Alright, so I know I broke my promise, again. And I'll be surprised if I have any readers at all at this point. But the reason I didn't update weekly like I said I would is because times have been hard for my family, and we didn't have money for internet for a long time. Things are looking up now, so I'm writing to all of you once again :) If you read this, thank you for standing by me.
On with the fic.
.xXx. .
Chapter Four: Welcome To Prepville.
.xXx. Neji's POV .xXx.
Kami, I hate this fucking school. There isn't a single person in it I would mind seeing dead. If I have to come here for my final year, I'm going to set the whole damn place on fire.
It would rid the world of about six hundred idiots.
.xXx. Omniscient POV .xXx.
When Ino pushed open the two heavy oak doors and the group rushed inside the school, Tenten was expecting something similar to the outside of the school; old and quirky, but charming and soft.
What she did see really surprised her.
Even though the outside of the school was clearly square-like in shape, on the inside of the building the bricks had been built in a thick circular formation, so the room was carved into a large circle, walled with the same russet brick as the outside of the building. On two opposing sides of the circular room, the walls were adorned with long silver tapestries that almost touched the floor. On these tapestries was what was obviously the academy's coat of arms; a stark white doe clashing with a pitch black male panther in what could either be combat, or a graceful dance. The doe was adorned with small blue flowers, and the panther with white stars. They were encircled in a wreath made of darker silver leaves, and underneath the two animals was the school motto: to see, all one must do is open their eyes.
The floor was magnificent, as well. It was made of smooth, speckled gray tile, a complicated pattern of lighter shale and darker charcoal tiles, surrounding silvery marble pieces cut into diamond shapes in evenly spaced intervals throughout the floor. The patterns shifted in direction, so that no matter where a person stood in the room, the points of each marble diamond pointed toward the grand staircase.
Two large and very long hallways branched off diagonally from the far end of the room, on either side of the huge staircase that was directly opposite the oak doors. They were tiled with the same tile as the entryroom, and the walls were continually russet brick. However, if you looked closely from where the group stood at the main doors, you could see rows of smaller, academic style doors going down both sides of the hallway. In the left hallway, the first door to the right had a small address post hanging from the top of the door jamb that read "Main Office", so the gang headed tentatively in that direction.
Upon closer inspection as she neared them, Tenten realized that the doors were the entryways to some of the classrooms. There were small numbers bolted to the fronts, with thin vertical panes of glass on the far sides serving as windows to look into the classrooms from the hallway. She couldn't identify what subject was taught in the one room she saw beore they were turning into the main office, and she soon forgot about the classroom entirely as she was swept up into the busy tempo of the main administrative office.
The room was a fair size and painted a homey buttercup yellow to maximize the space in the room, but mountains of files and jungles of computers and their accompanying desks made the space seem cozy, if not hectic. Administrative secretaries and they're multiple assistants occupied every desk, and the secretaries were typing furiously away on their keyboards, speaking in rushed and urgents tones to the assistants, who were jotting notes, taking numbers, clearing away leftover dinner dishes off of the desks, and fetching mug after mug of coffee. Photocopiers were copying at a frenzy, and several fax machines and telephones were ringing at once, so there was never a quiet moment. The back wall was hung with slightly crooked pictures in a long row, and although Tenten didn't recognize any faces, the brass nameplates bolted underneath each picture told her that they were famous painters, scientists, philosophers, doctors, and professors that had either taught at or helped to fund the school, ranging from many years ago to the present.
Tenten was mesmerized with the faces on the wall until a moment later, when a drawling, maternal voice called out from ahead. "Anything you dearies need today? Hmmm?"
She focused her gaze at the biggest desk of them all, a desk that wasn't even really a desk, but a long counter that stretched across the width of the room, blocking people other than staff from heading into the work area. It was a pleasant but standard marbled blue, gray and pink, and held cups of pens and pencils, boxes of kleenex, and other office must-haves, right down to a jar of mints. A brand new computer was sitting on the second tier of the desk-counter to the left, and on the right there was another bimungous pile of school and student files, some flipped open and color tabbed. Sitting amonst it all was the source of the voice that had called to them.
Sitting right behind a small name plate on the desk that read "Head Secretary of Administrations" was a plump, matronly figure who appeared to be in her early fifties. She was obviously short, not coming up much past the counter, but despite this fact, she had an air of regality about her, as if she personally believed she ruled the place. Tenten's belief was backed up by the smart way the woman was dressed, in a salmon colored power suit that consisted of a tailored suitjacket and skirt over top a frilly cinched blouse that was a soft, baby pink color. Her face was round, and framed in a sharp, short bob of dark brown hair that didn't have a single gray strand in it. Her soft, doughy flesh was etched with the beginnings of wrinkles, and she had some steady crow's feet around her sharp, assessing brown eyes. She had small, half moon glasses perched on the edge of her pert little nose, and her lips were pursed and colored a deep pomegranate color. Her chin folded softly down and connected in a small, fleshy bag with her neck, which was encased in a string of classic pearls that matched the ones in her ears.
The sight of this woman seemed to close up Tenten's windpipe, and she couldn't utter a sound. The rest of her friends seemed to be inflicted with the same problem, and it was Ino who gathered herself first and walked up to the desk. The rest of them shuffled behind her, staring at the woman while trying to look like they weren't staring.
The woman spoke again, this time slightly irritated, and Tenten noticed that the voice had a queenly ring to it.
"Do you young ones need help with anything? I don't have all day..."
"Um. Yes. Registration." Ino managed to squeak out the words, and the rest of them nodded their heads dumbly up and down, still entranced.
The woman's face lit up. "Oh my, more newcomers! Alright then, dears, you'll have to be told a few of the basics. My name is Nobuko Kyri, but you can just call me Nobuko-chi. I'm the head secretary in this office, as you can see, and I'm in charge of all administrations to the school each year, so you've come to the right place." She beamed up at them, showing off small, polished pearly teeth, and then continued. "You're all going to have to sign the registration form, dears. I have to incorporate you into the school's information system!" She reached under her desk and pulled out a clipboard with some papers on it, grabbed a pen out of the nearest jar, and handed the clipboard to Kiba with one plump, heavily jewelled and manicured hand. He seemed to have recovered the initial shock of seeing her, and took the clipboard quickly, scribbling down his information before passing it to Shikamaru.
"I'm going to have to designate your dorm quarters, arrange your timestables and give you a copy of each, plus a map of the school." She started typing furiously for a few moments on her keyboard, and the photocopier roared to life once again, beeping frantically as it purged out a pile of papers.
"I already had notification of you're arrival over the break, of course, so I already have it all arranged..." she seemed to be muttering to herself now more so than speaking to them, but then her head snapped back up and she smiled again. "This will just be a moment."
The clipboard had made it to Tenten on the far end of the group, and she grabbed it, filling out the questions it asked. Her address, her home phone, her mom's cell phone, her date of birth, her old highschool, her lack of allergies, and a few others. By the time she was done, the secretary was passing out papers to the individuals they belonged to, speaking as she did so. "The dorm placements are co-ed, so you're neighbors could be the opposite or same sex as the people in your dorm, but the dorm occupants are all the same gender. The dorms are on the second floor, the farthest corridors to the left and right, and then the other half of the classrooms are in between. You'll notice that the upper floor classrooms are smaller than this floor's, to make enough room for you to live comfortably. There is internet connection via computer in each dorm room, and any laptops you may have will be able to access the school's internet. You can find the cafeteria at the end of either hallway on this floor, and it's open twenty four hours a day. During scheduled mealtimes you can eat hot, but outside of meal times you can only purchase cold, packaged, or simple food items." She had come to Shikamaru with his papers, and she looked more than a little disturbed at the wild and desperate glint in his eyes that had set in at the mention of food.
She handed Sakura her papers, and then Tenten recieved hers. She looked down at the paper in her hands and saw a map of the school, and it revealed to her that the school was much larger on the inside than it appeared to be on the outside. What appeared to be a stately mansion was actually more than that; some classrooms had twisting side halls that led to other classrooms beside them, and there were several small, hard to notice exits onto the school's outer grounds. Tenten could see on the map that when they were driving in, she had only been able to see three sides of the school, and that the side she hadn't seen was dedicated to the school's athletes; there was a soccer field, a tennis court, a track field that doubled as a football field, and two basketball courts. On the upper floor she saw that there was an observatory that led up from the science classroom specializing in weather patterns. The school was enormous.
She flipped to the next page, and saw her dorm room assignment. She was stationed halfway down the hall in the left, or "East" dorm hall, on the left side of the hallway. As soon as Ino had been handed her papers, the three girls huddled together, comparing dorm assignments. There was a collective groan; Ino and Tenten had been placed together, but Sakura was kitty-corner to them, down one door and across the hall. The pack had been divided. Barely—but still divided. The girls had only seconds to grumble about this inconvenience before the boys were clammering for their attention.
Kiba, and Naruto had been placed together and were only three doors down from Tenten and Ino on the same side of the East dorm hall. However, Sasuke and Shikamaru had been placed far away—the last dorm room door in the West dorm hall.
After the hoots, hollers and grumbles had died down, the secretary that Tenten somehow couldn't convince herself to call "Nobuko-chi" cleared her throat regally, and made her next announcement. "You'll find your mealtime schedule on your timestable papers. Dinner is in about an hour, and the students will all collaborate in the cafeteria to eat. Until then, we request that you go straight to your dorms and settle down, no exploring for now. Normally the headmaster would make the traditional welcome speech during dinner today, but she's been tied up in other affairs and isn't at the school presently. Because of this, we expect golden behaviour, and no roaming." She eyed each of the seven friends sternly and seriously.
This disappointment hit Ino harder than anyone else, and although the friends continued to chatter on their way out of the office and upstairs to the dorms, Ino was uncharacteristically silent. There was a slump in her slight shoulders, and a defeated look in her usually competetive blue eyes. Soon the friends had to seperate; Sasuke and Shikamaru waved a parting salute before heading for the hallway to the right, and the rest of the gang headed for their rooms to the left. They didn't see a single other person on their trek, and although they could clearly har the voices of other people in their dorms, they didn't make themselves visible even once. Tenten and Ino located they're dorm room, and the boys went three doors down to theirs, busting through the door and leaving the two girls alone.
Tenten shifted her purse off of her shoulder as she stared her new habitat in the face. The words "East 23rd" were bolted in brass to the front of the deep mahogany solid wood door, and the colors set off beautifully with the sparkling gray tiles that seemed to be continuous throughout the whole school. Directly across from her was East 24th, beside her East 25th. Sakura's new home was East 26th, and the cherry blossom had already disappeared into it. Tenten realized there was nothing to do now but go inside. She hesitantly lifted her hand up to the polished doorknob, looked at Ino, and then turned it, opened the door, and slipped inside.
What she saw made her drop her purse and her jaw simultaneously, and she disctinctly heard Ino's breathe sharply cut off as her friend stopped breathing.
It was like a chic, mini rave, transformed into a bedroom. The tile cut off the moment the threshold was crossed, replaced by about three feet of cabana style linoleum to put shoes at the door, and from there the floor was covered in a thick, golden shag style carpet. The tiny hallway opened up into the main room of the dorm, where most of the "living" was done. It was a spacious area, with four cream colored walls thrown into a buttery yellow shade by the chic bubble lamps on either side of the greeting hall, bolted in the upper corners of the far wall, and beside each set of bunkbeds, one pushed up against either side of the wall vertically.
The overhead light was off, so things were cast into shadow, but colors were still easy to see, according to Tenten's excited eyes. There were four beds in total, which meant she and Ino would be living with two other girls. On the bunk to the left of the greeting hall, there was a luxorious white bedspread on the top bunk, and a contrasting, magnificent black one on the bottom. Around the small corner the greeting hall created on the left side was the closet for that half of the room, a grandeous walk in with mahogany wood accents, twelve drawers for storing clothes, a long, polished mahogany table surface for makeup and accessories, and a mirror in which to stand and preen.
On the right side of the room, the bunk's bedspreads were reversed, with the sultry black on top and the dreamy white on the bottom. In between the two bunks up against the wall farthest from the door was a large black and aqua stereo, surrounded by a litter of CD's. Around the other small corner the greeting hall made was the closet for that side of the room, identical to the one on the left, save for the things hanging in it. Both closet doors were covered not by a mahogany door like the front one, but by a curtain of solid wooden rosary beads. The closets were a few feet in front of the foot of each bunk, and then led to the adjoining wall.
The wall was cut short on this half of the room, as it left a wide open doorway into what was obviously a classy kitchenette, containing the same cabana linoleum as the greeting hall and the same creamy walls as the bedroom. There was a mahogany and stainless steel counter top, with a built in range and oven, over head and under hand cupboards, and a double sided sink that lived right beside the toaster, microwave, blender, and unfathomably, espresso machine. Up against the wall beside it was a standard industrial fridge, cool, sleek, and completely stainless steel. The bowl-style over head light was on, casting flourescent light down onto everything in the room, and allowing the two girls to see another mahogany wooden door which was closed, but obviously led into the bathroom.
Tenten was dumbfounded by the glorious sight of her new home, and it took her a moment to realize two things: firstly, that her and Ino's bags were already here, piled neatly and professionally againt the back wall alongside the stereo, and secondly, that there were already another girl's belongings strewn about. The closet to the right was partially full, the stereo was quietly playing a SuperChic(k) CD, and there was an orange tassled purse thrown haphazardly onto the white bottom bunk.
"Look, Ten, everything is here, and someone beat us to the dorm." Ino's voice was hushed, and the girls took tentative steps forward. They were in front of their luggage when they heard the distinct sound of a toilet flushing and the bathroom door opening.
There was a voice behind them, slightly husky, yet melodious and good natured, tinged with sarcasm.
"So, you're finally here. Took you two long enough."
They whirled around to see a girl the same age as them standing there, hands on hips, a smirk on her pretty face. She stood a couple inches taller than Tenten, putting her at about an even height with Ino. This girl had rebellious good looks—wildly thick hair that was about shoulder length, sandy blonde, and tied up into four large ponytails on her head, making her look decidedly badass. She had a coy, teasing smile and a slight smattering of freckles along the bridge of her cute little nose, the only blemishes on her pale skin. She had fierce but teasing eyes that were large and emerald green, and she was dressed casually in white denim shorts and a dark blue KISS t-shirt.
Tenten was actually the first to speak, this time; her posh best friend was clearly out of sorts with this spunky girl who was much like herself, if looks were any giveaway.
"Hey. My name is Tenten...just Tenten. And this is my friend, Yamanaka Ino. We live here, I guess." She tilted her chin up at the girl, and then smiled. "You got a name?"
"Temari. Just Temari." The girl's smirk widened, and her eyes turned briefly assessive, and then relaxed. She must have decided she liked Tenten, because her smirk widened into a grin and she continued. "I'm from Suna, and we don't really have last names...but ah well. Welcome to the show." She spread her arms wide around her, and then dropped them back down, the smirk firmly in place again. "This is my second year here, so I pretty much know the drill." She looked them up and down, smiling some more. This girl was clearly either good natured, or found them laughable.
"Bathroom's where I just came from, obviously. Bottom bunk on the right is mine—other than that, go nuts. If you want help unpacking, I'd be happy to help. Theres a place to store the suitcases up in the top of each closet." She waved her hands at them as if to say 'go, be free' and then gracefully folded herself down onto the floor in a crosslegged position, staring up at them unabashedly with her bold green eyes.
"Hm." Ino made a decisive sound, and took a slow step forward. Tenten casually walked up beside her, grabbed her smallest suitcase, and staired at the available beds. She was somewhat hesitant to sleep above this girl she had just met, but she didn't want a bottom bunk, and she decidedly liked black way better than white. So she silently told herself to buck up and act like a ninja, and then threw the suitcase onto the black bedspread, climbing easily up into the bed.
Ino squealed excitedly.
"Ten, if you're doing top bunk, then we're totally doing top bunks together." She threw her first suitcase enthusiastically up onto the white bed across the room and then scampered up.
So that was settled.
Temari was seemingly a pretty chill person, and she wound up easing herself into their work efforts with no trouble, helping them along as they unpacked and making casual conversation. Tenten found out that she had two brothers at the academy, and that she was the oldest of the three. She was an avid cook, and studying to become a red seal chef.
With all three girls working together, they were finished unpacking with a few minutes to spare before dinner. All of Tenten's clothes were either folded or hanging up in the closet along with Temari's, filling it up nicely. All of her jewellry, accessories, makeup and nailpolish were living in harmony beside Temari's, and the hair products had a space of their own, along with Temari's detangler, volumizer, and stiffening gel. Her CD collection was lying beside Temari's, and her cellphone, purse, and green sleeping bag were all on her bed.
Ino's things had actually taken almost twice as much time to unpack as her own; the closet to the left of the room was now three quarters full of wardrobe, hair care, bling and makeup. There was a small place in both closets for natural beauty supplies: mud packs, skin creams, facial ingredients, pore strips, and in Ino's case, an eyelash curler, eyebrow stencil, and even hemorroid cream to reduce eye swelling.
What a princess.
Right before dinner was supposed to start, Tenten changed out of her travel clothes and into something she felt was better suited for dinner; a pair of burnt orange yoga cargoes and a sky blue tank top that said "In Kashmi I Trust." She redid her bun and messed it up the way she liked it, pinning her long bangs up with bobby pins, and then slipped on a pair of cork flip flops before walking downstairs with Ino and Temari.
The cafeteria was easy to find, not only because of the secretary's directions, but because of the flow of kids headed there. As the three girls merged in with traffic, Tenten could feel herself growing confused and uncertain.
The school was like an ocean of the most expressive fish she had ever seen. From people who looked similar to herself, to people wearing tailored pants and shoulder sweaters. From ragged and abused to pristine and perfect. Distressed, frayed, vintage, clearance, designer, and spotless. Hair was colored every conceivable color, and cut in every concievable way. Shoes came in every color, texture, size, style, and condition. Some faces were mesmerizingly beautiful, some hard to look at.
The alarming part was that they all walked in tight cliques—not mingling, not merging. Circles touched, but didn't overlap.
That was a bad sign.
The cafeteria was huge, and sleek, and modern. It was black and silver tile through and through—on the floors, up the walls, and a sleek black polished shimmer on the ceiling, making it seem endless. Small, industrial circle lights placed in intervals along the walls and on the ceiling made the whole place feel chic and yet sharp, giving it an almost hospital-cafeteria-like feel. Which instantly made it cool.
Long rectangular tables made of solid wood mahogany and sleek metal legs served as eating surfaces, and they were arranged socially, at angles to make it easier for people to talk to one another. Again, chic.
But the far wall was by far the most breathtaking. The room was easily fifty meters long and the ceilings twenty feet high, and yet the entire back wall was that super thick glass—not a mirror for the outside only, but in reality a one sided pane that allowed you to see out and observe the beautiful setting sun stretch across the ocean.
There were two long, black marble counters on either of the far walls, and behind them were the kitchen staff, preparing french fries, gravy, paninis, soups and salads, hot hamburger, roast chicken, ramen of every flavor, and sushi of different assortments. There were fridges full of jello, pudding, cold sandwiches and drinks of every kind. There were serving bowls full of cracker toasts and cheese packets, butter and cream packets, jam packets, sugar, salt, pepper, vinegar and ketchup packets—even marmalade packets. Espresso, cappucino, and frappe latte machines occupied one wall, and two slushie machines whirled happily along, displaying bright blue and yellow slush. It was...a little bit extreme, in Tenten's opinion. Students were lining up to buy what they wanted to eat, and Tenten breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that the food was cheap. The tables slowly filled themselves up as the lines moved along, and Tenten started scanning for her other friends over Ino's squealing.
She was just purchasing a hamburger with fries and gravy when she spotted Naruto down the line, grabbing seven bowls of Miso ramen. She and the other girls stood aside and waited for him to come up to the cash register, and when he saw them, he beamed. He carried his super full tray to the closest table, and sat down, beckoning for them to follow. The girls took their food and sat down, and soon Shikamaru, Kiba, and Sakura had caught up to them and sat down at the table with them. Sasuke was nowhere to be seen, and upon prying Shikamaru for information, it was revealed that the Uchiha had gotten tired and passed out before dinner was even served, his bags untouched. How very un-Uchiha of him.
Dinner was really loud due to the chatter of all the students gathered together at once, and talk mostly centered around the new kids, and why the headmaster wasn't there to give her usual speech. Tenten could feel eyes boring into her from every direction, and was sure her friends were getting the same assessment. All in all, it tired her out, and as soon as she was finished eating, she was going back to her dorm room.
The sun was just disappearing behind the water when she and the girls came home, and Temari distributed the dorm keys that were always left for the next year's occupants. "Because I believe in sleeping with the doors locked," she said with a wink.
She was in bed, curled around her sleeping bag, having just texted her parents about her amazing and hectic day, when she noticed her timestable on top of her purse beside her. She picked it up, and read the four subjects she was to take every day.
7:00-8:00 AM—Swimming and Aquatic Aerobics. They're kidding, right?
10:00-11:00 AM—Mathematic Functions. Why, God? Why?
1:00-2:00 PM—Artstic Expression. Finally. Damn.
3:00-4:00 PM—Literature and Examination of Literature. Livable.
She groaned, hardly happy with her schedule due to the first half of it, and then started to pass out from the exhaustion pulling at her frame.
While Tenten and Ino stayed up discussing handbags, Tenten was slipping into a near coma, and she was practically in a vegatative state when she heard the door open and a new voice call out into the open space.
Okay...Finished. Finally.
This chapter was actually hard to spit out, because it as so long. I feel drained of creative juices, so I hope you're all happy with it. Let me know what you think!
.xXx. Angel .xXx.