One look at Sakura made me feel even smaller than before. Out of all the people around, she had the most elaborate clothes and jewelry, and even though I had earlier scorned the preps, it most certainly didn't make me feel better to be alone against four of them at once.

Sakura's voice snapped me back to reality. "So Tenten, what classes are you taking this semester?"

I pondered this slowly. "Well, I was thinking about taking physics or something, but…"

Sakura cut in, waving her hand. "Pfft, no. I meant sports. I mean, our school has probably the biggest sports program in the entire country, so you've gotta be involved in something." She gestured to herself. "Like me, for example. I mean, I'm in soccer, basketball, tennis, skating, rugby,-"

"And just about every other sport known to man." Temari said cynically, smirking at her. She turned to me, explaining to me softly. "Both her parents were coaches of the Olympic teams, so you can imagine…yeah." She shrugged.

"Ohh." I nodded along.

Sakura then pointed to Ino. "And Ino here, she's in badminton and ice hockey. Temari's into boxing and running. And Hinata, she's in figure skating and gymnastics. All the artistic crap."

Hinata looked genuinely offended, clutching her hands near her chest. "It's not crap, Sakura…"

Sakura smiled at her warm-heartedly. "I'm kidding, Hinata, I know that."

Hinata sighed, seeming at peace afterwards. Temari leaned on her elbow, facing me.

"Hey Tenten, we should exchange numbers, you know? Then we don't just have to talk at school and stuff and-"

"We know what a cell phone's for, Temari." Ino rolled her eyes. "C'mon, hand it over." She held her hand out expectantly.

I sat, unmoving and confused for a second, before I started and started fumbling through my bug hurriedly. I grasped the sleek blackberry, which I still had no inkling of how to work, and handed it to Ino.

Ino seemed to know my phone better than I did. She quickly took a picture of herself and punched her number in, before doing the same for all the other girls. My mouth was agape as I saw all the girls break out into gorgeous smiles, snapping nearly perfect pictures of themselves expertly and putting in pre-memorized numbers.

My hands lay unfurled and twitching in my hand, and in a few moments, the phone plopped back into my lap.

Ino's elbow leaned over the back of a chair. She whipped her head, and her long bang flew out of her head in such a perfect angle I was second-guessing myself as to whether or not it was a slow motion shot of a model I was watching as opposed to a fellow classmate.

"You don't have very many numbers in there, Tenten…" Ino observed.

"New phone?" Hinata asked softly.

"I…um…" I stumbled over the words. "Um…yeah."

Kakashi slammed his book down on the table. "SHUT UP ALREADY! I CAN'T HEAR MYSELF THINK, KAMI!" The sound of the book slamming echoed throughout the room. Every eye was fixated on Kakashi, who now shrunk back into his previous state of nearly comatose stillness. I froze, blood draining from my face at the sight of the supposedly 'cool' teacher exploding.

Moments later, the sound erupted again, louder than before, if possible. I sighed tiredly.

Sakura blinked twice at the scene before her eyes were drawn back to mine as she started to grill me about my life again. Before she could begin though, her eyes were averted to something above her. Her mouth was cutely agape and the faintest blush tinged her cheeks.

Ino turned and inhaled somewhat sharply, before a sly smile crossed her face.

"What's up, Neji?" she asked smoothly.

Neji's voice was calm and even, and nowhere near the tone he had used with me earlier.

"Nothing, really." Considering he was standing right behind me, I couldn't see him, yet I felt a strange wave of heat creeping up my neck. It took all my willpower to not let the heat reach my cheeks. I looked sheepishly in my lap as I heard his voice echo over my ducked head.

"Sakura, I've been meaning to ask if you have the notes from earlier for the project. They're due tomorrow and I need to prepare them."

Sakura reached into her pack and protruded a thick packet of paper, tossing it to Neji who caught it effortlessly. However, the movement caused his hand to brush against my burning neck, which he no doubt noticed. By this point, I must've flushed a deep shade of crimson. My earlier efforts were now practically useless.

My fingernails dug into my palms and my knees. I must've been a sight; red face and white hands.

I then realized that Neji's hand was still in contact with my neck. The envelope was in his hand, yet his hand remained on that exact spot where it brushed my neck. I could feel his heavy stare bore into my skull.

His sleeve fell down and covered my shoulder. The tension between us was incredibly tight, and the pinpoint where he was touching me was sending sparks throughout the rest of my body.

When the awkwardness became unbearable, Temari whistled as if to alert Neji. "Hello?"

Neji started and jerked his hand away from my neck. I felt myself pulling to the direction his hand left my neck in, and then I grew dizzy from the sensation of blood rushing to my face.

"Uh…yeah. I'll see you guys later." He said quickly, before he swept swiftly around.

At least two minutes after he left, I finally found the nerve to look up. The eyes of all the girls were trained on me, smug smiles plastered onto their faces.

"…What?" I asked defensively. "What?" I asked again angrily.

Ino shrugged, smile still glued to her face. "Oh nothing."

The other girls turned around back to sit properly in their desks. Temari leaned over to Hinata and whispered something in her ear, causing Hinata to burst into excited giggles as they both shot knowing looks at me.

I cocked an eyebrow at them. "…Sure." I said boredly.

Sakura started scribbling idly at a piece of scrap paper, chin propped up on her hand as she shook her head, smiling. "Tenten's got the hots."

Ino burst into muffled laughter, bringing her hand up to cover her mouth and turning around and hiding her expression from me as the hidden snorts continued to emit from behind her hand. My expression must've darkened, because Sakura looked at me and stopped smiling.

"Tenten…" she asked carefully, staring at me, yet somehow not meeting my eyes. "…what's that on your shoulder?"

I paused. "Huh?" I looked down at my right shoulder. A tiny, white card lay precociously balanced on the crook of my shoulder. I picked it up and looked it over.

There wasn't anything written on it, save for two words scrawled in elegant violet calligraphy on one side.

Back hallway.

…Damn that Neji Hyuga.

A/N: Sorry for such a terrible chapter, I just finished taking finals and I'm tired. It's 1:36 right now...so yeah. =_=

-silver