A/N: Short absence! Gomen! This is a bit of a filler chapter...I couldn't come up with a good title for it because of that. Filler chapters are annoying to name...you almost want to come up with something un original like 'Filler Chapter'. XD.
This chapter is dedicated to .BAHAHIMALOSER., SparkDazzleDuez, DarkAngel2098, Tenten-Kunai, Rixclassa, and eternalsmiles. Thanks for the reviews guys! The rest of you: get your reviews in so you can be put on the list :D. I love feedback!
Enjoy!
Chapter 4: Something Fun
The very next day I was tearing off for school. Neji was now literally a part of our circle of friends. When I got there, he was already sitting at our table with Sakura and Ino. Neji looked annoyed if you ask me.
When I got near the table he stood up and grabbed his backpack and nearly walked into me when he turned around.
"Where are you going?" I asked him.
He sighed and pushed past me.
I pointed at him and looked at Sakura and Ino.
Ino tried to look innocent. "I was just asking him about some of the movies he was in..."
I face palmed, slapping my hand to my forehead with a sharp crack. "You idiot!" I cried. "You don't talk to Neji about his career! Haven't you even thought of the fact that he's just trying to be normal?"
Ino frowned. "But...why would he try to be normal? If I had an acting career, I would live it up!" Ino tossed her head proudly as she went off into fantasy land. "Imagine... hot guys... money... mansions... luxury... Ah, I'd pamper myself!"
I shook my head and sat down.
"Ino, why don't you look at the negative side?" Sakura asked.
"What negative side?" Ino asked.
"Uh, paparazzi, gossip..." Sakura ticked them off her fingers, and looked up in surprise.
I turned my head just as Neji sat down again.
"Hey, I thought you left!" Ino cried.
"I just went for a breather." Neji murmured simply.
Ino snapped her head back to Sakura. "So, what was it that you were saying?"
Sakura shook her head. "I can't think of anything else to tell you the truth."
Ino let out her trademark sarcasm laugh. "See? That's two negatives to infinite positives!"
"What are you talking about?" Naruto cried as he sat down. Sasuke sat down a couple of seconds later.
"Living the Hollywood life!" Ino cried, throwing her arms up.
I distinctly heard a scoff beside me as Neji stood up again and left.
"Hey! Neji! Sorry! I won't mention it again!" Ino called after him. The cafeteria turned towards our table.
"Shut up, Ino pig!" Sakura hissed.
Ino humphed and turned away.
Sakura sighed and stared at the place he had disappeared. "He sure was bothered by how you talked about the movie industry."
Ino rolled her eyes. "Uh, it's called Hollywood, capishe?"
I sighed. That's Ino for you. There was a difference between Hollywood and the movie industry in Konoha. The fact was that Hollywood was a historical place whose streets were made of gold, and celebrities lived there. It was a place where money was an object, and there was always lots of it.
The movie industry on the other hand was where actors and actresses became famous, and where all the work was done. Judging by Neji's scoff, Hollywood wasn't all it was cropped up to be.
Ino slammed her hand down on the table as she always does to get everyone's attention.
"Guys," She announced. "Tomorrow we are going to see a movie!"
"Which one?" I asked.
"The Swing of Things!" Ino announced.
Naruto, Sasuke and I groaned.
"No, Ino, no!" I moaned. "Not a chick flick!"
"It's not a chick flick! It's about becoming a star though song and dance!"
"Not to mention more romance than is healthy for a sixteen year old..." I muttered.
Naruto and Sasuke laughed at my comment.
"Besides, it's a musical! Haven't I told you how much I despised musicals?" I whined.
Ino flicked her fingers at me. "Lighten up, Tenten."
The bell rang and we took off for our classes.
"Tenten, if you don't want to see the movie I picked, just ask Neji what he would recommend." Ino suggested.
I sighed. "Oh yeah, and get bitten in the ass over it. Neji doesn't like to talk about movies!"
Ino clicked her tongue. "No, he just doesn't like to talk about his career."
Mr. Umino began his lesson. We were starting on algebra now. I love algebra. It's so easy, but it's so hard! Then again, all maths were like that. The fact is, the moment you get it, you feel so proud of yourself and then you want to hold it above your head and shout: I GOT IT! I GOT IT! And when you finally finish ages before everyone else, you want to help them get through it just so you can prove to yourself that: I STILL GOT IT!
When the bell rang, I dashed to drama class. I sat down and waited for Neji. He showed up about a minute later and took his seat beside me.
"Hey," He murmured.
"Hey. Feeling better?" I asked.
He nodded.
I sighed and decided to unload the movie thing on him. "Ino wants to go see a movie tomorrow, and I don't like her choice."
Neji closed his eyes for a second as if he was debating whether to answer or not. He opened them again.
"Which one?" He asked.
"The Swing of Things." I replied grimly.
"That one actually isn't bad."
THAT surprised me.
"W-What?" I cried.
Neji smirked and looked at me. "The previews make it look like a musical, but it really isn't. It's a lot like that TV show Glee."
"Okay, do explain." I growled.
"It's basically about this dance group. Their 'leader' as I have no idea-"
"Choreographer?" I asked.
"Yes! Thank you." Neji laughed. "Their choreographer gets in this horrible accident and ends up paralyzed from the waist down and has to quit their job, so a new one comes in and takes over and leads the dance group to fame."
"Wow..." I murmured. "Wait, how do you know that?"
"My cousin is in it."
"Oh." I didn't have much else to say after that.
Drama class was mostly uneventful. We moved onto tableaux. But first, Miss. Yuhi ordered us to write our philosophies of love and life on a piece of paper. We would then pick one to use in our skit where we would all sit in tableaux except for the person who is giving their philosophy on love or life.
Neji nudged me with his elbow. I looked at him.
"Life is like a box of chocolates," He quoted Forrest Gump.
I laughed. "You never know what you're gonna get." I said with him. We laughed for a few seconds.
"Do you remember your first pair of shoes? I remember my first pair of shoes." Neji continued quoting
I was now killing myself laughing.
"My momma said 'they was my magic shoes'."
"Stop it!" I laughed.
Neji continued laughing behind his hand.
"How many movies can you quote?" I asked.
Neji chuckled. "Don't make me start."
"I can quote Finding Nemo." I claimed.
"Do it." Neji told me.
I cleared my throat. I was going to do the shark scene.
"Hello," I quoted. "My name is BRUCE!"
Neji laughed.
"So right I understand...why trust a shark right?" I made a gnashing motion with my hand and laughed. "So...what are a couple of bites like you doing in the silent night?" I changed my voice. "Nothing! We're not doing anything! We're not even out! GREAT! Then how'd you morsels like to come...to a little get together on heaven? You mean like a party? Yeah, yeah right...A PARTY haha...what'dya say? Oooh, I love parties! That sounds like fun! I know, parties are fun and it's tempting- Aw come on, I insist! Okay! That's all that matters."
"Oh my lord!" Neji cried.
"Hey look! Balloons! It is a party! Hahaha, mind your distance though. Those balloons can be a bit touchy! You wouldn't want one of them to pop...oh there you are Bruce finally. We've got company. We've already had snacks and I'm still starving! Come on let's get this over with..."
Neji was sniggering.
"Ding! All right, now the meeting has officially come to order. Let us all say the pledge. I am a shark. Not a mindless eating machine. If I am to change this image, I must first change myself. Fish are friends. Not food. Except stinking dolphins! Oh yeah they think they're so cute, look at me I'm a flipping little dolphin let me flip for you-"
"Stop, stop, stop." Neji laughed. "You can probably keep going, but you're going to get through the whole movie by the time I cover your mouth with duct tape."
I laughed.
The bell rang after another five minutes. Quoting movies with Neji was about as fun as paintball. I think...I've never played paintball before so...
"Tenten!" Ino called as I entered the cafeteria.
I sat down beside her as usual.
"So, did Neji recommend a movie?" Ino asked.
"No, he told me that your movie was a good choice." I said with a shrug.
"Oh really?" She asked.
"He even summarized it for me!" I laughed. I started on my lunch. Neji walked in a few minutes later followed by Sasuke and Naruto.
"I heard your movie quote war." Naruto laughed at me.
I shrugged. "Hey, we both won."
"How did that start by the way?" Sasuke asked.
"My momma always said: life is like a box of chocolates." Neji quoted again.
I laughed because he got the accent just right.
"Oh." Sasuke snorted. "All right, I get it now. Love and life philosophies."
"Oooh, what's your philosophy on love, Sasuke?" Sakura asked.
Sasuke shrugged. "I don't know."
"Hmm..." Ino murmured. "Quote something good!" She encouraged.
"What would qualify as good?" I asked.
Ino smirked. "Quote Twilight!"
"Oh hell no." I grumbled.
Neji chuckled. "I can only quote the preview, but that's only because I've seen it a million times."
"Do it." Ino encouraged.
Neji rolled his eyes. "Heck no. There are so many other movies out there that are better. Forget it."
"Ooooh, Twilight just got burned." Naruto laughed.
I faintly heard Neji mutter something about twisted physics and I burst out laughing. Everyone looked at me. I kept laughing. Nobody would let Twilight live that part down. The part where James and Bella are 'fighting' and James jumps over her head and defies the most basic law of gravity: What goes up, must come down, instead, flying totally parallel to the ground, then going straight up and finally back down again. Nobody should make using strings so obvious.
"Quote Pirates of the Caribbean!" Sakura prodded.
Sasuke looked horrified. "No! NONONO! My older brother used to do that!"
We laughed at him.
"He would walk around the house singing about a jar of dirt. You know what the worst part was? He was freaking seventeen!"
Our table exploded with uncontrollable laughter. None of us had met Sasuke's brother before.
"How old is he now?" Sakura asked.
Sasuke shrugged. "Twenty-two I think. I stopped counting when he moved out three or four years ago. He's already gotten himself a high end job as far as I know."
"In what?" Ino asked.
"Computer graphics." Sasuke replied. "He's really good at it. He's been doing it since before he even left elementary school. He got a full scholarship to a specialty university and graduated in two years."
"Wow!" I cried. "Is he that good?"
Sasuke nodded. "I think he has a job in the movie industry, but he hasn't said much about it. All my family knows is that he's got a really good job somewhere and he's getting paid like...sixty bucks an hour just to do his computer graphics."
"Holy bloody hell!" Naruto cried.
Ino looked at Neji excitedly. "Hey, Neji do you know him?"
Neji kind of just sat there for a few seconds eating a sandwich and pretending he hadn't heard.
"Who?" He asked finally.
"Uh..." Ino looked at Sasuke.
"Itachi Uchiha." Sasuke stated.
Neji suddenly broke into a coughing fit. We watched him warily. In the end he was forced to grab a napkin and spit the sandwich into it to stop his coughing. He then took a long drink of water before putting it down again. He steadied his breathing and looked at Sasuke.
"HE'S your brother?" Neji asked.
"So you know him?" Sasuke asked.
"Heck yes!" Neji cried. "He's a freaking legend!"
Sasuke raised his eyebrows. "A legend? That's a new one."
"Companies are trying to get him on their team constantly; some of them offering to pay him hundreds of dollars a day just go have him do their CGI."
"You're kidding!" Sasuke cried. "Then he's been lying about making sixty dollars an hour?"
Neji shrugged. "I did say 'offering'. It's just whether he takes it or not."
"Have you met him?" Sakura asked.
Neji nodded. "He's done the CGI for two of the movies I was in..."
Everyone was silent. Neji had just said something about his acting career. Something he had been avoiding for the last three days.
Sasuke suddenly chuckled. Everyone shot him a look.
"I remember how he learned how to do lifelike computer graphics." Sasuke was smirking and shaking his head. "I would watch him break windows on a high speed camera then replicate it using the computer. Mom wasn't too happy."
We laughed. Especially Neji.
"Oh yeah...He does that." Neji chuckled. "He breaks things to see how they fall apart in real life."
Sasuke snorted. "Mom almost had a heart attack when he started blowing stuff up while he was in university. And then he made that non dairy creamer cannon as shown in The Mythbusters and blew it up."
"What part of 'do not try this at home' does he not understand?" I cried.
Sasuke shook his head. "I don't know. But he's an expert now, so I wouldn't worry about him."
"Can we meet him someday, Sasuke?" Ino asked.
Sasuke shrugged. "He's coming home in a week, so I guess you can."
There wasn't much else we chattered on about. Ino asked us again if we wanted to see The Swing of Things and Naruto and Sasuke finally agreed with a lot of grumbling. The bell rang, and Neji, Sasuke, Naruto and I took off for English class. We read some short stories in English class, and answered, sigh, more questions.
When the bell rang, Neji and I took off for Gym class.
"Do you think we'll be pitted against each other again?" Neji asked.
"Maybe." I murmured. I was a little out of it since I had been spacing out for the last five minutes of English class.
Indeed, we were pitted against each other again. We played European Handball (1). The boys and girls were divided into two teams each and pitted against each other one by one. One thing I can't stand about playing on an all girls team is how they're scared of the ball. They DUCK for crying out loud. They have to be like Ino always worrying about their hair and such. I shook it off. I shouldn't be so bitter, but I couldn't help it. I dreaded playing this game with the girls.
However when we finally got onto the court, I realized it was exactly the opposite of what I had assumed. They were right in the game. All right! Now THIS is real girl power! Wow...I am so cheesy...
Did I mention we actually WON? Anko was so proud of us. But the thing was, guys tend to underestimate girls more often than not. We were right in the game, shoving them out of the way when we could while they just stood there dumbfounded by our aggression. Especially Sakura and I. We were downright aggressive when it came to sports. I never missed the net, and Sakura never missed a pass, or a catch unless it was a really bad throw and it got knocked away.
But that wasn't the happiest part: It was FRIDAY! I know...three day school week...but that's because Monday didn't count (still summer holidays), and we had a PA Day on Tuesday! Tomorrow, we hit the movies.
A/N: So? How'd you like it? Every time I start writing this story, I get two songs stuck in my head at different times. Perfect by Hedley, and Perfect by Simple Plan. XD It's ANNOYING! XD Hedley: I'm not perfect, but I keep trying. Then in walks Simple Plan: I'm sorry, I can't be, perfect. XD.
(1)For those of you who don't know what European Handball is, it's basically like soccer, only you use your hands. There are two nets positioned on either end of the gym like hockey, and they have goal keepers, like hockey. Basically, like ultimate Frisbee, you have to throw the ball (it's a dodge ball) Up the court and throw it in the net. However, like Boing, there is a key that you can't step in. If you step in the key, the goal won't count, so you have to shoot outside the key. If you drop the ball, it is automatically the opposing teams ball. In a nutshell, that's European Handball. I don't know why it's called that, but I'm guessing it was developed in Europe. I don't know.